The One with the Blackout

For three days, it was like we were living in the Stone Age.

If the Stone Age had a Max’s restaurant with cute waiters, 24-hour ATM machines and a mall.

Due to typhoon Caloy, Batangas was announced to be under signal no. 2 over Mother’s Day weekend. For three days we didn’t have electricity, and it was the strangest thing. The streets were awfully quiet and it was terribly dark outside – even in the mornings, the sky was a morose gray, trees had been uprooted and their leafy remnants littered the streets. It felt like the end of days was upon us.

In any case, the gloomy skies, strong winds and generally “end of the world” mood didn’t seem to dampen the spirits of Batangenyos. For Mother’s Day our family went to Max’s to celebrate, and it seemed everyone had the same idea – the place was packed. Because I was in a hurry to go back to Batangas last Friday (I was afraid the storm would hit while I was on the road), I wasn’t able to buy a present for the Mom. The cute waiters at the Max’s in Lipa seemed to cheer her up though, which I was very thankful for.

After lunch we decided to go to the mall (we didn’t have anything better to do anyway) and again, it was packed. I gotta give it to my kababayan – they know how to entertain themselves, whatever happens. There’s something to be gained from their high happiness levels.

In my opinion, we Batangenyos have much to be happy about. Sure we had a scarce supply of water and no electricity for three days, but other parts of the Philippines suffered massive property damage and death at the wake of the typhoon. Do pray for these people, and donate whatever you can to their aid.

And a belated happy Mother’s Day to all the mothers out there and to everyone’s mothers. Here's a picture of me and my Mom. FYI, the bandana on my head says "I *heart* Ninoy". Guess I was a baby activist. Cool eh?