Blown Away

While the rain here in Melbourne is kind of wimpy - I've only heard thunder rumbling twice during my 10 and a half months here and that for only a few seconds each time - the wind here sure pack a punch. And gosh, it has been extremely windy the past couple of days.

The wind doesn't blow from any one particular direction. It blows from anywhere and everywhere! And if you're not careful with your kids while they are outdoors and a gush of strong wind happens to come your way, your kids may get blown away, not unlike what you see on cartoons!

Yesterday, we went to the city centre. And boy, the wind was certainly putting up a big show. There were little twisters here and there - not the life-threatening kind but they certainly made a big sweep of things around them. As we were walking along the streets, we saw women in skirts desperately holding their hems down lest they became overly exposed. I suppose if a lady was interested in doing a Marilyn Monroe skirt-blown-up stunt, that would be a good time.

Also, we learnt that if you want to do up your hair at the hair saloon, make sure you check the wind condition first. Otherwise, your nicely coiffured top will become an entangled mess after the wind is through with you. We know. That's what happened to Alex's hair yesterday, moments after he stepped out of the hair saloon.

Understandably, we all went home with dusty hair, face, skin and clothes. It wasn't so bad, as long as nothing fell on the car or us. And yes, the kids were smart enough to hold on to our hands tightly as we walked. So they are still with us ...

Cyber Grandma

At the grand old age of 62, Mum has finally joined the cyberworld. Thanks to my sister Hui Yin's kind donation of an old but still usable computer, my mother can now communicate with my sisters and me via email.

Understandably, there were a few hiccups when Mum started her "lessons" with my youngest sister Wei Wei. But soon, she got the hang of it. She can access her email and reply us. Things will certainly be easier. I can send pictures of us here in Melbourne to her quickly. We told her about chatting online but Mum isn't too keen. Chatting requires fast typing and her fingers are kind of stiff these days. Well, fret no. Emails are just as good.

Her access to the Internet also means she can read my blogs anytime she wants. Fabulous. Now I don't have to repeat myself when I speak to her on the phone. Of course, there's ONE major drawback - it also means I have to be extra careful with my language while posting my blogs. No more swear words - not that I swear that much - but that's a small price to pay. As long as Mum can easily read about my life in Melbourne here, that's good enough for me.

And you blokes out there who use colourful languages while commenting on my blogs, well, try not to go overboard! Though I think my mother has the sense of humour to appreciate those ... err as long as they don't come from me, I think.

That's just a start. I remember how backward I was too 10 years ago. Now I can't imagine life without the Internet and email. I'm sure Mum will agree with me soon. Since she has quite a lot of time on her hands (when my littlest nephew JJ isn't there to spice up her life, that is), she can start prowling the cyberworld soon. Who knows, she may soon start downloading Golden Oldies tunes from YouTube!

Now, if only we can get Dad to show the same enthusiasm ...

Pokemon Rule

These days, Joshua lives, breathes, eats, drinks, sleeps and dreams of nothing but Pokemon. Apparently, he and some of his school chums had formed their own Pokemon Club too. That's fine with me. Kids love to have fun after all.

But what drives me bonkers is Joshua's incessant need to "battle" with Joanne. This is some Pokemon exercise in which Pokemon trainers try to capture a wild Pokemon or compete with another Pokemon trainer.

Sometimes, Joanne amuses Joshua by playing along. Other times, she is not keen. That's when Joshua will start a shouting match with his sister. Beats me but he is pretty bossy and demands that Joanne plays Pokemon with him when she'd rather play with her girly toys.

That's not all. Joshua has also started "creating" his own Pokemon. Now these new creations of his have their own names and their special abilities. He can even describe how they look like or what they are going to evolve into (It seems that evolution among Pokemon is the norm). Fine, as long as he's happy with his own kind of Pokemon.

