Saying Goodbye to 2013

Another fresh new year is here. Another year to live. To overpower our worries, doubts and fears. To love and laugh and give. To forget and forgive. To commit mistakes and learn from them. To improve ourselves and others. So let us be thankful that God continues to bless us another year.

However, my fellow friends, let us not forget all the incidents happened in our life this year, 2013. Let us ask ourselves. Did we achieve our goals? Did we manage to improve ourselves? Did we manage to fight and win the challenges which we faced? Did we hurt anybody? Did we forget and forgive our enemies? Are we happy? Are we satisfied? So let us look back our past, my fellow friends.
 
We all know that many things happened, not only in our lifes but also to our country. This year, the Philippines faced many tragedies, just like the crisis in Mindanao, the earthquake in Cebu and Bohol, the Typhoon 'Yolanda' which struck Tacloban and other incidents. Yes, many people's lives were changed, many people's love ones, homes were taken from them in just a blink of an eye, and this still marked in minds of many. Others were traumatized, others steal and kill to survive. How could we forget these incidents. But even though, the Philippines faced these problems, we still manage to stand up and fight. And that is something the world sees. That my friends is something we the Filipinos should be proud of. But let us look at the bright side, there are also many things that made Philippines a proud country right.

Not everytime, we will be successful, there is always failures. Yes, it is impossible that a person would not experience failures, right? Because I believe that before you succeed you always fail first. There are no people in the world, who did not fail. So don't lose hope my friends. We have another year. That is why God gave us another year right, to improve, to succeed. But let us not forget that to accomplish great things, we must not only act, but also dream: not only plan, but also believe. Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.

And for me, well, I could say that, I am very thankful to God for all the blessings, I receive, the patience, the strength, and all things that made Jeff, the Jeff you know. I am very thankful to my bestfriend in Brunei and my friends and families in Brunei and the Philippines, who is always been supportive and always there for me during my brightest and darkest hour and always making me happy. And yes, I faced many challenges, I learned from my mistakes, I accomplished many things, and I realized many things. And yes, I feel proud also that I helped other people with their problems. Thank you for trusting this Big Jeff. So always remember Jeff is always here to help, for you are not alone and I am not alone. But hahaha Unfortunately, I did not manage to fully accomplished one of my 2013 new year's resolution, and that is to get thin, hahaha maybe next year. How could I ever forget this year. The year, that I faced my new life in the Philippines and would you look at that, I survived.

Soon, the year 2013, will end, we will face another year,  another challenge, another journey for our journey, doesn't stop here, we must continue to fight, do not lose hope and continue to have faith to our God Almighty. Remember, on the first day of January is the first blank page of a 365 page book. So write a good one hahahaha. Good bye 2013, and Hello 2014.

Happy New Year to all my friends and wish u all the best. GOD BLESS YOU ALL.

The Time for All

Would you look at that.... another year will end soon and Christmas is just around the corner.... Are you ready for Christmas? So let me wish you all a Merry Christmas and have a wonderful vacation yall.

So what is Christmas? Well It is the time for happiness, a time for joy, a time for love, a time for caring , a time for giving, a time for peace, a time for forgiveness,  a time for a feast (My favourite), a time for enjoyment, a time for relaxation, a time for our families, a time for our friends, and it is a time for all.

Yes we could say, Christmas is a time for all, and that is what makes it special. One thing that I mentioned before is that Christmas is a time for happiness, joy, love, giving and peace. Yes that is what I love about Christmas, everybody is smiling. I love people who keep on smiling and of course receiving and giving gifts is also my favourite, I mean who doesn't love it? Hahaha, If you have problems, forget it? Come on, you should enjoy. Love problems??? Well, Christmas is a time for love right, Is doesn't matter, whoever he is or she is, forget them for a while, remember many people around you care for you and love you, you are never been alone. Okay, be happy, It is Christmas.

And another thing which I love about Christmas, is the colourful surroundings and of course the different types of food, gosh I am excited. Yes, the Santa claus, the Christmas trees with a star on top of them, the Christmas lights, people caroling. It only happens once a year. Happiness is everywhere.

