Good Night, Sweet Dreams…

“I am a man with a good wife and a handsome 3 year old boy”, I reminded myself before making a call to Daphne last night. Long distance seems to be taking a toll on my relationship, I mused. Or is it just a temporary fling to ward off homesickness, I argued with my conscience. I had almost dialed her number when I decided to cancel the call. I reached for my drawer and fished for the Marlboro pack. I looked at the sleek stick, few luxuries that I had allowed myself. If I was after all that desperate for someone to keep me company, a ciggy was not a bad idea. I lit the cigarette and tried to exhale Daphne out with the fumes. 

However, my solitude was not to remain uninterrupted. The cell phone rang. I looked at it. It flashed “ Daphne Calling.” I think I smiled as I said hello.

‘Kamusta ka na?’, Daphne asked. ‘Mabuti naman’, I replied. ‘I just thought I would call you. Did I disturb you? Well, I hope you were not asleep already.’ She hardly took a breath as she rattled on. I wondered what was it that was attracting me to her. All my romantic thoughts however vanished in thin air when she changed the conversation to banal bantering. Suddenly she brought up ‘money’ issue. I feared this would lead to ‘brain drain’ next. I promptly asked her if she was having any problem sending money home. She said, she did not have one bit of problem. Thanks to remit2home, at least there is one less thing to worry about, she sighed.  What are other things that you worry about? I queried. About you, she said teasingly. What! I was zapped.  I am just kidding, she replied instantly.  Paalam, she said and hung up in the next minute. 

I wonder if I am going to dream of her tonight. I say a quick good night to myself and turn off the lights.

Brain Drain

Well, you spell BRAIN DRAIN and I feel bewildered and angry at the same time. I feel like the entire world is accusing me of not working in my own country but having come to the US to earn money.When  Daphne spoke of brain drain, I was almost furious. But this was our first date. I tried to smile back. She was speaking of all the pyscho-social effects of leaving home. The pro-longed separation from your family and loved ones can change relationships, she said. God! That reminded me of my sweet love who was far away in the Philippines.

“Yes, things change”, I mumbled.

“It is not just long distance relationship”, Daphne interrupted. “My mom and dad both were working away from home. My mom was a cleaner in Hong Kong, while my dad worked as a nurse in the US.”

“Ah!” I sipped some coffee. “But Filipinos have great career opportunities these days. It isn’t only blue collared work overseas”, I made my point.

“Well”, she said. Her chin tilted upwards with pride, “My dad is a doctor, but you see what he got when he went to the US, he became a nurse. Yes, you call it under employment!”, she thumped her fist on the table. There was a little storm in my coffee cup. I looked at her with the same mixed feelings- little bewildered and little angry. I tried to change the topic. I asked her if she would send money home. She said she would. Her parents had not saved enough for their retirement. So, she was going to support them.

“I will however save money for my old age”, she exulted. “I will transfer a fixed amount every month to my Pinoy account.  And yes, thanks for introducing me to remit2home, she said finishing her Latte.

I signaled the waiter to get the check, wondering if I should leave a tip!

Birthday Party

Last night I met Daphne at my friend’s birthday bash. She is a very sweet girl. What made me notice her was her waist-long hair. Generally Filipinas get there hair cut short just after a couple of months they spent overseas. Well, not that I am against short haircut, but I have a soft corner for long hair. My mother has lovely hair but it is so hot in the Philippines that she has to put them up all the time. In the air-conditioned overseas life I am sure she would have let her hair down. My sweetheart also has long hair.Coming back to the birthday party we had a lot of fun. We shared our experiences with the ones who were new in the US. We told them how we have been managing and managing so well. Girls were exchanging addresses of hair salons!! 

After sometime, Daphne asked us how to send money home. That was when I spoke of Remit2Home. I elaborated my experience of transferring money online. Well, what we generally look for is a service provider we can trust our hard earned money with and who will give us good rates. ‘In fact if you register you will get 25 minutes of free calling time’, I had stressed towards the end. Anyways the food that followed was awesome. It was a great time all in all!

Rest In Peace

Deanne, my friend, who works with me in California, lost her father to a fatal heart attack a couple of months ago. Hearing the news, though shattered, she held her own and got into action mode to make arrangements for the funeral. She has been the sole bread winner of her family ever since her father retired from the teaching profession a decade ago.

On my recommendation, she registered to remit2home and transferred enough money to take care of the funeral costs. She then booked a ticket on the next flight to the Philippines and handled the entire final rites on her own.

She in fact called me up once she reached her hometown to thank me for my support and for suggesting remit2home for her overseas money transfer.

You’re welcome Deanne!May your dad’s soul rest in peace!

Making life simpler

The other day I decided to make use of the standing instructions power tool on remit2home for paying off my house loan EMI. All I had to do was log into remit2home and avail of the Recurring Payments facility. That’s all!

This facility allows me to schedule monthly and quarterly online payments in advance. Since it’s automatic, I just have to place my instructions once and forget about it. The funds will be transferred as per my instructions and I’ll be posted on the status.

My surprise Valentine’s gift

Using remit2home, I was able to transfer money to my sister’s Filipino account the other day. Once the money is transferred, I’ve requested her to pick an elegant platinum chain with a pretty diamond pendant to go with it. She’s been instructed to give it to my sweetheart as the clock strikes 12 on Valentine’s Day this year.

To the most beautiful woman I know!

Demands of being a parent

Edwin turns a year older this month. My wife wants to surprise him by gifting him a desktop, introducing him to the tech-savvy world at a very young age. He’s shown this inclination and fascination towards fancy gizmos since sometime and my wife feels this is the right time to teach him a lot of stuff that we learnt much later in life. So, as usual she’ll require cash for this gift. Needless to say, I’ll have to make use of remit2home’s services for transferring the money required.

That’s an additional expenditure, but I hope it brings joy to my anak lalaki.

A trustworthy name

With a team of innovative, passionate and experienced professionals from the Financial Services and Payments sector managing Times Financial Services, Remit2home promises to offer Oversees Filipino Workers (OFWs) the fastest, easiest and safest way to transfer money to the Philippines.

That’s exactly the reason I trusted only remit2home for remitting to my Pinoy account. It’s been a mutually beneficial relationship since long.

Tracking the progress

I just discovered the ‘status tracker’ option in remit2home. By using this option, I can conveniently track the status of my remittance online. This way I get to know when the beneficiary receives my funds.

Using this tool I can also check the history of all my past transactions, just like my bank passbook.

All I ever needed to do was log in and check the status of the transaction. Ain’t that cool?

Giving in to my wife’s demands

Women! They make your world go round n round.

The other day my wife very conveniently put forth an idea that was running in the back of her head for some time. She felt that since my child was now growing up and attending school now, she could afford to devote a little less time to him as compared to earlier. She wanted to put her spare time to good use and after consulting a few of her friends, she decided on a business prospect that works well for housewives.

Now comes the best part… She wanted me to invest the lump sum in her business, and that too in a short span of time. Luckily for me, the few shares that I had bought a couple of years ago had really matured, thanks to the steadily climbing stock market. It meant it was time for me to sell them so that I could bring a smile to my wifey’s face.

I then had to transfer the money to the Philippines. Who else than remit2home for the remittance? I informed her that I had transferred the cash and that she needed to confirm after three working days whether the money had reached her account.

Voila! The money reached her well on time. She’s one happy lady, now that she can start her ‘own’ business.

And life goes on…