But no. Our friend was not happy with that. Last week, he insisted that I create some Pokemon of my own too (slapping hand on forehead)! And he wouldn't leave me alone until I'd created a few of those pocket monsters. And of course, naming them alone wasn't good enough. I had to describe how they looked like and what special abilities they had.

I've forgotten most of the gibberish stuff I churned out to silence Joshua. But I remember one that I named Tarantulo. You've guessed it. It looked like a spider and was armed with poison. Joshua was apparently pleased with Tarantulo.

See what having kids can turn you into? Now I'm supposedly a Pokemon fan too, according to my son ...

Fun With The Bus

Frankly, taking the bus isn't so bad here. In fact, it can be quite an adventure. Besides, the buses are always on time and most bus drivers are helpful and friendly, particularly when you are travelling with young kids.

And today, I boarded a bus driven by a Malaysian. Chatty fellow. This uncle was a teacher back in Malaysia and has been living in Australia for 26 years. He's from Butterworth and actually knows some of my teachers in Jit Sin! Small world. I sat on the first passenger seat with Joanne (after we dropped Joshua off at school) and this uncle just kept talking and talking. Quite interesting. He related to me how some of the kids of his friends had helped Doncaster East High School become one of the top schools in East Melbourne. Apparently five out of six of them became doctors! It's hardly surprising. Most of the much sought-after schools here have very high Asian migrant population!

When we went to pick up Joshua from school, we took a bus to Box Hill and had some snacks and McDonald's there. Then instead of taking the usual bus home, we decided to take another bus that serviced another route. A change of scenery might be fun, I though. Well, new sights, of course, but it took us half an hour to reach Westfield Shoppingtown, which is about 2 minutes by car from my house.

The kids wanted to walk from Shoppingtown. So we did. It was quite a long walk but they had fun along the way. They picked flowers, saw a small bird picking a fight with a big black crow and best of all, played with a big fat fluffy friendly cat. After the little playtime with their new feline friend, the kids say they want to walk back from Shoppingtown again!

As for me, at least I don't have to worry about wrecking the car the next couple of weeks. And no parking woes! Life isn't so bad without a car.

Lessons

I survived the crash. The optimist in me would like to think that it happened for a good reason. Maybe I'm not meant to drive the car the next few weeks. Who knows? Something much worse might happen if I drove around.

Alex, of course, insists that there's a lesson to be learnt here. He's right, of course. I have no excuse for what happened. I was careless and a little absent-minded when the car slid down and crashed through the garage door. Here's what we've learnt following the accident.

Lesson 1: Always check the gear status! I obviously forgot to put the gear in reverse when I wanted to back the car up a bit. It was still in drive mode. So the minute I released the brake, it went forward.

Lesson 2: Ask the right questions when dealing with tradesmen. We made some calls to garage door specialists to come to the house and give us a quote to fix the garage. We forgot to ask if the measure and quote was done free and was charged AUD110 just for one guy to come and have a look! If possible, call up the guys who provide free quotes.

Lesson 3: Check with the insurance agent what really is covered. Apparently we can claim for the damage done to the garage door too. It's now considered a third party claim. Luckily Alex had the good sense to bombard his insurance agents with all kinds of questions.

Lesson 4: Don't buy a big powerful car for the wife who can't drive properly! I doubt Alex will see the sense of this, though. He insists I should be grateful for having such a nice car. Indeed it is a nice car, probably too nice for a clueless driver like me. An old bomb with automatic gear will do just fine. At least I won't be under such pressure driving it. You listening, Alex??

Meantime, it's back to the buses ...

What A Day

Hooray! Crash! Sob ...

That about summed up my day yesterday. It was supposed to be a happy day for Joanne. It was her first Prep Orientation Day at Greythorn Primary School and she had looked forward to it for days. She even willed herself to recover from her tummy upset (bouts of diarrhoea the night before) so that she wouldn't miss her "big day". I was so glad because she was so much easier compared to Joshua.

