Working in a Foreign Land

What your priorities are defines you.  It is a fact that what you consider essential in life really determines what your next move or actions will be.  I look back at the Year 1999 where, I have already moved up to be a Manager, but still had the desire to make more money.  I was working for a leading Semiconductor Manufacturing Company and had received a juicy offer from a competitor company based in Indonesia.   The Salary was almost 4 times my current

I accepted the offer and was soon on my way to a foreign land on October 1999. The Singapore Airlines flight I rode was flying to Changi Airport (Singapore) as there was no airport in Batam Island where I was scheduled to work.  After arriving in Changi airport a fellow OFW waited for me and we then took a cab to WTC(World Trade Center) where we a  took a ferry(30-minute ride) to Sekupang port.  We then took another cab(an old one this time) and arrived in a house where I was supposed to stay as an expat in the stated Indonesian Island. I met at the house Rod Zepeda whom I used to work with in Amkor Technology at the Customer Service Department.

It is funny how your lifestyle changes when you are living or working in a different country.  Compared to Singapore, Indonesia was a nightmare.  I knew Singapore years back as I had a chance to go to this country previously during business meetings.  I dreamed of working overseas in a progressive country like Singapore.  Batam Island seemed like a step back on my career plans. Moving to another country was one thing, but living in a house all alone where people were different in culture and beliefs was another heartbreak altogether. Notwithstanding my frequent disagreement with my boss, I decided to go back after 6 months.  Working in Batam proved one thing.  Money was not everything.  All the key ingredients for me to stay there were not existent.  It was the longest 6 months I have experienced in my entire life.

I never regretted going to Batam.  Life has a funny way of teaching us how to value some things better than others.  The experience made me realize how important being with my family was.  Boy, did I ever miss my family during those times.  As history would have it, I was back at my old company April of 2000 and had my second child by September.  The struggles we encounter do mold us in a certain way.  It is what we do with those challenges that determine where we will be headed.  That was what I did.  I made a decision and never looked back........  Always excited about what life has to offer......

Make every moment count.....

"Living life as if it were your last".  Wow!  That phrase always reverberates when I see and  meet new people.  It always do remind me that as I live life for the moment I have to make that moment count for others.  Having other people enjoy new acquaintances rather than get annoyed and elude the next.  No amount of shyness can block you from making a difference for others.  A smiley gesture as you pass by a person can change his or her mood.  It can actually propel people to create a great and fulfilling day up to sunset.  It doesn't matter who you meet.  Whether how prominent or low whom you get to encounter during your day.  We can never pick or choose.  Everybody has the right to feel good about themselves.  No matter how miserable they are. Wouldn't it be amazing to be a part of that.  Make a change for others.  Nothing is so small that will not create an impact.

I have learned this simple discipline especially as I became a father to 2 beautiful human beings. I continue to teach them how to love their lives as they love other people.  It is amazing how God liberated and made me free when an 8 year old came to me and said: "God Loves you!!"  God uses everybody..  There is no exception.  Even you, notwithstanding your current situation.  The less you think of yourself, the more grace and blessing comes to you....

Make every moment count........

Crossroads

     Crossroads as defined in the Webster Dictionary is "A Junction where one street or road crosses another.  Another definition states: "A road that crosses another" ; "an obscure road intersecting or avoiding the main road".  In peoples' lives, crossroads may not be defined as a simple going through an intersection mode.  It specifically means that one person may be going through a major transition in his life.  Men in their 40's may find crossroads as something significant as they may tackle a midlife crisis.  I myself am a good example of that.  Being in their Mid 40's is probably an age where most men would be scared of having.  I am blessed with the fact that at 45 I seem to feel like I have just started living.  After 22 years of working for a Manufacturing Company and 4 companies in the last 2 years, I begin to value the time I have left to nurture relationship with others and the people I love(my 2 kids including).  Yes, I am a single parent and although without a partner right now(Currently have a girlfriend) do still know how it feels to be as young as somebody in his 20's.

     One thing I have learned as I lived for the past 45 years that you can never stop dreaming.  Although one's dreams may differ from the time they were young, it is still what fuels them into action.  I would remember during the 70's when I was still in High School about my parents telling me to finish College no matter what.  For them it was the ultimate goal, both of them being non-graduates at that time.  As history have it I finished College and Graduated Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering(MIT) thanks to my Parents.  Times do really change.  I still say the same things to my kids, but with a prodding to finish College so that they can be employed and later have a business of their own.  The Chinese did this decades ago and is the reason why a lot of them are financially successful right now.  I remember also saying this during a Youth Camp I organized last March 2010 for the College Students of Ateneo and UP. However, I do say afterwards that for them to really have a prosperous life is to live for others.....  Being a blessing to them that is(Loving them the same way that God loved us)......  to me that is The Ultimate Goal. 

     Indeed, time do change.  As time or years pass our priorities may change.  I still have the priorities I have set years ago, but with significant additional ones.  Yes, ones that does not involve me.  I have to let go of the priorities that showed selfishness and the need to be famous or recognized.  I have learned to understand that life is about making choices and never looking back.  Life is not about getting validation from others, but obtaining it only from the One who made all of these exist.  I made a constant decision to live every moment as if it were the last.  It may sound profound, but it should only be the only way to live life through.  No anger or bitterness haunting you from the past.  Accepting life as it is, but never giving up.  Recognizing everybody's weaknesses including your own.  Truly realizing your imperfection will take you to a path of perfecting how to live life.  Until you reach that final destination...  Make sure you engage that crossroad that will really define who you are as He intended you to be...........