OFWs keep Christmas lights aglow

By Casiano Mayor Jr.
Philippine Daily Inquirer

5:31 pm | Saturday, December 24th, 2011

CHRISTMAS LIGHTS go up as early as September in the De Vera family home. L-R: Alex de Vera, wife Edith (fourth, left), daughters Sofiah (second, left), Kaithlyn (third, left), Ayesha (right) and son Adrian.

JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia—As early as September, Alex de Vera and his family had fixed  up a Christmas tree in their living room. Like most Christian Filipinos in Saudi Arabia, the de Veras tuck away a Christmas tree ready to be set up for the season.
“We start fixing our Christmas tree when ‘ber’ steps into the calendar,” says Alex in their home, a three-bedroom rented flat in Jeddah’s Musreffah district. “We keep our Christmas tree in a storeroom, along with the decorations, and set it up usually in September.”
Although practicing religion apart from Islam is not allowed in Saudi Arabia, Christian Filipinos have kept the Christmas tradition alive in the privacy of their homes. There are no lanterns or parols hanging outside doors and windows but the Christmas tree is ubiquitous in every Christian Filipino’s living room.
It’s actually no hassle getting a Christmas tree in this oil-rich kingdom. Synthetic Christmas trees, well-kept in boxes, are sold in variety stores in commercial centers that cater to Filipinos. And Christmas lights are sold in big supermarkets.
That makes it easy for the family of Jonathan Padua to change their Christmas tree almost every year. “We started with a tiny Christmas tree years ago and then it became bigger and bigger as years went by,” says Jonathan. “Christmas trees and decor are found in shops popular among Filipinos.”
What Pinoys miss
What the Filipinos in Saudi Arabia miss are the din of rush-hour Christmas shopping, the Misa de Gallo, traditional rice cakes like puto bumbong and bibingka sold in the vicinity of churches, the sound of firecrackers, San Miguel beer or Carlsberg and the exasperating heavy traffic. But food is in abundance here and parties abound.
Parties in Jeddah are held a few days before or after Christmas Day in Filipino restaurants, homes or resorts with private villas. The Christmas Eve noche buena is usually reserved for the family and close friends.
When the parties fall on a Thursday, which is equivalent to Saturday in the Philippines, they usually last until the wee hours or the first crack of dawn, with the partygoers sleeping on Friday, the rest day in Saudi Arabia and other Muslim countries in the Middle East.

PARTIES AND GAMES with close friends is the usual Padua family activity. From right, Jonathan Padua, daughter Jannis, wife Wilma and son Jan Lorenz.

“Although we are not allowed to practice our faith openly, I’m amazed at how much freedom we have in celebrating Christmas here. I can’t count how many pre-Christmas and post-Christmas party invitations we receive (every year),” says Ahjid Sayas.
Decorating their homes
Home for the Sayases is a rented apartment where Christmas garlands and Christmas stockings are tacked up by his wife Juliet on doors and walls, along with other Christmas decor.  “We inherited the garlands from a friend who had left for good but the other decor were made by Juliet,” Ahjid quips.
The Sayases and other Christmas celebrants shop for gifts a few weeks before Christmas Day, but buy their groceries for noche buena a day or two before Christmas Eve because traffic is relatively light in Jeddah and most of the Filipino families here have cars. Those who don’t, usually the new comers,  can easily take the taxi cabs.
And what do the Sayases prepare for noche Buena?
“We usually have soup and cheese sticks for starters. Beef, chicken, fish and seafood dishes for the main courses. Sweets include buko pandan, which I prepare, and brazo de mercedes, courtesy of Juliet,” recalls Ahjid.
Biko and spaghetti
For the De Veras, who prefer “solemn moments” on Christmas Eve, Alex says, “it’s what the Filipinos usually have for noche buena back home. There are a lot of dishes which Edith prepares but I can’t really recall all.”
So Edith, his wife, butts in:  “It depends. I prepare when Christmas Day falls on a Friday, the rest day, and the children have no classes. I prepare pansit, biko, chicken teriyaki, beef barbeque, salad and of course spaghetti for the kids. This Christmas, which falls on a weekday, I may prepare just enough for dinner on Christmas Eve because the following day they won’t be at home. That’s when you think of Christmas in the Philippines.”
The Paduas had not made up their minds on what food to prepare for this year’s noche buena but Jonathan says, “last year the ones I can remember were kaldereta, roasted Peking duck, afritada, ube, veggies, among others.” The Paduas spend Christmas Eve with close friends. They call each other up before Christmas Eve to decide in whose house they will hold a joint celebration.

