A World Without China

Made in China, from clothes, to households materials, to toys, to appliances, to accessories, almost everything can be from China. It is almost impossible to see a household without any product with the words “Made in China” or at least Chinese related. It is without a doubt that Philippines is a haven for Chinese people. As far as 1600s Chinese people had already started coming to the Philippines and established their own culture and identity here in the country. Inter-marriages happened, and until now we can see Filipino-Chinese occupying major businesses here in the Philippines. Given all this, can you even imagine a world without China.

To me, I honestly wouldn’t be here without China, so in other words a world without China to me feels, empty. As their cultures and traditions have somewhat been a part of me, I would be incredibly downhearted if all of those would just disappear. A large part of the population around the world has a small mixed blood of Chinese in them. Knowing that in the past there came a time where war and starvation fell upon the people in the mainland that they had to migrate to other countries. Philippines being one of the countries the Chinese people have immigrated to. Therefore citizens around the Philippines that has Chinese blood wouldn’t be so difficult to find.

In a worldly basis, the disappearance of China would definitely make a huge difference since
China is one of the earliest civilizations in the world, where their expertise of trading and innovating has been an example for other countries to follow, the world depends on China for products because of cheap production prices. China has a lot of factories, which is why famous brands such as Nike, Louis Vuitton, etc. mass produce their products in China.

China is also known for their way of life such as the silk roads that opened trades from east to west, that even the exchanging information of politics, cultures, religions, are exchanged there.

Though there are some controversy that China is a part of and that is the claiming of the Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea/West Philippine Sea. It has been a problem now for years and even the UN had to interfere with it. I guess without China we wouldn’t have that kind of problem of claiming what land. But it’s still China and I’m part of it so I will stay neutral about it. China itself is a big country and if they continue to expand their territory it’s only a matter of time until they decide to repeat world war 2. Where they slowly take islands, to territories, to lands, and others, eventually it will make China almost invincible.

Recently China created a new trend called Covid 19, where in a matter of months Covid 19 have spread worldwide and the attention falls onto it for a long time. This virus has originally been found in Wuhan, China. We can say a world without China would be a world without Covid. But despite the disease they are not to blame for it is not intentional to receive the Corona Virus. Honestly speaking China is known for eating a lot of exotic animals and insects that it has somewhat became a culture to them to explore and find more things to eat. The bat soup eating incident is nothing more than a culture to China. Not a plot to start world domination.

Over all China has its own ups and downs, but many will be affected if China is non-existent. Lesser people, lesser progress, lesser traditions and cultures to learn. China is a hotpot of knowledge and new learnings. A lot will change with the disappearance of such a great and ancient civilization.

During the times of quarantine a lot of things has happened surprisingly. Staying at home doesn’t really sound much. But there are a lot of things people can do at home, one of which is improving one self. No matter what it could be, probably a better life style for a healthier life, going back to old hobbies, and even learning new skills.

I didn’t plan on doing much in quarantine but just let it past. Until I hit a realization that what I’ve been doing has been doing nothing good for my body. Suddenly the quarantine got extended and as days go by I got bored of the daily routine I’ve been doing. That’s when I started to make plans on what to do in every day. I decided to fix my sleeping schedule, my eating habits, my daily exercise, and many more. But it wasn’t enough. I just felt that despite this schedule there are still a lot of free time in the day. So I made more plans and disciplined myself that I will stick to my plans. I started practicing my singing, playing instruments, make recordings, cooking, baking, cleaning the house, going online to look for more recipes to try. I continued to keep up with these schedules and eventually I got good in them.

Try and Try Until You Succeed

Practicing things are never easy the first time. People have to be consistent of what they are suppose to do, when you say you’ll go jogging at 4am in the morning tomorrow, then you have to wake up earlier to be able to jog at 4am in the morning. It sounds dreadful, but that is only at the start. Sticking with your schedule and what you say is a great way to discipline yourself. There will be times when you’ve done it 3 or 4 times already you’ll start thinking that you’re tired of this and want to go back to not doing it. You have to have that dedication of sticking to your word and think about all the progress you’ve made. There are times that you’ll hate something but continue to do it and you just don’t know why. All you know is it would help you and improve yourself. When you give up halfway through you’ll have a heavy feeling in yourself that’ll make you say, “I should’ve jogged today” and you’ll feel like terrible. Another reason why sticking to your plans will help you not just physically but also mentally.

