I was chatting with Yeye on New Year’s Eve and she asked me how was 2008 for me. For her it was a bad year considering all that had happened – family problems and relationships and an accident if I may add. All I can say was - “it was a so-so for me”.
And so, let me refresh my memory if I can still remember some highlights of the year that has been!
Last year, Luine and I started it by moving from our little apartment in Santolan to a hippie one in a rooftop over looking the city of Mandaluyong which was sponsored by my mom [thanks to you we got rid of our former-psycho-hausmates!] and then eventually they [mom, maxx, and lala] joined us in the rooftops. That place is Love! It’s as if we were in a penthouse – though it’s more low-key! And it’s also cool that I was closer to the malls, ukays [hehe], sa palengke, pati sa church, and siempre sa work as it was the very reason why we had to rent there in the first place, not to mention I was also closer to my ex’s house but this was a different story!
Speaking of, it was my fourth month in Smedd and I was pretty busy with work because I had a stand alone supermarket to open soon which I think was already an overdue considering that it should have been completed by the year ends. It was my “baby” – as my fellow Do’s have coined it referring to the very first project that you handled, stayed late night OTs with, crammed for submissions and deadlines, brisk walked from building a to d to moa because manong shuttles were already off duty by the time we hit the chronolog machine, made you smoke a whole pack of ciggies, added layers of dark circles on my eyes, be scolded for late deliveries and orders or just be scolded for whatever reasons there were, work at home, work on holidays and just work. Nonetheless, it was all worth it! I have learned so much with the experience and I enjoyed it. Well at first.. Thus, after the first project I was given another one, and then another and another which held me up for having uplate inuman sessions, out of town trips, gigs and prax [my former bandmates hated me for this!], going back home, or just basically having a life outside of work! Good thing we still managed to have towers and coffees once in a while or even visit the carnival just outside the office – of course that happened after our ot hours were over or when the cat was away! [:
But with all work and no play made Tutay the laziest ass there was. It came to a point where I didn’t want to go to work and just stayed in the apartment and sleep. And get more sleep. I became a malingerer – because I had to cover up my absences. I became a non-malingerer – because I was really really sick. I became dishonest – because I had to create some convincing stories why I come late almost every single day and mrs. doubtfire irately asking where the hell I was. I became fraudulent – that I had to alter my ins in the chrono so there wouldn’t be questions asked. I was a mess. And yes I was fed up with work and with all of it.
Days passed and with all the rants that I have [pretty sure I’m not the only one], Jem called us. She left for Dubai last February - of course to seek greener pastures and be with Ser Jie who is now her fiancé [nice work Hubby]! She told us [Nic and I] that this certain company needs archi grads that can work with them. And all sponsorships will be covered by them. And that same day we can send them our CVs and a copy of our passports if we have. Swoosh! We were unprepared. We were not shocked at all. But we were speechless. We just gave each other the “yes” nod. And the next day we were lined up in DFA to get our passports. At that time, only three of us knew about it: me, Nic, and Jene. I haven’t even told it to my mom at first because I didn’t want to freak her out and I just told her that we needed passports at work. Eventually mom knew about it because we needed to get pieces of advice from her, enlightenment, and from my part I didn’t want to hide anything from her.
With all the hasels that we went through, I doubted that we can make it. God’s will was the only thing we that we can always say and pray. And after a month of preparations, Joan emailed us a copy of our visas and told us that we were booked on Cathay Pacific, 1100 hours, 4th of May, Sunday. That was the shocker!!! And it was already a Wednesday.
I only had four days to tell every one that I will be away. To some, I didn’t even have the guts to tell so as not to complicate things even more. And Yes, we had the greatest escape of all time! With every one telling us we were unprofessional, ungrateful, and irrational we took that flight. We took the risks and grabbed the opportunity. Nic had her own personal reasons and so was I. The next thing we knew we were in Dubai.
Of course, it was not easy and no one told me it will be but I was up for the challenge. New world. New work. Different people. Different languages. Different culture. It was time to adapt! It wasn’t that hard because I have friends here and a lot of kabayans very much willing to help another kabayan in need. I accustomed myself with everything – food, transportation, bus routes, vocabularies, currency conversions [haha], job timings, unfriendly and untidy foreigners [haha] and mostly the way of living. It was all fine until me and Nic had our first paycheck. Our employer didn’t give us the salary and benefits that we had agreed upon. And eventually we found out that he was covered with head-to-toe issues that are against the labor law of the UAE. We talked to him but he didn’t want to compromise so we decided to find another job. After a month of bumming around we end up with Jem’s company to fill in the posts that Kuya Carl and Kuya Gilbert had left, went to Kish to have our visas changed, learned 3ds max, and spend our everydays together. Lucky us we were then inseparable!
