JOURNEY TO MIDDLE EAST PART 2

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When all our officemates had a very successful journey to Dubai & Qatar and from their assessment that there in good hands, such good news we heard from them given us an idea to follow them, of course with their help on how to get the visa or the package offered by the agency processing the visa. We are choosing between Qatar & Dubai and according to some pinoys that Dubai now are very saturated with expats and job scarcity is on the rise; in contrast to Qatar is a booming country and infrastructures are very visible in every corner in the City of Doha, so we opted Doha as our destination, we got our contact there and he gave the costing of the package as Tourist or Business Visa and to our dismay we should shell out amounting 110 thousand pesos each person, with all the sweet assurances that we can easily find a job and the best of it he will help us in every step of the way until we all got a job. At dahil sa mga atat at ignorante kami, we grabbed it as in walang pakialam kung saan hahanapin ang 110 thousand nayan basta makalabas lang ng pinas, our contact gave us 1 month to prepare and the realization sink in when I never had a single penny saved since I worked my butt off for the entire 10 years of my life; from that realization I pity myself, paano kung mamatay ako bukas saan kukuha ng pera panglibing yong family ko, though miyembro ako ng SSS pero iba talagang yong may makuha ka agad-agad kung may emergency. Oo ate Charo, isang kahig, isang tuka poh ako, (depressing mode)… anyways back to the preparation, dahil sa wala akong saved money from any established banks and cooperative, my last option was to lend money from a credit financial institution, at dahil nagtatrabaho naman ako sa isang malaking companya dito sa Davao, at may 6 credit cards ako, madali lang na-approve yong loan ko amounting 40++ thousand, payable for 3 years at tutubo ng halos 100%, at sa totoo lang hindi ko na inisip muna ang malaking tubong yaon, basta ang mahalaga makuha ko yong pera para maipadala na agad sa Qatar, kasi sa totoo lang sa aming limang pupunta ako nalang ang ina-antay nila na ma fully paid yong tourist package para maipadala na ang visa at ticket dito sa Pinas, wawa naman me, eh! kung pwede lang ibenta ang katawan ko, sad to say wala ng tatanggap sa katawang lupang ito, as in lupa na! hehehe…(pity mode again) at dahil desperado na, inutangan ko narin yong kasamahan ko buti nalang may excess money pa sila ayun konti nalang kulang ko, may 100thousand na ako, and again my 2^nd last resort is to give a promissory note! Walang biro! talagang nag promissory note ako sa contact namin sa Qatar, sabi ko sa kanya, dyan ko nalang babayaran sa Qatar if may trabaho na ako, buti nalang pumayag si Darna (Opo tawagin natin syang Darna as in Berde ang dugo at bakit may bahid na galit ang mga labi/daliri ko sa ka ka type sa blog na ito dahil ke Darna talk to him later maybe sa part 3 na!) back to preparation mode: after a week we received our visa and Qatar airways ticket, as in sosyalan..hahaha first time lang! then we’re very excited to read our names in the visa & our bogus invitation letter para mag training daw sa Qatar. Sobrang malaking ginhawa dahil nasa kamay namin ang visa at ticket at least sure na kami sa aming binayaran na 110 thousand! From that happiness comes the scareness as in scared dahil sa usaping Philippine Immigration! Ito yong mga sabi-sabi pagdating daw sa Immigration, unang una dapat may show money ka, don’t know the exact amount basta ang dala ko lang 10thousand pesos bahala sa si Batman kung pasok na to sa qouta nila, buti nalang pala ang flight namin sa Cebu, parang hindi masyadong known ang Cebu immigration sa kurakot that’s why we chose Cebu at salamat sa Diyos sa aming lima walang nailabas na pera. Eto na, during the interview at the immigration, natatawa ako sa sarili ko, dahil ba naman sa sobrang stress at katangahan ko mali-mali ang sagot ko sa immigration officer:

Immigration Officer:      sinong sponsor mo?

Me:                            yong kaibigan ko sir, si @$#^$^$

Immigration Officer:      hindi! yong sponsor mo?

