Inspirations

I googled "sotto nurse hiring cebu" and clicked on one of istorya.net's threads. After several readings here and there, most entries full of sad and hopeless posts, a ray of light came from this post of a registered nurse apparently now working and based abroad. His experiences speaks so much to me that I think God is telling me something in this. And being the forgetful person that I am, I think it very essential to post this here for further inspirational reference and confirmation in my walk. I quote "The Good$!!!'s link.":

"Kanang nia sa hospital karon utong sa mo ky gamit kaayo ang experience... Take mo ug IELTS unya pasara... Mao na pinaka importante nga exam para sa akoa... If nia ka IELTS unya nia ka experience good to go na... Pakiluoy lang sa imo ginikanan nga mu invest cla nimo mka larga ka ky once nia nka sa gawas dako kaayo ug burak ang nurse... Kanang half a million gasto ma bayaran rna mga 5-6 months if dli ka gastador... If lisod gani try sa Saudi... Ayaw kahadlok anang Saudi basta nia lang ka sa big cities wala na kuyaw... Wala pa tax didto contractual pa diretso ka trabaho... Wala pa tax mka uli pka every year... 

If wala pka hospital experience try lang jud mka ilog ka ug slot bisan volunteer ky sa akong ka batch dri 1 year plus cya volunteer g honor man... 

Last nko post ani nga thread is I think early this year... Pag May 18 nka larga ko dri sa NZ... From May 23 - July 1 g Competency Assessment Program ko... My whole month of June is hell... Halos mka boang ang kamingaw unya ako ra nahabilin sa town ky sa hopital ICU ko gpa clinical placement ky ang 4 ka kuyog nko larga sa NZ tua cla sa resthome in a neighboring town... Tga buntag pirteng tugnawa lakaw ko 25 mins padung sa hospital unya autumn nato... 7am na ngingit pa dri and I have to be in the hospital around 6:45am pra mka apil ko sa hand-over (endorsement). I have to do that 5 days a week for a whole damn month ky puro ko AM shift... Wala ko ka talk ky wala ko roomate... Ang kuyog sa accomodation puro Bombay ug 3 ka Ilonggo... Grabe ang psychological ug emotional strain samot na hapit na winter mka depressed ang mood... After sa ako CAP pag July 1 almost 1 month ko tambay dri but cge jud ko pangapply... Daghan ko g reject but pursige gihapon... Pag mid July g tawgan ko for 1st interview. I have to travel 1 hour and 30 mins to a place I have never been in a hospital that is one of the biggest hospitals in the Southern Hemisphere for an interview. By July 29 g tawgan ko that I got the job. 

Pag August 12 pa nko nadawat ako certificate as a Registered Nurse here in NZ... August 29 supposedly ko magstart but wala pa akong practising certificate... Pag September 5 na jud ko nka sugod as a staff nurse here in Waikato Hospital in Hamilton in the NICU... After 1 month nka adjust nko from an ICU nurse in Cebu to a NICU nurse here... Ako ra male nurse sa unit grabe ka ackward pag sugod pero cge lang ky well compensated man jud... Karon pa nanawag uban hospitals nga for interview ko... Mga 4 na cguro ako nabalibaran nga employed nko...Dili jud all peaches and cream kung mka abroad ka ky lisod jud ug adjust... Ang akoa ra jd experience sa St. Vincent ug sa Minglanilla District Hospital ako g saligan. Out of 20 namo sa bridging course 8 rami ka Pinoy then the rest bombay. Kami 5 ka bisaya nka trabaho na ug 1 ka bombay... 

Pero 3 years experience nko sa Cebu pag 1st kinsenas nko karon pko kagunit ug ingon ani ka dako nga kwarta sa akong tibuok kinabuhi nga ako g hagoan in just 2 weeks... Grabe ka fulfilling jud... 

I am now applying for permanent residency dri...Ayaw mo kawagtangan ug pag laom nga RNs ky believe me kusog pa ug hiring nurses dri sa abroad... 

Grind it out jud ni ang kinabuhi... Ang ako motto sa life sukad nka larga ko is " What doesn't kill you only makes you stronger." 