But what makes it more special is that, it is a time to forgive and forget. Sometimes it is hard to forgive and forget something bad, that a person did to you or to your friends. But we should keep in mind, that there are no perfect person on Earth except for our Almighty God. We all make mistakes, and that is human nature. We should learn to forget and forgive. Even I find it difficult to forget and forgive, well thanks to my friends, they made me realized that, what if the person I dislike, have problems, or whatsoever, what if, I am not in the right side, so I guess I should just let it be and forget. And it is Christmas, probably it is the right time to forgive and yes to  whoever you are, I forgive you.

Yes, indeed there are many things that makes Christmas  special. What makes Christmas even merrier, is that if you spend it with your family and friends. I just love spending my Christmas with all people who I care. I love eating with them, exchanging gifts with them, laughing with them. You see, the feeling during Christmas is something I can't explain, probably you might feel it that way too.

Christmas is time for all, Christmas is not just a simple holiday, but it is holiday with many purpose as I said earler, and that is what makes it very special. Be happy, forget and forgive, enjoy and give, for that is why Christmas is made at the first place right.

Merry Christmas to all and God Bless you my friends.

Our Ignorance

In our world today, ignorance is one of the common things we humans possess. But first of all, what is ignorance? Simply, it means lack of knowledge, education, or awareness. Many would say that ignorance is one of the biggest problems we all face nowadays.

Well I would like to ask you some questions. How much do you know about your government? How much do you know your country's history? How much do you know your rights as a citizen? How much do you care for your country? How much do you know your friends? How much do you know yourselves?

Why do you think I would waste my time to ask you those questions? Well the reason is that, I want you, my fellow friends, to think again and ask yourselves, do we know the answers to those questions? Well probably the answer is 'NO'.

To be honest, I am writing this because I am also a victim of my own ignorance. We must admit it, we are sometimes ignorant of our surroundings.

Sometimes we would judge people because of their looks and attitudes, sometimes we would criticize others for their actions, sometimes we would blame our government with their faults, sometimes we would forget others who really done something significant and ready to die for our country and instead we care more about a celebrity, sometimes we would do something which is against the law and sometimes we would do something that would not only hurt ourselves but also others.

Do you think, when you criticize, blame, or judge, are you always at the right side? Well think again, how can you be 100% sure with your conclusion? We must understand that in a scientific method, we can't conclude until we make observations, analyzations, experiments. Right? So be sure when you judge, or better don't judge.

Sometimes there are people who never smile and never talk to anyone,  maybe because he is protecting himself, but probably we would conclude that this person is a bad person. Sometimes there will be reports saying that this politicians are accused of corruption, but probably we would criticize him, but how can we be sure that he actually did it, it has not been prove yet. And yes I became a victim of judging.

Now, are we going to continue to close our eyes and be ignorant of our surroundings?  Are we going to let our ignorance overrule us? Are we going to accept our downfall? We should stop it, open our eyes, look for the truth and see the real truth. Let us help others and lead them to the right path. We can always change, it is never been too late to change. If we all will change, then we can make the world a better place. So remember my friends, don't let our ignorance take us away for it will only reward you harm.

Thank you for reading sirs and maams and thank you to my fellow friend, Lance, for giving me inspiration to write this blog. GOD BLESS YOU ALL....

The Leader

First of all, I would like to dedicate my 8th blog for this special day in the history of the Philippines, because today is the day one of our heroes was born, Andres Bonifacio. Its been 150 years since Bonifacio was born and still the Filipinos continue to honour this day.

Let me tell you a little background about Bonifacio. He is said to be father of Katipunan or also known as K.K.K, which is a secret organization which seeks and hungers for independence from the Spaniards for Bonifacio believes that the only way to achieve independence was to overthrow the Spanish Government ruling in the Philippines. Bonifacio is a great person and a great leader who have many dreams for his country and his fellow Filipinos. He inspired the Filipinos to join him and fight for their country. He opened the eyes of the other countries who is under the rule of another country that it is unfair that other countries is ruling their country and he is the one that made others realized that the 'Filipinos are worth dying for' just like Senator Ninoy Aquino, the father of our current president. That my friends is a great leader.

So what do you think is a good leader? Does a person with good looks makes them a good leader? Hahahah Of course not. Well if you would notice, most leaders in the world are good looking except of course for Hitler. hahahaha. But don't get me wrong my friends. The truth is I admire Hitler. Suprising? Well because Hitler has many talents and espeacially his expertise in public speaking that would really touch the hearts of the people listening to him. However he used all of this things not for good but for evil.

