The last I have been to Manila was two years ago when we arrived from our family vacation in Singapore and on the next day of the exact same year, the first lockdown was implemented. for safety purposes.
In this random entry, I would be looking what has happened to me and my family in the past two years.
March 2020
When the lockdown was announced, after our arrival from Singapore, we immediately rushed back home to leave our things and went to the nearest grocery to buy food and supplies. We waited for a couple of hours as the grocery is jam packed due to panic buying.
Me and my wife also stopped going to work for safety purposes and also no public transportation was allowed back then. Same with my sporting gigs with ABS-CBN as all sporting event has been prohibited.
May 2020
Our desktop from the office was sent to our house as our company implemented the work-from-home set up for the time being as cases are increasing in the country.
I felt happy as I was able to get more rest now and spend more quality time with my family as before due to my two jobs, I usually don't spend much time at home and also I always don't get enough sleep and rest.
June 2020
I really missed taking photos and since I cannot go outside, I started doing toy photography at home and started watching tutorials online.
I also created a new Instagram account for toys "ishoottoysph"
July 2020
I was really looking forward to cover games once the pandemic has ended but unfortunately our team (ABS-CBN Sports) has been affected by the denial of the franchise of ABS-CBN. It was really painful to know that my photography job which started 2011 would end like an instant.
I am really speechless and angry as I do not want to stop covering sporting events as it is one of the things that helps me balance my life with all of the boredom and stress from my regular job and also the extra pay that I am earning.
Then again I am trying to be positive that I can get another sporting gig in the future
August 2020
Everything is going smoothly at home but then my father-in-law started to get sick and having symptoms which started with coughing. Way before the pandemic, he already had this coughing issue so we thought that it's just the usual thing but after a few days of resting, his cough is getting louder and worst and it doesn't look that he is getting better so my wife had him checked and the initial finding is Pneumonia which is one of the symptoms of COVID19. The doctor asked him to take antibiotics and my wife had both of them do rapid testing which had a 'Negative' result so we thought it was not COVID at all.
After a few days, my dad-in-law is just staying at his room and is not eating much to the point that my wife looked for an hospital to have him admitted but due to the massive cases, all hospitals are full and they ended in the ER at Westlake Pacita where my father-in-law was temporarily treated but was also sent home as there are no available rooms. That 4-hour stay in the ER cost us 16,000 php.
My father-in-law is not getting better then we got a news from the fiancee of my brother who is a nurse and informed us that there is a slot in Calamba Doctors. My wife called an ambulance from the Barangay and had my dad-in-law admitted for treatment. My wife accompanied his dad in the hospital.
My dad-in-law started to eat and looks to be improving after arriving in the hospital and after the swab test it was confirmed that he is positive of COVID-19.
Jerrick's 7th birthday came but my wife cannot be with us to celebrate at he is still with his dad in the hospital.
I really don't know what happened but my father-in-law doesn't want to get treated anymore and just wanted to go home to the province. The doctor has decided to sent him home. My wife and his dad stayed in the house of the family of my brother-in-law's wife. From there my dad-in-law is not eating, drinking and taking his medicines. After a few more days he passed away and it was really heart breaking to all of us.
During this time my son also transitioned to online schooling as face to face classes has been prohibited.
January 2021
A new year has come and we are all wishing for a better year as 2020 has been heartbreaking. The set up is still the same with our work and our son's schooling. I am still doing toy photography and I think I am improving.
March 2021
We started planning on having to have our house in Sta. Rosa constructed. We already finished the final inspection and applied for the move in clearance.
March 27, the second lockdown was announced as cases are starting to increase again.
We rushed to the nearest grocery to buy the things that we need.
April 2021
This time the eldest brother started not feeling well as he has been back working in the office for a few months now despite the pandemic. Fortunately, he was admitted and got treated.
May 2021
Due to personal reasons and family conflicts, my mother-in-law left our house and transferred to Carmona together with his other son who lives there. Now, only me, my wife and son lives together.
June 2021
We were able to pay our tax property and also get our move in clearance. The house in Sta. Rosa has electricity and water now and is ready for construction.
