Are You Ready for the Re-Opening?

According to the news it looks like the alert level will be lowered to 1 by the first of March. Of course, doctors are giving reminders about following safety protocols since the virus is still around. It's welcome news for many people since it means the economy would be more open. It means more jobs and maybe things can be a bit more normal. 

I pinged my favorite doctor yesterday to tell him to be careful since the cases in Singapore has gone up. He said, "It's OMG all over the world. We're fine. We'll all get OMG and then stronger." I'm happy to see he's still funny as ever despite the situation. I worry about my friends in Singapore and Hong Kong since they are experiencing the Omicron surge. 

In time we need to learn to live with this virus, just like all the other viruses out there. I'm a magnet though because I'm immunocompromised. This means I need to be extra careful. I've just been home since the start of the year and still got an infection lol. I realized though I can't let being immunocompromised keep me from living my life. I just need to be flexible and be careful. 

Here's a short-list of what I want to do:

1. See more family and friends. 

2. Visit Dad at the cemetery. 

3. Be able to eat my favorite spaghetti. 

4. Do daily walking again to the nearby park. 

5. Do a day trip. 

#BeKind #VoteWisely #StaySafe

We have Become More Domesticated

More than two months ago I started to work from home and it's day 33 of the circuit breaker here in Singapore. Prior to the circuit breaker I was still able to go out for my PT sessions. We made a mad rush to move to a new home and that was a really good decision because things are much stricter now. We did not want to get stuck in our old home. 

Church

Our beautiful church back home. Photo by Kuya June Tupas.

We haven't been going out that much since I came back to Singapore last January. Miggy came with me and we originally planned to explore more of Singapore, but because of the virus we just stayed home. I think the highlight of the last five months for me was Cathy and Mike's wedding (watch Cathy's poem dedicated to Mike here). The last time we went to hear mass in church was in early February and after that all churches were closed. Good thing you can hear mass online now and we've been attending Pope Francis' live blessings also. 

Meals

Home-cooked Japanese-style hamburgers.

When in Singapore we usually go out to hear mass on Sundays, then we eat lunch and buy supplies (actually the same formula when back home in Manila hehe). Some nights on weekdays we also sometimes eat out to break the monotony. Things have changed a lot though and I was telling Sweetie earlier that it took me a year to finish a bottle of olive oil. I finished half of a new bottle in just a month! We've been preparing majority of our meals at home now.  

Entertainment

Meet "plant", our 4-year old plant our former landlord left with us. 

We don't have a cable subscription here in Singapore and only watch content from YouTube, TFC and Netflix. From watching TV shows/series, movies, travel vlogs we're now watching a lot of videos on planting veggies, baking bread, house tours and tiny homes! The reality is we're going to be stuck home for far longer than we expect and we are finding more ways to be productive at home. 

Shopping

You can't imagine how much joy I get now when we go downstairs once a week to buy bread from the vending machine. I was ecstatic when I was able to buy something from 7-Eleven after my check-up at the hospital last Wednesday. I took it for granted that I could go anywhere, anytime I wanted. Who would've thought that we'd experience a pandemic in our lifetime? Now I have to pre-plan everything I need because I can only buy things online. It's good for me because I have now learned to only get what I really need and I haven't bought any new clothes this whole year! 

Home Cleaning

Ahhh, this is where things have really changed. We have someone who comes in weekly to help clean the house and do ironing, but with the #CB we've had to do everything. It's been really hard since we moved and have had to do all the cleaning. My colleague Victor was telling me it's easy since he had to clean his unit every three days when he was an AirBnB host. My lame excuse for him was that I grew up with helpers and I only learned all my home management skills when I got married hehe (thank you YouTube Academy!). And as much as I keep viewing large nice houses, I don't really see myself living in a big house again because of all the cleaning that's required to maintain a big house. 

What about you? What changes have happened with how you live? What do you think you need to adjust more?

#CB33 #StayHome #BeKind

Living in the Time of the Coronavirus

February has been a big improvement from the crazy month that was January. The first month of the year was full of issues - the airstrikes that almost caused a war, the Taal Volcano eruption and the rise of coronavirus cases. It was a very stressful month and I was glad that Miggy accompanied me when I went back to Singapore.

We've been spending the last five weeks at home. I thought since we had Miggy for a few weeks we'd get to explore more of Singapore and perhaps make a dent on visiting all Toastbox branches. We cancelled all our lakwatsa plans. To be safe we only went out when it was really needed. I wanted to work on my vlog, but there's not much you can cover when you're stuck at home.

Went to see my doctor for my regular check-up. 

He told me to avoid going back to the hospital.

Keeping me safe was the biggest concern of my boys. We read the news from trustworthy sources and followed the advise to always wash hands. That day when the outbreak alert went up Sweetie passed by the grocery to buy bread. He was surprised to see many people buying so much stuff. Supermarkets and pharmacies ran out of toilet paper, hand sanitizer, thermometers and masks. In the Philippines though when we have calamities people stock up on candles*, delata, rice and water.

Miggy's special chicken fingers. It was delicious!

As advised we also avoid eating raw food. It's been a long time since I had sushi and we usually eat cooked vegetables (vs. raw vegetable salads). We try to prepare most of our food. Miggy cooked a lot of our meals and I used that time to teach him some of my dishes (like the baked salmon in honey and lemon!).

One of our essential activities - physiotherapy.

Honestly, I enjoy just staying home. I've been able to blog every day and work on other things that make me happy. Spending all this time at home brought me back to equilibrium. It also provided me much needed rest from traveling for work. In Singapore you can easily buy everything online, but it's online grocery shopping has been hard because delivery schedules are always full.

I think whatever panic we were feeling early his month has waned. The government here has been doing an amazing job managing the situation. I am really grateful that they are taking care of everyone in the country. We still need to be vigilant as advised by the government. New cases may come from other sources. I pray though that scientists find the right treatment and medication to stop the virus from spreading further. I also pray for all the medical doctors, nurses and personnel fighting this.

May God protect us all.

*Candles because we oftentimes lose electricity in the Philippines during typhoons.