Being Australians

This is a long overdue post, the wet Sydney weather this weekend has finally given me the chance to post this.

After almost  3 years of Sydney living, we finally made it to the resident's "finish line".  Last month, after completing all the requirements (including passing a Citizenship exam) , we were invited to make the citizenship pledge together with around 95 others who chose to immigrate to Australia from 28 different countries.

It was a short candid ceremony where we were asked to make the oath that read:

From this time forward, under God,
I pledge my loyalty to Australia and its people,
whose democratic beliefs I share,
whose rights and liberties I respect, and
whose laws I will uphold and obey.

It was an emotional moment, yes, not enough to make me cry but enough to give me goosebumps he he, as it is one of the biggest decisions we had to make in life.  Being a citizen by choice makes citizenship more meaningful, I guess, than being a citizen by birth or by descent, since one makes a more conscious effort to build a better place to live.  This is what Australia is all about being the country of immigrants and is one of the reasons why we choose to be here.

Some more snaps from the day ...

Photo with Mayor Nick Berman:

Dinner and drinks with friends who have helped us along the way:

To choose to leave what we had in the Philippines, to choose to make it work down under and to choose to live and work here permanently -- these were the choices we had to make almost 3 years ago and indeed it paid off!

Our next chapter in life continues ...