Maybahay ng OFW
Wife of an Overseas Filipino Worker.
Why Am I Blogging?
First of all, I would like to apologize to some of you who are actively reading my blog. It’s been a month since I had my last post.. believe me, I have been trying to find time to write however my earthly body had been giving up at night. I felt like I needed to lie down and take some time to rest.
You might be asking me, why am I blogging? Is this to have an extra income (which I think is really not feasible, given the time I am spending here in my blog)? Or for my passion in writing? Or to release stress and anxieties?
Well, this is also my question to myself. The time when I decided to blog, and to buy a domain.. my plan is really just to write. I love writing my thoughts and my feelings. People totally hooked to my blog is a plus factor however my goal is really to share and release my feelings.
May of last year, there are lots of questioning in my mind because the pandemic was so uncertain. That time, I haven’t seen my husband for two years and we just moved in our new house. I had some anxieties too because of a trauma that I would want to overcome. The trauma of trusting again.. Well, this is not about my husband, but for a person whom I trusted the most.
I had journals before where I put all my thoughts there. Until, I thought of sharing my thoughts to people instead through blogging.
Little by little when vaccination against Covid-19 was implemented, things are getting back to normal. My husband was able to visit us quite a few times already. He spent Christmas with us, birthdays and even worked from home here in the Philippines for a month. I felt so secured.
My husband is my bestfriend. I believe I am his likewise.. We tend to get strength from each other. These past few months, even without talking we know what we feel. We spent a lot of times together, building some memories with our children again.. Something that the pandemic took from us.
And shall I say, this is one of the reasons why I was not able to write in my blog more often.
However, since my happiness is overflowing.. I would want to share with you things that I do everyday. Thoughts that come my way. I would like to invite you to my journey of being a housewife of an OFW (maybahay ng Overseas Filipino Worker).
Please stay and ride with me in this journey. See you!
Seizing the Opportunity to Enjoy
June has been one of my busiest months. My husband who is working in Singapore is able to work here in the Philippines (work from home) for a month starting last June 4. Though he is working, every weekend was the time to enjoy our family’s adventures and get-aways.
My husband asked permission from his boss for this set-up because of my eldest daughter’s year 6 graduation. This is something that my husband don’t want to miss as this is a milestone for our dear daughter.
GRADUATION
For two consecutive weeks, I became busy sending my daughter to school for the graduation practices. Since the school is quite far from our house, I needed to wait for her until they finished the practice. It’s an opportunity to relax from household chores but I am thinking of my 5 year old daughter bogging my husband while working.
I was quite emotional during my daughter’s graduation because I felt relieved that we were able to survive the lockdown here in the Philippines, the homeschooling, the feeling of being alone with my daughters… This is like a graduation for me too (hopefully!)… with the pandemic and lockdowns.. with being alone with my daughters.
I am so proud of my eldest daughter because she was able to study with my supervision. During those times when there was strict lockdown here in the Philippines, she was only 10 years old then, I will leave my then 3 year old daughter with her for me to quickly buy groceries. Children were not allowed to go outside that time. It was quite an experience.. I am so grateful for my daughter.
On my daughter’s graduation, I can see how excited she was seeing us (her parents) together for her. I thank God that He allowed this to happen. We, as a family, were able to celebrate my daughter’s milestone.
QUALITY TIME
Everyday is a quality time for us. Especially since my husband will be coming back to Singapore, we always want our daughters to remember each time we are having fun. We go to malls, watch movie, go to carnivals.
It’s quite an experience for my children. We explore nearby places here. We are near to Tagaytay, Laguna and Batangas.. These are where some of the major tourist spots are located. It is only this time that we have an opportunity to explore.
We went to some places that we were just hearing. At least now we know what they looked like. We are exploring foods and nearby restaurants too.
A LOT OF COOKING
One of my passions is cooking. I know my husband is not eating well in Singapore.. or maybe not eating delicious dishes in Singapore. Haha.. I am claiming that my recipes are delicious. Well, my husband said so. Haha.
I often cook for him. I let him eat foods that I learned to cook during lockdowns.. like the Korean fried chicken, Vietnamese spring rolls.. etc. He likes vegetables and so I always cook nice vegetable soup for him.
I know he gained weight during his stay but he would find time to exercise in Singapore when he got back there.
TALKING TIME
My husband and I do a lot of talking.. We always share ideas and thoughts. This is one of the usual things that we do when we are together.
It’s good to have plans for the future. It is good to know that we have same sentiments and goals.
Moira Dela Torre and Jason Marvin Hernandez Break-Up
Apologies for some readers here who are not Filipinos and do not know Moira Dela Torre and Jason Marvin Hernandez. They are a famous couple here in the Philippines whom everyone considered to be a “couple goals”. I, myself, also consider them as an inspiration.
