"Home is where the heart is."
I'm going back to Philippines in a few days time and I would like to say goodbye to my home, a.k.a. wherever Momon is; coz that's where my heart is...
Sad, inconvenient and needless to say unwanted expense it is to go back to Philippines at this time, I still don't regret resigning from my work. I would not have changed my decision had I known that my visa will not be processed in time. Surely, I will miss my hubby :( but I'm choosing to look at this circumstance as just a small hurdle to a will-be happier life in Dxb.
Yessah, optimistic kung optimistic ang dating!
Showing posts with label Dubai. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dubai. Show all posts
Sunday, June 20, 2010
goodbye, h♥me...
Saturday, March 20, 2010
walang tawiran...
People say that Filipinos are pasaway… that we really find it hard to follow even the simplest of rules. Evidently, it is quite true coz even if there are signs like this 
plastered over Metro Manila, people would still do this:
AL RIGGA ROAD
Last night, Momon & I went to Deira City Centre to pass the time and to eat dinner. We were already looking for a place to eat when I realized that what I crave is bulalo from Tipanan, a Filipino restaurant near our place in Rigga Road so; we hastily leave DCC, rode the metro, go down at Rigga station and walked to Tipanan. We got our bulalo to go and crossed the street, not bothering to use the pedestrian lane coz it’s ridiculously far from where we were. We were on the middle of the 2 roads, and I was thinking how nice it is to walk on the grass and how it’s a good thing that Dubai has the facility to maintain the growth of the trees even during the sweltering hot of summer when suddenly I heard a swooshing sound. The next thing I know, Momon & I are being drenched with water coming from the automatic sprinkler! We can’t immediately cross the other road for the traffic is still moving so we just stand there, laughing while getting showered with water (which I hope is clean and without fertilizer); thanks to you, grass sprinkler. Hwehehe…
Pasaway kasi e! Hmmm… now I want to make an appeal to Dubai Government. Better put this sign in Rigga Road:
plastered over Metro Manila, people would still do this:Here in Dubai, people find it very hard to jaywalk. Main reason is the roads are divided by fences or hedges so even if you want to cross it, you’ll just be stuck in the middle. Secondly, even if you get the guts to climb the fence, police will be all over you before your feet land to the other side; thanks to the CCTV cameras all over the place (and yes, Dubai police officers really watch it somewhere near by). Then they’re gonna ask for jaywalking fine of Dhs. 500, which if you cannot provide will land you in jail for three days. That is why in footbridges we shall cross. \m/
Despite all these, there’s this one road in Dubai that is very easy to cross without using the pedestrian lane:
Despite all these, there’s this one road in Dubai that is very easy to cross without using the pedestrian lane:
AL RIGGA ROADLast night, Momon & I went to Deira City Centre to pass the time and to eat dinner. We were already looking for a place to eat when I realized that what I crave is bulalo from Tipanan, a Filipino restaurant near our place in Rigga Road so; we hastily leave DCC, rode the metro, go down at Rigga station and walked to Tipanan. We got our bulalo to go and crossed the street, not bothering to use the pedestrian lane coz it’s ridiculously far from where we were. We were on the middle of the 2 roads, and I was thinking how nice it is to walk on the grass and how it’s a good thing that Dubai has the facility to maintain the growth of the trees even during the sweltering hot of summer when suddenly I heard a swooshing sound. The next thing I know, Momon & I are being drenched with water coming from the automatic sprinkler! We can’t immediately cross the other road for the traffic is still moving so we just stand there, laughing while getting showered with water (which I hope is clean and without fertilizer); thanks to you, grass sprinkler. Hwehehe…
Pasaway kasi e! Hmmm… now I want to make an appeal to Dubai Government. Better put this sign in Rigga Road:
WALANG TAWIRAN, NAKABABASA
:oP
Sunday, February 7, 2010
stuff that I do when I’m bored at work
…which is almost all the time so maybe it’s more appropriate to call this…
Stuff that I do when I’m at work:
1. Check my emails
2. Log in to Facebook and catch up with my friends
3. Play Sorority Life on FB
4. Feed my fishes and clean the tank on Happy Aquarium
5. Read blogs
6. Write blogs
7. Practice not to breathe so that when the girl officemate who reeks like overused Minola oil comes to my office, I can hold my breath for as long as she’s here
8. Think of effective ways to get Minola girl to realize that putting oil to her hair and not washing it for 6 consecutive days is not the proper way of hair grooming; as telling her that she should shampoo her hair and rinse it thoroughly with water did not work.
