My life through my Facebook posts

I looked back and tried to see my life through the Facebook entries I made through the years. Going through the old posts made me smile. I had so many silly and nonsense entries. Some of my entries were so insane; I could not believe I posted these. 

The entries revealed one thing about me: I bounce back. This is the story of my life. I have been through some of the lowest times. I have experienced wonderful moments. But no matter what life threw at me, and no matter where life took me, I made my Facebook entry on this, slept on it and faced the next day with renewed strength and hope. 

The old posts reminded me on how faithful the Lord has been with my life. He has sustained me through the years. I am humbled on how wonderful the Lord has been. He is not done with me yet, and while I wait for Him to reveal His plans on my life, I will continue to serve and worship Him.

So, what does your Facebook posts say about you? 

An Overseas Filipino Worker's reflections at 2:00 AM

Kabayan. This is how we address our fellow Filipinos here in Dubai - a word that literally means: my fellow countryman. How do the other nationalities perceive us Kabayans? A conversation with a non-Filipino revealed this point: The Filipinos tend to stay together. Go to any pantry or breakroom in any office and you would see Filipinos sitting together during lunch – sharing their sinigang, adobo or spaghetti. Most of the Filipinos eat at the same place too. Check out Taza, or Ponderosa, and you would see more Filipinos dining here. It would seem like, one Filipino will discover this awesome restaurant, tell his friends, and the next thing you know this place will become a Filipino favorite. The Filipinos come together even in worship. The church which I attend is comprised of 99% Filipino in the congregation. 

There is nothing wrong with all of these. In fact, this trait magnifies how united the kabayans are. Being away from our country has somehow instilled in us a sense of patriotism. We tend to look after each other. Looking at my fellow kabayans at the next table and hearing Tagalog and some other dialect buzzing through the air, gives me a sense of comfort. But we are missing something. We spend so much time with each other that we have limited our ability to grow. They say that travel is the best form of education. Well, we do not need to go that far. Dubai is a melting pot of cultures. This is a place of extravagance, of superlatives, of opportunities for everyone.  We should try to get out of our comfort zones and interact with non-Filipinos. We can try to reach out to other nationalities and learn their cultures. Life is a constant cycle of trying to improve ourselves – to be better than who we are yesterday. Explore. Discover.  Cultivate the yearning of always wanting to learn something new every day.

So I am widening my circles and extending my network to include non-Filipinos. They will see the Filipino values infused in me. I will share with them the colorful Filipino culture. In return, I will experience their country through them and I will gain a friend. And perhaps, no, definitely a yes, with prayer and faith, I can bring this new friend to the Lord.

This is me just saying and rambling and writing at 2:00 AM J

Disconnect to Connect

For 6 hours and on a weekend, my flatmates and I decided to turn off our Wifi connection, set aside our mobiles, Ipads, laptops and turned off the TV. What we accomplished? Played the guitar, sang songs, danced to some music, cooked a delicious meal, cleaned the flat, read a book, doodled in a notebook, and placed hotoil in our hair. I know, there is nothing extraordinary about these activities. But the best thing was we were actually outside our rooms, sitting across one another and talking face to face. There were no interruptions of FB’s newsfeeds or IG posts. There was music and laughter. It was fun.

Now, we turned on the Wifi, and retrieved our gadgets. We are back in our rooms, back to our social media life. Do not get me wrong, the social media sites are an OFW’s lifeline back home. However, today’s exercise reminded me that sometimes I need to actually get off my mobile, stand up, leave the room and talk to people. Today I am reminded that I am surrounded with people who have kind hearts and gentle spirits. I learned about their struggles and I am amazed on their strengths in coping with these. Today was a different kind of bonding. I look forward to more offline times with these ladies.

Another gentle reminder is that the Lord is always online with us. He never disconnects. We can always come to Him in prayer: Jeremiah 33:3 “Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.” Wherever we are, whatever connection we have, we can always come to the Lord and in all His goodness, He will always answer our prayers.

2014: The year to start it all

So I am back after a long period away from this blog.

I will start with the very obvious first-year-of-the month post: My 2014 goals.

Here they are:

1. To travel to at least one country outside the UAE (aside from the Philippines)

2. To get pregnant 

3. To get a salary-raise (blimey, i hope my manager reads this)

4. To go back to blogging again

I will leave this short for now. 

Hello 2014! :)