The joy of giving.

This is my first Christmas in the Philippines after being overseas for almost a decade. Quite ironically, I'm still spending it away from very important people in my life. A bit of a long shot as to why but in the end, this was a decision I made so now I have to face the consequences i.e spending one of the most celebrated occassion in the Christian world with a bunch of strangers in the resort. I know that comes Christmas eve tonight, it will be difficult to hold back the tears when I see families having their dinner together, enjoying each others company.

Christmas is the time of giving as the cliche goes. Last week, I organised a small project to visit Maricaban Elementary school, a small school in the village next to the resort where I am currently working, to give away presents, mostly school supplies. i.e pens, pencils and writing paper plus some goodies. Thanks to a friend of mine, Ichay, who donated cash so I was able to augment the budget I had for this project. The village school consists of 33 lovely kids, ages ranging from 7-10 years old. the pupils from Grades 1-3 share the one small room fitting in the rest of their learning materials which consists of only a few books and other educational paraphernalias. Of course, I can't just turn up in the village school with gifts to give away to the kids so I was in touch with the school teacher Christine the day before my planned visit to advise her of my intention, just to be sure it was ok come in to their school. I was quite aware that in the Western world, doing something like this might even implicate a criminal offense on me as they might think I'm a lunatic paedophile running after school kids. So I really want to clear myself from that. I don't have anything but only good intentions so when I read news of mad men walking in a school and gunning down a room full of innocent children, I can never understand what goes into those people's minds. Makes me realise what a crazy world we live in, how scary it is to know that there are people out there who can hurt us and our loved ones. I'm glad to be given the opportunity and the means to do something like this. Seeing how happy the children were as they were receiving their presents were priceless. It makes me appreciate my life more. I can see why they say "It is better to give than receive." The happiness I feel will last a long time and this feeling is a great gift I can give to myself this Christmas. There is definitely joy in giving. Merry Christmas everyone! 

Losing my Dads.



My Dad who died in his missionary boots in Southern Africa.



Mum and Dad Woodyatt during a visit in Dubai last 2008.

There are two other special occasions for me every December apart from Christmas. First is Huw’s birthday and second is our wedding anniversary. However, this year, my month of December won’t see these happy occasions as happily celebrated like the last few years. I lost my father-in-law just over a week ago. He was a great man whom I had a lot of respect. He was very adamant with his beliefs and firm with his principles in life. He will be sorely missed. I realized that I had lost 2 Dads on this same year. My Dad passed away last February 14 who lost his battle with cancer. My father-in-law died of bone cancer. I’ve never had this feeling of great loss before, I guess maybe because this is the first time I’ve lost a parent then shortly followed by another one. The sad feeling of loss even intensifies as Christmas approaches knowing they are gone. The super typhoon "Pablo" that recently hit the country which caused great casualties does not help make me feel any better. My heart goes for the families who have lost their loved ones. I know the feeling. Apologies for sounding depressed, but I hope you all understand. At the moment, for me, it feels like there is nothing to feel joyous about this Christmas. I know that life must go on and we all have to move on eventually after going through sad passages in our life. Time heals all wounds so they say but this one won't heal very soon. We only have one set of parents, when they go, it’s not like we could replace them with new ones. They will always cross your mind when you say or do something, see a familiar place - they live in us so how can we easily forget? When they go, they're gone forever but with strong memories left behind. Dad and Dad, thank you for everything. RIP. I love you.

My first Open Water Students

Oct. 14, 2012 (Monday) - Atmosphere Resorts, Dauin, Negros, Oriental. Started assisting Frank, one of the resort's IDC Staff Instructors teaching Open Water course to six students (all lads aging from 15-17) from Hongkong International School. It has been pretty hectic since, this is my first course from since I got certified as PADI scuba diving instructor a couple weeks ago. Will be posting more here later, gotta run to work now, I have to be early to prepare my dear students for their last two Open Water dives today then they get certified as PADI Open Water divers . Yay! :)

Oct. 14,2102 (Sunday), the date I pledged to run for a cause for a close friend of mine who is currently suffering lung illness and is under medication for the next 5 months. To date, I've now raised 6,000 pesos to help her with her medicines. Million thanks to the all kind people who sent over their contribution. I pledged to run / walk for 20 kms. starting from my house in Dumaguete to Dauin stopping exactly at Atmosphere Resorts where I am currently doing my internship as scuba instructor. This hasn't happened though as I only got to 15 kms. and had to ride the motorbike to get to work on time. Apart from starting off at 5.30 a.m. and having fought the sticky bed syndrome, I failed to achieve my goal I (only did 14 kms.) but for valid reasons. Besides, the road got busy as the morning went with all the vehicles. Ceres bus liner, the deadly public transport go past me and it started to feel a bit suicidal running by the side of the roads. I started inhaling the fumes too which was not pleasant at all. I know, I know, you probably think I'm just trying to make up excuses but if I really didn't want to get my respiratory system contaminated by fumes and most of all I still wanted to live. I was also running late for work. So I hope I could bail myself out on that one. I've joined fundraising programs earlier in my life where I have walked, ran, swam and dived for a cause but this is the first time I've actually initiated one and organising it on my own with a special T-shirt I wore for the activity. It felt like a mad idea but there you go, it's done now. My Dad died last February of lung cancer in his missionary shoes in Botswana. I was working as Divemaster in Coron, Palawan then when the sad news reached me. My father may be gone but he still lives in me in one way or another. I may not be as great as him in devoting most of his life helping people in Africa, but I try my best to do something for others when I can and while I am able to. I wish and pray that my friend gets well soon. She was so thankful that for the  money raised for this run. It's a good feeling achieving even something this small. Someone once said that "Great opportunities to help others seldom come, but small ones sorround us everyday." I take the small opportunities everytime I can hoping that I can make a difference. I believe it does.

It’s been one year and a month exactly I last posted here. Amazing how easily one can get distracted especially when you have a million and one things in your to do list. However, the long hiatus in my blog site has been for good reasons. I am pleased to say that I am now certified PADI scuba diving instructor and have managed to achieve it within nearly a year of being Divemaster since November 2011. So I've been pretty busy really in a fun way. It has not been all easy getting through the Instructor course of course. The training was very helpful to prepare the candidates for the most awaited IS (Instructor Exams). There were sleepless nights, teary moments (mostly me doing the crying being the crybaby that I am) not to mention losing a beloved pet puppies during my IDC. :( But such is a life, I always find it difficult to accept how cruel the real world is. Anyways, I came out of it all very well, all the hard work and preparation paid off as I had passed my IE last September 29 and 30 of this year. I know that from then on, it will be highly unlikely for me to return to a desk job which I have not missed by the way since leaving Dubai more than a year ago. However, I do miss the pay haha! I'm still happy with my decision to come home and do what I'm doing here though. However, it leaves hubby very jealous as he's sat in his office in the Middle East while I'm happily sunning myself here in the tropics. It makes me feel bad...honest! It makes me feel even worse as he has supported me all the way in my scuba diving career. I have him to be ever so thankful for. I am now back home in Dumaguete staying with my Mum and the rest of the family (that includes the pets). Hopefully when I start earning as scuba instructor, I get to appreciate staying here for good. I'm quite optimistic with my future in the diving industry. As one of the PADI saying goes "... the possibilities are endless". However, I've still yet to find that out myself. :)