Greetings from Manila!

It’s been a year since I have started my job here.

I am glad we are having 4 days of holiday here (Dec 24 to 27). This means I receive less emails at work so that I can read and housekeep my emails of past weeks and at the same time to write and reply some long overdue emails.

Somehow, when I arrived here this year, I was immediately swarmed with work. I’ve been extremely quiet and not writing as much and as prompt as I would like to since a normal day in office is usually meetings and resolution of issues. Email reading and writing takes back seat which is usually left after office hours and weekends except for the urgent ones. I have come to the point that if there is anything urgent and no reply from me, it’s better to ring me as I may have not read the email.

Now with the holidays here, I know most of our email boxes and mobiles will be crowded with “Greetings” emails. Usually, I cannot find time opening any “Greetings” emails with e-card link since they take a long while to open or they just get stuck with the not so reliable internet at my home that I just gave up reading any email greeting with e-card link.

Email is a great innovation and has changed the way we communicate but if not used properly, I believe it just wears out our time by having to open, read, and delete (housekeep) them.

Health-wise is not a good start for me this year. In less than a month of my arrival, I had two injuries. One was when I was invited to a badminton game. I forgot I was no longer young and started to jump up to do a smash that hurt my right knee when I landed. The next few weeks at work was just limping away, especially climbing up the stairs to my office located on the 2nd storey.

As my knee had just started to recover, I was invited to join Customer Service department for their fun evening at the concrete car park behind the office building. They were playing this game called “Touch Ball”. I have not played this game before so when I was passed the ball, instead of just throwing the ball, I also threw myself together with the ball that I had a fall on the ground which hurt my right knee again and both of my elbows. The scars on my knee and my elbows still remind me of the fall.

However I am glad that despite the long hours of work, I am still able to reserve Sunday mornings for church which is nearby home. I was introduced to the church by an ex-colleague of mine from Germany. She and her husband left Manila six months before my arrival.

I am enjoying the church service here as the message is bible-centered. At first, when I attended the service, I didn’t like the loud music but it was the bible-centered message that touched me and made me goes back to the church so I decided to find a place to stay nearby the church.

I was about to sign the lease for an apartment which is not within walking distance from the church but just as I was about to sign the lease on same day, another real-estate agent called and said an apartment nearby church is available and at the price within my range. It’s so amazing how God provides as apartments in this condominium at my price range are rare but somehow the apartment is available with a much reduced price and within my range!

Two months ago, a church member invited me to join her for an 8-week “Life’s Healing Choices” study video by Rick Warren every Monday evening. The last 8th session ended last week just in time for Christmas celebration! God is indeed great to lead me to this study. I was glad that I committed to it and have learned a lot from the sessions besides growing spiritually and building friendship with the group.

Christy came over here for 2 weeks. She left 2 days before Christmas for Singapore as she misses her friends especially her ex-classmates whom she has already made appointments to go out during their holidays. I had been taking some days off since she was here. We did not go anywhere as she just wanted to stay home so we spent more time at home together. She played and watched movies on her computer whole day while I just continued to work on my computer at home. What a holiday but somehow she prefers it this way than sightseeing.

Yesterday Christmas Eve, I had lunch with my colleague and invited her to my church for Christmas service at 7:00pm. After that, we went to Santuario de San Antonio, a Catholic church for Christmas Eve mass at 10:00pm as she is a Catholic. The sound of the organ and the full string orchestra at the Catholic Church is so splendid. The musicians and the choir members are made up of elderly people. From their movement and faces, they look like 60s to 80s. Even the lady conductor is elderly.

It’s so amazing to watch an orchestra of elderly ladies wearing beautiful golden gowns and men in their golden barongs. It’s an inspirational experience to watch these elderly people singing with joy from their lit-up faces. My colleague was telling me that most of these elderly ladies are mestizas. No wonder they look so graceful and beautiful!

Pinoys usually spent their Christmases with families. I am home alone today but somehow, I do not feel lonely as I can sink my thought into writing this letter.

I thought that I could finish this letter before lunch today but the same colleague whom I was with on Christmas Eve just text me to join her for lunch at a Chinese restaurant. By the time we reached there was about 4:00pm and we had a fabulous lunch cum dinner.

I haven’t had a Chinese meal for ages. Usually, it’s bread, pizza, spaghetti, Western, or Japanese cuisine. When I thought that I will be alone on Christmas Day but somehow, God is so gracious to provide the companionship and a nice Chinese meal.

After the meal, my colleague asked me to join her family to view the Christmas lights but knowing that I have to finish this letter, I decided to view it another day since the Christmas lights will be on until the new year.

Well, I am glad to return home to finish this letter otherwise I may not get to complete it since my day will be quite packed tomorrow with church service and thereafter to attend a birthday party of a colleague’s child. Most Pinoys are fun loving. They love to celebrate for almost every type of occasion.

There is so much to write about the year but I should pen off now otherwise this greeting will arrive late.

May I wish each and every one of you, “Merry Christmas & A Happy 2011”!

With warmest regards,

Regine Chua

Christmas 2010