When I visited my parents’ home in Pasig City this afternoon, where my 3 brothers and our father are staying, less our mom who’s in UAE now for work, I waited for my brother to borrow his treasured memorabilia for me to feature them here, I’m glad he granted my simple request.
My youngest brother JC will be 24 years old this year, exactly a day before my 33rd birthday this September.
After enrolling 2 different courses at 2 universities back in 2003 within one week, he dropped all those to finally enroll Tourism at CEU (Centro Escolar University) in Manila. Biniro ko pa sya noon, sabi ko “Gusto mo bang maging turista JC?” Honestly, we didn’t expect he’ll be serious enough to finish that course and find a profession out of it at that time, but wow, he proved us all wrong!
He was only 21 years old when he had his OJT (on the job training) at Magsaysay Shipping in Manila as a requirement of his course. He’s done with his OJT few months before he walked down the aisle of Manila Hotel for their batch’s graduation. Few days after his graduation, he was absorbed and went on training under the same company and gained his seaman’s book. By the third week of July 2 years ago, he’s off to Europe to join COSTA ATLANTICA CRUISE as one of its crew.
It was amazing, really awesome experience for him. I’m so proud of him. Although he started with uncertainties, he went far from what I’ve imagined. At an early age, he was already earning foreign currency with Euros as tips. Best of all, among our many relatives from a huge clan in Calumpang, Marikina, probably he’s the only first to see most of Europe. He’s the first in our family and the only one to date to secure a Schengen visa (needed to be in Austria, Germany, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Greece, Iceland, Italy, Luxemburg, Norway, Portugal , Spain, Sweden , The Netherlands).
JC only stayed and worked with the cruise ship for 5 months and came home to be with our ailing maternal grandmother December of 2007. It was a wise decision for him not to finish his 8-month-contract with Costa Atlantica and be with our Lola 3 months before she passed away.
Nevertheless his thankless job, as he put it, made him experienced some of the nicest places in Europe and the diverse cultures of their passengers who are some of the world’s rich and famous.
As I’ve featured few posts ago (browse page below) the fridge magnets that my wife and I collected from few of our travel abroad, here are my brother’s irreplaceable memorabilia…
JC joined Costa Atlantica July 2007 via Amsterdam…
Then the cruise ship went from one country to another… I failed to ask my brother the order of his docks to this places when I borrowed his fridge magnets for a little pictorial session =). so this is in random order…
Trolls from Norway…
He rode the cable cars of Santorini when he got this…
I’m sorry but thought Finland is only best with mobile phones, LOL until I saw his photos and this… 
He mentioned he’s been to Tenerife, Vigo and Barcelona and got these…
Then he celebrated his 22nd birthday that year amidst the sphinx and pyramids of…
They also sailed to Turkey…
He also experienced the islands of Eastern Caribbean Seas- St. Lucia, Dominica and…
He got the next fridge magnet from a country whose white flag contains the island map on its entirety with 2 olive branches as a symbol of peace… 
Gibraltar is an independent British overseas territory…
And his flight back to Manila on December 2007 was via the airport that I long to see before I die (lol)…
Isn’t that a worthwhile trip?
The moment we fetched him from the airport the day he arrived from that overseas job, he’d only wish for us to go with him to even one to few of those countries one day as tourists and not him as a cabin crew anymore. Wishes do come true, right? So we continue to dream… (long sigh! =)
He worked as a Starbucks Coffee barista here for a year after his Costa Atlantica stint and now he has been working with a 5-star-hotel-group of companies based in Makati City. He aims to gain new experience locally before he explore the world again.
It’s nice to collect photos, fridge magnets and whatnot, but more importantly we cherish the memories that come with it.
OPINION COUNTS…