My first time in the Philippines to celebrate mother’s day with my boys.
actually, its an advance celebration because I am traveling back to Saudi Arabia.
We went to Sariwon Korean barbecue at BGC.
The meat was tender, actually all the dishes taste good but one thing I noticed, there were more side dishes than the meat itself. Service was also good and fast.
We had a set menu for 4 persons but the dessert was only good for one which I think its only for mom!
The third episode of “The Vin and Noira Show” is here
Are you a OFW? Expatriates? born in KSA? back in Philippines? you should listen to vin oh! and noira too, she is from Indonesia but studied in Australia.
Where are you from?
I usually say, from Philippines to make the story short, because I was born in Davao and was raised in Bicol, my father is from Cabanatuan City and my mother is from Taytay ,Rizal and you can find these places in the Philippines.
but..
What about if you are born in another country like Saudi Arabia with Filipino parents and was raised in Saudi Arabia and never had the chance to actually live in Philippines?
What about.. if you are born in Saudi Arabia and never had the opportunity to really live in Philippines but your parents are both Filipino and you immigrated to United Kingdom or Canada?
What about..if your mother is Filipina and your father is American and you are born and raised in Saudi Arabia?
Where are you from?
photo grabs from “the vin and noira show” Ep3
As my youngest always say ” WE ARE NOMAD” 🙂
GLOBAL nomad – one who grows up in a country other than their passport country.
EXpatriate – one who lives outside of his/her own home culture.
I got interested with the topic of “Third Culture Kids” since the first episode of the show and it’s relatable to all expatriates alike, not only for the kids but for the adult and parents as well.
What is TCK? Third Culture Kids is a term they used for kids who were raised in a culture other than their parents country and a combination of both. A good example is my son , who has both Filipino parents (first culture) but was born and raised in Saudi Arabia(second culture) and being exposed on both cultures (third culture). He studied in a multicultural environment and later on went to Europe and USA to finish his Bachelors degree.
It gives me a goose bump, remembering the day I organized a club named KFC (Kids Fun Club) and TFCK ( Teens Fun Club with Kids). My main goal is for him to be exposed in a Filipino culture while in Saudi Arabia at the same time teaching children to enhance their creativity in arts,reading and our culture.
So whats the big deal?
Is there more advantages than disadvantages?
Well, it’s a matter of perspective, I can’t speak for himself so listen to his show here hahahaha, kidding aside, but what I observed TCK has more adaptability and capability than those who has mono cultural exposure. Mostly of the studies done for TCK are American children living abroad, so let’s narrowed down the topic to Filipino kids who were raised in Saudi Arabia because of their parents employment.
They speak fluent english and have difficulty in Tagalog (Filipino language), unless all their friends speaks Tagalog or they are studying in Philippine School, then there’s no tagalog difficulties but definitely they don’t speak their parent’s dialect. Yes! one of the advantage of being TCK is the fluency in the English Language, they learned different languages too, but sad to say they are not well versed in Tagalog. Is this the fault of a parent? Well, in my case, I choose to speak one language to them, so they will not be confused in their accent and pronunciation. I was raised in Bicol, speaks taglish (tagalog-English) with a Philippine accent, I was afraid they gonna pick up my accent and other students will make fun of them. You see, living in Saudi Arabia is not easy, unfortunately,bullying is rampant at school and at work as well. And being in American School, Filipino subject is not included in the curriculum, it’s either French or Spanish, and of course the Arabic language of host country. I just wish, I insisted on learning them Tagalog and Arabic more fluently.
Even for us, as OFW, we tend to speak comfortably in English than in Tagalog, As for me, I still speak taglish (tagalog-English) but can speak English well if needed and can conversed in Arabic with my patients 🙂
One of the privilege of being TCK is traveling. It gives them a broader view of the world, a better understanding of different culture but at the same time, they tend to wonder, the need to see other places and at times lost their interest to go back home.Even in food, they acquired the taste of arabic cuisine. Who doesn’t? Oh ! I love it too! kabsa, shawerma,sambusak and broast 🙂 hmmm I’m getting hungry 🙂
Another advantage of being TCK is education, not only having the chance to study abroad but the ability to adjust, experience and learn to live in a multicultural environment. This is a real education to see how people live, interact, socialize in different places. This give you a broader perspective and independence.
