i was having a haircut earlier when my mobile phone rang, i checked who was calling and it was a number not in my list of contacts. i usually would not answer calls like that but i was thinking it could be one of my co-worker who was also on days off and whom i was about to meet up before dinner. so i answered the call, it was a woman with a good tone of voice, though she was talking fast, i did understood her. she tells me then that my mobile number was chosen as the winner of a sim card of another local network provider, added that it will be sent through courier and i need to dictate to her my full name and home address. huh? wtf is she thinking? i turned off my phone before she can say another word. i think this is a scam.
glad to be home
my flight back home was scheduled on the first day of ramadan. in wikipedia, i read a good definition of the word ramadan as the name of the ninth month; the word itself is derived from an arabic word for intense heat, scorched ground, and shortness of rations.
the first day of september was humid and when i was on my way to our base camp in khobar, the air conditioner of the land cruiser that i was riding with just suddenly did not work. so, for the last seven hours of travel i was literally sweating like a pig. i did opened the window, but the atmosphere itself was comparable as if you’re inside a turkish steam bath.
we made it at daylight in our base camp, by midday the personnel department informed us that we will not be able to make it for the flight for that day for there were problems with our exit visas. which meant i lost a day in my short vacation, so i just went with other filipinos to khobar town and did some shopping rather than to fret about it.
we went to a place in khobar they call as the ‘filipino mall’. they called it that way for 75% of the people visiting that mall were filipinos, funny thing is even the saudi’s and indians who sell their stuff knows how to speak filipino. i was able to buy myself some cheap good quality running shoes and presents for my siblings and my friends.
the next day, i got my passport with exit visa and my flight ticket. it took us about an hour and a half to reach bahrain airport and about nine hours by plane to manila.
as of now while typing this post, i am in my old small room i share with my youngest brother. it’s very different here, i’m just so glad to be home.
ta’ir
lately, i have been seeing a number of different species of birds in here. i think the arab desert is not really a friendly place for them. i remembered last year, the birds just started dying – we found out that they were drinking from the chemical waste water behind the rig and getting poisoned. well, it was a sad sight. ta’ir is arab for bird.
pictures were taken using a sony cyber-shot dsc-h1, 5.1 mp camera.
sensory replays 