It was a good day for her. I picked her up from the school and everything was fine until I, for some inexplicable reason, engaged the wrong gear and crashed out car through our garage door when we got home. I had moved the car too close to the door and tried to reverse it back further. Instead I put the gear into "drive" and literally went through the door.

The windscreen cracked but thankfully didn't shatter. I panicked and frantically searched the phone to call Alex at work, knowing that he would be furious. Oh boy, he was beyond furious and immedately headed home.

Joanne was so cool. She nonchalantly said, "Oh no. How are we going to pick up Joshua later?" Trust the kid to be so unconcerned. She wasn't even shaken, unlike me.

I was both relieved and terrified when Alex got home. He took one look at the damage - the car was halfway through the garage entrance with the door on top of the hood and roof of his precious Mazda CX-7 - and a torrent of very angry words came out of his mouth. I suppose I deserved it, for not being careful enough. But he pissed me off too. He never even asked if Joanne was okay. Blast him! (He probably didn't find that important since I already told him no one was hurt.)

After making several calls to his car dealer, the insurance company and some of his friends, Alex drove the badly dented car to the workshop. I had to drag Joanne along to catch a bus to pick up Joshua later. Well, looks like we will be doing that for a couple of weeks.

And the damage was BIG. AUD10K just to fix the car. And the garage door, of course. That was really bad.

And to complete a really bad day, Joanne's stomach ache came back later in the day. She made so many trips to the toilet in the middle of the night and kept whimpering in pain that we both didn't get much sleep. She seems better today. Thank God for small mercies.

What a day! I hope I won't have any of its equivalent any time in the future.

Of Safety And Cleanliness

Back in KL, I detested passing by construction sites. And there were (still are, I bet) scores of them everywhere. In my neighbourhood alone, there are a few here and there. And all of them are messy, filthy and dusty with all sorts fo building materials, equipment and tools strewn all over the construction sites. Some of them are not even working properly. And the makeshift "houses' occupied by the workers are such an eye sore. Worse, the mud and dirt accumulated and blocking the drainage systems frequently result in flash floods.

The only thing you can expect at a construction site in Malaysia is total mess and possibly hazards. Also, half of the workes don't wear proper safety attire. Well, you could see safety signs at the sites but I think they were put up just to pacify the authorities.

Before I came to Melbourne, I thought this is how construction sites everywhere look like. I was wrong. Construction sites here can and are supposed to be clean and tidy. I was stunned and impressed the first time I saw a construction site here. There's a huge restoration exercise and extensive renovation going on at a shopping mall near my current residence here and wow, it's amazingly clean and free of chaos.

It all boils down to the importance of work safety. And it's pretty simple actually, come to think of it. Everyone wants to go home in one piece at the end of the day. And the surest way to do that is by making sure everything is where it should be. When things are tidy and organised, it is less likely to cause accidents. Workers can also move in and out with ease.

Work safety is serious business here. More so because people here are more aware of their rights as workers and are more prepared to take legal actions if they suffer injuries while at work. You can see the same safety precautions and cleanliness at factories and vehicle workshops as well.

I guess Malaysia is in for a long wait to see that happen, not when so many construction workers don't even have valid working visas. No visas, no rights. No rights, no safety necessary. Enough said.

Summer And Winter In Spring

The weather here in Melbourne is like a bad joke. You never know what to expect. Officially it's now spring but there are days when it feels like something else.

Yesterday definitely felt like summer. The weatherman had forecast a temperature high of 24 degrees but it soared to 30 degrees, apparently the highest since April this year. It was so warm we could wear our usual Malaysian clothes. And for the first time in months, I wore my slippers when I went to pick up Joshua from school. The warmth persisted till late at night. A cool change only occured sometime before dawn I think.

The temperature dipped this morning. It was only 12 degrees when we left for Joshua's school. The kids had to wear their jacket again to fend the cold, very much like what they did during the winter months. There was even a slight drizzle to complete the winter picture.

By mid morning, the sun made a few appearances. There were moments when it felt like spring. It was rather windy though and before long, the sun went into hiding again. Dark, heavy clouds began to loom across the sky. But every now and then, the sun would peek out from behind the dark clouds.

