Although I’m not a snake enthusiast, I’ve always appreciated snakes. No, I don’t feel drawn to them. I just simply admire the patterns and the behavior that they exhibit. So, imagine my surprise when a commotion at the rear side entrance of the school gave me a close encounter with a real wild specimen.

It happened about two days ago. My supposedly quiet (boring) but rainy afternoon was interrupted by one of the cleaners barging into the kitchen. Christopher, the said cleaner, was asking for help on how to deal with snakes. I asked why. He said he needed to take care of one ASAP. So I reluctantly went with him to the rear area of the school. Then there it was, a green, scaly viper, complete with the characteristic spear shaped head and a tongue flicking in and out of its closed mouth. It was on on the concrete floor just a few feet away from the grassy flanks of the walkway. It wasn’t scurrying away from us despite the 4 people around it. Instead it was almost motionless (well except for the forked tongue), but poised and ready for an attack (the neck was coiled in a striking pose).

I told Christopher not to do anything because I’m almost a hundred percent sure that it was poisonous. It had a slender body decorated with a captivating light green stripes alternating with thin white or yellow bands. Since I know that slender bodies are usually for snakes built for speed (and not for constriction), I was very hesitant about moving closer than 4 to 5 feet from the reptile. But my fascination kept me from running away from it too. I kept on thinking of a way to capture the marvelous serpent.

Christopher distracted me with a question. Will it die from getting smashed, he said. I answered him with a yes, but depending on what you hit it with. Before I knew he took a long pole from one of the rooms and then whipped the pole straight into the unsuspecting snake. And with a single hit, it was dead.

I made my disappointment known after I saw the creature wriggle and slowed down to a permanent halt. I told the cleaner how very uncommon it was to see a wild snake, especially something so magnificently decorated, this close and not in captivity. However, their concerns seem to be more practical in nature than mine. The snake was dangerous, it was blocking the walkway, and the kids might get bitten by it, so the quickest and most effective way to dispose of the problem was to eliminate the snake there and then. How could I argue with that? I didn’t exactly have an alternative to present.

So, my brief encounter ended sadly. It was quite memorable and exhilarating but it was also tragic. My only consolation was that the snake I saw was not of an endangered species, and they are pretty common in the jungles of Borneo. You don’t have to own a gps handheld garmin to tread the green backyards of the school in order to see another one. I was told that a lot of teachers have seen similar snakes so maybe I might just get another glimpse. Who knows.

Aside from the huge fact that Christmas isn’t popularly celebrated here, another thing reason why we really want to visit the Philippines this December is because andrea wants to personally help her sister in the wedding preparations that she plans to undertake during the holidays.

She still has a ton of things to book and reserve – reception venue, catering services, honeymoon stay, and so many more. Add to these all the dresses, the invitations, the giveaways, videos, and all the other details. I understand how frantic she must be feeling sometimes because until now, Andrea and I still remember how it was when it was our turn to get married – all the details, the last-minute changes, and the killer anticipation.

Although i haven’t seen invitationbox.com bachelorette party invitations from her friends yet,  I’m sure all of her friends back at home are more than willing to pitch in if given the chance to do so. So I’m quite confident that even if andrea and I can’t help her this December, she’ll manage to do well herself.

Around a decade ago, my phone was nothing more than a means to talk or text andrea; and my computer solely a workstation. Then, I got hooked to the internet and they were never the same.

First, there was blogging. Then, there was blog reading. Afterwards, I’ve subscribed to plenty of RSS feeds that I’m getting my daily news from the computer already instead of the TV or the newspaper. Even my phone which used to be solely for talking and texting became my daily entertainment console, especially after I took on twitter as well.

However, things were only as fast and as fun as communication technology allows  them to be. Since there were several companies competing for internet and communication services in the Philippines, technology was always up to date and blazing fast. That was until I moved to Brunei.

Since internet and communication services are monopolized by only two companies, competition is not so evident. And the race to improve services is quite slow. That’s why I haven’t been able to surf and twit as much as had before. Hopefully though, things change for the better soon. I’m really missing fast com speeds.

There was a point in time when I strongly considered  finding a different field of work. It’s not just because teaching is a thankless job, but mainly because it doesn’t pay as much as teachers would want to. Aside from the fact that parents often use teachers as escape goats for several things, teachers would often carry the brunt of excuses and blames for all shortcomings and mistakes that students do. We carry the work way past school hours, sacrifice most of our sleep time and even family time, and exhaust so much emotional energy on optimistic ideas that often get us burned in the end. Yet, we don’t get paid as much as those working in the corporate world – those with IT related jobs, Application Development Jobs, even call center agents.

But how can we change what we are? I can imagine doing other kinds of work but I cannot imagine myself not teaching. For seven years I’ve lived and breathed children and teaching. I’m a teacher and that’s something I cannot just simply change.

