Prayer

Dear Lord,

Teach her to be strong

Teach her to control herself

Teach her not to shout to others especially me

Teach her to not accuse anybody and turns out she made the mistake

Teach her to accept us no matter how grave the situation we were in

Give her strength to endure the hardships of the office work

Give her a soft heart to be sensitive of the feelings for the others

Give her more love for his officemates and her family

I think Lord, she can do this all if you give him a boyfriend. :)

Partly kidding,

Paul.

Alone

No, I'm not singing Celine Dion's song but that's what I am feeling right now. Alone.

By the way, my dad just went back home to the Philippines yesterday leaving me alone here inside the villa. Well, not really alone, I'm with his officemates. Talk about being an opportunistic parasite. He'll stay there for about I think 21 days and that's a good thing since he'll be spending time with my mom who just got back from a minor surgery. I'd be happy for him to be there.

One thing I don't like when my dad won't be here is that no one will cook dinner for us. He normally is scheduled to cook dinner for the gang living inside the villa so since he's not here, I will be the one to cook dinner on behalf of him. Well, if fried and boiled eggs are considered as dinner so I'm good with that. :)

Another thing is that the transportation. Our villa is located outside Doha and there are no transportation going to Doha unless you have your own personal car. That is why I'm being carpooled by my dad's driver. So I need to get up early and should never be late since the car is not ours, it's issued from the company and we're not the only ones who will use it. Since my dad ain't here, I kinda get embarrassed using the carpool. I phoned my dad awhile ago that maybe for a month, i need to stay close to our office which means I have to rent a bedroom with a whopping price of QR 1300 to not disturb the other passengers on the car. But he told me NO. What can I do?

Lastly, I need to save. Since my dad isn't here, I will be the one to take care of the groceries, the bills(maybe not) and all monetary stuff going on around the house. And the worse part is I'm beginning to get broke. So renting a bedroom part will be a failure. :)

I hope he gets here fast. I miss you,dad.

Say hi to mom for me,

Paul

Who?

I miss him.

I really miss him.

I miss the cheerful and loud noises he makes when entering the hospitals' hallway.

I miss how he smiles for every patient he meets and how he interacts with them.

I miss how he handle his friends and co workers and how he cheers them up when they are bored.

I miss him wearing wearing his nursing outfit with dignity and sophistication.

I miss him. So much.

I miss ME being a nurse. :(

Tomorrow

Tomorrow will be back again to normal.

Normal Working hours.

Normal rants of the boss.

Normal rants of the bigger boss.

Normal typing in the computer.

Normal.

When will my day be abnormal?

Maybe I'll consider it abnormal when I'll be going home this May. I've been counting the days for May to come. I'm sure it will be soon. I wanna go home. I miss home. I miss my family and most of all, I miss being a nurse.

Maybe tomorrow will be abnormal. Maybe someone will die. Maybe someone will get stabbed. Maybe that will be me.

Seeking the light,

Paul

Boys Day Out

This was unplanned but it turned out great.

Finally, an all boys outing. Or maybe no girl will ever join us because we didn't go to the luxurious beach resort in one of the beaches here in Qatar. In fact, we were there, but on the outside. Nevertheless, we had fun.

The 4:00 AM meeting was bonkers when they came to our accommodation at 5:30 in the morning. Already late. Plus we have to travel more than half an hour towards the beach. Super late. And by super late Imean the sun is already too freakin' hot and there will be a high chance of encountering sandstorms.

Fifteen of us were there. All co Filipinos with different job positions and salary wages. With only 2 pick ups that could only accommodate 5 people each, one truck must go back to fetch the others. Good thing I don't own a car. hehe. I think we arrived there at 6:30 in the morning and there were still a lot of people who were having their overnight stay on the beach. Plastic bottles, can litters and cellophanes were scattered throughout the beach. But it doesn't stop us from taking a dip in the crystal clear beach welcoming us.

Unfortunately, the beach was also crowded. Not with people. But with jellyfishes.

I then remember the Spongebob Squarepants Series where he and Patrick Starfish would get and net and try to catch them - Jelly Fishing. Weird. Because they are very dangerous creatures. They sting and it would really hurt once it touches you. Nevertheless, we still hit the beach with excitement and it's now getting hot so dipping the cold waters could replenish our skin.

