Time's up!

If everything works out fine, and with God's grace, I will be back into the work-force again next week.

The four months of being a woman of leisure just flew by so quickly. I was so blessed to have spent wonderful quality times with family and friends visiting (1 from UK, 2 from Phil & 3 from US to attend cuz's wedding, 6 from Adelaide & Melbourne, 2 from Perth); to have travelled FREE with hubby during his business trip; to have visited family and friends back home; and of course, not to mention, having had too much "ME" time. God has been really good!




I will miss the "occasional" siestas, the TV-series & Koreanobela saga (me on a cold night reading subtitles of the Koreanobela!),





internet-surfing, chatting, weekday shopping, mid-day cooking, and just recently driving around when everyone's working!

{On an afternoon last week, I braved the weekday Sydney traffic and drove to the city to pickup hubby thru the scenic drive via the Eastern suburbs, DeeWhy & Manly Beach route. I did get lost on the way (ended up on the tunnel crossing the city) but found my way to hubby's office just in time as his meeting finished.}



So I guess playtime's up! Someone has indeed dragged me back to work :)

Wheels

After months of planning, shopping & waiting, "the car" was finally in our hands. When hubby arrived from his biz trip, we went straight to the dealer to pick it up. The feeling on the way was inexplicable. It was a mixture of excitement & anxiousness for me but more of the former for hubby. When we saw it, it was everything we expected it to be - worthy of the photo-op.

We quickly setup the tomtom (thank God for GPS!) and took "the car" for a spin. First stop was the airport - where the cousins were waiting. Then we drove straight to our friends down south (L, E&N), same people who welcomed us in OZ airport 17 months ago, and they were all nice to share our happiness.

It's been 17 months of "public-transport" & "hired-car" for us so it will be awhile before we get used to owning a private one. I will surely miss the long walks but I believe it's about time we discover more of what OZ has to offer. "Sakay na!"

Crazy about YouTube

I've been crazily watching pinoy shows from youtube for a couple of days now. I was surprised at the quality of the videos, some of which even playing upto 40mins!

This all started when I browsed the Inquirer news reporting that the record-breaking most popular youtube video was the Kris-James-Hope issue. I then tried to search for that and discovered some other pinoy shows - tsismis and variety shows.

My faves include the "Deal or No Deal" and "Bulagaan" clips. Just can't get enough of them ... haha. Oh no, somebody drag me back to work please!

Grey's Season 3 in 3 days!

I was envious of friends who told me they've seen Grey's Season 3 so after NY-day we started downloading the files ;) and voila, in 3 days I've been made up to date :) . Well there were just 11 episodes so far so I guess that's not bad at all because that was in between laundry, ironing, cleaning, changing linens, shopping (groceries, just wanted to clear that!) & cooking - in fact I just finished cooking dinner for tonight and its just 2pm, ha!

I am so enjoying the woman of leisure in me right now. How long this will last is perhaps up to me (hmm, if not the bank account)!

So I guess I have to start picking up on where we left off on Prison Break.

We have moved!

We have finally moved to a new apartment!

This move had been occupying a lot of our weekends since we had to search apartments in the local real estate websites, short list them then schedule for inspections. The Saturdays during the month of October had been mostly spent inspecting apartments. It's not easy specially if you have 15-minute open houses scheduled one after another and at different streets - or worse at different suburbs in which case you just have to prioritize and pick one. Finally, before the month ended, we agreed on getting one that is still close to where we used to live -- about 500meters.

And the BIG MOVE was completed over the weekend, with a spill-over on Monday. I thought the apartment search was the difficult part, I was so wrong! We had to pack our stuff (kitchen was the most time consuming) and sort out a lot of papers and trinkets - and for someone who just loves to keep everything thinking I might find use for that sometime in the future - that was chaos!

But the good news is, all of that is now in the past. And now we're on to the next phase - UNPACKING. Our living, dining, kitchen, master's bedroom, toilets and baths are all doing good -- BUT our extra bedroom is still full of boxes, some of them still in their original packing from Manila. I promised myself to unpack at least one box a day. Hopefully by the end of the month they're all done so I can finally tell our friends and relatives, you are now very much welcome to visit and sleep over! HAHA

PS. If you haven't received our new address, please do not hesitate to let me know and I'd make sure you get it. We certainly need that Christmas present you are planning to send us :)

Hot, hot, hot!

I did the weekly laundry while watching DVD (Little Women) last night. It is a classic movie and, truth be told, a very good 4-stars from someone who is not so fond of classic.

