The Short Angry One (SAO) In Australia

[BrettGC]

This is probably better suited for a blog entry but I just thought I'd share this on here:  

A little background on Aines, AKA The Short Angry One (SAO):  She comes from a relatively well-off family of tobacco farmers North of Dumaguete that made a killing when they sold the farm to a well-known international tobacco company in the late ‘90’s.  In the interim, fortunes have waxed and waned, just like many of us.  She fell pregnant at 16 and out popped Jhona, who is now 20, she eventually married the father, but he was killed in a motorcycle accident when Jhona (AKA Mini-me – and this is so true) was 4.  SAO ended up as a PA to a Dutchman and his Filipina wife who exported traditional Filipino jewellery and as a result, travelled the world with them investigating new markets.  She’s actually better travelled than me and I served 20 years in the Australian Navy so that statement is a big call.  We met on an online dating site in 2013 and were together for a couple of years but due to artistic differences we split.  We reconnected last year mainly thanks to Mini-Me and I spent October/November with her there, jollying around PI.  She’s now here, on a tourist visa and we’ve finally worked out we’re in this for the long haul. 

She is way smarter than this ex-Royal Australian Navy Chief.   She calls me her “man-child” and I just go with it.

All adult clothes are too big, even adult size 6.

She watched game of thrones, absolutely loves it; gives us another thing in common.  But now wants a boob job.  Her new thing is “You know nothing Brett Jordan” (no relation to the worm that ripped Tom (JGF) off).

I’m clean, but a little untidy at times.  You can eat off my floors, now there’s nothing on my floors. Ever.  If it doesn’t move, clean it.  If it does move, stop it and then clean it. 

Hot water shower is a novelty, I’m dreading my next electricity bill.

She’s a 10^th degree blackbelt in the ancient and deadly art of “Filipina eye roll” and can deliver it with varying severity.

She loves her some Jesus.  I guess I knew this intellectually and it was on display on for the month we spent together last year.  This time she’s here for about 3 months and one of the first things we had to do was find the local Catholic church and service times after which I had to sit through an hour of mass – something I haven’t done voluntarily since my teens or when my mother nags me enough that I give in and go occasionally with her.    Weddings and funerals excepted of course.  Needless to say, my mother and SAO get on very well.  More on that later…

I now have a bidet installed.  Nuff said.

I now wear “slippers” inside.  All the time.  Always.  Nuff said.

I love watching movies or TV series with her, the completely unself-conscious audible and physical reactions to funny, sad or thrilling tickles me, even in the cinema in public.   It just makes me happy.

I now have “at home” underwear and “out” underwear.  I’m a tad confused by the logic as to the criteria how what ended up in each pile but I’m just going with it.

She’s a sports nut.  It’s amazing the things you don’t know about someone until you live with them day-to-day.  She now screams as loud as I do for The Blues in the State-of-Origin and the Swans in the Aussie rules and had a genuine tampo attack when Australia was kicked out of the world cup.  Yes, I’ve brainwashed her with regards to certain codes 😉

The cost of living here compared to Philippines is now a harsh reality.  It didn’t matter how many times I told her how much more expensive it is here compared to home, until she lived it, I’m pretty sure she didn’t quite believe it.  Her previous travels were funded by her boss so not really impacting her as to the actual cost.

The size of Australia is still a little beyond her – She’s travelled extensively around Europe and Asia and to a lesser extent Africa.  She’s finding hard to grasp the fact that it’s at least a 5 hour drive to the next major town from Cairns (Townsville) and ever harder to accept it’s a 20 hour drive to the Gold Coast to see my parents and still be in the same state. 

These are just my observations so far.

[Jollygoodfellow]

56 minutes ago, BrettGC said:

She’s now here, on a tourist visa and we’ve finally worked out we’re in this for the long haul. 

So what's the plan after the tourist visa ?  

[BrettGC]

7 minutes ago, Jollygoodfellow said:

So what's the plan after the tourist visa ?  

Not sure yet, looking at bridging then 800.  I've had a run in with the ATO so plans put back yet again.