9. Browse tumblr.com
10. Make paper stars and origami crane
11. Eat pistachio nuts
12. Pluck my eyebrows
13. Put on make up
14. Browse and print complicated recipes on the net; only to end up cooking sunny side up eggs and bacon for dinner later
15. Write notes on my handy dandy notebook
16. Condition mind to restrain self from slapping those people who find it surprising / puzzling / weird when they see me in the toilet brushing my teeth after eating lunch.
17. Reflect on how to be a Zen goddess
18. Train self to swiftly bolt out of the office after spraying air freshener so as not to inhale it and not be suffocated by the chemicals of the air freshener combined with officemates’ stink.
19. Ponder about what Jesus would do if He’s got officemates like mine.
20. Consider what to repeat doing as after completing all of the above; it’s still not freakin’ time to go home!!!
Stuff that I do when I’m at work:
1. Check my emails
2. Log in to Facebook and catch up with my friends
3. Play Sorority Life on FB
4. Feed my fishes and clean the tank on Happy Aquarium
5. Read blogs
6. Write blogs
7. Practice not to breathe so that when the girl officemate who reeks like overused Minola oil comes to my office, I can hold my breath for as long as she’s here
8. Think of effective ways to get Minola girl to realize that putting oil to her hair and not washing it for 6 consecutive days is not the proper way of hair grooming; as telling her that she should shampoo her hair and rinse it thoroughly with water did not work.
9. Browse tumblr.com
10. Make paper stars and origami crane
11. Eat pistachio nuts
12. Pluck my eyebrows
13. Put on make up
14. Browse and print complicated recipes on the net; only to end up cooking sunny side up eggs and bacon for dinner later
15. Write notes on my handy dandy notebook
16. Condition mind to restrain self from slapping those people who find it surprising / puzzling / weird when they see me in the toilet brushing my teeth after eating lunch.
17. Reflect on how to be a Zen goddess
18. Train self to swiftly bolt out of the office after spraying air freshener so as not to inhale it and not be suffocated by the chemicals of the air freshener combined with officemates’ stink.
19. Ponder about what Jesus would do if He’s got officemates like mine.
20. Consider what to repeat doing as after completing all of the above; it’s still not freakin’ time to go home!!!
Welcome to Dubai corporate world.
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Dubaidubaidoo
I've been living in Dubai for one year, five months and 3 days now.
Dubai... A city full of tourists, working expats and locals with totally different upbringing than I have.
Living in a too culturally diversified city and working with other nationalities made my head spin and until now, it sometimes bring out the worst in me. It certainly is not easy but nonetheless fun.
Here are some of the things that I have learned during my first few months in Dubailand...
1. Look after yourself. Don’t expect other people to care for you like when you’re still at your home in the Philippines . People are too busy and haggard with the fast-paced Dubai life to be consistently concerned about your well-being.
2. Learn how to cook, otherwise starve or spend too much dirhams on take away foods.
3. Know who your real friends are. Be wise enough to assess the character of the persons whom you consider friends. Coz if not, you might end up being used to finance a shopping spree by some ‘friend’ and she goes back to the Philippines, leaving you Dhs 400 short for rent payment.
4. Have the skills to develop what people call ‘patience of a saint’; trust me: you’ll need this. Every day in Dubai , you’ll meet someone who thinks they’re so smart but not knowing that in reality, they’re as dumb as ass. What to do with those people? That’s where the saint-like patience is needed... Ever so subtle, make them aware how stupendously stupid they are and maybe, just maybe, they’ll take a hint. That’s the only way you can feel slightly satisfied coz there’s no point in shoving it into their faces for they will just look at you in a confounded manner and no matter how angry you become or how hard you shout at them, after 5 minutes when they see you in the corridor or in the pantry, they will smile and say, “hi, how are you? Enjoyed your holiday?” It’s like they have amnesia or something.
