The word housewife is strongly attached to household chores such as cooking, tidying up the house, babysitting, doing the laundry and most often than not, in our culture, a woman whose education is not enough to attain a good career outside her home. Our society is plagued with social stigma so when I chose to become a housewife myself, I am not an exception to avoid the social sneer. Most of the people around me thought that I am putting my profession to a waste, having a physician license and a masters in public management majoring in health systems and development is such a huge deal to just throw on the back seat and fly to a country where I don't understand the language and chose to become a plain and boring housewife. It wasn't that I didn't thought about it thoroughly and it wasn't like I didn't wish to find a job here in Bangkok but I know in my heart that before anything else, I want to prioritize my marriage. As husband and wife, we want to make up for all the lost time together.
When I arrived here, almost five months ago (oh, how time flies!), I made an inquiry as to how I could possibly use my license here to practice as a physician. I found out that being a licensed physician in the Philippines is not enough, that I need to become well-versed with the Thai language. More than that, the Thai people are very patriotic, a foreigner physician seems to have no place in this country. I once met a missionary American physician during an embassy event, and he related that there are only less than ten non-Thai physicians in the whole of Thailand and they're here under a religious missionary group and it wasn't easy for them to penetrate the community. My husband has only a year and a half before his posting ends so I felt that going through all the process would take so much time that before I can finally practice, we are already bound home. That's when I decided to take this year off, take care of my husband's needs and perhaps have a baby. That doesn't mean I am not being unproductive. Haha! Would you agree? As a good friend even told me, I can have all the time in my life to catch up with the books I want to read, and watch all the movies and TV series I've been putting off. That just sounded so great!!
For almost five months now, my daily life consists of exactly just how I pictured a perfect day in one of the blog posts I wrote several years ago back when I was a medical intern. There are no kids to send to school yet, but it's pretty much exactly just the same. I start the day preparing breakfast for the husband and when he leaves for office, I already have a plan in my head what to cook for lunch. I have quite grasped the husband's taste now so I make sure that I have different set of menu everyday so as not to bore his tastebuds. After he leaves, I then start to tidy up the house starting from our room then out to the living room and lastly, the kitchen. I am not meticulously OC so my cleaning skills is just so-so, just enough that everything is quite in order and dusts don't gather up. Haha! Before I begin preparing for lunch, I still have time to watch my favorite Filipino TV shows online. My cooking? So far, so good. I do mess up sometimes but hey, the husband has no right to complain! Haha! The most priceless prize I get is when he finishes all the food with sweats rolling down his forehead. I just love seeing him like that! I gloat!
Afternoons are my me-time. I usually go out to DASA, the nearby second-hand bookshop where I buy most of my books now (Rica Peralejo visited the place and wrote about it on her blog, I feel so kilig that she loved a place that I also love! haha! Fan mode lang. You can read her blog post here). Or sometimes I go to Emporium, the nearest mall which is five-minute walk away. I would just usually find a perfect spot there to read a book. Our nights consists of watching Philippine news and making do with whatever available for dinner. The husband and I made an agreement to "eat light" during supper, sometimes we just have bread or pasta. Two weeks ago, he bought me a blender with food processors so we have fruit shakes every day and experimenting on food that I can grind on the processor. Magamit lang. Hahaha!
I am loving the very relaxed state I am in right now. Honestly, it feels like this is the calm before the storm. Yeah, an impeding storm will begin when we return to Manila next year and I start my residency training, in shaa Allah, with a baby we will be taking care of. Yeah, a baby is on its way!! Wohoo! As a prelude to my next post, I am on my 19th week of pregnancy as of writing time. Alhamdulillah. You see? I am not being unproductive here! My body's going through tough times nowadays making this baby inside. Haha! God really has a magnificent way of rewarding our patience. He is making up for the lost time my husband and I were apart, so now He's punishing us for having only each other to talk to day in and day out (except for the occasional Facetime with our families back home and online chats with friends). Right now, I am cherishing every second of my housewife duties and enjoying every moment I spend with my husband. *insert a huge smiley here*
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