361 – On A 2022 Q4 Update (Part 2)

Let’s pick up from Part 1 of this series, with a focus on the last month of the year.

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DECEMBER

The handyman working on our house repainting returned to continue his job. However, Dad sent him home after only six days as he fell ill with the flu. Manila’s weather had been rather unstable that time with hot mornings and cold, windy evenings – a surefire trigger for asthma and other respiratory ailments.

Unfortunately, even I myself got struck with a bad cold. The ever-changing weather plus the sweet foods I tried out the month prior gave me a chesty cough. It came to a point that persistent coughing prevented me from having a good night’s sleep. Thankfully, two tablespoons of honey calmed things down.

I continued the improvised cough treatment by dissolving the same amount of honey and two tablespoons of calamondin juice in a small amount of hot water. It minimized the persistent coughing, and a week’s round of salbutamol finally addressed it.

The positive development was timely as I had been assigned to drive my younger brother to a short-term rental property near his school. He managed to finish his examinations and save a lot of time that would have been wasted otherwise on commuting.

December also saw several parties and events on my end:

• I managed to meet a step-uncle from the United Kingdom (let’s call him A) and his mother (let’s call her Grandmum, albeit she’s technically my step-grandaunt) a week before Christmas. Uncle A is married to Dad’s first cousin, making him a stepfather to two second-degree cousins of mine – with most of them finishing in the same university as me and my younger brother. I last met Uncle A in 2019 when Dad’s aunt died – so it’s been three years. It was also Grandmum‘s first time in the Philippines, and I’m sure she enjoyed the holidays here.

• A second-degree cousin (let’s call her NT), her children, and her nieces paid us a visit on Christmas Day after being off the radar for several years. She worked for a short time in the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur, but returned to the Philippines at the height of the pandemic in 2020. The mother of her nieces – NT‘s sister NL – is still based in Malaysia. Their mother, also Dad’s first cousin, died in 2008.
  

• We also attended the wedding of a family friend’s daughter. Smart casual and earth tones were the event’s theme, so the batik shirt I received back in 2017 was appropriate! I simply matched it with a pair of khaki-colored trousers and a pair of slip-ons.
  
  
• Relatives from Mom’s side paid a visit before December (and the year) ended. The last time we met them was in May 2022, when one of my uncles on Mom’s side died of brain cancer. His death came almost a year after Mom died in August 2021. Distance is mainly to blame as her other siblings live at the northern province of Bulacan, while our other cousins live at the province of Rizal located east of Manila.

I’ll end this entry with some food-related pictures. First is this Kori Kohi and Shrimp and Kani Sandwich from UCC Café Terrace in Trinoma, one of two restaurants I paid a visit during a remote working session in early December.

Lastly, here’s the Christmas basket I bought – courtesy of my current workplace. Our bosses gave us P1,000 ($20) each as a budget for a Christmas basket we could buy for ourselves. I managed to score one for that amount, and here are its contents.

Below are the posts I published for the month of December.

350 – On The Sourdough Experience

351 – On The Craft Coffee Revolution Experience

352 – REBLOG: The Monching On Powders and Palettes’ 12 Days Of Blogmas

353 – On The Last Call: The Brewman Coffee

354 – On Birthday Treats: Triptych 63

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And that concludes the second entry in this four-part series. Watch out for Part 3!

(AUTHOR’S NOTE: Added in a diagram of the family connections mentioned here. Thank you to Betsy K. of Motherhood and Martial Arts for the suggestion!)

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