Have you ever dreamed of your ex-boyfriend? or your wedding day? Me too! So I read this book about love dreams decoded and I want to share it all to you.

Whether you imagined reconnecting with your ex or your man proposing with stone less ring, love reveries can be bizarre. But it pays to dig a little to know what they mean. But how do you make sense of such off-the -wall stuff? First, recognize your feelings then try to give meaning to the images you recall. Since dreams are subjective, its impossible to give one-size fits all meaning. But to get started, check out these interpretations I have read from my book about the most common love-related fantasies.

The Dream 1: Surprise – you’re back with your ex boyfriend.

Decoded: It doesn’t necessarily mean you crave a repeat romance. But on some level, he’s influencing you. If he’s a good ex, this means that your memories with him have become a positive force in your life. Maybe he helped you feel more confident. If he was a not, then it could reflect being trapped emotionally in the old relationship or sign that you’re hanging with someone who has the same sketchy traits.

The Dream 2: Your guy betrays you, like by cheating or lying.

Decoded:Has your current guy let you down lately, such as not comforting you after a bad day? Then this is why you are getting this dream.

The Dream 3: You cheated on your man and ruined your relationship with him. Ouch!

Decoded: When a relationship starts to matter more this nocturnal fantasy will be more likely to appear. The dream may be like you are falling in love with a guy best friend.  The dream is letting us know how important your current relationship is with you and that you have to take care of it.

The Dream 4: You’re engaged but there is something off about your ring. The diamonds are missing! What worst than having a stoneless engagement ring?  Or it could be that the engagement ring that you have is so ugly.

Decoded: The focus of this dream is the look of the ring so it refers to appearance versus the substance of your relationship.This dream means that you don’t have security with your current flame. You seem like a perfect couple but deep inside you know that he truly doesn’t get you. In short you are not convinced that he is the one!

The Dream 5: Your wedding is strange. The groom is faceless! Arrgh!

Decoded: In this dream you are trying out what it feels like to take the next step, whether its becoming exclusive with a guy you’re casually dating or marrying your long term boyfriend. This means that you shouldn’t rush things out with him. You still have a few kinks to iron out, so you have to wait until you are sure.

My fellow ladies you can choose to believe these things or not. But I for one have had these dreams, and I am just trying to make sense of it all. And it actually came to me after reading the book ,  that these interpretations were true in my case. It doesn’t hurt to read an educate yourself just as long as you know how to handle these information.

First: you got to flirt shamelessly and this will make you irresistible. You have to work your way into peoples’ good graces by flattering them. As a result, those people will be happy to do favors for you. This actually worked for me when I was just starting out with my new job. It was difficult to find friends at work nowadays. Really,You would think that the workplace is like an ocean full of crabs trying to pull you down. But if you know how to get through to certain people you can overcome this obstacle in just a few. Since heaping multiple compliments on those around you can come across fake, try to figure out what the person values, like their fashion sense or their love for basketball then focus you flattery on those particular areas. Remember to never let them know that you are doing it for your own good or else it will appear fake and the person will be annoyed at you. And this is not good at all. I had this boss before who was trying to convince me not to resign. And God, she was just the worst! She would flatter me in the most insincere way in almost about anything she sees I am holding or wearing. I eventually resigned and deleted her on my Facebook account.

Second: this suggestion might draw negative reactions to you but what can I say it worked for me and most of my friends. It also worked way back in the days when Cleopatra had an affair with Julius Caesar. I am no saying to have an affair with all the powerful people around you but what I mean here is just cozying up to the people in charge. This will make you more powerful. I usually use this strategy by going to work events and introducing myself to successful people. It is also considered powerful that in order to win over people you got to speak their language. This means you need to get to know the person really hard, check out what impresses her and do it.

You might have heard of the guys saying I like a girl who acts like a dude, well its true, I watch and do sports with my guy and that’s how he fell in love with me. He told me that it was not because I’m good, to which I’m not of course, but it’s because of my competitive nature that made him want me more. It made him feel that I understood and care on what he wants to do always.

You got enemies girl? Then fear not. Keeping an eye on the person who wronged you pays off in time. She will think you are buddies and she will be consequently nicer to you yet what she doesn’t know is that you are going to figure her out on her next move before she attempts anything.

Use your charm, power and sex appeal to you advantage as long as you don’t hurt people along the way. Enjoy the privileges of being a woman! See you around!

