A Time to Remember

Last I spoke to Mai was December of last year 2021. I greeted her on Christmas day and she managed to respond two days later. She said she just had two surgeries due to complications with her intestine. Just before Christmas she was able to come home after being in the hospital for 35 days. She said she was feeling better although the wound still hurt. I really felt bad for her and could only imagine the struggle she had been going through at that point. My fervent wish, as I told her, was that she gets well soon and for her to take the rest that she needs to recover.

How the Covid-19 Pandemic Changed our Lives in Cavite

After more than a year of being away from home, I was able to finally make a short visit back to our hometown and be with my family in Silang, Cavite. If it were not for the Covid-19 pandemic, I would have been home five times in a year. But that became impossible because of all the travel restrictions that has been put in place by many countries around the world, including the Philippines (where I live) and Singapore (where I work). 

Taal Volcano Eruption 2020 Earthquake Trend

On 12 January 2020, Taal volcano started to erupt spewing ashes to the north of it's crater and nearby areas. It was one of the most frightening natural calamity that we've had to face in recent years. Granted the Philippines is a magnet for nature's wrath with more than a dozen typhoons coming our way annually. Earthquakes are not unusual. But a volcanic eruption, so close to home - 15 km away, is something we have not been ready for.

Phreatic eruption of Taal Volcano, 12 January 2020
Buszmail [CC BY-SA]

Hierarchy of Needs for an Engineer Working Overseas

I went on a two-week vacation last month by flying back to my home town in Silang, Cavite in the Philippines. It felt like a long-overdue rest for I have not been back home since the Christmas break. I try to be home every two months but my busy work schedule got in the way.

It was a very rejuvenating two weeks. I enjoyed not worrying about work and was just doing whatever I felt like doing. I was very happy to be with my family. I realized how I missed playing with my kids. They are slowly but surely growing up while I was away.

Filipino Foreign Worker in Singapore - Part 2

From where I sit, I see a Singaporean society that has matured. Gone are the unstable political conditions that characterized its post-independence years. There is no more struggle for survival that their founders had to contend with as described in Lee Kuan Yew’s autobiography “A Singapore Story”. Although the yearning for something better is still there, people are well-adapted. They have the resources to make a good life for themselves and their offsprings. And they seem to relish the fruits of their struggle from a generation ago. Their short history tells of a society that has emerged from difficult circumstances to the one they enjoy today. And for this, they are the envy of those countries that are trying to do the same but kept failing - including the Philippines.