Not.

The water was still hot. Boiling. Melting. I may be too exaggerated on the second and third verbs but it's not really refreshing. Oh, what the heck, this is what we came for, anyway. We were splashing water to everyone like stupid people. We also tease people there which could be a little dangerous since we pry on the other races. haha. And for the record, I was the only who didn't get sting by them jellyfishes.

It was 12:32 at noon when we decided to leave the premises since we now experienced hunger so we ate again on a restaurant going back to Doha. Fun times.

Eid Mubarak,

Paul

Eid Mubarak

It's now the end of Ramadan and I have some good stuffs and some bad stuffs.

The good ones:

1. We have a straight 4-day paid vacation. How cool is that. Well, the government has 10 days of vacation but as far as I know, our private company is the only office which has 4 days of vacation. Because tomorrow will be the start of Eid, and it falls on a Friday, what my Boss did was not to include the friday as one of the 3-day holidays stated on our contract since Friday is a normal holiday here. Work will resume on Tuesday.

2. My Filipino officemates and I are going to go to a beach near our house so it's like just getting out of the house and then the beach is just around the corner. It will be really fun hanging out with them and relaxing up a bit until we will resume work on Tuesday.

The bad stuff:

1. The normal office time will return. Meaning, our office hours will be 8:00 AM - 5:00 PM (which will probably extend until 6:00 PM).

2. More work will have to be done but you can do it in your own pace due to the fact that it's 8 hours. If you finish your job early, then your boss will let you do more and more work. Tip: Slow things down a bit. :)

So I'll be sleeping straight for 4 hours until Tuesday because I know when we come back in the office, it'll be hell again.

Eid Mubarak,

Sheik Paul :)

Funny Experience 1

Today at 10:45PM, my body really wanted me to go to the gym to run and lift weights. Tired, I lifted myself up from bed and get dressed to go to the gym. I went there at 10:55PM and went straight away to the treadmill.

Then, the lights were turned off. I ignored it thinking it was much nicer to have dim lights like the ones we had during our Iftar Dinner celebration. I was on my iPod when one security guard poked and told me that they're already closed.

I laughed with embarrassment since I just got here but I don't have a choice. I picked up my bottled water and turned off the treadmill.

I went back home with a little sweat on my forehead but before going out of the gym, I read a little sign there saying, 'Gym hours: 8am - 11pm.' :)

Eyes on the board,

Paul

Iftar

Iftar and Sahur. I never knew these words could be so tasty.

Iftar in arabic means breakfast. No, not our usual breakfast that we do in the morning but breaking the fast. It means after their last prayer they do after 6 in the evening. On the other hand, Sahur is a feast before taking the fast. They usually celebrate it before 3 am. That's what I eavesdropped from my officemates. I don't really ask them because I don't understand their explanations. :)

Anyway, awhile ago, my officemates and I celebrated Iftar in one Hotel here in Doha. I believe it was called Doha Seef Hotel. Please don't tell me what Seef means. Our manager, by the way, treated us for dinner today. Cool,huh? The meeting place was in the office at 5 o' clock in the afternoon so I was already there at 4:55 PM. I'm not Filipino so I'm really not into Filipino Time. Unfortunately, they were still not there. Moreover, our President was still there working even though our office hours ends at 2:30 pm. Running up the stairs, he caught a glimpse on me and asked why am I still here. I then told him I forgot something. Good thing he already went out. I was just there on my workplace waiting for them...

...for an hour. It was now 6 o' clock and still there was no sign of them even one. Finally, my boss appeared. Thank you because I'm already starving. It turns out that we still have to wait for one officemate. Darn! I am so hungry I could eat mutton which I really hate. A group of 4 were now already 6 since her son went tagging along plus one officemate. We went there and took pictures and went upstairs. Oh, I wasn't with them on the same elevator because I was too heavy and the lift beeped. So i had to ride another one. going to the...

