3rd month

I have just recently stopped importing blog posts into my facebook account to give myself freedom again to write about anything I think of. Family members, relatives and long-time friends seem to worry about my state when they read any of my writings that somehow, they think, reflect a not-so-good condition.

Nothing to worry about me, I am A-ok. It's been three months now since we arrived here. I would say that my circumstances haven't changed that much yet, but I am coping up. The weather has been getting colder, with winter starting in less than three weeks from now. I have joined a library, and now few pages away from finishing the first book I borrowed (The Fifth Mountain by Paulo Coelho).

Today is extra special because I have received a package from my Kuya (big brother), and even more special because my nephews sent their handmade birthday card for me... the first presents I have received for my birthday on Monday. :)

you can call me Penny...

For those of you who would like to know how I have been, here's a quick run down of updates.

In my previous post, I have mentioned how I like it here, having spent only a week. And now, after four more weeks, I still say "I like it here!"

At the start of our second week, I was fortunate enough to be called for a job interview. However, I wasn't that fortunate to have been hired for the position. While I felt that it was totally fine to have missed that chance (it was just the second week then... it was still time to play the tourist role), I was still hoping I would receive another call for other job opportunities.

Unexpectedly, through the network of a relative, I have gotten myself a part-time waitressing job in a Malaysian-Chinese-North-and-South-Indian-cuisine-under-one-roof restaurant. (Let me tell you that they cook REALLY great food! I am enjoying my free take-aways everytime!) This kind of job is entirely out of my league, and this is the first time I am doing this, that my mom, and my parents-in-law as well, worry that the job may be too physically challenging for me. Well, it is... but after a good rest, I am back to the normal energy level I have before doing it. My brothers find it cool though, one of them wants to call me Penny (from The Big Bang Theory, if you are watching it).

Before we left home weeks back, we have already prepared ourselves to get whatever work experience that would initially come our way... we have a long way to go, and we believe that we have a great life ahead of us. The best is yet to come... and only God knows when is the time.

So to our friends who are wondering how have we been, well, we have been great, and we are enjoying it here! We are always grateful to the Lord for making this dream possible.

Well, how about you? How have you been?

one fine week

It was seven days ago when my husband and I first set foot on this land down under... and just a week after, we are already enjoying our stay, having visited quite a few places and meeting some friends.

Everything may be new... the currency, the driving scheme, and everything else around us, but we are loving it here already! Many thanks to our friends and cousins who have welcomed us here.

tick tack tick tack...

With twenty-five hours left before the trip that will open a new book of my life, I want to make my presence felt in the blog world (well, at least to the three people I know who would be reading this... ^_^).

I am so excited that I am not sure if I can sleep it through the night. :) I am sure that there will be a moment of sadness as we leave our families behind, but I am also sure that things will turn out for the best.... I'm keeping my faith alive!

So, until my next post from the land down under...

Have a great time, everyone! :) God bless you!

thoughts, thoughts, and more thoughts...

I have been out of work (by choice) since the new year started. However, I am still not able to do some things, which I thought I could, only if I had more time in my hands. Again and again, I have realized that determination plays a big part in accomplishing any task.

With a new book in my life set to uncover in three weeks, I know I should be doing a lot of reading to prepare myself for it. But then, most of the time, I find myself with random thoughts popping up my mind. Let me share them with you...

1. I am grateful that my Mama has imparted to us her faith ever since we were kids. And I am working my way to make that faith clearer and well-grounded. It helps me keep a balance in my life, in general.
2. I need to learn to be more independent. For more than three years now, I have always relied on my husband to drive me to places and to accompany me when I need to get personal things done. What if I need to ride a bus, a tram, or a train all by myself? Travelling will be one of my biggest challenges, that I am sure of!
3. I need to be more confident in dealing with other people... it is never wrong to ask questions when clarification is needed. Oh, and by the way, I have to get used to that new accent! :)
4. How about Mama? Who is gonna spend weekends with her when I leave? It is a pensive thought...

But I should worry no more. I know that things will turn out for the best... and at the end, everybody will be happier! The Lord is in control! :)

resigned

Three weeks ago, I was drafting my resignation letter. And it was just last week that I was able to finalize and print it. However, it was only two hours ago that I was able to hand it to our managing director. I never realized that submitting the letter would be harder than drafting it.

I wasn’t nervous about how my boss would react to my resignation, because I had already informed him four months ago that I would only be staying until this December. I would admit I was really sad leaving the company where I had been working for six years now.

But things happen because they are meant to happen. I am meant to leave the company to experience more somewhere else, and for that, I am truly excited.

I can never tell what is in store for me in the future, but I can only trust that the Lord will always be there to guide me… and I just need to follow.

offer is good while supplies last

Tonight, instead of spending time on Facebook playing Cafe World or Farm Town, I chose to catch up on my reading. No, not of books, but of the few blogs that I have been following. And as I take inspiration from these blogs to post my own update, something I have been thinking earlier came to mind again.

Ever since Husband and I have received the news qualifying us to finally migrate to the land down under, our family and friends have been only telling us two things: 1. to spend time with people who matter; and 2. to feast on all the food we love to eat that may not be readily available there.

Well, we know that family and friends are the people that matter. As for the food, here is my personal list:

1. Mama's cooking, that obviously I can't cook myself or that ingredients may not be available, like laing, sinaing na tulingan, adobong salinyasi, tortang dulong, kilaw na dilis, sinigang na kanduli sa miso... and this list could just go on and on...
2. balaw-balaw ni Nanay Tonia (the mother of my dearest friend, Oneng) matched with nilagang upo with dalag
3. street food - isaw, fishball, squid ball, kwek-kwek, tokneneng, and at times, adidas

We shall definitely take advantage of the remaining months to be with family and friends, and to feast on food that we would surely miss.

it's gonna be Christmas soon!

Today is the 15th of October. We’re halfway through the month and Christmastime is just around the corner. Christmas season is something I so look forward to every single year. I just love the merry feeling it gives me when I think of it.

But this time is different. As I countdown through the days before Christmas, I somehow feel a bit of sadness knowing that forty-nine days after the merry day, I shall be leaving behind my family and friends for a new life that awaits miles and miles away from home. And just writing about it brings me to tears already. It is our choice though… something that husband and I have planned for nearly two years ago.

After indulging myself with the sad thought, the excitement begins to surface. Yes, we will finally live our lives in a place we have always dreamt of, and it is going to be exciting! It may not always be easy, but it will be fun! It may be full of uncertainties, but we will surely learn new things. And as we go through everything that may be new to us, it would be comforting to know that we have each other and by God’s grace we would be A-OK!

Now I am happy again! Am I crazy? Nah! Just thrilled!

thought of flights

During times at work when I would like to rest for a while, I would always find myself surfing for flight schedule and fare. Husband and I have not yet finalized on the date when we have to leave this motherland, but one thing we are sure of, we are going to spend Christmas and New Year here, with our families.

We are looking for the cheapest fare, wherein the schedule would allow us to leave on a late afternoon of Friday (or perhaps on a Friday night), so that whoever would pick us up from the airport of our destination would not have to go on a work leave just to meet us up. Plus, it will give us two days (Saturday and Sunday) to acquaint ourselves with our new community.

Thinking about these things gives me a mix of emotions… I am excited because finally, the thing that we have been working on had already materialized, but at the same time, I feel kind of sad because we will be leaving behind everything that I have lived with and lived for, for the last thirty-two years of my life.

But that’s life. We oftentimes make decisions that we believe would lead us to the best of things. And in all these, we pray that we have the anointing of the Lord that we are following the path He has chosen for us to take on.