It started inappropriately since he was one of my bosses. I don’t really report directly under him but he definitely has authority over me.

I was persistent in going out with him, so I asked a common friend to set us up. He was not comfortable with the fact that people will know that he will be going out with a co-worker. I was not really bothered by that idea because I didn’t think that it would affect my credibility since I’m not really a decision maker of the company. Eventually after months of waiting we went out to dinner, twice. Then it became a constant thing every weekend. For months I really didn’t know our status since nobody really knows that we are out together since I understood that his position and career opportunities would be in jeopardy.

So for four months we just dated, but eventually my feelings for him grew out of hand. I started becoming clingy and was in a constant need to be with him. This was not what I planned it to be. It was supposed to be controlled but one thing I learned about feelings, you can never control or dictate them. I found it hard to tell him how I feel because I don’t want to be the one to do it first and the fact that I just got out of a messy relationship would make it more complicated. I was just supposed to have fun and date a lot of guys in this stage of my life but that was not bound to happen. For months I dated him exclusively, it was insanely difficult to pretend that i didn’t want anything more than it. Although I can also sense that he likes me too but I felt that he was not ready to make the first move. So I thought, is this guys serious? What does he want me to do, spell it out for him? It got me so pissed off that I just text-ed him how I felt. The text message said something like “I can’t see you anymore and this is getting complicated” maybe some other time. And right away he told me that he was falling in love with me! I got furious and asked him why it was taking him too long. He just told me that the idea of him dating a co worker is not really an ideal image that he wants his boss to see him with. And that he was eying for promotion and stuff. So we were officially in a relationship but we were not able to go out like normal couples do. Only 2 of our friends know about us which was very hard for me. I was like a mistress or even worse than that. It felt awful and it affected our relationship. We can’t even eat out or watch a movie together. Do you know how frustrating could that be? And this is all because we were trying to protect our jobs. Which we realized in end the by the way that it was never worth it.  We agreed on who will stay in the company, it was him. He had the higher pay and position.

We started living together and I got another job and got engaged last year. I have learned such a great deal about this relationship that love and patience will truly find its course and it will be all worth it. If you are suckers for romance like me, don’t lose hope. I have found him it was a long and arduous road but it was all worth the wait.  A relationship will work out if both are willing to sacrifice and compromise. If the other party doesn’t want to compromise chances are it’s not worth you time either.

Information newspaper calculated that all told the cost of family reunification – once fees, tests, and cash securities are tallied – is now 168,131 kroner per couple, plus or minus a krone.

For young international couples, it is even tougher to stay together in Denmark, because current family reunification rules also stipulate that both partners must be at least 24 years old.

Katrine Villumsen and Jessie Villarreal are one young, international couple who have had to come up with creative solutions to be able to stay together.

Villumsen, a journalism student from the Funen town of Faaborg, was taking a year abroad to study in Santa Barbara, California, when she met Villarreal, a young opera singer from Riverside, California. They were both just 19.

They fell in love and after six months moved in together. In their second year together, they began thinking about a more permanent solution for their residency issues as an international couple. To complicate matters, marriage was not a solution for the lesbian couple, as US immigration laws do not recognise same-sex relationships.

“I think it would be easier for a Somalian to immigrate to the US than to Denmark, but in our case, it’s easier for me to immigrate to Denmark than for Katrine to immigrate to the US,” Villarreal told The Copenhagen Post.

So two years ago the couple decided they had a better future in Denmark, where their relationship is at least recognised by law, and where – someday when they are old enough – they can apply for family reunification as a couple.

“My desire to live in Denmark is greater than my desire to live in the US and I feel safer here. Danish people are more apathetic about being gay,” Villarreal said. “In the US people either love you or hate you for being gay.”

As both women were just 21 years old in 2009 – still too young to apply for family reunification – it was now Villarreal’s turn to use a student visa to stay with her partner.

With foreign student tuition and no eligibility for the national student stipend, the decision came at a high cost. Since both are still students, they don’t earn much. But together they managed to get by, working part-time, scrimping, saving and taking out loans.

But last month when Villarreal got a tuition bill of 100,000 kroner for her final year of studies at The Royal Academy of Music – with 50,000 kroner due in just two weeks and 50,000 more in September, they had no idea what to do.

Their life together depended upon her student visa. If she could not pay, she would have to leave the country. Without any expectation of success she decided to post a blog asking for loans or donations to raise the money.

