A Singaporean In Australia

Can you see them?

No? Can you see them now?

Now you can

"Appoles," the apple of my eye would say.

If you have no interest to be out in the open picking fruits, watching how excited your child is during the activity will. I didn't have to rely on the infectious enthusiasm of Albany to get in the mood. The first apple I picked went straight to my mouth for a bite.

It was a Pink Lady. I usually hate this species of apple but that one was different. The skin of the apple was dull and felt rougher to the feel, unlike those in the shop spotting an awkward sheen on every apple. A layer of wax, I was told. It was supposed to extend shelf life but it makes apples taste like crap and the extra ingredient also don't do our bodies much good. "Peel the skin," they said. Nah. That defeats the whole purpose. How would you like it if I ask you to remove the skin of a KFC chicken and eat the meat?

I like eating apples off the skin but since they taste crappy these days, I have been avoiding buying apples. I know that is not a good idea, since, "An apple a day, keeps the doctor away." How does that work nowadays, with crappy apples that taste like candles? The only way to keep doctors away is to throw apples at them on sight. Besides, there is no point buying apples if nobody eats them. I have lost count how many times I threw apples away with skin as wrinkled as Ho Ching's.

Mind you, I am not implying that those apples that we were allowed to pick at 50 McCorkill Road, Pickering Brook, was super organic with no harmful ingredients used to grow them. We wouldn't know. I didn't bother to ask because no farmer, shop keeper or business owner will ever admit their questionable methods, if any are used in the process of bringing food to the retail display.

I could, however, trust my sense of taste. Plucked straight off the tree and tasted brilliant. If there was any foul play, it would take a PRC-level farmer to pull that off. Most of the Australian farmers have no time for that, at least for now. I took a glimpse of the grinning farm owner tooting around with a toddler in his big tractor and thought, "I could trust this guy," and took another bite off the apple.

I enjoyed the experience throughout. Albany was skipping along with us and picking apples like a hardworking harvester. The grass was long but not enough to create problems for us to push little Anthony along, who looked like he appreciated the sunlight and the cool fresh air up the hills. The wife looked happy and so did her mother, my MIL.

The price of the full box of apples we picked (left) was $25. It was a reasonable price, considering every apple was fresh and crunchy. The box felt heavy to me, ranging anywhere from 12-20kg. I didn't struggle with carrying 15kg boxes at work like I did with that box. So I suspect it would be 15kg at least. However, even at 10kg, the apples would be a decent $2.50/kg or $1.25/kg if it was closer to 20kg. We could probably buy cheaper apples at the wholesale centre but it wouldn't the same quality. Considering that was a family excursion, $25 for the entry fee, event and a box full of good apples to bring home, no one would say it wasn't a good idea.

I am beginning to get the hang of these harvest timings. The last time we visited Pickering Brook, the apple trees were all botak. When we drove through the famous Swan Valley during our first Winter here, the vineyards were all botak too. By now, I know when it is time to harvest strawberries, apples, persimmons and grapes. Would you like to experience picking apples from trees? I should start organising Homestay & Harvest Tours for Singaporeans some day.

Families with stay-in "maids" used to be a feature. Today, it is the culture.

How did it turn out this way?

No doubt, there are families with the need for an extra pair of hands to help things out within the household. However, much like how the word 'gay' used to mean 'carefree' or 'happy', the definition of 'need' is very different today. The mobile phone, an air conditioner and even a car used to be items of luxury. These days, they are deemed by many in Singapore as absolute needs. Not surprisingly, so is having a full time, stay-in maid in the household.

For households with elderly or children, the need for a maid increases. A stay-at-home mum is a rarity in Singapore today. Parents have figured out it is more financially viable to have both parents working full-time to run a family. How else if the family is to afford that latest 60-inch state-of-the-art television system, that posh full leather couch assembly, the annual holiday trip to Europe or send Boy Boy to Montessori?

