challenge.This is a response to @gaillery’s

I could have gone for the second question and talked about how my boyfriend and I met, but nah. This is wayyy more fun. Take note that as much as I want to write something related to women empowerment to go along with the challenger’s theme, I am going to go on a limb here and write something mildly deviating.

Take note that this might trigger nostalgia for some of my Filipino friends, especially those who used to or still live in a Bahay Kubo.

I want to answer Abegail’s first question:

What was the last thing you used in the house?

Presenting...

I swear on my native brown skin that I never expected to end up using this piece of artifact, but I did. To be honest, I just started using this again recently. Last time I used a lampaso was when I was still living in my grandpa’s bahay kubo, at maybe, 3-4 years old.

At that time, our shiny floor kit involved a broom, a couple of rags, STAR WAX™ red wax (we had bamboo floors ok?) and the mighty lampaso.

It started when I realized how sad the floor looked every time I worked out. My dad designed the whole lower floor to be covered in marble. Fancy~ I know, like a true bourgeois lol. It felt like the floor was weeping because it hasn’t been maximized to its full aesthetic capacity (I feel you floor, I feel you).

My girls and I under the instruction of our coach Riche (Credit of the photo goes to her)

What’s even sadder is that I could have used the floor for my exotic dance needs if it was smooth enough for my body to grind on. I miss exotic dancing. I learned it back a while ago while I was still enrolled at the studio. I’ll talk about my dancing escapades some other time. Now back to talking about my sad floor.

What happened next? I made it my personal initiative to start scrubbing the floor and make it feel pretty.

Here are some of the things I realized when I started using my lampaso again:

SCRUBBING THE FLOOR IS GOOD EXERCISE

No wonder why most Filipinos easily stayed a size 2 in the good ol’ days, despite most Filipinos living on a high-carbohydrate diet (Yes, I am talking about you, extra rice). They must have had some activity to channel their energy to keep their small frame.

When I tried it for the first time after a long time, I never realized how energy-demanding it is. Of course, you do not use the lampaso right away. Nope.

First you must sweep off the dust, then mop it with soap and water to get the mildly stubborn dirt out, then add floor wax using old rags, before leaving it to dry and using the lampaso to scrub the floor. Floor wax is what makes the floor shiny, and because I am pretty determined to make the most of it, I modified my floor wax addition activities to also work out my core.

The fun part of it is, I can mix and mash it up to varying levels of difficulty:

Forgive my belly this time, my brothers and I went to a buffet a few hours before 😆

Add weights? No weights? Scrub somewhere smooth or scrub somewhere rough? Increase speed or decrease speed? TABATA format or nada? Intense or nah? The variations are endless, plus I get to do some slight weight (furniture) lifting so I won’t miss any spots.

I'm not trying to show off, just displaying the type of workouts you can do with a lampaso

Thank the Lord for my pole lessons, and free work out ideas from my pole instructors. Because of all those months in pole training, I can at least tell which one of my exercise is working and which ones aren't. I hope my pole mommas are all proud of me.

HAVING A SHINY FLOOR IS SATISFYING AS HELL

Aside from the side perk of getting some cardio and core done, the obvious main perk is to be able to see the reflection of my parents’ furniture on the floor. I mean that is the purpose of scrubbing the floor, right? My lampaso and I still are not quite there yet. As I’ve said, I have only started, but dang it feels good to make some progress.

In my grandma’s own words, "maayu pa ni na exercise kay dako kag ginansya, masinaw ang sawug unya sington pa ka" (This exercise is way better! You get a shiny floor and sweat like a metalhead at the same time). My floor is getting so handsome, and gaining these babies back in the process:

THE LAMPASO IS THE MOST UNDERRATED NON-MODERN OBJECT KNOWN TO FILIPINOS

Compared to other native cleaning materials, the production of the lampaso is relatively easy. It only involves a dried coconut shell cut crosswise. It’s also pretty cheap, I bought mine for PHP 20 or 40 US cents.

It also doesn’t wear out easily. Last time I checked, one lampaso could last up to three months but that probably depends on a lot of factors that affect its wear and tear.

The bottom line? The lampaso is a nostalgic treasure, at least that’s how it is for Filipino millennials like me.

It’s so rare to find households that still use it these days. With the advances of technology and the existence of electrical floor scrubbers for convenience, it’s understandable that most people would ditch the lampaso and the idea of manual floor scrubbing. It’s either that or maybe people just don’t care about having shiny floors at all.

But you know, things have their perks and, in this case, it’s having the experience to earn a shiny floor and chiseled thighs at the same time that makes it worth it.

Here is a random lampaso for good luck

THE LAST THING I USED IN THE HOUSE AND WHAT ABOUT IT

Here are some of the things I realized when I started using my lampaso again: