Short Hair and Friends

My new short hair sure perked itself up with accolades from people who thought it fits my face well.

“Bago ang buhok natin ah”- Boy “Onga! Bagay, bagay.”- Girl
From a cute couple whom I met the first time at an island trip, and whom I surprisingly shared the public taxi (aka, the mighty FX) with. Turned out, the guy lives in the same town as I do. Small world. Yet, we didn’t even have the slightest interest in knowing that in our first encounter.

“Uy nagpagupit ka! Bagay sa’yo.”
From my notes-freak college friend whom I had dinner with.

Teehee… thanks.

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The Short, Impersonal Interview

Said the marketing director of a local real estate developer to me, "It takes a certain level of maturity to be able to sustain work and life abroad. We have engineers and architects who get opportunities in Dubai, Riyadh, and Singapore, but you see, I personally am to help my own country so I choose to work here."

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After The Long Wait

I have just been to the Korean Embassy. And finally, here it is! Now I don't know what to expect next. I feel like rejoicing, perking myself up with travel preparations, and saying goodbyes to close friends--- but at the end of all the thinking, I calm myself and wait. There will still be more serious negotiations. Most important of which are the living arrangements for our two-year tenure. I'll update as soon as it comes final. The Immigration of Korea has granted us the E-7 Special Activities Visa.

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The Extra Vigilant

This could be the biggest sign of how I so much doubt what life brings to me, skeptic!

----------Still receiving job interviews after having my working visa approved----------

But like what I always say, I am just into taking extra vigilant actions— always on the lookout for any possible danger out of this surprisingly good slap of luck on me. Anything can still twist and happen. It’s good that I can still have something to fall back on.

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Food on Thought

There's a certain level of reflection that goes with being unemployed, especially if it's really not something that you would've wanted. Other people call it depression, but I call it food craving.

I recall the vacation that we had in the province, and this morning, fresh from bed and straight to the internet without breakfast, I remember this:

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When God Finally Gives

GOD really has a time for everything. You pray fervently for something you yearn, and He gives it to you when He thinks you deserve it the most. The time has come for you to deserve something when: * You have learned to wait. And grow the faith in Him more. * You have learned to be humble. And realize that the joy you get from what you desire is better thrown as loud thanksgiving to nobody else but Him. * You have learned to prioritize and sacrifice. And tell yourself that you can't have everything at once. * You have learned to make value of people. And stick to those you are willing to offer that yearning for. I'm now back from the province and have read my copy of the e-mail that made my soon-to-be colleague scream the O-M-G letters via text a few days ago. It is true then. I would like to think I will soon deserve what I have been praying, and head on with life forever showing Him that He was right all along. He's still keeping His pace, just enough for more strength that I can put onto my yearning's worth. I'll shout my praises when He has fully bestowed it.

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Swimming off the News

It was just another mindless impulse on my part, when I held on my mobile phone to check on any messages that might surprise and make me guess for a second who the sender of the text was. Prior to this, I have been extra touched by the very few people who, at this stage of my life, still manage to send words to my phone enough make me feel that I’m at the very least worth a peso to spend on.

I was in the middle of our family vacation in Mindanao, where my roots hail by the way, beating the heat off with my nephews and nieces in a spring pool resort in Iligan City, when I read the first three letters of Angeline’s text message to me: O-M-G, and an exclamation point. Then off to the rest of the news. I then jumped an inch off from where I was seated and went towards my mom who was just in front of me to let her read it herself…

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The Camiguin Island Getaway

I have always pictured Camiguin to be such a sensual place for I don’t know what reason-- some remote island that lets you enjoy the place without ever wondering what exists outside its circle. Luckily, my unemployed status allowed for a mother-paid expense trip to Mindanao, and it finally let me see what the island has in store.

The trip to Mindanao was more importantly for a reunion that I and my younger sister had the chance to attend to, after a decade, in the maternal side of the family. Personally, the last time that I have been to the province was way back in 1998. My mother is specifically from Zamboanga del Norte. It was after this family event that we then went to visit the island province.

Going back to the Island of Fire, this was how our long trail went:

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The Good Ole Address Book

One may not appreciate how the most conventional and cheap-looking telephone and address book could do wonders in saving the most precious treasures in this world:

People. Connections. Relationships.

But take it from someone who has lost her mobile phone, and wasn’t able to back up her contact list in it. That’s one lesson learned already, to always back those numbers up that I add in my everyday dealings or new meetings with people. I never know when I'd be needing them. Now in deciding the source for the back-up, I think it still pays to rely on the good ole ways. Hence, the notebook! Haha.

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Survival Korean

I’ve had this little Korean book with me since this whole I-want-to-work-in-Seoul saga, and this has so far been a mainstay in my bag wherever I go. I’ve always been the type who bring books for what I call “emergencies”, in times when boredom strikes or when I have to do some waiting anywhere when I am out of the house.

I remember having bought this out of a gift certificate from one of the famous upscale bookstores in the metro, which I got it as some prize from my previous work.

This phrase book can really come handy for short-time travelers in the country, enough for anyone to throw common greetings and probably survive a minute or two at a convenience store buying something. You’d have a hard time doing bargains and price haggles though.

In my first-time January trip to Seoul, there were just three phrases I think that I had the bull mouth of speaking out loud to converse and be understood:

Annyong haseyo (hello)
Kamsa-hamnida (thank you)
Yong-O-rul hashimnikka? (Do you speak English?)

Thanks to the book. But if I am to push my way into living with Koreans in my everyday work (for at least a year), then I think it’s time to buy a bigger, more comprehensive text.

Geez, all this waiting for the visa. It’s driving me nuts.

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