July 2021
Our contractor started working on our house, this time our budget can only cover the ceiling, attic and division in the second floor for two rooms.
August 2021
Since the house construction has started, we already started selling items that we do not need anymore and mostly Jerrick's old toys and baby stuff. Good thing all of them got sold in Facebook market.
Unfortunately, I started not feeling well around mid-August so I decided to isolate immediately. It started with colds, sneezing then after two days I felt some body pains and headache. On the fourth day I had fever and stuffed nose, paracetamol is not helping at all with my situation. On the fifth day, I lost my sense of taste so I have decided to do the swab test to confirm.
Sadly, I am positive with COVID-19 and was advised to get isolated for the next 14 days. Good thing, our company offers 'COVID leave' which is 14 days on top of our sick leave to rest. I started drinking antibiotics and started to feel better. I am thankful as well that I only had mild symptoms and recovered after my self quarantine period.
Thank you to my wife for the welcome gift 'Bioman'.
I also felt sad this month as I wasn't able to be with my son during his birthday as I am on quarantine.
September 2021
It was another sad event as this time my brother-in-law who lives in Carmona suddenly passed away due to COVID-19. We thought he is getting better as he is already admitted in the hospital and was shocked with the news that he didn't make it.
The first project in our new house is finished and they are now working on the second project which is adding tiles to all floors, paint job and working on the concrete of our backyard and front area.
I had my first dose of Moderna vaccine by the end of the month after getting a call from the Mayor's office of Binan for my schedule.
October 2021
Spent my birthday at home and just ordered foods and celebrated it with my wife and son.
I visited our house in Sta. Rosa and it is almost finished and just a few more touches with the paint.
Our contractor said we can transfer by November 16 and because of that most of our things in the Binan house are already been packed. I was able to contact a friend as well who will provide us service in transferring our items from the old to the new house on November 16.
We also started buying new appliances including the inverter air-con, rice cooker, microwave, fan, sofa, dining set and more.
I also had my second dose of Moderna vaccine by end of the month.
November 2021
Finally we were able to move here in Sta. Rosa. New house and new environment for us. I can say that it was worth the wait, hard work and money that we spent for this.
The neighborhood is very quiet and relaxing.
When I though that the bad luck is over, I started not feeling well again and got admitted in Sinai Hospital due to Dengue. Good thing the COVID cases has decreased and it is easy to get admitted now in the hospitals.
I got admitted for around a week and I am thankful that my mom was able to accompany me in the hospital.
December 2021
I had my haircut after almost two years as I had my last one February 2020 before our trip to Singapore. I was able to contact the barber to do home service here in our new house for me and my son.
We had our house blessed as well on December 22.
We spent our first Christmas here in the new house. We got our Christmas tree before Christmas eve which is also a first for me as I didn't experienced having a big Christmas tree in my mom's house when I was a kid.
It was also nice to see Jerrick making new friends here in our village, compare to our previous house, he only stays in the room to play mobile games.
January 2021
Our schedules have changed and we decided to have a slightly different shift so we can take turns on taking care of Jerrick and also with the house chores.
Another surge of COVID19 happened as a new variant has reached the country and even vaccinated people can easily get the virus because of the new variant.
We stopped going out again as the cases are increasing.
March 2021
We celebrated our 9th wedding anniversary here in our new home. We stayed at home and just ordered our favorite foods. We were able to surprise my wife with flowers which I ordered online.
It has been a crazy past two years and a lot has happened. With the pandemic I became more close to my family and also became more health conscious.
There are times that I get bored as our daily activities are always the same but a part of me loves this kind of set up. How I wish that the time would stop, we will not get older and Jerrick will remain as a kid but of course that is not possible. I am just enjoying family time here at home. Our kdrama bonding and food trip during our rest days are always the best thing.
We also started living a simple life, not wanting to have new clothes and shoes just like before the pandemic. We are more into foods and stuffs that we need here at home.
It was announced that we might go back to work by April 1st as per Government and as of now we will need to wait for further notice from the management.
Stay safe always and hoping for the best.
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