Celebrating my first year in OZ :)
Whoa!!! Its been one year already?? Am I in Australia from past one year?? I really completed one year in Australia?? Well how much ever I ask myself about this, the answer is yes yes yes. But it's really hard to believe because days flew so fast. This post is all about my experiences in this one year.
I still remember, after me and my then fiancee Naveen got married on the 26th of April 2012, Naveen left to Australia on May 17th 2012 and I couldn't join him because of my visa. It took 7 months for the immigration department to provide me with my visa. That waiting period was a pain. Finally on October 4th, 2012 I was granted my visa. I was in tears when I saw the visa confirmation mail.
November 28th, 2012, 8.30pm, Melbourne International Airport. The experience of the last few minutes of my journey is something which I will never be able to express. I was literally jumping on my toes. I was seeing my husband after 7 long months. The moment I landed I had tears in my eyes( tears are always at the corner of my eyes. It just needs a reason to come out ;) hehehe) After all the formalities at the airport, I was ready to come out and my eyes were desperate to see my husband. And there he was, right in front of me, wearing my favorite t-shirt :).... Huh what a moment :)
From that moment my Australian journey started. What a lovely place is Australia, full of lush green and beautiful roads n houses. I had so much to look forward from here. It's entirely a new life. I had a soundless sleep that night and the next morning was just awesome with a new ray of hope.
This one year has been really pleasant and full of life. I cannot forget those sleepless nights, midnight ice cream adventures, movie marathons, different theme parties, food festivals at home, roaming the streets trying to cover every nook n corner, exploring different cuisines and restaurants, getting lost in the middle of nowhere and imagine all spooky things happening, watching the worst possible horror movies with absolutely no lights on and then scaring each other, playing monopoly for 5-6 hours continuously and that too in the middle of the night, those false sick leaves just to spend some extra time with friends, the crazy working hours, celebrating all the festivals as grand as possible with all the little sources we have, shopping groceries every three weeks, making gifts and the best of all, traveling to all the lovely sight seeing places. Words wouldn't be enough to say what all crazy things we have done in this one year.
The first five months from December to April were great as we experienced a very good summer. Every weekend we would go out and cover many places. The winter months May to November were really tough to go through. It's biting cold during winter and for the first time in my life I experienced this cold weather and initially it was too difficult. But then slowly I got used to it. Thank god it doesn't snow in Melbourne.
The best thing about Melbourne is its beauty. It has such beautiful houses and gardens everywhere. Till date I haven't found a single house which has no garden in it. Whether the house is small or big, people make sure they have greenery around them so that it's always the fresh air they breathe.
Australia has a large percentage of migrants. It's hard to find 100% Aussie families. People here are very warm and welcoming. During my initial days here, I was pretty much shocked and confused by the way people behave here. I was once going for a walk with my husband and we saw a man walking from the opposite direction. He just came to us and started talking. After he left I asked my husband if that guy was his friend and to my surprise my husband said no. People just stop by to ask you how you are, how was your day and they wish you good luck. After this incident, I happen to experience the same with so many strangers. They would just stop by, take a few minutes to talk and then leave. I found this gesture to be really sweet and now I do the same whenever I get a chance. I don't lose anything if I talk to someone sweetly and wish them good luck.
Aussie people believe a lot in the usage of the words, thank you and please. Wherever you go, you can see people use these two words a hundred times in a day. It's just a good gesture of talking respectfully to a person. There is absolutely no dignity of labor here. Every work and worker is treated the same. In so many cases, a factory worker earns more than a manager. They don't give too much importance to your degrees and percentages, they look into your personality, confidence and soft skills. I wasn't even asked to show my certificates and percentages when I applied for jobs.
People here love pets. They would have all kinds of pets at home. The best thing about having pets here is most of them come with a microchip injected inside their body. So if your pet is lost then you can track it very easily. But then again it's very costly to maintain them. You can find many pet schools here where people drop their pets to the training schools just the way they drop their kids to the schools. Pets are trained with good manners :)
The rules here are really strong. So people don't dare much to break the laws because sometimes it would take a lifetime to pay the fine as a result of punishment. There are cameras in most of the signals where it just clicks photos when a person jumps the signal or is driving rash and has crossed the speed limit. Once the camera flashes, it means you can expect an infringement notice which states the rule which you broke and how much fine you are paying for it. The fines here are so scary. Sometimes you end up paying what all you earned that week or month.
The petrol stations here are very different. Unlike India where you have people at the petrol stations to fill petrol to your vehicles, here you have no one to do it. You fill the petrol to your vehicle, pay the respective amount and leave the bunk. You have so many car wash and car vacuuming depots where you insert coin and use the vacuum cleaner to clean your car and the washing facilities to wash your car. You have to do your work.
