EARTH HOUR 2012

Celebrate Earth Hour with this music video from Cassie :))

March 29

March 29 – It’s already past 8 AM in my wrist watch when the Etihad Airways landed in Doha International Airport. Inside the plane, my feeling is mixed – eagerly excited and glad but at the same time quite apprehended and tensed because this is my first time to work in a foreign country. All my life, I was always been a homebody – who never tried working away from the vicinity of my province.

During the early weeks of February, I inked the two-year contract accepting the position as one of the company nurse from a certain trading and construction company in Qatar through my agency in the Philippines. Then this March 29, here I am, I am going to venture my future as an Overseas Filipino Worker (OFW). I am a little bit exhausted then when my feet set first on the vast ground of the airport. I, together with my fellow nurse and a heavy equipment driver, followed the group of people straightly going to the arrival area of DIA. As I am approaching the arrival area, I made it sure that my documents are intact and complete. The security guard in the door looked at my papers and signaled me okay as he handed my papers back to me.  I asked to myself, Is that all? Perhaps the guard failed to check my backpack and belongings. I thought he would let me open my backpack to check what’s inside my bag.  Thus, I watch him how he do such to others. Really, this man is a complete opposite of the one being exampled by the speaker during our Pre-Departure Orientation Seminar or PDOS. She said, Arab nations are strictly implementing its tough security measures regarding the stuffs of its incoming expatriates. Pirated CD/DVDs, pornographic videos/images from mobile phones, images of Jesus Christ and Holy Rosary, and pork meats are considered illegal. I expect the guard would examine our bags one by one but it turns out not. Medyo napa-overacting lang yata sa seminar si madam ah! Sayang yung mga dinelete kong files sa cell phone ko! Hehe. Anyways, I approached the booth of the immigration personnel, who seems an Arab woman. She greeted me and I did the same. She asked for my papers and I handed it down which is for some final verification. She glanced at me for few seconds and turned back to her computer and typed some data. Just few minutes later, she signaled me okay.

As I entered the lobby of the waiting area, I looked up at the wall clock, it’s past 4 AM. So I adjusted my watch properly to sync with country’s current time zone. The plane almost took 12 hours to bring us halfway around the globe. Uh! Such a long trip! As we sit on the waiting area of the lobby, a lot of things linger on in my mind. Simple questions such as: Who will pick us up and what would he look like? Is my company would be a good employer to us? Where would be our first duty? Is our forthcoming working site huge? Is our accommodation good? Are there also Filipinos in the company? Is Qatar would be an enjoyable place for me? Do the company really aware we will arrive today? Are they going to fetched us up? What time will they go here? My eyes momentarily stared to my 2 buddies; I guess their minds were at ease unlike with mine. They keep on talking with each other about their own experiences way back when they were in the Saudi. From time to time I join to their conversations but most of the times I just listen. However, as it seems my mind just doesn’t comprehend well. It is focused to its own queries.

Doha street at night (taken from www.flickr.com/photos/lostinsky/)

It’s quite hard to be a first timer. Everything is new to your naked eyes and my mind is busy absorbing these kinds of unfamiliar things. I couldn’t help but to compare Doha and its international airport to Metro Manila and its NAIA as we left and passed by the streets of Doha going to our company’s main office where we will meet up with the HR manager later. My initial remarks to Doha so far are: 1) the international airport is not crowded, exceptionally neat and impressive; 2) no traffic – less vehicles are travelling the streets at that time; 3) the roads are well lighted by the lamp posts stretching each sides of the street; 4) roughly no one are walking around the streets; and 5) the buildings are tall but slim and have bizarre designs and structures. These observations are clearly different as compared to Metro Manila’s present condition.

All these things transpired exactly on March 29, 2011 – One year na ako sa Qatar!

Recipe 102: Mixed Vegetables with Chicken Liver

 

Mixed vegetables w/ Chicken Liver

One of the best dishes I love to eat is chopsuey. But since here in Qatar where I stay is too far from the supermarkets were most of the vegetables are available, I have to make some variation to the original chopsuey menu. I often make this kind of dish if I am already fed up of meat foods.

