I’m setting down an account of my journey through this virus era. I’m piecing it together as I go through photos, emails, messages, a very few journal entries I made, and my wife, Jill, and my recollections. This story began in the May 7, 2021 post. This post takes place on January 28, 2020.
On our third day in Manila, we were finding a routine of eating breakfast at home, Jill working for a few hours, me looking at my phone and computer, and then we would go out and do something for the rest of the day. On the 28th we went to… another mall! This was not a boring mall, this was the Mall of Asia. We had to go because we lived close to the Mall of America for years. It was a mass of buildings with walkways and open to the air. Not much like the Mall of America. It also held the places you expect in a mall, like the Mall of America. Jill and I found a couple of new shirts. Jill found some flip flops and I replaced a pair of shoes, it’s much easier to find sizes that fit us outside of China*. We had lunch at a a place called Mr. Chan’s, its a fast food franchise that started in Singapore. We had been to the original with friends the year before and enjoyed it a lot. The umpteenth clone of the place did not quite live up to the original. Outside the mall we walked along the waterfront and I discovered a a booth advertising a full-day tour of Corregidor island.
Corregidor was the site of the surrender of the Philippines to the Japanese on May 8, 1942. I decided to take the tour in a few days because Jill wanted to focus on her school work and didn’t want me around. A crowd steadily gathered on the waterfront for the impending sunset. We watched as the sun dropped out of sight but we didn’t catch the green flash. The promenade took on a carnival atmosphere; food stands popped up and at a stage a dance troupe was leading a crowd in a zumba workout. It was quite a party. We hopped into a taxi as the night’s activities began in earnest and headed home to our little apartment.
*After 7 months, In Malaysia, I decided to get rid of my shirt. It was green and had Tokyo embroidered on it. It fit terribly and was just too small. I guess it wasn’t so easy to find clothes outside of China. My relationship with that stupid shirt was encompassed in COVID-19. There are pictures of me in the shirt in subsequent posts. I’ll point it out.
