Celebrating 10 Years of Waking Up Early

It was 3rd of February 2008 when I first joined my current employer here in Dubai, United Arab of Emirates. The joining date should have been earlier but I was actually called at the later stage... I was told that our then HR recruiter forgot to call me to report to the office, it was our first GM who called me and asked me to come to office on Sunday, February 3, 2008 to sign all the papers and officially welcome me on board.

With all the excitements and overwhelming feeling I immediately stood up from bed and prepared my things and clothes to wear 2 days earlier! Yeah you read it right! Our then GM called me on Thursday late afternoon and I was on bed that time thinking of my next move in looking for a job! Hence, the excitement got me ready for work 2 days earlier hihi.

Anyhow, I got the job and offered me to work in DAFZA and was told that we will be transferring office in Sharjah after 3 months and I was lucky enough when we moved to Sharjah since I was living there. But after few years we were told that we need to move to Dubai Industrial City... friend I am a living proof that 'the struggle is real' waking up at 5:00 am and be ready at the pick-up point at 6:00 am to travel to DIC. It was a real struggle and never imagined that I will be travelling everyday, 5x a week from Sharjah to DIC; and before reaching our DIC office we need to make a longgg U-Turn to Abu Dhabi boarder just to reach our destination. And if you missed your company bus there is no way you can go to work unless you are willing to pay 300 Dirhams for taxi or just call your boss and say 'Sorry boss, I am sick and cannot make it today' or 'Sorry boss, I have an emergency and cannot come to work'. I honestly thought I cannot make it, there were many times I planned to leave my job and look for a new one... but I cannot find any job that will give me the same benefits I am getting that time. So to make the story short, I traveled, stayed and enjoyed myself despite of the long travel, early wake-up calls and long nights and 4 hours sleep. I managed to do this for years until...

After 4 years we moved again to a new location wherein all types of public transportation are available, you can use train, bus and taxis. Yehey! What a joy! I am now waking up a little later than before hehe yeah, I am still staying in Sharjah, you cannot blame me because the rent there is lower than in Dubai. But after few years I made a biggest decision of my life and I moved to Dubai with my husband and guess what??? It is 5 minutes walk to our office! Our apartment is expensive but I really enjoy giving myself more time to sleep and rest after all I am not getting younger, my body needs rest as well. Enough with all the struggles in travelling coz I am now happy where I am right now. But hey I thought my happiness and fulfillment at my work will start when we moved to this new office, but I was wrong... I've got new friends in the office as we merged with our other branches but I've got enemies as well or let's say slight backstabbers. They're not bad people, but they have poker faces and a slight not so good hidden agenda. But that did not stop me for working hard and give my best shot to this company I love... I learned to ignore what people will say, learned to say NO in a nice way that will not offend your colleagues and even learned to put everything in writing you will need this in future.

I've said so much about my experiences with this company but in every story there is a happy ending and a new beginning that you will look forward to. As of today, February 11, 2018, one week after I celebrated my 10th work anniversary in our company! Yippee! February 4, 2018 when our company gave me a surprise lunch party which I never expected and because of that I would like to share with you my happiness and my never ending gratitude for the appreciation that was given to me on that day onward and for the non-stop support I am still getting. I would like to show you the gifts I received but please don't think I am bragging nor showing off, I just wanted to share my happiness: