Tuesday, October 24, 2006

Mouth wide open

Coffee cups. Food wrappers. Soda bottles. Students talking on their mobiles. A laugh here and there. A student sleeping on the couch. Bags strewn on the floor. A couple cuddling in one corner.

These are not scenes in a cafeteria nor at a student lounge. These are scenes at the library I'm working at. And these according to a colleague are still conservative compared to other academic libraries here.

Coming from a very traditional albeit conservative library set-up in the Philippines where we still "shushed" at students, rang a bell when the noise becomes unbearable and when almost everything is prohibited - bags, food, sleeping, talking on the mobile phone - I'm still adjusting to this new library environment even after weeks of exposure.

I've read about the changing library space before but reading about it and actually seeing it are two different things at least for me. But I'm not complaining because there's less "police" work to do and more library work accomplished. There's a cleaner to clear all the mess students leave behind anyway.

Monday, October 16, 2006

A mid-winter arrival

We arrived here in Australia in the middle of winter in July. But no matter how much we prepared for the weather, buying winter clothes and all, we were caught with our guards down.

Before leaving the Philippines we constantly kept in touch with friends here on weather conditions and what necessary clothes we needed to bring with us. We were assured that we only needed a couple of winter clothing because it wasn't very cold at all..we were made to believe that the weather was just like Baguio. Hmmm...to us that meant fine, cool weather.

But we were in for a surprise. When we stepped out of the Sydney Airport for our domestic flight to Melbourne, we were greeted with chilly and biting winds that went right through our bones. This, I thought, was no Baguio weather at all. The kids, however, loved the cold weather they were just ecstatic!

We just had our first taste of winter and personally, I didn't like it and am not looking forward to it. Temperatures dropped to 0 in the early mornings and the warmest it got was 13 degrees inside the house. I wore 4 layers of clothing on any given day and wore a beanie and bedsocks to bed. I always had a sore back from the cold and was afraid I'd develop a hunchback soon enough. It's a good thing it doesn't snow in our area.

I also found it difficult to shampoo my hair in the morning because the moment I stepped out of the house my hair would just fizz and it was bad hair day all day. (Blow drying was out of the question coz it would only damage my hair.)

And there was this unforgettable evening I had when I was left out in the cold coz the train was late and by the time I arrived at the station the bus has left already and the next one won't be due in another thirty minutes. I so pitied myself shivering in the cold open air happy with the thought that there were three other suffering souls next to me.

Now I understand why people get depressed during winter. And I'm just so glad I had my family with me on this my first winter to give me warmth (literally and figuratively) when I needed it.

Monday, October 09, 2006

Back in business

It's been 3 months since we arrived here in Victoria and it's only now that I can say that we are finally getting settled.  Proof of which is that I have finally posted my first blog since leaving the Philippines in July.
 
We have moved into our own rented townhouse in August after three weeks of staying in a friend's house, got a job as a receptionist in an engineering firm thanks to a Filipina friend and after three weeks got me a job at a TAFE institute in Melbourne as cataloger.  So I'm back where I belong.
 
We are still struggling but life is easier now than we first came.  But there is one thing I cannot deny, I miss the Philippines but I'm happy with this new beginning.