Friday, January 30, 2009


Last Friday, we had our lunch at the Sharjah Carlton Hotel [posted above is the hotel‘s façade, thanks to Yahoo! for the download]. The said lunch was arranged by my parents’ employers for their entire clan and that had been a chance for me to meet some of them for the first time since I came back. Everybody was surprised and happy to see me again. Everyone kept exclaiming “Masha Allah”. I think its one of their expressions to denote a feeling of surprise from seeing someone they haven’t met for a long time. And MEYN, I too felt a lot of shock seeing the kids I played with before. They sure grew! I mean, yeah, they all outgrew me. [L sad face from someone disappointed of his own height]. My favourite playmate before was ABDUL AZIZ, my parents’ employers‘ eldest grandson. He’s actually 5 years younger than me and now you’d be surprise to see him with a lot of facial hair and about 5” inches taller than I am. Even his sister YASMIN outgrew me! She’s just 12 but I think she’s a inch taller than I am. And when I left she could barely pronounce well, now she’s typically talkative for her age.

Man, that afternoon became really busy for me from all that smiling, which slightly strained my entire face. I also did a lot of shaking hands with all the people I was introduced with. It was really awesome because I felt a bit like a celebrity that day. Heheh! J Not to mention the FOOD. Yep, they were all Arabic food, but the were all delicious! Especially the dessert! Yumm. I can’t wait for another one of those parties coz my mom only makes Arabic desserts occasionally. Sigh.

And for all of those who are curious, YEP my parents work domestically. My mom’s their maid and my dad’s their driver. Would you believe me if I say that my mom has been with them for the last 28 years already?! Yup. That’s so true. Furthermore, my dad started working here when he and my mom got married. He used to work here as a mechanic when they haven’t met yet. You see, my mom came here when she was just 19 years old and lucky for her (and even for us) to have found really kind and generous employers. She went abroad at an early age when her father became incapable of sending her to college because life was really hard for them back then. That’s why my mom opted to fly abroad instead to help my grandpa. And that’s the story. My dad naman, he was able to come here through the help of his mother who also used to work here as a maid. Coincidentally, my grandmother’s and my mom’s employers are relatives, so that’s how my parents met. Then they got married and had me as a baby after two years. They couldn’t quit their jobs just to take care of me so my grandparents from my father’s side took the responsibility of looking after me while my parents resumed their jobs here abroad. When I got a little older, I think I was five when they took me here for the first time where I stayed until my 7th grade and then I went back to the Philippines to resume my education. Now that I’m all done with studying, I came back to pursue a career. I hope I really do find a decent job amidst this obnoxious financial turmoil going about the entire world.

Oh well, thanks for reading. Till next post!

Sunday, January 25, 2009

I'm back for good! (i hope)

I miss blogging. That’s one fact in my think-tank that I can not eradicate no matter how persistent I am on trying to ignore this longing. It has already been almost 10 months ago since my last post and obviously a lot have happened during that lengthy hiatus, such happenings that are really worth sharing with my blog, but I failed to do so because I was too lazy to write all about them. Another factor was, I don‘t have my own internet connection anymore. It would be a pain, going to and fro the town centre just to go online, with my parents being so stingy to me these days, I hated it. But now the long wait is over. I can not ignore this burning desire forever. I’m a born writer! A writer has to write even if people don’t actually read his writings. Right?

I guess at this point, you’re already expecting me to relate a summary of the happenings that has been, but I won’t. These happenings are already a thing of the past, and relaying them to you would just take me ages to finish writing them down. Since it’s the start of the new year, why don’t we just stick to the present, for now.

At this moment, I’m typing this down in our room, my family’s room, here in Sharjah, UAE. It has been a great feeling being reunited with my family once again, since it has only happened once before when they came home in the Philippines, when I was still staying there trying to finish my studies. But right now is more special because this isn’t just another one of those vacation trips like before. I guess we’ll be together for quite a longer time, well at least that’s what I’m hoping for. It’s really great being given a chance to come back here in this country where I grew up. I guess that’s the reason why I had no difficulties trying to adjust to my new (yet not so new) environment, though a lot has really changed since the last 8 years that I’ve been gone. Not just a lot. I mean, this place just BOOMED, big time. Not that I’m not aware of it, its just a different experience when you’re actually here getting an actual view of the place. Everything here is just spectacular. Comparing the past with the present has just recently been my favourite hobby. I guess it’s a more fun thing to do when you’re able to see them directly, not just trying to visualize the whole thing. A lot has changed and everything is just spectacular. (Did I say that already?) Don’t worry coz in my succeeding posts, I think I’ll tackle some of my ventures here within the Emirates. That’d be exciting!

Aside from that, because of this nasty financial turmoil, I’m still (unfortunately) unemployed. Yet I’m still grateful because without my parents’ employers’ support, I wouldn’t be here right now. Plus, they are the one’s who referred me to Citibank, coz one of their nephews is a manager there. So a week ago, I got invited for an interview, I don’t really know how I did coz they just told me to wait for a call after a week or two but until now, I haven’t received any. If until this coming week and still no call yet, I’m afraid they’d deploy me at Emic (Emirates Metallic Industries Corp.). But I don’t want to! I wanna work in the financial district of Dubai, not within the Industrial Area. That’s why I’m ain’t giving up on hope. I just wish good news will come this coming week.

End! ‘till next post! :D