The Last Part

The last month of the year whisked away very fast. It swept from a silent start to a grand finale. Many things happened unexpectedly.

...like friends suddenly getting married.

(And then they will eventually move and drift off to family life.)

.....and managers getting promoted.

(and they will then rise up to invisible ranks)

etc. etc. etc.
The letters in the computer screen's a little blurry as am typing now. A friend gave a bottle of casella wine the other day....and my mother left a cut of ham yesterday. Perfect combination. Half and half already occupied my stomach.
An hour ago, together with 50+ other first-timers, we were all desperately throwing 7-kilo balls in Zayed Sports City. In celebration of the year-end, our company hosted a bowling tournament among our staffs. It's great fun, period. We first filled our stomachs with pizza, and then awarded our pre-elected staffs with money and then hit the lanes with vengeance. So, Bowling is all about sharp eyes and strong arms, that's it.

Koreans play great bowling.
I wonder how they do it. Why do they have these thin bodies yet were able to throw the heavy balls smoothly forward with ease? While us, Filipinos-Indians-Arabs we all have super-duper-extra huge bodies  but still have to exert a huge effort just to hit a pin (clumsily too).

Our team is the best and the noisiest I guess. I love you guys!

Great colleagues. great company. great evening. great month. Great year!

-<*>--<*>-<*>-<*>-<*>-<*>-
"Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life. 
-by Confucius

-<*>--<*>-<*>-<*>-<*>-<*>-

So, It's Christmas....(part 2)

Merry Christmas ECC!

This tradition of ECC, where people of all nations gather together in a an evening of music and praises is a happy ending every year. Each country will have their own presentation so we enjoy listening to various christmas songs in different languages - the most pleasing mixture of various faces and voices and skin colors ever!

<South Africa>                     <South Korea>

<Indonesia>                               <South India>

<Nigeria>                       <The Philippines>

(and many more countries)

~.~.~.~

*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*

~.~.~.~

So, Its Christmas...(part 1)

Merry Christmas SKEC (PISA)!

<Abu Dhabi - SKEC Family>

Christmas is about giving....So we exchanged gifts.... worth AED 50 each :)

<PISA's leader of the pack - Sir PM surrounded by his children....>

Conclusion: We, the SK (korean/filipino)staff of PISA loves taking photos of ourselves

...so we pose for photos here and there

<.... and again and again....>

<I love this shot!> 

<we got the most good looking Filipinos and also the most handsome Koreans in the whole UAE>

***just blooperssss!***

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:

Company cultures are like country cultures.

Never try to change one.

Try, instead, to work with what you've got.

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Home

<looking down Elektra - Hamdan Street from the window>

Standing by the window of my rented room-home, I look down and watched the city in the dark for 10minutes and then my heart started to miss my real home.

I grew up in a small village, surrounded by mountains and the sea. 

Maybe in your part of the earth, you are blessed with 4 seasons. Winter, Spring, Summer and Autumn. While in the Islands of the Philippines, we enjoy simply 2 seasons - either its Rainy or its Sunny. 

<The Nipa Hut>

In our small villages, the Nipa Hut serves as a very comfortable home. Even now that there are many concrete buildings, we still keep nipa huts beside our houses where our grandparents like to sleep or just take rest together with our chickens, and cats and  dogs and birds and their nests perched on the bamboo roof. Instead of watching TV, we love to sit in the nipa hut among families and friends, simply sharing stories and laughter. It is a favorite hang-out place.

<tobacco business>

Sorry folks it is not suppose to be proud of, but one of our main product and probably the most profitable is tobacco. We plant the tobacco seed, we cook the tobacco leaves and then we sell them to the bigger companies who finally will process and export them, we create the cigarettes :( 

<each family owns at least a family of cows as well. >

We all have our own our rice fields, so we plant our own vegetables and we tend our own flocks of chicken and cows. Food supply is all fresh.

<The Jeepney, Philippines' own unique creation. This can cross a river too!>

 

<From the mountains rainwater flows through our streets towards the sea all throughout the rainy season. There are no fishes because the water is shallow but there are lots of frogs and even crabs when you're lucky (winks!).>

>.<>.<>.<>.<>.<>.<

"No one realizes how beautiful it is 

to travel until he comes home and 

rest his head on

 his old, familiar pillow." 