After three years of marriage, they split up. They parted ways. They both give a statement posted by Jason Marvin.. Then Jason Marvin mentioned about being unfaithful to Moira.
They are both known singers, however, Moira is more successful as the songs that she wrote were very relatable, emotional and inspiring. There were times when I listen to Moira music the whole day, for weeks.
Hmmmm… so why do I bother about their break-up?
Let me share to you about my experience on being inspired by a couple (the girl is a relative of my husband). I was constantly seeing their social media posts. Their photos celebrating anniversaries and being together always were very inspiring. They were always on my feed. They looked so happy together. When they got married, I felt so happy.
Then suddenly, after a month of being married.. They broke up. And I, being the follower of their love story, felt like left behind. I don’t know what happened.
And just like Moira dela Torre and Jason Marvin Hernandez’s love story, they just parted ways. Everyone knows how they started, when Jason Marvin proposed, how he proposed, what are the songs they wrote together, what their vows are during their wedding… Now, people who are looking up to them don’t know what happened.
What’s the lesson here?
Social Media Fantasies
Everything that we are seeing on social media might not be genuine. People post because they wanted to be recognized and validated… to the point when it is pushed already. People travel not to enjoy but for other people to see on their social media. Some people want to belong badly.. to be looked up to.
I don’t know what’s true on social media already. One day, somebody will approach me, saying not good things about their partner. The next day, they are posting photos cuddling on couch. What’s true?
Listening/Good Communication
I have been married for almost 13 years now. My husband and I have constant communication. We do say everything in our mind. We need to, no one else need to know what I am thinking and vice versa.
If someone is being pushed, somebody needs to say it. I am not speculating on anything however good communication helps a lot. Communication does not mean to speak only but also to listen attentively. Attentively means to grasp the heart of the partner and try to understand what he is saying.
We really don’t know what tomorrow brings.. These two couples that I shared to you were together for years before they got married. We still don’t know what would happened in the future.
Vegetable Garden at Home
I remembered when we were small, whenever we will eat meal in my grandparents house, they used to prepare vegetables freshly picked in their garden. I always wanted that. For the longest time, it is only during the past year that I had the chance to do that.
We used to live in Singapore and lived in flats. I was busy then, reason why I did not consider planting on pots.
I got so excited the first time I tried planting vegetables in here our house. There is a small space here that I don’t consider putting anything else than vegetables. I tried, however, I think I failed.
Check out my blogs about my previous gardening experience.
Plants Fertilizers that are Available at Home
Planning
I have to admit that I did not plan on where I will plant the seedlings that I had before. I somehow planted them anywhere on the garden. Basil next to spinach.. Papaya trees next to onions. They grew so nicely however, the papaya trees gave up. My garden did not looked nice. Plants everywhere.. It was not organized.
I had three papaya trees last year. When they were already tall and as a proud parent, I was so amazed. One by one it started to die. Maybe papaya trees are kind of sensitive and should not be planted next to other plants.
Typhoon
I need my plants to be protected whenever there is typhoon. Philippines is really prone to typhoons hence gardens need to be protected too. This time I put the seedlings in pots so that I could moved the plants to a safe place when there is typhoon.
Starting New
Last month, I went to my grandfather’s farm to get soil as it said to be good and fertilized.
I got three sacks of this.. Look at the color, it really looks like a good soil.
I bought some seeds in the grocery store. I bought chili pepper, tomato, basil and parsley. My grandfather gave me seedlings of eggplant and chilis. I prepared the seeds that I bought and planted the seedlings that my grandfather gave me.
Seedlings grew after few weeks. Parsley hasn’t grown yet. I thought it is time for the others to put in the pot already.
The soil that I got from my grandfather’s garden had some rocks and so I needed to separate those first. After that, I put some eggshells and decomposed vegetable peelings.
Tomatoes..
Chili..
In the middle is the basil that I newly planted then beside it are chili pepper (left side)
and eggplant (ride side) that my grandfather gave me.
Hopefully, this time, it would be successful. I am so excited to see them growing.
5 Things to Do When Your Child has Fever
For some reasons, when one of my children is sick I tend to be energetic and strong. I am not sure with other parents but my mind is always awake and I am always snappy.
Last week my youngest daughter had fever.. It was quite high. I noticed it last Monday night, I thought she was really sleepy because she kept on scratching her eyes. I told her to sleep so that she could rest. Eleven in the evening, my daughter’s foot touched my legs and I felt that she was hot. I took the thermometer to check and my hunch was correct. She had fever!
Let me share with you the things that I do when my child has fever.