You see I never agree that some people said that not all can be a leader because I believe that everybody can be a leader because there are no people on earth who is born to be a leader. You have to earn it, work hard for it to make yourself become a leader. Agree? Well what does a leader must have and must do to make him a great leader?

A leader is a person that won't leave his subjects at any times, a leader will always be happy to serve his subjects, a leader listens to his people, a leader inspires his people to be the best, a leader must have commitment, a leader must be honest,  a leader must be responsible, a leader must be good in public speaking, a leader must always be ready to take risks and sacrifices, a leader must always be humble to the earth and most importantly  a leader must have a good attitude.

Do we need to have this abilities to become a leader? No, just like I said being a leader is learned and earned. Let me tell you my experience. You see the Jeff that my friends know today is an outgoing, fat, funny, friendly, insensitive kind of person. But back during my first year in high school, Jeff is a shy person who would not dare to speak in public or talk with other people. So what do you think changed me? I changed because I was given the oppurtunity to become a leader. I began to be exposed in several occasion and public speaking and seminars and so on. I began to meet many people and so it trained me to be more sociable, hehehehe. So as time goes by, the word SHY was gone in my dictionary. So being a leader really taught me a lot and I am thankful that I am like this now. But I can't gurantee myself as a good leader for I know there are others out there who are better than me. Now I decided to rest and to whoever will lead me, I could assure them that I will remain faithful to them.

So my fellow friends, we could say that being a leader is hard and have many responsibilities. But at the back of it you will learn and realize many things. However it is your decision always to accept your destiny to become a leader. I am not forcing you, after all, everybody can be a leader.

Thanks for reading sirs and maams, Happy Bonifacio day to all and God bless

The value of friendship

Friendship is one of the most beautiful thing on Earth, we need friends to share our thought, share our happiness and sadness in life. Friendship is also one of the things I value in life. However, not all of us know what is a real friend? how can you consider a person as your best friend?

Well a real friend is a friend that is faithful to you, a friend that you trust and who trust you, a friend that will always be there for you during your darkest times, a friend that will always help you stand up and never leave you when you fall, a friend that will always remind you to never give up and keep on fighting, a friend that will make you happy when you are sad, a friend that will protect you and a friend who will understand you.

Being with my friends is what brings me happiness and I guess without them I won't be who I am now. Now I understand why there is such a thing as friends.

All my life, I met many people who became my close friends but only one friend became my best friend. His nickname is Bob, he is from Brunei. For me he is the best, obviously. Well let me tell you the story of our friendship. Before I met him, Bob was a shy type of person and when I met him he changed because I broke his shell.  Hahaha. What I like about him is that we both have similarities when it comes to attitude and the only difference between us is our size, hehehe, For your info, I am fluffy. Hahah our other friends call us big and small. When we talk, you guys might think that we are girls, but trust me I am straight and I don't know about him, hehehehehe Just kidding, I hope he didn't read this.

Now that I am in the Philippines, I thought that he would forget me but I was wrong. Eventhough we are both far away we still communicate. Because of this, I proved to myself that friends are forever. I don't understand why others said that friends doesn't last long. But again I would also like to say thank you my close friends here in the Philippines, for many reasons, one would be accepting me as a friend.

However, there will also be other people acting as your friends, who would dare to stab you in the back. And I myself have experience that and yes it hurts but I don't blame them. I would prefer to blame myself. But of course it hurts but I prefer to forgot about that because I believe that I have many other friends out there who is a real friend.

But to be honest, one of the things which is my weakness other than food, would be my friends. I would never want them to be hurt by others, and yes I will do everything to protect them physically and mentally. Because it will break my heart to see them hurt. Well now you know I am big for a reason.

So for me really friends are very important. Without friends is hard. Life without them would be incomplete and miserable. So my fellow friends, remember a person can't live in this earth without a friend and believe that friendship does last forever and lastly remember that you can't face any challenges in life alone, you need a friend who will be there to say "You can do it."

I dedicate this to all my friends, hope you like it, Thanks for reading my fellow friends. GOD BLESS YOU ALL

The values of a smile.

Smiles, one of the important things I value in life. For me, smiling is what makes the world go round, believe me or not, I personally love smiling.

