Eid Experience

If you ask Google, it'll tell you that Eid ul-Fitr is a three-day Muslim holiday. I'm not a Muslim, hell no but since am currently working in a Muslim country, I have the privilege to enjoy this kind of holiday. Anyway, me and my hommies decided to go to Fujairah which is one of the seven emirates of UAE. Twas a four-hour drive from Abu Dhabi and I tell you, it's worth it. Lots of amazing sceneries out there. It's more of a nature tripping I must say.

We booked a night stay in Al Diar Siji Hotel and we had a beautiful view of the sea from our room. How cool is that? Well, we never enjoyed the beach to be quite honest as it was jam-packed! So we filled our entire time road tripping, not to mention climbing a rock mountain for photo opp.

postcard

the rock

So there. Not bad for my first ever Eid holiday in Sandpit.

PS Thank you my lovely friends. You all never fail to keep me company: Yatz, Chie, Kathe, Dantley and Pat.

Acts of Evil

Don't be a hypocrite! Am sure all of us have done some evilness once in our lives. Big or small, it's the same. It shows that none of us is perfect.

As promised, I'll tell everything about what happened on my roller coaster journey here at sandpit. So here goes.

The moment I came back to the Philippines was like a hell. Don't get me wrong. The word hell here is only in relation to my documents. I never thought that I'll be able to enter UAE again and have this job, but I'm a lady with full of hopes in life. Money matters, that I won't lie. Sad to say but it's true that money is power. Anyway, I endure more than a month, as a jobless ass in Manila. There was a point that I am giving up and planning to be in my home country for good. You see, all my papers were authentic and okay though my contract lacks attestation from our own labor office in Abu Dhabi. I've elaborated everything about this in Episode 6.

Good news is, there's someone in Abu Dhabi University (ADU) who knows someone in the Philippines who can help me. I call this person, the mogul. My colleague told me to contact this mogul as soon as I arrive Manila and tell everything about my case. He sounds like a very powerful man, I thought. So, I contacted this mogul and discuss things. Things that you can only see in movies. Anyway, the main point is me leaving the Philippines with fake and original docs. Fake ones for the PHI Immigration and originals for AUH Immigration. So, how much? I have to say, a lot of cash. If you insist, throw me a mail and I'll elaborate further.

My first meeting with mogul was quite scary and full of skepticism. I just thought this is the only way and I really need to gamble. I never got the mogul's full name, where he lives, what 's his job and so on. I went home with nothing but trust in my pocket.

One day before my departure is our second meeting. This is the schedule he gave me for my PDOS. He gave me my referral form, there I saw that I've got an agency in Manila and my employer in Abu Dhabi is different. I tried searching for it in Google and found out it doesn't really exist. So I attended the half day boring seminar just to have my certificate.

On the departure day itself, I arrived NAIA earlier than expected, as I've said. This is my third and last meeting with the mogul. We had some short briefing then he gave me my papers. I was never surprised on how good Filipinos in forgery. What sickened me is the idea of passing through the whole airport process. But of course, twas a success. Unbelievably no sweat! It's why I'm here sharing you this story. One thing I remember the mogul used to tell me: All persons working at NAIA airport have their own tag price in their heads. TRUE, with my own experience.

Moral lesson? I couldn't think of any good so far but this I tell you, never ever exit in the Philippines if you're planning to work abroad. Our government sucks from head to toe and for that, I am not a proud Filipino.

First Pay in Sandpit

I received my first ever salary from ADU yesterday. My emotion's neither happy or sad about it. Sheesh, if you only knew the whole story behind this check... but still, am thankful. Hayy, this will just slip by my hands. Why? I haven't paid rent for 2 months. Tsk. Now, all I'm wanting is for September to end.

check

Wish me luck for this new whole month. Ayayay!

Episode 11

Today, I received my residence visa. Woohoo! After all those nerve-racking experiences that happened, I can finally be at ease. Who would ever thought that I'll be an official OFW? Haha.. Anyhoo, I prolly should end my episodes. Yes?

Super thank you Lord for all the blessings. I never expected anything BIG like this would happen.

Cheers!

Episode 10

You're prolly wondering what happened next in the series of my episodes. Well, I'm now here at sandpit, for almost a week. Getting back here seemed like a roller coaster you know but am glad all ended so well.

August 14-15: The date of my departure. I arrived NAIA airport by 8:30pm though the plane will depart the next day, 1:15am. I'm thinking, I'd better be early.. it's Friday and it's payday. I don't want to lose my temper on traffic, not that early. I'm saving it at the airport. :D So, I waited there for like more than 2 hours. I can't check in my baggage as my "very important papers" are still not on hand. Past 10 in the evening when the mogul arrived, panting, he gave me my papers and instruct me what to do. Enough with the details... in short, I passed through our airport though this time, it was all smooth and easy. Up until now, I wonder how come? Weniwei, I arrived Abu Dhabi earlier than expected.

August 16: First day at Abu Dhabi University (ADU)... officially. All went okay.. my boss was happy that I'm finally back.

August 18: Had some medical procedure like eye scan, xray and blood test.

Now, am waiting for the result of the medical exam so ADU can apply my residence visa and labor card. Hmmm.. I guess that's about it. More senseless episodes in the next few days. :)

4,343 miles...

...away from home now. I'm starting to miss EVERYTHING. From bogart, our hideous dog, to the red paint of our outer home; my bed and our forever messy living room; the unusual scent of my bedroom due to my old books and Xioms'  as well, all lying on my dusty floor; our literally dirty kitchen and my favorite spot whenever I want to lit my Marl; Mom's delicacies even if it's just sardines; my weird sisters, Achi and Taza; my one and only crazy Mom; my loving niece, Nicole; my close friends and most especially, my baby Xiomai.

Now, I think I need some rest.

Episode 9

Twas more than a week and I thought I won't be receiving any good feedback from the mogul. I tried texting and asking him for favorable results but it turned out am ranting again. He specifically said that I should be relaxed and that I should wait and be patient. For goodness' sake, my flight is almost near like tomorrow, I need to be present at the airport. Fuck you man! My left eye never failed twitching since the day I learned that I needed to rebook my flight. Mom said it was because am super stressed. Puhleeeaasseee... I don't want to throw another $100 for this.

Midnight when I received a text from the mogul that I'll be having my PDOS the next day at around 8am. Oh crap. I should've took a power nap awhile ago.

Anyway, I woke up early this morning, attended PDOS and yeah, went home writing this shit while waiting for the time. Tonight's gonna be my flight back to Abu Dhabi. If there's a term for that feeling of agonising-stressed-pseudo-excited freak, tell me.. because that's what I am experiencing right now.

So, one last step... then I'll be able to put an end to the idea of pissing in my pants. D'oh!