Traveling has always been my personal means of escaping the hassles of work and naggings of life. Weekends were my ‘me time’ – a time to recharge, to eliminate the toxics of my life, to connect with nature. But the onset of the coronavirus pandemic has left me constrained within the four-walls of our house, surrounded by concrete buildings, chained by regulations forbidding any geographical movement.
My mind has become a gruesome battlefield for almost four months of quarantine now.
History is a subject not everyone is interested with – but, for sure, Vigan City will always ring a bell among Filipinos. This UNESCO World Heritage Site located in Ilocos Sur is part of the New Seven Wonder Cities – which I have been dreaming to see for real. So when the gang decided to visit Ilocos Region after our one week trip to Palawan, I couldn’t get more excited to visit the historical attractions that is in Ilocos Sur.
The King: Eternal Monarch is an epic comeback drama of Lee Min Ho after getting discharged from the military. It tells the story of two parallel universes: the Kingdom of Corea where King Lee Gon (Lee Min Ho) rules and the Republic of Korea where Detective Jung Tae-eul (Kim Go-eun) lives. Thanks to the mythical bamboo flute called “manpashikjeok”, Lee Gon gets to cross the barrier to the other realm and meets Tae-eul whom he recognized as his childhood savior during the assassination of his father.
Reply 1988 tells the story of five friends who have been raised together in the small neighborhood alley of Ssangmun-dong in Seoul. It unfolds a timeline that begins in 1988 and the succeeding years after until 1995 including some snippets of selected characters in 2016. Compared to other dramas that centers on a single character, Reply 1988 gravitates around the five families whose lives are so intertwined with each other.
Sandboarding and windmills – these were actually the only things that we had in mind when we planned to visit Ilocos Norte. But the province exudes more than the adventure it promised. Far beyond the adrenaline, we got more than what we bargained for – unexpected lessons in history, taste of hearty dishes, immersion with locals, and memories to keep for a lifetime.
The moment we create our social media accounts, we are already putting our personal data at risk. Nonetheless, there are several ways on how we can minimize these risks and make it extremely difficult for hackers to hack or infiltrate data from our social media accounts. Here’s how.
Teaching has been made more challenging these days. With the current pandemic situation, schools are encouraged to be more adaptive to virtual learning. However, with tons of learning tools and resources available online, sometimes it could get overwhelming as to what to use.
Ichigo Ichie is a self-help book compounded together by authors Hector Garcia and Francesc Miralles. It is a short and simple book that hopes to provide a practical guide on how to relish and live every moment of our everyday experiences. Because in this age of digital distraction, instant gratification, and superficial engagement, it becomes more and more difficult to make sense of the moments manifested by the universe to us.
Right now, I should be happily strolling around Beijing and Shanghai – learning about our cultural differences, exploring cityscapes, and finally savoring the fruits of a year’s worth of workload.
But I’m not. Instead, here I am at home, writing all these predicaments. Corona virus pandemic has changed everything that we so long planned for this year. Everything.
The Philippines is blessed with a number of mountains that provide verdant views at the top. Here are some of the Filipino movies that will help you trace back your personal experience with the mountains – the struggles, reflections, friendship fostered, and simple joys – and fuel your interest to climb once again.
