A Singaporean In Australia

Just felt like doing a short one on this. It happened on the 3rd day of my arrival and I thought it would be a sin to leave this experience out of my diary.

It was Monday and Joanna was out. We planned to visit Belmont to open the bank accounts and visit Medicare. Bus 37 of Transperth would gladly take us there, for a price of $2.60 each. No, this was not the surprise I was referring to. In fact, I am considering changing the title based on this alone. Haha.

Anyway, we board and found a seat for both of us. Jenny pointed to the front pockets near the driver's seat and told me it would be a good idea to get a brochure of the bus so we would know the entire bus route to aid us for future traveling. So I made my way to the driver's and began rummaging around the pockets. The driver was (the first surprise) helpful enough to turn and gave me a few friendly words of advise as for which brochure to look out for because the pockets actually holds not just route guides for this bus but also for various numbers. He even encouraged me to take the entire stack out and take my time to search for what I needed. Did all that with eye contact while managing his drive. Maybe I am over-reacting about this but it is a fact I have encountered nothing of this sort in my entire 33 years with Singapore bus drivers.

When I reseated myself, I saw a young handsome man gave up his seat so instinctively to an elderly woman with a shopping cart. He was just 2 seats behind me and his actions made me a bit awkward but still I was impressed with his act of chivalry.

We finally alighted at Belmont Forum, an elderly man who alighted with us approached us. We were prepared to mutter the standard, "We are new here and don't know the way too." answer but the elderly man completed our hat trick of surprises in a single bus ride.

"Are you lost? I saw you guys looking at the bus routes and I thought you are lost. I could give you some directions."

Perth can be indeed a cold, bleak place for Asian settlers like us who are genuinely lost in starting out. Perhaps it is the way people are sparsely spaced out here which make humans generally happier to see another on the streets. These little acts make the place warmer than the the ending winter actually is.

Jen fainted today.

Joanna was on MC so we went out together to do a bit of shopping. Joanna and her baby sister at the back of the car, Jenny beside me. I was the driver of the day in Joanna's Suzuki Swift. The day went fine. Jen and I bought a bit of vegetables and noodles.

On the way back, we were chatting fine and well. Then there was a pause of silence. I didn't find it odd at first. Then I heard Jen made some weird sounds, like what we will make when we are about to vomit. Twice.

"Oh oh!" was my first thought.

"Are you okay, Jen?" was my first words.

No response.

I took a glance and I saw Jen's eyes closed, her head was swaying a little. I held her hand while the car was in 3rd gear and called out, "Jen, are you okay?"

No response.

Joanna looked up and asked what was happening. I told her Jen fainted. She looked lost like me and didn't know what to do. I continued to hold Jen's hand and repeated my questions gently, taking my hand away to switch the gears once. After about 20 seconds I saw her eyelids moving. I knew she would be okay and concentrated on driving.

At the next traffic junction, I stopped and had the opportunity to give Jen more attention. I held her hand again and she opened her eyes. I was relieved, that goes without saying. She said she felt giddy. I turned up the fan by a notch and drove the rest of the journey without stopping. When we were near Joanna's precinct, Jen was well enough to give me the instructions where to turn and such. By the time I parked the car, I knew she was ok.

I immediately tucked her to bed and cooked dinner. I suspect it was the light lunch she had. Lessons learnt today:

1) Make sure Jen has proper FULL meals even she does not feel hungry.

2) Always bring a puke bag I had prepared for her wherever we go

3) I urgently need a telephone line and learn how to call out quickly. And save all the emergency numbers. This would be a top priority task in my To Do list.

4) Jen is pregnant. She has a generally good pregnancy. No faints, no cravings, no pains, no vomiting so far and it is easy to be complacent and forget that she has special needs. We have to remember this.

I love my wife.

She is my everything.

She is carrying my child and all 3 of us will fight on, regardless how baby turns out.

She agreed not to dye or treat her hair despite its condition for the baby inside her, to ensure harmful chemicals do not get into the body. How many Singaporean ladies of today is willing to do so?

She is my torch, my light house and my flame. Without her fueling me, I live but without a purpose in life.

I have always been pessimistic, gloomy, grumpy and grouchy. Still probably. Jen has been a polar opposite of me, mostly positive ways. With her, we work as a team. Her complementing my weaknesses. When I am rash, she calms me down. When I am moving too fast, she points out the traps. She matures a lot. I grew old but I didn't grow up. I wonder if the baby could help in that. I suspect so.

She loves Perth. It is her dream to live and work here. To be honest, I have never achieved my dreams in life. I am not sure which is applicable, either I set my goals too high, overestimated my capabilities, too unmotivated to achieve them, lack the personality to succeed or simply unlucky till date.

Lately I added a goal to the list. If I couldn't achieve my goals, maybe I can help Jen achieve hers. After all, what is the point of living a life which looks like this:

Study like fuck -> grad -> get fucked in the army -> study again or get fucked at work -> fall in love at this stage or earlier -> hair loss due to wedding plans -> get married, sometimes with debt -> get a hdb flat at this stage or earlier but not that early and get in more debt -> more hair loss due to house reno, sometimes with even more debt -> move in, extremely happiness which last 1 week and more hair loss due to bills -> have a kid or two -> finally lost all hair raising the kids -> get old -> die

I guess when one bites the dust, friends gather to moan and groan a bit and that's it. Life goes on for them. Life goes on for life. Come to think of it, it probably doesn't even matter if one goes through life with or without achieving goals. Or it can be a goal to live life without achieving goals. At the end of the day it's all about personal choice.

Maybe the true purpose of life is to live life with as many happy days as possible. Maybe we should chart it out and see if it helps to unknowingly steer us to achieve more smiley faces in the process. I have 4 couples of friends getting married within this period. 2 of them seem happy and eager and the other 2 perhaps not so. I wish them all a blissful and happy wedding.

An old trick question thrown at guys : If your mother and your wife jump into deep waters, who will you rescue? It's a no-win question. Assuming you stick by the rules and could only choose one and leave out creative answers, you are either filial and heartless or .. well either way you are a heartless bastard.

If I am allowed a creative answer, I offer a serious one. Any guy should jump into the water to save his wife. So who will save my mother? My father should had, long ago. Alas my father is the type who will save his mother and let his wife drown. Mum, just wait for me. I will not let you drown.

Past Rants