“[It was] a desperate plea. I felt pathetic writing it. But the responses were amazing.” Villarreal said.

Some 14,000 kroner in donations from strangers and friends poured in. Villarreal’s colleagues at The Cockney Pub in Århus arranged two “Save Jessie’s Arse” concerts that raised another 4,000 kroner.  Another colleague she barely knew offered her a no-questions-asked, interest-free loan of 20,000 kroner.

An even bigger loan of 50,000 kroner was offered by an international couple who knew first-hand the difficulties of getting family reunification in Denmark: Katrine’s Danish cousin and his Polish wife. They met as students in Norway and had to borrow money from his parents for their family reunification. Years later they were in the position to pass along the favour to a younger international pair struggling with immigration issues.

Villarreal and Villumsen both said they could not help but contrast the outpouring of generosity and trust from strangers and acquaintances eager to help with the tone of suspicion and distrust for immigrants in the political debate and family reunification rules.

“There must be somebody supporting all these immigration rules, but it’s not the people we’re surrounded by,” Villumsen said.

The governing Liberal Party’s immigration spokesperson Karsten Lauritzen defended the tougher immigration rules, including the higher costs and so-called ‘points system’ by which foreign partners earn ‘points’ to qualify to stay in Denmark through university degrees and other benchmarks.

“When we get better applicants, we also bring in people who are better prepared to become integrated,” Lauritzen told Politiken newspaper earlier this month.

Villumsen sees things a different way.

“In Denmark we have Jante Law, where everyone is supposed to be equal and nobody is better than anybody else,” she said. “But now it’s turning into the situation where if you have a better education, then you get to go first in line. We need people doing all types of work and it shouldn’t matter if you come from India, the US, or wherever.”

“I just think it’s a shame that you can’t be with the person you love in the country you come from, just because it comes down to nationality,” she added.

When Villarreal finishes her Bachelor’s degree next year she will lose her student visa and the couple’s immigration worries will start all over again. But by then, they both will be 24 years old and will have lived together in Denmark for three years. They plan to form a civil union in September.

Then they will be eligible to apply for family reunification – as long as they can put 100,000 kroner in the bank.

Source: ScandAsia.com

It’s not only house, body or car you have to do a make-over. You will ask, Family makeover? What is that? Well it’s all about how to deal with your family, how can you control them and not you whose being controlled by them. Sounds complicated, yes it is, you must practice it now or else you will lose on the battle between them.

A. The most complicated of all is the Money matters. You are having problems in your family most of the time when it comes to money, agree? Well I experienced it before. Specially if your the bread winner, giving you so much head ache. End of the month, your head is going to explode when your looking at your paycheck and thinking of your family, oh gosh…

1. Make a list of all the expenses, disegnate an amount for all of it, just enough no more, no less, no additional.

2. If your working or living in the other country, make sure that you monitor all the necessary expenses in your house, it sounds like you don’t trust them or your paranoid, but it will pay off soon, tell them to scan all the reciept and bills and send it to you.

3. They will ask you to send some amount for example additional school payment, medicine,or check up, make sure to have a strong question and interrogate them deeply, soon it will end up they will tell you what it is for, it is for unnecessary things.

4. Relatives, auncle, aunties, cousins, they will contact you and ask if you can send them money, because of some reasons, these and that, you have to remember they are not your responsibilities, I can understand if its for your brother or sister, gifts once a year is enough, but everytime they will ask you for help and you will also send, nahhh..not acceptable.

5. Your brother or sister will ask, send me some money because I will buy cellphone or it’s my birthday I will have a party, think so many times before you do it, look at your own cellphone, remember your birthday, look at your paycheck every month, then ask your self. Did I had a nice party on my birthday, did I bought new cellphone, will my salary can cover all this expenses? Then you will know the answer, sometimes they are just doing it for showing off that they have somebody working or living in the other country.

6. Sometimes you get to know that they have very high bills and consume alot, what the heck?? Don’t be afraid to ask, why?how?what did you all do?Then be strong and be a stone, tell them ”I will not pay that, this month and next month, I will just send enough for food, you people have to learn and look for alternative how to pay that”, ” I am not just lying here and money is just coming, learn how to be thrifty in everything”.

B. When you have seen all those things, you have to evaluate now thier feelings or your feelings. It’s all about preparing thier feelings now. When you do all in letter A., surely they will feel hurt, but explain to them that you are not just picking up money on the street, you are not doing some extravagant living where ever you are, you are not rich to cover all of thier needs, if you can help you will do it, but not everytime.

