Merry Christmas to All

 I can’t deny it; I really miss celebrating Christmas in my home country. Of all the holidays in the Philippine calendar, Christmas Day I guess is the merriest above them all. It is the time of year when everything feels like perfect. It is best enough for attending party, organizing reunion, giving forgiveness, sharing love, filing long break at work, and most especially going home. As what they have said, all roads during Christmas time all leads to home. Christmas meant home. But that is definitely untrue for OFWs like me. For every Christmas I spent away from home, only tears and good memories were the only weapons I have so as to endure the aches and sacrifices of celebrating Christmas with others instead of my family and special love ones. I know this is not forever, no matter what it takes, a path will lead me back to home at Christmas. But at this time, all i could do is to only give some words to my family, my relatives, my friends and acquaintances a very merry Christmas. May this glorious day of our Savior's birth resound us of hope, happiness, and peace in our hearts.

Again, from Qatar with love, wishing all my family and friends as well as the blog walkers and readers a joy filled Christmas!!

This is what I misses a lot: BONDING

My family and relatives Christmas gathering 2012

My family and relatives Christmas gathering 2010

Qatar National Day on December 18th

This was my second time in Qatar where the state celebrated its annual national day on every 18^th day of December. Thousands of locals and expatriates of different race usually flock along the corniche, which is the heart of the event, to witness different series of programs organized by the government of the world’s wealthiest country in the world – the Qatar. The series of events were air show (parachuting, synchronize flying jets with colored trails), civic parade participated by the students and personnel of the ministries and non-government organizations, the military parade which showcases the state’s latest and state-of-the-art military artilleries and armored vehicles together with the battalions of Emiri guards and Armed Forces and traditional grand fireworks display at night. However, I missed the previous year’s celebration because I have no one to go along with. Whilst a multitude of people were considerably enjoying the huge event, I just spent my entire day inside my room getting updates online from others in social networking sites. But this year, I have sworn to myself that no matter what happens, I would definitely go outside and witness for myself how the world’s wealthiest country, the Qatar celebrates its foundation day. Several days prior to the national day celebration, I already told my fellow roommates and we agreed to go out and watch the celebration. For the reason that this might be my last year to see how Qatari people celebrate it, no one is more determined going out than them but me. 

The entire national day celebration was really an expression of remarkably and admirably evidence of strong nationalism of the Qatari people. Every houses, building and establishments, street lamp posts, popular landmarks, and passing cars, is either carrying giant-size flags or flag lets. Even some cars and people faces are also painted with white and maroon – the country’s flag colors. You could see these colors here, there and anywhere. The roads too were so busy and people of different races were passing by the main streets now and then.

Let me give you some insights on the history of their National Day. It is observed because of Sheikh Jassim Bin Mohammad Bin Thani, who courageously led in unifying the oft-divided local tribes and gaining sovereignty for them. In December 18, 1878, the State of Qatar was founded which was established by the decree of the Emir in June 2007. However, the date of national day was not really a full freedom since the state was still a British colony until 1971. Nevertheless, 1878 was recognized because it basically commemorates the unity and solidarity first exhibited by the Qatari people led by the Al Thani family, amidst conflicts and hardships endured by different tribes. Until now, the people of Qatar, show high respect, affection and gratitude to the Al Thani family, the current leaders of Qatar, not just during this kind of event but even in any ordinary days.

Here are some of my shots during our sight-seeing experience during the holiday:

my co-nurses along Corniche

parade of cars by Qatari nationals

the traditional Dhow boat

a local waving the white-maroon flag

flock of spectators along the Corniche

By the way, we were not able to catch up the events shown in the morning, the worst consequence of getting up late in the morning. Air force colored-jet trail shows, civic and military parades, navy speed boat exhibitions and grand fireworks display at night (due to limited transportation, we agreed to go home at past 6pm wherein the fireworks display will start at 8pm) were just some of the action-packed holiday we missed!

Today is my mom's death anniversary. Twenty one years since her death, the long agony of longing for her presence even in the midst of each of my dreams I encountered at  each night slowly taught me to be strong, independent and determined to fulfill her dreams she wanted for me. I might not be the most successful person in the path I have taken but I have promised myself that the people around me will acknowledge my mother because of her good motherhood style  to her sons and daughters. Yes. 21 years had passed and I might not remember the best moments she have spent for me 2 decades ago when I was a kid however I will never ever forget the things she have done in crafting me and my sibling's hearts.

Today too, I would never, in any ways, forget the day of my mother's passing. Thank you for the good old memories.