In the afternoon, the sky finally opened and it rained quite heavily for about 20 minutes. It was chilly, of course. Thankfully we were sitting comfortably at a McDonald's restaurant not far from our house.

See how unpredictable the weather is? I won't be surprised if we are hit by hail stones tomorrow. That's why everyone watches the weather forecast closely. You never know when you need to bring an extra jacket or wear thicker or thinner clothing.

No More Paradise

A couple of days ago I overheard two women of Chinese descent at the grocery shop talking about visiting other countries. I missed the earlier part of their conversation but caught the part about countries not to visit.

One of them said Thailand should be avoided because of some unrest in the southern part of the country. She then added that Malaysia wasn't a good place to visit as well. "Too chaotic and not safe," she said in Cantonese.

I nearly jumped and came to Malaysia's defense, proclaiming that my country of origin was one of the safest countries in the world. Then I stopped myself before I made an utter fool of myself.

After all, Malaysia has not been a safe haven for quite some time. It's true there are no unrest or riots (not that I'm aware of or these are not reported in the papers) there but the crime rates have escalated at alarming speeds lately. I keep hearing stories of petty crimes being committed even in small towns like my hometown in Bukit Mertajam.

And in Cheras, where my inlaws are still living, the situation has gone so bad the residents there feel like they are sitting on a time bomb, each wondering when someone would break into their homes. In fact, their neighbour 2 houses away just fell prey to some intruders last week.

Visitors may shy away from Malaysia thinking it's not safe because of terror threat or political unrest. But they have no idea what wise move it is to bypass Malaysia. They probably would have gone home much poorer if they are unfortunate enough to have their pockets picked.

It's sad but true. Malaysia is no longer the paradise it used to be.

What's With Festivities Anyway?

For the first time in my 38 years, I didn't hear any Raya songs; seen any Raya decorations; read about some kid blowing off his fingers while attempting to enliven the Raya mood with homemade crackers; or eat any kuih Raya, lemang, ketupat and rendang. Understandably, the last item on the list is the one that I miss most ...

And of course, there is no news on mass exodus from KL to other parts of the country, leaving the capital city a virtual ghost town for a few days. Also, no updates on the death toll due to road accidents during the balik kampung rush. And certainly, there is no info on open houses hosted by VIPs.

To be honest, I didn't even know the past few weeks were Puasa month until my sisters mentioned about fasting in one of our email exchanges. Malaysia might as well have been in Jupiter or something.

I do miss the Raya mood but frankly, Raya the last few years has not been the same as it was when I was a kid. Raya, like other major festivities in Malaysia such as Chinese New Year and Christmas, is a tad too commercialised these days.

I grew up in predominantly rural Malay areas. So there was no shortage of homemade Raya goodies during the festivity. The hospitality, the sense of community (though my family usually seemed like the odd one then), the sparklers and the kids donning their newest baju raya to collect duit raya from door to door, etc. I can still remember these things quite vividly.

I suppose the same can be said of the Chinese New Year in recent years. Well, people still celebrate it. It's just that the mood seems to be disappearing more and more each year, even in small towns like my hometown in Bukit Mertajam. It's not that fun anymore.

However, CNY is still celebrated in a big way in Melbourne, thanks to the big Chinese community here. I'm not sure but it appears that some of the events are held for the benefit of the uninitiated, namely the ang mohs who find this sort of cultural things fascinating.

I guess nothing beats the Raya or CNY moods we had when we were kids all those years ago.

Play Time

It's been a good week for Joshua. He's been to his best friend, Alexander's house twice after school just to play. The first time was on Wednesday and yes, that was his very first outing to a friend's (his own friend, I mean, not kids of his father's friends) house.

He was having so much fun performing Pokemon battles with his pal that he didn't want to come home with me when I went to pick him up 2 hours later. I didn't want to impose on Alexander's mum, Rosemary. So I insisted that he gather his things and leave.