When I was working before, my mother always call everyweek, many reasons that are not really important and true, I end up having nothing every end of the month, even my salary next month is gone, shibal!

So what I did one time,when my mom call, I jump up on the bus heading home and surprise them, that’s the time I found out that everything is a lie, and I am so fool believing it, bills and debts are everywhere, haven’t payed even if I send money for paying those…sh…….!!!

When I start to live in Norway, I talked to my parents that my father will be the one to recieve the money and do all the budgetting. Eversince that day my mom did not talked to me, I don’t care I said, it’s for our own good, and sooner she also realized it, it’s not my fault, then we get good relationship between us.

Before I send money, I will call my father, how much for the electric bill, water bill, internet bill, I already know how much is for my daughters nanny, and so I calculate everything. I end up sending enough money, already budgeted and designated, including food for monthly consuming and I extra amount for both my parents that is not big like 500php each. I will give you an example of how much I send every month. I send 2000nok every month, in pesos it 15,000.

electric bill –    1,500php

water bill –            500php

internet –           1000 php

nanny -              2500php

mom –                  500php

dad -                     500php

my daughter -   1,500php – milk,playing in SM,jollibee,things she like

———————–

total -  8,000php

- 15,000php

———————–

7,000php — remaining for thier food

I don’t send money for birthdays or things they like to buy that is just for thier own happiness. I send money to my relatives if it’s borrow and they will pay it, if it’s for free, sorry nothing is free in this world anymore, sounds drastic and bad, but you have to learn how to be like that or else you will end up nothing. I also manage to give my brothers some amount like 500php, not every month, only if I remember and it’s not for them, it’s for my nieces and nephew, I usually tell my father to buy food for the kids for thier snacks in school, I don’t give cash because it will just cause conflicts and I know it will not end up on food.

Eversince I intrusted the money to my father, everything goes very very well, bills are payed, no debts, they also get to save some small amounts in the bank. When I go home, I ask my father where are the bills and I evaluate them one by one, ask them if I had seen a faulty on this or that, ask them how much is this, how much is that? Why is this high? What happen? Then we will have a family conference, hehehe, yeah seriuosly I do that, I tell them what I feel and what is not important and what should they do. It works very well, we don’t have misunderstanding when it comes to money matters and family matters.

If you don’t have anybody that will manage the money, just do what I did, write the expenses and send just enough. They will end up learning how to manage how much they get and be responsible for it.

If you are working having 30,000php salary every month, you can save alot and put in a bank. I had known alot of people working here that end up nothing when the contract is finished, because they send everything at home, they don’t even think of thier own future or what will it be when the job is done. They will go back home, the people thier are hoping he/she has a lot of money, but they don’t also that nothing has left because they alwasy asking and asking. They will even ask you, What??why??What did you do??Maybe you did so many extravagant things there?? They will start to accuse you not knowing or evaluating what they had done too. bu*******t!!!

Then you will feel the pressure again, pressured when you are still working because left and right you hear ”we need money,I need money”, then you get home hoping you will feel happy that at last I get to see my family, but again pressured. Poor you.

Be strong, learn how to be harsh and stone sometimes, we are so soft when it comes to our family, but remember you also have your own life, and if they will not learn they will still be like that even when you already have your own family and that will cause a big problem between you and your husband or wife, it’s not a theory, that’s the truth, most have that kind of problem.

I hate dependent people, we grew up like that but we must stand on our own feet or else we will be like that forever.

Don’t hate me,we have different opinions yes I know, but what I just want to say is ‘‘OPEN YOUR EYES”.

]]> http://myblueheart.org/filipina/family-makeover.html/feed 2 http://myblueheart.org/filipina/dreams-do-come-true.html http://myblueheart.org/filipina/dreams-do-come-true.html#comments Mon, 07 Mar 2011 19:05:37 +0000 Blue Rose http://myblueheart.org/?p=1629 More »]]>

When I was a child, I have a dream that is just simple as the others, have a family and live in a simple and happy way and to become a teacher.

I grew up in a religious and respectable family, lots of norms, lots of does and don’ts, maybe it’s all the same for a Filipino family. We have so many supersticious beliefs ever you can imagine, but i know living with it and following it is not really a big help in our everyday living.

