Pet Peeve

I do not know why i find this habit of people revolting. Ever since i can remember i have always cringed when i hear someone slurp their drink whether hot or cold, so noisily! i equate it to uncleanliness or lack of manners , like it sounds so barbaric and unprofessional. i do not even get why they do that when i sip my coffee or any other liquid ,be it tea or soup, in silence. does it make the liquid less hot if you loudly make a sound to sip it? does it make a difference? i am not sure if i am actually correct or i am just acting righteous or if this practice is within the norm but i really just plainly abhor it when people do that in front of me. my father was always doing it, my nephews do, and now i even have my husband doing it all the time with his tea. it is my pet peeve. i just could not stand it but who am i to tell them not to when i think it is probably just a variation of what is normal? i mean, the ones who do it, do not hurt anyone, they are simply just enjoying the drink. i used to just move away from people when they start to do it. when i am having a meal and i hear some slurping i more often than not, just completely lose my appetite. i could not even blurt this out to my husband because i know he will just shrug it off or even get mad at me because he did nothing bad at all so why would i always make such big fuss out of nothing. he will probably just tell me to deal with it. well, i certainly hate myself for having such negative reactions to a simple thing such as loud slurping and as always, i hope i am a less sensitive person. i often think ,why i can't i be just like others?

nine four thirteen

yes, the clock just struck 2am , 4th of September 2013. I should be in my bed, sleeping but here I am, wide awake. I have been thinking of my life and the things, the people and just about everything I have left behind. I am surprised I really do not miss it an awful lot, even though I have been there my whole life. I just feel like being with Andrew is the most natural thing to be. What I am yearning for though is to be able to get a job here in this new world I am in, to keep me going and because for me this is but the normal thing to do. I have always been financially independent and it disheartens me when I do not have enough money to sustain my needs, especially now that my savings is dwindling and I still have no idea where I am at this stage in my life when it comes to working. I really want to get a job now and earn for my own and for my husband as well. My only dream is to be able to have a shelter of my own and to be able to travel the whole world before I die. I came here to be with my hubby and of course I was thinking this place is greener. I am dismayed by the fact that it is very very difficult for me as a doctor to be able to work here as one and this is the only work I know I can do as I had dedicated myself to serve humanity with the skills I attained from lots of years of studying and training. Yet, as I am from a 3rd world country, my skills and training are not comparable to what they have here. Weeks and weeks of internet research and job applications, of which all were turned down, made me feel hopeless so much so that at times I feel like I just want to go back home and resume what I was doing. But I am already here, I chosed to be here so I really have to make the most of it. But where do I start? I am really so disappointed and scared that I may not make it. I really want to get on my feet now. I feel a lot of pressure, from his family, from my family even though they never pressure me but I still feel it within. I wanna be successful. I wanna be someone. I am hoping I can be a successful someone  one of these days!cross my fingers!

a photo of me when I was a medical intern (1995)

oh my breadcrumbs

A couple of days ago, I posted photos of the food i had been learning to cook, it included minced pork and naturally , since there are only two of us, the 2-kg minced pork on special at the footscray market that my hubby got , had some left in the freezer. So then I have to think of another way of cooking it and I was reminded of how our helper would serve meatballs for lunch when I was still home. So grabbed my ipad and searched on a meatball recipe, Filipino style and thanks to these blogs and websites I was able to find some. The only problem I had was we didnt have flour or bread crumbs, so I improvised and with some luck there was one loaf of sliced bread left inside its plastic bag so I had to patiently tear that into the smallest bits and pieces I could make and voila....problem solved! I am not sure though if what I did was entirely correct but my dish turned out well and my husband really liked it..and well, I did too!

This is the photo of what i cooked!

cool change

Well, since I am already living in a different atmosphere, which means I no longer have the luxury of having the househelp do most of the household things for me, I have to adapt. I have always been told how totally different it is to be living away from home, how one has to learn to do things on your own such as doing your own laundry, cleaning your house, running your own errands and most of all, cooking your own food. I used to really hate it , growing up, when my sister or my mom, would call me from the kitchen while they were cooking, and when i present myself, I was only told to stay put so that I can observe and learn how to cook. I used to bargain with them and tell them I really do not mind if i run errands for them like a kilometer away, or if they let me iron clothes, sweep the floor, etc, as long they do not call me just to teach me to cook because ,really i had no interest whatsoever in cooking. So, it came to be, that the only dish (if one can call this a dish) i know how to do, is cooking rice , not via rice cooker but in a pot! I learned to do that when I was 11 and as far as I can remember, I really had to learn it by force because it was only me and my mother who were left in the house while my other older siblings were already in college studying away from home. My mom, as a teacher , would come home later than me , since when I was in the 5th grade , my morning classes ended by 11am & my mom , as a Grade 2 teacher, usually finishes later than 11am. So rather than wait for my mother to get home and cook for just the both of us , I was forced to do it , so that when she came home, all she had to do was cook the rest, although most of the time she gets the food from a nearby carenderia. I used to get so scared when the fish is being put in the pan for frying and all these oil would just sizzle and pop everywhere like firecrackers & when at times it lands on your arms or face, it would hurt like hell, at least for me, who in the first place, never really liked cooking. When i went to college myself, I never cooked because all i had to do is buy my food from nearby carenderias or school cafeteria and besides , I was not so into eating, I can go for a day with just biscuits. When i finished school and had a job in the hospital, it became even more convenient for me, to just pop in the canteen and order hospital food , and later on, the food would actually come to me , inside the operating room lounge when i have schedules. At home, we had a house help, who did everything , and such was my life before. 

