i had lunch today with the same people who made me so nervous yesterday, i actually thought my day was forever ruined. i went home feeling so down but my sister told me some really good things that made me change my attitude. she said, that of course, as an employee, i have to say yes to everything i was asked to do. second, there is a purpose in everything that happens and to trust that God will never want to harm us. from then on, i remembered something i read once that i should apply to my life now:
to change something, change the way you see things.
today, when i arrived at the office, i was still feeling nervous but i forced myself to look at the brighter side, to think that everything has a purpose, and said a little prayer for guidance. from then on, everything went on smoothly. i might not have answered the many questions they posed on me but i'm glad that even for just a bit, i got our visitors interested in what i've presented. so too much for an introduction. suffice it to say, i'm happy everything turned out well today.
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at lunch today, we were joined by our spanish and english visitors. (one thing to grateful for is meeting the spanish guy because i was able to apply my '
hola, me llamo cielo.') lunch was late and i didn't get to talk much but it was fun. i loved the exchange of stories from the two guys and i find it very interesting to see how people live their lives, too. sometimes, it is fun to listen to relatively old people's stories. their lives are like part of history - not too great to have changed the world so much, but you can see how it affected their choices in life. let me share with you their stories.
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englishman's stories
i don't smoke because when i was fourteen, i thought i'd try it. i got a pipe, bought a tobacco, lit it up, breathed in the smoke. then i breathed in again. i didn't realize that the pipe had varnish on it so i was also breathing it in. in a few minutes, i turned green and stayed in the hospital for days.
i've already visited your country before, in the mid-80's, just after the toppling down of the marcos dictatorship. i tell you, it wasn't the right time to visit the country. we went to manila, siquijor then cebu. i tell you, siquijor was one of the nicest place i've ever been to, with white sand beach. cebu wasn't much because there were plenty of people. yet it was also weird because we were the only ones in the resort. makes you think what's wrong with the resort now.
(spanish guy quips: like in a restaurant, when you're alone in there. makes you wonder if the food isn't good or what.)
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spanish's stories
i hope we could find work here because i don't want to go back to somewhere like egypt. i don't want to bring along my ham everytime i go there.
in the old times, in the basque region of spain, there they built what was to be known as the country's loyalty. however, there came a time when the basque changed their minds about supporting it that they wanted to create their own spain. this started the guerilla, which is what you also find in your country. there was a time that they were popular with the people because during franco's dictatorship, they were the only ones who got the courage to shoot a policeman. everybody were crying 'bravo, bravo.' but now, the guerilla is almost no more. this is because nobody supports them anymore. i'd say, the only solution to this problem is that we have to educate this people. they are the ones who do not know anything but hold a pistol and shoot. give them a good job that pays well, a woman to marry and children to care for. you'll be surprised that there won't be any guerillas left.
i love wine that one day, while i was cooking with a friend, i brought out one of the best wine in the house, poured some for the ladies waiting for us in the living room, and hurried back to the kitchen with the wine. i said to my friend, this bottle, we will share!
colombia is one of the hardest place to work in. there was once a time when our company bought five energy generators in the country. two, we only can go by helicopters escorted by the army. the one, we can't really go to because of the guerillas. the country is beautiful but the work was dangerous.
my son, who studied engineering in france, was required to work in a factory. the school told them it would build character for them to see and experience labor conditions. his son went to vietnam to do his factory work, bought a motorcycle, and cruised his way through vietnam with it. he had a girlfriend there but when he got back to egypt, he had another girlfriend again. crazy.
