Simbang Gabi in Singapore 2010

Five Days before Christmas. Ninongs (Godfathers) and Ninangs (Godmothers) are trying to catch up buying gifts for their growing number of Inaanak while others are still worrying on the delayed, rumored, sensationalized or imagined Christmas bonus. Anxious Parents, working doubly hard to have something to prepare and share for the kids long-awaited gifts and noche buena. Kids singing Christmas carols on the streets and neighborhood. Vendors experiencing ramp up in sales. What else did I miss? It's so hard to capture everything that is happening back home, while we are working abroad trying to feel the spirit of Christmas in our home away from home.

Filipina Maid inherits $6M

A lot of us have been dreaming of winning big in Sweepstakes, all ticket buyers and non-ticket buyers alike. :) I myself have been imagining on hitting the lucky pot, especially when the stake in the Philippine Lotto hits 741M Php (S$22.45M). And when a certain lucky guy hit it, that was the time when I realized that I was only dreaming as I was not buying any lotto ticket for me to win. Anyone willing to buy a ticket for me? Just hit me a message. Hehe.

Fast Forward

If I can change the way we represent time, I would like to require that every clock design should have wings with it, wings to remind us that time really really flies fast.

It is more than a year already since my last post for this time-forgotten blog. And a lot of big things happened to my life. I broke up from a long time relationship and found a new love here, got married and now already have a son who after being left in the Philippines for almost three months, has finally come and join us here in Singapore, for good.

When I decided to accept the opportunity of working here in Singapore, I was always reflecting then on why God had led me to come to this country. My career in the Philippines back then was more than enough to support me and even substantial to start a family. Now I realize that it is through this Country where I experienced huge changes in my life. It is when you go out from your comfort zone where you would finally begin to realize that the world is boundless when it comes to turning impossible to reality. It stripped me from all of the lies that covered my existence which had been suppressed by the shield of comfort which I myself has been providing. And most significantly, it led me to finding the soul who shared the same experience, the same values and the same dreams with me. In the end, I realized that you will never fully understand the Lord's plan for you unless you would put that first step out of the comfort of your own life.

Fast forward to 2010, I am now a happy married man to a very loving wife and a father to a very cute son who is beginning to show his inherited traits from me. It is like witnessing a reborn of myself to a new generation thirty years ahead of me.

This is my story, a story of an OFW man working in Singapore. :)

Dan of Ireland: The OFW Story

Another OFW story of a man who once work as high school teacher and a college instructor back home, working like a horse to support his family but yet the hard-work was still not enough to sufficiently earn thus decided to head on for a roller-coaster-ride of working abroad.

Read the rest of the story of Dan from Ireland.

Filipinos walk a different path in this earth. Our race had left a significant mark in this tumultuous world. We the Filipino overseas worker, the new breed of modern nomads that seek greener pastures elsewhere to escape the clinch of poverty. Our life story, our struggle has always been told. Every day throngs of Filipinos board that one way ticket plane ride. With a pocket of a few borrowed dollars and a lot of prayers. We surrender ourselves to fate and luck, that we may find the promise land. A land far away from home, glittering with better paying jobs and endless prospects.


When I look back years ago when I braced myself to board my first international flight. Mixed emotions was triggered when I looked back to see what I was leaving behind. The land of my birth, my family and my friends that for years I will be parted. I indeed sacrificed all just to alleviate myself from penury. When I was young I never dreamed of life away from home. I dreamed of becoming a lawyer, a doctor, or a senator just like any other kid in our class. But the more you grow up the smaller your dreams become. The more you grow up the more you realize how cruel and unfair life was. From a young age I learned to work hard to continue on with my studies to get a degree. Due to hard work I even got a master’s degree. Even after all that hard work you still haven’t got a sense of security. My earnings still wasn’t enough for a better future for my son and my life still going nowhere. Years of hard labour bring little fruition. Even if I work myself to death the money I earn won’t even be enough for a decent funeral.

In 2005 my wife got a job here in the Republic of Ireland. I was so exuberant upon hearing the news for the first time. It was our way out of from poverty. At last destiny was shining upon us. I was so naïve then. I thought that being abroad was the answer to all my troubles. I also succumbed to the mindset that being abroad was a sign of success. Most Filipinos back home treated other countries outside our own as those whose streets are painted of gold and people lucky enough to go abroad will bring back tons of unimaginable wealth. Reality was far too different. The streets outside the country are not painted of gold but stained by the sweat and tears of OFW’s (Overseas Filipino Workers). Outside our country most of us live to work. To earn enough only to pay the bills and send some money back home. Having two jobs was often the way to get by. I was once a high school teacher and college instructor back home but here I started off as someone who cleans rooms and toilets for a living. I totally have no shame about my job and did it with dignity. We Filipinos are a resilient race as they say and I just proven that to myself over and over again.

Article Source: http://expatpinoy.blogspot.com/2008/06/ofw-story.html

Me and my Videoke Box

I was invited last night by a friend and former colleague to come over to their place together with my videoke box.

So we had fun all night till 4am singing and dancing to the tunes from 70's to 90's. It was a great experience to see my fellow OFWs singing all the OPM songs. In one night we all felt like we are back in the Philippines partying with families and friends.

Videoke is always my best buddy to ease my homesickness. And I think almost every OFW around the globe would agree on that. Like what a Singaporean said, whom I've happened to meet at one pub, "Every Filipino can sing".

Considering that he haven't gone to our country, his comment was plainly an observation on his Filipino acquaintances.

Wherever we may go, it would really show that singing videoke will always be a part of our lives.

If you ask what videoke box I have, it's a new videoke box called ziller from Korea. It has built-in 707 OPM songs and 1,565 English songs for a price of 12k+ Php. I should have been buying magic sing but when I saw this product it was an easy choice for me. Features that I like are as follows:

1. The main circuitry of the system resides on the box not on the microphone (I can't think what would happen if magic sing falls from the hands of an intoxicated person)
2. It has built-in OPM songs
3. It has 8 extra expansion slots for additional song chips
4. You can use an ordinary microphone (maximum of 2)

There are a lot of other features but those are the top features that I've considered. You can visit the product's website for more information.

Product Site: http://www.realsoundvideoke.com

A Usual OFW Story

When i was in my high school days or even in my college years, I never imagined myself to work outside the country. I grew up living a simple life, my father is a mechanic of our own-managed small shop, and my mother is plain housewife. All I wanted was to be like my father and so I planned to get a Bachelor's Degree in Mechanical Engineering.

That was 12 years ago. Now, I'm not managing my own auto repair shop, I did not pursue the course that I wanted to back then and ended up finishing BS Computer Engineering, and most of all I am presently working away from home and my country.

In short, all my plans a decade ago turned 180 degrees to what situation I am now into. I am now working in one of the electronic giant companies here in Singapore.

Why did I decide to work abroad? I will try my best tell you.

When I graduated in College in 2001, I was so eager to work immediately to earn my first salary and to help my family. I landed working in a data processing company in Cebu. But the pay is way too low so I decided to transfer to another company as a contractor for 2 years. Then I was given a slot on the same company as a permanent staff and worked for another 4 years.

For a total of more than 6 years of working, I will tell you the figures of my savings. NOTHING, yes you got it right, I didn't have any savings at all and even in debt to some of the financial institutions.

I worked like a horse to support my family and my ordinary lifestyle but I saved nothing, how much more to some of you who are living in spendings more than mine. Over the years, my patriotism to apply my skills on my own country slowly faded, and a new dream to work abroad started to come out.

That's why I'm here, one of the million filipinos working abroad, who tried to find a decent living for my family back home.