November 28

Today is a special occasion for me and my siblings. For the reason that, 28^th of November is used to be our father’s natal day. But unlike before, today’s celebration is so idyllic, peaceful and very private. The simple family celebration yet so significant because of the family and relative’s involvement, year by year, has slowly losing its strings of strength. I terribly missed the times when our father’s birthdays were not entirely an event of grand party but a chance for us to bond and eat together in the same table. Seven years had passed since my father’s unexpected sudden demise due to heart attack, meant seven years of celebration without the celebrant himself – the person who, for a very long time, kept his siblings closed and attached from each others. Now, that we have grown up as well as my sisters and brother had settled their own family and had lived separately, November 28 has slowly becomes more of individual commemoration for us rather than of single celebration. Currently, my eldest sister and her family are living in the United States for good. My elder sister as well as my younger brother with their own families are also living separately back home (Philippines). And me, I am in the State of Qatar trying my own luck of life. Our separate locations at present somehow provided us slimmer chance to celebrate with each other together; however, I guess our individual heartbeats and our memories were kept linked and connected. This is the thing I am most proud of, no matter how far we live from each others, the knot that our father uphold for years has remained tied – strong and is going stronger even without the physical presence of the celebrant. I hope this kind of relationship between us, including my sibling’s sons and daughters, will last eternally.

Today let me utter my special thanks to the “man of the hour.” I will never get tired of celebrating your birthday even it’s already seven years had passed since you have gone. Your legacy as a father to us and as a husband to our mother will truly remain instilled in our heart and mind. November 28 may be just an ordinary date to some but for us it is the day when another legendary hero came to life.

Happy Birthday tabi Papa!

Recipe 108: Beef Steak or Mutton Steak?

Mutton Steak

One of the dishes that I really missed nowadays is the yummy beef steak. Since my father died 7 years ago, I never had the chance to enjoy again the taste of this viand. Once in a while, when I was still in my home country few years passed, I have eaten several varieties of beef steak from the typical fast food chains or well-known restaurants but what I really missed is the distinctive beef steak my father used to cook and serve in our table. One time, I decided to give it a try and cook the typical beef steak for our dinner. Since beef is hardly ever available in our area where we stay right now, I have substituted beef from mutton as the basic meat component of the steak. So in short, it turned out; it was not really a beef steak but a mutton steak. Anyway, these two livestock meats look almost the same (both are red meats) and taste nearly equally. The only usual consideration I thought of in making this kind of dish is that it requires generous time of preparation. Since, my housemates and I usually purchase the meat as frozen (we could not avail fresh beef/mutton meat from the market), the frozen meat is usually soaked in water first for several minutes or few hours or until it softens then is sliced considerably thin and long. Hence one needs a really, really sharp knife in slicing the meat. So that’s it. This is how to cook a beef or mutton steak. It’s up to you which do you prefer.

Ingredients:

1kg Beef or Mutton

Potatoes (cut into medium sized squares)
Carrots (sliced into long pieces)
2 pc. Onion (one is sliced into ring-like and the other one into small pieces)
Cloves of Garlic (minced)
Soy Sauce
2 pc. Lemon or 2 tsp of White Vinegar
1 pc Ginger (sliced into thin and long pieces)
Cooking oil
Flour or Corn Starch dissolved in considerable amount of warm water until thickens
Ground Black Pepper

How to cook:

      Preparation (Marinade):

1. Slice the meat into considerably thin and medium or long pieces. Soak first the meat before slicing the meat in lukewarm water if it’s frozen. Put in an empty container or bowl and set aside. Get the ingredients; pour soy sauce together with garlic, onion (sliced into squares only), ginger, ground pepper, and lemon (and/or vinegar) into the bowl. Mix well then marinate for at least 30 minutes.
   
   Cooking Time:
2. In a pan, heat cooking oil. Drain first the meat and put it into the pan and fry in a very high heat until meat is cook thoroughly. It is advisable not to overcook the meat because it will become hard to chew. 
3. Once done, place meat in a serving plate then set aside until all meat is cooked. Put in the ring-like sliced onion in the remaining oil until it turns transparent.
4.  Put it on top of the beef once done. Pour the remaining marinade into the pan. Heat for few minutes. Put considerable amount of dissolved flour/corn starch and mix thoroughly. The more amount of the dissolved flour you add into the marinade, the thicker the sauce. Season to taste.
5.  Once done, pour the sauce over the meat and onions and serve.

Of course, the outcome never came up exactly the same taste as with my father's output , but I think it looks like almost the same as with his. As i have written in some of my posts about dishes, my father is always been my inspiration why I am doing this stuff, why I basically like cooking, and why I continue doing such this. It is because, whenever I do cooking, i remember my father.

Enjoy your meal!

