It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...in Al-Khobar

Hindi ako makatulog ngayon ng maaga, dahil siguro naparami ako ng kain ng tinola at pickeld garlic kaya eto malapit na ang 12:00am e gisig pako. Sa ngayon pinapatugtog ko nalang ang kakadownload ko na mga Christmas Songs (150 songs in one album, ang galing!) para pampaantok.

At habang nakikinig at nagtatanim ng pakwan sa farmville (oi aminin,naglalaro karin nito!) eh biglang tumugtog ang kantang "It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas" at bigla akong napaisip, hmmmm..honga noh dama ko na (hindi po ikaw ang tinutukoy ko Mar roxas) ang pasko dito sa Saudi!

Unang unang ibidinsya (ika nga ni mommy D) eh 5pm palang e parang 7pm na!ang dilim na kaya kahit bagong labas palang ng opis. Then ang lamig na ng simoy ng hangin (yahoo!), at masarap maglakad-lakad kahit 10am kasi malamig ang hangin at hindi na humid =D. Pangatlo eh SALE na sa mga mall para sa kanilang Summer collection. Ayos, tamang tama pag nag sale ngayon ilang buwan lang eh summer naman sa Pinas hahaha. Hello Skyfreight Cargo Express!

Hay, buti nalang this Christmas eh i'll spend it in the Phils, talagang inisakto ni Papa God na pauwiin ako sa Pasko para naman hindi nako malungkot ulet pag Pasko na (katulad ng nangyari sa Iran). At para naman sa maiiwan naming friends dito sa Khobar eh may "secret" Christmas Party naman kami para sa kanila para di na sila ma-sad =D.

Ang dami ko na ngang plano sa december vacation, mga guesting, hosting, ribbon cutting, binyag, kasal, kumpil, you name it i got it. Akala siguro nila pag galing abroad eh mayaman, haha! Im excited as well for this vacation coz makikita ko narin ang aking best friend mula sa seminario, and ililibot nia daw ako sa mga hidden treasures ng Tagaytay (andun kasi seminary nila). Iba talaga pag may matalik kang kaibigan, talagang you'll treasure every moment with them.

Sa mga kabayan ko dito sa Saudi Arabia, advance merry christmas po sa inyo! Ihanda na po natin ang ating mga jacket dahil tag-lamig na at kaibiganin na ang mga pinoy na nagtratrabaho sa Saudi Aramco para makapagsimba po tayo dun!

Dear Makati Express

Dear Makati Express (also known as LBC express) Al-Khobar,

This is an open letter to you guys, management or personel, and you should read very carefully.

I've decided to sent my "gift" to my family this Christmas via your courier service. I must admit i was encourage by my respectable officemate to have my package delivered by you guys.

Without thinking, after i've bought my gift from the store i immediately told the salesman to have it delivered in Makati express office since it is much nearer compared to Sky Freight office.
And after waiting for 15 minutes outside your office (due to sala), i finally pay up and give you my package knowing and believing that it will arrive maximum of 50 days via sea freight in Las Pinas.

Today, i just think of google-ing your courier service and lo behold, you're not an affiliate of LBC express padala.Tsk tsk, you got me there ha, and also i found out a LOT of complaints about your service.
Package are being opened, binubutasan, or worst arrived in phils after 3 months or the box is gutay gutay na, which is totally un-acceptable for a box package. And since mine is only a tv with wooden crate i dont think it will
suffer the same fate as this guys had.

So, i have two directive to you:

1. Deliver my tv in one piece, without any damage.
2. Delivery it till jan.5 (this is my return date to ksa, meaning the package SHOULD be in phils coz its already exceed the maximum 50 days delivery).

Worst come to worst....
If my family receive a damage tv i promise to you, i'll make sure you're going down real hard.
If my package didn't arrive on time, i'll expedite you like you've never been expedited before. You're talking to a guy who succesfully tracked and expedite on time a 1000 meters 36" stainless steel pipe from antwerp belgium to assaluyeh iran. I'm that good.

So, i hope to receive the package this jan. 5 ok?

xoxo
pasaway ng al=khobar

Foreynjer!