Me:                            si Mr.@#$$%%, nga sir, I’m confused na

                                  (sabi ko sarili ko)

Immigration Officer:       ok, I’ll checked your paper, E-hold muna kita

                                  dyan,.. tsk..tsk…10 minutes nakatayo sa harap

                                  ng booth ng Immigration officer..

Me:                             I’m confused na again?, ano bang mali ko? Nginig na

                                  ang labi, parang iiyak na kasi nakatayo na ako ng

                                  mga 10 minutes at may tinatawagan si kuya sa

                                  telepono!! Dasal mode na, nakulangan kang Hesus, 

                                  Nang Ama namin, dasal na nang Ave Maria! kung

                                  pwede pa ang mystery of the rosary by days gagawin

                                  ko na, sad to say hindi ko na ma-memorize, kasi isa

                                  na akong, erehes!

Immigration Officer:     Bumalik sa akin at tinanong ulit ako, "may pocket

                                 money ka ba?

Me:                            Opo sir, 10 thousand pesos, gusto nyo pong makita?

                                 (ganon talaga ako katanga, at walang –wala na sa

                                 sarili, dahil sa putsang sponsor na yan na hold at na

                                 blanko na ang isispan ko, sabi ko ulit sarili ko sino ba

                                 talaga sponsor ko?..(confused mode lang)

Immigration Officer:     Huwag mo nang ipakita ang pera, ok you’re 

                                 through.........NEEEEEEEXXXT!!

Me:                            Nakarinig ng Alleluiah,alleluiah, alleluiahhhhh!!! mga

                                 tinig ng mga Anghel! akoy Nakangiti, nanginginig,

                                 madaling umalis at tinakbo ang X-ray machine ng 1

                                 second, agad-agad ipinasok sa X-ray machine ang

                                 bagahe ko, dahil iniisip ko baka tawagin ulit ako,

                                 malusutan ko lang ang machine na ito safe na ako. At

                                 nakalusot nga!!!..it was a big relief and i believed in

                                 miracle! you can achieved (whitney moment!)

at ng ikinuwento ko sa mga kasamahan ko, sobrang tawa nila, at tinanong ko na naman sila sino ba talagang si Sponsor na yan (joke time) na, at yon tawanan ulit.. (Sponsor: the person or company who issued the visa, who give you the accommodation and permit to have a training at their company as what stated in my Invitation Letter, Yun na talaga! dahil sa katangahan ko ang binigay ko na sponsor eh! pangalan ng kaibigan ko na maghahanap ng matitirahan namin sa Qatar, It should be the name the company who issued my visa…(lesson learned: wag masyadong ma-stress pag nasa immigration na, kung hindi maiwasan ang stress at least man lang memorize mo by heart ang mga detalye ng iyong mga dokumento na e-ipresenta mo sa Immigration Officer at ang 3 W’s & H – What, Where, When & Who para hindi ka uuwi sa pinanggalingan mo na umiiyak at magbiti dahil lahat ng kalabaw at bahay nyo naibenta na dahil sa minimithing “greener pasture na yan” na hindi mabibili ng piso, kundi buhay at dugo ang kapalit para sa kaginhawaan ng buhay ng pamilya mo, at matawag ka raw na Bagong Bayani…(charmos ginamos! Tig singko ang takus!) and it was the longest day of my life sa Immigration pa lang yan paano na pagdating namin sa Qatar?

Part 3 ba ito? sensya na poh! Hehehhehe..

P.S.

I just found out na totoo pala yong escort na tinatawag, magbibigay ka ng 18-20 thousand pesos sa taga immigration officer na kontak mo, at sila na ang sasabay sayo at ituturo kung anong booth number ka pupunta, kaya kung hindi ka talaga sigurado sa mga papeles mong dala, at gusto mo ng sureness, ikaw na ang bahala kung gagawin mo ang mga palusot na ito,kung may pera kapa! pangsampal sa mga kurakot na officer na yan!!!!