What about emotionally?
I remembered my son, on one of his low point of being a Nomad, he uttered in a depressed tone of “just give me a home” to which I answered, your home is ME! Home is where your family! But at that time we were all in a different continent. It was a realization for me, yeah, home is everywhere and nowhere!
Saudi Arabia is my comfort zone, we live in a big house with free car, air ticket , free education and this is where my career started and bloom. But we al knew, this is temporary, and time will come we are all going home…where?
No one was prepared to go back home to Philippines, we were all fascinated and taken away by the comfort of living abroad, having friends all over the world,going to places.. though at times we feel we don’t belong anywhere, still living abroad has its own aura. Like what is expensive in Philippines, its just a normal affordable thing abroad. Communication is easier too, though we don’t speak arabic fluently, a lot of people here tried to speak English or even tagalog to us.(this is just me, ok?) I know, I am working in a private clinic with a good position so what I meet everyday are professionals, VIPs, but I think mostly of expatriate would have the same opinion. Am I wrong or right?
Sad to say, back home, speaking English with american accent and an Asian look, sometimes doesn’t create a good start without being perceived to be showing off.
the feeling of..
you don’t fit in… reverse culture shock… out of place
Vin and noira will surely tackle these feelings of being a tourist on your own home country. As for me, I am not yet there, but I am anticipating my retirement soon and I knew, I would feel the same way but hey! life is what we make it, if we were able to survived in the Middle East, we will surely survive in Asia!
Did I say ? TCK includes adult and parents?
Accept reality, face our own fear and sooner than we think, we can say, it’s not bad as we expected it too be 🙂
Ladies, I think Vin and Noira did express their take on TCK better than I did here 🙂
I haven’t completed my house renovation yet but needed some furniture for my covered lanai at the back of my house. I searched where to order rattan but what I found was either far from metro manila or the design were mostly the same anywhere.
While searching I came across a Facebook page “RATTAN ANJELIE FURNITURE” at first I was hesitant to send a message but looking at the photos of their finished product, I became curious and sent Amor a message. She responded immediately and while chatting with her, my guts told me she is a trustworthy person. I am aware of the presence of scammer on social media, so I asked a lot of questions and she seemed very polite and answered my questions with all honesty.
She was very particular about the design I was asking and their capacity to copy it. She told me what they can and can not do. She sent me a lot of photos and materials. So what I did is just to choose and agreed. I overestimated the size of the sofa and she over estimated the size of the pillows 🙂 The payment was also easy, its thru bank transfer. She asked for downpayment before proceeding and the balance is either cash on delivery or bank transfer.
This was on the day it was delivered, I found that the small pillows were too many, and the whole set will not accomodate on my lanai. Nevertheless, the finished product was beautiful!
She also made extra 20×20 pillows for my bay window and sofa. The sewing is neat.
Ladies, if you need to contact her, please feel free to go to their FB page.
The 2nd Episode has been uploaded! I can’t say much about the topic, but what caught me : Black Panther VS Batman which Noir accidentally says Blackman hehehe why not another Superhero in the making 🙂 What about you?
Obviously, I haven’t seen the Black panther yet (no movie theater here in KSA) but from what I knew, the story both has traumatic experience on Black panther and Batman. Black panther lost his father and Batman lost his parents. Both would like to avenge their death. Both has costume in black (am I right? ) hahaha Well I should stop comparing until I see the movie!
Ladies, let me know later which one you like more?
” you don’t need a super power to be a super hero”
Have you fall in love with the same person who you haven’t seen for many years?
Have you found the one that get away and re-connected?
It was a mixed emotion of love, excitement and hoping… What if?
It’s been awhile I did not feature any lady beyond fifty aka beauty beyond fifty. Hence, it’s a month of love, I would like to share a glimpsed of love story of my lady no.8, Marietta de Castro – Mayette ,as we fondly call her.. is my high school classmate and best friend way back in 70’s. I know in your head, your counting our age hahahaha! To spare your mind thinking, She is 58 years old.
Mayette is one of our top ten students in High school.Like everyone else, after HS grad, each one went on separate ways, though we were able to connect at one time when we were in College, that was my first and last time I saw her with her then boyfriend Paul.