How to boost your laptop’s WiFi signal

Are you upset when your internet connection is awfully slow? There are lots of circumstances why sometimes surfing the net is really slow. One common thing is weak signal from the wifi source (router). Weak wifi signal means slow internet connection. The weak signal is usually experienced if the origin of the wifi is far enough to the internet user or if the user/router is confined in a closed place. Take for instance, one user is browsing the internet using his neighbor’s wifi account and the other one is connected in his own router but installed in the other room which is confined. Most of the time, both will get weak signal. To resolve this issue, use any of ALFA Network's usb adapter to boost one’s wifi signal he is receiving. How to do this? Let me share to everyone else on how to do such.  

my Alfa usb adapter connected in the laptop usb

Instructions:

•  Connect Alfa Network adapter into the usb outlet of the loppy. (The usb adapter is available at any computer/tech store in your area). Let your laptop’s system recognize the new hardware inserted. Observe the device if the LED light blinks – Green light means it is connected; red is disconnected.
• Once connected, insert the CD installer (driver) in your CD/DVD ROM.
• Disregard the dialog box that popped out in the monitor of your laptop. Go to Device Manager. Start>Control Panel>System and Security>System>Device Manager or press and hold Windows logo + Pause/Break of your laptop’s keyboard (shortcut key to view basic info about your computer. Then click Device Manager at the left side menu.
• Find and click the Network Adapters icon. Click then right-click the one with  !  and Update Driver Software. Then click - Search automatically for updated driver software. If this doesn’t work click - Browse my computer for driver software instead. Browse>locate the CD/DVD drive>Ok>Next>Close. This will install the driver of the Alpha provided in the CD.
• Once properly installed, the icon  !  in the Network Adapters icon disappears. Click the wifi network icon in the lower right of your monitor (beside time/date). Alfa adapter will make an identical virtual network connection and click connect tab. Observe the wifi network icon – it increased the wifi signal bars which meant it also increased the strength of your connection with the wifi source.

I have been using this wifi-booster-usb-adapter gadget AWUS036H from Alfa Network which is Taiwan-made for almost couple of years now inside my clinic since the router (source of wifi) is installed in the other room. Besides, if that router is turned off, I could still receive other wifi network coming from other sources so I could still connect with them as long as the network's password is known or is unsecured (no password). AWUS036H is the standard and cheapest among the several products of the company and you can choose any model depending on your LAN/WAN needs.

Note: This post is not intended to promote any products from the makers of this device but I am just taking my chances to share what I have experienced with this type of up-to-date tech gadget. Haply, anything which has something to do with my personal experiences, either good or bad, beneficial or not, is worth sharing.


For complete specifications, visit this link: Alfa Network official website

Eid Al Adha!

Yes! Tomorrow, Friday - 26^th of October, would be the start of another vital Muslim holiday. This is because of the annual celebration of Eid Al Adha or literally called the “Feast of Sacrifice.” But for many expatriates including me, this is just a good break from our work.

Being here for almost 20 months, I am already pretty aware about the National Holidays of Muslim countries particularly in State of Qatar. The first major public holiday is the Eid Al Fitr (3 days) which marked the end of Ramadan and the other one, which is usually celebrated 70 days afterwards, is the Eid Al Adha (4 days). Literally, also called as “Feast of Sacrifice” or Eid Al Adha commemorates the act of Abraham to willingly sacrifice his first son (Ishmael) to God but at the end God interfered and instead a sheep was offered as a sacrifice. Thus in present days, all financially-able Muslims shall sacrifice an animal. This is widely practiced here in Qatar.

the familiar crossed-swords entering old Doha Souq (Market)

Since the Muslim is on religious holiday, Filipino Christians really looked forward for this long break. Some of them goes for swimming or does sand dunes, some dines out and does shopping, some visits their relative and friends, and some just stay from and home and take rest. And me? Maybe I would just visit and go along with my friends whatever their plan is.

Again to our brother Muslims around the world - Eid Mubarak!! May Allah accept all your good deeds..

My Blast from the Past Mobile Phones

Technology has really gone very far. Laptops, tablets, mobile phones, PSP or Xbox, LED or 3D flat TVs, and other electronic gadgets or devices – it is not unusual possessing one of those things. In one way or another, we admit it; they are already part of our lives. Take for instance, the mobile phone or cellular phone. It undergone a lot of changes and enhancement from the time it was first introduced during late 1990s up to this date. It is continuously innovating for perfection. The early mobile phones were first designed for the purpose of mere calling and sending text messages (or SMS – short message service) and nowadays their capabilities and functions are beyond human normal understanding. They are multi-tasking device at its best. Mobile phones or cellular phones are now called smartphones due to multimedia capacities.

