来Dubbo对自己有益的n件事

1. 在外，第一次有自己的house，住得像一个家
1. away from home, i stay in a house that for the first time feel like a home

 2. 伦开始弹uke&唱歌
2. Loon started playing music

 3. 在河边散步成为生活一部分

3. have a stroll by the river becomes a part of life

 4. 尝试过去的自己想象不到的工作

4. working works that are unimaginable for the past me 

 5. 开车去上班&图书馆

5. driving to work & library

6.  白天自然亮起来的房子，有小花园，很多花，番茄可以收割，花开了满树，马铃薯和青椒发芽

6. daylight brights up the house naturally, small yard with lots of flowers, tomatoes for harvest, a blossoming tree, potatoes & green pepper sprouting

 7. 为彼此剪头发

7. be the hairdresser for each other

 8. 时薪高

8. high hourly pay

（图为妈妈给的硬币，她20几年前没有完的）

 9. 新朋友、新体验

9. new friends, new experience - camp fire, butlers falls, jude's gathering

10.  一起经历低潮的日子

10. hands in hands, walking through the toughest time of life

random bits & pieces of life in Dubbo

头发
听说这里的理发师，水平参差。无论如何，以前都是会家附近的店剪头发的。来了这里以后，一是不必要，二是节省。刘海都是老公修。其它部分，绑起来就是了。刘海遮盖眉毛，我都懒得去修。

Hairstyle

Rumour has that hairstylists here aren't very reliable. Anyway, in the past I had my hair cut in my neighbourhood shops. Since arriving here, first it was unnecessary to, second to save money, my fringe has been trimmed by Loon. Rest of my hair just simply get tied together. My fringe covers my eyebrows. So it is perfect for a lazy person who is too busy to  trim her eyebrows

 

美丽
我有个我觉得很漂亮的表姐。心情最好的时候就是老公看着表姐的照片说，我觉得你比较漂亮 :)

Beauty 

I have a cousin whom I find very beautiful. One of the happiest moment was when Loon looking at my cousin's photo and said, I think you are more beautiful :)

长龙
在dubbo要排长龙很难哦。因为人口很少，很少 :)

Long queue

Queue can hardly be long in Dubbo as there are really not that many people to queue in the first place.

融入
今天去到义工活动，我是唯一的“老外”。上次去dubbo young professional network，我和老公样子看起来最“老外”。还有不少场合，我们看起来都“鹤立鸡群”呀。其实我们以少数族群身份出现的场合，心里面可能都默默骄傲了两下。快来认识我们吧！让你们面对自己的无知！

Assimilate

During the volunteer event this morning, I was the only "angmoh". When we were attending dubbo young professional network event, Loon and I looked most "angmoh" there. And in many occasions, we looked different from the others. Actually, when we were the minority in places, I secretly felt proud of us. I want people to know about us, to come face to face with what they didn't know they know nothing about.

1

Morning started well. I finally got up before 10am. Loon was in the midst of making pancakes, using egg-pan (a present from a best friend) this time. He was having fun.

I sit by the heater, open and started flipping through and reading the book "self-promotion for introverts". It is about being introverts and public speaking. Maybe because I read "the power of introverts" previously, this book doesn't interest me much. However, I like the part on how the author prepares for her own public speaking & even posing a simple question to high profile individuals. Prepare, research, framework, WIIFM, rehearse etc...

I remembered my lousiest time of presenting was when I had a session with a class of abt 20-30 ppl. This was probably the 2nd session of a series of four. The teacher who was bringing me to her classroom asked me where was my laptop? She said, I saw you bring your own last time. Crap. I brought goodies, stationeries, and everything but my laptop. And I had not email my slides to myself. I had put it into thumb-drive but didn't bring my thumb-drive which was in my laptop bag. OH GREAT!

What happened later was that luckily I printed hard copies for teacher and myself. So I used the projector to project my slides, and did the same whole sharing exact same way, except the beginning. I greeted the class, told them what I did (not do) today hence they would  have a more primitive version of slides. The sharing went alright.

Other than a few animated move of my slides were missing. The slides were in black and white only. I was still as good as I could be. And I believed one or a few of the students were happy that they not only skipped listening to their teacher for a period, but got to know "The Little Prince" a little bit more.

