Note to new readers: This post is part of my 30 Days of Writing Practice. I am allowing blocks of 10, 20 or 30 minutes of my day solely to putting my swirling thoughts on paper. No going back to edit which will only serve to stop the stream of consciousness. My writing buddy Kat and I, we call it writing from the heart. Please read my introduction for the full story.
I told you last Tuesday that I need to be more organised in my topics. To give myself direction. Ok. So in Instagram, there’s a thing called #ThrowbackThursday. A blast from the past. For #ThrowbackThursday, how about if I tell you our “new beginning in Australia” story? The first year in Sydney in 10 mins. Or maybe 20. We shall see.
Gasp, dive and swim!
Ariel did not want to leave the Philippines, and why would he? He had established an IT career in a Meralco subsidiary. He built us a house from his Meralco shares. I, on the other hand, was having the time of my life traveling around the world in short term assignments (between 2 weeks to 3 months at a time) while working for Motorola. Now there’s the crux of the matter. I was restless. I have seen the world and seen the quality of life outside the Philippines. Life seemed so much better “outside”. I wanted out. Anywhere except the US (I wasn’t a fan of American junk) and Canada (too cold).
My soulmate however was quite comfortable and happy where he was. Enter Erap the President. Fantastic. Exit the Girons. Yes. Erap the President was Ariel’s shove. What I couldn’t do (that is, convince the hubby to emigrate), Erap did for me. Ariel’s words – “This country is going to the dogs”. My husband does not mince his words too. Apologies to Erap supporters…not.
It took us a mere 6 months to get a Permanent Resident visa approved. We arrived in Sydney on the 1st of Oct, 2000. My clostest (a new word I devised) friend Pepper (because she is like Pepper Potts to me) opened her home to us. She distinctly remembers picking us up at the airport looking totally buggered (Aussie slang for exhausted). You see, Miguel was agitated for the entire 8 hours of flying + 3 hours emergency stop in Darwin because someone had a heart attack! My 2 year old baby cried all throughout the trip unless we stand and craddle him in our arms. Only then was he comforted. So during the double takeoff and landing, he would cry at the top of his lungs. We had no clue then that the pressure or engine noise hurt his ears. No autism diagnosis at this stage, folks. 11-month old Gabo, on the other hand, slept like a baby that he was on his car seat that we bought from a Shangri-La Plaza store. I had to convince the Qantas people to allow us our own car seat inside the plane. It was a lifesaver, that car seat, Gab was happy sitting there with no complaints. When I retell this story to him, he is mighty proud. Proud to be so behaved while we tend to Kuya Migo. That flight was a nightmare. Pepper and husband will attest that when they saw us at the Arrival gates pushing our luggage trolley with the two boys in tow, we looked like we were ready to take the next flight back to Manila. It was that bad. No happy excited faces upon arrival in Australia!
But of course, failure was not an option. The only way was to move forward and succeed. Pepper and her husband left for a holiday on the third day of our arrival. We only had one day of “turnover” or briefing, then they left us to our own devices. Left the apartment and the car, and perhaps some jewellery too (I didn’t check). Wow! That gave me and Ariel time and space to recalibrate on our own. As soon as we got our bearings, Ariel started to look for work. Four weeks passed. No job offer for my soulmate. It was just tough luck. Nothing else.
So we had to implement Plan B. Plan A was for Cha to be a happy stay at home mum. Plan B was for Cha to work and carry on as in previous life in the Philippines. Darn. I wasn’t happy. But I had no choice, milk and nappies had to be bought. So expensive were the nappies here. Two weeks later, I charmed my way into a job offer.
We moved out of Pepper’s apartment after 6 weeks. My gratitude to Pepper and her husband is boundless. Blessed are we to have friends who give unconditionally.
We found a two bedroom unit in a suburb called Hornsby. We did not give up on Plan A. Ariel kept applying for jobs in the meantime. He would go to interviews at 5pm. I literally would jump out of a taxi and he would jump in into the same taxi to go to his interview. I begged my mother to come over for 6 months so that Ariel can focus on the job hunting and someone can look after the boys. Mama came. She literally saved our sanity. Sanity? Yes. Because we, Ariel and I, were not happy. Repeat. We weren’t happy. There, I said it. Why? Because my soulmate was not wired to stay home and be a house husband. That’s why. It’s as simple as that. He tried. Oh yes he tried his darndest. He was even excited in the beginning. Cooked and cared for the boys, cleaned the house, looked after Kuya Migo and his strange ways (no diagnosis as yet). As the weeks progressed, Ariel was falling apart at the seams. Not physical exhaustion. Just sheer mental and emotional drain. I was losing my husband. He retreated into his shell. Hardly talking. I was grateful for Gabo’s incessant dining table chatter. Because the apartment would have been deathly quiet without his chatter. I called 911 via my mother. She came to our rescue.
Long story short, Ariel found a job six months after arriving in Sydney. We reverted back to Plan A, that meant I get to look after the two boys full time! And the rest as they say is history. We lived happily ever after.
Come stay with me again tomorrow, my darlings.
Always from my heart,
ChaR-g
I leave you with my all-time favourite Sting song. The song that Ariel used to tunnel into my heart. Say Hi to him at www.adoboandco.com.
Chiqui Pineda-Azimi says
Yes, yes! Thank you, Erap!!! 😀 lol! Our stories intersect on so many levels, Charot. ^_^
cynthia navallo says
So I guess you should thank Erap for shoving you out of the Philippines eh? Administrations after him made this country worst and I hope the current one will at least change it by a little percent.