Some Thoughts

Yesterday two of my pals left Singapore for Sydney for education and career purposes. I wish them well with the path that they chosen.

They remind me of the times when I first come to Perth for my studies. Uncertainties, scared, excited, homesickness and zero-confidence were a terrible mixed of feeling for me then. The notion of terrible racism so talked about in Sg by my friends doesn’t help much too. Upon reaching Perth, the cold gust of wind pushes me further into my negative concept of Perth. I was the typical ignorant Sgrean then; only know the little red dot and nothing else out of the dot. The swan river in Perth show me how a river should look like, not like some muddy pool of water, the beaches in Perth show me what real beaches should be. The relaxed lifestyle shows me how a human should live. Before you all call me a quitter or slacker, I would like to emphasize that I still love my country but maybe not the way of life. Anyway, racist is almost non-existent to me, I am lucky that til now there has been no case of racist activities against me. To think about it, racist or being a 2nd class citizen happens everywhere in the world even in your own country. Rich VS poor, Elite VS commoners, citizen VS foreigners… it all exist everywhere. To me now, Sg is still my home but Perth is my home too!

Education is also very much different. There is no such thing as from the book answer for my exams. Common knowledge, application and out of the box answer is the key to achieve good results. The lecturers do not only give lectures but expect us student to teach him too with stuff we learned from our experience or net. Many times I had witness students disagreeing with lecturers’ point of view with their own rational thinking. I guess that’s explains why foreigners are more proactive or outspoken in their activities.

After graduating, working in Perth has also been an eye-opener. A boss and an employee basically have no clear line in between them. There is minimal cases of the mentality of the boss-know-all concept and mutual respect is forged btw the 2 classes. Working hours are flexible, family friendly and timesheets are based on trust. Overall there is not much rat race going on at the current stage. Tax is high but claimable towards the end of financial year. Working here really gives me more time to have more life. Some of my friends think that it is too boring over here but think about it. I work 38-40hours per week, go home at 5 per day, leaving me plentiful of personal time rather than slogging til 7-8pm and reach home at 9 then sleep, next day restart routine again.

Overall the journey has been pleasant for me at the current stage. I cannot foresee what will happen in future but I guess I just need to deal with all the problems I met in life.