OFW Diaries Vol 1

A few days from now I will mark my six months stay here in Singapore. Six months?everything happened so fast. I didn't realize that it has been that long.

4th of December when I arrived. A place that has always caught my imagination. I had always dream of working here. I know a lot of people from my previous companies that had opted to work in Singapore as it has been a very favorable place. A relatively safe and peaceful environment, better pay to provide a more decent life and the power to come back anytime in the Philippines for a vacation, even just weekends will do. These and more are the things that Singapore can offer.

My journey in Singapore has proven to me very exiting. Before the plane landed, I was very keen to look at the aerial view of the country. When I was in the cab on the way to my apartment, I was looking all over the place. The taxi driver smiled and asked me..."You are new here?" I just smiled. I had been so obvious as usual as I would not know how to hide my emotions.

I conditioned my mind before I left Manila that there will be many adjustments which I shall face once I am here. New work environment, new housemates whom I actually do not know, and a brand new lifestyle I am not accustomed. I always have someone to look after me back home. Now, its all me. I need to cook my food, wash the dishes, do my laundry, iron my clothes, do the grocery and budget my finances.

I would always be grateful for the opportunities that this place offers me. It's people as well has been so good with me. Sometimes at the hawker center I would meet some locals and they would exchange conversations. In the lift of my apartment, I would always receive a smile when I happen to share it with them. 

Being here, fulfilling a lifelong dream has its ups and down. Now you realize that you had better purchasing power and at the same time, there's just so many things that cannot be compensated by it. The family gatherings that you'll missed, the birthday celebrations of friends and night outs you cannot attend, the laughter and cry of my daughter,  not to mention that milestones in her infant life that I totally missed out, and of course... I just missed my lovely wife so much that if only I literally have wings I would have flown back home just to kiss and hug her.

But I'm hanging on, I know someday my baby and my wife will be here as well to be with me.