02 September 2016
It has been about 2 weeks since a huge fire hit our family compound and neighbor's houses in Manila. That wasn't our first scary experience with fire but it was our first fire that really caused harm and damage to our own house. Here are some lessons I learned from that experience, hoping that people will understand and learn from it as well.
1. Fire spreads fast
From the moment I saw the orange glow from our window to the time we got out of the house and into the street, the fire had already raged and was burning my aunt's house which was right across ours, like our windows were a meter apart, I think. It took all of 2 minutes. You have to judge immediately how much time you have. At a crucial juncture, you may not be able to save anything at all but yourselves.
2. A raging fire is scary
A raging fire is scary so you have to have your wits about you. No matter how prepared you think you are, your first instinct is to run but you have to look out for your family, particularly if you have kids and older family members. So, it's important to keep the panic down to keep others calm too. I was fearful and my heart was hammering in my chest but I had to stay focused and calm. If you show your kids that you're afraid, they'll be afraid too and may become hard to control and at this critical time, they may effectively delay your efforts to leave as quick as possible. Give orders that are precise so they'll be able to follow immediately. That is what I did, just instructed them on what to do and we all left the house immediately.
3. Bring only important, irreplaceable stuff with you
I only had a few minutes to spare as the fire was very close so I only had time to pick up my file folder containing receipts for house and other payments and my bag that had my phone, money, identification and some toiletries (I'm a mom, my bag has my home or so they say!) I also stuffed Patrick's mobile into my bag as I was grabbing it. On hindsight, I should've taken my folder with our birth documents too which was right beside the other folder that I took but that slipped my mind.
4. Take your portable gadgets with you
Yes, I know I said bring only important, irreplaceable stuff but gadgets contain vital information too and cost a lot to replace if gone. But I say it because it was unfortunate that our tablet was lost, not from the fire but because of someone's sticky fingers. Now, I don't necessarily blame the firefighters because I would think that they'd be too busy fighting the fire to even actually take anything from the people that they're saving. It may be that there are some strangers who take advantage of the opportunity to get into other people's houses during the commotion. Portable gadgets are easily taken and concealed, you see, compared to other valuable bulky items like the television set or dvd player.
5. Watching your house and belongings burn is agonizing
You are watching everything you've worked hard for dissolve in flames. You wonder how much of your home is left. You worry about how to rebuild. You worry where you'll spend the night and the next few nights after. You worry about how to even get to your job the next day. We were relieved when we were finally able to get into our house to find that we only had water problems to deal with. My aunt wasn't as fortunate.
6. Cleanup is a painstaking process
You just don't deal with the aftermath of the burn. You have to deal with waterlogged furniture, appliances and floors. It's like being hit by two of nature's greatest destroyers. Nothing was burned in our home but bedrooms and the living room were flooded. Firefighters doused everything with water to prevent the fire from spreading to our home. So, curtains, upholstered furniture and the beds were drenched.
The smoky air also lingers. It was already a week but the burnt smell continued to waft from my aunt's burned house, especially when they started clearing up the debris. Ashes also float in the air and the dirt around the house is black. Those with asthma will have it bad and I suggest wearing masks ( I should've). The atmosphere was choking.
Washing of clothes and other belongings (those that can still be used) will take days to finish. My aunt was using two washing machines at a time to deal with everything and she was at it for about a week before it tapered off. We also had to rewash some of our clothes that were left hanging in our laundry room at the roofdeck level. They were stinky from smoke. Of course, our beddings and curtains also had to be washed too.
7. Keeping a stash of clothes for donation is ideal
I usually keep a collection of clothes in my closet. These are clothes. mostly T-shirts, that Patrick gets from car events and some that we don't use anymore but aren't shabby. We keep them in case of a situation like this where someone needs clothes. I simply took this pile of clothes and gave it to my aunt. They come in handy because people who suffered in fires, usually have nothing to change into and that's one of the priorities. Towels, slippers and shoes are also helpful. My cousins needed office clothes too because they have jobs to go to. So, reorganizing closets regularly can help collect clothes that are rarely used and can be used for situations like these.
8. The community should come together to help
In the Philippines, our family orientation is such that nuclear and extended families live together and most times, within a neighborhood. Family reaching out to help during a calamity is a no-brainer. But, it's not common for the community to help. There is no volunteerism which is sad because cleanup and repairs can be done fast and quick if there are more people to help, and it's a big weight off the victims' shoulders if they don't have to pay for other people to help them.
Today marked the start of the new show schedule for the week at the National Planetarium. Last week, we were fortunate that we were able to watch "Journey to a Billion Suns" twice in a day when the National Planetarium released the news that they were extending their free entrance policy for the month of May. 
The National Museum extended their "Free Admission to the National Planetarium" policy until May 30, 2017 in celebration of the National Heritage Month. Actually, I was anxiously waiting for this announcement and was hoping that they would extend since the original Free Admission policy was only until April 30. I thought that today was the best time to drop by since not many people can make time to visit except for those who live nearby. I was right. There wasn't much of a line and we were actually able to watch TWO shows! haha Okay, they were both "Journey to a Billion Suns" but still, we got to watch TWO shows! :) We'd like to tell you what to expect, what you can see while in the venue and other relevant information for your trip to the National Planetarium.
Today is my Mom's 69th birthday. In her honor, we went to the Museo Pambata (the first hands-on children's interactive museum in the Philippines) because as an Educator of young minds, my mom absolutely loved museums and the wealth of knowledge that they can impart. It was incidentally International Museum Day so Museo Pambata's entrance fees were waived for the day which was a blessing too! :) Read on to see what's inside Museo Pambata :)
When we visited the National Museum and the Museum of the Filipino People last May 5th (see the posts here and here), we knew that we needed more time to visit Rizal Park and its environs. Today was the day we came back for more. We started around 4PM to avoid the hot summer sun and we ended our walking tour around 6PM. It was enough to visit most of the attractions between the Quirino Grandstand and Luneta, but ideally, we should have taken more time to include the ones opposite the Museum of the Filipino People. Read on for more of our adventure.
Okay, so Tracy was just busy chewing on her pacifier the whole time we were walking around :)
One of the highlights of our year was being invited to my cousin Tere's wedding to her husband Michael. They were married at the Santisimo Rosario Parish in UST and Dylan was the Bible Bearer. He wasn't used to people staring at him so he walked down the aisle in slow motion with his head to the floor. It's like he wanted to disappear :) He was still so cute to look at though :D He was supposed to be wearing barong tagalog but we weren't able to get his in time. It was a good thing his tie was still in line with the theme of the wedding. 
So, while getting ready to go out, we were surprised when visitors arrived. Dimples and Rhys came for a visit and what perfect timing!! We all ended up going to Manila Zoo together and it was a great way to start the year - with close family bonding. It was really a spur of the moment thing otherwise we would have also invited Stevie, Toni and the kids with us. It's been a long time since we saw these two and I am glad they dropped by :)
Patrick took some pictures of the commotion from the street and from our room in the house. Here's a picture of the first fire truck making the scene. It's funny that there are a lot of people hitching a ride on the truck thinking they can help the firemen out. But what firemen want is for them to leave them alone so they can do their job better because sometimes, these people simply get in the way and may end up getting hurt because they don't know what they're doing.