Bosch Com 509

 I still remember the time when I used to own my first ever cell phone way back 2001 if I am not mistaken. I searched it in the internet and the model I used to own was a two-liner monochrome graphic-display Bosch Com 509. Actually it was a gift from my eldest sister after my first baccalaureate graduation. It was long, slightly heavy, quite big and bulky – very solid indeed. It has no other functions but for texting and calling only but it has additional features such as calculator and alarm clock. No radio of course. I have lots of unforgettable memories of this hand set because it witnessed some of my few disastrous eye ball (EB) ever when text mates were still very rampant and popular. Good old memories i can't forget.

Nokia 3315

Come year 2002. As a Christmas reward to myself, I asked my elder sister to buy me a new cell phone during her business appointment in Manila. She brought me a Nokia 3315 – successor of the most popular then Nokia 3310. I find it very indestructible, better than from my previous Bosch cp. What made this as a well-liked household hand set are its user-friendly features. Compact and simple, lighter than the 3210/3310, long battery life span, customized monotone ring tone composer, and its snake game feature made this so successful in the market. I also get hooked with the Snake game which I used playing for long hours. That hungry, slimy, and quickie snake which lengthens once it passes by the dot, captured my eagerness to beat the game’s highest score. I used this device until 2006 when I exchanged this to another Nokia model at the Greenhills – a place in Metro Manila famous for inexpensive yet new mobile phones or other electronic devices.

Nokia 6610

 Silver Nokia 6610 is what I got when I swapped it with my old phone. A more vibrant device due to its slimmer and lighter weight, 5-liner text and photo messaging (MMS – Multimedia Messaging Service), polyphonic ringing tone, colored display, and most of all its integrated stereo FM radio-support. Mp3s are not yet supported in this handset however I enjoyed listening to FM radio because of its clear stereo hands-free speaker. Usually, I used to tune in to my favorite FM radio station whenever my group was on night duty in the hospital or sometimes I used to play pre-installed java games during non-toxic duty hours. I used this one for more than two years until I lost it inside a tricycle when the phone slipped out in my pants’ pocket when I was going home from hospital duty. I never recovered it though I tried my best to look for it.

Sony Ericsson W760i

It took me quite some time in replacing my lost cp with a brand new one. My sister temporarily lent me another Nokia phone (but I could not remember the model) and I used it for few months. When I saved enough bucks for me to buy a new cp, I purchased the Sony Ericsson W760i – my faved mobile before the domination of smartphones. I have lots of reasons why I loved this device. First, being a walkman phone. It supports mp3 songs and by using a memory stick micro card, I could transfer mp3 songs from my pc via memory card to cp. Besides, its speaker phone is stereo. It has an integrated motion sensor wherein I could advance to the next track by just shaking the phone while I am holding its walkman button. It worked quite well to me. Second, its metallic rocky silver design looked very classical. It fits very well in my hand because of its curvy edges and slider design. Third, I enjoyed playing Java games like car racing using the motion sensor capability of this phone. Though the screen is not so big, its display is far excellent.

Samsung B7722

 I bought this one at the SM Megamall a week before I left the Philippines. My friends and I helped me to choose this model – Samsung B7722 because of its dual-SIM and popularity of touch screen. It is called as DUOS phone of Samsung. I find this very easy to use, allowing me to switch between the two SIM, either by calling or texting, which is always active at the same time so calling or texting has no hassle. Other features are WiFi support, an FM radio, 3G video calling, internet browsing, multimedia player (mp3 songs and 3gp videos), 5MP camera with flash and micro-SD support. As a smartphone, the whole package is practically satisfying when it comes to simplicity and usability. After using this phone more than a year, someone intentionally took my phone whilst I was sleeping in my room. I was in pretty dead sleep that time I never noticed someone took my phone which I usually put it beside me.

Samsung E1182

And this is my current phone – Samsung E1182. As much as I wanted to own another touch screen handset; however, I realized that at this moment I don’t need much for any smartphone yet. This colored-display phone is also dual-SIM, good enough for sending SMS and calling. The battery life span is incredibly long. One of the cheapest mobile from Samsung, the casing is made up of plastic and the keypad is from rubber. It is very light to carry. The phone is equipped with torch light, alarm clock, calculator, stop watch, and other basic features one finds in a cellular phone. It is very simple and very handy device for basic users.

Sony Xperia S

 Whilst almost everyone are going crazy with the latest and popular smartphones such as the stylish iPhone 5 or the trendy Samsung S3, my dream phone that I have been longing for is the Sony Xperia S. I am looking forward to own this phone before my work contract ends in my current company and definitely before I go back to Philippines.

Based from the Sony website, its video is full HD (High Definition) powered by Sony Mobile Bravia Engine (this makes the Xperia unique among other branded smartphones), with 12 MP camera, and with razor-sharp clarity in 4.3” display size. Other specs are almost similar to iPhone or Samsung series such as the memory, processor, battery life span, internet-support, applications, talking time, and so forth.

* All images were taken from the internet