Look, new Daddy!

Mummy must work. Period.

So the plan was extended for the maid, who was initially hired to clean and cook so that daddy and mummy can have a little quality time together with Boy Boy. Now Maria has to pick Boy Boy up from childcare, clean, soothe, feed and even educate him.

When someone posted this picture up (left) on a neighbourhood group, you should have read the comments. The remarks, mainly made by mothers, were scathing. The picture was posted with only a suggestive caption but readers were quick enough to form the context. One thing for sure, nobody liked what they were seeing.

The queen of the household is caught between a rock and a hard place. Ironically, one of the challenge she finds of hiring a maid is to ensure the maid doesn't replace her. Fill the tasks of the maid to the brim! So that she will be too busy to rest on her expensive leather couch. Get her to wash the car too. So that she will have no energy left even to sleep, let alone sleep with Sir. How about Boy Boy? Nah, it is okay to outsource the yucky things such as changing of diapers to Maria. I mean, what can go wrong right?

My friend Angie is a part-time photographer, professional mother. That is a lethal combination for very keen eyes. She told me how she saw parents holding hands in shopping malls, while a maid trails them a few steps behind, carrying their babies or toddlers. Skin-to-skin bonding between parent and child must be deemed over-rated these days. What happened to the "He ain't heavy, he's my brother" privilege we reserve for our family? It has since changed to, "He is heavy, chuck him to Maria." Sad.

During photo shoots, Angie observed how queens of households bark instructions at their maids to take care of their infants. However, when it comes to crunch times, such as making the baby smile, the maid, not the queen, is the one who manages to do it in 9 cases out of 10. Who cares about making babies smile anyway? It is all about giving Boy Boy the best food, best education and best toys. There isn't anything Maria can possibly replace, right?

Wrong.

What Maria replaces is the patience you should have given your child. She did it out of responsibility and not love. Giving Boy Boy the best huh? What Maria also replaces is the humility of being a parent. No matter how smart or how rich you are or how much income you have, you shall be reduced to a pathetic soothing machine when your baby needs consolation. Even Mark Zuckerberg changes his baby's nappies. Yet we have arrived at this stage in Singapore where it is becoming increasingly "impossible" to start a family without a live-in maid, where motherhood is required to be outsourced. The Golden Age, that's what they call it.

During my first two years in Perth, I went out very often with Jen, then later lugging baby Albany around everywhere we visited.

I wanted to know more about the place I hardly know about.

It seemed crazy, even frightening, when I recalled the journey we traveled till today. It comes to a point I can hardly resonate with new Singaporeans moving to Australia anymore. 4 months down the road, I would be here for 5 long years. Thing changes in lightning speed in Singapore. Iconic buildings can be replaced by steel and glass in a matter of months. How much have Singapore changed over the 5 years I have been away? It is difficult to understand that in depth by merely making short visits to Singapore now and then.

Perhaps, no matter how bad the economy is in Australia, how hard it is to find jobs, how "idiotic" the new government is or how they change Prime Ministers like changing underwear, there are things you cannot take away from Australia that makes it attractive to live in. The beautiful weather, thousands of square kilometres to roam, the amazing scenery, the high quality of air, the dark, dark quiet nights - these are some things you can never buy with money in Singapore.

That was why during the first couple of years, there were so many instances when I was left alone doing my thing on a lazy afternoon, I wished my old friends were there with me. I wished for the buddy who will scream in delight, even at our age, as he runs through the vast amount of green with a football and kick the afternoon away like we used to. I wished for the buddies to be around to have cups of home made Teh C with me at each other's Alfresco area, enjoying the cool Autumn breeze, taking about the computer games we used to play. I wished everyone was around washing their cars with me like we used to. I wished that my family was here and that we can look-out for one another the same way we used to when I was still in Singapore.

After long enough, I stopped wishing. As I knew the wishful thinking would never come true.

