I forgot to include in the list my IELTS/PTEA journey. Ok, because this is where a lot of who I talked to chicken out, I guess I can get too detailed just so I can ease someone else's nerves.
Let me start in the context that English is not our mother tongue and we should not worry too much about it at this stage. NOT!!! If you really want to migrate so much, there's no holding you back. Even yourself. I think the worst thing you can ever tell yourself is "hindi kasi ako magaling mag-English!". Because if you ever said that to yourself even if you don't know it you're losing half of the battle real fast. It's not like you should forget Tagalog altogether, it's just that you have made a conscious decision to tell to the world that yes I want to go to a place where everybody talks and understands English. And by every body I meant including you.
So.
I have always liked English, in fact I think I'm pretty good at it. Not about the grammar but I can express myself with it. I like writing in English, not too grammatically correct, but I can. I have a wide range of vocabulary or understand some words I read the first time through context and the like. I can pronounce and stress words correctly.
And I read a lot of reviews with IELTS. Them getting 7 in 3 areas but failing in the fourth. Reading, writing, listening, and speaking. And then I chicken out. It's not like I can fail and take it again, it's the money that I'll lose that's making me chicken out. Failing is not an option because it's burning 10,000 pesos in a what-i-think-is-a-money-making test. It is very subjective because you face a person who's going to rate you speak. There are a lot of variables that could make you lose it quickly - what if the person just doesn't get your point, what if the person is having a bad day, what if the person just effin not like how you look and it could influence his perception of your opinion. I know this is very judgemental but these are my opinion.
So I still enrolled with IELTS crash course in Meriton One along Quezon Avenue, attended the orientation, and that's it. Bye 3,500. If I would have gotten the unlimited review, the orientation I attended would have costed me 6,000.
By this time I have Respall giving me valuable information one of which is mentioning PTEA as an alternative to IELTS. This is pretty new compared to IELTS but what mattered to me was when Mel said that this is acceptable in Australia and is done with a computer and that results are given after 24 hours. IELTS results take about a week I believe.
So 9,000 pesos and a week later, I scheduled to take my PTEA test in Makati. From the tips I got from pinoyau.info, I also was able to give my advise for getting 9 in all areas 24 hours later.
Here's the link if you want to read about it: http://pinoyau.info/discussion/comment/208455/#Comment_208455
I really wasn't expecting it because prior to taking the exam, the PTEA package came along with a mock exam where I got 65. I wasn't really aiming to claim 20 pts, I would've been happy with the minimum 10 points.
And so in retrospect I realize that my fate must have been written when I asked God to guide me and bring me to Australia. Back in 2013 when we first went to Respall for an information session, we initially calculated my points, as the principal sponsor and totaled 60, the minimum to get invited to apply for the visa. Work experience, educational background, IELTS score, age, all played a role. We assumed the minimum in the IELTS score back then.
However, we decided to postpone our application because I qualified for the UP MBA program. After I graduated in 2016 that's when we actively started our application. Note that three years has passed and my work experience has gone up a level in the scoring and added 5 points. My age got to the 28-32 range where they scored the highest - another 5 points, and with me getting all 9 in PTEA adding yet another 10 points which got me to 80 points. This is very important because the number of accountants applying for the Skilled Migration program has ballooned and competition went to who lodged first and who got the highest points. By the time we lodged, 60 pointers had no chance in getting invited because there are a lot of 70 pointers. I am in the next top slot together with a few, with a fewer 85-90 pointers in the frontline.
It appears that all our decisions, even the small ones, and the outcomes, even those we think were by chance are but small pieces that make up a predrawn fate that a mightier being decided for us. We think we make our choices, yes we do, but not without guidance.
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Now let's jump to the time when we have lodged the visa and are waiting for the results. Because it coincided with the time when Malcolm Turnbull, AU's Prime Minister, announced some important changes in their migration policy and the end of fiscal year looming around the corner, our visa approval or denial, is taking too much time in process. Lodged on April 12 with the announcement done on April 19th, we were luckily included in the last batch that are considered using the old act. Nonetheless, we joined the line in waiting because it's that time of year, May to June, where they review backlogs and exhaust the remaining visas for the year granting them. So we waited until the program's slots refreshed in the new fiscal year and took a lot more patience until finally we received it in September 8.
The whole of August was a roller coaster for me. Have you ever had that time in your life when you picture a lot in your head, know you can do all of em, but can't do anything about it because you're not allowed yet? Perhaps you'll read/you have read my previous entry about waiting time and it's this time that I was referring to.
I have always loved my job because of the people around me who have become my family but I just woke up one day not really feeling so motivated in performing it. It's like all my energy was put off by having to wait for the visa too long and not getting a lot of news about it. I know my job so well and at the back of my mind I am not as motivated to do good because, well, I will be leaving soon. Or not, if ever our visa got denied. Or I should still leave and just find another company or if lucky ask my manager to transfer me someplace else. I just didn't want to perform the same role where I got to build my dreams on and if worse comes where I got it killed.
I wanted to tell you this because it's in waiting, and not making any harsh decisions, where you will know more about yourself and how hard and how long you could hold on to your dreams. Weigh it a hundred times, consult it with your loved ones, review its effects on your finances, never decide by emotions.
I was ready to resign after we get our visa approved but because of my state of mind, I sent out my resignation letter the day my partner-in-crime, Nad's replacement reported for work. I just felt ready, even with all the uncertainty, knowing that C supports this decision, knowing that C will take care of my needs, knowing that there are more financial and non-financial advantage in our Pros-Cons list. These are the times when your partner's/loved ones' support will matter the most. And of course be also sensitive of how they are managing theirs and offer your support, too because you're all in it together.
It was August 22, days before we received our visa. I was not certain of the fate we will be getting from our visa application and I have no clue what to do next - should I apply to another company, should I wait - what is certain is that I will not be having any job come September 29. So I updated my Jobstreet profile, applied to companies that has Australian background because at the back of my mind I still believe that we are going to Australia. I know we will. It's just a matter of tempering it because it can not happen.
That fateful day, when the good news came is going to be one of those days of validation. I still can remember inferring from the VisaTracker site that it is most likely September that April applicants will get the approval. It has started to rain grants at the onset of September with March batch going in. I knew it was coming but still I got surprised when Mel Skyped me about it. It was a lazy 2 oclock pm in the office, with me chilling in my office chair, browsing in the internet, joking around with the guys, you know what LAZY means in the office doing anything but work, and then I felt the urge to shout and laugh and cry. But I did not. I just felt sooooo happy I sat there, reading it all over again. Yeah I did shout in Skype flooding Mel with all those happy emoji's and telling her thank you and everything. Then I told C about it, I think I called him and so he was also very happy. And then told my bros about it.
At that point in time I was happy because we can start another chapter, we can now dream dreams, and knowing that the outlay was not wasted.
Then, real decision making began. Planning was different pre-visa approval because it was full of IF scenarios. Now it dawned on us that we will really be uprooting and jump to the ocean. Come to think of it, I never really thought hard regarding the relocation because what IF we don't get approved.
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TO BE CONTINUED...
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