From Manila to Melbourne

The Philippines has been my home for the past 29 years. Most of my life, all my happy times and even the not so happy times, I've spent in my home country. So it was a very hard decision for me to leave the country that brought me life. I had to leave behind family, friends, and co-workers. I had to leave behind all the things that I was acustomed to: traffic in Manila, very large shopping Malls, not so clean air in our metropolis, crazy rush hours on the MRT, uncertain political climate, floods during rainy season, the Rizal monument in Luneta, Manila bay, and probably the fried chicken in Jolibee. Ah yes! All those things that I just got used to and grew up with.

And it was even harder for my wife and kids since they've never visited any other country. But it was a decision that we made to better ourselves, our lives, and our situation. You see, the Philippines was our home, but we just struggled there. I won't go into much detail about it, but we thought that our new home would be better.

Well, here we are now in Melbourne, Australia. Our new home really far away from the Philippines. A very strange place for ur since it's nothing like the Philippines at all. Traffic is not as bad here. The malls are way smaller. The air is very clean, the place is very green. Parks are just abound. There is no MRT, but there is a very good and well established public transport system with buses, trams, and trains. Politics? Nobody cares much about that here. There just a flood of smiles all over, and a flood of greenery. There are a lot of monuments, but none of them are for Filipino Heroes. Who needs the Manila bay here, when nice clean beaches are plenty. I still miss the Jolibee chicken, but probably Nandos will do for now.

So you see, it was a very big decision for us. And probably something that we will have to adjust to for a certain time. But we believe that making Melbourne our new home would bring us betterment in the long term.

So I'll have to say this officially. I'll have to say goodbye to Manila and hello to Melbourne.