Well we all know that it takes more muscles and energy to frown rather than to smile, so why frown? Right. However, what does a smile mean? Simply it means that you are happy. But why do we need to smile? Well there are many good reasons why we need to smile.

One reason why we should smile is that we must be thankful that we are still alive and we have our family our friends, right? So smile while you are alive, just kidding. Hahaha. Another reason is that when we smile, we are not only making ourselves look happy but at the same time we make other people happy as well. Well that is the beauty of it, A smile can affect another person. When a person is sad and when we smile at him probably it will make him feel better. And another reason is that when we smile, people will have this impression that we are easily approachable and so in other words we can attract others. But make sure your smile is legitimate or correct or socially accepted and I dont mean that the seductive smile or even the evil smile is in the list of the smiles which is appropriate. Just use the simple smile, that is fine.

Well of course, what would be the use of our teeth and mouth if we dont use it to smile right. That is why God gave us this that would not only benefit us but also others. However there are many smiles that I won't forget. One would be my bestfriend's smile back in Brunei who has been one of my source of strenght there. In my life, I have seen many others with different types of the smile and then again another person I met here in the Philippines, with the same smile just like my bestfriend. But the funny thing was that both of them are born on the same month. Well now I am asking are everyone born on this month have the same smiles. So when I first met this person, his smile did something that changed my life.

His smile was filled with joy and his smile seems like that it had powers to attract others quickly. Well I really can't explain his smile. But I am pretty sure that the smile was a smile of a faithful, strong and a wise friend. So what do I mean that it changed my life, well because of that smile, it made me feel secure and it made me feel home again.

Every morning he comes to school with that smile always mades my day complete. That smile is also the reason why I survived here in the Philippines. Unfortunately, now something changed, the smile that I used to see know is now just a simple smile. That is why I know deep inside that eventhough he is smiling, he is in pain and yes it breaks the heart to see a close friend looking like that.

However, I still believe that his smile will return and rise again because I know that whatever challenges he face, he will still manage to smile. That is what I admired about him, his strength.

So my dear friends, eventhough we have many problems in life, we should not forget to smile, we must remember that any challenges faced will soon be gone. We must keep on fighting for that is what life is for, to fight and still we must not forget that we should always trust to our Lord our Saviour, for nothing is impossible to him. So keep on smiling people for every tomorrow is a new day.

Thanks for reading sirs and maams, God bless u all....

Past is Past

What is the past? Well the simple explanation would be the past is our History. The question is do we need to go back to our past or just completely forget our past? It won't change anything. Past is past, it won't come back. But how confident are you that it won't?

So again, do we need to go back to our past? Well the answer is again yes and no, why? Let me tell you why.

Let us start with yes. Why do we have bother about our past. Some people would say that it is useless to study our History. But we should understand that there is a saying that History repeats itself. Well it is possible and I myself believe in it.

So the reason why we should pay attention to our History is to understand the mistakes done by our ancestors and so that we can avoid making the same mistakes in our life again. In addition to that, History makes us realized that not all bad leaders are bad. If you notice, they are smart, they are wise but unfortunately they used their talent for evil. So what I am saying is that we can learn many things in History and by learning this things, we will become a better person.

But if you look at the other side, my fellow friends, sometimes people would prefer not to go back to their past. Can we blame them? That is a negative, we can't blame them. Because sometimes our past hurts and going back would just bring the pain back. Eventhough we know, that we have to face our past, forcing ourselves would be a bad idea. So that is why some people would prefer to forget. Perhaps forgetting the pains and sufferings we experience is better than remembering them,

Actually my dear friends, it is better to move on and continue to look forward at our future rather than to look back at our past. As an advisor, I always advice my friends that we should learn from the past and at the same time we should continue to move on and continue to fight, for our journey doesn't stops here, we will face more problems and challenges, we will fix our problems so keep going on and keep on fighting. The past is the past. So let us continue to rewrite our History for our History never ends.

Thanks for reading sirs and maams, hope you like it.... God bless

Love and Food

Hey, how you doing? Hope you are doing well. So my friends what comes in your mind when you see the title 'Love and Food' ? Well it is actually about the two things which are important in a person's life.

So let us start with love. What is Love? Well a simple explanation would be sharing. Loving is sharing, right? But of course sharing diseases to someone is not loving and sharing one person with another person is also not right. If you know what I mean. However, let us look at Merriam Webster's explanation. According to the dictionary love means strong affection for another arising out of kinship or personal ties. Oh whatever.