Eksena sa Panasonic Showroom kagabi:

Pinoy Salesman: "Sir maybe you would like to buy this brand new Pnasominc SC-PT570. It's got blah..blah..blah..inglis..inglis..inglis..And it's very cheap if you buy..balah..blah..blah..inglish..

Ako: "Tsip, gagana ba to sa Pinas?"

Pinoy Salesman: "Ay, kabayan ka pala sir! nahirapan pako mag-english hehe."

Ako:"Oo naman, pinoy ako.mukha po ba akong foreigner?".

Pinoy Salesman: "Oo sir, kala ko nung pumasok kayo dito may pumasok na Lebanese. Mukha po kasi kayong Lebanese!".

Ako: (palakpak dalawang tenga)

Come to think of it, mukha nga akong Lebanese...

(minus the pointed nose, halos magkamukha nga kami*)





*ang kumontra walang pasalubong

The chart is out!

It's a simple chart showing how am i dealing with my officemates here @ KSA, and the chart will speak for itself.

Battle for the Airline Booking

Yesterday morning i noticed that some of my Indian officemates are busy printing and filling-up vacation leave for the upcoming Christmas holidays. Turns out they haven't filled up their vacation leave form and waited till November to submit it. And my friendly secretary asked me; "You're going on a vacation in December right? Did you submit already/" to which i replied "Yes, like 2 months ago!".

Working for almost 31 months here in middle east taught me one thing about December vacation; When the month of June start, you should submit your vacation leave! I remember when we we're in Iran our HR dept had a hard time booking the Pinoys who are going on vacation, since they submitted their leave on November. Turns out they still made it for Christmas time but with a gruelling 3 days trip that brought them from Tehran-Dubai-Seoul-Manila. The worst itinerary was the one where they landed in Cebu just to go home for the holidays!

Last September before the Eid holidays I submitted my vacation leave form and when my Manager asked me "Why so early??" I replied "Sir, try to go to Phils on December, it's crazy out there. And most probably the only seats remaining are the First Class and I dont think our HRD will permit me to fly on that". Suprisingly my manager agreed and so as the HRD manager (i think they understand my point hehe) and off my application go to our booking agent.

Me being a pro-active guy/OC person attached in my application is my prefered flight schedule for Emirates, since I still have a return ticket from Emirates and according to their website economy class is still available therefore i print the itinerary and attached it to my application. And since it was wednesday our agent advise me he will inform me the result on Saturday (first working day of the week).

Me, again being a makakalimutin (sign of old age naba ito?), forgot to follow up my application and i just remember it when Monday the next week come. The agent didnt told me the result because he knew what will be my reaction. And the Visa section manager talk to me and turns out all Emirates flight on December are fully booked!!!

My pencil snap into two after hearing those words.

Darn, i should have applied last June when I have the time, Kaso nakakahiya coz i arrived here June din! LOL!

Thank God our HRD here tried to squeeze my flight on a Qatar Airways, same date and time on my itinerary from Emirates. Now Im happily booked for a flight on Dec.22 2009 via Qatar Airways =D.

And as for those who still doesn't have flight booking for your Christmas Vacation, all i can say is "Goodluck".

(Goodbye Emirates, Hello Qatar Airways)

After King Darius, Saladin, here we come!

Dear Lord,

I promise I'll be a good boy till my stint is over here @ KSA, basta matuloy lang lang lakad namin dito........


(The Omayyad Mosque)


Your faithful son,
Theo

p.s.
sana po may pocket money din po ako para mas masaya =D.

Wag Poe! Wag Poe!

So it's official: Ex-President Joseph Ejercito Estrada is running again for the highest seat of the land, together with Makati mayor Jejomar Binay as his Vice-President. I have nothing against Mayor Binay, in fact i admire his admistration job at Makati City and I've experienced his good governance since I lived in Makati for 20 yrs. But as for Erap, oh no, can he just please shut himself out in the political setting of our country and just stay home and do some movies and stuff. When Erap dabs himself in politics, everything became disarray. I remember an old quote before "Ma-Erap pag si Erap ang nanalo".

I just hope and pray (a lot!) that the Filipino people would now choose the best President for our country.
God Bless the Philippines!

