Santa in Lihir Island, Papua New Guinea Newcrest Office

My Mother

An enormous dish of fried rice fed more or less 15,000 people in Baguio City during the
annual celebration of the 8th Hotel, Restaurant and Tourism (HRT) Week Baguio Rice Festival last
Saturday 03 September 2011. It was served in a 7.62-meter dish, with 13 recipes prepared by
nine restaurants in Baguio. 500 kg of rice was used in the preparation.

The disciple walked up to the lake. When he reached it, he noticed that some people were washing clothes in the water and, right at that moment, a bullock cart started crossing through the lake. As a result, the water became very muddy, very turbid. The disciple thought, “How can I give this muddy water to Buddha to drink!” So he came back and told Buddha, “The water in there is very muddy. I don’t think it is fit to drink.”

After about half an hour, again Buddha asked the same disciple to go back to the lake and get him some water to drink. The disciple obediently went back to the lake. This time he found that the lake had absolutely clear water in it. The mud had settled down and the water above it looked fit to be had. So he collected some water in a pot and brought it to Buddha.

Buddha looked at the water, and then he looked up at the disciple and said, “See what you did to make the water clean. You let it be … and the mud settled down on its own – and you got clear water… Your mind is also like that. When it is disturbed, just let it be. Give it a little time. It will settle down on its own. You don’t have to put in any effort to calm it down. It will happen. It is effortless.”

What did Buddha emphasize here? He said, “It is effortless.” Having ‘peace of mind’ is not a strenuous job; it is an effortless process. When there is peace inside you, that peace permeates to the outside. It spreads around you and in the environment, such that people around start feeling that peace and grace.

A stroll along the food stalls of Wangfujing Snack Street during my stay in Beijing,  reveals delicacies of every conceivable kind including this kebab full of scorpions. My eldest son tasted 1 kebab worth 20 Yuan but me….never

“ Coming from a two year employment in a smal West African oil-rich country Equatorial Guinea, I never imagined I could set foot on the culture-rich and one of the oldest civilization- China.”

The joys and the privilege of moving from around the world is the benefit of an overseas worker. We tend to see beautiful places while earning. Not many people from the billion populace of the seven continents has had the experience of such wonderful feat, and I am  fortunate to be one.

Beijing, anciently known as Peking, is such a splendid place to travel for its opulent palaces of the old dynasties. It is, in my perspective, a cradle of one great empire that grew from endurance. The books can tell how colorful its history was.  How much more if one is able to stay for six months and saw wonders of the world we only see on the print and visual media. This is the best thing that happened to me for my employment with Fluor Shanghai, an experience which I would forever treasure and cherish.

Earth has north and south poles, we have night and day, physics has several laws of contradiction.  It is a nature call to have happiness and sadness, thus despite those blissful moments, there comes a feeling of  emptiness which envelops my psyche in some inquisitive moments.  I really am  expecting a challenging work  because it is my first time to work in Mining.  It is well another feather to my cap in addition to my experience in High Rise building construction, Infrastructure and Civil Works, Petrochemical Plant Construction, Upstream projects such as Drilling and Oil and Gas where I honed my Project Controls skills. Sometimes, what you expect is the least to happen and what you need is just to ride the boat and go with the current. Read more…..