Wednesday, October 18, 2017

On A Lighter Note

Yes I am still on a very long vacation. I am still not on luck to have such needed job. Maybe God is really working to be able for me to see what is really important for me. Maybe.

And now I am thinking on what really is important for me. I am thinking about saving so that in the future I will be secured. I am thinking of some basic life truths lately.

And I know God has the best plan for me. All I have to do is wait and do my job also.

Thursday, October 12, 2017

My Last Day in Dammam

These photo were taken on my very last day in Dammam last year maybe September 21 or 22. Again thank you Dammam for taking care of me for almost three years. Thanks for all the memories. For all the tears, the laughter, the memories that will always linger on my spirit. Till we meet again!







Once Again Thank You










Memories will never complete without the people and friends that give meaning to every single time that I have stayed in Saudi Arabia. Thank you for the memories, for the laughter, for the struggle that we have won and for all the wonderful memories that we have shared. They say that the world is round we will meet again somehow, someday, somewhere out there!

Memorable Places



These photos will never be complete. I have so many pictures that I have saved and shared mostly on Facebook and now here in my blogs because those places are really meant something to me. Thanks to all the memories that I have shared with my friends on those places. I hope I could there someday.
Again.






In Full Swing


 I was in Saudi Arabia from 2013 up to 2016 and yes I have many photographs and these two are some examples. I made these two for the post because of some sentimental values. On the left is my humble office before and the right is the empty playground in the corniche.

I missed the busy day always with me in that tiny office. I missed the people that sometimes made me happy and sometimes sad only resided now in my memories. My managers who always had time with me as well others who needed my assistance. I missed that.

And that empty playground that somehow like my empty life - maybe not so empty but not fulfilled for some reasons I do not know why up to now.

Life In Still Or In Motion


It was near sunset. We were traveling on our bus on the way to Dammam.  Everyday this was my scenery. Sometimes this memory haunted me and made me lonely. It made me sad that once in my life I had experienced living in the dessert. Though I want to return, luck was not on my side now. But I am not totally hopeless, I know I could work again somewhere else maybe there again.

What was I am thinking that time? in the bus looking for every sunset? maybe longing for the Philippines. or maybe just want to rest? But honestly I have missed those times. My friends, my colleagues, everyone on our plant.

Hope to see them somewhere, somehow, some time!

Friends For Life

High School was the best or one of the best times of our life! And those colorful and memorable memories still or kept on lingering even up to now. Thanks to our effort every year to have a reunion. Actually we almost have reunion or get together annually and thanks also to myself for organizing it! hahahaha! Though some of the others classmates cannot really attend, their minds and hearts are still with us. And unfortunately they were the center of topics whenever they did not attend!
So again December is fast approaching and we will be busy again to contact everyone even if they are abroad or relocated somewhere else.




Idle


There are seasons for everything - a time to hope, a time to just get along. And sometimes a time to be alone.

Thanks for all the circumstances that I have been to. Thanks to all the phases of my life that I am growing, I am making mistakes and I am reflecting.

Corniche Dammam - those nights alone looking at the sea. Looking for some answers and yet I have heard some voices maybe self-reflection that life is indeed a gift. Thank you.

In a park alone - I love the sound of nothingness when I could only hear is my thought. My thoughts that resonate and took me back in time. To cry. To remember everything. And to learn.


At Home Again


And yes I am at home! It is almost one year and one month now that I have arrived from Saudi Arabia. And my life has never been so wonderful like this! Though I am still struggling to get a good offer from the many applications that I have, I can say that I have seen and really want to thank God by allowing me to see His grand purpose for me. I know I have not seen it fully but I know I am on that direction. This is really a blessing in disguise! I know that our Lord has the best plans for all of us. All we can do now is to wait. I have seen a very quotation about what is happening to me right now: it is something like this - God is not yet giving us what we asked  for because what He wants is to experience Him as of the moment. Thanks to my family and friends for keeping me sane is sometimes so harsh reality that I am  going through everyday. And let me share to you some of the memorable observations that I have in living for one year as doing nothing almost at all.

1. Somehow you are not alone - I have always tried my best to apply for a new job eversince I have landed here in our country. I know that I really need to have a job for financial support as well as for professional growth. However luck was not really on my side now. I have so many applications, then some interviews and a couple of offers local and abroad but somehow I managed not to accept because of some reasons. And everytime I am applying in an agency for deployment abroad, I have seen and talked to other applicants and believe me they have the same fate as me as well as some thousands or even millions that have got out of work mostly from Middle East. Some have spent 15 years or more and yet their contract have ended. And that is only because of the Oil Recession in the Middle East. And yes there are so many openings again but the job market has stiff competition and the lowest bidder or the applicant who will ask for the lowest salary will be hired. And mind you, the low salary that I am mentioning is somehow so low it almost cut my previous take home pay up to half or even more. That is one of the reason I have turned down some offers before. And I guess that scenario will last maybe a couple of years or more.

2. Living to my means - Before when I have a job in Saudi and money is somehow not a problem, I tend to purchase more and yet not so needed products. Before I used to eat at a fancy restaurants and have some coffee and tea to those Starbucks-like shop. But now I am thinking my future now. I still have some decent amount of means to buy however I am calculating what will remain if I go for the same habit as before. So now I settled for some lesser amount of expenses and luckily it helped me to realized to get back into shape. I am now on a diet but not so strict and thanks to my family who provide nutritious fooods like vegetables and fruits. And religiously I have lessened my intake of carbohydrates especially rice. And it is paying off. I know I have lose significant fats especially in my belly.

3. Life begins at 40 - yes I have turned 40 years old last June and I cannot stop aging but so be it. I have also noticed that some of the much older people who I admired most are really increasing in numbers. I have seen them in a local mall almost everyday when I am there too. They have this group and God knows why or what they are up to. Maybe some bonding with some colleagues or just malling around. And years from now I am seeing myself like them too. But I guess it is not too late to have some busy schedules on work before settling on that scene with senior citizen!

4. Social media presence - yes like most of the adults and teens worldwide I am somehow addicted to social media especially Facebook and others. And sometimes it really got into my system that even in my bed I have my smartphone and checking some updates. I also went into tourist escapade to different places just to see and of course to photograph the attractions and have selfie so that I could post them on social media. Then there comes a time that I guess I want to quit. And I cannot. So my solution is just to control it. And it is really hard to control the automatic habit of checking and posting and sharing almost everything online. But now I am making progress. I make it sure that my post and sharing activities are not that much compared previously.

So bye for now and I hope I could update here more often!


It Begins Now

 I am now here in Batangas City. My hometown. My city. That never sleeps. I have myself and my mother. She is 83 now. And I am turning 47 th...