Looking back, I thought things could be worse, if I forgot to bring hard copies or the teacher showed her disappointment on face. Yet, probably because I had went through terrible radio hosting hours previously. I survived this time.

Like author Nancy Ancowitz said, "because even with the best preparation, things often don't go as planned, so we need to be flexible, expect a few surprises - from ourselves, others, and our circumstances - and project confidence, no matter what happens".

I would simply put it. Things do go wrong. Accept the imperfection. Move on.

2

topic of today finally falls on him - my husband

loon did a very sweet thing just now
i asked him to come sit with me, when i was at the sofa, he was in front of his computer
he responded by suggesting 开车去走走？
then in our driving, he asked, why asked me to sit beside you just now? wanna said sth?
then i shared how i felt recently.
....

when we were back to home again, he asked, feeling better? i did.
that's very very sweet

target for tmr = wake up at 8.30am

3

一直认为自己是一个极少做自己不愿意做的事的人
工作上有这样的情况出现
i make sure that they know 我不想不愿不要不爽

今天当她问我why you want to work at here
我先是一愣
然后回答 to be honest, i need to pay my bills

我被我自己正在做的事一惊
接下来的问答应该都很正常

回来后的我很不正常
我在想，为什么都要是服务生，我对这份工作却排斥？
因为她问的问题让我觉得她对我的人格不感兴趣？
因为我不喜欢这个品牌对社会的影响？

昨天，澳洲按物价涨幅(inflation rate)提高了最低薪金百分之二点五到$662.2/week
我昨天想法是 - 662 真的不低了
我今天的想法是 - 有一群人在为领着最低薪金的1.5百万个陌生人口发声，真好
不过，这群人是怎么知道这1.5百万人过得好不好？有多好？

像今天这种时刻，我总会想起松蒲米太郎在路边摆摊卖美国带回来的艺术杂志
并且继续天天到工地打工，只是因为不愿意为了活口而贱卖自己喜欢的杂志
他说，无论什么时候，希望自己不会忘记社会最底层的人
从他们的角度看这个社会

今天的面试，让我更接近零最低薪金的社会底层的人的心情
上司或顾客不会在乎你爱看张爱玲还是九把刀
不会问你你今天好吗？
只在乎你把垃圾都清理了吗？
你把地板都打扫干净了吗？

请我要成为我想要成为的人，并一起为此继续努力，你说

4

4 - a day in a jobless lady's life

10 am + wake up. as it is a cold morning, flowers dont open. i boil water. i heat up milk. have cereals & bread with jam.

writing a brand new cover letter for job application at non profit organisation. customising a new resume. till 2pm.

meanwhile, wonderful cook in the house have completed his resume & cover letter, and also made wonderful lunch - pumpkin rice (signature dish!)

2pm ++ we trim each other's hairs in the garden. it is fun. and i cant help but laughing a lot. it is rare for couple being so close and not kissing or hugging, instead we are trimming each other's hairs. real fun. recommend couple to try :)

watched recorded movie on TV alone while husband killing enemies in front of his computer.

6pm husband was cooking dinner, lamb chop ~ and delicious pumpkin rice once more ~

boil water for drinking again coz night is cold cold cold. reading book. checking & replying email & whatsapp. reading news online. and felt like it's an obligation to share good articles ;p

the next day. i wake up as a better person

5

5 - have you chosen something you like to study in university?

I have little patience for critics who don’t see the value in a liberal arts education. We don’t mock people who have children -- and there’s no practical value to having children. We don’t mock people who play the guitar, or go on walks in the woods. Why should we mock people who want to learn about their world and learn about themselves?