Old Hobbies and New Talent

We people tend to overlook things or forget things when we’re busy with school or with work that we don’t have time to have fun anymore. This quarantine is a great time to revisit those forgotten things, maybe go to your drawer and pull out your sketch pad and drawing materials. Open your refrigerator and go shopping for groceries and learn new recipes, put on your earphones and sing along with your favorite music artist, pick up your instrument and play it once again. There are a lot more things you can do, you’ll start to reminisce about what it used to be back in the days. Before we started being too serious about life there was a time in our lives that we just do something we want for ourselves. So why forget about what made us creative back then. We can’t be happy with just focusing on work. We don’t always get vacations, we have to do something even if it’s only a little thing that would help us relax from all the stress.

If we’re not sure about going back to old hobbies or we don’t feel it anymore, remember, it’s not the only things people can do. There are a lot more to learn, maybe open a book and start reading it can be your new hobby. Try something you haven’t done before and don’t bring yourself down after trying once and failing. Because failure is part of the process of learning. You might even come to like the new hobby you’re doing or trying. Just give it a bit of time, and you’ll see improvements the next time you try.

During lunch time as a senior high school student, I spend time with my friends and classmates. Casually sit down and have a chat, joke around, annoy the hell out of each other. But what we really expect from each other during that time was what our lunch would be. Because sometimes we’ll trade and sometimes we’ll be selfish because it’s what we want. Half of my friends on the table normally have packed lunches from their home. I buy my lunch at the school canteen. I always go for one of the items in out canteen. It was carbonara, I wasn’t looking forward to the carbonara as a whole, I really wanted the sauce. Luckily the little stand in the canteen had this item that has rice, chicken tonkatasu, and the very delicious carbonara sauce. My friends would often trade with me for their lunches cuz they like the sauce too.

As a home cook, last weekend, I said to myself, “I miss that sauce” so I went ahead and researched about carbonara sauces. But they weren’t the ones I use to eat during senior high school. I researched more and I came upon alfredo sauces. With that in mind I made it. And successfully recreated the sauce during senior high school. Then I thought to myself, “how can I make this better?” then it started, I experimented and came with the perfect alfredo sauce recipe that I am willing to share.

Here is the recipe to my version of a tasty alfredo sauce:

Ingredients:

2 250ml all purpose cream 4 cloves of garlic 1/4 cup butter 1tsp salt and pepper 2tsp basil leaves 1 cup of grated parmesan cheese 1/4 cup of water

Instructions:

Mince the 4 cloves of garlic, use a small pot put over medium low heat, melt the butter, once melted add the garlic, saute(mix) for 5 mins, don’t let the garlic burn, add the salt and pepper, mix well. Then add the all purpose cream, stir until smooth before adding parmesan cheese. Then add the basil leaves. Use the 1/4 cup of water, add until to your desired consistency.

With that I share to all of you my take on an alfredo sauce. This sauce made me reminisce my senior high days.

I, Me, and Myself

Hi, I’m Emman. Just Emman, I am but a single person in this vast, unending world of we don’t know. I’m pretty happy with my life with the way it is. No taxes, no bills, and least exciting part? Is that I also have no money. I am a graduate of senior high school and currently a college student. Yes, I live in my parents house. I remember as a kid I had a dream, of being a chef, a michelin star chef with restaurants scattered across the globe. Even a performer rocking on stage with the crowd chanting my name. Then I grew up and I realize, “wow, those are some big dreams young me”. I thought it through, saying I can learn how to cook and sing while studying other things. so here I am studying Communication Arts. I don’t regret it, because I know it can land me a decent and hopefully a full time job. That’s all I want. Not gonna lie being a chef or a performer is still in my sights.