Ever since I moved out of my own home, when andrea and I got married, we’ve never really owned a permanent place to call home. We’ve rented 2  houses back then, each of which became witness to the birth of each of our kids. The first house we rented was mateo’s first home. The second one, anika’s. Afterwards, we all moved back in to andrea’s old place before I left for Brunei. And now that we’re all here in Brunei, we’re still renting yet another place. But which one should we call home?

When I look back, I can’t help but feel a longing for the places we’ve been to. Does this mean that Brunei still isn’t home for us? Well technically it can’t be. We’ll never get any resident status here because none of us were born here. Heck, we can’t even talk in Malay yet. Do I regard our places in the Philippines more suitable to be called homes? I still don’t think so because we cannot call any of them our own. So the question remains – where is home really?

The truth is I still don’t know exactly since the full meaning of the word escapes me. However, when I think about where I feel most comfortable and relieved, I can’t think of any other place but with my family. So I guess wherever they are, that’s where home really is. Never mind if there is no titled land that goes with it, or if we have to pay for living there. I don’t care if it is littered with lexus custom floor mats, or contains no floor mats at all. For as long as it’s where my family stays, I’ll call it home. Wherever it may be.

What do you do to get rid of stress? In my case, I read some books if I can get my hands on some, or I play some games if I feel like it, or in some rare instances, I just simply sleep it off.

I don’t drink (usually) because I’m not so fond of going to the toilet or the feeling of wanting to go frequently. I don’t smoke as well because I never liked the taste nor did I ever see the point. Heck, I didn’t even try any e cigarette.

Lately however, the thought of drinking has been popping in and out of my head. Perhaps it’s because reading or sleeping are not as effective as they once used to be; or maybe it’s because I’m just missing the company of drinking buddies. I’m not sure. In any case, I’m not in a place where drinking is such a welcome activity so maybe I’ll wait and see when we get back to the Philippines.

There’s always a point in time when things get so rough that it makes you wonder how much crap you can take… or perhaps make you look back at the reasons why you promised yourself to stand all the crap that life throws at you.

In my case, that point is now (once again). Apparently, work and and life in another country is not that easy to adjust to.  The people, the site, the system, you all have to re-learn from scratch. And the fact that I’ve spent the last two years in the Philippines training other teachers to adjust to a system I’ve grown quite accustomed to is not helping at all.

Now, during this break, I’m harnessing all the positive energy I can to improve and make the adjustments a little easier and faster. Tomorrow, my family and I will be going off to KK for some visa requirements and hopefully for some shopping experience as well. We’ll be confining the budget to some small items of course because I have yet to save enough money for some big ticket items like electronic gadgets. The closest I can probably get to an electronic buy at the moment would be an ipod charger. hehehe!

Still, we’re hoping to have a great time there.

The dependent visas of Andrea, Mateo, and Anika are finally approved! It was a huge relief when we got the approval even though it means shelling out a huge amount too as security deposit. However, aside from the required security deposit, the three of them were initially told to go back to the Philippines to get the visas stamped on their passports in the Brunei Embassy there. Since it would be such a hassle (and more expensive!) to go home to the Philippines in the next few weeks, we requested if we could get their passports stamped in the Brunei Consulate in Kota Kinabalu instead.

The request was granted and we’ll be going to Kota Kinabalu some time next week. There is a quick 50-minute flight through Royal Brunei Airlines but ticket costs almost 200BND each so we have decided to just take the ferry to Labuan then another ferry to KK. Simply put, it will be an adventurous trip for us since it will be the first ferry trip for both Mateo and Anika.

It doesn’t help that the ferry schedules will force us to go around Labuan for around 3-4 hours. With the intense tropical heat, we will have to find ways to cool down the kids. Anika is ready with her hat and Kuya even has his sunglasses. Andrea jokingly said that it would be great if she also has a pair of Carrera Sunglasses to help her eyes with the bright sunlight we’re sure to encounter. So despite the very tight budget that we have for the short 3-day trip, we hope to enjoy it as much as we can. It is another country to visit and we are eager to experience Malaysia!

Andrea’s sister has finally arrived two weeks ago. She is one of the reasons why I initially preferred a two-bedroom house when I was searching for a place for us to rent. However, during the months that she was  not yet here, Mateo took over the second bedroom, along with his toys and stuff.

So now they share a bedroom and we realize that we might need to start looking for a three-bedroom house soon. It is a good thing that with the large number of expats here, there is no shortage of houses for rent. Some of the locals even buy manufactured homes for sale specifically for renting out to expat families like ours.

For the mean time, this house is enough for us. Maybe in a year or two, when Mateo is bigger already we can start our house search once again.

Since we brought nothing but our clothes here, we needed to buy everything that we need for the house. Right now, the house still lacks a lot of things; one of which is a TV. Although not having a TV was perfectly okay with us, we have started missing it after half a year of not having one. Still, we consider it a luxury for now since we still have a lot of things that we need for the house. Aside from this, we will have to look at tv mounts as well if we do decide to buy a TV. Not to mention that we need cable subscription (which will be another cost!) if we want to watch channels that we can understand. But we are hoping to get one next year even without cable. We can always play DVDs or download movies and TV shows that we can watch.