Pasko, Pasko na namang muli... | iSavta
Pasko, Pasko na namang muli...
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הרשמת מטפלים בתאגיד ב-800 שח בלבד!

רק דרך iSavta - השירות ניתן בין רעננה בצפון לראשון לציון בדרום וכולל את ירושלים והסביבה

“Pasko na!!! Where is my gift? What are you going to cook? Where are you going to spend it? “Wish I am home!” Usually asked when you meet a friend on the street or you hear it from others.

Christmas is one of the season where OFWs around the world feel the bite of homesickness. And for those who left a wife or a husband, it's an ongoing joke that homesickness is synonymous with homesexness :)) (According to them!!) Often for those of us who are away from home, it reduces us to tears when memories of past happy celebrations come to mind. One of the best things during this season is the endless supply of delicious food like the “puto bumbong and bibingka” which seems to be tastier to my taste buds during the Christmas season. I suppose it's the ambience: the glittering lights of the parol and fantastic Christmas decorations on the streets and houses that comes alive during the evening, the festive aura of people around, smiling and full of good intentions.

Many gained weight during the Christmas season too! (Honest ako, Isa ako sa mga yan!) Whenever we go around visiting friends, relatives or even friend of friends, teeth and intestines are working overtime and saying “no” to the delicious and free offerings of foods is a forgotten word in our vocabulary. And Christmas season is followed by the New Year celebration!! It means food and food and more food!!!

Now, working in Israel, the land where the story of Christmas occurred, the feeling of Christmas is still felt although it is now coupled with pangs of homesickness and the lonely feeling of being far away especially for those who has kids, wife/husbands, who can only see and hear them on their laptop screens thru Skype or other means available on the net. I am sure, everyone is receiving text greetings from everyone back home ending with “Padala mo na gift ko :)” or “namamasko po”. It's usually the time for parents who works overseas to buy extravagant gifts for the kids to make up for their absence and for the whole family back home to ask or more appropriately “demand” gifts, oftentimes without a “thank you” after they receive whatever they asked.

It's true that no matter how much you party with gusto, dance until you drop and drink until you choke, you cannot remove the feeling of being a stranger in the company of strangers in a strange land. Philippines is home and nothing can beat a celebration of Christmas at home. I cannot forget the time during my days back in the Philippines where I had no proper sleep for 2 days. One of the bigwigs who came to work early suddenly had pity on me the morning of 24th and send me home even though we had a big event to attend but I had to be back at work at 7:30 AM on the 26th. Suddenly I was full of energy that the prospect of standing on a bus for 8 hours just to reach my parents' home is nothing. Buses are often chokefulof passengers during the holidays and to get a seat at the last minute is 99% miracle. My guardian angel has been working overtime because I got a seat.

Everywhere fellow OFWs would be celebrating the season of love and giving like what we, the Filipinos in Israel are doing too. There would be parties, gift giving and of course, traditional Filipino food would be abundant. My friends and I would be celebrating too in our own little way outside in the park like a picnic, with our old employers looking on and enjoying our antics. I can only guess what the Israelis have on their mind when they pass by, possibly like “what the hell are they doing?” as we make “posing” for the camera, laughing loudly and stuffing our bellies with potluck food and generally making fools of ourselves.

December will be always be special 'coz that was my arrival in Israel and Christmas was spent in Tel-Aviv with flatmates who were virtually strangers. My gosh, where did the 2 years go? I still felt like I just arrived in Israel! I have another 2 years left before I will lose the right to a working visa, who knows where I would be that time? Maybe I’ll get lucky with an employer who will live long until she will be 100 years old or maybe not. Nobody knows. There is NO certainty in the life of OFWs. There could be war and political unrest like here in the Middle East, economic crisis, or like in Israel, death of the employer after 4 years and 3 months means finish working visa. Time to go back home. Time just pass by silently, a decade is nothing when you are young. The next thing you know, you are old and gray and still working overseas away from home because you have nothing yet to show for the years abroad. To quote an unknown blogger from OFWdiary.com “Do not count the years you think you can bear to be an OFW, but think how much you earn as an OFW while you have the opportunity.”

A merry Christmas and prosperous New Year to all my fellow OFW!! May we earn and save enough so we can celebrate the holidays with our family at home for good!!!!!

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