Fast forward, I saw her again after four years, me as a registered nurse but recently enrolled in UE college of Dentistry and OMG! She was pregnant!Her first born was my first godson but I never had a chance to really re-connect. I got pre-occupied with my studies and she as a young mom. And guess what? I got married too and went abroad. We got reconnected at our HS reunion. So the next thing we knew, I am working as a Dentist with two sons and she, as a business lady with 3 children! Wow!
Guess what? I saw her again after so many years, children were all grown up, my first godson died, she recently separated from her husband and my marriage was also on the rocks. What a coincidence! Though our living condition is different, our path seems to cross every four years with such drama that we re-connect as if we just saw each other yesterday.
So here’s the interesting love story of 2018, Paul her college boyfriend, went to USA and remained single all these years. Last year, they re-connected through Facebook and what comes next is a wonderful sparks that was put on hold and re-opened.
Though Mayette has been separated and her marriage was not registered and did not co-exist, in Philippines, once you are married and not annulled, you are still considered married. (rolling my eyes up and away) hypocrisy isn’t it?
However, fate as its own way, her then husband died of cancer and so mayette is now legally single – widowed.
I know, your guess is right! Paul came to Philippines and got engaged with our lady in red, Mayette. 🙂 wow!
I will save the love story in the next chapter..
For now, I like to make a toast for you Mayette, may this be the beginning of your happy journey and I know what ever obstacle you may encounter will just be an icing on the cake for you, having suffered so many mishap, this journey will be bounded and guarded with love. My best wishes to you and Paul.
When I received the link this morning , I immediately sent a message to my son.
What is this? What about Vin and Noira ?
He replied: It’s a thing I’m doing in my free time.
For teens ?
18 years old and above
Ok, so curious, that I went to it right away, huh? What is this podcast? Well, pardon me, I am in my late fifties, back in our time we only listen to radio.
The Vin and Noira Show /A Podcast of Randomness
photo grab on their FB account
The first time I heard his voice, OMG! Is this my son? Who is the lady? Well, you know what happened next? Google and Facebook came into rescue.
So I gathered, Christina is from Indonesia and a Octoberian as well (like us), if that is the real birthday, you know these days, they kind of change everything in their profile pics and data as well 🙂 A Filipino-Indonesian host team, both speaks English fluently!
Anyhow, this is their first episode and listening for the first few minutes, kind of “off” to me because of too many “F” word. But as I continued listening, the conversation was getting substantially good. Though I am not familiar with “Geoducks & Akon” and d&d games. Dungeons and dragons are not my thing , I guess it’s only for teenagers and young adult. It’s fun listening to them, the giggling in between makes me chuckles at times.
I didn’t know about TCK (third culture kids) ABC (aussie born chinese) did I get it right?Well, If you listen to their conversation, you will find out how Asian children born outside of their own country, live in a different culture, mingled with the locals, speaks English fluently and how they feel about it. They also talk about their “mom” yeah sure, they make fun of us! in a nice way 🙂
Overall, Hurray! for the first episodes, funny, honest awesome conversation, though I think it would be nice not to hear a lot of “F” even wonderful not to hear it at all 🙂 just a thought..hey thats your show and this is my review! Fair enough?
It’s been long I haven’t been on a Valentine’s date 🙂 A feeling of senior moment or a feeling of longing? Whatever it is, I.. for sure would like to experience it sooner. Alright, I heard you (my hand on my ear…(smiling) I am nearly on retirement age and sooner than you thought I’ll be tossing my shoes up in the air with my Valentino hahaha.
However, this post is not about me , not about Valentines but about “Love”.
My father has an Alzheimer and he is 95 yrs old. My mom is 91 ys old and she is in the early stage of dementia. My father can’t handle her mood swings or maybe.. we, the children can not tolerate the drama scene so we decided to separate them physically.
Recently, my mom had a fall accident and got into wheelchair like my dad. When I came home, She asked about my dad, to bring him to her side.
Me: mom are you sure?
mom: yes, if you like, let him sleep here too (smiling shyly)
I was hesitant for a while, because I knew the ‘drama’ that leads to their separation but I complied to her wish anyway. I asked my dad if he is willing to see my mom, obviously he forgot the scenario that he has a wife too!
