Aug

28

Intelligent Nephew

Filed Under Family & Friends, Life & Leisure | 4 Comments


On his last day in Switzerland — that was in April — my nephew Ethan drew a camel on the magic slate I gave to him as a going-away present. A camel! I was really surprised because…he’s just three!

Asked how he learned to draw a camel, he said in his sweet, tiny voice: “My teacher in Israel taught me.”

Ethan was born in the Philippines, but was later raised in the US and then in Israel. Like his five-year-old sister Yannah, he’s an expat’s kid. Along with his Ate (older sister), he went to an Israeli preschool or what is called Gan, where he played with lots of Israeli children (he now speaks Hebrew).

In July 2006, he was featured in CNN International as the Filipino baby sleeping in a bomb shelter in Haifa (read the story here). His photo, the image of which made me sad because of its innocence amid a war climate, was telecast non-stop.

So it was with great joy that I got to bond with my nephew for the first time when he and his family came here in Switzerland for an eight-day visit.

Ethan grew up to be a little bit makulit, yet charmingly so; his smile has the power to melt people’s hearts, my sister once said. And she was right: many Swiss strangers warmed up to him almost immediately. (I’ve been here for 5.5 years, and I’ve never had that kind of effect on our Swiss neighbors. LOL)

He loved the snow up on the Swiss mountains, the lake paddle boatride, the mini golf “tournament,” the feeding of the birds, and of course, the legendary Swiss chocolates. He also enjoyed watering the plants of my husband in our tiny balcony garden. I really think he has a future in gardening, unlike his aunt.

An asthmatic like me, Ethan unfortunately got sick during our trip to Neuchatel brought about by the cold weather and traveler’s fatigue (he had a bad cold when the photo above was taken at the train station). But that didn’t dampen his spirits. He even drew a camel while waiting for our train. What a trooper!

His family is now back in Manila, where he’s now enrolled in a private school (nursery level). According to my mother, he passed the entrance exams in May with flying colors. And just recently, he scored 100 in math, science, and language. Amazing. I kept telling myself, “But he’s just three! He’s just three!”

I miss him and his sister tremendously. Hope to see them again sometime next year, either in Switzerland or in the Philippines.

SEPT. 29, 2008 UPDATE: Ethan turns four today!

Aug

20

Bern Church

Filed Under Faith & Values, Family & Friends, Migrant Life | Comments Off


It has been a year and a half since we left our beloved home church in Zurich. And after an emotionally stressful church-hopping here and there — I had been in this phase before as a young Christian in Manila — we’ve finally found a new church in Bern (see photo on the right).

We’re relatively new in this church. We know basically nobody there, except for my Taiwanese classmate in German class, who goes there “to hear Holy Spirit-inspired sermons” (her words). But she has no more time to integrate in the church community due to her busyness as a homemaker and Mandarin teacher. She just comes and goes.

Amid the new church environment, I somehow miss two things: first, my Sunday School commitments in my former church in Zurich; second, my Filipino cell groupmates, some of whom I had become really close to.

Although my Sunday School assignment in Zurich involved only taking toddlers to the toilet — I was the “WC escort,” being the Sunday School teacher’s assistant — and preparing/serving their drinks, I know God honored my indirect participation in teaching young minds to love God and His Word with all their hearts.

Much as the head of the church’s Sunday School wanted to assign me some real teaching tasks — she told me I really could write great lesson plans — she couldn’t; I’m not fluent in Swiss German. In fact, I don’t know how to speak Swiss German at all.

It was a bit frustrating at first, considering I’ve had lots of experience in this field. But somehow, God assured me all throughout my Sunday School duty, when I was struggling with feelings of lack, that my seemingly ‘menial task’ was as good as doing the work of a Sunday School teacher. What was important was the personal motive behind doing the volunteer work, whether I was doing it for Him and Him alone, or only for myself.

Meanwhile, as a member of the church’s Filipino cell group (Bible Study group), I was afforded the chance to come up with fun ice-breaker activities and to lead Bible-based discussions based on sermons preached in Sunday services every now and then. I did some cooking, too (amazing, really). We took turns preparing dinner for a group of 18 or so every Monday night. I truly enjoyed this experience; it filled my otherwise weary migrant heart with joy.

Zurich is very far from the Swiss town we live in. By train, it takes us two hours to get to our Zurich church from our home, one way

This geographical distance was the main reason why we had to leave the church against our will. Plus, the twice-a-week long trips to and from Zurich cost us our health — dearly. In the end, we had to bid good-bye to our leaders and co-members with a heavy heart, after four years of active involvement.

At any rate, I’m glad — relieved even — that after a long search, we’ve finally found a new church nearer to our place of residence, where we feel comfortable (doctrine and worship style).

And so, the life lessons continue. We really don’t know what’s next; we just hope and pray that things will pan out, according to God’s perfect plan.

Aug

12

Anecdotes Blog

Filed Under Announcements, Blogs & Blogging, Humor | 7 Comments


In the third week of June, I made a very impulsive move to transfer X-Press Files (formerly called X-Pat Files) from its old WordPress home of two years and nine months to this new cyber place, where it’s now “housed.”

I then hastily announced that I would use my old domain (pinoysphere.com) for e-interview purposes. I carefully thought of blog titles and prematurely named this blog-to-be X-Press Interviews, with basically a rough idea on who would be featured in the first three blog posts.

That was the plan. But that was then.

Now, one month and three weeks after the big move that caused broken links here and there — I truly apologize to all the Google search engine users, who ended up seeing a “404″ or “Not Found” error message when they wanted to read the true story of my life as a laundress extraordinaire — the material for X-Press Interviews still remains to be processed and published. (I’ve decided just to add a category called “Express Interviews” in this blog. Coming soon!)

Instead of creating a blog that would feature Q & A interviews with real people from all walks of life as originally planned, I’ve just come up with an online collection of humorous stories based on actual events.

Jolly J!, my anecdotes blog, went live on August 9, the day I suddenly had a burst of inspiration to implement blog changes in the name of world fun. My first comment came from blog buddy Myepinoy, who’s based in Saudi Arabia and who, like me, has littered a lot in this global place called The Net. Thanks, Rolly, for the vote of confidence.

I’m quite happy with my spontaneous decision, actually. I don’t know why; I can’t quite put my finger on it — not yet, anyway.

So here’s hoping Jolly J! will be around long enough for me to use the term “sustainable blog development.”

In the meantime, personal accounts of my adventures and misadventures as a foreigner in Switzerland, plus other stuff of non-global relevance, will continue to be posted here. Some blog visitors seem to enjoy reading about my ‘migrant suffering’ in this personal blog. I’m glad I partially contribute to your happiness in a twisted way.

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