My Third Stop!

Malaysia. This is my third stop after leaving the Philippines in 2006 for work. It was mid-2006 that I was hired as a trainer in the service industry that I learned for four years and taught for two years. I am proud to be in the hotel and restaurant industry, as this is what I wanted in my life when I decided in 1998 to undertake the studies of this industry. Though my dream of owning my own restaurant is still out of the loop, I am still hoping that it would come true. My dream… when will you come?

Saudi Arabia. This is my first country to work in outside the Philippines. A country with a lot of restrictions with a totally different environment that I am used to, it was strange at first, but nevertheless, I learned how to adapt to their culture and practices. I learned how to get out of the way of women, I learned that it’s possible to have 70% off in retail shops, and learned Arabic. I needed to adapt to the weather reaching 50 degrees in the summer and -4 degrees during winter (no snow though – but experienced hail storms twice), I have seen numerous sandstorms that never fail to amaze me as it can even make the sky red. I just miss the cold weather!

I left this country after four years of working in a job I learned to embrace wholeheartedly even there were lots of struggles and stress, which I guess is the same to any job you are in anyway. It was a decision to leave my job I am passionate about to something else better than I was in. Even knowing my future in my career would be at stake, I was willing to take the risk.

Singapore. My second stop. It is by far the best environment from the three stops I had. This includes transportation, food and, entertainment. I found myself, learning to be closer to God, which is the most important part of my life, my spiritual life. Being a small country, it maintained its ‘fine city’ slogan true, as there is fine in smoking, eating/drinking in public transport, and littering to name a few. I wanted to stay in the country because it is close to my heart; it’s not because of the country but someone, but I need to move on.

So, learning to work in the restaurant operations and kitchen made me more knowledgeable in different facets of the service industry. But because of age and passion, I wanted something else; I wanted to return to training or teaching. I even tried applying to a training institution, but it didn’t work out. Things just didn’t went well for me in Singapore where I stayed from mid-2010 until January this year. Now, this year 2012, I am hoping it will go well for me, in all facets of my life.

Going back to my third stop, I would again focus on knowing their culture and traditions, and the people. I am fortunate to have been given a second chance to work in something I loved to do, training. Now, I’m learning again, it would be easy for me. I do hope in the following months, I can settle down on my job and focus on other things in my life and dreams, which I didn’t manage to do in my second stop. I do hope for the best for me and the people who have always been there for me.

Please 2012! Be good to me! :)