It's SITEL...

Finally it's monday tomorrow, I've been waiting for this day since the day before yesterday. All my life I've never been this excited. What made me so excited? Well, it's because tomorrow would be a start of my new job. After a week of job-seeking here in Metro Manila, I finnally got hired as Technical Support Representative in Business Process-Outsourcing world in short Call Center Company. SITEL Philippines opened an opportunity last Friday to me, and I'm so happy that they just gave me the chance.

Honestly, I thought it was really easy to apply in a call center company, I was wrong, it's actually easier (joke!hehe) No! it was really really difficult. First, there are a lot of applicants and most of them are former agents already, the competition is really tough. And second they are very much strict with the accent, inunciation and pronunciation, which I am not good at. I could still remember when one company asked me if I know how to read 'phonetic', "what the hell is phonetic " I said to my self, to cover the embarassment, I simply said "Computer Engineering students don't actually learn them, so I don't have any idea at all " so after that final interview I didn't anymore expect to be considered by that company, so I attractted it and it happened.

The next day, I applied in a company located on a 34th Floor of a building, in an elevator I waited like overnight to reach the floor, it was like a long trip. I handed my resume to the guard, he noticed me trembling and I felt like wanted to vanish that building, I started to feel dizzy and almost fainted. "Relax, wait lang po, nahilo ata ako sa elevator nyo" I told the guard when he was about to ask me to log-in. I sat down on a chair reserved for applicants and after a few minutes I went to the guard again and logged my name in a visitor's sheet, when I was about to pull the knob of the door, the guard called me again "Sandali lang po sir, alcohol po muna". "Sosyal naman ang company na 'to, d pwedeng mag-open ng door nang walang alcohol" I told my self while laughing about it. I noticed that they did it to every person who came from outside of the building. After waiting for almost an hour for the interview, I still couldn't contain my head, I wanted to vomit, I held on to it and my name was called for initial interview, I couldn't almost understand the questions and I answered the interviewer like a fastball "slow down, some of your words are hard to understand" she told me. With that, again I did'nt expect anymore, so I went out of the office. "Eto na naman, elevator ulit!" I almost fell asleep in the elevator, and finally, I reached the ground floor, and headed outside hurriedly.

It was really a funny experience, atleast I tried and I took my chances, I stayed home in taguig after that 34th floor experience, and went on applying again after three days. As intructed by a friend, my feet led me to Ortigas, at the back of SM Megamall and I found the Recruitment Center of SITEL Philippines at around 4pm. After 25 minutes I was interviewed and given a topic to talk about. My topic was Space Exploration, "OMG, what is this? a punishment?". I didn't know about the topic, so I just talked about Niel Armstrong, the Mars as the next potential earth and etc. I passed the initial interview and took several examinations, I finished around 11pm and requested to go to other sites of SITEL also in Ortigas the next day by 8 am for the Final Interview. After a long process, it ended by a hand-shake with the boss, Mr. Apple "Congratulations, you are hired!". Finally, after two months of being jobless, I'm back to work again.

Goodluck to me!

Love For Your Brother What You Love For Yourself

I just read this short story from an Islamic Website an hour ago. It got my eyes teary after reading it. How I wished Allah would give me the faith of the boy in this story. Its very short and simple but will surely touch your heart.

"A Brother Like That "
Published in Islamcan.com

Shuaib received an automobile from his brother as an Eid present. On Eid day when Shuaib came out of his house, a street urchin was walking around the shiny new car, admiring it. "Is this your car, Uncle?" he asked. Shuaib nodded. "My brother gave it to me for Eid." The boy was astounded.

"You mean your brother gave it to you and it didn't cost you nothing? Boy, I wish..." He hesitated. Of course Shuaib knew what he was going to wish for. He was going to wish he had a brother like that. But what the lad said jarred Shuaib all the way down to his heels. "I wish," the boy went on, "that I could be a brother like that." Shuaib looked at the boy in astonishment, then impulsively he added, "Would you like to take a ride in my automobile?" "Oh yes, I'd love that."

After a short ride, the boy turned and with his eyes aglow, said, "Uncle, would you mind driving in front of my house?" Shuaib smiled a little. He thought he knew what the lad wanted. He wanted to show his neighbors that he could ride home in a big automobile. But Shuaib was wrong again. "Will you stop where those two steps are?" the boy asked. He ran up the steps. Then in a little while Shuaib heard him coming back, but he was not coming fast. He was carrying his little crippled brother. He sat him down on the bottom step, then sort of squeezed up against him and pointed to the car.