My father was away working and ussual as other family, the mother is the one taking care of the house, we were taught how to do house hold choirs in early ages, cooking, cleaning, doing the laundry, even selling food in houses every afternoon, we are not rich if you may think of that, we are just middle class people living in a simple way as we can.

Bad things happen, my father doesn’t have work anymore, he had a serious problem with his people in the construction company were he was working, instead of fighting he just went home without anything. We have to fix everything or else we will starve, my father is a very good cook, so he started cooking food every afternoon, me and my mom walk in every door step knocking, and sell our food, we do this everyday, luckily all food was sold in no time.

We were in elementary that time, my siblings and I have to study harder as we can to get a very good grades, in return for all the sacrifices that our parents did for us. Hard work are payed, every end of school year my brother and I always had an award, our parents are always very happy going up on the stage with us tieng the ribbon or putting the medal.

Things become much harder when we went to high school, there are times that we really don’t have anything to eat, I walk around at my grandmothers backyard and look for vegetables or rootcrops and cook them. Our grandparents has bigger house than us, they don’t starve, they don’t have problems with food, I remember my brother tried to borrow a cup of rice before, but what does he got, a bad and harsh words from our grandparents. From that moment, we become stronger, we realize that even our relatives are turning thier backs on us when we don’t have anything, but when we were not in that situation they are always smiling and asking for help.

Good year has arrived, our parents got a job at the same time, they earning quite enough for us to have good food and for other things we need. We started to have a black and white television, before we are just watching television at our grandparents house. We started to have extra money in going to school, before we just pack our lunch boxes and that’s it, no snacks during recess time, we just drink water and waited until lunch, eat our lunch that consist of rice and dried fish, or vegetables, sometimes when we really don’t have dried fish we just put rice and sugar or rice with soya sauce. We don’t feel regret in it at all, together with my classmates we walk from school to home and vice versa, rain and shine, storm and wind, we always say all things have a reason why it’s happening and good things will come in return.

Another year arrived, things going much better, we change our black and white television with colored, we can buy new clothes, we can have parties now during our birthdays, I remember I only had one birthday party from elementary to high school. I don’t really like parties, it’s just a waste of money, but I like the gifts, sure everybody does.

We were still doing very good in school, still consistent honor students and active in school organization. I still do sell some snacks or nuts at school, sometimes ice candies, milked flour, I do this everyday, for my extra allowance and projects, so I don’t need to ask from my parents. I became more independent and stronger, my dreams became more clearer. I want to succeed in life. I want to have a better future for my family and for my future family. I don’t want to be like this forever, I am determined to change my future, never again we will be mocked and hear bad words from anybody, I will never let sad things happen again, I will stand out and fight.

” Everything has a reason, in every darkness there is always a ray of light, just have faith and strength to find it and let it shine”

Next chapter will come soon…

At the beginning of 2011, the most expensive cities (excluding rent) are:
- Oslo, Norway (CPI 149.26)
- Stavanger, Norway (145.65)
- Zurich, Switzerland (143.93)
- Geneva, Switzerland (143.71)
- Bergen, Norway (142.46)
- Basel, Switzerland (141.12)
- Lausanne, Switzerland (136.41)
- Lucerne, Switzerland (133.04)
- Perth, Australia (130.15)
- Copenhagen, Denmark (123.87)

The least expensive cities in 2011 are Indian cities: Coimbatore, Pune, Chennai, Mumbai and Hyderabad, followed by Islamabad and Karachi in Pakistan.

Rent is the most expensive in New York, followed by San Francisco (USA), Abu Dhabi (United Arab Emirates) and Lucerne (Switzerland).

Cities with the lowest rent are Changchun (China) and Karachi (Pakistan).

On the country level, the most expensive countries in 2011 are Norway, Switzerland, Denmark, Belgium, Australia, Ireland and the Netherlands.

The least expensive countries in 2011 are India, Pakistan, Bolivia, Vietnam, Philippines, Thailand and Macedonia.

Present during the meeting  were Fr. Gabriel Baldostamon (Saint Nicolai Parish in Linköping), Mr. Noli Buhay (Ugnayang Pilipino), Ms. Lendsy Theodorsson (Bayanihan), Ms. Hanna Stenbacka (Filipino-Swedish Youth), Ms. Karol Jennel and Ms. Vangie Jorquia (ABS-CBN Europe News Bureau correspondent).

Also present during the meeting were Ambassadors from the Association from Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and some members of the ASEAN community in Stockholm.