Living in a Multiverse

My post is inspired (again) by the Season 8 episode 1 of Family Guy, where Stewie and Brian was visiting the Multiverse . One of the universe they visited was everything was drawn by Disney animators. Stewie love the idea of Disney world and this is one idea that he and brian agree ("this is perfect! everything is so nice and wonderful, let's live on this world"). Of course when it's disney there SHOULD be a song a dance portion together with the birds and squirrels, and rabbit and those tiny animals you see in the forest (think Snow White and her furry little friends). It was funny because the lyrics are ryhmed till the very end to the word "Pie" (well, they actually sang about the Pie Stewie's mother made). Another Disney must-have is "kontrabida", which was played by their neighbor Hubert (who dressed up like the evil witch of Snow White). The story ends up Stewie and Brian left the Disney World when their neighbor Jew was attacked by the Disney characters (fyi: some people think that Mr. walt Disney hates jews).

I wonder if anyone would like to live in a Disney kind-of-world, all happy and gay (no pun intended), free flowing, everything is nice, problem free and not much to think about. Personally, if i'll live in a disney world i might die of diabetes coz there's too much sweetness everywhere. Though the perks of living in a Disney-world are:

1. You'll have Princessess as you're neighbors.
2. If you're car broke down or without gasoline you can always borrow the magic pumpkin or Aladdin's flying carpet.
3. You can borrow Abu or Stich or the 101 Dalamatians from their master and make them as your pet for a day
4. If you need baby sitter, just call Mary Poppins.
5. Swimming in the sea with Ariel and Nemo..when hungry why not look for sebastian......to lead you to the best lobster resto in Disneyworld
6. If seafood is not your thing, try the French resto Ratatouille
7. Hanging around with the Mickey Mouse club.

Hay, the possibilities are endless, but if i we're to choose what kind of multiverse i would live i rather be in a multiverse where:

1. the setting is like the Dino-Rider cartoons.
2. the British did not leave the Phils after they defeated the Spaniards (edi sana lahat tayp may accent na ngayon!)
3. Japan did not succeed in conquering Manila, therefore retaining the grandeur of the Ever Loyal City, especially the Intramuros and Malate.
4. im living with Shaun the sheep.
5. the Phils is in a parliamentary setting and we have a good prime minister and our country belong to G20.
6. the most number of First world nation comes from Africa.
7. Since Phils is a first world, we have many expats coming from Europe and have inter racial marriage (more blondes, more happiness).

Well, it's just a imagination, malabo pa sa mata ko na totoo ang multiverse. Sabi nga ng isang kanta "libre lang mangarap".

Though i would love to live in dino-rider setting....

When Anxiety Attack

A couple of days ago, i was confunded by a tremendous anxiety attack while here @ Saudi Arabia. i was very anxious (more to my normal self) on personal decisions and certain actions that i asked myself:

is this for real?
is this the right thing?
why do i have to do this?

there's no time to ponder if this action is right or wrong, there is no turning back once you're there on that situation. i just say a little prayer asking the lord "pls forgive me".

and i believe god never let his sheep gone astray. i've been a good boy naman for quiet sometime.

an hour passed.nothing happen.
second hour... nada
until i finally succumbed to sleep..and i must say it was one of my best sleep ever.

the next day, the thought still circling on my mind. maybe yesterday was not the day. maybe today or tomorrow, or the day after tomorrow.

thank god nothing happen even after the day after tomorrow.

yesterday, i was talking to my good friend floro over the fone and confess to him this certain problem. he told me that god's love is far bigger than your sins. no matter how you have sin, when you repent about it, surely god will forgive you. and then he talks something about sins and forgiveness and some very deep religious term that i cannot even understand it already (hahaha, sorry bro, you really lived up to your desire to be a priest). But the only thing that i understand from his sermon was god loves me, dont do it again.period.

and my motto for that "JUST SAY NO!"

and now, after days of anxiety and nervousness over some thing. i finally have some peace.

mental note to self: must-improve-prayer-time

The story of the deaf frog and Mr. Compliment Guy

Naalala nio paba yung kwento about a group of frogs who fell on a deep well (or anything basta malalim) then each one of them tried to get to the surface but they end up dead by doing so and their frog friends in the surface keep on telling this one frog to stop jumping coz he'll be killed by doing it but eventually he manage to jump to the surface alive. And when the surface frog ask this survivor why he didn't follow their instruction to stop jumping and come-what-may-wait-and-see-attitude nalang he respond to them "i can't hear you coz im deaf".