5. Be accustomed to guys who stare at you like it’s the first time in their life that they’ve seen a girl. Most of the men here who came from other neighbouring nations are like that... though you are wearing decent clothes; they will still ogle at you like a laboratory specimen and hope to see something. And when you look at them, they would just stare back ogle some more and enjoy that they were able to catch your attention. Also, try not to be startled if when you’re walking on the streets and the guy walking from your opposite direction would suddenly shout, “I love Filipini, ma-ganda, ma-bangow!” Sigh! Men here are so freakin’ weird...
6. Bear in mind that in U.A.E., gurgling sounds that you hear may not be simple gurgling sounds after all... 99.98%, those are Indian ‘Pana’dols speaking. Yup, they talk like they’re from Stone Age or something, or like they’re gurgling Listerine all the time. Maybe there’s a law declared by some Panadol cult that they should try to speak and at the same time make gurgling sounds. Annoying thing is that when you did’nt understand what they’re saying, they would look annoyed and puzzled, as if really confused and deeply contemplating why you can’t understand them. Haller! Then they would try to spell it out for you, which would turn out to be more confusing. Sample conversation as follows:
MI : Could you spell that out?
PANADOL : yem,you,eh,ye,dobl el,ye,bi,ayi,ye.
MI : A, okay. Bye!
Grrr… Wanna inject botox to their tongues! So if I ask them to spell my name, they would say, ‘yem,ayi,ye,yen’ What to do, yani?...
7. Prepare for emergencies… or at least what it seems like an emergency to your officemates. You may find scene like this unfolds in the workplace:
MI : [enters in the lobby from the pantry… hears shouting from
the fax room]
[passes the fax room despite the commotion]
PANADOL : [sees Michelle] (shouts in a very panicky tone) Mishal,
Mishal, come kyucly, kyucly! Jaldi, jaldi!
MI : What?
PANADOL : Something happened to our fax machine. Look! Red
blinking, blinking. You know number of technician? We should call.
MI : [lifts the lid of the fax machine paper cover and pulls the
jammed paper out] There, now it’s working…
PANADOL : Where you learn that? You have friend Filipini technician?
You genius.
MI : ???
Gud luck naman sa paper jam!
8. Guys in U.A.E. are single… or so they say. If you’re looking for romance here, be very careful. You may never know who’s being truthful about their status. Make sure that your prospect habibi doesn’t have a wedding ring hidden somewhere in his pocket or inside his closet drawer.
9. Find humor even in the most annoying happening in your life at Dubai. So even if you always hear people saying, “You do one thing, first…” (which turns out to be a series of complicated tasks… and haller panadols: when you say ‘one thing’ it shouldn’t be followed by ‘first’ because that wouldn’t be a ‘one thing’ anymore!), just relax; laugh at the situation. You might suffer from stroke if you let your blood pressure go very high just for stupid ‘one thing’.
10. Be open-minded and at least welcome changes. I know most of the personal and cultural diversities here are annoying and may drive people to the verge of insanity if not handled properly, but still, you have to be flexible enough to adapt to this crazy world. Even if there will be a time that you would just want to hurl the computer monitor into their stupid faces, don’t do it. Just relax, and chant with me… Yani,mamu,shani… think zen. Aahmmmm!
Dubai... A city full of tourists, working expats and locals with totally different upbringing than I have.
Living in a too culturally diversified city and working with other nationalities made my head spin and until now, it sometimes bring out the worst in me. It certainly is not easy but nonetheless fun.
Here are some of the things that I have learned during my first few months in Dubailand...
1. Look after yourself. Don’t expect other people to care for you like when you’re still at your home in the Philippines . People are too busy and haggard with the fast-paced Dubai life to be consistently concerned about your well-being.
2. Learn how to cook, otherwise starve or spend too much dirhams on take away foods.
3. Know who your real friends are. Be wise enough to assess the character of the persons whom you consider friends. Coz if not, you might end up being used to finance a shopping spree by some ‘friend’ and she goes back to the Philippines, leaving you Dhs 400 short for rent payment.
