Observing Ramadan | What I Learned from Living in a Muslim Country?

Coming from a country where most of the people are Catholic, I have a lot of questions regarding Islam’s culture and tradition when I first arrived here in Qatar, and some of those were regarding the celebration of this holy month that they call Ramadan. Over the years of staying here, I came to learn and understand their ways in observing this event. That is why on this post, I will try to answer some questions that you may have which may be similar from those that I have in mind before; and these are all based on my personal observations and experiences for the past 4 years of living here in Qatar. 

Spreading Kindness on My First Instameet | Worldwide Instameet 15 | Souq Waqif and Doha Marriott Hotel

KINDNESS. According to Google, it is the quality of being friendly, generous, and considerate. Each of us may have our own meaning and interpretation about this word since it is very easy to define. But this simple word, if we understand it correctly and done it whole-heartedly, may have a long lasting and life changing effect to other people. 

Appreciating Art | Picasso and Giacometti in Qatar

Our goals can only be reached through a vehicle of plan, in which we must fervently believe, and upon which we must vigorously act. There is no other route to success. – Pablo Picasso

Artistically I am still a child with a whole life ahead of me to discover and create. I want something, but I wont know what it is until I succeed in doing it. – Alberto Giacometti 

A Day at the Magical Festival Village | Doha, Qatar

Last week, I finally convinced Tep to go to the Magical Festival Village here in Doha, Qatar. I’ve been seeing a lot of posts from my friends lately about having a great time visiting this European inspired place. 

Checking Out Mall of Qatar

Last December 24, 2016, we went to the newly opened mall here in Qatar, which is called the Mall of Qatar. It is located in Al Rayyan, which is near the City of Doha. We used google maps to reach the place, but we still ended up getting rerouted because most of the roads leading there are still under construction. There are signs to follow though, but your eyes should be quick in spotting those.

Christmas Away from Home

Do you know which country celebrates the longest Christmas? Well, it happens to be on the country where I came from and consider home, the Philippines. As early as September, people are already preparing and Christmas songs can be heard playing in most houses and establishments. By the time December arrives, houses are already decorated with beautiful, colorful and brightly lighted Christmas trees, Belens and Parols. Cheerful and wonderful voices of kids (even if they they are out of tunes or inventing the lyrics of songs.. hahaha! guilty of this) singing Christmas carols can be heard from every side of the streets. Vendors selling puto bumbong and bibingka (both are steamed rice cake) can be found everywhere. Filipinos are busy with Christmas parties, family reunions, exchange gifts, charity works and the list goes on. Catholics attend to their traditional 9 days of simbang gabi (night mass) in preparation for the birth of Jesus. On the eve of Christmas, the festive Noche Buena is being served after attending the midnight mass. And then on the most awaited day, Christmas, everyone are just so jolly and merry, sharing and giving their beautiful smiles and warm love. Children are visiting their ninongs and ninangs (godparents) asking for gifts and aguinaldos (money inside a red envelope). The aura and spirit of Christmas can be felt until the 1st week of January which is the Feast of the 3 Kings.

This is the picture of Christmas that I am always looking forward when I was still living in the Philippines.  It was in 2012 when I first arrived here in Doha, Qatar to be with my husband and it has been five years since I’ve been celebrating this season away from home. Here in Doha, Christmas is not considered a festive and religious holiday. Well, I understand and respect that because they’ve got their own beliefs and traditions. But despite of that, Christmas can still be celebrated the way you want it. So, here’s a short video of how we celebrated our 5th Christmas away from home.

Click on this link to watch the video: Christmas in Doha 2016

Thank you for watching. Wishing everyone Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Be the Change and Make your Vote Count

Today, we headed to the Philippine Embassy here in Doha to exercise our right as a Filipino, thru absentee voting. Everything went well; starting from the checking of our names on the register, handing of ballots and explaining to us how it should be filled out, the machine reading and counting our votes, and lastly the printing of the receipt which showed us the candidates we voted for. This whole process lasted for about 10 – 15 minutes, since there’s not a lot of people in there by that time. Based on some writings I’ve read, there are some issues faced by our fellow OFWs, such as receipt printed is not the same as the one they’ve chosen, there are some candidates whose names are highlighted on the ballot and other stuff. This is the reason why I observed while inside the voting room, and to my relief, none of these happened, which I am hoping will also be the case on the election day.