You don't find maid servants or helpers here. Whether you are rich or poor you have to do your work. In case you cannot and wish to have a helper at home then you should be ready to spend a lot of money on them because they charge you like hell. And so people prefer doing everything on their own. Everything is DIY(Do It Yourself). Even the beds, tables, sofas and chairs which we bought are DIY's. We have to assemble each and every small thing. Its a good learning process but sometimes you will be just over it.
Customers are treated like kings and queens here. Whenever you visit any showroom or a shop in a mall or a restaurant, the first thing people do is come to you, greet you, ask you about your day and then provide you with the best customer service they can. Most of the shops in all the malls have the policy of refund. You buy something and you take it back to them after a month for a refund and they give you your money. (But the condition of the item should be good). If they can't refund then they give you an exchange. Exchange policy is something which is there in many countries but I reckon you have not many countries or places who provide refund policy.
Tax system is really good here. But then again it has its own good things and bad things. The more you earn, the more tax you pay. But you don't regret for paying more because it's used for the development of the country. After the end of the financial year, the part of your tax money which was unused will be returned to you. How good is that??? The government has many facilities for the citizens and permanent residents. I enrolled myself to a course here and the fees was $3000. But since I am a permanent resident, the government pays my fees and I had to pay just $150 for my course materials and uniform. There are lot more facilities than this.
Public transportation is too good. You have one card for all types of travel-bus, train and tram. You can hardly see two wheelers here. The first few months when I came here, I had a count of two wheelers I see in Melbourne :)
The only thing which I don't like about this place is that, the entire city shuts down at 6pm Monday-Wednesday and Saturday, Sunday. Only the restaurants and supermarkets will be open till 10pm or 11pm. After work if you plan to go out then you have no options. Its only on Thursdays n Fridays that the malls and other shops will be open till 9pm. Even on the weekends you cannot plan and go out in the evenings. People here are early birds. They have breakfast at 6am, lunch at 11am and dinner at 6pm. (Really??? Dinner at 6pm??? That's our snack time :) hehe ) By 8pm all the lights will be turned off and you can hardly find any vehicles on the streets.
There are so many other things which I love about this place but its hard to pen all of them down. I hope you guys didn't get bored of this long post and you had a good time reading my experiences :) Thanks for reading.
I am writing about all the must see places in and around Melbourne in my next article. Hoping that you will read my next post as well.
I still remember, after me and my then fiancee Naveen got married on the 26th of April 2012, Naveen left to Australia on May 17th 2012 and I couldn't join him because of my visa. It took 7 months for the immigration department to provide me with my visa. That waiting period was a pain. Finally on October 4th, 2012 I was granted my visa. I was in tears when I saw the visa confirmation mail.
November 28th, 2012, 8.30pm, Melbourne International Airport. The experience of the last few minutes of my journey is something which I will never be able to express. I was literally jumping on my toes. I was seeing my husband after 7 long months. The moment I landed I had tears in my eyes( tears are always at the corner of my eyes. It just needs a reason to come out ;) hehehe) After all the formalities at the airport, I was ready to come out and my eyes were desperate to see my husband. And there he was, right in front of me, wearing my favorite t-shirt :).... Huh what a moment :)
From that moment my Australian journey started. What a lovely place is Australia, full of lush green and beautiful roads n houses. I had so much to look forward from here. It's entirely a new life. I had a soundless sleep that night and the next morning was just awesome with a new ray of hope.
This one year has been really pleasant and full of life. I cannot forget those sleepless nights, midnight ice cream adventures, movie marathons, different theme parties, food festivals at home, roaming the streets trying to cover every nook n corner, exploring different cuisines and restaurants, getting lost in the middle of nowhere and imagine all spooky things happening, watching the worst possible horror movies with absolutely no lights on and then scaring each other, playing monopoly for 5-6 hours continuously and that too in the middle of the night, those false sick leaves just to spend some extra time with friends, the crazy working hours, celebrating all the festivals as grand as possible with all the little sources we have, shopping groceries every three weeks, making gifts and the best of all, traveling to all the lovely sight seeing places. Words wouldn't be enough to say what all crazy things we have done in this one year.
The first five months from December to April were great as we experienced a very good summer. Every weekend we would go out and cover many places. The winter months May to November were really tough to go through. It's biting cold during winter and for the first time in my life I experienced this cold weather and initially it was too difficult. But then slowly I got used to it. Thank god it doesn't snow in Melbourne.
The best thing about Melbourne is its beauty. It has such beautiful houses and gardens everywhere. Till date I haven't found a single house which has no garden in it. Whether the house is small or big, people make sure they have greenery around them so that it's always the fresh air they breathe.
