It Rained Cats & Dogs!

This morning, I was awakened by the sound of thunder and the of rain's constant beating on my air conditioner outside. When I opened the window, it was heavily raining. I then hurried up to go outside the apartment to see what's going on out there, knowing that our street can easily be flooded with a mere drizzle. Rain is not that rare in Saudi Arabia, it happened many times before and much worse than this, but still it excites me to actually see rain falls down from the sky here in the desert, basically. Anyway, this is what I saw when I went outside - a filthy pond.

The street was flooded. I was afraid that the water might enter the muffler of my car, so I transferred it to an elevated place somewhere near the wall of our apartment. Now I'm just worried about the brakes. I hope they still work.

Rain, typhoon, hurricane, cyclone, whatever you want to call it, they don't bother me at all. They can never bother me - I'm from The Philippines - I'm used to it. This is nothing compared to what I've seen and experienced. It's just that I'm not in the Philippines. God, I wish the government of Saudi Arabia would construct a sewage system in the city, so that every time it rains, the water could flow freely and go somewhere else, instead of just waiting for it to slowly dry out.

I wish early morning tomorrow when we go to the hospital, the water would dissipate completely, (which I think is impossible). Ohh! I wish it would just literally rain cats and dogs in Jeddah.

Mi Nochebuena

Last December 24 was a tiring day for me, even though there's no patient to take care of in the hospital, I still have to finish the 8 hours OJT for that day, that was from 2 to 10 o'clock in the evening. It was the last 2 remaining OJT's in the hospital, the next one will be next week, December 31, New Year's Eve.

Now, if you are wondering what are those strange white things we are clasping as though they were a trophy on the photo above, well those are plastic plates; we were invited for a Christmas Eve dinner at a friend's house, we were holding them because the place was small, there were lots of people and the table was quite small too.  That's where we went right after we left the hospital around 10 PM.

The food was delicious! My favorite was the Calamares and the one with quail's eggs, I think it's called '7 Seasons'?, (Yummy!) We really enjoyed it.  There were lots of new faces and some old friends too, but unfortunately we had to leave early because I was not feeling well, I was coughing severely, and could not even sing at the karaoke even if I'd stayed, (damn!,) and besides, one of my friends will have to report for work the next day (yes, on Christmas day,) and I still have to drop him to his apartment. Thanks Ben and Joel for that wonderful dinner!

So, that was how I spent my Nochebuena. That was better than last year, where I just spent it infront of my computer. Hopefully next year will be much better. Eventhough the (Filipino) Christmas season is not yet over, (not until the 'Epiphany' on January 6,)  I'm now looking forward to the New Year. I just hope that 2011 will be a good year for all of us. MERRY CHRISTMAS & A HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL!

Trivia: Nochebuena means Christmas Eve. It's just one word, not Noche Buena, otherwise you're talking about a Mexican beer, a brand of cheese or a theatrical production.

Merry Christmas 2010!

5th Place On PEBA Int'l Photo Contest

This photo won 5th place in the recently concluded PEBA (Pinoy Expat/OFW Blog Awards) last December 16, 2010 which was held at the Teatrino Promenade in Manila. I have 5 entries in the competition, 4 of which made it to the Top 50. This year's photo contest's themes were about LOVE, FAMILY, LABOR, HEROISM, COURAGE, OFW ABROAD. Thanks PEBA!

Click HERE to see the rest of the Top 10 Winners!

PEBA On Facebook

A Glimpse Of My OJT

I really enjoyed our OJT in the hospital. We've seen first hand how things really work inside the hospital by assisting and observing the proper nursing procedures. Each one of us was assigned to different patients in the hospital with different medical conditions ranging from simple fever, to severe heart conditions and a coma patient due to cerebral hemorrhage.