~ by Lin Yutang

>.<>.<>.<>.<>.<>.<

UAE National Holiday, a glimpse....

National Day (Arabic: اليوم الوطني لدولة الأمارات العربية المتحدة‎) is celebrated on 2 December each year in the United Arab Emirates for two days or more (mostly on the 2nd and 3rd). It marks the UAE's formal nationalization from the British Protectorate Treaties which ended on December,1,1971 and the eventual unification of the seven emirates in 1971 which combined to form the modern-day country. **borrowed from ms. wiki

car parade filled the streets from hamdan street to salam street going to the road of corniche all the way to the breakwater near marina mall.

 cars and music and people everywhere....

bright and colorful lights decorate the buildings of abu dhabi....from top to bottom, side to side all around :)

the locals love to sit on top of their cars during the parade with their stereos playing local music in full force

twinkle, twinkle, abu dhabi....the city sparkles!

amazing buildings like giant clusters of light statues

feels like christmas time to me

hehe even the fishes celebrated national day (they were painted with uae flags)

*-*-*-*-*-*

Marhaba UAE 41 go forward!

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Interviews: About Abu Dhabi

Surrender

Life during the past few days felt like a desert safari....

Time used to be easily spent on the cycle of work & sleep (only). Day after day same-same.

Then, the cycle was broken 10 days ago when someone gave me these 2 big responsibilities, I thought I got rid of them already but they came back. See, I gave away my 2 hamsters to a friend a year before because I was afraid that I'm not responsible enough to take care of them. Here they are again, poor tiny animals. Depending for food, shelter & water.

<my pet hamsters>

Plants are more easy to take care of than pets. Someone gave me a fortune plant 4 months ago, alhamdullila! It is still alive. They say it brings good luck to the area where it is located.

One colleague treated us during her birthday 2 weeks ago. Did you ever notice that celebrations are usually done in restaurants, in front of food, and the topic is always about work...?

<great friends>

We witnessed this year's Big 5 Show at the Dubai World Trade Center. Report said more than 2500 exhibitors from 70 countries participated. That means the middle east market is alive. Let's hope it would get better more and more. I thought I'd missed the exhibition, big thanks that I am blessed to have a phenomenal boss, he brought me to escort him. Cheers!

<picture borrowed from gulfnews.com>

I never imagined that our korean managers would be so humble as to acknowledge and even give gifts and cool birthday messages to a fellow staff. We always felt and assumed that there is a gap or distinction between 'us' global staff and 'them' korean staff. But such a humble gesture from them is very warm & bridged any boundaries.

<will definitely miss them>

Last Saturday, we watched a very talented Russian ballerina performed at the Emirates palace hotel. The ballet dancers are very graceful. Twirling and splitting and spinning. Was entertained too by the grandeur of the hotel.

 Walking outside after the show, the grounds of the hotel is breathtaking at night with its lighting effects all over the place.

 Its already midnight and here we are not caring and just taking endless photos in front of the building.

<Fountains and palm trees decorate the grounds of the hotel>

<the Moscow City Ballet>

<Ms. Oryekhova plays the role of Aurora (sleeping beauty)>

Our new-found friend, Byun said goodbye to us 2 days ago. She is probably safe and together with her family in the city of Busan, South Korea now. Life always give us 'goodbyes' along the way...

<sshhh!....this is shhoju>

<Peace- their favorite photo pose.. hehe... last night in PISA>

Sometimes we just have to surrender to Life. If it throws us responsibilities, we need to accept it and grow. If life blesses us with great people to serve and work with, just be grateful and cherish each chance to serve them, likewise if those above us are difficult to deal with, we have to learn and adjust accordingly. Along the way, there are so many great things to enjoy, like more friends to meet and get to know, more experiences waiting to explore and discover....just surrender to the safari of life.

.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.

The greatness of a man's power

is the measure of his surrender. 

~ by William Booth 

.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.

What Girls Want

I've been thinking about this question someone asked me the other day. Very basic question but I do not really know the answer.

But what does a girl really want? Almost every man thinks that girls are complicated and normally treat their wives/mothers/sisters like a Soduko puzzle. Well actually a girl's heart is very simple and easy to please.