Anyway, going back to my laundry, when I was about to "line" dry my second batch, I was surprised to find out most of my first batch are already crisp dry! That was just 40 or so minutes in between and mind you at night. Uh-oh looks like summer in Sydney will be bad!

Based on the forecast, today will be fine and hot, peaking to 37deg ... I wonder how I'm gonna survive my apartment inspections at mid-day. Oh well, with my cap, sunnies, and water in tow I guess ... wish me luck!

What to do when ...

1) you don't feel a bit sleepy on a Sunday night and you know you have to wake up early the next day?

2) you are alone and you're tired of watching TV and DVDs and you've played all the CDs you feel like listening to and now feel the silence so deafening?

3) you suddenly feel you are miles and miles away from home .. no families, relatives and friends of easy reach?

4) you see some "people" movements at 11:38pm in the shopping mall's foodcourt just across where you live?

5) you realize on a late Sunday night you have not ironed your work clothes for the coming week?! Oh no!

There you go, just found something to do ... see ya!

Rain, Rain, Rain

Bbbrrrr .... Yup, I guess I jumped on the boat too soon! It's been raining for 2 days now. For a moment this morning I thought I was in Manila for the scene looked like a typical Manila stormy windy day. The forecast says it's going to continue like this for at least the next 5 days ... so I may have to pull our quilt back soon for hubby feels cold quite easily. Oh well, as the saying goes ...

The best thing one can do when it's raining is to let it rain.
~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Spring is here!

The month of September, I believe, officially marks the start of Spring down under and this first weekend of the month proved just that.

It went to 28deg peak yesterday and 26deg today. Our laundry dried up naturally this weekend and we didn't even need jumpers when we went out -- well everyone is excited to bare some skin, most were in singlets and shorts already! I think it's not that warm yet for us to go that path.

So when I changed linens today, I "bravely" put the quilt away and we'll see how this goes. We didn't need it anyway until it was freezing winter time so I guess we're safe with the wool blankets now. The heater timer has also been adjusted accordingly -- no more heaters at night, just early in the morning an hour before I get up so I won't feel too cold. Tonight is the first night so wish me luck!

Migrant & Refugee Sunday

Today was the Migrant and Refugee Sunday in Church and it was just very gratifying to see the Church full-packed with people as well as with activities. Some people, specifically those with special roles, came in their national costumes (bet it was so cold for Barong Tagalog & Baro't Saya). Most had the festive mood before the mass even started. The choir was well-attended and Philippines very well-represented.

There were two co-celebrants with Fr. John and one of them was Fr. Crismark (?), a Filipino priest; the other one a Korean priest.

The kyrie was sung in Indonesian, Korean and Irish.

The first reading was in Korean.

The psalms was in English and was sung by a Filipino.

The second reading was in Indian language.

The Gospel was in English and was read by Fr. Crismark.

During the Homily, Fr. John reiterated that Australia, our country, is a migrant country and he couldn't have emphasized it more. We all have chosen to emigrate and how distinct we all may be, wherever we may have come from, no matter how small or big our eyes are, how white or black our colors are, we are all here to make it work and to respect the diversity of the cultures. He put it really very well and I actually had goose-bumps listening to his message.

The prayers of the faithful was in different languages, amongst which was in Filipino.

And the offertory was presented by, our best guess, the Dutch.

The Lord's Prayer was sung in the original Latin lyrics (for several weeks now so most of us are already familiar with the pronounciation, not enough to memorize it though!).

It was a beautiful celebration and an interesting experience for us. We are proud to be part of the community but it just makes it more difficult for us to decide to leave the council (we are house-hunting again and who knows where this will bring us this time around!).

False Fire Alarm

I woke up this morning earlier than usual because of a continuous vibrating sound. Apparently, some maintenance guy has started early to work (6:30am!) and was jack-hammering the floor in the ground floor of our apartment building. What did he think he was doing?? It was a wet and cold morning and he was waking everybody up!

But then I decided to start my day early so I took a shower earlier than usual. After shower and while brushing my teeth; I started hearing an alarm; so I opened the bathroom door and saw the fire alarm at the ceiling blinking. I quickly checked if I caused some smoke that may have set off the alarm; but didn't find any. I checked the windows and of course saw nothing because our view was the pool. The alarm continued on (with the sound getting louder and louder) and followed by instructions "Please proceed to the nearest exit and evacuate the building". I looked through the peephole and saw some neighbors going out ... so I opened my door and asked if it was real ... somebody said there was a Fire Truck outside. Oh great, I was in my robe and it was raining outside so I decided I'd put something on first, I quickly got into my thermals; grabbed a coat and took my bag.

