Okk.. this entry is a one of a kind. Its describing our adventures moving to Oz and I hope we like it so much here we are not moving anywhere else. Insyallah/God permit.
So lets start off with the flight. We are really glad we choose MAS instead of Air Asia. Our luggage was about 21kg overweight cause our IMAC box handle broke off (intended to be carry on - tawakal je lah IMAC selamat check-in) but the counter staff just brushed it off and didnt ask us to pay anything. He even had a separate handling box for our fragile IMAC box. This might be due the mother-in-law chattering away at him non-stop. Either we was kind hearted or didnt want any trouble from MIL. I might be biased but I think air asia wont be so nice especially when the extra income goes back to the staffs.
The flight itself was punctual and smooth as zara's bottom. It was about 70% full and being Malaysian and with kids the stewards was really accomodating and moved me and zareef the better empty seats with kids meal/toys and all. We were worried the kids will act out and stuff in the plane but syukur they slept not to soon after take-off but zareef sempat lagi layan avatar movie. The adults on the other hand didnt sleep as well. So when we touched down everybody was a little groggy and grumpy. The kids cause kacau tidur and the adults lack of sleep.
Our flight was really early at about 7am so the luggage claim was easy. Took us less than 5 minutes. The only porblem was that we had to get our IMAC at a special fragile counter. Ohh I forgot to mention the airport (Tullamarine) was small and a little old not like our KLIA but somehow it was kinda busy. Watching Australian Borders on Discovery we were expecting really tight checks on our luggage. With the posters on the walls and stuff (even certain animal products like untreated belts and boomerang from certain wood) telling what can and cannot be allowed made us a little anxious. But everything went well at the checks apart from suspicious baby wipes in our IMAC box. They were worried cause it was wet and all.
So as we walked off, we were greated by the ever-happy-go lucky Farah Clayton/Kenyir. She was there with ever-macho bf Faiz. Nice couple.
*iklan penting = as I am writing this, Maz got a call from HR confirming her to start work this Monday (7/6/10). Alhamdulillah.. looks like I lost a bet with her and sapa lambat dapat kerja kena belanja makan*
So back to the story (after the big syukur/happy/congrats family group hug). Farah was really nice enough to cook us breakfast. Mee-hoon goreng terbaik and lots of it i might say. Sampai malam tu tak habis2 lagi. Along with the mee-hoon she introduced us a sambal udang kering in a jar which sampai sekarang kitorang makan (as ganti of our sambal belacan). So we had breakfast at the airport with hot chocolate (minuman panas time sejuk memang layan) grabbed a maxi-taxi (big wagon) and headed to Malaysian hall. Although the maxi-cab was huge diorang particular on the number of passengers, child seat and all so the MIL had to tag along in Faiz's borrowed car. The ride took us along the City-link. Macam Plus kita lah tapi highway kita berkali ganda lagi cantik but fewer lanes. So u have to have the City link pass like our Smart-Tag tapi diorang takyah pakai toll booth, its just mounted on steel beams like signboards. So those yang takde City link pass pun can still use it but have to call within 3 days to pay kalau tak saman banyak giler. Kesimpulannya takyah lah berjuta2 spend buat tol and pandai2 lah kalau nak guna highway ni beli lah pass dia and be honest and pay for what you use.
Lesson 1 in Oz, its all about rules and people follow rules cause the penalty is severe. Ohh yeah they penalize you every chance they get just like any other business. So honesty does pay off and you wouldnt feel like a chump doing so.
So when we reached Malaysian Hall, at first sight it looked kinda small as do all other oz houses but actually its huge. The houses arent very wide but its volume comes from its length. Smarter I think cause less roads and normally they are several other houses behind connected to the driveway. Malaysian Hall is situated near the city/CBD (tram ride takes 10-15 minutes but about 30minutes to the airport) and I believe has more than 40 rooms, surau, living room, kitchen etc...Seriously its huge but really cold. Takde central heating. Ohhh the tandas is reallllllllyyyyy cold. pikir 10 kali nak tahan or not... mau2 task yg kena duduk.
I want to go into details about Malaysian Hall cause I think it would be helpful for others. Its reallllyyy cheap $12 for non-students and $4 for undergrades and $6 for postgrades a day. You wouldnt get a better deal than that in Melbourne (it is a very expensive city even more expensive than NY city i feel.. i feel lahh but i have been to NYC more than 20 times). Because we were non-students and temporary stay the people they were not as friendly as I hope they would not all but once you get involved with them and all that they were kinda nice.The assistant warden (Ustad Hasnizul) was the person in charge at the hall. Although he was ok but at first I would think he would be more helpful (jenis kalau tanya baru jawab). The first day we were there he knew that kitorang takde heater and said nanti dia tolong.. to cut the story short we slept with more than a few layers on (although Idwal ada pinjamkan heater kecik satu - life saver). Internet pun takde... this one really stressed us out cause we had a lot of errands to run and everything is online. So the following day, pitying the children and MIL asked the ustad about the heater, he asked me to take it from the empty rooms upstairs. To my surprise the heaters were huge, old and berlambak kat empty rooms tu. Sejuk malam tak hilang dari hati yg panas time tu. Another issue with the ustad, I told him that although kitorang diluluskan 5 hari stay he said previously we can extend our stay if there werent fully booked. The place was really empty but he was really hesitant to extend our stay being non-student (the was also an officer from sydney i met at the parking lot acting bagus/stuck-up and say the place was in demand and told me to get a house soon b- i thought i had ran away from ppl like this). This really hightened the pressure on me personally... tak tidur and makan tak lalu etc. Pikir balik giler datang sini rumah takde and kerja takde bawak anak bini lepas tu tak lama lagi kena halau. Stresss giler time tu. If it was just me I wouldnt mind so much, with the kids it was really worrying.
Living from out of the bags. Please not the heater in the background.
The life changing letter from Esso Australia Pty Ltd
