End of the road...a journey to a new life...

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This blog was written almost 6 months ago but which I was never able to publish at once. The reason behind this is because I had to do a lot of leg work in relation to family documents that I needed to process. Without further adieu... I hope you like my last blog under my callcenter diary....

It was in the year 2003 when thoughts of applying for a call center job seem to be the only option for me. I needed a job urgently as 3 months prior, I gave birth to my second child. Money was short and my husband and I have a daughter who needed to go to school. The very first call center I went to was VXi along Ayala Avenue, Makati City. I breezed through the exams and the first couple of interviews. I even passed the typing test but the final interview did not fit my "good instincts." When the interviewer asked me what I would do if my baby got sick and I needed to go home; I knew that the company was very stringent with their attendance. Though I am not a perenially absent employee, I know that I will always put my family first in case of an emergency, even at the expense of my job. Well, I did not land the job as most of you know, if you read my very first blog entry. I then applied on-line and received a call the next day, if am not mistaken, from PLDT. I stayed in the said company for almost 3 years before I decided applying at the World's local bank. I spent 4 years in this last call center job. And I must say that 7 years in the call center industry has prepared me for what lies ahead.

Over a year ago my husband left for Saudi Arabia...it was a joint decision for him to look for an overseas job. This was brought about by the fact that he is the eldest among 6 children. With no parents to take care of the younger siblings, he is left with that responsibility. Other than that we have 3 children with growing needs and a mortgage to pay. I was luckier because my siblings have jobs of their own and have parents who have enough means to live comfortably. The goal for us was to find work abroad and be able to help the younger ones and save enough for our children's bright future.

Hence, almost 6 months ago, when my husband went back to the Philippines for a month long vacation, we made plans. And one of them was for us to start preparing our documents so that we may follow and live with him abroad. I was left with the responsibility of fixing our documents locally, which is noteworthy to mention, brought so much heartaches and which left us with too much debt on our hands. I was asked to pay for certified true copies of our original documents, which by the way was around 50 to 65 pesos per page. Now I am left with 3 certified true copies wherein only 1 was actually needed entirely. Not only did I need to pay unnecessarily, I had to travel from Cavite to North Avenue in Quezon City several times a week. Again it was unnecessary travel, waste of time, energy and money had the people in the government agency adviced me the first time of the correct documents I needed to bring. Imagine I had to go back and forth 6 times before I got the correct information and finally have my children's documents processed! I felt terribly disgusted and angry but my husband, although far from me, kept me focused and constantly fed me good thoughts. Although it was not the darkest period in my life, it was one with so much anxiety. First, because I tendered my resignation already and therefore our financial means has decreased. Second, because I pulled out my kids after their 1^st quarterly exams as we were expected to leave right after. And third, our savings was dwindling fast and there were my husband’s siblings to feed. All throughout, we never wavered, we fought the war between good and evil, if I may so say, and we won. Six months later, we are now here, left with so much debt, but happy that we are together as one family. We know that we will be facing a lot of adjustments. We left, in the Philippines, my children’s nanny who has been with us for almost 5 years. We left her with my sister who has a baby I know my children, most especially my youngest, will miss her. Gone are the days, when we just need to call our dear nanny for errands. But I know it won’t be too hard, I am armed with lessons from my own mother. It is a good thing that I know how to cook... and have been trained with domestic work.

I am going to begin a new blog once I have settled in Saudi Arabia and hope that you will begin reading our journey through our new life...