Before I applied to work for abroad, I asked God a sign if what I am about to do is according to his will. When I was praying in the church, I saw a red ribbon and I immediately picked and kept it myself.

It might look like an ordinary ribbon for some people but for me, this is the sign that I’ve been waiting for. Later that day, I saw a post by YHMD Agency that they are hiring for workers to work abroad. I immediately went to the said agency to push my luck and gave it a try.

After three days, the agency texted me to have my medical checkup. And for the next three weeks, I worked on the papers necessary to complete the work requirements mandated by the agency. At first, my family did not support me in my decision to work abroad but I sticked to my verdict. I just feel like this work is for me and I cannot afford to let this opportunity pass.

It was on March 28, 2018 when I flew to Manila to complete other necessary requirements such as biometrics, PDOS, and VISA. Honestly, I and my family had a hard time dealing with the expenses of my stay in Manila. The food and transportation expenses are significantly higher that my usual expenses in Cebu. But thankfully, I still survived.

April 14, 2018 when we finally flew to Saudi together with my fellow Filipinos. We are hired to work as room attendant but in our first week, we are required to undergo a quick training not only about the chores but also about the native language of Saudi.

At the moment, we are enjoying free stay, food, cellphone, simcard, and healthcard. However, there is no free internet in the place that we are currently staying. We have to pay an equivalent of 2,000 pesos for our pocket wifi data. The hotel that we are working has free wifi but we are prohibited to use smartphones on our entire duty.

One of the things I love being here are the FREE FOODS! It is normal for guests to give tokens to the room attendants and I just couldn't count the calories I've been eating since I got here.

So that's it for now, I hope I have the energy to post daily so that my family in Philippines could just read my daily updates through my blog.

Sending my virtual hugs and kisses from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia,

@jmaeunabs1