| The world we live in has drastically changed since the World Health Organization (WHO) has announced that COVID-19 is now pandemic. The news broke the weekend before and most people started scrambling for grocery supplies filling up their stock as most countries has closed borders to curb up the spread of the virus.
In the Philippines, it depends on anyone’s perspective but the impact of these changes was quick with LGU (Local Government Units) have set restrictions and asked local non-essential businesses to close out their malls and request people to indoors. Like most people with similar announcements not all have taken this seriously. But it had to happen and as these changes happen the week as you know it is gone. |
At first, the idea of lockdown was not far from the Philippine government’s minds but with no real preparation or a proper set-up for these contingencies everyone had an intense reaction though it is good and bad things slowly where ironed out despite backlash by most oppositions.
But here we are and the week in quarantine wasn’t that bad actually it takes me back to the screaming silence of South Australia in one of the suburbs I used to reside, where I got to appreciate that kind of extreme isolation that I actually miss that most Filos are not used to since being too attached to social media and being in huge places with so many people. Now, they are rendered non-essential trying to find time to present themselves in sharing information. But not all information they share is helpful and not being aware if those who read them are even comfortable to digest those type of content in their feeds.
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| Early in the day what was newly painted has been vandalized a week after. |
Monday: Last Outdoor View & Ruined Street Art
After visiting a friend last Saturday it was a chaotic Monday as thousands of commuters struggling to find transportation to their workplace. Metro Manila has closed its borders to nearby provinces like Quezon and Rizal. The closure took effect by midnight of Sunday. I get to visit a friend Saturday morning and left as early as 7 PM arriving back to Manila a little bit past 9 PM.
It was the type of thing you’ll get that intense anxiety if you’re not prepared for things like this. By Monday I was still able to take the LRT to Manila but had to go back to the CBD before 8 PM as local government has imposed a curfew starting that night.
By the time I arrived the tow local parks have already been closed early and the mall has been closed since Sunday. Speaking of the day before this major change I was still able to go to Secret Fresh, but wasn’t able to visit Greenhills as they already been asked by the City government to close their doors.
Going back to Monday it was an eerie sight for most people not used to the situation like for some it was ‘end of the world’ but in reality it was a directive that the country made some major changes in dealing with this pandemic.
Tuesday: Godzilla and Popcorn
This is actually the first time I was dealing with isolation at home and most of the day I was in my room. I have no access to a laptop until today (Sunday) with more of this, but Tuesday was just a ‘normal’ day personally. I plugged in an old hard drive that has some of the old movies and TV shows.
I haven’t seen the sequel to the 2014 Godzilla, but it was good to replenish the popcorn stock before going into isolation. It was certainly a Jolly Time to watch a movie and this will probably the first of many nights I’ll be doing this.
Wednesday Ramen Raided Wild Village
Waking up late past 10 AM and I was tasked to go on a snack run and you can feel the tension from all over the places that people are not used to the announcing that everyone should be staying indoors. There are motorcycles speeding with no regard to the limit and I saw an old model of a Toyota Celica dashing in a hurry.
I went to the nearby Japanese grocery and the shelves are empty including the ramen section as most people cleared them out. The Shopwise store have long lines snaking out of their one way entrance as more people starting to crowd the area that majority of these individuals aren’t aware what is ‘social distancing’ or physical distancing, which is more extreme to giving some ‘personal space.’
It was really intense ending up going to the nearest 7 Eleven to find what is available during that day. You can say this village was really wild as everyone is trying to grasp what the government is trying to do to avoid having more infection from this virus.
Thursday: Chocolate Porridge
Morning brings to a bowl of chocolate porridge or “champurado’ in Filo language as my brunch and the rest of the day was either browsing something to watch on a streaming service. I was actually being able to watch the early episodes of the LEGO Masters US series, which the tone is quite different from the Australian show.
The American series has enough drama in comparisons to how it would be adapted on Philippine television. I like the Aussie show it’s direct and less of the cringe moments, but it is still worth checking out the impressive builds.
Friday: A Piece of Cloud 9
A week before things went into isolation overdrive I had stocked up a box of Cloud 9 and I was hoping it would last a month, but you got to admit they are the cheaper version of the Snickers Bar. This original Filipino product has up its game with a peanut flavor variant as I can’t find the original flavor in stock.
I try to stay away from sugary intake as it is the one that lets you gain some weight beside a large portion of carbs and rice. I almost forgot how my daily food intake since things started to go in isolation, but I never forget how many times I eat in a day that I have adapted to while living in Oz.
Saturday: Midnight Builds
So I finally built the KRE-O set that a friend sent from San Francisco from four years ago. It was sitting in a pile of other unbuilt sets, but this one was really the that I’ve been wanting to build, but had apprehensions to putting together since I have to document it and actually review this and I was trying to conserve phone storage.
But since an old laptop was viable enough for me to move all the photos for the last seven days I was able to build it and document for content. I never owned a KRE-O set let alone it was from G.I. Joe. This was my first set I have another one that would probably stay unbuilt for now I’m good with this one.
Sunday: Up in the Horizon
This is the new norm for most people that is trying to deal with this challenge of staying indoors. For me, this is just ordinary I used to work from home almost six years ago and at first it was difficult not dealing with people. This is quite ‘normal’ for me since it put me in the same position while in South Oz.
Unfortunately, unlike in that place you have a nearby jungle to go about while here it is not an option how overly developed this city since a piece of land is worth a lot than developing it into small greenery. The buildings you see looks pleasing to the eyes, but for the residing area that has been there it took away the clear skies.
It has been a week worth of challenges for everyone you got to praise those working in the medical industry. They are your heroes now and they have been the modern soldier in this war against an unseen enemy. I’m proud of some of the people I know who are risking their lives to save those are infected and for those who can’t last a single day in their homes stay indoors you can do more than not adding to the concerns of spreading this virus.
Give yourself a clap or a pat in the back that you made it to this week without the drama and as much as possible limit your time on social media. Not all news agencies are delivering accurate news. The best advice I can give you right now is subscribe directly to the local CDC to be fully informed it can help to be educated.
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