The vegetables I used in this particular recipe are the ones only available in the market where I buy the stuffs. The veggies may seem incomplete as compared to chopsuey but the result is so satisfying.

Ingredients:

Chicken Liver

Cabbage – cut into medium size squares

Green String Beans – cut into considerable length

Carrots – cut into pieces

Green Bell Pepper – cut into squares

Green Chili

Snow Peas

Onion - minced

Garlic – cut into pieces

Salt and Pepper

Fish Sauce

How to Cook:

1.  Sauté onion and garlic in a pan for few minutes.

2.  Place in chicken liver and fry until the chicken liver oil comes out and the liver is cooked.

3.  Add the carrots and simmer for few minutes. Then add bell pepper, snow peas, chili, and string beans at once. Season with fish sauce, salt and pepper. Mix from time to time (Put little amount of water if it dries).

4.  Put in the cabbage and simmer for another few minutes until cabbage is coked (fyi: cabbage is usually placed last because it is easily cooked unlike the other ingredients).

5.  Serve hot with fried or plain rice.

Enjoy your Mixed Vegetables with Chicken Liver!!!

Recipe 101 : Ginataang Papaya

Ginataang Papaya topped with green Chili

One of the things I love to do is eating cooking. I guess this kind of interest might be rooted because of my father. When my father was still alive, he knew how to cook lot of dishes and through the years of serving meals for his kids, I used to learn his recipes and style. This is the soul of my love to cooking; whenever I cook, I remember him as well.

Anyways, I am a native of Bicol so we used to cook almost any vegetables in coconut milk or in ‘Gata’. This one is called ‘Ginataang Papaya’ mixed with dried fish. Actually, you can substitute sardines, pork or chicken meat, leftover fried fish, or shrimps instead of dried fish. It does really depend upon your choice. This is just very easy and here’s how to do it:

Ingredients (Middle East Version):

1 Green Papaya (medium size) – peeled and cut into serving pieces

Coconut Powder (since it’s uncommon to find fresh coco milk here in the Mideast you may use the powder one) – dissolved in a 300-500ml of warm water until thick

Dried Fish – or any meat substitute

3-4 Cloves of Garlic - minced

1 Onion – cut in pieces

Pepper

Salt

1 tsp Bagoong (Optional)

2-3 Green Chili (Optional)

How to Cook:

1.  In a pan, pour the coconut milk. Add garlic, onion, dried fish, bagoong, and bring to boil.

2.  Put in the papaya.

3.  Season it with pepper and salt. Place in chili. Simmer over medium heat until papaya is slightly soft and the milk thickens.

4.  Serve hot with plain rice and fried fish.

Enjoy your Ginataang Papaya!!!

This recipe is good for 3-4 persons already. Next time, I will post another menu I usually cooked here in Qatar.

Note: if you want a much thicker sauce (milk), dissolve a separate coco powder in 100ml warm water and add this one once the papaya is soft. Then simmer for another few minutes.

Remembering Don Alfonso

Remembering Don Alfonso

Last Thursday night, March 2, when I was sitting in the mid part of the Karwa bus going to Doha Souq (market) to meet my old time friend who is based in Doha, a man sitting in the opposite side (2 rows in front of me) caught my attention. He was alone, sitting nearest to the window. He seems a Lebanese, maybe in his late 50s, and considerably bald. I was tempted to take some shots of him secretly.  His looks reminds me of someone who in one way or another touch my life and one of the humblest person I have ever met.

The stranger i saw inside the bus who looks like Don Alfonso

Way back November, 2009, someone called me up asking if could work as a private duty nurse to Don Alfonso Bichara. He told me that he is a nurse and a close friend of mine recommended me to him. He was going to Abu Dhabi next month and he needs someone to replace him. At that time, I just finished my 6-month training in a certain regional hospital so I considered the work. First, I was having a second thought considering the profile of the patient and his family. He was in post-myocardial infarction period and with serious diabetes mellitus as well.  But what bothers me most was his life’s status. He was the former vice governor of our province, his eldest son was a present member of the House of Representatives, and his family was well-known across the region. However, inside my head it was uttering, it’s a calling; why not give it a try?

