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About batjay

I am an overseas filipino worker. Now, I am part of that "babalik ka rin crowd" you see around christmas time, arriving at the NAIA in droves from all over, gold chain around their necks, in jeans and maong jacket, ray-ban shades, goatee, and baseball cap, pababa pa lang ang eroplano kinukuha na ang hand-carry luggage at nagpapalakpakan na't handang halikan ang lupa pagka-landing!

TRAVEL, HASSLE

maraming nangyari sa amin ni jet itong nakaraang buwan. punong puno nga ng actiivities, parang pelikula ni dolphy – may kantahan, may sayawan, may iyakan, may suntukan at siyempre – may tawanan.

una lipad akong orlando for a work related conference – hassle and long delays at the us airports. this is ok and much anticipated. what i didn’t like was the almost look of panic in the eyes of the people at the airline counters (well, not all of them). there we were: asians from malaysia, singapore and the philippines showing our passports to the person at the counter. once she sees where we are from, there’s a look of panic in her eyes, a bit of agitated movement in the way she carries herself, a slight tremble in her voice. all very subtle, but, if you connect all of it – it is fear. fear for us, i guess. foreigners with strange accents from countries where terrorists live. i don’t blame her but i don’t like it one bit. i hate to be in a muslim’s shoes at this point. i guess for them, being profiled is a regular occurence. sayang, nakakainis and too bad for humanity.

ORLANDO MAGIC

good evening from orlando.

habang sinusulat ko ito, kumakanti sa john melloncamp ng pink houses sa concert sa new york. galing.

kagabi, party namin sa invensys. kumanta ng isang set si huey lewis and the news. galing din. iba talaga pag live – magaling din ang showmanship nila at enjoy lahat. nalasing nga ako. hehehe… sobrang tuwa ko, dami ko tuloy nainom. heehee. naka 8 corona ako at 2 malaking basong scotch and soda. pag gising ko umaga na!

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ORLANDO BLUES

good morning from orlando… gising na naman ako ng alas-2. hirap talaga ng jet lagged. body clock ko nasa singapore pa rin. hehehe… problemado pa ako dahil may sakit si jet. buong araw nang nagrereklamo na masakit ang sikmura. bummer… tangnatalgangbuhay oo. tuwing umaalis na lang ako, may nangyayari sa mga mahal ko sa buhay. kaya ayokong umaalis eh. tangnatalaga…

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MY 1st YEAR

august marks my 1st year here in singapore. i’ve been riding a fast car this past 12 months. seems like it was only yesterday when i boarded the plane to fly over here. now its been a year and i feel as if everything’s happening so fast.

what’s in store this coming year?

next week i’ll be in the us for a showcase – it’s more of a company conference really. so it’s a week in florida for a big world wide POWOW. then jet and i will be moving to a new flat in the east coast. the same time, our office is moving to changi. then manila in october – hopefully india as well. november in china for the asia version of the company distributor conference. indonesia as well.

december – vacation home! two weeks in the philippines and then… and then… and then its 2003 already.

ZOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!!

JOLO, JOLOGS

Headline sa Singapore kahapon ang mga pinugutan ng ulo sa Jolo. The way the news is told minsan ay nakakainis. Ang portrayal ng mga balita (CNN included) is so – what’s the word: “sweeping”? akala mo tuloy, ang buong Pilipinas ay puno ng mga headhunters. HeadBangers, baka pa!

I AM A PATIENT MAN

sabi ni george bush kanina when asked about saddam… “i am a patient man. when i say i am a patient man, that means…well that means i am a patient man”.

sabi nga sa kanta ng guns and roses…”what we have here is a failure to communicate”. a pity i was’nt there during the time of JFK.

RED HOUSE

eastcoast-012

kakadating lang namin ni jet galing sa labas. umaga na pala… init pa rin dito sa singapore, pero di tulad ng march to july. attached ay pic ng isa sa mga pinakamatandang coffee house dito. sikat ang kapihan na ito: the red house at east coast road ang tawag nila. parating may mga nag-shoo-shooting na mga artista dahil historical ang dating. masarap mag-kape dito, mura pa – 80 cents ang isang cup, may kasama pang history. kompara sa starbucks na $4.50, pag-yankee products talaga eh mahal.

FAVORITE TEACHERS

si mrs. capistrano (teacher ko nung grade 4), nagkita kami nung rally laban kay erap sa edsa shrine. kaya lang di na siya ST katulad nung grade 4 tayo. hehehe… medyo matanda na rin pero naalala pa rin nya ako. sabi ko – ‘maam, ako yung studyante mo nung grade 4, inapakan mo nga ang sapatos ko nun dahil bago!’. maloko yun eh – nasa mass sa gym, tinawag ako. sabi ko maam bakit? biglang inapakan ang sapatos ko, sabay sabi – “wala, bininyagan ko lang ang bago mong sapatos!”. nagtuturo na si mrs. capistrano sa st. francis sa may ortigas.

silang mag-asawa (mr. capistrano, grade 2) at si mrs. sa grade 4 – mga teacher na di ko makalimutan. siyempre, favorite ko pa rin sa lahat ay si mrs. chavez (asawa ni tibo) – teacher namin ng kindergarten at prep. hanggang ngayon naalala pa rin ang batch natin. si ms. redondo nung grade 3 at sino na nga ba ang teacher natin sa social studies nung grade 4 – si mrs. mandreza ata. lahat mga favorite ko.