I spent the morning just bathing under the gentle sunlight streaming through my curtains. I decided I will not exert much effort since most of Asia is dead starting today. I just helped a colleague upload his story in the backend and that’s it.
It’s Lunar New Year’s eve today but unfortunately we couldn’t go to Chinatown to see the lion and dragon dance. But in years past I did that, visiting some Chinese-owned investment houses in the Binondo area to chat with some of their traders and taking photos for my news outfit’s social media account.
I remember punctuating the Lunar New Year with the Lantern Festival in Hong Kong with J in 2019. We had the lion dance inside our office and then after work J and I walked around Sai Ying Pun area at night.
My family is really not wholly ethnic Chinese so we really don’t celebrate it unlike some of my friends with Chinese or hispanized Chinese last names.
My mom told us that we’re Chinese on her father and mother’s side but the Chinese last name was already lost. It was common in Batangas (and also in some areas) for Chinese immigrants to adopt Tagalog or Spanish surnames to avoid discrimination. Since Batangas faces the West Philippine Sea (formerly South China Sea), some parts of the province like Nasugbu and Lemery were centers of trade with the Chinese and other Southeast Asian neighbors. So of course there were Chinese traders who wanted to emigrate to the area but I heard that Batangueños were pretty hostile to the Chinese. I don’t know if this is just some kind of legend but I was told that’s the reason why there are no native Batangueños with Chinese last names and most often than not, they had Tagalog last names (in our case, our last names are Spanish). On my father’s side, one Spanish ancestor was industrious enough to claim land “as far as his eyes can see” by fencing up tracts of land up to the mountain in our hometown. That’s how his forebears became rich (this story was reminiscent of the movie Far and Away).
I finally transferred my “books-to-read” for 2022 on my bookshelf that was once occupied by Gundams and then later by stuffed toys. I need to finish these books first before I buy more. Tsundoku in action. I now have all the things I love in my room: music, art, and books. Now I really don’t have any reason to venture out of my room. Hehe.
I was looking for activities or places we can go tomorrow but it seems like there are limited things we can do given that I have unvaccinated children with me.
I think we can visit the flower farm and Pililla Wind Farm tomorrow. The first and last time I was there was when J and I explored that area three years ago. We dined at the palaisdaan (fish farm) in Theresa, Rizal.
Mount Pugad camping is for another holiday…Probably during Holy Week. We need a longer holiday to be able to camp here.
I’m still figuring out the logistics. The ideal time to camp here is now, before the summer heat could kill us.