I attempted to take the stairs but I heard and saw no-one down the stairs .. I decided to use the lift (and so did our next-door neighbor). I had the feeling it was a false alarm anyway so why bother using the stairs? It was 7am!

Thank goodness for as soon as we reached the lower ground; people who have evacuated earlier were there to take the lift back up to their units saying it's a false alarm. Poor 87-year old woman (on her robe as well) who took the stairs!

It was not a good morning for everyone I guess. I reckon someone who got really annoyed with the unusual "vibrating" sound wake-up call deliberately set the alarm off. We are yet to confirm and find out the real story behind the alarm .. but I hope it doesn't happen again specially this weekend since it's forecast to be bed-weather; perfect chance to sleep in.

"Friends" Keeping Me Company

"Friends" Monica, Chandler, Rachel, Ross, Joey and Phoebe are all keeping me company when the husband travels overseas for his new project assignment. It never fails, I always lose track of time and before I know it I've spent the whole day in front of the tellie.

I'm at Season 6 and still having fun! I watched it with my champorado (Filipino chocolate porridge) this morning & it was so good. This is where Rach found out Ross has not annulled their "Vegas" wedding; and where Chandler moves in with Monica. Rach is supposed to hook up with Joey at one point and that's something I am yet to find out how.

In between volumes (1 season = 3 volumes), I listen to hubby's audio Jazz or Acoustic CDs. Now playing is that of Jeanette Lindstrom (The Look of Love; Both Sides, Now) one of my favorites; it sets the mood for a good 15-30min bath soak on a Saturday afternoon. So, gotta go :)

Kitchen Teamwork

The husband and I stayed back at the office a few minutes later than usual today. So we arrived home around 6:30pm rather than the usual 6:00pm. Since we each had different agenda after dinner, I asked the husband if he can help me prepare dinner and he was very open about the idea (read by common friends as he didn't have a choice).

The husband took care of the pizza (white pizza, half plain, half w/ mushroom) and I took care of the beef tacos. While pizza was being baked, the mini-dining table was set and wine was poured and in less than 30minutes, voila, dinner was ready! The pizza was yum, very close to the Sbarro white cheese pizza I've been missing for months! The secret was the marinated feta cheese that we got from our trip to Hunter Valley last month. The husband loved the tacos, as always, although we've ran out of fresh tomatoes as additional garnish.

After dinner, both of us are happy, for the husband can now watch "Beyond Tomorrow" and I can now do my "internet"ing. :)

I'd say, good work for both of us (clap, clap)! I look forward to more teamwork in the kitchen! (hmm, I wonder if husband feels the same)

Boxes!

These BOXES are keeping us busy these past few days. Our shipment has finally arrived at our door (after almost two months!). This means more work as we need to unpack -- again! By the way, the picture is just one-third of the total number of boxes - the others were left out due to security reasons ;)

As we opened the boxes, we were happy to find some familiar items! Shoes, bags, albums, CDs, the husband's toys - audio equipments & comics, cookwares - rice cooker, pressure cooker, steamer (oh no, this time no excuses for not cooking!). They got us so excited but some made me wonder why I even bothered shipping them over like old tupperwares haha! Well, most of them are good stuff so it was still worth it, I think. We've been unpacking but those we don't find a need in the near future stay in the boxes. We've made very good progress I think, as we are now only left w/ the clothes boxes.

How we wish we sent more though -- like boxes of Purefoods corned beef, Century Spicy Tuna, Instant Pancit Canton and Champorado. Hehe.

A Typical Working Day

The husband's 6:25am alarm goes off and he clicks on snooze. As soon as he does that, my 6:30am alarm goes off and I snooze it too. After a couple of minutes it goes off again, I click on stop and finally get up from bed. I go straight to the T&B, do my thing with the T & the B and try to make the room available for the husband before 7am. We dress up as swiftly as we can then take a quick breakfast -- either cereals w/ lactose-free milk or just some toast.

After breakfast, we walk around 100meters from the apartment building to get to the platform to the city center. On the train, a good day will be when we can sit together. When the train leaves, I silently say the rosary while the husband desperately tries to keep himself awake by reading pocketbook during the 35mins ride. I alight one-station earlier than he does and I walk just another 100meters from the station to the office building. The husband does the same as his office building is just across the station too.