Post ko ani just to share my experience coz 2007 batch ko and apil ko sa mga na apektuhan sa recession ug pag close sa doors sa mga nurses after 2006... 

God bless ninyo tanan..."

Yes. Kakayanin! Lord kaya ni nako basta naa lang ka sa akong side! :)

"Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen." - Ephesians 3:20-21

Awhile

I quote David Levithan's Lovers Dictionary:

“awhile, adv.

I love the vagueness of words that involve time. 'It took him awhile to come back' -- it could be a matter of minutes or hours, days or years.
It is easy for me to say it took me awhile to know. That is about as accurate as I can get. There were sneak previews of knowing, for sure. Instance that made me feel, oh, this could be right, But the moment I shifted from a hope that needed to be proven to a certainty that would be continually challenged? There's no pinpointing that.
Perhaps it never happened. Perhaps it happened while I was asleep. Most likely, there's no signal event. There's just the steady accumulation of 'awhile'.”

It has been a long time since I've last posted something here - about a year ago. And a lot has happened. A lot has changed. I want to tell you of it all but with the given limitations of my situation - a ticking internet cafe timer, and a memory that of a goldfish, I cannot narrate it in details. Good thing, there are bullets! 

(Let's take a trip down memory lane, shall we? Since August 2013...)

• I became a Christian.
• I finished Research 2. Major Revision paper, Major Revision life (with results worthy of Distinction, all praises and honor be to Christ).
• Recognition 2014: Best in RLE for Fourth Year, and Excellence in Deportment Awardee (praise God).
• My Uncle Choy and Lola Merced arrived from States for my graduation, and Jelo's and Fran's as well.
• I graduated college.(Finally.)
• I reviewed at Powerhouse and had this year's best 2 months, ever! :D
• I woke up with a blurry vision, floaters, and seeing "cobwebs". Then I got diagnosed as having Central Retinal Vein occlusion and Glaucoma OU, by an ophthalmologist who would make you second guess his profession judging by his "clinic" at Cebu Doc. Then, for the first time in forever and hope it doesn't happen again, I got 'operated' using LASER, and is maintained by Timolol drops for...well, for ever. (Which God used for me to realize that I should live by FAITH and not by Sight, which is quite clever using it in its literal form, but is really fine if that's what He wills :)
• I took the NLE last May 25-26. 
• I realized  I would get bored from a one week vacation - which led me to the next bullet.
• I applied to different call centers, and was denied by the same call centers.
• I applied to ESL at CPILS. Got hired. Now undergoing training. And was promised to start teaching next week. (Ambivalence).
• I learned how hard it is to apply for something completely out of your field!
• During application days for call centers and ESL, my eyes were becoming sensitive to nurses and their white uniforms. Like I could spot them in a 10-mile radius, or just stare at them walking by and thinking to myself..."wow, my dream uniform, right there.."
• Ransacked my closet, and my cousins' as well, to look for dresses...et voila, our "dress" code for teaching. (</3)
• Knew the difference between "cabinet" and "closet", "I don't mind" and "I don't care", even "table" from a "desk". (Like seriously, who would have thought it would be so hard to tell the difference between them...but again, seriously, ask yourself and then tell me it's not hard.)
• Feeling the feeling of being a student once again, but this time, majoring in English.
• Did something really stupid. But then learned from it. I hope this time, for good.
• And now? I'm still waiting for the results, which was said to be released before this month ends.

It's amazing how a year could change a person so much. But I came to know it's not the time, nor the situation, nor the people in your life that changes you. God does. God just uses them as His instruments to make you become more like His Son, Jesus Christ. And as for me, I cannot thank my God for changing me. Even if it means through disappointments, rejections, heartaches, pain, illnesses, and waiting in Faith. 

2 Corinthians 5:17"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ. He is a new creation! The old has gone, the new has come."

A Silver Lining

Someday, I won't be writing about you anymore.

All these unhealthy feelings that are concealed deep within the crevices of my heart - like spider webs on an abandoned manor - will be dusted off.

I am hopeful.

It may take some time, but then again, time is all that is left of me now.