Adjusting to the new work place is not as smooth as I hoped it would be but I’m getting there. The students here remind me a lot of the students I used to have back in the Philippines. The office, however, is a far cry from before. Although the space is also air-conditioned, it is significantly smaller than  the previous one I went to. But the staples office furniture, the decors, and the bulletin boards are surprisingly familiar. Maybe because the two campuses get their supplies from the same place. I’m not entirely sure.

Anyway, everything seems okay and everything seems to be going pretty smoothly except for the paperwork. Since I’m basically left to fend for myself, I had to start from scratch and work from the bottom up. Hopefully, in a few more weeks, I’ll be able to catch up. I’m not losing hope! hehe!

During a casual conversation with friends, the topic of having more babies was brought up. I brushed the idea aside jokingly by saying, I think two is enough for us. So we all laughed.

Some were of the same opinion. Others weren’t. Those who weren’t said more was always better, more cheerful, more fun. I understand their point. However, economy nowadays demand more, so much more, from way before.

Aside from the fact that job requirements are getting steeper and steeper, usual daily needs are also becoming more and more expensive. Plus, there’s the tuition, the school supplies and materials, and even their toys.

In fact, during our time, we make most of the toys we play. We construct them from materials we find in our backyard or in any place with lots of scraps. Now, most toys are bought, made to pass safety ratings, and overpriced.

We didn’t have NBA Live. We played tag or basketball. We didn’t have duncan yoyos. We made our own wooden yoyos. We didn’t have internet gaming. We baseball or soccer. Yes, we got scrapes, bruises, and sometimes even the occasional infections. But we survived.

Unfortunately, the same cannot be said about the environment now. Infections and scarier and deadlier. Materials are carcinogenic. And everything is way more expensive.

So, I’ll stick to our choice. 2 is enough for us.

January 2012 has almost to drawn to a close. With 3 weeks of taste of the secondary life, I have learned quite a lot of things from my students here in my new school.

1. Students here in Brunei, despite being composed of a great mix of races – Malaysians, Bruneians, Indians, Koreans, Thais, Sri Lankans, Arabians, and Egyptians – are not so different from the students I had back home. They are as rowdy, as hormone-driven, and as witty as the batches of high school students I have handled in the Philippines.
2. Religion may play a big influence on their lives, yes, but it is not enough to significantly make a difference in the dynamics of a high school class.
3. They get more stubborn with age. Well, I think this one is pretty universal anyway, and goes way past high school age too.

So far so good. Here’s too adjusting a bit to the not so new things! Acid cigars anyone?

Christmas here in Brunei is very much different from the one in the Philippines.

First, since this is a predominantly Muslim country, Christmas is not really celebrated here. What little air of Christmas merriment we get, we get from non-Muslims like most of the Chinese, some Indians, and of course fellow Filipinos.

Second, despite Brunei’s country wide sale-lebration, malls here don’t get flooded with shoppers. It’s true that there are more kids around, but that’s mostly because it’s their vacation and not because they’re looking for gifts to give their friends or items to show their parents.

Because of the sale-lebration, a lot of nice things are on sale – from toys, to furniture, to fancy electronic gadgets, to ornate handicrafts. In fact, I’ve found some nice gift baskets mom will love and even sports caps I’m sure dad would like. Unfortunately, the delayed release of the salary has put us in a precarious position at the moment so we opted to postpone the gift-buying to a later time. (How late though, I’m not exactly sure. hehehe)

Lastly, the absence of Christmas traffic. I remember dreading driving in the Philippines during these times. The usual hour-long commute or drive turns into three hours during the Christmas season in Pinas. You’ll see none of that here in Brunei. Roads here remain light and free.

Now that I have a lot of time on my hands for housework and tinkering, I can’t help but think about all the tools that I’ve left at home. I’ve accumulated quite a lot already and I meticulously packed most of them away in my trusty toolbox in the Philippines. Now, I wish I brought them here with me. Unfortunately, that would be too heavy and impractical for an airplane ride.

So I told andrea I’ll start accumulating some tools again when I have a few extra in the budget. Some abrasives, nails, screws, screwdrivers, and probably a hammer will be on the top of my list. The question is where will I put all of them. At the moment I don’t have a big enough space to place my things so I better find one before the budget comes.