- Cold compress – Immediately after I learned that she is sick. I grabbed a towel, went to the fridge, took ice, poured on a basin, put water.. I put the towel unto the cold water, squeeze the water from it, then wipe my daughter’s armpits, back of the knees, neck and face. Then I made the towel cold again and laid on my child’s forehead. This is very essential because the hotness should not reach the head to avoid convulsions. I usually do this frequently as it also helps lower the temperature.
2. Give paracetamol – Since my daughter got fever at night, and I noticed it when she was fast asleep. I did not bother to wake her up to give medicine. She needs to rest. I waited for her to wake up then I gave her the paracetamol. If the recommended frequency of taking the paracetamol is very 4 hours, I diligently gives it to her. However, if she is sleeping, I am not waking her up to take the paracetamol. Doctors here in the Philippines recommend not to wake children when sleeping deeply just to take the medicine. Rest is more important.
3. See a doctor – Nowadays, due to Covid-19, I am hesitant to go straight to the hospital to give my child an immediate remedy. My child’s temperature was very high. The time when I was about to go to the clinic, her temperature became normal. I decided to observe her first. Then, her temperature rose up again.. That’s when I decided to take her to the clinic. The doctor gave her antibiotics and paracetamol. She had tonsilitis.
It is very important to consult a doctor so that they could give a medicine (other than the paracetamol) to combat the focus of the fever.
4. Give a lot of water – The night when my daughter started to have fever, when she woke up, I asked her to drink a lot of water. My child is very understanding and obedient. She knows how hard it is to be sick. It also helped her to be well. After two days, she is already well.
5. Do not panic – It’s really scary whenever you will see the temperature is so high. However, your child needs you to be there for her. It was really hard to relax because, I myself, did not have a good sleep for the past two nights when my child was sick. However, it’s really important to stay on the moment and not to think of a lot of things. Why it happened? Where it came from? Answers will be there when you see a doctor. Pray and have a deep breathe.
When my child became okay. I felt the tiredness. I told my daughter that I needed to rest a bit because mom had to take care of her. I managed to do the chores at home still even if my child was sick. I don’t know where my strength came from… Oh, it came from the love I have for my children.
Plants Inside the House
First of all, I am not an expert in terms of plants. I don’t know the names of my plants inside our house. However, I know that these plants are meant to be inside.
I always like plants. Having plants inside the house was one of my frustrations before as I was still working and I really don’t have time to take care of those. My job before pushed me to work overtime and so some of the things that I wanted to do became just a dream.. Now, I am living those dreams. I feel so blessed.
I really don’t have any idea on how to take care of plants. I just knew that I have to water them and expose them to sunlight, then finished. I did not know that I also have to converse to them, know when they need to be watered, know when they are exposed too much to the sunlight.
I am writing this blog because I am so happy that I was able to buy one of my dream plants.. the rubber tree. It is quite expensive here in the Philippines (well for me!). I am a practical person, if the price is not a great deal, I would not buy it. Today is different, I was able to buy it based on my target price. Haha.. Rubber tree was said to be indoor plants. I read that it helps to clean the indoor air from pollutants.
I cannot show you the rubber tree now as I haven’t put it in the pot. It’s raining hard here today.
I remembered when my cousins were here last month, they were telling me that there are plants anywhere inside our house.
Let me show you some of the plants that I have inside our house.
Those are the plants in the first floor. We also have some plants in the second and also in all the toilets.
Compared to other houses, I think my plants are still not that much. Though, I always wanted this, I am still a newbie. If I feel like I need to cheer up, I will go to a plant store and buy a small plant.
In my future blogs, I would also like to share with you some tips (based on my experience and readings) on how to take care of indoor plants.
My Happy 5-Year-Old Daughter
I always hear my husband that my children are very lucky to have me with them. I am always there for them but now that I am a stay-at-home-mom, I am physically with them. I always feel happy when my husband acknowledges my presence with my children.
I know for a fact that time flies so fast. I still remember vividly the times when I was still pregnant with my daughters, but now here they are a 12-year-old pre-teen lady and a 5-year-old one, I wanted them to remember that their parents did their best for them to have a good childhood. We wanted them to be comfortable at home so that they would not seek for any other things outside our home.
Unlike my eldest daughter (I was still working before), I am so hands-on with my youngest. I cook for her, bath her, teach her, etc. I am with her 24/7. I can hear her saying “mama” for over a million times a day. I am enjoying it.
I, sometimes, am very busy with the household chores but I see to it that I could have time to still play with her.
I could say that she is an extrovert person reason why she always wanted to go outside. She would greet every child she sees. We often stroll around the village in the afternoon.
The other day, while we were walking around the village, we noticed that there is a basketball tournament in our subdivision. My daughter was very eager to watch. We did not know whom to cheer for, but she enjoyed watching it.
It’s good that my daughter discovers things with me.
Playing with her is another interesting activity. I can see how creative she is and happy to be playing with me. The gap between my eldest and youngest is 7 years, and so they are not much into playing together.