...eleventh floor. Whoa. Dimmed yellow lights, folded napkins, waitresses and a buffet table met me when the doors of the elevator opened. Until now, I am really fascinated on how they fold their napkins into beautiful shapes and other sizes. So I took out my camera and went clicking away. The location and the architecture of the place left me breathless that by looking at it, my hunger was already satisfied. After that, the waitress then led us to the buffet table. We got our plates and they went to the main course while I went straight to desserts. Hello, diabetes.

We ate, talked, ate again, talked again but I still admired how they did with the napkins. My favorite meal was the sauteed potatoes which was really a good substitute for rice and the beef stew which was really very hard to bite but it was quite good. Over all, the the food was so-so but the location and the preparations were aesthetically beautiful...especially the folded napkins. :)

This will be my first and last Iftar. Thanks, Boss.

Paul

Natal Day

Yay! I'm already 23!

Let's Parteeeey!

Unfortunately, I am in the Middle East and I my birthday falls on the month of Ramadan so I didn't do pretty much on my favorite day.

Nothing much. Really. Seriously.

I woke up at 8:30 in the morning. Still groggy. My phone suddenly rang. My friends abroad greeted me via FaceTime! Isn't it cool? FaceTime is Apple's videochat on the iPhone 4 and soon to be released on the new iPod Touch 4th generation and...wait a minute, what am I blabbering about? it's my birthday, not Steve Jobs'!

Anyway, I celebrated my birthday very different back when I was in the Philippines. Usually, we go out on a dinner with my family and friends, long chats, boisterous laughing and all that. However, here, I can't. Here are some of the reasons why I can't do those stuff:

1. This is the middle east. Although it's an open country unlike KSA, I still can't chit chat with girls especially with my officemates since I am being warned not to talk to women. That came from my boss. Don't know why. Maybe she's jealous or anything. Kidding aside, that's number 1.

2. I don't have friends who have the same age group as I am. In the office, I am the youngest and the next to my age would be 25-26. And he has a family. So, I couldn't stay with them for a long time. They also have their priorities this day. Where's my friend yoyen, when you need her?

3. I don't party. Drinking booze, smoking, and getting laid is not my thing. Period.

Anyway, I woke up and found nothing on the dinner table as opposed to when I was back in the Philippines where during my birthday, my mom would cook me my favorite meals on my special day. Darn, I already forgot the taste of roasted pig. Downstairs, I cooked my own favorite food - Century Tuna Mechado. I never ran out of those preservative-devoured pieces of canned goods. I have a lot of them in the cupboard on the kitchen. Whenever there are times when there's like an emergency (or I just don't know how to cook), my tuna plus the microwave can do wonders to my appetite. I also ate strawberry ice cream which I really abhor but that was the only flavor left on the supermarket.

I went back upstairs and tinkered with my FaceTime. I also commented all the 250+ greetings from my friends on Facebook. Yes, I have a lot of friends. :)

Basically, that's what I did on my birthday. I may not have balloons and cakes and mascots (dude, you're 23,not 12), the fact that God gave me another year to correct the mistakes I made to my family and friends, work hard to help people and to live life to the fullest. That's what matters to me.

Speaking like a matured man,

Paul

Robbed

What a way to start September. Our house has been robbed. Good thing both my mom and my brother were not there. However, it turns out that a child was responsible for that act. It's one of the tactics now of thieves - getting a child do the dirty works because they know when he is caught, he can't go to jail since he's not yet above 18.

My mom was affected most. All of her prized possessions were taken away by the tiny thief. Especially all her dear watches which was given to her by dad and her sister, my aunt. There was also an attempt to steal our game consoles because the wires were being detached but I think the kid doesn't know how to do it so he just let it be. Good.

I was still very thankful because no one got hurt. Because sometimes, maybe all the times, thieves won't barge a house without carrying a weapon for their defense once they were caught. So it's a good thing no one was there. The house, according to our stay-out helper, was messed up. Sticky and murky mud were splattered all over the floor made by the rain on that night.

This might be a lesson to us. Brother and I always want our dogs to roam around our balcony at night. So when the thief comes in our house, they will be instant blood bath occurring outside our house. Rottweilers are our dogs, by the way.

Waiting for a piece of leg to find outside our house,

Paul