Yet now, things have changed for me, and as I was already expecting it to be different, I never found it so hard to accept. As i had said before and as always, I chosed this kind of life, so all I need to do is adjust and adapt to this new environment. And yes, part of my luggage were two cookbooks for starters and boy was i happy i got them and brought them with me.

So anyways, I have been here since February of this year, there are times I really do crave foods that are typically homey, typically Filipino but what can i do , it takes time to drive and go to an Asian restaurant and most of all, it is costly to eat out all the time. So i did try to manage to do  a few dishes ,  the ones that are simple and easy ro cook. People here do no really have pork as their usual diet, much more rice but these are the ones I crave for. So I asked my husband if we can at least get some pork from the market and I will do my best to learn to cook it. ( By the way, he also does not know how to cook, so we're even lol!).

Anyways, these are some of the photos i took of the simple foods I am learning how to cook. I take pride in showing these because, it is indeed such an effort on my part to be able to do this. I do not know how to cook but this, for me, is such a huge achievement!

Who knows, I might bump my head one time and wake up thinking I am a culinary expert!

Above is my "ginisang talong"......

I put so much tomato in my "fried ginamos"....

....saging minatamis!

Banana & Kamote cue (sans stick)...

...minced pork !

22 july 13

30 minutes before it becomes another day, i gotta get here and say something! it is important to me because the 22nd of June was that unforgettable day when i tied the knot with the one i love and today is exactly a month after that....

im happy to be a missus! although as ive said before, i have always felt like one even before the wedding. now, we can proceed with processing my visa from fiance to temporary resident which make our hands full with collating the documents to submit to DIAC! today was a busy monday, which started with us asking Dominic, Andrew's friend for a statutory declaration then going to the police station in Moonee ponds to have the documents signed and certified by the justice of peace which unfortunately was around between 12nn - 2pm. i had a bit of a worry when the JOP almost did not signone of my documents saying the one i have is not the original copy because back in the Philippines, when someone asks the National Statistics Office for a copy of one's birth certificate, the department only gives us a photocopy of that with the department's official seal , so he eventually certified the copies of the copy and just wrote on it that those were copies of a copy given to me by the Philippine government.now i am not quite sure of DIAC would honor that but cross my fingers!

So woth that accomplished , we went back to Dom's place for a quick chat where Andrew showed him a few things or two in his pc about laptops and i got to play with Dom's 4yr old daughter Michelle, fondly called Shelley by Dom , who is a very shy girl who never utters a word and doesnt look someone in the eye. but even when she refused to talk she still shyly wanted to play  with het in her toy laptop!

With that done, we then proceeded to Footscray to post some documents to my lawyer friend in the Philippines still with regards to the visa application, and then went on to do a little bit of shopping at an Asian store.

Ever since we went to watch Despicable me on the big screen, Ive fallen inlove withthe minions and so off we went to Mc Donald's to get me a happy meal that comes with one  minion and this made me really happy!

And it didnt stop there coz after we had some rest back at the house we drove again at around 730pm, to pick up a bread toaster that he got online  then we decided to get pizza for dinner.

this life is really quite different from what i was used to in Cebu but so fae, I'm lovin' it and if it is just not this cold Ill be lovin it more!

hitched

well it is the 16th of July 2013 & ive been really lazy writing..yes we already got hitched and im already a Mrs! cool eh! things are really looking good except for the changing the name part and all these hassles to apply for another  type of visa then getting all the requirements to hopefully get a job one of these days. 

the wedding was successful & we had so much fun although my family wasnt around to see me get married but all in all it  was a success and we are both happy with how it turned out!

we had been together for so long that we already felt married long before the wedding took place and so after the wedding, nothing has changed except for the fact that, as we jokingly put it, we cannot leave each other anymore , and we're truly stuck with each other now :-)

but ths is what i want, to be stuck with him for the rest of my life so....no worries!

fifteenth of june twenty thirteen

i am here in australia for almost four months now. for someone like me who has livedmy whole life in a tropical country, a 12 C temperature is so cold for me, and they say this year's winter is mild! so far, i am enjoying so much this new life i have decided to live for myself, quite a big step fir someone like me but i know some time in everyone's lives, we have to make these kinds of hurdles. a week from now i am tying the knot with the guy i am so inlove with for the past seven years...FINALLY! we decided to have a very small, simple wedding with some 40-something guests in a small church with reception at an equally small restaurant. it's all been taken cared of and so we were able to breathe a little easier today and decided to have some day out in the city ( we're in Melbourne by the way ). ive always loved to venture into the city. i enjoy getting ready & putting on some winter clothes that match, from my beanie to my scarf & today i got to wear my new ugg boots!cool!

