Double Friday Five 27-November-2020

[elusivek]

Double this time! The LJ thefridayfive questions are actually from last week (20-November), I missed them. Here they are:

1. Have you started decorating for holidays yet or are you going to skip it this year?
It's again a cultural difference, I suppose. It's not really a thing to deck out all Christmas stuff over here. In my family, I guess because we are somewhat "western", we do put up a Christmas Tree and have the Stable Scene and maybe some ornaments (what's that called... not the advent calendar... but the wreath thing?)... and maybe a week or 2 before Christmas... not 2 months before...

2. Will your gift buying be more local or online this year because of restrictions?
I'm still ruminating. I should start shopping though! I want to avoid the crazy crowds.

3. Will you be doing something ‘extra’ to try and give this year’s celebration a bit more sparkle?
Nah.

4. No parties this year, but how are you reaching out to family and friends to wish them well?
The Obligatory Family Christmas Party will still go on. I guess the people of Macau are rather self-disciplined (for a lack of a better word) and it's around 240 days without a new case (tally is still 46 total, no deaths, and all recovered) so we don't have any hard restrictions. Gatherings still allowed. So the party will go on.

5. Do you believe in Krampus? If you don't know who is is, follow the link. (And where's the link? I'll supply it myself)
It's only very recently that I learnt of Krampus. Which, I guess, fair enough, if there is Saint Nicholas rewarding good kids, then there should be someone punishing naughty kids. But I myself as a kid never heard of him. Only very recently my Dad was joking about a devil figure with a stick beating kids up (forgot what the conversation was about) and I was all "WTF? What are you on about?" But he didn't give a very enlightening explanation (he didn't give any explanation)... and I had to search the info myself. Thanks, Dad. Interestingly, my Mom didn't seem to know about it either, and of course, Wiki says it's an Austrian/Bavaria/Tyrol/Northern Italy/Croatia/Hungary thing...

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And the following questions from F.riday5.com, for this week 27-November:

1. Where do you get most of your pandemic-related news?
Well. For the international news, then the news on the TV. For local news, I read the daily summary my company's corporate PR issues out. They summarize nicely the status in Hong Kong and Macau (that's why I could so easily mention those statistics figure just now somewhere up there). Also, the Macau government set up a telegram news group thing and they issue updates. It's sometimes annoying as they still send updates in the middle of the night.

2. How do you feel about your local government’s leadership during this pandemic?
The first response was terrific. Macau relies heavily on Casino tax money, and yet, when the pandemic was just starting in February, our new Chief Executive very heavy-handedly demanded Casino closure and border closure for 2 weeks. Then he issued subsidies to all residents (yes, we were issued cold hard cash to spend). Quoting him, "we claim to be a rich city. There is a crisis now. If we don't spend our savings now during a crisis, when do you want to spend it?"

3. What does your favorite mask look like, and about how many masks have you accumulated?
I don't care about mask designs. I simply use those bought under the government scheme. My Mom wants me to buy from other shops, colorful and pretty ones, but I refused. I only buy those approved by the government hospital, plain blue or green ones, like when doctors use during surgery. Well, just a couple days ago, they said on the news that all those pretty and colorful face masks contain too much coloring and is harmful as well. I don't need the news to tell me that.

4. Where have you most often had takeout during this pandemic?
No such restrictions and since I've moved back to an office that is within a hotel, I pretty much dine in restaurants every day. No more takeouts for me.

5. What new interests, skills, or hobbies have you picked up since mid-March?
Plants! Not as "devoted" as my sister, but I had no plants for the longest time... now I have 5 pots or so.

Comments

[spikesgirl58.livejournal.com]

It's scary how much on line shopping I've done this year, but it is so much easier than taking a chance with CV.

[blastofserenity.livejournal.com]

So many people took up gardening/collecting plants during the pandemic. My hubby worse for one of our local tv stations and they do a show with people who own a local gardening shop and they said they've had the best business they've ever had this year. XD