Posts from — March 2006

The recent trip to Sydney was a discovery of sorts. As being my first stop in Oz, it basically showed how life was down under.

For one, vehicles here are driven on the left side of the road and all are right-hand drives. Even people walk on the left side of the sidewalk, much like what the vehicles do. People here respect pedestrians and do really stop and wait for them to cross the street. At the same time, pedestrians respect the traffic light and stay on the sidewalks until the traffic light allows them to cross the street.

As for food, there is a wide range of selections since the market is quite multi-cultural. There’s Asian food, Middle Eastern food,  European cuisines and the usual fast-food, which we can also find in the Philippines. One common fast-food here is fish and chips (chips aka French fries).

I noticed too that people here are friendly, especially in stores. They always say “Hi.” or “How are you?” when you pay something at the counter. They also engage you in conversations, even if you don’t know them. I think it’s because customer service is considered quite important here. Customers can complain and report these clerks to the management at the slightest offense and clerks could lose their jobs.

Aboriginals playing along Circular Quay

As we were walking around Sydney, we found also a number of buskers — people who perform on the streets and ask for donations. Most of them played muscial instruments. We also saw a mime posing as a statue of Mozart while we were at The Rocks. They put up a good show, so passersby do stop and watch them.

Finally, I have found the time to post. I know I’ve been offline for almost a week and probably you guys are wondering what has happened to me. Not to worry as i am very much alright and pretty happy now that I am with J.

I arrived in Sydney last march 8. it was quite a bumpy ride, but I didn’t get any motion sickness. My agent back in the Philippines checked me in beforehand and got me a good seat — one that’s near the toilet! hehe… Qantas served us two full meals and the food was great. I didn’t get much sleep though. I guess all that excitement and anxiousness kept me from dozing off.

When we landed in Sydney, there were lots of foreigners who also arrived at the same time as our trip. To my disappointment, the immigration department was packed with Europeans. Halos mahimatay ako sa amoy!  LOL! It’s a good thing it took me only 10-15 minutes to get them to put a stamp on my passport. Otherwise, I’m sure I would have had a really terrible sneezing fit. hehe…

At the customs area, I really had nothing to declare. But since I had some valuables and gifts from our wedding with me, I didn’t want to take the risk so I queued up at the ‘something to declare’ area. The lady just asked me what I wanted to declare and I told her the details. She then asked me to bring my luggages to the x-ray machine. I thought they were going to go through my stuff (which, by the way, i was afraid of because I had so carefully packed my clothes), but to my surprise, the guy there just placed my bags back on the cart after going through the x-ray machine and told me that I was free to go. Phew!  When I came out, J was already there with his videocam. Kala mo artista! LOL!

We checked in at the Medina, near the central station. The two days were spent sightseeing. We were able to visit Darling Harbour, The Sydney Opera House, The Rocks, Manly Beach, Sydney Tower, Chinatown and downtown Sydney. View more pictures here.

As of this writing, am now in Canberra, still trying to settle in. I have yet to get my clothes out of my luggages and put them in the closet. the weekend was pretty busy since we arrived. we had to get my medicare number and open a bank account for me. the welcome parties are killers! mukhang tataba ako dito. LOL! the filipino community here is very big and close-knit so, it isn’t that lonely here.

This is getting long. I better head off to the shower now. Ate Emma of the Filipino store here is picking me up in an hour to show me around and probably watch a movie.

I’ve just visited Via’s blog and came across this. I haven’t played with any of my dolls for decades, so this is a refreshing approach to it. Don’t you just love the internet for these things?

Only a few days left before i fly off to be with J. This is my first time to be on a plane by myself for a really long trip. Let’s just hope that, since I leave in the evening, I can get some sleep to somehow distract me from my boredom.