Work during my first week involved some admin, some training, some meetings and some action ... at the end of the week, it was mostly action. For lunch, I would either be meeting the husband in a nearby fastfood station, or sitting in my own cube munching left-over from the previous night's dinner. Fridays, I learned, are usually team lunches and my first Friday was special for we went to the Sydney Fish Market for lunch! Yum :)

The first couple of afternoons were difficult! I was yawning every 10 mins or so! Gosh, I hope they don't have hidden cameras somewhere. That's probably why they put some glass/clear plastic panels on the corner of the cube where you're facing. I frequented the toilet and the pantry to get over it!

After work, I would call the husband when I'm ready to go and we meet at my station's platform. Usually, he would be waiting for me there when I arrive. Some times I had to wait for him and when he gets there we would either ride the same train he just got off from or wait for the next train if it was the "limited stops" train. Not that it can overtake the "all stops" train but hearing the door open and close every now and then makes it feel farther and longer to get home. Oh well, a psychological thing.

We get home usually 6-ish, that is if we don't drop by the library which is right at the back of the apartment building. We try to enjoy a bit of the broadband, watch the news then get ready for dinner -- sooner if it's Smallville or Surface or Supernatural or Grey's Anatomy on TV. Ha, we're starting to enjoy the programs from the local networks, I don't see the need for cable tv anymore, which is good, one bill less my back!

After the favorite TV programs, lights go off and what follows after that is something I'm not ready to share to the public :) at least not yet? haha!

That's how our typical working day went last week. It probably would be the same for the coming week, except that Thursday will be a holiday to celebrate Australia Day. Hmm, could we probably commit to go to Hunter Valley on this day? Let's see if Mr. Weather cooperates.

Late Night Shopping

It's just funny why the husband had to warn me last night ...

He said, "Honey tomorrow is late night shopping (till 9pm, normally they close at 5pm) and I want to go malling".

I said, "OK" with a look waiting for reason why he was telling me that?

He then said, "Maybe you can consider not malling in the afternoon so you won't complain that you've got tired feet already at 7pm!" ... which was exactly what happened the week before ... hehehe.

Hmm, let's see if I can fill in 7 more hours w/ household stuff.

10 Things I Miss About Manila Today

I still cannot get over Manila, I don't know why. Here are just a few points I miss about her now.

1 - the Food - Sbarro white cheese pizza, Project 6 crispy pata, lechon, mangoes, bananas, Quicklie, halo-halo, banana que, turon, fresh buko, fish ball, dirty ice cream, jollibee .. and the list goes on ..

2 - the SPA - facial, manicure, pedicure, foot spa, reflexology, massage, massage, massage!

3 - the luxury of living w/ a household help

4 - driving and not having to commute

5 - cheap new movies

6 - shopping & going around with just a hundred in my wallet

7 - chismis, telenovelas & reality TV shows! (hehe)

8 - cable TV - specially AXN, HBO & Star Movies




but i think the most significant of them all are:

9 - our friends: Gadgets, RDC, Misis, SLC, Sasmi

and

10 - our families: Daddy, Mama, Sis Cha, Manong Cris & family, my pamangkins, Ate Hershey, Ma-Eds, all Dictaans, Salvadors and Larracas's

Miss You All!

Carried Away by Love Affair

Have you ever experienced waking up in the morning with a craving for a movie?

I woke up this morning desperately wanting to watch my favorite movie of all time .. the Love Affair. It was a lazy bed-weather Saturday morning anyway, the perfect weather for a love story, I thought. I asked the husband to plug in the DVD and told him he can go back to sleep if he wants to. But he didn't ... he watched it w/ me all the way to credits.

I have watched this on VCD more than three times and having found a DVD copy was another good reason to watch it. Terry (Annette Bening) and Mike (Warren Beatty) have their way of reaching out to me thru this movie. I don't know if it's how they fell in love, how they decided to test their sudden love or how fate had tested it that makes my eyes glued to the tube whenever I see this. The perfect setting of Mike's aunt's (Katharine Hepburn) hill-top country house can be another reason. Or the soundtrack. Or the actors ...

But whatever it is, I have always found myself crying in at least a couple of scenes. The first one would always be when the aunt starts playing the Love Affair theme song in the piano and the second one would be the last scene when Mike looks for his painting in Terry's room. Today, I cried again and the husband was wondering if I've forgotten the story. But no, I just always get carried away ... and today was nothing different. In fact I cried in at least 4 scenes today, hehe. Who cares? Besides, crying is healthy!

Finally blogging ... I think?