I was interviewed then by his youngest daughter inside the hotel they owned and fortunately, I passed her standards. Afterwards, I was introduced personally to my soon to be patient, Don Alfonso and his immediate family. The work would be a 12-hour duty daily and shifting with another nurse. And how about the stipend? Hmmm I would say it’s more than reasonable :)

On the next day, my shift started and it began awkwardly. I was roughly tongue-tied the whole shift doing only what is ought to to be done. I barely initiated some of the conversations and I only focused to the medications, his needs and his safety. Parang nakikiramdam lang muna ako sa paligid. Don Alfonso looks younger at his age of 86 - with superb fair thin-skinned, with a hawk-like nose, with a thinning grey-hair on his head and had a medium-type body frame. He is a naturalized Filipino with a Lebanese descent.

He was often called by his friends and acquaintances as Boss (they used to call him that for his fluency to Spanish language). In the span of my 4 months of giving special care to him, gradually, I learned to know him very well. He was well respected by his family and friends. He was strong and vibrant in spite of his old age. He never failed to pray the rosary before sleeping and after waking up. Maybe that’s why his spiritual faith provided him the strength and positive outlook in life. Most of the time, he tried to convince me to do the same. He loved joking around with us and his family. His wife, we used to call her as Bossa, was on his side at all times. I witnessed how much Don Alfonso loved his wife and so Bossa. How sweet they always said “I love you” and then kissed each other before Don Alfonso went to bed. What a perfect couple to look at!

What I most admired to Don Alfonso was his being humble and generous. One time, when we were sitting at the hotel patio, a beggar approached the hotel espresso bar (located at the side of the hotel where we sit) and kept on looking the displays inside of the bar. Don Alfonso noticed that so he told me to call that person. He put his hand inside his pocket and told me to hand the money to the beggar. I witnessed a lot of the same incidents where he provided help to those ill-fated ones. Indeed he had a very helping heart.

Due to his serious medical condition (post-stroke and advance stage of diabetes), we never allow him to do extraneous jobs such as walking for long hours, taking the stairs and lifting moderate to heavy objects. So far, he obeyed his limitations. He was also concerned with his health.

New Year came, and Boss asked his doctor if he could stay at their family home instead at the hotel. His doctor agreed but with a condition to have a weekly check up in the hospital. In short, we went to their family house (1-hour trip away from the hotel) the following the day. I saw from his face how he missed his old home; his old household routine. I learned that when he was still hale and hearty, he loved doing mechanical chores inside his shop. He made useful thing out of metal scraps to fix broken appliances, chairs, shelves, keys, and many more. He had a very skillful hand, too.

Days passed, and the days turned to weeks and to months. Our duty went okay and the condition of Don Alfonso was agreeably stable. Until, one early morning (March 4, 2010), the other nurse called me up in my phone that Boss already passed away. He said, Boss experienced chest pains (indication of imminent heart attack) while praying his early morn rosary routine. He said he tried to revive him by giving CPR but the patient’s response was negative. So they decided to send him immediately to the hospital but the several doctors’ attempted to revive his pale body was not enough to bring back his breath and heart beat. At that time, my world seems it stopped and I couldn’t believe the news. A night before that incident, we even played the chess (his favorite board game) and he was very thankful because I knew how to play the game. At least daw, may iba na syang libangan besides reading the newspaper, watching old movies, and listening to his all time favorite old music. That was the worst news I ever heard at that time!

while we play his favorite board game

Life was really full of surprises. One may never know the end of the string for a one’s life. But I was convinced; the passing away of Don Alfonso Bichara was not a complete loss to his family and friends because he lived his life to the fullest. He lived his life worthy and righteously. His dying even made his siblings, sons and daughters stronger, closer, and more united to each others. I saw how many flowers were sent and countless people arrived in their house during his wake to show their sympathy and prayers to his family. He marked a legacy to the lives of others which will always be remembered by anyone – someone like me!

Bookmark Souvenir from his family

Epilogue: After Boss' interment, his sons and daughters decided to retain us and be the private duty nurses of Bossa, their mother. I stayed for another 12 months more to the Bichara Family before i decided to take my chance here in Qatar. My stay with them was one of the most memorable thing i have experienced as a PDN.