I always cook for my children. Amongst the dishes that I am cooking, they have their favorites already. At least they will remember their mom to be cooking their favorite dishes. My youngest daughter loves sinigang (this is a tamarind soup with pork and vegetables) and spaghetti with tomato sauce (Filipino style). I love it when I see them so excited to be eating meal.
I can say that my children have a happy childhood. My husband though far from them is always there.. only a video call away. Now that the pandemic eased, my husband will be able to come home more often.
Out and About After Philippine Election 2022
Life must go on.. We still need to live and continue.
Last night, I checked our groceries if it still sufficient for my children. My eldest daughter loves to drink milk and my youngest would always want to eat something. I just noticed that my daughter already finished the milk. I decided to go to the grocery store today. I asked my youngest daughter to come with me.
We were just planning to buy few stuffs and so I planned to go to a not-so-big grocery store nearby. My husband said it is better to buy more groceries already as the payday here in the Philippines is always on the 15th of the month. If I will do that next week, there might be many people in the grocery store.
I followed my husband. My daughter and I ended up going to a much bigger grocery store which is quite far from our place.
While driving, I noticed the price of the unleaded gasoline.. That is the highest that I have seen in my entire life, 79 pesos (~USD 1.51). Oh.. I can’t imagine how other people could survive going to and fro their houses with this price.
I seldom go out because I really would like to spend time at home and also because of the fuel price.
My youngest child was so happy to be spending the day with me in the grocery store. We arrived there at 11 in the morning. Although she ate heavy breakfast, when she saw the pizza, she told me to eat first before we buy the groceries.
She ate 1 big slice of cheese pizza and fries. It was her first time to dip the fries unto mayonnaise with catsup. She finished eating after an hour.. Haha.. Then we started to buy groceries.
I felt so blessed to be able to buy my children’s needs and wants. If not with my husband’s job and hard work, we will not be able to afford what we are having now. I might be working again and let my children be taken cared of by nannies.
We have just started to buy groceries in the picture. One thing about my daughters, they are not asking for many things inside the grocery stores. They are very particular on what they are going to buy. I am not telling them to be mindful of the price but they are really concern if the item is expensive.
I don’t know what will happen in the future here in the Philippines. I pray and hope that everything will be well. People will be able to start again after this pandemic. Our next president will lead us to a better future.
Moving On..
I am writing this as a way of telling myself to move on after this election. I was never this moved on my entire life by Philippine politics. The one that I voted did not win. I was rooting for her.
I guess, in the Philippines, a candidate wins not because of his track record, his intelligence (on how he presents his platforms) or his sincerity, but because of the surname, popularity and correct strategies during the campaign.
I prayed to God that His will be done. I suppose it is what it is.
Time to move on..
Life is not stopping. Clock is still ticking. Stomach still needs foods.
What else can we do but to move on.
Philippines National Election 2022
I cannot recall when was the last time I voted for the president or vice president of our country. During elections I was always outside the Philippines and really did not have a chance to exercise my right to vote.
Since I am already here in the Philippines and I could sense the need of voting for the betterment of our country, I really worked on the registration. Few months after we moved here in our new home, I went to our local government office to register.
Election here in the Philippines is always interesting. This year became more engaging because of the candidates. I would not discuss further whom I voted but I voted for the people who have good track records and had proven actions towards the people of the Philippines.
I never thought that voting would be very smooth.. The queue was expected to be long but systematically, it was okay.
The Commission on Election had this precinct finder where we could locate the exact place where we would vote. I checked all the precinct locations of my parents and siblings and sent the snapshot to them.
I came alone in the voting area.. there are many people there. The queue was quite long. People were very excited to vote. No one talks about their candidates. Maybe to avoid any arguments or fights. That was good, at least it was peaceful.
I was standing next to a lady whom I presumed was on her early 30’s. She looked so uneasy when we were on the queue. I thought on some point that she was pregnant. Her husband told her, that she should just tell the person-on-duty that she is pregnant. I asked her, and she said she is not.
The queue is long and we were there for an hour or so. All of a sudden the lady told me that she is scared to vote because she hasn’t voted for the longest time. And that answered the question in my mind, why she looked uneasy. I told her, we were the same. I said, we just need to shade whom we will vote for. I even wrote the names of the senators in case I will forget.
When it was her time to vote, she said goodbye to me. I saw that she was relieved.
I was wondering if she was also feeling anxious like me about the result of the election. I really prayed hard last night that whoever wins, it will be the one that God permitted to lead.
This is the mark that we already voted here in the Philippines, this indelible ink. This is very significant. I never felt this concern about our country. Maybe because I already have children..
Whatever the outcome is, I hope it would be for the good of many.
Maybahay ng OFW 