Money Down The Drain

It is amazing how fast our salaries get depleted here. We regularly receive our salaries via bank credit every end of the month. Unlike in the Philippines, the salary there is split in two, one during the 2nd week and the other on the last week of the month. It is quite a feat to budget one's salary here because we get it in lump sum and the bills to pay are the first to get a piece of the pie.

That is the reason why a lot of expatriates here are swimming, if not drowning, in debts. They have difficulty budgeting and keeping the finances in a tight loop. It is like being an instant millionaire only to squander what you have earnestly worked hard for in a single day.

A lot of expatriates are always seeking for cash advance payday loan from their companies or independent financial institutions to meet due dates on credit card bills and other expenditures which are mostly unnecessary. It is so easy to let money down the drain in this place.

They Just Don't Get It

People think that when you work abroad, you earn big time or you're a money machine. They expect you to remit all the time and when you don't, they get mad,or say something nasty about you.

Don't they know that expats have to spend what they earn where they currently live? If the standard of living is high then expect that there are little chances that these poor expats will have spare to go around. Oh well...

The Tweedledums

There were two friends named Dimwit and Dimtwat who lived in the Highland. These two ninnies were known for their shady characters and unpleasant behaviour. They looked down on people as if they were slaves.

One day, these two ninnies went to a posh place to get something done and Dimwit didn't get exactly what was requested so the barrage of insults and expletives flew in every corner of the place and Dimtwat followed suit. They dropped names and told everyone they were from this and that and they would call some officials because they didn't get what they wanted. They would sue the management of the place for ruining something. The slur of inappropriate words were spoken at lightning speed causing a lot of inconvenience to the other citizens.

Well, in the real world, people like them should be hung upside down. Their brains went down to their feet and need to get back to were it should be - that mid part of their head called the skull!

These are the kind of dimwits populating this society. A lot of them are expatriates who came from nothing and when they suddenly had money, they became this proverbial fly on top of the carabao. It's such a shame because they give a very bad image of their fellowmen who are not even close to being like them at all.

The Expat's Life - Part 3 "Someone noticed!"

My eyes almost popped from their sockets when a friend forwarded a mail which is quite unusual because we, the Filipinos as overseas workers, are featured by an Arab journalist which appeared in Arab News. Read this and weep:

We are finally noticed and given the respect that we truly deserve. In this part of the world, being noticed and recognized for our value is an aberration to the idiosyncrasies. At least, someone finally told the world what Filipinos are made of - determination, perseverance, hope, and integrity. Yan ang Pinoy! (That's what a Filipino is!)

Shukran Mr. Abdulla al Maghlooth for recognizing our value in the society. I hope there are more people like you who will give us what we are due.

(Please see my other entries on the Expat's Life here, and here)