We also get to use what we've learned in school, especially the clinical skills, like getting the vital signs (e.g. blood pressure, pulse rate, respiration rate and temperature) of the patient, bed bath, bed making, using  body mechanics, transferring of the patient, ROM (Range Of Motion) and a lot more. We were also taught the admission and discharge procedures.

I was first assigned to a patient suspected of having a dengue fever, but after some test, it turned out negative and was discharged after a few days. My second patient have a condition called a bilateral central peribronchial pneumonia, he is still in the hospital as I'm writing this post.

Aside from our own assigned patients, we're also allowed to assist and observe our fellow students with their patient, especially when their patient needs a bed bath, NGT feeding (to a coma patient), toileting i.e.. We have a check list of things that we have to accomplish by the end of our OJT, and should be signed by our clinical instructors and the nurse on duty.

To Ms. Silna Faniega (who's always been with us for the first 2 days of our OJT),  we just learned so much from you Ma'am, you just don't know how excellent of a teacher you are. Thank you, you are so amazing!

Another Orphaned Kitten Rescued!

When I was driving to Hera'a street searching for a photo subject, around 5:00 PM, I saw an orphaned lame kitten under the Hera'a - Madinah road flyover, infront of CityMax Department Store. That poor kitten would not survive there for long. If he's not going to get run over by a car, he will definitely die of hunger and thirst. I then asked my friend to get him so that we could feed and bathe him before setting him free at a safer place.

After giving much thought, I decided to let the kitten stay in our place for a few weeks, so that he could have a little more time to recover from his condition before letting him go. Since I found him on Novemver 1st, I called him 'Undas'.  Since we did not have cat food for kittens, Undas had to be content with tuna for his inaugural meal. In fact I just snatched the plate away after his belly threatens to burst. Oh and he loves Almarai milk too. One drawback though, he annoys all his seniors with his piercing cry that he had a first taste of karate from Miss Ken Lee. He is definitely an addition to my already big feline family. Some of them had only memories to stay, in fact I still miss them. I don't know if they were able to survive outside. You know, I could not keep all of them together.

Vote For My Photos On the National Geographic Channel Asia Photo Contest 2010!

Please vote for my photos on the National Geographic Channel Asia's Great Migrations photo contest on Facebook. You just have to 'LIKE' each photos, but before you can like them, you have to 'LIKE' the National Geographic Channel Asia page on Facebook first. As simple as that. Here are my entries, and please vote on all of them.

Title: The Cleaners

Category: Race To Survive

Location: Jeddah Saudi Arabia

Caption:  Photo taken at the paking of Andalus Mall, Jeddah, K.S.A. February 20, 2010.

VOTE

Title: Stray Cat On A Trash Bin

Category: Feast Or Famine

Location: Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

Caption: A Stray cat on a trash bin infront of my apartment.

VOTE

Title: Wanderlust

Category: Born To Move

Location: Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

Caption: Photo taken inside the detention cell in Jeddah, K.S.A. Nov. 7, 2009.

VOTE

Thumbs Up: Juana Change - "Children Of God" (Video)

Juana Change is back! This time, her video deals with one of the most controversial topics in the Philippines right now, The Reproductive Health Bill. The title of her new video is, "Mga Anak Ng Dios" ( Children Of God ). Watch it!

Facebook: I SUPPORT THE REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH BILL!

Sign The Petition HERE!

Vote For Me On 'Who Are You With Nikon?'

Guys, please vote for my photo entry, "I am A Tall Fountain" on 'Who are you with Nikon?' photo contest. Follow the link below, allow apps. to your Facebook, (you got to have a Facebook account), wait a moment and when the photo appears, just click the yellow 'LIKE' button (once) at the top. Some say that the 'LIKE' button don't work when they click on it. You need to click it just 1 time or else the second click will un-click the the first one. Thank you and God bless!

This photo has been previously posted in my photoblog, 'CAMERA NI CABRERA' last July 9, 2010 with the title, 'Kiosk By The Jeddah Fountain'. You can view it HERE.

Click HERE to vote!