It was Christmas two days ago, my favorite time of the year. This time, I celebrated Noche Buena, a traditional Filipino Christmas eve dinner with a few friends here in Antibes. Of course, in observance to the safe health protocols, we were only four. 🙂 But it was divine. I got to enjoy my time with these few but dear people, and I am fortunate to have them especially at this time.
In our Noche Buena, we prepared a fusion of our Filipino and the western culture, as we live through it now. We had paella, lechon, embutido, salad and roasted vegetables. The night was full of shared memories of the country we miss so much, laughter, a bit of games, wine and coffee, and of course, the exchange of gifts. 🙂
Two years ago, I made another big decision in my life by accepting that position in my job and moving to an entirely different world, aka Europe. For those who may not know yet, Europe is VERY different from Asia, in many aspects. To be culturally shocked might have been an understatement, even from me who’s always been a lover of world history and a regular in libraries to read and study it.
I decided to list down the things I learned and observed, and please be reminded, that these are only based from my experiences and it could be different with others. 🙂
I have always wanted to go to Las Casas Filipinas de Acuzar the first time I heard about it. Located in Bagac, Bataan, it is a re-constructed Spanish colonial village where you can find actual heritage houses that used to be found from all over the Philippines. I applaud the genius who decided to collect these houses to preserve our history and culture this way, Mr. Jose Acuzar. There are accommodations, restaurants and shops in the village, too. Me and my friends decided to stay overnight. We chose the Executive Suite: a three-storey suite with loft, three queen beds and an extremely large bathroom. The restaurants nearby offers a fusion of delicious Filipino and European dishes, and they sometimes have musicians at night, serenading you with enchanting Filipino songs (I miss those times). The village can also be toured for a day and there were several heritage tours offered. For more details, you can check on their website.
Last night, France watched and listened to President Macron gave the details of the current COVID situation in the country. I waited in bated breath (yeah, I was really anticipating this the whole day. It’s what we all talk about in the office earlier) on his announcement on what will be the next measures to protect everyone from the virus and to help the healthcare workers from oversaturation of French hospitals.
And there, he said it.
France will be back into lockdown this Friday, October 30, until December 1.
I woke up this morning, somehow disoriented because the someone perhaps decided to fix the roads around my area and ended at 3am. I went out to drop the clothes and other stuff that I want to give away, and passed by the nearby boulangerie. I need a fix of some good baguette and pain au chocolat to start this day.
I deserve this!
As the day continues, I could feel the people’s reaction from last night’s announcement. Traffic is everywhere. It’s a bit noisy outside, and when I went out for a quick grocery run (I did not buy toilet papers, I have enough), there are lots of people outside, too!
After work, I decided to go around my place, too. I walked down the road of Albert 1er and passed by people who seemed to be in a hurry. There was a queue in a store for hair products (I understand them. I bought a box of hair coloring, too). There were lots of people at the sea front, most seemed to be like me, looking out at the sea and appreciating the moment while we’re still not in lockdown. I took some photos (I shared some of those in my IG) and continued walking. I reached the old town and walked around, too. There were lots of people going their way, preparing for the lockdown for sure. I dropped by Antibes Books, the English bookstore and bought a couple of books to read at home. I continued going around, wherever my legs could take me. I ended up buying myself a smoked salmon sandwich for dinner. I had it wrapped so I can enjoy at home. Asia Freres, the Asian grocery, was also full when I decided to drop by. I bought a few items and then, went home.
I’ve been telling myself, this will only take a month, although some news say that this was only the initial plan and may be extended. I don’t know. But what I hope is that this second lockdown will help the health workers. I hope this lockdown will work. I hope this ends soon.
How about you? What did you do to prepare yourself for the lockdown or quarantine in your area? 🙂
This week, I downloaded Tous Anti Covid, a tool here in France that was created to trace the chains of contamination of the Coronavirus 19, especially in areas that are high in numbers of circulation. This can be downloaded in Apple or Google Play.
I admit that it’s scary to activate it, as shown below, because the mobile app requires you to open your bluetooth. When the bluetooth is open, you have an option to activate it. This will enable to detect anyone nearby who uses the app – and reported that they have tested positive with COVID19 – to notify you when you have come close in contact with them. Once this happens, it will send a notification in your mobile phone, sending awareness that you isolate yourself to avoid spreading it out to someone else as well as some instructions on what you can do. It is important to take note that everything and everyone is anonymous. Privacy is still respected here. You will only know that you have been in contact with someone within a meter for at least 15 minutes – but you will not know who. It is now up to you to self-isolate/self-quarantine to protect yourself and others for further contamination. The app has several guided information and what’s good about this? It’s in English! Maybe, it automatically defaults to my phone since that’s my personal preference, but I hope that it also has something in French. This should be easily utilized by everyone in France and it will be very helpful that it is well-understood by most locals.
I activated the app on my phone. I’m grateful that I’m safe.
It is free and voluntary, so we have an option to activate or deactivate. Since the aim is to be able to have an early detection and prevention, this will work only if a lot of people will download and start using the app.
I think that this will only work effectively if a person who took a test or tested positive with the virus was able to download and record it in the app. Otherwise, we will all just be walking around with this app in the background and not knowing that an asymptomatic person have already come close in contact with us.
The government released a whole page dedicated to inform everyone about this new tool and it is found HERE.
Also, since there are now 54 Departments and one overseas territory under curfew for the period of six weeks, the mobile app also has a link that provides the certificate that you need to fill up if you want to go out within the period of curfew from 9pm to 6am. It’s almost the same certificate that we have to fill up during the 3-month lockdown last March – May. I just wonder who walks their dog beyond 9pm…
I hope this information helps. The app still makes me anxious. I try my best to live with the virus, doing the normal things but with utmost caution. I hope that I won’t get any notification from it. Anyway, it will help us protect ourselves and other people. I also hope you would try to download and use this. And hopefully, we could overcome this pandemic soon.
Wandering Pinay 