As a present or just to make your girlfriend/wife/mother/grandmother happy....these simple suggestions are worth like a diamond, it gives refreshment to any female soul.

• a genuine smile, a kiss and a hug.
• an honest compliment coupled with encouragement.
• a surprise gift (flower is the best).
• simple acts of thoughtfulness like opening doors or carrying heavy stuff for her.
• during rough times, take her side no matter what.
• a funny story or a simple joke to make her laugh when she's tired.
• ask how she is & just listen when she's in mood to talk (don't forget to 'nod' once in a while).
• show appreciation at any chance you have.
• offer to take her out for a walk or for a lunch or just drive her to the grocery store :)

These are just some of the many ways to make a girl happy, in the end what's really important is to make her feel valued, loved, and protected. Hope these ideas helps us to deal with the girls in our lives next time they behave like puzzles.

Au Revoir!

<~>*<~>*<~>*<~>*<~>*<~>

“Being a woman is a terribly difficult task,

since it consists principally in dealing with men.” 

~by Joseph Conrad

<~>*<~>*<~>*<~>*<~>*<~>

Jordan

Remains of the columns of the Roman Theater, Amman

During Eid Mubarak last 3days ago, I went to the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.

Thru Royal Jordanian airlines, it is 3hours away from Abu Dhabi and with an hour time variance. Airport immigration is typical as in any arab country, there is just a little incident when my friend travelling with me was questioned more longer because her passport photo looks healthier than her in person ^_^.

150AD Roman Amphitheatre, 6000seats capacity

We stayed at the charming Pasha hotel in downtown. The capital of Jordan is divided into two regions, (1) old and (2) new. Old Amman looks old, smells old and feels old. But the new Amman looks normal, same as Abu Dhabi city.

We had traditional food for lunch & dinner, Mansaf is a delicious tenderly cooked chicken or lamb on top of flavored rice served with yogurt. 

Like all busy cities, the streets are filled with cars, windows open driving in free lanes, vendors are selling various goods like clothes, souvenir items, local perfumes, etc..., some tourists like us wandering around, and many people just strolling and enjoying the holiday.

Remains of the Temple of Roman god Hercules

We met an eager local tour-guide  his name is Steve. We found him sitting at the entrance of the Roman Theater ruins. He said he always guards the coliseum waiting for tourists to serve because it is his territory.

Steve: the best and happiest Tour Guide in Amman

He offered to ride in his car, straight up to see the Citadel on top of the hill.  So, up we go and reached just in time before sunset. At 5pm the entrance was already officially close but he wasta our way in. The citadel is famous for the temple ruins of the greek god Hercules. From the hilltop 360 degrees you can see the capital of Jordan.

Steve's Colliseum

 On Friday morning we hired a taxi to drive us to the very ancient city Petra. For 3long hours in the car we watched the stony, hilly, red dessert of the country. Petra is arabic word for stone. Maybe because the ancient buildings are carved from the huge red stone mountain, history said it existed from 300BC. To see the famous rock-carved architecture, we have to walk more than 1hour in between the very big mountains, the passage is narrow so only horses can be hired as a transport. The horse owners look and talk like pirates so we did not hire any, we just walk happily along with many other tourists. Going back is disaster, we feel very very exhausted, phew! But its really worth it, to get a glimpse of how the early humans live.

The Treasury, 'Al Khazna' Petra

Amazing Ancient City of Petra

Many travellers. from all over the world comes here to visit

sandwiched between mysterious giant red rocks

Israel on the West, Jordan in the East (Jordan River Boundary)

On Saturday morning we hired the same Jordanian driver from the hotel and visited the Jordan River where Jesus Christ was baptized and the Dead Sea.

Dead Sea Mud covered

Blogging at the shores of Dead Sea

The road kept going down-down-down. It  is more than 1000feet below sea level. It is a boundary line of Jordan with Israel on the west side. Mohammad, our local driver said the dead sea is dead because there are no fishes that can survive its very salty water. But it is very rich in phosporous and other dead sea minerals used for skincare. We bought facial and body muds, it is very black.

Happy to travel with great friends!

We left Jordan feeling refreshed by 8PM on the 3rd day.