It seems clearly insane to come home three times in a span of less than six months. It may be costly, but I would like to think of it more as investing on my sanity...hahaha! I love coming home because it offers me an opportunity to reconnect with friends and family. I can do that online, sure, but nothing beats seeing them and actually hugging and kissing them. To a certain extent, it is also indulgence on my part, because I can be the makulit Roma that everyone has come to love (I would like to think it is that! hahaha!).
However, coming home this time is slightly different - I am distracted and restless. The upcoming wedding is stressful - I am going to be a bridesmaid and the wedding is out of town. I will only be staying in the country for a little over a week - thus I need to cram dealing with banks, checkups, trips to the spa and the parlor, seeing friends, watching cable TV, etc in 10 days. I have yet to recover from the stress of losing my wallet and my Overseas Employment Certificate. There is also an amount of stress from the fact that I have lost two relatives in a span of 9 days and that I have not been able to see my relatives during this difficult time.
The process of returning to the Philippines can also be very exhausting - making sure you book the flights at the right time (especially when there are promos), planning the logistics (we don't have a car and we live 2 hours away from the airport) and deciding what to do, who to meet, etc. Then there is the herculean task of packing - baggage limit can be anything from 20-35kg and so far I have managed to bring a variety of things - an LCD TV, bottles of perfume, chocolates, books, a flat iron and even old clothes! Guess I truly have become your typical OFW (Overseas Filipino Worker), sans the glitter of gold jewelry and leather jackets, hahaha!
At the airport, you can easily distinguish the Pinoys from the rest of the world - they like to be in clusters and seem to be chatting noisily all the time! At a glance, you will think that they are all friends, but if you listen close enough, they all just met at the airport!!! Enough said about not talking to strangers! Filipinos probably have the most interesting hand-carried luggage too - the biggest teddy bear, doll or toy car, the most number of toothpaste, coffeemate, nescafe, bath soap and chocolates ever! A great number of them tote laptops and the fanciest phones too. The others are garbed in their newest Nikes. You get the old-timer OFW who is usually the calmest (been there, done that) and you get the this-is-my-first-time-to-go-home-after-X-years-and-I'm-so-excited-can't-you-tell lot who are obviously the noisiest. There is a mix of anxiety and longing in the air - ate is coming home to introduce a foreigner boyfriend or a child fathered by a foreigner, kuya is nervous to see what has become of his family after ten years, ate finally coming home after escaping from an employer from hell, kuya proudly telling everyone that his son is finishing college and you have the likes of me who just want to come home, chill out and gain a piece of her sanity back.
Once the purser announces that the plane has landed at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport, the plane bursts into life. People start bringing out their phones long before the plane reaches full stop. Some even clap their hands, overjoyed that they have finally reached their homeland. As the tube connects to the plane, people jump up and reach for their stuff in the overhead cabin. What ensues after is a mad rush to get out of the plane and survive the queues at the Immigration. Once at the baggage carousels, there is a market-like atmosphere. One by one, the luggage emerge - a balikbayan box filled with more soap, chocolate, towels, clothes and toys, 32-inch LCD TVs from every manufacturer known - and the addresses listed come from everywhere, Cagayan in the North to Davao in the South! The passengers all look haggard but still manage to smile. The Pinoy, always the gentleman, never forgets to assist the Pinay in pulling out the luggage from the carousel. Shouts of "Kabayan, salamat!" (Thank you, fellow Pinoy!) and "Ingat!" (Take care!) abound.
After leaving the Arrivals area, Pinoys then have to maneuver their way to the winding ramp to see the eagerly-awating relatives on the other side. Again, you will hear the petite Pinays letting out squeals because they are too small to resist the gravity and end up getting dragged by the trolley filled with heavy luggage. By the time everyone reaches the ramp, they are partly running, crying and laughing! The passengers now join a sea of confused faces as everyone is trying to locate their loved ones. It is only a matter of time before everyone finds each other and the confusion, longing and anxiety are replaced with laughter, smiles, hugs and kisses. The foreigner boyfriend gets a warm hug from his girlfriend's mother. The half-Pinoy, half-foreigner kid becomes the apple of everyone's eye. The father gets teary-eyed to see his kids all grown up. As for me, I always get the shock of my life because my mom just appears from out of nowhere and says Boo! (I guess I have always been scared of big crowds so I rely on my mother to find me all the time!)