But Rosemary kindly offered to let them play for a few more minutes. So while we waited for the kids to stop playing, we had a nice chat between us. To be honest, I haven't exactly been a social butterfly since arriving here. It's usually hi and bye for me whenever I see the other mums at Joshua's school. But Joshua's hanging out with Alexander after school at the latter's house had given me the chance to at least get to know another parent better.

I found out that Rosemary actually lived in Butterworth as a child. Her father was with the Royal Australian Air Force and was posted at their base there more than 30 years ago. Interesting. She also loves cats (she has 2 of them) - something in common with me.

But the best thing is - she has asked me to bring Joanne along (which is what I did today) to play with the boys. I was hesitant at first because I didn't think it would be nice to make her "babysit" my kids for 2 hours. After all, I didn't know her that well. Still she insisted, saying that it was actually quite alright because the kids don't usually bother her when they are that preoccupied with their own games. Which is quite true. I can relate to that too because whenever my nephew Andrew comes for a visit, I actually manage to finish more work! So I left my 2 kids in her care for 2 hours today.

What bliss! Ha ha. Maybe I should socialise more with the other mums too. Play time after school for the kids turns out to be a great thing for both the kids and me.

The A Factor

For some strange reason, I seem to have a certain connection with people whose names start with an "A".

My Christian name is Adeline and I'm married to Alex. My mum is Anna and I used to sponsor 2 kids named Anuchai (from Thailand) and Aisulu (from Mongolia) under the World Vision Sponsorship Programme. My best friend in Melbourne is Anla, wife of Alex's best friend.

I have a few ex-colleagues called Anne, Angelina, Asiah, Amy, Alexa, Anastasia and even a couple of my namesake, Adeline. There was an Alson, Andy, Andrew and Anthony and Alan too. One of my closest friends has recently adopted a new blog moniker - Anfield Devotee and while his real name doesn't start with an "A", it has an "A" in every one of the four syllables in his first name.

Even my some of my favourite movie/book characters have "A" names - Aragorn and Arwen, Anakin and Amadila, Anne Shirley (Of Green Gables).

This A connection seems to have affected Joshua as well since his best chums are Andrew, Angus and Alexander. And his new teacher is Miss Amy McDonald.

It's little wonder I end up in a country with a name that starts with an "A"!

Creativity Unleashed

All kids are creative. Which is why many of them have imaginary friends. Joshua at one point had an imaginary friend named Scratch. He also had an imaginary pet dog called Clever-Doing-Dog. Not to be outdone, Joanne announced she had one named Clever-Doing-Cat.

They seem to have forgotten these imaginary creatures now, though. Maybe the various activities and new friends at school have diverted Joshua's attention elsewhere. As for Joanne, she just busies herself with her new toys (mostly hand-me-downs) and cartoons.

But they are both still creative in their own ways. Joshua, a keen sketcher, never seems to run out of things to draw. And what makes things interesting for him is that the kids in school are encouraged to draw and colour when doing their school exercises (they refrain from calling these homework because some parents are apparently allergic to the term). And of course, they are allowed to stick their drawings and stickers on the cover of their books.

I don't recall being allowed to do that in school. In fact, if anyone was found with stickers and drawings on their book, they were likely to get a good scolding, or worse, caning from the teachers. There was hardly any room for creativity. Any desire to truly explore one's creativity in unconventional ways was quickly stifled by the various strict and oftentimes ridiculous rules we had at school.

The kids here also spend a fair amount of time doing art and craft. Joshua brings back something fancy every week, much to the envy of his sister.

Well, Joanne has a vivid imagination too. She makes her own "pet food" for her favourite toys - Fluffy the rabbit, Kitty the kitten and Pikachu the Pokemon. She actually draws the food and cut it out and place it on the pretend plates for them. Sometimes, when she's too lazy to draw, she will cut out pictures from supermarket leaflets.

