Filipinos Coping with Covid: Teresa Concepcion, Canada

Teresa Concepcion

The following interview is part of my series, FILIPINOS COPING WITH COVID.

Teresa Concepcion from Toronto, Ontario, Canada is featured. She was educated at Maryknoll College, Philippines, AB BA 1968, and University of the Philippines, MBA 1972. She's has over 30 years in investment management and corporate finance in the Philippines and in Canada. Teresa has been a small business entrepreneur for the last 15 years in property management and real estate development. – Cecilia Brainard 

Cecilia Brainard Interviews Teresa Concepcion
Interview conducted via email on May 25, 2020,
Copyright 2020 by Cecilia Brainard


Cecilia Brainard: Are you still in lockdown? Are you alone or with others? Do you see other people, and you do you practices social distancing if so?

Teresa Concepcion: Canada has different lockdown periods depending on the province. In Ontario our lockdown will be until the first week of June. There are essential services that were always open, and some of the business establishments and public places have started to be opened last week. Example, parks, beaches, are now open in Ontario. There is still physical distancing that are required, masks are recommended, and no more than 5 people can congregate at any point in time, unless that is the size of the family unit.

Filipinos Coping with Covid - Lia Feraren, Germany

Lia Feraren

I've interviewed a number of Filipinos from all over the world about how they are dealing with the Coronavirus pandemic. These interviews will be integrated in a series "How Filipinos Are Coping with Covid 19" which will appear in the online magazine Positively Filipino. Please look for it.

My official and travel blogs will feature the complete interviews. 

The following features Lia Feraren (46) who was born and raised in Manila and Cebu, Lia moved to Europe when she was 22 and is now a naturalized German citizen. She is a trauma therapist and lives in Munich with her two daughters. ~ Cecilia Brainard

CECILIA BRAINARD INTERVIEWS LIA FERAREN

Interview conducted via email on May 24, 2020
Copyright 2020 by Cecilia Brainard

Cecilia Brainard: Are you still in lockdown? Are you alone or with others? Do you see other people, and do you practice social distancing if so?
Lia Feraren: Measures were relaxed in the state of Bavaria on May 5. Before that, only "essential stores" like grocery stores and pharmacies were open. Initially, flower shops and book stores under 300 sqm could open with masks required for everyone entering the store as well as a limit on the number of people within the store dependent on its size. Social distancing is required.

I live with my two children. I am separated from their father and visitation rights were a "legitimate reason to leave the house" even at the strictest part of the lockdown. This was not the case in Austria, for example.

Five Years North - Documentary Guatemalan Immigrant

Last Friday, we had a very interesting Zoom Question and Answer session with the filmmakers of the documentary FIVE YEARS NORTH. The film follows a few years of the life of an undocumented teenage Guatemalan immigrant, Luis.

It's a moving documentary that tells of the difficulties, danger, as well as joy and hope that Luis experiences in New York as he pursues the American Dream.
The filmmakers are noted for their first film, LIVING ON ONE DOLLAR. Look up @ChrisTemple and @ZachIngrasci, and their films.

https://optimist.co/films/five-years-north-documentary/



Tags: #documentaryfilm #immigrantfilm #Guatemala #Livngonadollar #fiveyearsnorth #documentary #movie #film #christemple #zachingrasci

Framed Art by Cecilia Brainard

I framed (for the first time) one of my art work, 9 x 12, ink "Vase and Bottles" . It's the one on the right beside an original by Manuel Rodriguez, the Father of Philippine Printmaking.

Also published in Cecilia Brainard's Official site:  https://ceciliabrainard.com/framed-art-by-cecilia-brainard-vase-and-bottles/

tags: #ceciliaBrainard #art #Philippine #Cebu #writerswhopaint #writerswhodoart

RIP Peque Gallaga - Bacolod Days

Following the passing of the filmmaker Peque Gallaga, my friend Gee Vee S sent me some pictures taken in Bacolod in the late 1960s, at the Gallaga home. My sister and I had spent an unforgettable summer with the Gallagas in their home. Tita Conchita and Tito Ric, the Gallaga kids (Peque, Chita, Ricky, Mike) were very welcoming not just to us but to all the local kids who hung around their home from morning until night. I recall we had canasta games with Tita Conchita, and Peque and Chita organized all sorts of activities and games, most of them very creative and different.

