Now that I live in a country that has four seasons, I think I may have found a new roundup cadence.
Unfortunately, the seasons are reversed in Australia. So my roundups may look a bit odd on your timeline.
The weather is warming up to the point I can walk outside without a jacket.
So, what has been going on with our lives since the last update?
Settling nicely into my new job
I’m enjoying it. The tools and methodologies are familiar to me. It makes me chuckle internally, remembering that in my first couple of weeks, my dev team was concerned that Git would be ‘too complicated’ for me. In my third week I had suggested a preferred Git client to use (not Sourcetree), picked out my preferred authoring tool (VS Code with OpenAPI extension), and set a meeting with the DevOps team discussing how I would like the documentation deployment pipeline to behave.
I owe it all to my previous workplace, where my soft and technical upskilling were tremendous and unprecedented, and where I had the great privilege of learning from the very best managers.
As for this new job, I cannot believe how good the Lord has been to me. I found the lead through a recruiter who cold-contacted me, and we hit it right off. The process was quick and painless and, at the end of two weeks, I got an offer with a salary I would not have even dared to ask for on my own.
(Special thanks to Steve and Tim, who both sent through excellent character references in my behalf.)
In spite of my previous experiences, I’ve returned to the payments startup space. The culture is good and people-focussed. People I’ve interacted with have been warm, down-to-earth, and helpful. They even do company holidays (that is, a free day off work to mitigate the burnout from lockdowns and the stress of the pandemic) the way my previous job did.
I find myself applying so many of the skills, ways of work, and mindsets from my old workplace to my new one. I have nothing but fondness for my previous workplace. It is, to date, the best thing to happen to my career.
Ben and I got our dream apartment!
Here are some photos from the listing:



Actual apartment is unfurnished. In that vein, we’re living in that odd transition state where the TV is on the floor and we eat with paper plates. (We bought nearly everything we could need last month, but deliveries have been less than ideal.)
Some things about the apartment:
- We’d been eyeing it for months. Ben saved the listing all those months ago back when we were still in Manila. He admitted there was little point to saving the listing as it would very likely be gone by the time we’d arrived in Melbourne, but as you would have it, it had been unclaimed for months.
- It’s a 3BR, 2-bathroom apartment in the CBD. Renting, of course. Ben and I decided the weekly rent we could afford and searched from there. He had saved up for the bond and future furnishing well beforehand.
- We chose 3BR because we’re both still largely working from home, and we’re both very particular about our working environments. I am super excited to furnish my home office!
- We chose the city, per Ben’s request, as he loves the City of Melbourne, and he absolutely prefers to live in the city while we save up for a house.
- Admittedly, we signed the lease agreement ‘sight unseen’. Due to the extended lockdown in Melbourne, we were unable to inspect the property beforehand. We however negotiated our contract terms to account for this.
Stay tuned for an apartment tour / WIP post. I already have the photos on my phone. I just need to sit down and draft it.
Ben’s birthday
Last month Ben spent his birthday alone in this unfurnished apartment. The transition was very stressful and he simply wanted to get the most difficult bits over and done with. Worst birthday ever.
As much as I’d have loved to surprise Ben with a lovely home-cooked dinner, or treat him to a fancy one, our schedule couldn’t really allow it. His priority was to get stuff moved into our new apartment, which is still an hour’s drive away from Chris and Nikki’s.
Once Melbourne opens up in the coming weeks, we would make up for lost time (pretty sure everyone will).
Still, I got him something thoughtful for birthday, inspired by the time I caught him wearing my Muji slippers because even he found the balcony / patio too cold to be in barefoot.
I wanted to surprise him with some top-of-the-line, Australian-made slippers, but I was so afraid that he might not like them that I spoilt the surprise and let him choose what he wanted. He opted for the waterproof boots above.