In fact, I doubted I would ever see anyone that I knew personally in Singapore migrating to Australia, let alone my best buddies. Gradually, I stopped telling friends about my life in Perth. In fact, I got a little scared that one day, they might come here and found the place completely different to their expectations. I stopped. I stopped completely.

I made an exception recently. It began with a casual remark. He was a visitor, bunking in my place for a few days. I knew him for years but we weren't close. So we spent a few hours in the evenings talking about him. When I heard about his job experience, I made that casual remark, "Hmm, you can easily migrate here you know?" Young (enough), 8 years of working experience relevant to his Australian Degree in an occupation on the SOL. It was a no-brainer.

To be honest, he was one of the last person I would imagine being interested to migrating to Australia, let alone making himself go through the hassle. Part of it could be his wife's fault. She always painted him being a tad too "carefree" in our conversations. He didn't come across as someone who could muster the steely resolute to pull such a thing off.

I was wrong. He had to walk through the fire with employers whom he parted way on not-so-good terms to get the necessary documents he needed for his Skills Assessment.

When his wife bugged me with expected questions like how to get the documents certified true copied, I realised they were not clowning around. In a blink of the eye, she sent me this (left), and they were at Stage 4. He aced his Skills Assessment (like I expected) and the only obstacle left between his family and their Australian PR was doing well enough for IELTS.

But why? I found myself asking both of them multiple times.

I wanted to make sure they knew what they were doing. They have 2 young kids and a successful start-up in Singapore. It isn't easy to give up a business. It isn't easy for anyone to migrate with 2 young kids in general, regardless of their situations. Do they know what they are hopping into? Are they caught out in the spur of the moment?

I feel they are being really brave. I saw myself in them. Soft Singaporean guy, fiery Malaysian wife. There I was at some stage in Singapore, tired, hopeful, clueless, reckless. Somehow that worked for me. Could they carve out a little space here for themselves? That takes us to the most important question any Singaporean contemplating the same thing could ask him or herself, "Why not?"

"Why not?" is a question that opens up secret doors never seen before with naked eyes.

It was the question that took Stephen the Triumphant to WA with just Secondary School qualifications. It was a story he would repeat over and over again and I wouldn't mind listening because it inspires. He took a course in bricklaying here and started laying bricks on a work visa. He tried ways and means to get a PR but was caught in limbo for years. Eventually he succeeded and today, he is an Australian Citizen. He had no right but with his sheer determination and belief, he earned his right. He told me, "When I first came, I knew I couldn't qualify for PR but I didn't tell my wife that and just go." I suspect his wife was smart enough to know, but gave him the full support anyway.

When I need a reminder about how we can carve out a path for ourselves here as long as we don't give up, I think of Stephen's story. His was a classic case of sacrificing, risking everything he had and reaping what he sowed. How many Singaporeans are willing to do whatever it takes to fulfill their dreams? Not many, really.

I've seen my fair share of Singaporeans coming here and refused to give up what they once have or were having. Their jobs, their status, their achievements, their pride, their beliefs, their expectations. What they eventually gave up were their dreams. You cannot catch your dream if you don't reach out for it. To reach out, you have to let go of what you are holding.

I feel a little guilty of planting the evil seed in my visitor's mind a few months back, which grew rapidly into a sapling since. Whether it will mature and bear fruit eventually remains to be seen. I hope they will be blessed like the other migrants I met and had settled down well since.

I, the gurung guni, of Perth

Pledge to find myself a dining table

Regardless of Pine, Jarrah or European Aspen

To populate a house spending nothing

Base on the local people's generosity

So as to achieve, happiness, prosperity and yummy food in the kitchen

Did I tell you gumtree.com.au is my lifesaver? I got lotsa things there for free. There are a few reasons why the "freebies" sections is bursting with life everyday.