I have finally convinced myself to give the blogging a try! I'm not very good at words nor at writing journals but I love sending emails to update everyone anyways so why not just create a one-stop shop for everyone to see and visit at their own convenient time. So here I am trying out this stuff.

I do not really know how to start since I do not have an idea of who I'm writing this for? It's different if you don't know who your target readers are ... am I really ready for this? Can I really share my thoughts and stories about what its been and how its been for us? Can I make the commitment to regularly blog and not keep the posts outdated? It's not easy but why not. Maybe after a few posts, it will get better?

I'm sharing a summary page of our first three months of our journey in the new land. A lot has happened during our first three months in the new country we chose to live in other than the Philippines, the land down under, Australia.

We came here after 3 years and 4 months of living together as husband and wife. It was a big decision we had to make leaving families and friends behind but it's a leap of faith for us. We prayed that God lead us to where He wants us to go and passing all the immigration requirements in a short 10-months processing time was a positive sign that He has greater plans for us here.



The first month was easy -- it just felt like we were vacationing in a foreign land, like we used to. Only this time, we had four full bags to carry and no return tickets to secure. In a little less than a month, we jumped from one state to another - New South Wales (NSW), Australia Capital Territory (ACT), Victoria (VIC) and South Australia (SA). After this we realized we're halfway, only four more to go!

Our friends, L&S and E&N with their families, welcomed us in Sydney with arms wide open on the day we landed. They were witnesses to the puffed eyes and a few more crying on the first days. They considered us as family and offered their bedrooms for us to rest. L&S generously extended their offer indefinitely until we find a job and find our own place. What great friends we have here! L even patiently gave me a crash course in laundry!

The week after we arrived, we joined my cousin S, in his Melbourne flat to have a look around the said to be Europe of Australia. We were there for a week and learned that this was much more tourist-friendly than Sydney. We liked the convenience of riding in trams and the simplicity of the street layouts, loved the fun of shopping in what we call "tiangges" back in Manila and adored the Italian cuisine down at Lygon street. There was so much more to see ...

A week after that, my tita E & the rest of her family - ninong A & cousin N, arrived in Melbourne and we drove all together back to Adelaide where they live. It was an interesting 8hours drive as there were endless roads, skylines and farms (canola oil farms for one!) like forever. They showed us the beach at Goolwa, the view at Victor Harbour, the vineyards at Barossa Valley and the quiet little towns of Gawler and Tanunda. We were able to meet our friends M&C and their cute little kids B&N in their lovely residence. We introduced them to our other kumare and kumpadre M&J who're also based in Adelaide so they can have each other to get-together with on some occasions that they need others to keep them sane. We also had our first barbie party with some more relatives (all of them, we met for the first time!). We had fun and they captured our hearts but we had to go back to Sydney to start on the more serious fun -- the job-hunting. Then we realized vacation was over!

The job-hunting in the second month was not fun like we expected. There were fears and there were discussions here and there whether we can make this work until after 2 weeks when we learned of the husband's job offer. It was a big relief and we praised God for all the blessings He's been showering us. When the husband started working, I started apartment-hunting. I made phone-calls, inquired if they had the least of the facilities we needed, I short-listed apartments to inspect and we did most of the inspection on weekends. The look-see-and-feel lasted for three consecutive Saturdays until we found THE ONE.

On our third month, we were moving to our own pad and have started settling-in. It was interesting renting the first time since it's very different from how it's done in Manila. As tenants here, you first get "The Renting Guide" from the Office of Fair Trading under The Department of Commerce. This pamphlet details your rights and responsibilities as a tenant. Then when you move in, you have to fill in a "Residential Premises Condition Report" which is a checklist of items for inspection whether they are clean, undamaged or working. This report protects the tenant from any unnecessary charges the lessor may demand from the bond. I wondered if and when Philippines will be able implement rules like this.

Choosing which utility company to tie up with was another dirty work ... I didn't imagine there could be so much choice even for electricity and gas (for water-heating and cooking). The home phone was understandable because in Manila there are now more choices than it used to but the electricity and gas was something new to us. We finally settled for what was popular amongst the friends as well as what was recommended by the building property manager. There was no charge for water which was good, one less bill to worry.

During this month, we also celebrated the holidays -- Christmas and New Year days in our new abode. Lots of cooking and eating for two! It wasn't very bad for first timers. I guess the TV with lots of DVDs helped ease the homesickness.

Tomorrow will be the start of our fourth month adventure here in OZ. I wonder how it will be? I hope and pray this month and the coming months of year 2006 will be kind and generous to us. Let's see.

Till next post then ...