Doesn't time fly when you are having fun!
We have had a lot of fun in the last 10 days!
We ran the first of our new Customer Care for Security officers- the first classroom based training since COV 19 reached our shores in March. Bapco has ended the contract with Al Moayed Security and recruited 150 Bahraini Security Officers so Ate Hazel and I are training them all in Customer Care in October to December ( 8 at a time so they can socially distance). The posters that Chester Designed well and they seemed to enjoy their first class. Next they are going to Joe and Barry for English classes.
At home I cooked my famous Baboy and Manok Adobo for Corleen, Jake and Joshua one weekend . Last weekend I made Anis's famous Butter chicken curry and Rehanna's tomato and egg curry, green bean curry , Masor Dal and Raita, Kulcha, Paratha, Garlic Naan and Popadoms and chutneys and we invited our Janitor's Rakesh and Sumesh to come and join us for lunch and Gori ( sadly she had to work when a colleague was taken sick- we will invite you to our Christmas Lunch Gori!) . Joshua also had a Roast chicken dinner, his favourite, after he wrote all the envelopes for the Christmas cards and the 2021 calendars which are on the way from the UK.
Preparations for my move to Palawan continued- I took 3 bags of items I no longer need to the BSPCA charity shop in Saar, gave away various clothes, safety shoes , books and framed pictures, and continued to recycle old paperwork I no longer need. Rakesh and I spent a day shredding all the old ILM 2 and 3 materials as they will obviously no longer be needed. Good luck Evan with your new superior programme. Like I care! It is no longer my problem in just 70 working days.
Shji and I were busy in the garden. We moved the remaining plants around to replace the gaps left by all the plants. Then we filled all our spare pots with compost and Shji grew bedding plants in them ready to sell in January before I go. There are still lots of plants and compost left- just leave a message in the comments with your email address and I will get back to you.
I ran some fun on line ILM sessions for group 30 on "Understanding Change" and "Briefing the work team" and, after several months, and with help from our new Manager and my colleague John we were able to get them recorded for those ( half the group) who missed them. We ended October with Group 29 who are a month ahead of group 30, and they made their Change presentations on 27 October, which we recorded and assessed, and very good they were too. The next, and final, presentations are at the end of November with group 30 , and those from group 29 who missed their session. I have 20 presentations to assess from 7 am to 5 pm without a break- talk about working me hard to the very end!
We did have a 3 day holiday at the end of October so I managed to catch up on some of my chores with the help of Joshua, Jake and Corleen. I also had a Thai friend to stay and we taught each other how to cook different Thai dishes and he showed off his Thai Massage skills. Sadly all the Massage parlours here have been shut due to COV 19 since March and so the many Masseurs have had no work or money for 7 months. I really don't know how they have survived. I have 5 who I have known for a few years and have had them to stay and provided them with food and some money to keep them alive .
This last week I have met with the Dietician ( things are not going well on that front) , and I finally caught up with my marking and delivered 2 more Security Programmes.So work wise everything is up to date. Sadly the pressure of week, COV 19 and BMP meant 3 more people dropped out of ILM 3 so that caused a lot of work reorganizing the project groups ( we now have 3 instead of 4, one with 6 people, one with 5 and one with 4). Their early lack of response meant they have wasted a month but the end date, to quote Hafedh, is "Non Negotiable ". I have sent out the details for their next session on Communication in November when they will give Joe and I an update on their projects , and Zainab is configuring new Belbin team reports for the new team once everyone completes their Belbin team role inventory. After that they have one final session on Coaching in December and then I hand them over to Evan and John to finalise the projects by March 2020.
So we have 70 days to go, and my priorities are to get my Philippine retiree Visa, finalise the payments on my house in Puerto Princessa ( Daniw gave me the wrong bank account number so the first reservation fee did not go and now the first two months rent is due) , and finalise my removals to Palawan early in December. I first wrote to our Human Resources department to arrange this on 5th August and today its 5th November and in 4 months they have done NOTHING! So today I am calling the removal company that Mike and Martin used and will arrange it myself and take the 243,802 peso in my final pay!
Then once all thats out of the way I can enjoy our National Day holiday in December, my last, and prepare for Christmas, also my last in Bahrain. The cards are written , the calendars for 2021 are on their way and the other gifts are wrapped and I already have received 2 Christmas cards! As I took all my vacation in January 2020 in Palawan I will be working over Christmas and New year this year, but hope to take those who looked after me when I was ill out for a special lunch at the Sofitel on Christmas Day ( COV 19 permitting)
Sadly the guy who was going to be my Houseboy in Palawan , Alvin, dropped out as he was taken ill . The good news is that I soon found a replacement who is going to share my house, with his girlfriend Jhoanna, who I sponsor at college already. Now I will sponsor Jullymar as well so he can return to Western Philippines University where he is studying Criminology. That means I have a clean house and Jhoanna will take care of all our Laundry! I also have someone to unpack my stuff when it arrives and look after my dog when I am on vacation.
As my friends who have retired recently said "Time flies once you hand your notice in" and I cannot wait until we only have 60 days to go!
Until then thanks to Chester for designing the new Countdown Poster and to the guy who let me use his photo as the background, Serjules G. Manabat. He is a teacher in the southern part of Palawan and lives on Brookes Point. When I saw his pictures on Facebook I was amazed and when we chatted he told me the school teaches indigenous kids and is in the mountains. I asked if I could visit when I move there and he told me it was a 6 hour trek from the road. It reminded me of how spoilt our children are in Bahrain being picked up by a bus and taken to school. He told me that many of his pupils walk for 2 hours just to get to school as there are no roads in the area. Unfortunately the area was hit by a bad storm as we were preparing the poster and he was unable to get back up to the school to take another photo for us. I really am looking forward to visiting this beautiful part of Palawan when I move there next year.
Until then:
Mahal Kita
Ingat Palagi
and Kita kits- in 70 days!
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Hello, I am The British Kabayan! Feel free to read my stories.
So nice to follow your journey into retirement.....where is your dog? Name? Breed? Pics? 😊 Would love to go on that 6 hour trek....
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