The community in Perth are generous
They believe strongly in sharing and recycling
They practice the spirit of paying it forward
(and so do I)

To be honest, I doubt most Singaporeans will find gumtree useful, not in the picking up freebies sense at least. In general, we do not like used stuff and I can prove it to you. Or rather, the situation will prove it for me. Just take a walk along HDB void decks during the year end holiday season to Chinese New Year to see how much usable stuff Singaporeans throw away. Don't tell me those were done by the foreigners. It was already a consistent trend all the way back to the 80s, when foreigners were a few and far between as compared to these days. Well, I am not saying there is anything wrong with that. The original point I made was: Read the first sentence of this paragraph.

To me though, Gumtree freebies section has been great because it saved me thousands of dollars. I am not exaggerating here. I can easily list out the most costly items that total a few thousands. If I do it all, it'll come to several. Should I buy all of those brand new, I would be thousands in dollars worse off. No doubt about it at all.

Free!

Last weekend I decided to do all over again. Over the years, I have agonized friends by refusing to change my dining seats. Mr Stephen, the donor of those chairs would sigh and shake his head whenever a screw drops out when he sat on a chair.

"Paiseh lah," he would go. "I shouldn't have given you these creaky seats."

One of the seats was broken and little Albany would always remind me who broke it cheerily in her innocence, not realising it was rude. "Auntie M broke it!" she would go, before breaking out in giggles. I would laugh loudly because, well, it was funny and I have low EQ. In fact, I would secretly wait and see which unknowing new visitors would break another chair. If not, it has been fun to see their expressions when they found loose screws randomly dropping if they move the chairs too fast.

Anyway, a generous lady in her 40s offered her dining chairs (above) for free. So I drove all the way down to Singaporean's favourite suburb in Perth, Canningvale, to collect them. Caucasian lady, busty and happy to see me. Nice. I was told that those who contacted her were a pain to deal with. Some wanted only 4 chairs, some asked for more pictures of the chairs, some asked for delivery, some didn't even turn up to collect them as promised. Me? I turned up on time, collected them and left without a fuss. I told myself to never give any trouble to people who were nice enough to give out their things for free. The chairs looked great to me, not sparkling new but good enough for me. They were all sturdy too. My friends would be happy if they read this, especially Auntie M.

Free!!

I had no time to waste. I needed to rush all the way up north to collect a beautiful swinging chair. Albany was on my mind throughout the journey. Several times when we visited Masters, she would run to one of the swinging chairs, sat on it and refused to leave after that. Trips to Masters always ended up in tears. When the owner told me I could have it, I was elated. One of those would cost me $300 up from the shops and they wouldn't last long at all if anyone put them up free. Wouldn't last even an hour, I bet.

When Albany saw the swing when I set it down, she exclaimed in joy and hopped on to it without invitation. She couldn't stop laughing throughout. I knew it would entertain her to no end for years. Swings have always been her favourite ever since I put her on one of those when she hadn't even learn to walk.

That night when we finally brought the swing back home, Albany couldn't take her eyes of it. During dinner, she suddenly exclaimed, "Look daddy! Lights!"

I turned and was surprised to see what I saw. "Look Albany, lights!" She threw a series of giggles and continued her dinner, pleased. The next day, her first request was to raise the blinds at the sliding door. "It's still there!" she exclaimed and began to hop around on one leg. I wondered when her enthusiasm would die down. Knowing my own daughter, it would be quite a long while.

Sorry about the freakish picture. I live in a twilight zone after all and now you see my point.

I have a odd corner in the house everyone asks me about when they see it. When I told them I intended that as a computer nook, they all gave me an unconvincing expression. One even called it a "Man-cave" and asked me if I am thin enough to squeeze in there to use a computer. I couldn't believe that actually plant a small doubt in my mind such that I took a chair and sat down there staring at the wall. There was more than enough space like I thought. How could I doubt myself and listen to people who didn't know anything about computer nooks.

