Mixed Emotions

As I stand at my now-furnished kitchen counter top, a bittersweet feeling brews in my gut. Today is the day that Sangeetha arrives. As I type, she is probably having her own emotional farewell at Changi Airport's Terminal 2. As excited as I am to see her, I'm also saddened by the fact that my brother leaves today.

When Manoaj first told me (he surprised me the night before my flight) that he was going to accompany me to Darwin, I was in disbelief. My initial reaction was the cost involved and therefore my expression wasn't an overzealous squeal of joy. Rather, it was muted consideration. But as I stand here now, I realise that my reaction was probably not what is expected when you are trying to pull of a surprise.

The Mohan Family

Text Message from Suady

There are few people in the world who would plonk a thousand bucks, sacrifice seven days (time is money) and miss a dear sister's birthday just to help a friend settle into a new country. Manoaj is one such person. At this juncture, I must say how deeply grateful I am for Suady, his sister, who not only excused her dearest brother from what could possibly have been her first birthday celebration with her complete family, but spurred him on to accompany me. She had spent the last couple of years studying in Australia and told Manoaj that she knew exactly what it was like to be alone in a new country. My words cannot express my gratitude for such wonderful people and tears well up in my eyes as I type these words. Thank you Suady... By the way, I got access to the message while Manoaj was snoring away loudly. So don't take it out on him yeah?

The past few days have been a breeze with Manoaj around. We have done so much since my last post. Without his aid, I would never have been able to get so much done. We did a fair bit of shoppping for the house. From vacuum cleaners, to blankets we have pretty much bought everything that is required to live comfortably. The only things left to get are some furniture which can wait till The Queen arrives later this evening.

I finally opened a bank account on Monday. I went with ANZ only because it was a familiar name back in Singapore. The bank staff who served me was Maree and by the looks of it, was pretty experienced. She advised me on how the banks work in Australia and ran through how Super Annuation (or just 'Super') works in Austalia. Apparently, it is pretty similar to the Singapore CPF system where a sum of money is put aside for each worker. This is usually a percentage based on your annual salary. The money in the Super account cannot be utilised until you turn 65 or you are permamently moving out of Austalia. Unfortunately, you cannot use it for housing or medical and it is a pretty small amount anyway. As for banking, I have learnt a few things. EFTPOS is the Australian equivalent of NETS. BSB code refers to Bank and Branch code. GIRO is known Direct Debit.

YINDIAN SPICES!

As for other things done, we did a load of shopping from Coles and Woolworths and we even found an Indian spice shop at Tiwi! The prices were a definitely higher than those in Singapore but its nothing less than I had expected. It was well stocked and I was happy to know that we wouldn't need to get spices shipped all the way from Singapore.

We went to Chemist Warehouse which was stocked to the brim with personal nutrition and care at rock bottom prices. Manoaj had been speaking about it for the past three days and we popped into one that was beside a petrol station. Just walking around the aisles made me feel healthy again.

Our Plumbing Project

A major thing that Manoaj and I spent a lot of time on was to get two bidets fixed up at the apartment. Neither of us are remotely close to plumbing experts so what could have been done in 20 min took us about 4 hours if you include travelling up and down to Bunnings, seeking advise from the staff there, trying to get it done at the apartment, seeking advise from my Father-in-Law etc. Eventually all went well and now, 3 days after we first started on this project, my wife and I will be able to have squeaky clean asses each time. 

Also, our household appliances arrived on Monday. Having the fridge and washing machine has made a huge difference in what we could do in the days that followed. 

Probably our Last Dinner in a While

Anyway, I have to end this post now. Manoaj and I are heading to Officeworks to check it out. My time with him will come to an end after almost 6 days. I'll miss all the times we hung out together. Back in Singapore, meeting him was almost a fortnightly affair for the 5 years we were in Punggol. But this is what Sangeetha and I have chosen and we will have to get accustomed to it. I can't help to think about all my friends and family who have always been there to help Sangeetha and me; from giving advice to assisting us physically, and emotionally and intellectually. We have been blessed by God with the bestest of people to take us through our life thus far. Here's a big THANK YOU to everyone! I can only hope that I have been as good a friend/family to all of you as you have been for us.