When my mom saw him, her eyes opened widely with joy and asked my dad.
Do you know me? my dad smiled and looked at her.
Do you know me? (mom repeated her question)
Me: papa si mama yan! (dad that’s mom!)
My dad, lovingly smiled at her and repeated the word “mama”.
We carried dad to mom’s bed and both are now besides each other, my mom kept asking him, do you know me? How are you? My dad embraced her and my mom knew that in spite of Alzheimer, dad still knew her by heart.
I left them for a while, my heart is pounding with joy and my eyes were welling up.
When I came back, my mom shyly but proudly announced that my dad gave her a kiss. Wow! how romantic!
I decided to give it a try, let dad sleep tonight besides mom. I missed them so much so I invited myself to joined them in one bed, dad was in the middle.
After a few hours, I heard dad murmuring, ” I will buy a big bed”
“I will buy a big bed” he repeated it many times and eventually my mom said, Mimi, get out of bed!
Hahaha who got an Alzheimer? me ? or my dad? stupid me! The bed is too small for us.
So, I slept in the sofa and them.. together in one bed.
Though I did not sleep well, worried that dad or my mom might fall out of bed, the night went quietly with a happiness and love in our heart.
When I woke up, dad and mom were holding hands. Do I need to say more?
The wonder of ‘Love’ it speaks in different ways!
Dr. Exequiel and Dra. Emma Mariano married in 1950
“Love is not a memory – it’s a feeling that resides in our heart and soul”
I had the opportunity to be in the business class of Etihad airways. (I know, I told myself not again!) I have no problem with the in flight service but this is my second time to fly that I was stranded for a day. It’s a hassle to be delayed even though they accommodate you to a five-star hotel like Al Raha Beach Hotel in Abu Dhabi. The bathroom of my hotel room is as big as my master bedroom in my house in the Philippines. Seriously yes!
entrance to the bathroom
the toilet room
bath tub
shower enclosure
The lobby was still decorated with a holiday theme at the time of my checked in.
It’s a festive moment but my mind was busy about my mom being hospitalized back home , I knew if it was a different time, I would say Thank you Etihad for bringing me to this place.
Al Raha beach hotel (my window view)
Here’s peek of how Etihad business class looks like 🙂
a mixed emotion indeed!
i had pre order of oriental vegetables meal
This is the Business Class lounge in Abu Dhabi Int. Airport, its complete with buffet, sleeping area, spa and you can even take a shower if you would like to refresh.
Would I take the same flight?
Etihad airways? hmmm maybe If I am not in a hurry and I don’t mind being stranded for a day, Yes!
A lot of good and not so good things happened in year 2017,..live at the moment, enjoy day by day, count the blessings. See the little things around, appreciate the beauty of nature and embrace the changes. Easy to say yeah? But hey! 2017 is almost over and we’re still here, isn’t that wonderful?
Hence, the weather is cool, we decided to spend the weekend at Taif. It was breezy and cool. We ate our breakfast at our favorite sand dune, which by the way is getting smaller every year. 🙂 like ..its their economic crisis too?
Spending time with this wonderful people at the end of the year is priceless. Children are growing so fast …meaning we are growing old too, I think soon we will be as tiny as this sand dune 🙂
We will miss you my friend but it isn’t good-bye for us, soon we will see each other and reminisce the happy good old days, that is.. if no one got affected by this dreadful condition called Alzheimer.
One day, we will look at our crazy photos with so much giggles and laughter.
It will be like a hole in the sand, gazing with awe that once upon a time we were here and suddenly year 2017 is gone, let’s look forward to year 2018 with more enthusiasm, hope, inspiring and of course more beauty 🙂
One friday morning’, the only friday off I have 😦 after working for five consecutive days, here I am waking up early at 4:30 in the morning, so I can meet my friends and hike in a mountain full of dust 🙂 and not to mention hills full of rocks and sands.
but don’t get me wrong, I always looked forward to the weekend activities with friends, full of laughters and of course, our tummy is full of food as well 🙂
So, here are some photos we took in between hiking up and down the hills.
biker and hiker in tandemmissing home?long walk to shopping mall 🙂bikes on topsunrisehappy
Dr. Myriam- The Dental Aesthetic Clinic 
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