The problem was, since it was such an unusual dimension, I was mentally prepared that I wouldn't find furniture that fits nicely there. If there is, it probably wouldn't come cheap.

FREE!!!

Imagine my delight when I found someone giving away a desk in good condition in gumtree. Immediately, I texted the lady and asked her for dimensions. I couldn't believe my luck. It was a perfect fit for the computer nook. So I replied, "May I have it please?" when I really meant, "I WANT IT NOW!" I was prepared to drive there if she gave me the green light. However, it was already 8pm. She told me to try 10am in the following day instead. I had to brave the rain to get it back the next morning but it was worth it. Just look how spot on the dimensions were (left). There was even a section that slides outward intended for the keyboard.

I requested to Jen to make a makeshift curtain with a tension rod so that the nook could be veiled during gaming time. She predicted that the kids would eventually find me out and start crawling into the place to huddle around, treating it like a clubby house. Hmm, looks like that child gate is going to come useful in the future.

Other mentionable stuff I got for free are such as a swing set, a 6 seater dining table and matching chair set, solid kids table with 4 sturdy tiny chairs, a queen size wooden bed frame that will look great after I restore it for the guest room.

Installed at MIL's place (she just migrated here T_T).
Didn't take pictures of the rest of the good stuff

If you are a pissed poor peasant like myself, you can consider borrowing some good will from the community here to start off life. It may take you as long as 8-10 years to settle down fully. Try your best to pay it forward by giving away things that you don't need. That way, the spirit of sharing will grow. I cannot say enough how grateful I am to Perth gumtree's community.

Thanks Nix

Yeah many reasons to move, though as the years pass, the other countries increase the requirements and difficulty. On the flip side, more and more reasons to move out as Sg is just getting worse by the day in terms of crowds, personal freedoms, human selfishness, etc...

Btw, a question for you - regarding your kids education, are you concerned on ensuring they get exposure to Chinese language? I am wondering, as a cheapo myself, if I ever am able to move out, I surely won't pay for any extra enrichment classes, since I don't even do it now in sg. But I do want my kids to be at least able to read, write and speak Chinese.

Sorry if this is too personal a question, and please feel free not to answer if it is.

Regards

Hi EL,

I don't find this question personal. In fact, I would like to bring this to the table because I found this a common problem that Singaporean parents face here.

To be honest, I don't worry about such things, because there are bigger problems to worry about here.

From my observations, my daughter's spoken Mandarin is not as good as me than when I was at her age. I would say she is slightly behind now. Since Albany is not in Primary School yet and all things being equal, the reason can only be the fact we communicate less in Mandarin with her than my mother used to with me.

From her Primary School onward, I have no doubt the gap will widen, because she will not be exposed to the kind of education we were subjected to in Singapore. She will probably end up being able to speak and understand Chinese, just enough to have simple conversations. She will not be able to write at all. In fact, if I have to write a compo now, i will struggle to do a passable one, let alone a good one due to years of non practice. If I were to read a Chinese article, my reading speed will be about 20% of the speed that of an article in English. Considering that my Chinese was about the same standard as English during school days, the notion of of "use it or lose it" holds a lot of truth.

That comes to the point how long you intend to let your kids stay in Australia. If they will be here long term, you will be fighting a losing battle, wasting precious resources (money) to buff their Chinese up. I wouldn't say it is impossible but it is not realistic to achieve similar standards to if your children are brought up in Singapore. That brings us back to my earlier point. The main reason being, they will not even get the chance to practice it because all the kids here basically communicate in English, even if they know the Chinese language. Before long, they'll lose grasp of the language.

I wouldn't recommend sticking your children with other kids that speak a lot of Mandarin just for this reason. We are migrants in Australia. It is our responsibility to integrate with the local culture. We should be moving to China, if we want the best development for our children in this area.