that's me, somewhere in the city!

anyways, yeah so we did go & just went around the CBD, window-shopped in a bookstore since we both love to read & although we are in the era of ipads & ebooks,it is still somehow good to read a real book & turn over a real page! we didnt get to buy one though hence window shopped. had something to eat in Subway & later had coffee & a brownie in this place called Pie Face. i shouldve been having a meat pie there but i was still full so we just decided to sit around & got coffee instead coz there was a sign that said wifi is free and we just wanted to avail of that!

just one of those days when i am not stressed out with anything. soon after the wedding i might have to think of my future & how to be able to find a job for myself for sooner , savings would be dwindling and i need to survive. i have no family of my own to support me here  & i cant keep on relying on my hubby all the time! im not used to being financially dependent on someone, although i think it would really be cool to just have someone take care of you & your needs!

i am pretty much excited to get married next saturday, never in my dreams have i imagined myself walking down the aisle coz  i was never the marrying type but this has changed now and im pretty much ready to be a wife. that's what love has done to me!

for official use also

i saw two cars with red plates tonight while i was out...not one but two...the second one was when i was driving home at 10pm and i happened to be following it...but well it was probably on its way home so im gonna give the user of the car the benefit of the doubt...but the first car i saw was far too suspicious and it really made me ponder...coz it arrived at the coffee shop at more or less 8pm, aside from its oh so red plate, it has a sticker on the side of the car in huge bold letters " for official use only"...and when it passed by me its too difficult to miss it.... so it came to be that i cant help but think what kind of official government business is done at 8pm in a coffee shop on a saturday night?is it that urgent a meeting for the user to drive a government-issued vehicle to a coffee shop near the Capitol?...and i thought most government run establishments dont have their offices open on saturdays?..and still i thought more that in most government offices, they always call it a day at 5pm sharp?..what seems to be the official business of that person who used the car with red plate that he sat there at the al fresco talking to some other guys over coffee...and was looking so relaxed with not an iota of business written on his face...could it be that the sticker is wrong?...and that car is really "for official use also"?

oh to be gay and pretty!

hmmm its the 24th of sept and im here relaxing at ny fave coffee shop before i head home...im just killing time here waiting for one of my photographer friends to arrive since he promised to give me a copy of the photoshoot we did with my hubs just before he left for Australia.
Anyway, im just entertained by these 3 gay guys over at the next table since because of their proximity i cannot help but eavesdrop on what they are talking about. well, their conversation is about their respective beauty regimens, from glutathione to centrum to the pills they are presently taking to make them look more feminine. dont get me wrong, i love gay guys, they are the life of the party and no one can top their humors so i continued to interestingly overhear them. they are kinda advicing one of them to use this certain product, that will enhance their boobs. well i cant help but wonder why they really want to look like women. for me theyre fine as they are. gone are the days when they need to be more feminine to be known as gays. lotsa gays now go to thebgym,lift weights and get bulky yet they remain as gay as they are. i, myself, sometimes do not like having boobs or having monthly menses and sometimes i envy the male species who can just go about with their daily lives without having to undergo PMS every freaking month without fail!
but yes we all have our own choices and preferences in life. i could never judge them for what they want and what they prefer. i have a gay cousin and i could never condemn him for being one and besides he is so fun to be with, no dull moment when he is around.
so i can only wish these guys luck in their attempt to belong to the female species, who knows they can achieve it. perfectly sooner or later!


photo: my cousin in his prettiest makeup ever!

today

26 august 2012. sitting outside at the al fresco in our favorite hangout coffee shop , hubby noticed that one of the cars parked there had his engine running. we initially tolerated it but some minutes later it tended to become annoying. yes, the area may be open but still, we were still breathing the fumes the pickup truck was emitting plus the fact that it was very loud and cannot be ignored. as we were the ones seated closest to it, i went over to inform the guard on duty about it and if he could please do something about it because it is not really healthy. i was really thinking how irresponsible it is for this driver to let the engine run when there are patrons in the shop. when i approached the guard, he only told me that there was someone inside the car so i further said to him that car is already annoying and that it should be turned off and then the guard said that the car is owned by a certain cebu city councilor and he gave me the impression that he was scared to get his attention because of who the driver was. well, i told him to just approach him calmly and tell him some customers request if he can turn the car off.luckily he did.
it has always been like this in our country... we treat our politicians like they are royalty and we are scared to get their attention just because they are who they are. and the same thing goes for those in power, sometimes they feel like they are above the law, that they can do anything just because. they claim to be servants of the people yet they want to be treated as kings!
how i long for the day to come when they,as politicians, would really act like servants.. but then it is just wishful thinking!