Now let me define food, hahahahaha. Well it is obvious food is the one you put inside your mouth that gives a person energy, hahahaha. Well for your information, I love food, who doesn't right? Well I prefer Italian food, how about you? Ok, somebody stop me, I am making myself hungry.

For me food is the love of my life for now. Well still waiting for someone though but I am not looking forward for it yet. Well you can call me selfish but thats my decision and nobody can change it. Well I guess I am still young and not yet mature for this yet. Besides there is still many different kinds of food out there waiting for me.

Now my fellow friends, can you live in earth without love? Its funny but some friends of mine said they can't. Well actually you can. However, can you live without food? Well of course I can't, how about you? Of course a person can survive without love but can't survive without food. So the lesson is don't be so obsssed with love.

Just like the what the song said "Too much love can kill you" So true. It is okay to love someone but make sure that you must also love yourself. Don't give everything to the person you love, leave some for yourself too. I mean why kill yourself for the person you love like Bruno Mars hahahaha if you remember his song 'Grenade'. That is not what I call love, I call it crazy.

So my fellow friends when you love someone, don't forget to love yourself. And lastly, there is no need to rush when it comes to love. They said love is slow dance. So have fun always but I don't mean you play with the person you love. Hehehehe

Thanks for reading sirs and madams, hope you love it.

Insults are just words.

An insult is an expression, statement (or sometimes behavior) which is considered degrading, offensive and impolite.
I guess everybody around the world have experience insults from other people, right? Hahaha

The question is, do we need to get hurt or to pay attention to this insults? The answer is yes and no. Surprising yet confusing, so let me elaborate more.

So lets start with yes, we have to listen. Sometimes we people can't really see what our attitude is to other people. Sometimes we don't realized that we are hurting them already. So analyze these insults to yourself, do you think you are doing this? If yes, then you have no choice but to change but some will still continue to do it for they think that they are in the right side. Well that depends on each other's principle.

Now with no, we should not listen. We have to understand that some just dislikes you because of who you are, well perhaps they are just jealous. But you should show them that you wont get affected with their insults. Well the reason is there is a possibility that they will just stop because whatever they do, you won't get mad.

For me, I treat insults as jokes. All my life, people been tellings insults such as "you are fat", "you re big", "you look like an elephant." However, even though people saying this to me, I just prefer laugh at them. I always believe If I'll be mad, then they will think I am sensitive. Not to mention, it is a waste of energy if you get mad. Words are just words, they won't hurt you if you won't allow them. But I also prefer to make my life as fun as possible, because if you will always be serious then you life on earth is boring and useless. In addition to that, I also have the passion with insulting myself because I believe that the best joke is insulting yourself rather than insulting and hurting others. Well I love playing safe so thats why.

So my friends insults are just words, its your decision if you would listen or not, but also keep in mind that insults is one of the reason why people suceeds, right? Life without insults would be incomplete. My only advice is have fun for you only live once or YOLO thats why. Hahahah

Thanks for reading sirs and maams. GOD BLESS

Challenges will come and go but the Filipinos remain strong

I never realized that for only a day Typhoon Yolanda can do such a big damage to the Philippines. For a day a lot of people's lives,  things,  love ones and homes were taken from them.

It was reported that Typhoon ‘Yolanda,’ one of the strongest typhoons on record struck the Philippines. Weather officials said ‘Yolanda’ had sustained winds of 235 kph (147 mph) with gusts of 275 kph (170 mph) when it made landfall. And it was reported that death toll in the Philippines could reach 10,000.

I am pretty sure, people will be asking why do they have to encounter this? But of course we can't avoid this. But even I keep on thinking, why the Philippines? As we all know that the problem in Cebu and Bohol is not yet finished and then Yolanda and a new Tropical depression called 'Zoraida' came to the picture, why? I can't help but ask why?

But I believe that all of this is just a test, a test of faith to our Lord our Saviour. So we should always trust and remain faithful to God. There will always be challenges in life and we can't avoid it. We have no choice but to face it. It is really a great blessing that many countries have donated to the Philippines for the victims of Yolanda.