One game stands out in my memory: a "mind concentration" game where the teenage kids gathered around one of us and with just one finger (all of us though) we concentrated to lift up the person from the ground. There were hide and seek games, some dozen kids scampering throughout their house. Peque and Chita had a summer theater program for the Bacolod kids and we visiting Cebuanos enjoyed observing how that progressed. We visited fabulous haciendas too, which looked like those featured in Peque's famous movie, ORO, PLATA, MATA.

The movie, by the way, is offered by Amazon so you can watch and enjoy it still even though Peque has left us and those Bacolod are now just memories. Enjoy the pictures, and thank you GV and Chita for the pictures.

Tags: #PequeGallaga #Bacolod #NegrosPhilippines #Philippines #Cebu #Ceciliabrainard

Assisted Living for Retirees in Plantation Bay

I heard from my cousin, Manny Gonzalez, that Plantation Bay in Mactan, Philippines, is expanding their services to include assisted living for retirees. This new service responds to world changes because of Coronavirus. People looking to evade the next round of lockdowns can consider sheltering in this fabulous five-star resort. Lockdowns are inevitable since a second wave of Covid 19 is expected in the Fall.

Imagine, calling Plantation Bay Resort your home!

Instead of being cooped up in a small city place, one could shelter in a more stress-free place. The resort is beautifully laid out next to the sea, and with extensive lagoons, mature shade trees, sandy beaches. It has restaurants, shops. It’s near the Mactan-Cebu International airport and hospitals. It offers in-house dental service. There are so many other services and information in the following link.

It’s a great idea! Check it out:

https://plantationbay.com/callhome/

Tags: #coronavirus #Covid19 #lockdown #shelterinplace #Mactan #Philippines #plantationbay

My Cat During Coronavirus Days

During these Coronavirus days my cats, Che and Tesla, are following strict stay-at-home rules.

Stay safe, everyone!

Also published in my official's site's blog:  https://ceciliabrainard.com/my-cats-during-coronavirus-days/

tags: #coronavirus #covid19 #pets #cats #graycats #stayathome

Marissa Tay Praises Brainard's Magical Years: Memories & Sketches

During these days of Coronavirus, I was particularly happy to hear from my college friend, Marissa Tay, who sent me her feedback about my book, Magical Years: Memories & Sketches. This book collects sketches inspired by my childhood in Cebu. Marissa was my classmate at Maryknoll College. She is a collector of Philippine weavings and she herself does weavings and artistic works using fabric. Thank you for your kind comments, Marissa.

I was happy that my book of sketches touched her as it did other Maryknollers: Maribel Paras, Tina Borja Heiter, Edna Del Rosario, Loreta Castro, Angeles De Leon, Miriam Durban Tagamolila, Lina David Ong, among others.

From Marissa Tay:

"I got your wonderful book a few days ago. Thank you so much. I was so busy unpacking my house, I forgot to acknowledge receiving it. But I read it na. I could relate to some of your memories. In Davao when I was growing up, we played the same fun games. My parents brought us on pasyals on weekends; we made trips to local library to borrow books, visited nearby ice-cream shops and bibingkahan ... slow, easy, uncomplicated life in the province.

The one thing we didn’t have in Mindanao, specifically Davao, were the old Spanish architectural churches and plazas that Cebu, Vigan, and Bacolod have to this day. When Spain colonized the Philippines, they did not touch Mindanao, thus the resettlement programs of Quezon and all the presidents after him.

Thanks again. How special - signed and numbered edition. When you’re in the East Coast, you know to call me."
~

MAGICAL YEARS: MEMORIES & SKETCHES by Cecilia Manguerra Brainard
(PALH 2020), 37 pages, book size is 8 x 8, hardbound
ISBN 9780971945890
Special Limited Edition - Each book is signed and numbered by the artist/author
43 Sketches in reed and pen and ink by Cecilia Manguerra Brainard, (hb) $45.00
Contact palhbooks@gmail.com for a copy.

Amazon also has copies for $55 plus shipping;

https://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/0971945896

Or email palh@aol.com or palhbooks@gmail.com, for the same book for $45, plus US shipping of $10.00.

http://palh-books.blogspot.com/p/magical-years-memories-sketches.html

https://www.facebook.com/Magical-Years-Memories-Sketches-by-Cecilia-Manguerra-Brainard-103538341189030/?modal=admin_todo_tour

Tags: reed sketches, bamboo sketches, pen and ink, art, Philippines, Cebu, #CeciliaBrainard