Milestone: 5 Months In My Job

Has it only been 5 months? Feels like I've been in this job a long time. Today, the surgeon (who's from Singapore) asked me how I'm getting along. I told her the truth that I don't feel like I belong in Australia. She told me to give it more time. It wasn't a question I spend a lot of time pondering over but now I think I have my answer. 

Asians (Singaporeans) are generally more reserved. We hardly talk to others & we don't want to be talked to too. We don't really even know our neighbours. I'm even worse as I'm an introvert. If someone talks to me in NTUC, I usually have this query as to whether the person is sane. (Yeah, I'm bad.) Once I've ascertain their sanity, I answer their questions in as few words as I can & move away so I won't be forced into small talks with them. Being here, I feel this pressure to make small talks. Something I don't really like. I will most definitely listen but I feel that I'm expected to respond. Usually, I have none. I don't know what to say. I know in my heart now that this is the reason why I feel like I don't belong.

I've booked tickets to fly back to Sg in late March next year. I'm bringing my parents over to Perth for a week. Only downside is that my mom speaks & understands limited English, my dad none at all. They hardly travel & when they do fly, it's always with family members. So I seriously doubt they'll be able to navigate the airport. Even if they take a cab to the correct terminal, they won't know which counter to go to, how to clear customs, how to get to the correct gate. On arrival, they won't know how to fill in the white card nor how to clear customs. Due to the complexity of the issue, we've decided to fly back, bring them here, send them back & fly back again. Hubs refuses to let me fly on my own so it costs both of us an extra round trip. Even on Scoot, it set me back AUD$2500. That's excluding their tourist visa. 

Instead of spending 1 whole week in Sg, fly them to spend a week here then fly them back & try to book a flight on the same day to come back to Perth, I booked the tickets so that we'll spend 2 days in Sg, 1 week here, then 4 days in Sg before flying back. I'm actually quite excited. I'm thinking of the food I wanna eat in Sg & planning where to bring my parents when they're here. Like me, when on a holiday, they prefer scenery to shopping. So I'm cracking my brain at the moment. I've also got to take into consideration that I have Ton Ton with me so we can only do day trips. Besides, I'm sure they want to spend time with Ton Ton as well. 

With my return visiting trip in place, I have something I feel I need to do. Lose some weight. Urgh. I know, I said that millions of time & gave up millions of time. My only motivating factor is not having people tell me, "You put on weight in Australia!" Oh dear... Let's see how far I can get this time.