I'm glad she's going to Prep next year. She'll have a blast everyday at school, just like Joshua is right now.

Workplace Bliss

The Howard Government launched this campaign on creating awareness on workplace agreements a few months ago. The advertisements are pretty good. I won't go into details but suffice to say the messages are clear - workers' rights are protected and the governmet takes great effort to see to that.

There's a Workplace Authority that makes sure employers buck up where workers' rights, benefits and minimum wages are concerned. Workplace inspectors are frequently sent out to various companies to make sure there are no hanky pankies on the employers' part.

And if new or existing employees have any doubt at all about their rights, there's an infoline they can use to call. It's printed in big, bold letters on their website, the advertisements, brochures, etc. All it takes is a phone call to know what you're entitled to as a worker within an organisation.

See how well workers are protected here? No wonder people hardly bitch about their work (and I mean bitching the Malaysian level); they are often efficient, friendly and helpful; and they don't have to resort to other means (bribery, stealing, robbing, etc) to have something extra.

Just the other day Alex fell sick and called his boss to say he wasn't coming to the office. His boss, Gary, was genuinely concerned and asked him to have a good rest. Gary even thanked Alex for calling to let him know. And guess what, you can take your sick leave without having to produce a medical certificate from your doctor. Yeah, the bosses here trust you not to abuse the your sick leave entitlement.

Now, if this had happened in an office in KL, the boss would probably sound a bit sarcastic. Some would even have the audacity to ask you to come in later in the day. And if you don't have an MC to prove you're sick, that's too bad for you.

I have no strong desire to join the workforce here - I already have a fulltime job being the household manager - but it's nice to know that my kids won't have to work like slaves when their time comes.

Bionic Woman

I caught the pilot episode of the new Bionic Woman series by chance last night. It was nothing like the old Bionic Woman I saw as a kid in the 1970s. We kids thought the old Bionic Woman (played by Lindsay Wagner) was cool. But this brand new techno wonder really kicks ass! Awesome.

Yeah, her name is still Jaime Sommers. But instead of being a tennis pro, this Jaime Sommers is a bartender with a very high IQ. And she didn't get smashed up in a parachute accident, she was hit by a huge truck. And apparently, it was no accident. And it was her scientist/doctor boyfriend who fixed her up and turned her into Bionic Woman.

And boy, can she run! You know how the 70s version of her kind used to run in slow motion to reflect speed? This one RUNS, really FAST. And she fights with style and grace too, although it was a rather shaky start for her. More, she shares the tissue regenation ability shared by Claire Bennet (Heroes Season 2 is here, by the way) and Wolverine. Why, I'll say she makes a pretty killing machine (if she chooses to kill, that is).

But she's not the only Bionic Woman here. She has a predecessor who has gone bad and mad. This will of course complicate matters. But that's where the fun and action lies, I suppose.

Admittedly, there's a lot of eye candy and action and probably not much but who cares? This Bionic Woman rocks! Must not miss the next episode ...

The Double Bunk Bed

It's funny how kids can turn almost anything into a toy or in this case, a playground. Our newest purchase, a double bunk bed, arrived this morning. Well, it was still in various pieces but the minute the kids saw the boxes and the new mattresses, they were estactic.

Well, they saw how the bed would look like at the furniture shop. So they knew what awaited them once their dad fixed the whole thing up. But even while Alex and I were busy assembling it, Joshua and Joanne couldn't contain their excitement and kept interrupting us, until we banished them from the room.

Once their new bed was put up properly, they started climbing up and down the bunk bed. Not surprisingly, both wanted to sleep on the top bunk now. There's something about the top bunk, I guess. Probably because it reminded them of the playground. I certainly did when I was a kid.

To be fair, I told the kids they had to take turns sleeping on the top bunk. And to my surprise, they readily agreed. If only they are so agreeable with everything else!

I think it won't be hard to get them to sleep early tonight. I just hope whoever is occupying the top bunk will not end up on the floor in the morning!