Not My Usual Morning

Having only 4 cases today, I finished work at 12.30 pm, giving me an early start to the long weekend. (Monday is Labour Day in WA.) Early morning, Ton Ton jumped out of bed by himself (something he seldom does unless there's food involved). So you can imagine my surprise. Surprise turned to panic as he quickly made his way to the newspaper I laid out for him in the kitchen. (I always leave it there in case he needs to pee or poo when we're not at home.) Before I could whisk him out the house, he had peed on the newspaper. Resigning myself to mopping up pee, I went to get blue towels I collected from my workplace which are excess blue cotton towels for drying hands after scrubbing. (We all bring them home by the bagful.) I came back just in time to see him squatting. I barely had enough time to toss the towel under him before he released a splat of loose stools. Something to be really thankful for 1st thing in the morning. Imagine having to clean pee & diarrhea off my bed. Even though we have a waterproof mattress protector under the sheets, it would have been a mess to clean up. Not mentioning the fact that diarrhea always smells excessively foul.

I took a shower & washed my hair. As my hair was still wet, I half dressed myself for work. I had on my jeans but I wore my camisole that I wear for sleeping so that my top won't get wet when my hair drips. I don't usually wash my hair before leaving for work but I came back home late last night & didn't do so. Then it was my routine of morning gongyo, followed by a breakfast of yoghurt. Seeing that it was time to leave the house, I did. The moment I stepped out, I felt something was wrong. My shoulders & upper arms felt colder than usual. That was when I realised I still had my camisole on. I forgot to change into my going out top! Lol. Supposed I turn up at work in PJs...

Just As I Have Sowed, So Shall I Reap

How did we end up in this rental situation anyway? So the story goes...

We were making final preparations to move to Perth a year ago. We didn't know anyone except for hub's friend who migrated here 8 years ago. Upon knowing that we're migrating here as well, they offered a room for us to stay till we could find a rental. At the same time, their friend, my landlords, were putting up their house for private rental. I had been on realestate.com for the months prior to our move just to suss the market out. While there're no lack of rental houses, the moment you check the Pets Allowed box, the search results dwindled down to single digits. After filtering out the supposedly pets allowed rentals but in actual fact, allowed cats only, our choices were very limited.

While still in Sg, my landlords sent us photos of the house via private messages on FB. There was no lawn. Just sand everywhere. We didn't commit at that stage coz it was April & we had a month more to go. When we got here, we went to view the house in person. The sand was no longer sand but newly laid lawn. We still have the pictures in FB inbox. Then we found out that to rent here, you need references which of course we didn't have. We needed jobs to prove that we can afford to pay the rent, which again, we didn't have. Or provide proof of a healthy bank balance, which again, we didn't have. (We were down to $6k by the time I landed my job & my bottom line was $5k so that I have enough money to call it quits & buy the tickets back to Sg. That was how desperate we were.) Hubs decided to go ahead & I agreed as we didn't want to continue imposing on our friends who refused to take our money. Of course, who would have expected things to turn out this way?

一开始就错了。So we have no choice but to see it through to the end. Just as I have sowed, so shall I reap. A desperate erroneous decision led to everything that transpired. Who knows? Maybe in my previous life, I was a mean & petty landlord to them. But I am not taught retribution. I am taught that negative karma is my chance to do my human revolution. Yes, I have been negative & I have even gone down to despair. But in retrospect, I really did gain a lot from this experience. Something only has value if you give value to it. So I decided to give it a positive value & view it from a positive light. Anyway, they have made false accusations against us (that I requested for early release) but the truth prevailed. So that in itself is already very fortunate for us. I have so much more to be thankful for.

Oh For Goodness Sake!

I haven't posted about the issues with my landlord becoz I thought we had it sorted. A lot had transpired after the landlord gave us grieve about the lawn as in my post on 24th Jan. While they were here, they visited my neighbour 3 houses down the road & that was when they found out that the couple living there are housing their refugees relatives who recently came to Perth. There're now 15 people living under 1 roof & they're looking for a place to rent.

Immediately, my landlord came up with this idea for them to rent our current rental place. Without getting our consent, they let them onto the house compound to show them around. (I only found out later when she let slipped that she did.) That very evening, they gave us 3 weeks to move out since that family of 13 were desperate to rent our place. I was beyond pissed but later found resolution from prayers. Yes, this post is about this incident. Of course, they're not allowed to do it. We're legally allowed to live here till the end of the lease in May.

Early this month, due to the landlord's increasing pressure to force us out, hubs banned me from having any interactions with them anymore. He said he would deal with them in his own way. Knowing him, it's definitely bad news for them. I was not to reply any of their messages or answer if they called. I was at work when I received several messages from my landlord. When I finally got a chance, I saw what hubs wrote on FB. He told them that we're moving back to Sg for good & not to contact me anymore. That we're terminating our bank accounts & if they want the rent, they'll have to get it from him in person.

By the time I got home that evening, hubs told me that he had spoken to them. To try & drive a wedge between us, they said I was the 1 who asked for an early release & hence that was why they went to look for new tenants. So they, in their kindness is trying to help us get out early & why are we going back on our words now? He told them that he doubted I arranged for early release with them since we didn't even have a place to move to. He then asked hubs when's the earliest we can move out & hubs said 6 weeks. They called the other family who said 6 weeks is too long a wait & that they'll find a rental somewhere else. So the landlords came back to hubs that we are to stay till end of the lease.