Excuse me while I enjoy watching cable from my LCD TV and my aircon. :)
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Bitten By The Food Bug
is the title of my new mini-blog in Tumblr. As I love taking pictures of the food I eat, this is the easiest way to share my food pictures (with the hope of making people salivate in the process. Haha!). Travelling to other countries can be very expensive so I just let my tastebuds do the exploring. Dubai plays host to a variety of cuisines and eating can arguably be this city's favorite activity (but the shopaholics might protest). This mini-blog will chronicle my journey with food (and includes info on where I ate it, how much it costs and if I am not too lazy, how it tastes) and pay homage to the ones who created it. It is my hope that my photos will do justice to their masterpieces. To the people who want to know what is there to eat, this will give you an idea. To the ones who ask why I am not losing weight, this is your answer. To my friends who get stopped from digging in until I take a picture of the food, this is where all the photos go.
Join me on my food adventure at: http://bittenbythefoodbug.tumblr.com/.
Because life has a lot of flavor.
Join me on my food adventure at: http://bittenbythefoodbug.tumblr.com/.
Because life has a lot of flavor.
Sunday, March 6, 2011
Roma's State of Mind
I was walking home tonight after a long day at work and suddenly, a thought occurred to me. I am happy to be where I am but I am raring to go and explore more of the world.
After almost three years in Dubai, I can say I have eaten my way through it, seen the sights, learned to do housechores, lived with lots of people and experienced diversity firsthand. I am happy because I can say I have achieved a certain level of comfort working and living here. I had come at a time when recession was starting to peak but I am glad to have caught a glimpse of how people react to the most adverse of circumstances. I have had the pleasure of working with some of the best and the most hardworking people I have known. After almost three years, I have learned to deal with the different characters at work - the man I affectionately call my father, who can arguably behave like a brat at any given time of the day, the woman who is reputably the craziest of them lot, the quintessential last minute man and the man who likes to wear blue when he visits the office because he thinks he gets better treatment from me. After almost three years, I already know how they want their tea or coffee. They in turn already know that the best way to say thank you for doing crappy things like formatting BOQs or binding reams of papers is through food - a bar of chocolate, lunch or Starbucks. If they go on trips, they know what to get me - postcards or money. If they get their post, they automatically surrender the stamps to me. I am happy to give an answer to the weirdest queries, happy to teach a few tricks in MS Word or Excel, happy to book the most complex of flights, happy to lend my writing and editing skills to each letter, report and submission that goes out of this office. I am happy to just make things happen for everyone, perhaps except for me.
Unfortunately, at the end of the day, I cannot hide the fact that I yearn to do something else - something that will make use of my brain more extensively, something that will eventually pay more money. I may be good at what I am doing now (ok, maybe except for the filing bit) but the call to excel at something more meaningful is something that has been resounding in my head for quite sometime now. Change is the more important issue that I need to address right now - it could be in the form of moving to a different company or maybe even moving to a different country. I am still buying my time, gathering enough courage, battling with myself and praying to God. It will only be a matter of time before I stray from my comfort zone and plunge into the unknown.
After almost three years in Dubai, I can say I have eaten my way through it, seen the sights, learned to do housechores, lived with lots of people and experienced diversity firsthand. I am happy because I can say I have achieved a certain level of comfort working and living here. I had come at a time when recession was starting to peak but I am glad to have caught a glimpse of how people react to the most adverse of circumstances. I have had the pleasure of working with some of the best and the most hardworking people I have known. After almost three years, I have learned to deal with the different characters at work - the man I affectionately call my father, who can arguably behave like a brat at any given time of the day, the woman who is reputably the craziest of them lot, the quintessential last minute man and the man who likes to wear blue when he visits the office because he thinks he gets better treatment from me. After almost three years, I already know how they want their tea or coffee. They in turn already know that the best way to say thank you for doing crappy things like formatting BOQs or binding reams of papers is through food - a bar of chocolate, lunch or Starbucks. If they go on trips, they know what to get me - postcards or money. If they get their post, they automatically surrender the stamps to me. I am happy to give an answer to the weirdest queries, happy to teach a few tricks in MS Word or Excel, happy to book the most complex of flights, happy to lend my writing and editing skills to each letter, report and submission that goes out of this office. I am happy to just make things happen for everyone, perhaps except for me.
Unfortunately, at the end of the day, I cannot hide the fact that I yearn to do something else - something that will make use of my brain more extensively, something that will eventually pay more money. I may be good at what I am doing now (ok, maybe except for the filing bit) but the call to excel at something more meaningful is something that has been resounding in my head for quite sometime now. Change is the more important issue that I need to address right now - it could be in the form of moving to a different company or maybe even moving to a different country. I am still buying my time, gathering enough courage, battling with myself and praying to God. It will only be a matter of time before I stray from my comfort zone and plunge into the unknown.
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