Overseas F-ing Workers (OFW pod)

Jocelyn, Paola, and Marco have been working from home in Jakarta, Indonesia and Singapore for a few weeks now. And while the world has gone slightly mad and everyone's going a bit stir crazy, these 2 check in on their worries, problems, and what they think are some things everyone can look forward to. 

Are you an expat or overseas worker experiencing the pandemic in a foreign place? Share your ideas with us, rant, or ramble about your alcohol at:

NOTE: So this episode aged quickly.

Paola and her friend recorded this on 7 Mar, a full month after Singapore went on Code Orange, and two weeks before Europe became the epicenter. It was probably before WHO announced that #Covid-19 is officially a pandemic. At that time Singapore has gotten used to their new normal, and there was no expectation that this will even spread across the world. #SocialDistancing and #FlattentheCurve hasn’t entered our daily convos yet. So yes, the general sentiments on this pod are now insensitive and out of touch. Our deepest apologies.

We’ve decided to keep this part in because...hell, we were so f*cking stupid two weeks ago and we need to be reminded that we are stupid, and also to show how quickly things can change. Times are changing, and we need to adapt fast, or people will die

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ORIGINAL DESCRIPTION

Paola’s back! After a 3-month+ hiatus from the world at large, Paola finally decided to break her routine to ride a different bus to visit her friend Laurie. They had a quick chat about the #coronavirus in Singapore (time will change), and to discuss how it was like to be a black-French woman in the country. They talk about how she went about looking for work (so different from Paola’s), how she made herself comfortable, and of course, racism (time will change). Scattered in between are SG shoutouts (I think :P)

We talk to our producer Marco and his sister Iz as they share with us their experiences growing up and tagging along with their parents expat/OFW experiences in Jakarta, Indonesia and Bangkok, Thailand. 

In this episode we talk about:

So join Jocelyn and these siblings talk about all of these things and how those experiences turned them into the OFWs/Expats they are today.

REMINDER: This episode was recorded before the ongoing (as of Mar 23) Coronavirus crisis. It will be some time before we're able to do these superior sound quality group recordings again. Stay tuned for more recordings done via video call in this new normal (circa March 2020). 

We have a pod trailer! 

Listen to conversations and random ramblings of 2 Filipino women working overseas in Indonesia and Singapore. Share it with your friends and tell them to tune in, like and subscribe, and mute the pod when there are children around because we occasionally curse and discuss adult things like POEA and insurance and kids don't like those. 

We're getting our sh*t together for 2020, so keep listening!

A Lawyer, a Creative, and 2 Marketing Bosses walk into a pod, and that's how we celebrated Joey/Jocelyn's 5 years in Jakarta, Indonesia! We talked with some of our Filipino friends to see how they've adjusted to life in The Big Durian as expats, OFWs and Filipinos!

This  episode includes:

Listen in and let us know what you think:

It's 2020! By the time this comes out it would already be close to the end of January, but we are very late. 

The two expats Jocelyn and Paola say goodbye to 2019 with much happiness and look forward to 2020. 2019 was a lot for these two: JOB CHANGES! JOB SEARCHES! MAD CHAOS! Is someone leaving Singapore? Will they still both be expats/OFWs? Will Nimler get Paola's plants? Can Jocelyn finally register her marriage with a proper Philippine embassy? Year end reviews are hard for expats too! Yearly contracts are tricky as hell.

We want to hear your own stories of good bye for 2019 and hello to 2020: 

Jocelyn/Joey was in Manila waiting for her flight to Jakarta when the Taal Volcano erupted, leading to 240 cancelled flights. Chaos in the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) as everyone was asked to exit the airport. Stranded in Manila for 48 hours with her fellow expat Australian husband, there was nothing left to do but take videos of the ash fall. 

With her producer Marco, Jocelyn/Joey talks about:

If you were also impacted by the #TaalEruption2020 or if you just want to share your experiences in bad airports, please send us a message at:

Since every expat that worked on this podcast took a long Christmas break, whether they went back to their country or origin or not, this is our Christmas episode. Paola and Jocelyn talk about their Christmas plans, when Mariah Carey's Christmas concert in Singapore was cancelled because it was a ghost town, and how Jakarta celebrates Christmas. Do all Filipino expats go home for Christmas? Do OFWs fly home for the holidays earlier than other expats? And what the hell is happening with the accents in this episode?

We want to hear your Holiday expats stories! Share them with us on:

Paola and Jocelyn discuss all the office -isms, from classism and racism to sexism and ageism. All expats need to get used to different work cultures when they work abroad and this episode goes into the different situations to get used to in Singapore and Jakarta. 

Have your own workplace -isms as an expat that you want to share? Share it with us!

Joey tries to sugarcoat the meat market by calling it all dating, while Paola discusses the joys of Singapore dating and explains why she does not partake. 

Dating or meeting people/attending to physical needs is an important part of life, so can expats find these options in Jakarta and Singapore? The expat girls talk about how their friend groups managed and the very different prospects of LGBTQIA folks comparing both Jakarta and Singapore.

Episode includes: who is a plant, clubbing culture in Singapore, the local gay scene, LGBTQIA rights in Jakarta, first times with Italians, and some (mildly) scandalous secrets.