Moving to another work always means getting to meet a lot of new people. Since the work will be in another country, I thought that there would be a lot more new people to meet. Many of my new friends and acquaintances are Filipinos but a lot are also of different nationalities – Bruneian, Chinese, Thai, Indian, Malaysian, among others. Some have kids, some do not. Some are old, some are young. Some have very interesting backgrounds, some have smoketip accessories to share. This year is definitely turning out to be an adventure for me and my family.

I have been back to teaching for almost two months now and although there are a few difference from teaching in the Philippines, it is still pretty much the same. Work has been relatively easy compared to what I was used to. I have been doing less paperwork and my laptop has not been working overtime so I think I can postpone getting cheap laptop batteries.

Andrea and the kids have been here since the 8th and will be on  a return flight to the Philippines on the 20th. They will be back again on the 5th of March so I will be on my own again for two weeks. After that, it will be several months before we all set foot on Philippine soil once again.

This is a letter to my wife.

On your special day, no one else is more thankful to God than I am. Every year on your birthday I wake up thanking Him for bringing you into my life. Every year I thank Him for giving us a chance to share this world with you, because life is so much more beautiful and meaningful with you. Now, I thank Him because you make not just my life, but mateo’s and anika’s too complete.

I know last year was probably one of the saddest birthdays you’ve ever had, the unexpected meeting with our unborn child. But, despite all of that, God has been so kind to give us. This year, He’s given you anika to hold and kiss on your special day, our little girl who’s sparkle and smile reminds me so much of you.

I also know that life has been a bit difficult for the past few months. You have been bearing the brunt of everything, what with the delivery and all… and now with taking care of anika mostly on your own. Despite my efforts to support you and share in taking care of the kids, I still lack the finesse and the patience that you so generously show. I couldn’t even make things a little easier financially. I am very sorry for all of these shortcomings.

And yet every time I see you, you still continue to give me your sweetest and most refreshing smiles, no matter how silly they may seem to be sometimes. Despite all the difficulties, you never stop providing warmth and light to our family. Your laugh assures me that everything will be alright. Your hugs and kisses keep me, mateo and anika peacefully asleep every night.

Everything about you makes me want to become a better man. For that I thank you. I am still the luckiest man to have you as my best friend, my confidante, my wife. For the love you gave me, I give you my life.

Happy birthday Honey. May this special day be full of blessings, happiness and love for you! You deserve everything! I love you.

Your very grateful husband,

Ramil

Aside from what is written in online references and the famous What to expect when you’re expecting, I know very little about postpartum depression. Perhaps it is also because andrea didn’t really experience it with mateo, or at least not to such extent that I’d catch her crying in one corner of the room or something.

Now, however, I’m slowly getting an idea. I don’t know exactly which is the main culprit, if it’s the operation, or the hormones, or the drugs, or the post-op pains, or the fact that we didn’t have it our way, I’m not quite sure, but andrea has been feeling down a lot lately. And it’s not so difficult to understand why.

I’m doing my best to cheer her up, and take loads of chores (household and baby chores) off her hands. But, unfortunately, nothing seems to be working. Her frustrations with painful breastfeeding, the operation, and everything else is playing tug-of-war with her affections for the baby. I can see it in her eyes every time anika would refuse to sleep after having suckled for more than an hour. She feels so much pain and yet she refuses to let anika drink from the bottle. It’s a constant struggle and I can’t help but feel depressed too seeing her the way she is when she’s struggling.

Hang in there, ny! I’ll always be here for you and mateo and anika.

Lately, aside from being deep in thought about what our future holds for us, I have been thinking about investments. There was a time when I would have made investments if I had the resources and I can’t help but think that it was a good thing that I didn’t especially with the current economic crisis.

Recently, I came across someone who has been investing in gold. He started his investment when he decided to buy gold coins. It seems that among the numerous investment products in the market, gold is one of the most important and solid choice. According to him, gold is a pretty safe investment even during economic crises like what is currently being experienced almost everywhere. Aside from having high returns, it’s value is not likely to decrease with time. I can’t help but think that buying gold jewelry for my wife might be a good investment after all.

The economy all over the world can be very volatile nowadays. The recent economic crisis has made many investor wary of making additional investments. One of the more solid investments one can make during this difficult economic time is to invest in gold.

Many people choose to buy gold coins because unlike other investment products, the price of gold is relatively unaffected by the economic crisis. Even a quick look at the history of gold investments will show that gold preserves its value over time. When you invest in gold, you don’t get a paper saying that it has this much value. What you get is your actual investment. Also gold is recognized to be valuable regardless of which country you are in. So lately whenever I think about investing I might just buy gold instead.

Last Thursday night, andrea’s mom (or mamu as mateo calls her), called to ask us to come with them on a vacation the following day. Of course it was all so sudden but then again it’s not an unwelcome idea.

So the following morning, we left the house at 4 in the morning and traveled to Katipunan where they agreed to pick us up. Afterwards, the rest of the trip seemed like photographs and bits and pieces of broken conversations because I fell in and out of sleep during the ride to Batangas.

It was around 10 in the morning when we got to the beach (which was surprisingly unoccupied by lots of people). We had an early lunch before spending the rest of the afternoon inside the room asleep. When we got around it was already 4 or 5. Everybody went swimming including the little kuya. Everybody took turns accompanying mateo and making sure he doesn’t get knocked down by the waves while wading in the water. It was relatively fun and the little boy was surprisingly enjoying himself.

After dinner, andrea and I tucked mateo into bed. When everybody else was asleep, we watched around 3-4 episodes of LOST till midnight. And that concluded our first day.

We didn’t plan to swim the next day, so mateo had to be accompanied by the others. I thought our last day would be a little boring since we had nothing else to do but sleep and then pack our things for the ride. However, at around 10 in the morning, dolphins appeared near the coast and started playing around the area where we were sitting. Andrea, mateo and I were so ecstatic to see the wild creatures out there that we couldn’t stop looking. It was an unexpected treat indeed because it was the first time for me to see dolphins in the wild.

Without meaning to, this whole unexpected vacation turned out to be a memorable experience. I sure hope we’d have many more like it.

Last year I took up nine education units to comply with my job requirements. Back then, the minimum requirement was just 18 units but now it has been increased to 30 units. So I now find myself having to take up more which has prompted me get started on it.

The first nine units I took were with an online university like Western Governors University. I realized that it was very convenient to take up an online degree with these online universities. WGU is particularly promising as an online university because their program is competency-based which I think is a must for an online university. Unlike other online universities where a student’s passing grade is dependent on the number of hours spent online, WGU uses the passing or successfully completing of assessments of various kinds to determine the student’s progress. With a university like this, I might even consider taking an additional online degree altogether.

The holidays are fast approaching and as always, most people’s houses will be teeming with holiday feasts. Naturally, there will be a lot of eating as well. Combine these with the numerous events like weddings, birthdays, and baptismals we have to attend this coming December and Andrea might start reading some adipex reviews soon. As for me, I look forward to enjoying ourselves this holiday season. Hopefully, we’ll also have enough to make our own small family feast.

Andrea has been bugging me to go running with her. She has been running/jogging before she got pregnant and after the miscarriage, she’s determined to get back to it. According to her, she has no immediate plans of looking for the best fat burner pills so we might as well exercise to burn the fat. Well, I’ve agreed to go along with her plan especially since I also feel the need now to be fit and healthy. So in a few weeks’, once we get clearance from her doctor, we plan to run thrice a week and hopefully, we become fit again soon to join runs and marathons.