LIVING FROM AFAR…..

Living from afar…far from home……from our family…...is hard as it can be…

We, expatriates, have the same feelings and situations (in terms of missing our loved ones), which we are coping up each day from the time we wake up in the morning to get to work until we get home to bed to take rest and sleep. We always search for ways to make ourselves busy to forget (for a while) the loneliness we feel inside us. We make friends within the foreign country, go out and enjoy, temporarily, for the sake of keeping ourselves occupied with ideas to knock out ourselves to make sure that we are tired when we get home to skip the “emote” moment upon reaching our “foreign” home.

The real tough times for being far is realizing that an upcoming holiday is drawing near and we feel uncomfortable with it thinking what to do or where to go during that holiday rather than sulking in your accommodation thinking of the family in your home country  which will make you feel more sad and make you in deep sadness.

There are means of communication to be close more with your family from afar. We can easily call them and send messages. But for me, I feel sadder whenever I contact them. After hanging up, feeling homesick will prevail and that is the hardest part for me. I felt happy talking to them but then, sadder after saying goodbye. The more I get sms from them, the more I miss them. I don’t like the feeling but I’d rather feel homesick than not receive any sms from my family.

Christmas….New Year…I will be here in the foreign country far from my family.

To my dear fellow ofw’s……if you are feeling the same way like I do….I have some things that I do to cope up with loneliness…sadness…..homesick....etc……

1.   * Since I have my own room in our accommodation in a secluded part of Al Khuwair, I make sure that every day off (Thursday and Fridays), I have to go somewhere to spend with my friends or relatives.

2.    * Our neighbors are not friendly, so I see to it that I never talk to anyone of them!!! Hahahaha

3. * There’s a small shop near our accommodation, I make friendly smile to them but never talk to them much to avoid making friends coz Filipina here in Oman are always misinterpreted for giving even a simple smile.

*.   Listen to your tone as well, coz maybe might sound flirty, naughty, and encouraging which will definitely let them think of something you’ve never thought of.  

4.      Take a walk near or just within the area but be sure to not wear something that can catch attention coz there’s a lot of unrespectful young and older people outside. Ignore any horn and any howling noise and never look back or look to those kind of people. Better take your phone/mp3 with you and use your earphone while taking a walk.

5.      When I feel lazy to walk, I’ll check if I still have some baking ingredients or I’ll bake from out of what I have.

6.      Make sure that my journal is updated, everyday. It is like duty…some things happening everyday. Important or not, I am writing it in my diary.

7.      Try to cook viand or ulam. I don’t know how to fry eggs perfectly, much more fry fish…so whenever I don’t have anything else to do, I try to fry fish which actually until now, I cannot understand why it look like a scrambled egg torn into pieces. Hahahha

8.      Play games like solitaire in my laptop, zuma, or subscribe to internet to update my facebook.

9.      Clean my room and bathroom after doing the laundry. (this is the hardest thing to do) haahahhaah

10. Exchange sms to my family and friends in Philippines, friends and relatives here in Oman. I limit calling coz it is damn expensive and the feeling of missing them more.

11. Write letters, essays, and blogs.

One rule I always tell myself!

Be happy; try not to think to not feel sad, even if it’s real hard.