Australia has a large percentage of migrants. It's hard to find 100% Aussie families. People here are very warm and welcoming. During my initial days here, I was pretty much shocked and confused by the way people behave here. I was once going for a walk with my husband and we saw a man walking from the opposite direction. He just came to us and started talking. After he left I asked my husband if that guy was his friend and to my surprise my husband said no. People just stop by to ask you how you are, how was your day and they wish you good luck. After this incident, I happen to experience the same with so many strangers. They would just stop by, take a few minutes to talk and then leave. I found this gesture to be really sweet and now I do the same whenever I get a chance. I don't lose anything if I talk to someone sweetly and wish them good luck.
Aussie people believe a lot in the usage of the words, thank you and please. Wherever you go, you can see people use these two words a hundred times in a day. It's just a good gesture of talking respectfully to a person. There is absolutely no dignity of labor here. Every work and worker is treated the same. In so many cases, a factory worker earns more than a manager. They don't give too much importance to your degrees and percentages, they look into your personality, confidence and soft skills. I wasn't even asked to show my certificates and percentages when I applied for jobs.
People here love pets. They would have all kinds of pets at home. The best thing about having pets here is most of them come with a microchip injected inside their body. So if your pet is lost then you can track it very easily. But then again it's very costly to maintain them. You can find many pet schools here where people drop their pets to the training schools just the way they drop their kids to the schools. Pets are trained with good manners :)
The rules here are really strong. So people don't dare much to break the laws because sometimes it would take a lifetime to pay the fine as a result of punishment. There are cameras in most of the signals where it just clicks photos when a person jumps the signal or is driving rash and has crossed the speed limit. Once the camera flashes, it means you can expect an infringement notice which states the rule which you broke and how much fine you are paying for it. The fines here are so scary. Sometimes you end up paying what all you earned that week or month.
The petrol stations here are very different. Unlike India where you have people at the petrol stations to fill petrol to your vehicles, here you have no one to do it. You fill the petrol to your vehicle, pay the respective amount and leave the bunk. You have so many car wash and car vacuuming depots where you insert coin and use the vacuum cleaner to clean your car and the washing facilities to wash your car. You have to do your work.
You don't find maid servants or helpers here. Whether you are rich or poor you have to do your work. In case you cannot and wish to have a helper at home then you should be ready to spend a lot of money on them because they charge you like hell. And so people prefer doing everything on their own. Everything is DIY(Do It Yourself). Even the beds, tables, sofas and chairs which we bought are DIY's. We have to assemble each and every small thing. Its a good learning process but sometimes you will be just over it.
Customers are treated like kings and queens here. Whenever you visit any showroom or a shop in a mall or a restaurant, the first thing people do is come to you, greet you, ask you about your day and then provide you with the best customer service they can. Most of the shops in all the malls have the policy of refund. You buy something and you take it back to them after a month for a refund and they give you your money. (But the condition of the item should be good). If they can't refund then they give you an exchange. Exchange policy is something which is there in many countries but I reckon you have not many countries or places who provide refund policy.
Tax system is really good here. But then again it has its own good things and bad things. The more you earn, the more tax you pay. But you don't regret for paying more because it's used for the development of the country. After the end of the financial year, the part of your tax money which was unused will be returned to you. How good is that??? The government has many facilities for the citizens and permanent residents. I enrolled myself to a course here and the fees was $3000. But since I am a permanent resident, the government pays my fees and I had to pay just $150 for my course materials and uniform. There are lot more facilities than this.
Public transportation is too good. You have one card for all types of travel-bus, train and tram. You can hardly see two wheelers here. The first few months when I came here, I had a count of two wheelers I see in Melbourne :)
The only thing which I don't like about this place is that, the entire city shuts down at 6pm Monday-Wednesday and Saturday, Sunday. Only the restaurants and supermarkets will be open till 10pm or 11pm. After work if you plan to go out then you have no options. Its only on Thursdays n Fridays that the malls and other shops will be open till 9pm. Even on the weekends you cannot plan and go out in the evenings. People here are early birds. They have breakfast at 6am, lunch at 11am and dinner at 6pm. (Really??? Dinner at 6pm??? That's our snack time :) hehe ) By 8pm all the lights will be turned off and you can hardly find any vehicles on the streets.
There are so many other things which I love about this place but its hard to pen all of them down. I hope you guys didn't get bored of this long post and you had a good time reading my experiences :) Thanks for reading.
I am writing about all the must see places in and around Melbourne in my next article. Hoping that you will read my next post as well.
Comments
( I think its a dream) .. Anyways hamsika t was nice reading ua article... Njoy ua stay in melbourne,.. N awaiting fa ua nxt post... :) gud luck..:)