"There it is, little brother, just like I told you upstairs. His brother gave it to him for Eid and it didn't cost him a penny. And some day I'm gonna give you one just like it...then you can see for yourself all the pretty things in the Shop windows that I've been trying to tell you about."

Shuaib got out and lifted the boy to the front seat of his car. The shining-eyed older brother climbed in beside him and the three of them began a memorable ride. That Eid, Shuaib learned what the RasulAllah (salAllahu alayhi wasalam) meant when he had said: "love for your brother what you love for yourself".

Across this New Divide

Life here in Metro Manila is really not easy, especially if you just started familiarizing everything. The route of vehicles from where you live to your destinations, plus the traffic and not to mention the flavored-air in the highways would be like killing you. Anyway, its still been a week and my body system would get used to all of these soon. As they say, it's just a matter of getting used to.

While waiting for the schedule of interview, I'm staying here in Taguig City with my cousins. It's so convenient here that they even gave me extra cable extended from their internet cafe for my own internet connection. In return, although not much an obligation, I am assisting them over seeing the cafe, with only 6 units, its not much hard to manage. So while keeping my self busy by surfing some cool stuff on the net, I came a cross this Linkin Park's new tune, "New Divide" which taken from the Original Soundtrack of the movie Transformer 2: Revenge of the Fallen. Just like what they did in the first movie of Transformer, LP would be rocking us once again along with the gigantic robots in action in cinemas this June.

Here is the lyrics of "New Divide" of Linkin Park

I remembered black skies
The lightning all around me
I remembered each flash
As time began to blur
Like a startling sign
That fate had finally found me

And your voice was all I heard
That I get what I deserve

So give me reason
To prove me wrong
To wash this memory clean
Let the thoughts cross
The distance in your eyes
Give me reason
To fill this hole
Connect the space between
Let it fill up to reach the truth and lies
Across this new divide

There was nothing inside
The memories left abandoned
There was nowhere to hide
The ashes fell like snow
And the ground caved in
Between where we were standing

And your voice was all I heard
That I get what I deserve

So give me reason
To prove me wrong
To wash this memory clean
Let the thoughts cross
The distance in your eyes
Across this new divide

And every loss and every lie
And every truth that you deny
And each regret and each goodbye
Was a mistake too great to hide

And your voice was all I heard
But I get what I deserve
So give me reason
To prove me wrong
To wash this memory clean
Let the thoughts cross
The distance in your eyes
Give me reason
To fill this hole
Connect the space between
Let it fill up to reach the truth and lies
Across this new divide
Across this new divide
Across this new divide

So Cool Summer!

My summer has never been this cool. After 10 years, I had once again visited the place of our parents, where Tausug tribe came from, the Jolo, Sulu. I still remember before, where cell sites or even TV stations were not available in the place, with not so good roads, no department stores or even food chains. I even tasted salty water for drinking. I started to recall of these things when I left the city to see the place once again. As my sister and I stepped down the vessel together with my three nieces, I started to look around and tried to remember familiar views, I didn’t recognize any of the things I saw,I don’t even know where to take a ride, a tricycle or anything to reach out sister’s place. But my older sister just guided us and we rode on a ‘motor’ (we used to call it a ‘tricycle’ in zambo, the term ‘tricycle’ to Tausug refers to the ‘pedicab’), after couple of minutes, we started walking along the shore, It was really a long walk, with all the baggage from the trip, it took me several stops before finally reaching the place. For the first time I have seen where my sister and her family live. Her husband works as a policeman and my sister has a small sari-sari store. Together with their four children, they live in a very simple home between the sea and the woods. The place now has electricity, with TV station, cell signals and they even have water supply for free.

We had a small picnic with my sisters, nephews and nieces just outside their house and it felt like we were in a place somewhere else. We also attended a wedding, it was my first time to witness a very traditional Muslim wedding, although I attended some Muslim weddings in the city, it was really different, from the preparation, down to their clothing, the rituals and other stuff. The celebration lasted for three days.

In spite of the trouble caused by the ‘Abu Sayyaf Group’ in the province, people there managed to live their lives normally, somehow it’s just a matter of getting used to. Spending you summer doesn’t always have to be in Bora-like beaches or going on an expensive trip, a simple family get-together will do, as long as everyone is there and enjoying the simple things you do as one big happy family, that’s what matters most.

These are some of the photos our Summer Vacation in one of the Beaches in Jolo Sulu