A Singaporean In Australia

A week passed quickly.

Here I am, penning my thoughts while Jen is still sleeping.  My mum told me to let Jen sleep as long as she wants. "It's good for the baby," she said. There is no one around to give these gentle verbal advice anymore.

It is 14C today and it looks like a bad weather day like the few days after I just landed. I can cope better with the cold already. I have gotten used to the strange salty taste of portable water here.  We have taken care of Jen's medical needs and awaiting an appointment letter to the maternity hospital. Our tax file numbers have been applied and awaiting the confirmation letters.  The TFN is important as it is essential for job hunts.

What next? I have been quiet and not updating much over the weekend. My worries about getting an income compounded languidly but enough to invoke a little unrest in my heart. Many casual jobs here require my own transportation, i.e a car. On the other hand, it would be unwise to get one without a job. Should I go for the chicken, or the egg?  If anyone is reading this, feel free to leave a comment or two.

Learning from the Coke Mystery,  used cars purchase over here can be tricky. It isn't as structured as Singapore, that's for sure.  You may be able to get an 06 Hyundai Getz, for example, the same price as an 08 model. In Singapore, at least with the current system, you'll never encounter anything like these.
That means I need twice as long to get a hang of things with the more dynamic and fluid system here. That is not necessarily a bad thing, except that time is not quite on my side.  I aim to get something done everyday. If not, at least adequate effort to know more about Perth and how things work here, before calling it a day.

I sent Vincent a text via watsapp to ask for his opinion about Suzuki Alto. His response was the car is too small for Australia. Well I know what he is thinking, probably agree with him too.

Australia. Big.
Road trips. Long.
Cars. 'Cheap'.

Thus: Buy bigger car.  The problem is no car is too small for my pockets. A bigger car costs more, which may require me to take up financing. Financing requires a regular income (job), a job requires a car.  That's what I am facing now.

Sure, I can get an older (think 90s) bigger car for a price that I can handle without financing. That was my initial plan. My landlady Joanna, wise for her age, advised against it. She urged me to put the priorities on the baby. A reliable, working car is crucial to deal with the possible emergencies that comes with the newborn, she reasoned.

She is right. In Singapore, I could get stuck on an expressway anytime. I don't mind and I can get out of trouble without breaking a sweat. Over here, I am not interested in trying out any survival fiestas. She has a point. I do listen, contrary of what many of my friends think.

The search continues.

Meanwhile, DHL let me down and did not deliver the day before.  So that left me with no Bunnings, no luggage and a cold Monday morning, penning these on the kitchen island which I have been using as my work space lest they arrive and I couldn't hear them from my room.