the new philippine heroes

Hello again everybody im back after a three week hiatus for a little vacation. :) it was a good break after a year of hardwork. :) and of all my vacations i have to say that this one gave me a lot of realizations. :) first realization of was of being how rich the greek culture is and how much it has influenced the world and especially the roman culture. As they say “the glory that was greece, the grandeur that was rome.” and how true it is. :) and the next i will explain further in this article. :) the first part of the vacation was a land tour around athens, kalambaka, meteora, delphi and olympia. :) and the second part was a cruise around the greek islands mykonos, patmos, heraklion, rhodes and santorini. :) the cruise ship had around 2,000 more or less passengers and it had 432 staff members of which more than a hundred were filipinos. :) and the filipino crew members recognizing us being their “kabayans” they were friendly and were asking about how things are back home and told us about their lives in the ship which really touched me. Compared to working in the philippines there is no doubt that they are paid better working abroad but the sad part was that they were in europe and all their expenses were in euro but they were paid in us dollar(greeks are smart eh?). :) they usually have contracts of 8 months and mind you there is no day off and they work 12-13 hours a day. Tsktsk i remember a waiter telling us that sometimes he or most of his fellowmen in the ship get home sick and are too tired to keep on working but just receiving one text message from loved ones back home and it is enough to keep them going. I was really touched when i heard that. Then the first filipino staff member that i met in the ship was mike the head bartender and his story was that he sends back 80%-90% of his salary back home because he has three kids who are going to school. Can you imagine such sacrifice. He was also a champion in a singapore bartending event and he is even given a 30minute bartending and juggling exhibition in the ship for its passengers and i curiously asked him if he is given extra because of that skill. Then he told me that he didnt ask any extra pay from the company for that but in exchange he just asked that his brothers also be taken in the company for work and he has three brothers also working in different departments for the same company. Such a touching story. :) he even gave me a hundred dollars to bring back home and left me the choice of jewelry that will fit his budget for his wife because it was her birthday. :) then another was a waitress from iloilo also and she told us of her plans that she was going to save enough money to buy a van for her mother back home to start a rent a car business and help the whole family. :) and she also sent a $100 through us for her mother. It was really touching to hear stories of our heroes abroad. They are truly our heores for if it wasnt for the ofws our country wouldve been in much worse shape. They have basically helped sustain our economy. Helping kids go to school, helping build homes and helping millions of other filipinos live better lives. :) the government should do something so that our fellowmen wont be forced to go abroad to find work. More jobs should be generated here in the country! :) the ofws are our modern day heores! Long live the ofws! Long live the filipino and the filipino spirit! :) God bless and take care. :)