5 Months And Going Strong

[tayjenny]

Hi Everyone,

 

I hope I am not intruding as the forum specifically said Poms in Adelaide (I am Malaysian ). I would like to applaud the good work of the administrators for setting up this useful forum and all the generosity accorded by the members here in sharing their stories and advice. I came across the forum while searching for a support page to understand more about SA and life as a migrant in SA. I have a family of four with two girls age 11 and 13 and my husband. We moved over to SA 5 months ago after obtaining our subclass 190 visa last year. We are Malaysians by nationality but my husband and I were educated in the UK and spent a good 10 years before returning to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to start our family. After more than 10 years in Kuala Lumpur, we thought that with the political situation there (for those following the news) and considering that we are Chinese by race, my girls might not have a bright future in Malaysia, therefore, we decided to apply through visa 190 and to restart our life in Australia. After living here for 5 months (we are based out of Blackwood), there are of course visible differences between the three countries – pros and cons, like everyone else is experiencing but we are trying to adjust and to make it work as best as we can. Both my girls are in the IGNITE program at Aberfoyle Park High School and doing well so far. I believe that’s a priority for now- that they are settling down nicely and slowly making friends. On job opportunities, we don't hold too much hope at the moment and we are still trying to understand the employment market to date. My husband held a high position in a regional bank during our previous life and we are lucky that we are able to step back and enjoy the little things in life over the last 5 months and spending time with the girls- something that my husband couldn't have done back in Malaysia. We are still trying to get used to the work attitude here – having lived in London and Kuala Lumpur over most of our adult life. But we have made a pact between ourselves before moving that we will step back and smell the roses while our girls are still in their teenage years. But, I still miss my Jaffa Cakes from Marks and Spencer and have been looking everywhere for it!

 

I am also starting a little project of my own, inspired by Humans of New York movement. For those unfamiliar with his work, check out this link: http://www.humansofnewyork.com. I am hoping to collect 500+ personal stories of migrants from all over the world to Australia and aim to give our future generations a view of our present and an idea of the next chapter of their lives as well as pay tribute to our past and hopefully, it will also be a source of information for those who have already decided to migrate or are planning to do so. Once I have 500+, I will then self publish the book for our collection. We all will at some point think about how we want to be remembered. We'll think about the impact we made. We'll think about the mark we left. Someday we'll hope the story of our life is great. It's up to you to take hold of the pen and start writing your own story. Admin, hope the above is acceptable to be posted.

 

Thank you

Edited December 7, 2015 by snifter
removed fb link

[ExploringAdelaide]

Wow, what a fantastic idea!! I love HONY - it's so good!

[tayjenny]

Thank you ! but not sure how to go about it working with contributors from this forum I have set up a Facebook page solely for this purpose but the link can't be shown here...