Months went on and on. I was settled and busied myself with work so that I could fill in the homesickness that I have been carrying around and the sadness that I have every time good news and bad news were being told to me via email. Maybe it was all so sudden or maybe it was just all part of it. Papa Nald once told me that he was here for three years now but he was never used to it. He still misses home as much as I do! So I just live it one day at a time, I have Nic and Jem and sometimes Ann anyway so we helped each other plus the family that I have here were terrrific so what the heck! [:
Until one day the past crawls back again from me. Things that were unsettled before I left. And thought it would be better to leave things the way they were so it won’t complicate things even more, feelings that I had to set aside so I can move on, and someone I neglected to see and thought I can get over with easily. But He kept looking for me and never gave up. He finally knew where I was when I replied to one of his emails, gave him the mobile number that I’m using here, sent an SMS, checked his remaining balance, and poof! It cost him 15 bucks! He knew I was in Dubai then. But he was cool with it and never asked me why I didn’t even say goodbye. He told me it didn’t matter so he managed to constantly check on me as long as there are a lot of mediums that he can use to reach me. So the uberly cautious person that I am, I knew this was something – something good but complicated and weird, something that makes me smile and worry but definitely makes my heart race all the time! This feeling that I chose not to feel before I left so I can live a normal life while I am away just kept coming back! I figured. I know I am about to make one of the biggest risk of my life. And I took it! Considering how we left things maybe there was really something special between me and Mems. Something that is worth fighting for even in the farthest places or the most difficult situations!
So in the latter, it was all about survival, beating homesickness away, trying to be close to home as much as possible, more weeping, missing and longing. The year 2008 had thought me a lot of experiences and had given me my “firsts”.. It allowed me to explore my horizon, knowledge, and visions. I lose friends along the way but I gained more. It gave me a lot of emotions that made me stronger and made me believe that someone out there is guiding me all along.
It was one hell of a roller coaster ride! And if ever I am about to live my life again I’m pretty sure I want to go through all these again – it was a so-so but it was unbelievable! [:
Last year, Luine and I started it by moving from our little apartment in Santolan to a hippie one in a rooftop over looking the city of Mandaluyong which was sponsored by my mom [thanks to you we got rid of our former-psycho-hausmates!] and then eventually they [mom, maxx, and lala] joined us in the rooftops. That place is Love! It’s as if we were in a penthouse – though it’s more low-key! And it’s also cool that I was closer to the malls, ukays [hehe], sa palengke, pati sa church, and siempre sa work as it was the very reason why we had to rent there in the first place, not to mention I was also closer to my ex’s house but this was a different story!
Speaking of, it was my fourth month in Smedd and I was pretty busy with work because I had a stand alone supermarket to open soon which I think was already an overdue considering that it should have been completed by the year ends. It was my “baby” – as my fellow Do’s have coined it referring to the very first project that you handled, stayed late night OTs with, crammed for submissions and deadlines, brisk walked from building a to d to moa because manong shuttles were already off duty by the time we hit the chronolog machine, made you smoke a whole pack of ciggies, added layers of dark circles on my eyes, be scolded for late deliveries and orders or just be scolded for whatever reasons there were, work at home, work on holidays and just work. Nonetheless, it was all worth it! I have learned so much with the experience and I enjoyed it. Well at first.. Thus, after the first project I was given another one, and then another and another which held me up for having uplate inuman sessions, out of town trips, gigs and prax [my former bandmates hated me for this!], going back home, or just basically having a life outside of work! Good thing we still managed to have towers and coffees once in a while or even visit the carnival just outside the office – of course that happened after our ot hours were over or when the cat was away! [:
But with all work and no play made Tutay the laziest ass there was. It came to a point where I didn’t want to go to work and just stayed in the apartment and sleep. And get more sleep. I became a malingerer – because I had to cover up my absences. I became a non-malingerer – because I was really really sick. I became dishonest – because I had to create some convincing stories why I come late almost every single day and mrs. doubtfire irately asking where the hell I was. I became fraudulent – that I had to alter my ins in the chrono so there wouldn’t be questions asked. I was a mess. And yes I was fed up with work and with all of it.