Trash management is a problem regardless of where you are. And since I’m a teacher and I do teach a few things about conservation, I thought about including composting and trash management as an enrichment topic in class. However, my experience in composting is quite limited.

To address the issue, I told andrea that we should consider composting and teaching the kids how to. We both agreed that it’s the right thing to do. (Not the most convenient, I admit, but the proper thing nonetheless.) I personally take out the trash every morning so I know how much garbage we generate, and it’s not very nice.

The problem is, starting composts involves several steps. First, we have to get a composter (a compost bin). Since I don’t think there’s any available here in Brunei, I guess we’ll have to buy a composter online. Second, we have to reserve a place to put the compost and there’s not much here that are inaccessible by the neighbor’s cats. Third, we have to learn how to and make a habit of it. This I know is going to be tough.

So we’ll see. Have to sort the details first before executing the plan.

What would you like to be when you grow up?

Sometimes I consider asking my little boy the question just to glimpse a view of what he would be 20 years from now. But then again, what can we expect from a 4-year-old? Heck, I know some people in their late twenties who still can not give a serious definitive answer to the same question.

But I still tried, because I want to see what his inclinations are. Yesterday, I asked him, what do you want to be when you grow up?

Without influence or taint from other people, kids are known give the most honest, sincerest answers, so his response would be a good marker (or at least I hope so).

When I saw him pause and think, my mind started racing with the possibilities – will he be considering Computer Programmer Jobs, or will he be taking up residency as  a doctor, or perhaps he’ll go through a teaching practicum.

His quick and unmistakable reply was: Rrrrrrrrggggghhhhhrrr! A dinosaur, dada!

I know the possibilities are endless, but I’m not entirely sure that his answer was even possible. huhuhu!

It’s the end of the school year here and the start of Christmas season in most of the world. Kinda makes me feel sad knowing that andrea and the kids won’t be celebrating the holidays the way we used to in the Philippines. Although there are still some things that I won’t exactly be missing (like the holiday traffic jams, the endless rush, and the jam-packed malls), we still won’t be with the grannies and close friends come Christmas. No brightly lighted streets. No twinkling trees and blinking lanterns to remind you of the festive season. The few Christians here who do celebrate Christmas celebrate modestly and in a more hushed nature.

Also, shopping malls here, although somewhat decorated with Christmas ornaments, pale in comparison to the ones we have back home. In fact, I’m willing to bet each barcode scanner here is also less overworked than those at home since we don’t see any Christmas rushers anymore. Mall hours are still regular and the volume of shoppers remains the same. It’s a bit of a relief thinking about Christmas shopping in a few weeks, but it’s also somewhat sad knowing that only a few of few share the holiday spirits.

Bottom line, I miss Christmas at home. I’m sure andrea and the kids feel the same way too. I hope we get to celebrate Christmas at home next year.

Instead of spending time researching about weight loss pills that work, andrea has committed to taking zumba lessons. Together with arlene, they go zumba-dancing on Tuesdays and Friday afternoons, usually leaving before 6 and then returning a few minutes before 8. I, on the other hand, become in charge of the kids and the house while they work out.

So far, it has been great. I get to spend some alone time with anika and mateo, while andrea and arlene get to spend some sisterly time together. There were a few challenging moments, yes, especially when anika would demand getting lulled to sleep for almost the whole 2 hours, but otherwise, it has been awesome. The girls seemed to be enjoying the workout (so much so that andrea has been persuading me to go with her lately) while the kids and I do a lot of catching up/bonding (during playtime).

Perhaps, when mateo and anika are old enough, we can all try zumba together. But until then, I’m okay with staying home. hehehe!

To get to  our place, you have to pass through 2 forks, an intersection, a blind curve, and a steep bending incline (and that’s just from the main road). As if these are not daunting enough, the road too is a bit narrow that at certain points, only a single car can pass at a time. No wonder a lot of people get lost trying to find our place. But what can we do?

At the moment, our location is very convenient. We’re just 15 minutes away from our place of work, a local store, 10-minute-ride away from the closest mall, and just a few houses away from the nearest Filipino community. I told andrea it might help a little to put some address plaques at the main road but she told me that people here are used to such setups. Even our service driver is content with getting just the road numbers when trying to find a place. He said that’s really all you need to find any location here in Brunei. No fuss, no hard-to-pronounce or remember names, no confusions. What else can I say to that?