Nix

Foreword

This is a story of a Singaporean who calls himself Anfieldknight(AK), which is totally fine by me as it appears that we both support the same football club. Like myself, AK migrated to Australia sometime ago to seek his own life but he settled down in Melbourne instead. The group of us followed his amazing story faithfully over the years. You can read his [beginnings] which he kindly contributed to me last year and again, a recent update of his hard work that paid off after I begged him to share an account of. I am very happy for him and wish him good luck.

I encourage you to share this, because I hope more Singaporeans will be inspired by the unyielding spirit of AK, who kept his dream up after Singapore quashed it and chased his aspirations all the way to the far east of Australia.

Thank you AK, for sharing.

GUEST BLOGGER

Anfield Knight

28 April 2016

Hello Nix,

It’s me again. Anfieldknight. It’s been almost a year since I shared my brief experience on your blog.

http://asingaporeanson.blogspot.com.au/2015/03/anfield-knights-migration-story-part-1.html

That was 12^th March.

I simply can’t believe that life takes different path from what you have planned.

Fast forward now, it’s now March 2016.

Within this time frame, unexpected stories unfolded.

I had managed to attend 3 interviews for IT related jobs while working as a casual position in a concierge department in the same popular hotel. That was somewhere first half of last year.

I didn’t manage to get any of them. For one of them I had succeeded to attend the third and final interview for a big MNC. Unfortunately, I didn’t hear from them again.

I was devastated. I had hopes of reviving my IT knowledge and skills in that MNC Company. Nothing worked. All I had was the casual job at the hotel to get me going. Wife and my 2 kids are depending on me.

Vexed. But still, I didn’t regret coming here. Even one bit.

As I was getting better in talkie-talkie, thanks to the people skills from the hotel, I almost managed to land a job in COLES as a customer service as a part-timer with guaranteed hours. But it was me who rejected the post when they called me.

Everyone knows when opportunity arrives, you must be smart to grab it or lose out completely or regret and cry when you taking a crap.

Why did I reject it? Was it because I was stubborn to penetrate into IT industry here? Or was I choosy?

Nix… I am letting in a little secret. This may help others who want to take a big leap if they want to.

While I am still getting accustomed in Australia, I applied for Protective Services Officer (PSO) position with Victoria Police in Oct 2014, one month after I have landed here. I gave it a shot and just simply tried my luck.

Here is the link for those who are curious.

http://www.policecareer.vic.gov.au/pso

In summary, they are Police from the Transit Unit safeguarding all Metro stations in Victoria.

Fast-forward now to 2016 March… I have now graduated from the Victoria Police Academy as a fully qualified PSO. This journey was… Exceptional… Emotional… Memorable.

It took me 8 months to enter into the Academy. Some even waited more than 1 year. Some even 1.5 years. So I was lucky.

I still remember. I was rejected by Singapore Police Force when I wanted to join as a regular.

Rejected by ICA for applying Customs Officer.

Rejected by MOM for applying a job where it requires interacting with foreign workers.

The irony.

It may or may not trigger an interest to any readers here but I will list out what I have done to end up where I am now.

Make sure you have at least $1.5K to pay for all these and KEEP THE RECEIPTS! They will be useful to do your next year’s Tax File Claim.

Please be prepared Physically and Mentally. Nothing is a walk in the park.

Step 1

Application

Yes. Start applying. Use that index finger of yours to click on the apply button. Fill up those details.

- Personal Details

- Employment History

- Education History

- History of Prior Offences and Police Dealings.

That’s about it. Sit back and wait for a good news from them. If you are unlucky, I am sorry. But at least you tried.

Step 2

Exams

Yup. Exams. That’s what Singaporeans are good at. Scoring points where necessary. This is like IELTS + Aptitude and need some quick brain cells to answers questions in little time given.

1. - Verbal Reasoning Assessment

2. - Numerical Reasoning Assessment

3. - Abstract Reasoning Assessment

4. - MCQ English Skills Test

5. - Summary Writing Assessment

6. - Extended Writing Assessment

7. - Oral Communications Assessment

8. - Computer Skills Assessment

If you can score for these sets of exams, you are on your way to the next part of the process.

