Category Archives: WORK

MY 1st YEAR

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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!!!!!

AIMLESS WALKING

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aimless walking… another favorite after-career career. there’s nothing better than walking on a cool morning with just your nose to lead the way. where to go? (a favorite singapore phrase when the people here ask what to have for lunch) where to go indeed… wala lang. nowhere – here, there, anywhere. in my morning 20 minute jog – i just aimlessly wander and really don’t care where i end up… well, anywhere that will bring me back home in 20 minutes. i still have a career as an engineer, you know, and i have to be in the office by 8:30 – but after i’ve retired, 8:30 won’t mean a thing to me anymore.

MISSING CLASSMATES, INDIA AND THE MAGIC WALLET

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nung nasa india ako, bibilhin ko sana yung pitaka na gawa sa titi ng cobra. kaya lang pang-lalaki lang ito. kasi pag pinahawak mo ito sa kamay ng babae – magiging maleta!

hehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehe!!!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS?

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this is my first christmas out of the country. my first christmas in singapore.

there’s not that much christmas cheer really. tumatanda na ako, di ko na na-enjoy ang pasko. parang parehong araw lang ito, katulad ng mga nag-daan ng mga araw – kisap-matang nawala. wow, ang gandang salita “kisap-mata”: “blink of an eye”… para bagang isang pa-profound effect to impress gentle reader. hehehe… amazing!

“it’s amazing whoop, with the blink of an eye, suddenly it’s alright”. sabi nga ni aerosmith. ang bilis talaga ng panahon. sana next year na, para pwede nang umuwi at mag-baskasyon.

merry christmas na lang, whatever it still means.

JAKARTA

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Jakarta reminds me so much of home. The heavy traffic jams, the sticky heat, the smoke from reckless super fast cars and motorcycles and the people. We share the same face and we share some words. Not long ago, our ancestors probably came from the same tribe of nomads who have been ruling the South East Asian seas. In spite of the poverty all around, we share the same smile.

I look out to the city from my hotel window and wonder: will this country of 200 million people rise up from the rut and shine like the rest of its neighbors? I really don’t know. Like the Philippines, this place needs a major deluge – A big flood or a major catastrophe: a volcanic eruption, a tsunami or a meteor strike perhaps. Like home, this place needs to rid itself of a generation of corruption, crime and poverty. Out of the ashes, we can start again. Of course, this is assuming that all the people we love to hate die in the first wave. If they don’t, they may be able to bribe some rescue worker and survive. This is dangerous because the viscous cycle of corruptor and corruptee starts all over again.

One thing I really like is food. Indonesian food is interesting and worth eating – hehehe. I like their Nasi Padang. It’s basically rice with a ton of different dishes that is brough to your table. You pay only for what you eat. Each dish is different, from spicy to very spicy. hehehe… Of course, there is their national pride: Indonesian Barbeque Satay with Peanut Sauce.

“Terimah KASIH” – thank you! A word I find effective when connecting with the Indonesians. It is the magic word; a password that open doors (“Buka Pintu”). A smile and a thank you is all you need to belong.

“Belonging” – I cannot even measure how important this is for me, a travelling salesman.

OFW

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i am an OFW, 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 nag papalakpakan na’t handang halikan ang lupa pagka landing!

THE TYPICAL WEEK OF AN OFW ENGINEER IN SINGAPORE

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Let me describe to you my typical week…

I work in an office in the South West of the island of Singapore. I have a small cubicle (6 ft x 9 ft), a lot better than what I’ve had in the past with S___. I have a large desk covering my front, right side and my back. On my upper right are three cabinets where I store my manuals and other stuff. On my rear are cabinets which contains my company T-shirts which I haven’t brought home. On my desk are the different CD’s for installation, manuals, my PC, phone and other office stuff.

This is my new working world right now. A bit of a change really – for the better, I feel. I don’t have the long 16 hour days that I had at S___. By and large, it has been OK – everybody here has made my stay comfortable so far. We eat together during lunch time and talk shop, and gossip (in a babel of English, Malay and Chinese). Except for the language and the strange accent when they talk, they are like any normal Filipino barkada discussing this and that.

I go home between six to seven. By then, it is still bright outside and I normally get off the bus a few stops from my flat. I walk the rest of the way home, buy food and dream of home.

When I get to the flat, I dress up, have a shower and watch TV while eating dinner – wash the plates afterwards, surf the TV with whatever is showing. After a while, I open the aircon, read a book and then finally get to sleep. I don’t normally sleep on purpose, most of the time, I sleep over reading a book (or watching TV). a bit boring sometimes.

During the weekends, I do a lot of stuff. I wake up at around six, and immediately do the laundry. By eight, I’d be finished and would dress up and jog to the park. Depending on what’s on at TV – I watch till around lunch time and sleep a while if nothing good is on. I wake at around four or five. Have coffee and prepare to take a bath. After taking my bath, I normally ride a bus to go to Orchard Road or Raffles Place. If I go to Orchard, I visit the large Japanese Bookstore (Kashimura or something)and watch a movie if there is anything good. Most of the time, I just walk around and enjoy the ambulance (ambiance ni ERAP, mahal yun!) and look at the people around me.

SINGAPORE BLUES

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nandito ako sa singapore, mag-iisang buwan na. naging isang estrangero para makapag-ipon ng konting pera. tama ba itong ginawa ko? sana… sana pagbalik ko sa pilipinas nandoon pa rin ang mga mahal ko sa buhay. sana buhay pa sila. sana may kabuluhan lahat ng ginagawa ko rito. sana…