The term "newly arrived" may not fully apply to me since I've been here in Adelaide for almost eight months. But since this is my very first time to blog, I gladly took intellectual friends' suggestions. As much as I wouldn't like to divulge my personal experiences online, I think this will be the only exception as many people are curious about life abroad.
- Boarding Qantas Airlines from Manila to Sydney
I always knew that I'll be leaving Philippines but it didn't really sink in until the day that I'm all alone, checking in at Qantas Airlines counter at NAIA. 20 kilo max luggage and 7 kilo max hand-carry bag, boarding tickets, passport, customs, immigration and Gate Number. These are the things you should remember when your flying all on your own.
I needed to board a plane twice, one from Manila to Sydney for seven and a half hours and another from Sydney to Adelaide for almost three hours. Have you ever wondered what's the feeling up in the air? I do! I have FA aspirations so I like sharing this story.
Eyes will feel its drying, as if pressure is sucking all of eye's natural H20. When you try to sleep, you'll feel as if there's only a thin air for you to breathe, maybe because of high altitude so, you wouldn't really get to sleep. The food? its disgusting, with the exception of Kitkat and Cadbury's, cheese and crackers. Music sucks too.
From Manila to Sydney, since there are many Filipino passengers on board, they announced updates in both English and Filipino. you'll be amazed how satisfying that feels, thinking that will be the last time you'll ever hear a Filipino announcement, wondering when will you ever hear any kind of announcement in your own dialect.
From Sydney to Adelaide, I was approached by an FA, "Move fo-wad", and I was like, "What?" She kinda shouted a little saying the exact same thing, then I realized, it was, "Move FORWARD". I just got my very first Aussie accent trouble encounter.
Try picturing this, half your family is in your home country and the other half is in another, and you're up in the air with bunch of people you don't know, that's a fresh breath of independence! For almost half a day, you're all alone in almost a new "planet", it's a lil bit scary but very overwhelming.
- Aussies
What do they look like? Do they talk really funny? One thing's for sure, they greet a lot! When your walking in the park, buying from a convenience store, they would start with, "Hi, how are you?" And you don't necessarily have to answer, that's just their own way of saying hi and hello. It's just that, I don't like talking very much.
Tall and white?? Tall? not really, you will occasionally bump into some very tall girls or boys but on average, not really as much as I anticipated. They are definitely white, with a few girls and boys who looks like they just got out of the beach with their tanned skin, some actually have fake tanned skin.
Accent. Terrible. It took me a while to get used to their accents. I thought they were like British-type, expecting a "Harry Potter" way of talking, but no. They do have their distinct accent and intonation. Especially on the phone. you will really have a hard time figuring out what the hell are they saying. By the time you get used to it, any accent will be easy for you to digest.
- Multicultural City
Every time you will see Asians, may they be Chinese, Indian, Indonesian, Malaysian, Japanese, Korean, even Middle Eastern, you'll feel as if they are your distant relatives. Everywhere you go in Adelaide, you'll see lots and lots of them. I get excited whenever I see Asians who look like Pinoys or Pinays. I repeatedly approached women of Indonesian, Malaysian and Cambodian nationality with, "Ate Pinay ka?"
Indeed Adelaide is a multicultural city and Aussies are so used to this that they don't mind even if you're not white, as opposed to the way Pinoys look at foreigners in the Philippines, haha!
- Mind boggling Bus System to Googling Directions
"281 lagi sakyan mo, to and fro sa city."
"Yung bus stop, malapit sa Medicare."
"Good for 2 hours yang ticket mo."
"Anu daw????"
I was so confused with their bus system. It's so organized that I thought its too complicated for me to get used to it. They do have electronic signboards but the main route are in numbers like 281. Example. Paradise Interchange via Klemzig 281. How the hell am I supposed to know if that bus will stop in the nearest bus stop in my house? Buses come at specific time with 15 minutes interval, some with 30 minutes interval and 1 hour interval every weekends, at specific bus stops. Tickets are cheaper when its off-peak like from 9am until 3pm. Its also valid for 2 hours, no matter how many buses you'll get in.
Upon getting used to this, everywhere I go, I always google the direction and it is very helpful to me. You just have to find the address, lock it in google directions and voila, you've got yourself a journey planner! From what time the bus will come, to how many minutes will the transfer be up to the exact location of where you're heading. I wonder if I could do that in Makati, as I've left Philippines, without knowing how to get there without using taxi haha!