SAPIN-SAPIN AND BUKO PANDAN will be on the noche buena spread of the Sayas family. From right, Ahjid Sayas, wife Juliet and son Jeremy.

Longing for home
Although Christmas celebrations here are not wanting when it comes to food and things that money can buy, the season brings a deep sense of longing for the home country. It is a time when memories are prone to fly on the wings of nostalgia to the families left behind—the parents and siblings, nieces and nephews, and even friends. It is the time when the impulse to make an overseas call reigns.
“Here, there is lots of food… but this also makes you think of the families back home, of what they have for the noche buena, and wish that they have as much as we have on our dining table,” says Ahjid.
“There’s a sense of longing, a void somewhere in our hearts. With loved ones around, even a simple celebration is grand.”
Like most Christian Filipinos in Saudi Arabia, the Sayases make long-distance calls to their families in the Philippines on Christmas Day.
“Well, the celebration here is fine, OK na rin. But it’s really different in the Philippines. The children miss so many things,” says Alex, who has four children—a boy and three girls, aged 12 to 5, the youngest of whom has not yet spent Christmas in the Philippines.
Shorter celebrations
“In the Philippines, you feel the Christmas atmosphere throughout the season. Here, you feel the excitement of Christmas only on Christmas Day itself and then everything returns to normal until the New Year when we have another celebration.”
“We always celebrate Christmas wherever we are. However, we feel Christmas to be happier when our relatives and loved ones are celebrating this special day with us,” says Johathan, whose family has spent Christmas in the Philippines only twice since they came to Jeddah in 2000.
“Definitely, Christmas in the Philippines is merrier. You can feel the Christmas ambiance throughout the season. Christmas carols are played everywhere, you can see Christmas decorations wherever you go and feel the family excitement at the malls. Here, Christmas ends right after Christmas Day.”
This Christmas, which falls on a Sunday, the Filipinos will spend Christmas Day at work, except for those who may take a leave of absence for lack of sleep.  What will remain to remind them of the Yuletide are the leftovers and the Christmas trees that will stay in their living rooms until the Feast of the Three Kings.

Below is the Inquirer's link to the story

OFWs keep Christmas lights aglow

True story of a Filipino beauty queen

Patrician Javier and husband Dr. Robert Walcher

This is a true story of Genesis Canlapan, known in Philippine movies as bold star Patricia Javier. I am posting this in the spirit of Christmas. May we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ in a profound way, far beyond the din of Christmas parties. May Javier's testimony in video, which I posted below, lead to conversion of hearts to make us grasp the power of faith.
The testimony is done in Tagalog, the major language in the Philippines. For the benefit of those who do not understand the language, I am reconstructing her story. I wanted to translate the testimony and the narrator's intro and side comments but I found many Tagalog idioms and cliches very difficult to translate and feel that I may lose the elegance of the prose in the translation.

So here's her story based on the video. I tried to do some research in the Internet but found only a scanty information about Javier's personal life.

