Christmas is in the Air...but not in the Middle East....

Everytime the month of December comes, people are starting to feel and think of Christmas..Uhmm, well, not that much here in the middle east. You all know that this is a Muslim region, right?!!

As a Christian myself, I have been looking forward for this season every year of my life...I remember our family reunion every 25th of December, where my family and all my relatives come to our ancestral house to celebrate Christmas together. We'll have lunch together, have some fun games, singing contests (yes, we are a clan of songbirds) exchanges of gifts, chats and exchanges of funny stories.  Everyone is excited to see each other as most of them have come from other towns or provinces and very seldom that they do visit their hometown.  I remember, during childhood,  how I feel so excited  to see my cousins, whom I only see during this day and how I loved playing with them..

Years gone by so fast that now, I am actually spending my Christmas in the desert, an Arab region where Christianism is recognized but Islam is still the dominant religion..I am just happy that in this country I'm staying right now, there is a Catholic Church that you could attend the "Simbang Gabi" which I think should be called "Simbang Umaga" since it is an early Morning Mass.  This muslim country is quite open that you could actually see Chrismas decors in shopping malls, such as Christmas Trees, Santa Clausand his reindeers, etc.  They are so open to Christian religion, that on Christmas Day, Muslim people are greeting us "Merry Christmas!" Yes, you heard it right! =)  It is actually fascinating to hear them greeting you with that, but at the same time, it will remind you that you are in your office on Christmas Day!

Oh yeah, we have work on Dec.25!  It's not an official holiday in the middle east, off course.  That is where I would start thinking of how happy my relatives are celebrating the holiday in my grandma's house, while I am in my office desk working.  You start to reminisce the past, where you feel special during Christmas as your parents, aunts and uncles, godmothers and godfathers, are giving you Christmas presents.

But as any OFW, I have to stay strong and focused.  Even if it's hard to fight homesickness, I have to face the fact that everything is different now.  Thank God for internet though, the world became so small, that I could actually check the photos and watch videos of the gathering once my sister or one of my cousins posted it on their FB.

Now, I will be spending Christmas again in the Middle East, but I'm  used to it. So i'll just buy shawarma to celebrate it, lol =p

It All Starts Right Here

I've been reading a lot of blogs for about 2 weeks now.  The main reason is, I'm currently on leave from work but can't afford to buy a ticket to go back to Philippines. So instead of not availing this leave and have it forfeited, I opted to take a local leave.  Without much things to do, reading blogs has been a daily routine of mine, well, aside from visiting my Facebook account and playing Cafe' World.

I have come up of making this blog after getting inspired from a lot of bloggers, most specially to travel bloggers. I myself love to travel but because of limitations (i.e. available days, money, etc) I haven't done a lot of travels in my 26 years of life.  Although I plan to travel a lot in the future, I'm still quite unsure when exactly I would be able to do it.

This blog, however, will not be just about travel.   I made this blog to share my experience as an Overseas Filipino Worker, thus the name LonelyOFW.  Yes, I am an OFW, and I am lonely.  It wasn't my dream to be one, but I became one for one main reason, MONEY.  Life in the Philippines is hard.  A decent job will just provide you your basic needs.  I thought of going abroad to provide my family, specially my father, of more than the basics.  I grew up in a poor broken family, having only a father to provide our needs and to guide us at the same time.  We have experienced a lot of hardship and I thought that it's time for us to experience a little bit more of what we have.

Being an OFW takes a lot of challenge and gives a lot of experience, and this blog will be my way of sharing those challenges and experiences.

That's all for now.  I'll be posting again soon.