- Keep left sign and Pedestrian
When I studied at La Salle, a friend told me about the "Keep right" rule when your walking towards a hall, or any road for that matter. That time we were walking down the so-called "Shanchai walk from Rotonda to Square" It got to me so well that when I got here, I always keep right and almost always bumped into people! Apparently, they have a Keep left thing, that's why drivers seat is on the right side coz when your driving, you have to keep left. Even in escalators, the rule still applies. Like when you wanna go down, you would go to the right part of the escalator right? In here, its the opposite! That is why, I don't think I can drive in here, my subconscious mind will only get me to follow the keep right rule and with that, I might just have head-on collision when crossing intersections! It's not hard to understand but when you get so used to doing things your way, your body reacts subconsciously and it just do what it used to do.
Pedestrian, push a button and wait for the green light and off you go! That's how easy it is!
- Asian Grocery, a Window to Manila
I get a glimpse of excitement for every usual Pinoy products that I see in Asian groceries. Lucky Me pancit canton, suka,toyo, patis, bagoong, chicharon plus hygiene products, it feels just,,, home! You may not use some of this in the Phil, but these are what you see on a daily basis before. One time, when we're having our grocery at an Aussie grocery story (there's three big grocery stores in here, Cole's, Woolworth's and Foodland) I was looking for Spam and corned beef so obviously I'm in the cans section, then I saw one of the brands with the word, "Sizzling", A minute or so. I can't seem to find what I'm looking for, then I realized I was looking for "Sizzling Sisig"! How stupid can I be?! With just one word, I completely forgot what I'm looking for!
- Foodies
At first, I gained weight in here coz I just stayed home, munching on every food I'd get my hands on, But the fact still remains, I'm always on diet so I don't appreciate food that much. But for this blog, these are the common Aussie foods:
steaks and burgers (Hungry Jack's, McDo's counterpart), - fish and chips, yiros (Greek, shawarma version I guess)
- pizza houses are like everywhere,
- lots of Indian and Chinese restaus,
- the iconic vegemite spread and Pavlova cake. Vegemite tastes so salty and bitter, and Pavlova is just a meringue cake and you decide what fruits would you like to put on top.
- Rubbish, Loo and Buffet
I seriously laughed my ass off when I saw garbage bins with the tag "Rubbish". I always knew the meaning of rubbish, I never thought they literally used it for garbage bins!
"Do you wanna go to the loo?" I've studied few British English but when they actually get to speak the words, with their accents and all, It really took me a minute or so for me to realized what is she trying to tell me haha! Loo for toilet of course.
Buffet, I remembered a friend who read fillet with a fil-let, though she found out later what stupid thing she did. Anyways, they read buffet, with Baf-et or Bah-fey, with this word, mixed with another word, it will really get you thinking, "What did she just say?!!!"
- Kissing Scenes!!!
I'm not referring to kissing as in smack kissing. This is torid-like kiss in public! One in front of Norwoord the Parade, like a front porch of a movie house, they were in the middle actually! And then, couples who were standing in the middle of the bus, and then lastly, sitting in the bus! wohoo! Of course I don't stare at them, it just surprises me they do that thing in there haha!
- Epiphany of Jeep and Tricycles
You know when you get bored seeing the same thing for quite a while? That's what happens. One night, my mom was driving and I suddenly got bored with cars and buses and big trucks at night, I suddenly missed seeing jeepneys and tricycles.
- Commercials on TV and News
News are quite peculiar. I mean, in Cavite, you always get national news. In here, they do report national news but with the focus on Adelaide news. It's as if, I am living in Cebu and you know when they told you like they have their own channel? Something like that.
Commercials. With that kind of news story, what would you expect in commercials? There are some national ads, but then, you'll find it amusing that even small business enterprise have their own commercials! It's funny how we criticized national commercials in Manila, with low budget editing and models and concept, In here. you'll find some to be like that! I wonder what's the advertising cost for such? haha
Let's spare their mini-politics drama as opposed to Philippine politics. They pretty much have good system, with the benefits that they're giving for their citizens, its really quite massive!
So in conclusion? It's really a good place to settle in. If you can make Philippines to be this way, you would not dare to leave, but is it possible for Philippines to be like this? Only God knows when.
So if you can't make Philippines to be this way, better yet bring your family along with you. But how bout your friends? You can only fully appreciate the good things in here when you've got all your loved ones, friends and family for that matter, to be there with you, enjoying the so-called "greener pasture".
This may not really seemed to be about life abroad. Just Facts! Like what I said, as much as possible I don't really want to blog about my life. This is the only exception, wit it not being fully about my life. :)
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