Read Chapter 3: Kabayan

Assimilating in to the Australian culture was not hard.  It was penetrating the culture of the university that proved cumbersome.

The university, as are most, if not all, Australian educational institutions, is a melting pot of individuals from every imaginable society, quite ostensibly.  Europeans here, Africans there, Asians everywhere...not to forget Americans, north and south.  According to the university's 2007 census, the student population is represented by individuals from more than 100 countries.

The total Filipino population at the university, student and staff, was less than 20 during my time.  It was easy to meet people, most seemed accommodating, but hard to assimilate in to a particular homogenic group especially when they saw you as "different".  Filipinos were unlike any other only because we were considered a minority in the university population, at least that's how I felt.  But later, I would find out that there were others in our situation.  Germans, for one, seemed snotty and snobbish, but matter-of-factly, they were the funniest and easiest to get along with out of all those nationalities.  I had come to know half a dozen of them during my stay.

At the dorm, I would start sitting at the "International" table the very next night after arriving in Australia.  There where three Malaysian Chinese (two males, one female), one mainland Chinese (female), one Singaporean (male), one Sri Lankan (male), and an Australian (male), who loved hanging out with Asians (getting himself an Asian girlfriend eventually).  And I would learn in the coming days that there were two other Filipinos in the dorm.  One of them, Michelle, went to the same college as I did prior to going to Australia.

I got myself a local SIM card, Optus (which is Globe Telecom's sister network along with SingTel of Singapore) a couple of days after arriving.  It took one business day to have the SIM activated.  That was a Friday so it meant having my line ready on Monday.  I called my older sister as soon as possible. 

On Monday afternoon after class at Q block, the Communication and Sciences building, I contacted her.  And I reeled, after the short conversation.  I thought I was doing ok...but having heard from her, I slipped in to relapse.

I told her how beautiful Toowoomba was...and how sad that no loved one was there to share it with.

Eventually I heard from the whole family through email.  They got my cell number and would text me from time to time.  During the course of my stay in Australia, I would make contact with them very seldomly so as to avoid missing them.

My dad got hold of my homesickness issue.  One cold afternoon after class, I was walking back to the dorm when I got a text message from him...and that would forever keep me stronger and help me face all hardships that I would encounter with steadfastness.

"This is what I have right now," I told myself.  "And it's fleeting.  I might as well cherish the hardship for it will go sooner than I expect."

I remember having a conversation with friends when a particular question has been brought up.  Has there been a moment in your life that you have been told the right message by the right person at the right time?

Mine was that..from my dad...he said, "Focus on what you have, not on what you lack".

To this day, I still live by it...it's hard but I try.

Click here for Chapter 5: A panoptic view of nothingness