4. Have the skills to develop what people call ‘patience of a saint’; trust me: you’ll need this. Every day in Dubai , you’ll meet someone who thinks they’re so smart but not knowing that in reality, they’re as dumb as ass. What to do with those people? That’s where the saint-like patience is needed... Ever so subtle, make them aware how stupendously stupid they are and maybe, just maybe, they’ll take a hint. That’s the only way you can feel slightly satisfied coz there’s no point in shoving it into their faces for they will just look at you in a confounded manner and no matter how angry you become or how hard you shout at them, after 5 minutes when they see you in the corridor or in the pantry, they will smile and say, “hi, how are you? Enjoyed your holiday?” It’s like they have amnesia or something.
5. Be accustomed to guys who stare at you like it’s the first time in their life that they’ve seen a girl. Most of the men here who came from other neighbouring nations are like that... though you are wearing decent clothes; they will still ogle at you like a laboratory specimen and hope to see something. And when you look at them, they would just stare back ogle some more and enjoy that they were able to catch your attention. Also, try not to be startled if when you’re walking on the streets and the guy walking from your opposite direction would suddenly shout, “I love Filipini, ma-ganda, ma-bangow!” Sigh! Men here are so freakin’ weird...
6. Bear in mind that in U.A.E., gurgling sounds that you hear may not be simple gurgling sounds after all... 99.98%, those are Indian ‘Pana’dols speaking. Yup, they talk like they’re from Stone Age or something, or like they’re gurgling Listerine all the time. Maybe there’s a law declared by some Panadol cult that they should try to speak and at the same time make gurgling sounds. Annoying thing is that when you did’nt understand what they’re saying, they would look annoyed and puzzled, as if really confused and deeply contemplating why you can’t understand them. Haller! Then they would try to spell it out for you, which would turn out to be more confusing. Sample conversation as follows:
MI : Could you spell that out?
PANADOL : yem,you,eh,ye,dobl el,ye,bi,ayi,ye.
MI : A, okay. Bye!
Grrr… Wanna inject botox to their tongues! So if I ask them to spell my name, they would say, ‘yem,ayi,ye,yen’ What to do, yani?...
7. Prepare for emergencies… or at least what it seems like an emergency to your officemates. You may find scene like this unfolds in the workplace:
MI : [enters in the lobby from the pantry… hears shouting from
the fax room]
[passes the fax room despite the commotion]
PANADOL : [sees Michelle] (shouts in a very panicky tone) Mishal,
Mishal, come kyucly, kyucly! Jaldi, jaldi!
MI : What?
PANADOL : Something happened to our fax machine. Look! Red
blinking, blinking. You know number of technician? We should call.
MI : [lifts the lid of the fax machine paper cover and pulls the
jammed paper out] There, now it’s working…
PANADOL : Where you learn that? You have friend Filipini technician?
You genius.
MI : ???
Gud luck naman sa paper jam!
8. Guys in U.A.E. are single… or so they say. If you’re looking for romance here, be very careful. You may never know who’s being truthful about their status. Make sure that your prospect habibi doesn’t have a wedding ring hidden somewhere in his pocket or inside his closet drawer.
9. Find humor even in the most annoying happening in your life at Dubai. So even if you always hear people saying, “You do one thing, first…” (which turns out to be a series of complicated tasks… and haller panadols: when you say ‘one thing’ it shouldn’t be followed by ‘first’ because that wouldn’t be a ‘one thing’ anymore!), just relax; laugh at the situation. You might suffer from stroke if you let your blood pressure go very high just for stupid ‘one thing’.
10. Be open-minded and at least welcome changes. I know most of the personal and cultural diversities here are annoying and may drive people to the verge of insanity if not handled properly, but still, you have to be flexible enough to adapt to this crazy world. Even if there will be a time that you would just want to hurl the computer monitor into their stupid faces, don’t do it. Just relax, and chant with me… Yani,mamu,shani… think zen. Aahmmmm!
