February 5, 2012
Welcome Guest       Already a member? Please Login Here       Don't have an Account yet? Register now! It's Free!
World-Class Filipino  |   WEB  
 

"THE CALL"

By Reggie Rafal

 

"Hi! Good morning this is Lheng of SGS Human Resources. We saw your application on the internet and i just want to know if you are interested working in Singapore. We invite you to attend an orientation to be followed by an interview on November 4, 2006, Saturday, 9am."

December 11, 2006 - After series of interviews, another phone call was received.....

"Hi Ms. Salve, this is Lheng from SGS. We are glad to inform you that your S-PASS application has been approved. We again invite you for the job orientation and for the details on completing your requirements"

 

After receiving this call, I was shocked and felt cold and never thought that in few more days I'm going to make a very important decision that might make or break me. I am still with Jollibee when all these things happened. Although I was ready to leave the company that I loved and embraced like my own business any moment, I still can't believe that it will be that soon. I don't know how am I going to react, is this good or bad news for me? Maybe because I am not that serious when I applied for this and just anyhow posted my resume not thinking that it will be selected.

I don't even know how am I going to tell Joey then though I believe if I let him know about it he will surely support me all the way. My husband has always been supportive with me and never decides for me. He would always say "It's up to you babes! I will just be here to support you in whatever decisions you will make." 

After having so many conversations with my mom, my dad, Joey, I need to make a decision. My time is running out.

February 9, 2007 - Philippine Airlines Flight PR501 2:55pm, Manila to Singapore

This was the day that I felt like I'm half dead. I cannot put into words how I am feeling. I was so quiet heading our way to the airport. I am just holding the hands of Joey without any words to utter, on my lap was my 10 month old Jamil, on my right my beautiful daughter Andrea. On the front seat was my mom, who was so quiet as well, worried about her eldest daughter who in few hours time will start a new life in Singapore. The daughter that she would get to see everyday for 30 years of her life, is now leaving.

What might happen to me in my new endeavor then, only God knows and this is when my journey began....

I was born on a cool, rainy Saturday on June 11 1977 in Manila.  I am the eldest daughter of my parents Ed & Rory Domingo. I have one sister, Carla Bianca.  I am now happily married to my husband Joey Jasper.  We've been together as a couple for 6 years now  and was blessed with two wonderful kids, Julianne Andrea ( aka RAIN ) 5 and now on her first grade,  and Jamil Reginald ( aka SHINE ),2.  

 

I started school when I was four.  I went to kindergarten through secondary one at St. James College of Quezon City. I was able to finish the last three years of my secondary school at St. Patrick School with flying colors!  This is also where I was able to learn how to get out of my shell completely and bloomed!  I became very confident and I was given the chance to shine in this school.  I involved myself in almost all the activities and never wasted time.  I worked hard and prove everyone that I can excel and God rewarded all my hard works. I graduated Valedictorian that paved way to better opportunities in College.

 

I took up Bachelor of Science in Accountancy in

Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila.

Taking up that course was really not in my heart back then but due to the love that I have for my parents especially my dad, I followed his advises and enrolled myself.  It was really a pain in my heart then but what can I do? As they always say, “Parents' knows best!”  I wanted to take up Communication Arts as I really wanted to be working in public, talk and share all the things that I know not to mention that I also look forward of knowing more things about life.  Though I studied Accountancy, it never stopped me to dream and continue to do what I really want in life.  I started to look for ways how I can be with people, and not just to spend the rest of the day computing for net income, net loss and balancing the trial balance which my course requires me to do.  At 17, I worked in a quick service restaurant, Jollibee and Mc Donalds' as a service staff.  Working there allowed me to meet new people whom later became my friends, customers whom I can get to ask how their day was, and made them smile through my service.  

 

From then on I told myself, “This is what I really want to do and soon I will make it big!”

 

  After college, I joined the first company who believed in me, Jollibee.  I worked as an Administrative Assistant for a very short time and later became a manager.  Having held this position, I get continue the things that I always love doing.  And with my 8 years of stay in the company I met a lot of friends whom up to now I still communicate with, learned a lot of humbling experiences and touched hundreds of lives through my words and actions which I only found out when I was about to leave my second home.  When the people that I get to work with started saying, “Thank you for all the things that you have told me!”  “I learned a lot from you! “           “Thanks for inspiring me to be a better person.”   

                                               It was only then that I realized

“Hey! Am I really that sensible? Am I really making miracles in their lives?”  

 

I continued to search for the meaning of life when after I left Jollibee in 2007, I joined Pizza Hut Singapore in the same year.  Leaving my family was really a hard decision for me but I told myself that I am doing this not for any simple reason but for them and to rediscover myself.  It was very difficult to live alone and my experiences in Singapore thought me a lot of things.

 

I thought I was doing well already in any aspects of my life but when I started to make my first step I learned that what I think I knew is not even half of my full potential. I am drowned in loneliness when I came to this country but still I never let this emotional crisis bring me down.  I spent the idle hours of my day writing.  I started to write how I feel and shared everyone my life experiences through writing blogs.   I am not sure how many readers get to open my blog spot but I did it to get out from the  hot water that is drowning me.  

 

In Singapore, I met a lot of new people, different races, different folks, different strokes!  But God was so good to me and He never left me in my new endeavor.  He blessed me with new good friends, supportive boss and loving staffs!  Unconsciously, I never expected that I am starting to touch peoples' lives again and inspire them to be on their best everyday.  I never did it in purpose but their overflowing love for me measured how much I became part of their lives.

 

And now that I am back with my family, I wanted to continue the journey that I started and I want you to be part of it.  I am working in an international language school now as a teacher and is starting to learn something new again. It may be a new career for me, another humble beginning to start, but I am happy and excited because I am with new people, new experiences, new learnings!  I just love LEARNING! This will mean new things for me to share to all of you.  May you be inspired with all the life experiences stories that I will be writing in the future.  

May it touch your lives in one way or another and learn from it.  

 

Read and be part!

 

 

 

USER COMMENTS


 

Recent
World-Class Article
My Favorite (Skin&Hair) Ingredients
By Carmel Tordesillas
Jul 20, 2011

Going Green
By Carmel Tordesillas
Jul 20, 2011

Representing Filipinos Abroad
By Carmel Castillo-Tordesillas
Aug 26, 2010

Starter Wife Away From Home
By Carmel Castillo-Tordesillas
Aug 05, 2010

Tips for Travelers
By Carmel Castillo-Tordesillas
Aug 04, 2010

Featured Affiliates