Basta the story goes like that...

Anyway, the moral of the story is what we say can either make or break a person. Though actions speaks louder than words pero what goes out in our mouth sometimes can either be helpful or destructive to other people.

Gets nio ba?

I just remember this story after watching the season 8 episode 1 of The Family Guy last night (try to watch that show, it’s so hilarious!). Bryan and Stewie were transported in another universe where there is only one living man, and this man is called Mr. Compliment guy (or something). All he say is compliments and pampalakas ng loob kind of words to Stewie and Stewie want to stay on that universe coz he thinks it’s the best. Then it hit me, is our way of talking really affects other peoples life?

After watching the show, I ponder the lesson in the cartoon and the story of the deaf frog, and applied it to my personal life. Well, to be honest, I’m not the best person who compliments other people, nor give them good advice or words of wisdom. If I we’re in that frog story maybe I’m one of the “surface frog” who discourage the deaf frog not to jump. One “surface frog kind-of-attitude” I did was just recently, before I went here @ KSA and thank God my friend had a severe case of deaf ear coz he did not listen to me hahaha!

Now he’s living in a place where he found his true happiness, and I’m so proud and happy for him.

The point is, whatever we say or express to other people, whether you’re making an opinion or just plain being tactless, it still affects other people’s life whether on a positive way or the negative way =D. Well as for me, I’m trying to let go my “surface frog kind-of-attitude” and be the “Mr. Compliment guy” nalang. I think the later is much more fun than the former.

Tantantaran....

Andami kong mga kaibigan at kakilala na ikinasal or ikakasal ngayong taon. Marami rin akong pinuntahang mga binyagan ng mga anak ng aking mga kaibigan.Nakakatuwa actually to attend this kind of gathering, and to be with your friends on their special day. Pero minsan napapatanong ako sa sarili ko, kelan kaya ako naman ang magiinvite sa sarili kong kasal, or sa binyag ng anak man lang. Aba, im in the right age and im ready physically, spiritually and financially naman na, baka puede naman na. Sabi ko nga dati, pag na-achieve ko na ang mga requirements na ito eh gogogo na, wala nang makakapigil pa. And now i finally achieved this requirements baka puede na!

Then it hit me, "teka may GF ba ako?".

Wala nga pala akong girlfriend.Wahahahahaha!

On second thought, since nasa abroad ako now, mahirap pala ang long distance relationship (had experienced a very traumatic long distance relationship that almost ruined my life) so mahirap mag ka GF. Maybe next year pagbalik ko sa pinas i will finaly meet the "one". NO, it's not true na ang pagibig ay dadating ng kusa, in my understanding dpat hinahanap ito, we have to pursue it. it's like finding a diamond in piles of lupa.

Walang sense tong sinusulat ko pra dun sa mga taong hindi naniniwala sa kasabihang "first love never dies" or "love at first sight" or "love is a many splendored things" pero para sa mga taong marunong magmahal diba totoo naman ang kasabihang "ang pagibig pag pumasok sa puso ninuman, hahamakin ang lahat masunod ka lamang".

Let share our love to everyone, but our heart should be to the only one lang.

Basta pag nakita ko ung perfect girl, at minahal nia rin ako, invited kayo sa kasal ko. Pramis!

How you can help if you're in Al-Khobar K.S.A. for the Ondoy victims

Para sa mga Pilipinong nasa Al-Khobar Saudi Arabia, maari po ninyo ibigay ang inyong mga donasyon para sa mga nasalanta ng bagyong Ondoy sa representative ng Migrante International sa Al Khobar na si Mr. Choie De Leon with telephone number:0569117563.

Maraming Salamat po at pagpalain nawa ng Poong Maykapal ang sambayanang Pilipino!