Step 3

Background Checks

The name itself is self-explanatory. They will start conducting checks on all of your previous history. Companies you worked for in Australia will be crucial. This is also where they will call you for a telephone interview to see how interested you are. If you are not, please hang up and start playing your PS3/Xbox.

Step 4

Communications

They will now call you up for communications test. This is where you have to start talking on a walkie-talkie and see how well and clear you speak in the radio. It will be good to know your Alphabet codes. Start practicing. Alpha… Bravo.. Charlie…

And please.. No Lahs and Lors wokay.

Step 5

Fitness Test

Yawn. If you can clear you IPPT back then, then this will be a breeze. Nothing to see here. No wait… If you have put on extra pounds, then start working out.

Just check their website for details on the set of tests below.

- - Beep Test (5.1 minimum)

- - Agility Test (within 20 secs)

- - Grip Test

- - 5 push-ups

- - Prone bridge

- - Obstacle Climb (1.3m)

Step 6

Health Checks

Similar to PR Application process, you have to clear the medical portion here. You have to go for Urine Test, Eye Test, Ear test and Full body check up.

Before they send you the email, you have to start booking for all these tests yourself to save time. You have to submit all these within a specific time and will be stated in the email. You will receive the Medical Booklet after you have passed the Fitness test.

A little tip. Start booking for these appointments after your Step 4 has been successfully cleared.

Step 7

Psych Test

This is pretty interesting. You have to sit for the Psychology test consisting approximately 1000 questions. That’s right. Approx. 1000. It will take about 2 hours.

Happy sitting for the Psych test straight after your Fitness test.

Step 8

Psych Interview

Don’t think just because you have declared yourself as not insane, you are about to face grueling 1.5 hours of up and very personal interview with the psychology unit. Prepare to tell your stories, your family history and whatever you have in your back of your mind.

Step 9

Panel Interview

Congratulations if you have deemed “Not a Psycho” by Victoria Police. This will be Grand Final. The Super Bowl. The UEFA Champions League.

It can be nerve wrecking. They will be asking some tricky but logic questions. All you have to do is to Keep Calm and don’t crap in your pants.

Once you have shook the hands of the interviewing Inspectors, leave and don’t turn back. Don’t pass GO. Head straight back home and lie on your bathtub. Have a warm bubble bath.

Step 10

Conclusion

If you are successful, you will receive the GOLDEN phone call. CONGRATULATIONS!!!

Thank you for finishing the Part 1 of your journey.

Now all you have to do is to complete Part 2 of your Journey in the Academy itself.

If you are now in the Academy, prepare to spend 3 months doing Law exams and Practical assessments. Be prepared to talk in front of your class. Be prepared to face the stress of studying and balancing family life. This will change your future. Trust me.

I had to stay in although it’s not compulsory. The grueling 2 hours journey back home, stuck in traffic, had me considered staying in.

This was the biggest sacrifice. For 3 months, my wife had to manage and somehow she did. I had to study for exams on weekends when I am at home. Group study with mates on weekdays in the Academy.

What I have written here is just tip of the lighted cigarette. Thanks to Nix’s blog, I am sharing my experience to those who may be interested. It could be useful for those who may think otherwise.

It can be done. It can be achieved. Victoria Police is Multi-Cultural. They are open-minded. They are unlike what you experience back home.

I am truly speechless for what has happened to me. Things happen for a reason. A friend of mine said, “Singapore may need you. But Australia really wants you.”

This is one part of my journey. I have no control of my future. But I hope to be ready in any circumstance that may arise.

If a country can trust a PR like me to police and interact with the community, I can be sure that I will give my 100% if needed. So can you!

Thanks Nix.

Regards

(AnfieldKnight)

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