Patricia came from a poor family. In her adolescence, her parents separated. She and her siblings stayed with their mother. To help her mother provide for the family, Patricia joined beauty pageants to pursue a dream and for the prizes which helped to tide things over. Her break came when she joined the country's  most prestigious beauty pageant, Binibining Pilipinas or Miss Philippines.
Although she did not win the title, the Bb. Pilipinas pageant opened doors for her into the Philippine movies. As her star rose in show business, she quickly built a fortune she had dreamed of.  "From nothing we have built a beautiful home, I was able to travel to many places and met people I had never imagined of meeting in my life," she said in her testimony.
But she paid a high prize for her dream. Appearing mostly in flesh flicks, she allowed herself to be used by men who could give her the luxury in life or more movie breaks. In her testimony, she said that she was happy for a while until she found out that something was missing in her life. That drove her into drugs.
"I really used my body to get what I wanted in life. For a while I was happy but there came a time when I became insecure, I wanted ... (to live  a new life), to have a husband who respects me. I hated women who allowed themselves to became mistresses of married men, but then I found myself in the same situation. I tried drugs to escape from that reality. I admit I tried ecstasy," she confessed.
It was at this point that her mother talked to her thoroughly. "She told me 'everything that you have done for us boils down to nothing. You have given us a good life but you are ruining yourself'," she remembered her mother telling her. "I felt more depressed, I felt remorse for everything I had done, I realized  that I was sinning."
As it is often said God will work in mysterious ways if you would only seek His help and live a life in keeping with His counsels in the Scriptures. Patricia, who went to the United States for some show biz engagements, meet a Christian who invited her to join a church congregation. Despite her fears that she might lose her career that provided her fortune, she attended church meetings and services and found changes in her life.
"I just kept on attending and then I felt that God was working in me, I felt changes in my life. I forgot all my insecurities, what I had done in the past ... I did not think of the men in my life anymore, the material things. I felt like God was telling me that you will find happiness if you will follow me. I began to realize, so that's it when God is in your heart," she said.
It was then that she met her future husband, Dr. Robert Walcher. When she returned to Philippines after her show biz engagement, people who knew her were surprised at how she had changed. Shortly after, she married Dr. Walcher.
"My name, Genesis, means the beginning. I told myself 'this is the beginning of a new life'," she said toward the concluding part of her testimony. "I said 'God I am giving my life to you, I trust my life to your care'."

Patricia's story reminds me of counsel in Proverbs: "Trust in the Lord with all your heart; never lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will show you the right path."

Here's the video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Hr416WLbE8&feature=share

A day in life

My niece Lala offered an apology in response to my query why she had not been responding to my emails lately. I had asked her if she was angry either with me or my wife and demanded that she should tell me why. "Sorry if I gave you an impression that I am angry because I failed to respond. I am not upset. Things are just crazier in the office nowadays. My responsibilities got greater and my rest lesser," she emailed back.
My niece, who we fondly call Darling, has just been promoted to assistant manager in a multinational bank with branch offices in Metro Manila. We have always treated her and her two siblings like our own children. She calls me Dad and my wife Mom. "Dad I am asking for more understanding now that I am in a new phase of my career. It's not easy. I hate (office) politics and there's more of it now. But I have to dance to the tune to stay in the game," she wrote.
I felt a mixture of guilt and pity while I read her email at the office. I hate office politics myself and that's the primary reason why I have never aspired for a higher position since I became a subeditor with Today newspaper in Manila in 1995. I am contented editing articles for the pages I handle and then putting the pages to bed in my small corner of the newsroom. A higher position would mean handling people. I have no grit for that. I am soft.

I know there are people who thrive in office politics, specially those who are young and who find it to be part of the challenges in our quest to get ahead in life. I find it stressful, primarily because I have a  weak personality. But I know that even people with stout heart and steel nerves can succumb to stress that goes along with the hurried and harried life in the corporate world where stress becomes greater as you rise higher.
After reading her email, I emailed her back as quickly as I could, offering my own apology for adding to her worries and giving an assurance that I fully understood her and that we love her. There was no time to write a long response. There was no time either to linger in a fleeting memory of green meadows and bright stars in a clear sky which I used to see when I was young. I had to buckle down to work to meet my deadline.