CHRISTMAS OF AN EXPAT

"Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us." -  Matthew 1:23

Inside the St. Joseph Church, Abu Dhabi UAE - after the mass

 

This would be my 3^rd Christmas away from home, away from the country.  You ever wonder how we celebrate Christmas as an expat or how we celebrate the occasion in an Islamic country?

As an OFW we can't hardly keep our mind of thinking to celebrate the yuletide season back home. It’s a very special if we can celebrate it in our own country, in our own turf. But for some, constraints at work will not allow us to do so. We do what we can to make the occasion as meaningful and enjoyable as possible. With the help of new found families here things will be positive for us Filipinos. 

 

A week before the occasion you can see many Filipinos having there groceries for the Noche Buena. As if we are only in the Philippines buying our groceries. Others are busy finding gift for their manito/manita or the exchanging gifts during the party. You will also notice a lot of Filipinos bringing bags as if they are going to travel somewhere but what inside the bag is of course the liquor. (You need to have it inside the bag as this country allows the sell of alcohol but you are not allowed to display it in public).

Then comes the Christmas Eve, we are lucky here in UAE as religious tolerance is exercised in this Islamic state. They allow Christian churches here and as a catholic we have one here in Abu Dhabi, the St. Joseph Church. Mass of different language is scheduled to cater every catholic nationality here in the country. I am proud to say that part of our Christmas as a Filipino is hearing mass.

After going to church all in the flats are now busy preparing the food for the Noche Buena. Everybody is in their festive mood cooking whatever is on their menu. Others are busy on their laptop and computers talking to their love ones back home. Philippines are 4 hours advance from here so we can see them having a party before we can start ours. After dishes were prepared the countdown begins. Singing carols, a bit of loud music (loud enough to strut a dance but not too loud to attract the police outside). After the festive mood some need to curl up in bed as they still have work tomorrow. So to sum it up celebrating Christmas is more like home minus the love ones we had and every crazy thing we do in partying.

The Noche Buena minus the lechon

In bed can't help to think that there's no other merrier way to celebrate Christmas than to spend it back home in the Philippines … I might have it next year! Merry Christmas!

FIRST RUN

I did it; I had my first run yesterday after a long absence of major physical activities. And yes, I am using the Nike+ sporstband given to me by my wife. As I blog earlier it can calculate the distance I covered, the calories I burnt and time I consumed in doing the run. At first I started with a normal pace walk as I managed the labyrinth of park cars going to the park. As soon as I am already at the jogging lane inside the park I increase the speed of my pace (as I intended to start my first run slowly to give my muscle a warm up) but still I am walking. After a few blocks I started an easy run taking my time and watching the sunset in front of me.  I am catching my breathe cause it's been a while since my last run. I am thinking of just walking all the way but what the heck I think I can manage. And then my wife call me as she was about to go home  ( it's already in my calculation that I will be in their building by that exact time she will be out of the office). Before my wife came down from their building I was already in front. As I went home I downloaded immediately my run and whoop it was uploaded to my account in Nike and posted on my facebook status, amazing isn't it?.  I covered roughly 5.32km according to my sportsband not bad for a first run errr walk huh! Here's the post generate automatically in my facebook from Nike+ site:

And here's the area I covered during my run I created from nike+ site:

 and to top it all, I get to fetched my wife from her work, sounds like a win-win situation ayt?

SEE HOW YOU RUN

My wife just bought me yesterday the Nike+ Sportsbands to accessorize my running shoes. The so called bracelet will track down your performance of your run using the sensor that comes with the bracelet.  You can save your run; select a training program and you can even compare your performance from other Nike+ users using their challenge friends’ option. What a way to push and motivate the user of the sportsbands. They even have a mini where the cartoon of you will improve depending on how you run. You can have these features using the Nike+ Sportsbands and the downloadable application from the Nike+ site.

Now all I have to do is run and I don’t have the excuse anymore of not doing so. Actually I really need to lose weight as my BMI is not reading well; I am 6 points overweight the last time I check. I don’t want to belong in the category of the obese so I have to.

So good luck to me, it may be difficult to start but I know it’s worth it. As the saying goes, “health is wealth” so wish me luck.

Tall Order

The Burj Khalifa - day time

 The Burj Khalifa standing tall in Dubai, UAE

This building now holds the record as the tallest in the world. This was named after the famous ruler of Abu Dhabi Sheik Khalifa.

At over 828 metres (2,716.5 feet) and more than 160 stories, Burj Khalifa holds the following records:

•  Tallest building in the world

•  Tallest free-standing structure in the world

•  Highest number of stories in the world

•  Highest occupied floor in the world

•  Highest outdoor observation deck in the world

•  Elevator with the longest travel distance in the world

•  Tallest service elevator in the world 

I am just one of the lucky individual who witnessed the rising of this great magnitude of human achievement. 

The Burj Khalifa at night