The Lyft driver that brought us to the airport was ma kwento. And since it was a two hour drive, ang dami nyang kwento. After a while I stopped responding to her stories so she could concentrate on the road. I wished she would stop talking because I was worried she could be distracted from driving.
She was born in Brazil but moved to Orange County to seek for a better life. After staying there for years, she and her Brazilian husband moved here looking for a higher paying job and better living environment for their two kids. She works during the day and drives the Lyft for a few hours at night after making dinner for her family. Ang sipag. Her husband also drives the Lyft but full time, every time and all the time according to her. They found a beautiful house in the suburbs for $3,000 a month rent which they thought was very cheap because it had a swimming pool. After a few months, they discovered that the rent in their area should only be $2,500. Their house was also almost broken into. After a year, they left the house and moved to a neighboring city where it’s safer and with better quality of life, especially schools for their kids.
I took Uber from the train station. The black driver lives an hour away but he drives around the city. He is a busy person. He likes to keep himself busy because he said he doesn’t waste his time. He does industrial construction for a company on a per project basis. He is sent to other parts of the country sometimes staying there for several months until the project is finished. It’s not a regular thing so what he does is drive the Lyft and Uber at night from 6 pm to 1:30 am. Daytime he designs and makes baseball caps, t-shirts, jackets, and other hip hop casual wear. He delivers orders to shops, boutiques, flea markets, sporting goods stores, etc. His SUV serves as a double purpose according to him. He uses it for delivery of the clothing wear and at night, for Lyft and Uber. He said he doesn’t do drugs, nor gamble, nor spends money on women. He saves his money so one day he could buy his own house. For now, he lives with his mother. Sipag ano?
