8 Days and Nights

And so I thought of getting back with my blogging relationship this year, 2013. I have a life-changing story to tell.

Several months ago, I moved out of my way. I left my job in KL, and flew 4 time zones away. Then, I found myself in DXB... to take another good shot with my career. I know it is such a big risk, and scary thing even to imagine by some.

Then, I got a job offer four weeks later and signed in. The job description, I thought, is what l’ve longed to focus with long time ago. Well, just couple more adjustments and less of whining, and this should be fine.

In ME, indeed, working visa is an issue. I am not going to deny, I was one of those who came in here as Tourist. Due to change visa thing, I took my exit after 2 months.

Destination: Sultanate of Oman. In an Oasis called Al Buraimi.

My case wasn’t special. When I arrived, I’ve realised that there were a lot of us there.  ‘Too much Filipino’ if the locals would have to say about it. Too much people, too much Filipino, too much bed, too much blanket in a room.  And I was like: Too much of ‘too much’ is too much for a wrongful use of ‘too much’ in a sentence. LOL. What to do? That’s what they know on how to express it. LOL again.

And I stayed there for 8 whole days and nights.

Now, I’m back in the city chasing pavements and I am still remembering those lives I've met. So many stories and most of them are movie worthy but me.  So mentally disturbing. At least for me. 

Let me summarize some tales of those people I've met:

The first soul said she’s got hired by a new company and her employer promised to process the working visa 5 weeks ago. It took time to process the papers. Like me, she exited after being 2 months’ tourist, and she was there running out of money to pay for the stay. How to survive? Well, a friend paid for her visa and trip to Al Buraimi, while somebody paid for her hotel and food.  Thanks to her few Arabic and local friends, she’d kept up! Like me, now she’s back in DXB and I was glad to hear from her when she called couple of hours before the New Year’s eve.

For the second one, fate wasn’t that very nice to him. For 2 months' stay in UAE, he did not get a job. Sad. Worse case, his family in the Phil thought he got a good job. Okey, this was so because he made them believe that he is hired as Nurse in a hospital, though he wasn’t.  He was just too shy to say it to his parent how he ended up.  So to cover up, he still sends money back home. Hard to imagine how did he manage to do that, right?  I also know he barely got a dime to pay for stay and food whilst in Buraimi. So the real question now is how he met both ends. Now, if I’m going to narrate it here, you may faint for disbelief and may not be able to finish reading the whole story. So you guess how he did it. I know you can.

The third one was kind of difficult to picture out. Back in MNL, she is married with a kid. She said she flew to try her luck, in the thought that it was just easy to find a job anywhere in the UAE. But after 2 months, she didn’t get it. Then she got herself in Al Buraimi with dried pockets and wallets and purses and all sorts of money-keeping pouches. I don’t know if it was a good thing, but the second night I found out she already had a BF. A rich local guy. So there, she was offered to do some part-time job whilst she’s in town. What about her husband and kid? Well, that’s the reason she did that, she said to me. Still difficult to understand but I can’t judge her for that matter.

As to my story, God made it quite easy. I had 9 roommates. One cooked very well so we just chipped in small amount for every meal. Surprisingly, they were all well-behaved and I felt like I am the black-patched sheep amongst 10 of us. (Not totally a black sheep). I was always out of the room while they made pizza in the kitchen. I always sat at the sheesha place with new-found friends merging with local sitters while they blew some balloons for the Christmas Party. I strayed to take pictures elsewhere and then went home when bored or sleepy. The good thing for me was, I’ve learned few Arabic words in order to communicate, at least to store attendants or few friendly locals. It was indeed a life-changing kind-of-vacation to me. Thank you Lord.

When my colleague back in DXB call

ed me to inform that my pink-colored visa arrived, I was suddenly nostalgic. But I have to go since my life wasn’t mean to stay there. Happy though, but I silently cried the time I bid goodbye.

I still miss the place. I keep on looking back the memories. I will always remember those lives I’ve met there.

And I say, I will come back whenever I have time.