Days passed and with all the rants that I have [pretty sure I’m not the only one], Jem called us. She left for Dubai last February - of course to seek greener pastures and be with Ser Jie who is now her fiancé [nice work Hubby]! She told us [Nic and I] that this certain company needs archi grads that can work with them. And all sponsorships will be covered by them. And that same day we can send them our CVs and a copy of our passports if we have. Swoosh! We were unprepared. We were not shocked at all. But we were speechless. We just gave each other the “yes” nod. And the next day we were lined up in DFA to get our passports. At that time, only three of us knew about it: me, Nic, and Jene. I haven’t even told it to my mom at first because I didn’t want to freak her out and I just told her that we needed passports at work. Eventually mom knew about it because we needed to get pieces of advice from her, enlightenment, and from my part I didn’t want to hide anything from her.
With all the hasels that we went through, I doubted that we can make it. God’s will was the only thing we that we can always say and pray. And after a month of preparations, Joan emailed us a copy of our visas and told us that we were booked on Cathay Pacific, 1100 hours, 4th of May, Sunday. That was the shocker!!! And it was already a Wednesday.
I only had four days to tell every one that I will be away. To some, I didn’t even have the guts to tell so as not to complicate things even more. And Yes, we had the greatest escape of all time! With every one telling us we were unprofessional, ungrateful, and irrational we took that flight. We took the risks and grabbed the opportunity. Nic had her own personal reasons and so was I. The next thing we knew we were in Dubai.
Of course, it was not easy and no one told me it will be but I was up for the challenge. New world. New work. Different people. Different languages. Different culture. It was time to adapt! It wasn’t that hard because I have friends here and a lot of kabayans very much willing to help another kabayan in need. I accustomed myself with everything – food, transportation, bus routes, vocabularies, currency conversions [haha], job timings, unfriendly and untidy foreigners [haha] and mostly the way of living. It was all fine until me and Nic had our first paycheck. Our employer didn’t give us the salary and benefits that we had agreed upon. And eventually we found out that he was covered with head-to-toe issues that are against the labor law of the UAE. We talked to him but he didn’t want to compromise so we decided to find another job. After a month of bumming around we end up with Jem’s company to fill in the posts that Kuya Carl and Kuya Gilbert had left, went to Kish to have our visas changed, learned 3ds max, and spend our everydays together. Lucky us we were then inseparable!
Months went on and on. I was settled and busied myself with work so that I could fill in the homesickness that I have been carrying around and the sadness that I have every time good news and bad news were being told to me via email. Maybe it was all so sudden or maybe it was just all part of it. Papa Nald once told me that he was here for three years now but he was never used to it. He still misses home as much as I do! So I just live it one day at a time, I have Nic and Jem and sometimes Ann anyway so we helped each other plus the family that I have here were terrrific so what the heck! [:
Until one day the past crawls back again from me. Things that were unsettled before I left. And thought it would be better to leave things the way they were so it won’t complicate things even more, feelings that I had to set aside so I can move on, and someone I neglected to see and thought I can get over with easily. But He kept looking for me and never gave up. He finally knew where I was when I replied to one of his emails, gave him the mobile number that I’m using here, sent an SMS, checked his remaining balance, and poof! It cost him 15 bucks! He knew I was in Dubai then. But he was cool with it and never asked me why I didn’t even say goodbye. He told me it didn’t matter so he managed to constantly check on me as long as there are a lot of mediums that he can use to reach me. So the uberly cautious person that I am, I knew this was something – something good but complicated and weird, something that makes me smile and worry but definitely makes my heart race all the time! This feeling that I chose not to feel before I left so I can live a normal life while I am away just kept coming back! I figured. I know I am about to make one of the biggest risk of my life. And I took it! Considering how we left things maybe there was really something special between me and Mems. Something that is worth fighting for even in the farthest places or the most difficult situations!
So in the latter, it was all about survival, beating homesickness away, trying to be close to home as much as possible, more weeping, missing and longing. The year 2008 had thought me a lot of experiences and had given me my “firsts”.. It allowed me to explore my horizon, knowledge, and visions. I lose friends along the way but I gained more. It gave me a lot of emotions that made me stronger and made me believe that someone out there is guiding me all along.
It was one hell of a roller coaster ride! And if ever I am about to live my life again I’m pretty sure I want to go through all these again – it was a so-so but it was unbelievable! [:
And who knows what will 2009 be like..
will it be the day that i finally come home for good or even for bad..
will it still be as crazy as the last one..
or will i still be here looking for different adventures in life..
i am sure you'll be surprised!
1 comments:
Flushed back! Nice! haha thats funny, i sometimes get flushed back.
btw changed my url. i am now http://ieatlitter.blogspot.com
Sorry for the shameless plugging. Pis awt!
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