Silencio!

I cannot remember when was the last time i've been tis quiet. Even when I had my tooth extract or when the brace is newly installed in my mouth, where it is really hard to talk, I still find myself engage in conversation even if its just a plain kwentuhan only. When i was in elementary and HS, im always in the noisy list of our class. As in consistent scholar ako in our noisy list! That's how noisy I am. Got also into trouble due to my tactless remarks on people, tsk tsk, sucha bad attitude for a man like me.

If im gonna summarize in hours all my verbal actions in one day siguro I just talked max of 1 hours a day. Let me see:

1. 5 minutes talking while on service bus going to office
2. 10 minutes entertaining phone calls
3. 2 minutes saying good morning in nihonggo, english and arabic
4. 20 minutes when walking from office till house
5. 5 minutes entertaining charlie's phone call

It's not that i've turned hermit here at the office, i still communicate with other people, that is thru emails, ym chats, facebook, twitter, text messages but the actual conversation is almost as nil! Thank god for close-up red hot hindi napapanis ang laway ko :D. My breath is still much more ok than my coutnerparts here (hehehehe! Thanks Doc Mayettes!). It's just that I've nothing else to talk to, except Charlie of course. I believe one of the reason why i survided living in iran for two years is that i have someone to talked to, may sense man o wla ang topic. I love talking to Jasper, who coincidentally is also my officemate at Phils an a very close friend of mine. We talked everything under the sun..showbiz, news, work, lovelife, personal stuff, etc. No topic is mundane to us. I remember i love engaging him into a debate wherein when i know im losing I just put my hands to my ear and say "lalallalala, i dont hear you" or sometimes i jus throw at him our gigantic pillow and in return he'll throw two gigantic pillow at me naman! From work till bedtime we always talk and talk and talk. And of course there is Ka Rene, our venerable master of Piping, he loves to talk as well,same as ours, and i love it when he's talking about the history of our company and our officemates (specially the juicy parts hehehe). And of course there is Charlie again, our 6:00-7:30pm chat time everyday we religiuosly followed, the people at warehouse wherein i spend my 3 hours just to chat (and work also), and the people at construction site where everydya is a chismisan day! In short I never ran out of someone to talk to and thats why I enjoyed every minute of staying there.

Fast forward..Saudi 2009..Now im stuck here with only charlie as constant kausap (bless him napapagtyagaan nya pa ko), and most of the time its all by myself (insert celine dion song here)!
Actually keeping my mouth shut for a while has its benefits naman. At least now before I talk iniisip ko muna ang sasabihin ko :D. It also lessen my unwittingly remarks on people, hahahaha!
Second, having a quiet life makes me think clearly and makes me focus more on important stuff. At least i have time for myself to reflect and discern about certain things in life. LIke for example, i finally realize that its about time to this certain activity while im here at abroad because I know no one will disturb me here. No pressure from the outside world hehehe.

On a sidenote, since this i my officially first time to live alone i gained a number of skills while im here like:

1. I know how to cook adobo, nilaga, spaghetti, sopas, mechado, fried chicken, potato with corned beef. And the list will continue as I stay here. I thank my friend tinerts for the recipe she send me :D.
2. Almost mastered the art of laundry. Still havent got the correct combination of how much powder to put in washing machine or how many hours should it soak and spin. Now i know that it's not right to put your clothes in the dryer for almost 2 hours for it will shrink your clothes! I had to learn this after2 pants and all my sando and office clothes shrunk! Wahahaha!
3. Grocery stuff is so easy now that we have a service that will bring and fetch us from the store.
4. Saving money. It's hard to go around in mall here in Al-Khobar because there are a lot of stores that sells nice stuff, at a reasonably price. But I always remind myself "House @ BF Homes, House @ BF Homes,"....
5. Knowing wher to buy cheap stuff, fresh meat and vegetables and fruits, and where are the SALE items!
6. WAlking fast than usual because its too damn hot to stay outdoors.
7. Eating with bare hands, just like the locals do..And have clean nails all the time.
8. Appreciate wowowee, eat bulaga (esp. the pinoy henyo), tayong dalawa, the wedding, SNN, tv patrol, 24 oras, only you.
9. Super appreciate simple "hi" at text messages, phone calls, emails from family and friends.
10. Pray the rosary everyday.

So as for me, it's 1 month down..5 to go (before vacation) !