It’s a rather niche brand as I only found it whilst playing with filters on Google shopping. From what I gather from reviews, you get what you pay for in quality—I’ve seen reviewers mention they’d worn their pairs for 9–12 years. To be honest, I’ve started eyeing a pair of boots for myself, too, if my Target boots ever break down…
Enjoying the CBD so far
After wistfully repeating to anyone who’d listen that the suburbs is where I wanna be at, I was pleasantly surprised at the quarter of the CBD we live in. Asian stores have proliferated so much that I couldn’t possibly feel alien or other to the general population. And I am still in awe at how wide Melbourne’s streets and walkways are, and how many little lanes and promenades you could stroll and flit in between. There are so many picturesque churches and heritage buildings, juxtaposed with quirky little shops with lots of character.
Ben and I live a stone’s throw away from Vic Markets, and oh my goodness, all the produce we have access to. We’ve bought spice mixes from a homegrown spice house, Tasmanian trout (which is arguably better than salmon), incredibly soft lamb, a myriad of fresh fruits and vegetables… the deli section had an impressive assortment of shops hailing from different corners of the world (you know because of the large country flags hoisted above each shop). I’m not a burger person, but after we had homemade burgers one night from meat patties and buns bought from Vic Markets, I must say I’m open to making burger night a weekly thing.
Ben and I have also been taking to walking in the evening, usually to get a few thousand steps in. Here’s a snapshot from my Instagram grid at the moment:
A bit homesick
It has been over three months since we landed in Australia. In spite of the lockdowns happening, and all the turbulent weeks of uncertainty, Ben and I have experienced blessing after blessing in how things are turning out for us. We’re in good health. We have a strong support network in family and friends here. Our financial plans and goals for the next few years are sound and optimistic. The days, though boring and monotonous, pass by cheerfully and with plenty of leisure to distract. Most of my government accounts are finally sorted (with my name right and all!). Even then—
I’m feeling the first pangs of homesickness.
I feel it in my bed at night, or during long afternoons working, when there are neither meetings nor urgent tasks. I feel it when I see a former coworker’s name appear on my LinkedIn feed, and when Google Photos or Facebook Memories decide to replay a story I shared this time last year, when I’d take photos of my plants, or our cats catching the last rays of the day.






Unapologetic cat photo dump. These photos were taken around the same time last year. I was getting over Lily’s death, but Miso very quickly found our way into our hearts anyway. Manila had been recovering from the first ECQ. I never felt lonely too long. The days were rich and happy.
It’s not despair, but I try not to dwell too much or too hard. Late one night last month I had resolved to do everything in my power to get our beloved cats, Luna and Miso, here with us. ‘What’s 40,000 dollars, really?’ I asked myself before I sunk into unrealistic scenarios of cats surviving a 14-hour transit, in a magically quiet and warm cargo hold of a passenger aircraft… on top of surviving several days, confined, at a quarantine facility…
Half the time I’m enthusiastically browsing online shops for future things to furnish our apartment with. The other half, when my thoughts grow still, I fondly recall my old life, my old routine, and the people connected to it. Most of my family and friends are remote. They always have been, due to circumstances, but moving continents broke down old routines, and with it, the regular moments of connection I had. (Incidentally, Australia sprung forward this month, while the UK will ease back into standard time by month-end.)
I’ve strove to resolve this by arranging recurring calls with a few friends, and picking up chats and calls with family members more readily. I do notice I tend to feel alone and isolated after a couple of weeks of not doing this.
It’s not that I’m alone. Ben is always with me, and like I mentioned, we have a great support network here. The two weeks in Brisbane with Sue and Leon was a blast, and I never felt alone living with Chris and Nikki and Archer. It’s such a rare treat to have more than two persons in a household. The household I grew up in was always bustling.
I know it takes time. I know it will get better, once lockdown restrictions ease across the country (as Australia draws nearer its 80% vaccination target). I have only been to church once, in Brisbane, and even then I can’t even remember the last time I went to confession, but I’m sure it was still back in Makati.
In a month or two, I will also start meeting my new coworkers face-to-face, and build new connections, perhaps.
Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good.
His mercy endures forever.
— Psalm 136