An initiative of Ambassador Collinson, the meeting was aimed at raising the profile of the growing Filipino community in Sweden by focusing on their successes in assimilating to Swedish life and culture.

Filipino community members actively engaged Minister Ullenhag on their proposals to strengthen the Swedish Government’s language program for immigrants, particularly in terms of enabling quicker employment.

They also asked the Minister on the administration’s response to the seemingly anti-immigrant sentiment, following the terrorist bomb attacks in Stockholm December of last year and the influence of the right-wing Sweden Democrats in the Swedish Parliament.

Minister Ullenhag enthusiastically received the ideas of the Filipino community representatives and acknowledged the important role the 13,000 strong Filipino community has played in contributing to the progress of Sweden.

He assured that his office would remain open to the Filipino community and to the community’s suggestions for a more effective policy for integration.

The Minister also reaffirmed the Swedish Government’s commitment to safeguard and promote the country’s open and tolerant views.

He was especially pleased to know that Filipinos in Sweden were peaceful and productive members of society.

Minister Ullenhag assumed his ministerial portfolio in October 2010 under the second mandate period of Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt’s government.

He has the responsibility to ensure the speedier integration of newly arrived immigrants into Sweden’s working and social life.

ScandAsia.com

The Provincial Prosecutor’s Office dismissed Monday the special complex crime of kidnapping with homicide charges filed by the Cebu Provincial Police Office against Sven Erik Berger and Karen Esdrelon for the murder of Ellah Joy Pique.

Esdrelon told radiodaily that they are confident from the “very start” that the case will be dismissed.

Assistant Provincial Prosecutors Marlon Atillo and Marvin dela Peña, in their joint resolution, said the complaint lacked probable cause.

According to witnesses, Ellah Joy, 6, was abducted from outside a public school in Minglanilla, Cebu past 4 p.m. on February 8. The town lies more than 15 kilometers south of this city.

The couple said it was impossible for them to kidnap the girl in the afternoon of February 8 in Calajo-an, Minglanilla because their “movement was only confined” at the Norwegian School and the Waterfront Hotel in this city when the alleged crime was committed.

Berger and Esdrelon earlier presented to authorities documents to prove their innocence.

At least 14 photographs, captured from the footage of the Waterfront Hotel’s security cameras, were submitted to Governor Gwendolyn Garcia.

The first two photos show the couple entering the hotel at 4:44 p.m. last February 8, bringing their bags. At 4:45 p.m., they were registering at the front desk. Each photo bears a date and time stamp.

The two also outlined in their counter-affidavit their itinerary from February 7, the day Berger arrived at the Mactan Cebu International Airport, until the afternoon of February 9, when they reportedly went to Esdrelon’s house in Tuburan, Cebu. They attached in their affidavits certifications from the Norwegian School and the Waterfront Hotel.

National Bureau of Investigation-Central Visayas Director Edward Villarta earlier said that the police were under pressure to file complaint because they could not hold the suspects beyond 36 hours without doing so.

ScandAsia.com

The ceremony took place aboard the Saga Tucano, which is now in the port of Vancouver. Sumook is working aboard the vessel, and the presentation was arranged after the foundation finally tracked him down.

Sumook, a father of two, said he refused to give up on the dockworker as long as he had a pulse.

He began to administer CPR.

“Then he began to gasp,” Sumook said, smiling as he recalled the moment back in November 2006 in the port of Helsingborg.

Asked Tuesday if he felt like a hero, Sumook laughed, shaking his head.

“But I am proud,” he said, adding that his daughters — aged 10 and 6 — have both told him they are proud of him too.

“That makes me very happy.”

Present to congratulate Sumook Tuesday were representatives of local labour groups, including the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, which represents dockworkers like the man that Sumook saved.

The Carnegie Hero awards were established worldwide in the early 1900s as a way of recognizing civilian acts of bravery.

It took the Swedish organization more than two years to find Sumook as the sailor moved from port to port on his global schedule. Many of the ports had no Swedish representative, complicating the effort.

Tuesday, he received an inscribed gold watch, a certificate and a cheque. A lunch was also organized as part of the celebration.

“It is for heroism,” said Anders Neumuller, Sweden’s consul in Vancouver.

“It is a story that really needs to come out so that more people see what they can do in a situation like that.”

Capt. Clifford Faleiro, operations manager for Saga, added:“That he risked his own life to save someone else’s speaks volumes about what he did, and I think he rightly deserves all the praise and recognition he is getting.”