Now the question is did the government acted fast? Well perhaps they do or do not. But as reported the Government have already informed the public that a super typhoon would hit the Philippines the day before the landfall. However people did not expect the sudden rise in the water levels.

Last night while watching news, it broke my heart, looking at my fellow Filipinos suffering. Can we recover from this? Of course why not.

But what I realized, eventhough they lose everything, they can still manage to smile. So to all my fellow Filipinos affected, we can do this and we must remain faithful to God. Just like what CNN said eventhough the Philippines was hit by many typhoons, we can still manage to stand again. After all we are Filipinos and that is what we Filipinos must be proud of. So lets continue to pray for the Philippines.

God bless the Philippines.

Facing my Mother land and knowing the values of friendship

Firstly let me introduce myself. I am Jeff Andrey B. Santos from the Philippines but born in Brunei.

After completing my high school years in Brunei, I decided to return to the Philippines with my father while my mother stayed in Brunei to continue my studies to be a future diplomat. And that for me is a big challenge

It is kind of embarrassing why would I be afraid of my own country, agree? Well its fear and i must overcome it. So before I left Brunei, I prayed to our Almighty God. I asked to give me strength to face my new life. When it is time for the plane to fly, I was really sad to leave my first home but i promised to myself that "I will return."

In the Philippines, of course you can't escape from culture shock, it will always get you. So I applied at the Ateneo University for college, but unfortunately I wasn't qualified enough for it. So then I applied to another university called Lyceum University and there i was accepted.

So before my School year starts, I faced many people and many things in my life that gave me strenght. I met a person whose father passed away early, and he told me his story that it is difficult for him not having his father beside him. But what I realized, he survived, so why can't I? So this person gave me strenght and the other thing is my faith to the Lord our saviour.

Now is the big climax of my life, is that entering my college life. The night before my first day I had a silly dream. In the dream, I went inside the classroom and then someone threw a paper ball at my face and everybody was laughing. What a dream?

The next day, I was really nervous on what to expect, I been asking myself is that nightmare of mine will come true. However, I was wrong. As i open the door, I was firstly greeted by one of my classmates that was one of my inspirations, his nickname was JD. As time goes by I met 4 more guys that became my hahaha shield, or my guardians in the classroom.

I met different kinds of people with different kinds of attitude. It is such a great feeling that eventhough you came from a different country, you are accepted by them and respects you. i never expect that.

Months passed, I began to get used with my surroundings and I was really happy with my life in the University. So one of my favourite friends which inspired me the most was Lance, he was such brilliant guy. When i first met him, he had this smile, a smile that made me happy and kind of remind me of my bestfriend back in Brunei. I don't understand but that smile have incredible powers. So let me tell you about this guy. He had many talents and some are his ability in photography, in writing and the way of talking in front of the class. But what made me inspired by him. Well the answer is his wise decisions, his strenght. And I must say, during the times that I want to give up, he is the one that always say. "Just trust in me" and what made me even happy is that he trusted me, he opened up to me about his life and for me that is a very great honour and I can't destroy that trust. Once he said he will always stand up to go against an idea which was supported by many and only him opposing it, so for me I am the one who will support him because I know that he can't handle that alone. Currently i feel sad with my friend, it hurts me to see him like that and I know eventhough that he is always smiling, I know that he is in pain and the reason why will be a secret. Hahahaha So all I can say is that he changed my life.

Again I met another person, let me call him Draco malfoy, who have such a terrible attitude and was disliked by many. I adviced him to change, and I am very surprised that he actually listened to this fat boy. To be honest, I never thought that he can changed. But then recently I asked him, "What happened?" He answered "You changed me." Of course that is something I must be proud of and am happy that he listened and another thing is that now he is open to me and he trusted me. That my friends is something. to be honest, I judge him, so again I learned from my lesson that everybody deserves a second chance.

So lastly my dear friends, the value of friendship is a big thing to me but of course family and food too. But friendship like family cannot be replaced. Now I understand many things that helped me be a better person. I know that God destined me to be in my school currently to be a better person, to help others and he knows that I am happy here and i realized that going back to the 
Philippines wasn't a bad idea hahaha. So God never dissapoints me, he gave me friends who became my strenght and so I would like to thanked our God for every blessings he gave me.

And now am proud to say that i have survived hahaha.
I dedicate this to my fellow friends, I love you all.