Anyways, so a lot of other things had to be taken into consideration:
- when to fly to Australia
- where the hell in Australia
- how healthy our finances are to support moving to Australia
- if Gabby will still enroll in school
- how to deal with Carlo's situation at work
Just to set the time, imagine that I am writing this right after we got the visa.
When to fly to AU. I knew I just needed to finish my work on the 29th and can go right away. It was the time of year when job search tends to slow down but something inside me is urging to go and just go. I know one out of many will favor me and that alone is making me itch to book a flight right away. So I decided to book it on October 21st, giving me barely two months before job search slows down for the holidays. It was not like I intended to waste money knowing there is not much happening that time of the year but I have always known myself and if there's restlessness I just needed to go with it. Most of the time I get something out of it and I know I will.
Where the hell in AU. Back in 2013 out of nowhere and because that's the only place in Australia that sounds familiar to me owing to Carlo's uncle living there, I am always telling them that we'll go to Victoria. I haven't done my research as to the viability in living there, the kind of work we'll do, how life will turn out for us but I said we'll go to Victoria.
Where the hell in AU. Back in 2013 out of nowhere and because that's the only place in Australia that sounds familiar to me owing to Carlo's uncle living there, I am always telling them that we'll go to Victoria. I haven't done my research as to the viability in living there, the kind of work we'll do, how life will turn out for us but I said we'll go to Victoria.
Then I started to get in touch with Maymay, one of my workmates in IBM. She is in Sydney and so I started considering Sydney as our destination. We are flexible to this point because I haven't assessed the gravity of starting life anew in a place where we don't know the laws, how fast money can fly and all that. By then it was only Melbourne or Sydney. What I know at this point is life in Melbourne is halfway cheaper than it is in Sydney. Maybe not totally true but we can play it that way so it is easier to choose.
Around two weeks before booking my ticket, because we decided that I go first, we got in contact with Tito H and he played a vital part in our choosing which state to land initially. Today i would look back and stand by what I said in my last post about having our fate preplanned. I will explain later when I get to that point if I won't forget.
On to the next.
How healthy our finances are to support moving to Australia. We've bled out because of the application and won't really take long before we reach rock bottom. Some assets are not so liquid and out of consideration at the moment. By research we found out that we need to allot around 10,000 AUD for our entry until we can find a job. So when we decided that I needed to go first, we were calculating around 2,500 pocket money. That's when Tito H offered so graciously his home and we knew this is God working his way understanding our plight. So I went here in Melbourne not having to worry about board and lodging just yet albeit aware that I will be Tito H's burden for quite sometime.
It helps to realize that we all need help sometimes. It helps to appreciate everything God sends on your way, becoming aware of the small and big things that make your heart heavy of gratitude. It is humbling because you see the events unfold, even those you haven't planned for and fit to places you dreamed of them going.
If Gabby will still enroll in school. If you are single, these are things you don't have to worry about. But if you have a child, these are one of the bigger things that you need to consider. Gabby finished her Junior Nursery in April at UP-PAUW and so I sent her home to Bagulin and asked Uncle R to take care of her. We still continued to get Ate Sha's services knowing that Uncle will not be able to take care of her full time. We were then uncertain if we wanted her to continue her Senior Nursery in UP, my point being she is learning so much and that we still have no assurance that our application will be successful. It was also hard for me uprooting her in Krus na Ligas and her school where she's built her first network but as summer vacation finished, it became evident that choosing to let her join Bagulin Central School's kindergarten class as a temporary student is the most viable option.
Good thing that Auntie H is a teacher in BCS and that I personally know the principal too, her being my adviser back in Grade 5. It was easy pushing her in, to the opposition of some people who thought I've lost my mind bringing her to Bagulin rather than let her continue in UP. Of course that is 30k cheaper and easier to pull her out just in case we get approved but those are considerations I normally don't share to random people (just that now I am sharing it because I have my own motivation and out of my own volition haha!)
Looking back, this is yet again another well thought of decision, with God's good guidance again because G kind of learned how it was to live in Mommy's place, learned how to speak Ilokano, and learned to become independent never really needing Mommy (and not too much relying on Tita). It's not like being away from us is always a good thing but with the way things are going, we will be making up for that time when she is in Bagulin, I am in Quezon City, and her Dad in San Fernando. It is unhealthy for a kid to grow without her parents and that is what we will be able to justify in all our decisions post migration.
Also, with her Teacher Marissa being aware of Gabby's special case, she was very accommodating and even taught her lots of English words. Gabby has always been a good reader, knowing how to read vacuum cleaner and system by herself at four years old, but getting someone to guide her is another. At the span of five months she memorized all the names of her 19 classmates, became friends with them, and learned how to converse with them in her limited Ilocano vocabulary.
It's always good to see that G will most likely follow my footsteps in seeing the importance of learning wherever life will lead her.
How to deal with Carlo's situation at work. This is a pivotal moment for me, being a stubborn and self centered brat all my life. I have always been independent and marriage is not always a guarantee that you become selfless. It doesn't happen overnight. But eventually you will.
So by profession I am an accountant and as things went I was assessed as able to apply the same in Australian workplace. No biggie about that. Just look at the right place and I can land the same job. C, on the other hand has a lot to consider. At first I was not really emphatizing, saying, what's so hard in resigning, I never even had to doubt but twice before I handed mine right? So he felt sooooo misunderstood, which I would later realize how misunderstanding I was of his plight and it led us to a lot of misunderstanding as well. One thing I can rave about him is his being so gentleman even when I cross the line. And boy he must be very patient to wait for me see how far I went in crossing it.
And then it hit me. Of course it must be very hard for him. He's always told me that that job was the only job he was good at. And we've always known that there are different kinds of personality and his was a slowly-but-surely kind. I have always thanked God for giving him to me because he is my neutralizer. I have always thrived in uncertainty and he tempers that risk taker in me. This time, it's his job he needed to risk. It's my time to pull him up so we can keep moving forward. I only needed to understand where he is coming from. And I did. And I learned a lot about him, much as I learned a lot about me.
I learned that it was ok for him to feel unsure because this is a big move for all of us. I learned that it will take him time to process such a big decision professionally - impacting his way of life, his future, his being the head of the family. I learned that I just needed to let him be, and trust that he'll be able to cope with it. And he did.
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TO BE CONTINUED...
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