- Ken Ilgunas

this is a real incident. 
my youngest sis chose to study Philosophy for her degree. 
"Great for her!", i think.
i dont know what baba mama think. but i guess they are as supportive as they always are.
(imaging this is a baba says this to me, go live where you want when you are young. and baba says to sister, go travel where you want when you are young. :) he SAYS not said)

i know, some people think as an older brother/sister, you should help your younger siblings to understand the reality better or help them so they can avoid some unnecessary routes. somehow i have not thought of that through all the years my younger siblings choosing what to study. None of them ask for my opinion. So i gave them nothing (i hope i didnt).

so that was what happened with my youngest sis. i didnt comment. i honestly feel happy for her that she finally decided what she wanted and got it.

and then one day, a friend came to know she is going to study Philosophy. the first thing he asked me back is that, "have she considered about getting a job after graduation?"
i answered something like, No, probably not. And i wondered how I had not thought of this for her as well. It just never crossed my mind that it mattered at this point of time.

back to 7/8 years ago when i was deciding what i want to study for university, i asked baba, "baba, what if i am going to study something which i am not going to earn much after graduation?" baba answered, "do something you love. life is difficult. do something you love and when life gets difficult, you suffer but at least you are happy." he went on taking himself as an example that he chose a family with five kids (his "5 million dollars"), so the hard time at work, he could bear them for what he chose.

so i chose what i loved, radio, and studied media.

hence, through writing and thinking this incident, i now see the link between my past and my sis's present.

nope. like Ken said, we dont mock people for buying a bigger and better car like asking them "why do you need such a luxurious car?" we dont mock people for staying connected on facebook all day long like asking them "what good does it do to you?" why mock someone who knows what he/she wants at this point of time? why mock someone who chose to study English, History, Philosophy, Arts, Linguistics...

to my friend's credit, he didnt mock my sis, he probably had a difficult time trying to get a good job after graduation and is concerned same thing might happen to my sister. thank you for asking that question and made me think more about myself, my family, and my values.

sis, you gonna live what you love, okay? we all love you.

6

6 - the jobs i applied for

I worked at Coldfoot for a year. I started off as a tour guide and then the rest of the winter did a number of jobs. I was a garbage picker; I was a line cook at the truckers café and I did some maintenance work. After that, I worked for an Americorp conservation crew in Gulfport, Mississippi. Then I got a decent-paying job with the National Park Service as a backcountry ranger at the Gates of the Arctic National Park in Alaska. I lived up in Coldfoot again, and that’s when I finally put an end to my debt.

- Ken Ilgunas

inspired by what i read about him - the jobs he worked as an graduate with English & History Degree.
i wanna show myself and u what jobs i applied so far.

there's a lot of things I cant possibly make my dear friend (u) understand if 

you had never been to Dubbo, if

you didnt see what i see.

of course, it might not matter to you at all even if you dont understand what I learnt

still, what i learnt is mine, never could be yours. & vice versa.

admin job at Council (one of the biggest employer - hmm...see how govt works...)

any position at a bookstore that has no vacancy

service position at f&b

breakfast shift

any position at local coffee house (equipment, training)

admin at car seller

compliance officer at state water

recep/admin at accountancy firm

medial recep 

school admin support 

harvest job

admin/recep

baker

customer service officer (hearing clinic)

admin support officer (eye clinic)

internal sales (not even sure what it is) ( construction)

admin at forklifts company

recep (cardiac clinic)

client service (community service)

casual position at Post Office (sister Hui will envy me for this, if i got it)

NITV news librarian

personal carer

barista at cafe

service/counter at bakery

admin/recep at music school

counter staff at car rental company

any position at company fghijk

Team Assistant positions at local supermarket stores

....

some are omitted as i actually was not qualified when i applied.

anyway. above are for the record.

it is hard for the OLD me in Singapore to believe an NTU Comm Studies Graduate will take a job like any positions i have applied above.

but it is not so hard for me to understand when i am here. and i see people do what they want to do regardless it is a blue or white collar job. because first of all, any labour (physical/intellectual) are well paid enough in australia. and i think people definitely has a lot less contempt for labour intensive job here.

i am so willingly apply to the above positions coz i think i am capable enough to handle those jobs, perform the task really well

if you were to ask - why not take on librarian job as i did in singapore 

that's because i do not have library/information science qualification . and australia libraries definitely define a qualified person with a relevant qualification

if you were to ask - why not work in media

hmm.. at first i thought i dont want to go back media industry except radio. but when i looked into it. firstly there is not MANY media outlets in dubbo. You will be surprised how MANY we have as a community with 40 thousand population. secondly, i am too new to do any one-man-show in the small radio station or newspapers office in dubbo

so. now. life is still as perfect as it is for me. and my expedition to land myself a Full-time position (for the money i need) and then for a Dream Job will continue indefinitely and infinitely

bon voyage~