When I told hubs that I did no such thing (asking for early release) he said he believe me. But I insisted on showing him our conversation on FB PM. Thank goodness for the record! It proved beyond reasonable doubt that the wife was the 1 who asked me if we are willing to move out early if they managed to find new tenants & will give us ample notice if that's the case. (I don't consider 3 weeks to be ample time by the way.) So contrary to their claims, I never asked them if we can break the lease even though I did consider it.

I thought that was the end of it. How wrong can I be?! They told hubs on CNY eve that they've decided to sell the house & that our lease will not be affected. But we are, however, required to replace all dead plants & clean the place to a pristine when the agent they've appointed come for an assessment & again for the photographer. A colleague whose owner is selling the place as well told me that her landlord took $100 off their rent per week for their inconvenience. I said, if they don't give me problem, 我就谢天谢地了。I don't need them to give me discount for my inconvenience. 

I was told by my colleagues from the beginning that it is not legal to rent a house to 13 people becoz they have to abide by the maximum number of rental occupants. When I got home after work, hubs told me that the refugees family (which is actually 3 families) decided to rent our place & the landlord is putting pressure on us to move out asap again. When I put the 2 & 2 together, it makes perfect sense. They're not working (since they can't speak English) so naturally they want to live under 1 roof rather than spilt up & pay 2 rents. They must have been rejected & hence have no choice but to come back to my landlord. The other thing is, if they rent my place, they're only 3 houses away from their relative, rather than somewhere further away.

I really want to get out asap & be done with these people (my landlords, not the refugees family). But 1st we need to move out. We meet all sorts of people through our journey in life. I need to gain the wisdom to deal with the difficult people without being unkind. For the time being, I just have to ride it out to the very end.

Making Of Pineapple Paste

If you've made pineapple paste from scratch before, you'll know how tedious it is. Traditionally, the pineapple is grated but these days, we just throw it into a blender to blend away. This part alone saves you lots of time. The puree is then transferred to a pot or pan & cooked over low heat for the next 2 hours till it reduces into a paste that's 25% of the original amount.

For the 1st hour, you've got to stir fairly quickly constantly. It's very liquid at this stage & when it bubbles, it splatters. Boiling hot pineapple puree on your hand hurts. You can't cover it & let it boil away as the bottom part will get burnt. So you have no choice but to stir away. This is how it looks like at the beginning.

1 hour has passed. Your feet & legs are aching from standing for an hour. The puree has thickened & you no longer have to stir as quickly as they no longer splatter. But you're only halfway done. By the 1.5 hour mark, it becomes increasingly difficult to stir. You're folding the paste into itself more than you're stirring until it finally feels like you're just flipping it around like a prata.

The end product. It's still fairly moist but it's going into the fridge uncovered & will dry itself out in the low humidity of the fridge. 

Some recipes call for you to divide the paste into X number of portions. I usually weigh the paste & measure out the portions. This way, all your pineapple balls will be guaranteed equal in size. These are 8g balls. 

Sheep Or Goat?

It's CNY once again. Honestly, I didn't know when it was until the week before. The feeling is just different here. In Sg, the shops would have been playing CNY songs soon after Christmas. It's not depicted in the calanders here either. So I began to lose track of the PHs in Sg.

1 thing that puzzles me is the zodiac sign for this year. I'm sure you'll have seen it written as both year of the sheep & goat, depending on which article you read. I've seen on FB my friends having their nails painted with sheep nail art designs. I think the actual 1 should be goat. If you have those old style Chinese calander, the picture or drawing is always of a goat. But I can see where the confusion begins. Sheep or goat, they're both called 羊. Just that sheep is 绵羊 & goat is 山羊. So I think that's why they're used interchangably.

A patient asked me this question just on Friday. She said she thought it's the year of the goat. But in the US, they're calling it year of the sheep. She didn't think the US will get it wrong & hence she asked me. A colleague asked me the same thing & said that the sheep & goat are 2 completely different animals with different temperaments. So how can they be lumped together as the same kind of animal? So that's the explanation I gave her. That they're both called the same name in mandarin. Yeah, Chinese can be pretty confusing.

Another One Bites The Dust

Not somebody but rather, a friendship. I've began to accept this as a norm. People come & people go. I can only send my best wishes from the bottom of my heart.

I 1st knew Jon when we were in secondary 2. He's my 1st male friend as my parents forbade me to have any when I was younger. I had a major crush on him probably due to that fact. Of course, he wasn't interested. I found out years later the reason why when he came out. By then, I had long lost interest & had my share of ex-boyfriends.

We can't be more different. He likes his fun. Frequent clubbing, drinking & at a later stage, even drugs like Ice. I was dismayed by his lifestyle choice but I never said anything. He didn't need to hear it from me. If I'm doing something I know is wrong, I won't accept it graciously when someone tries to talk me out of it either. Instead, I prayed that it is a phrase he'll grow out of. I don't know if he still does drugs but drinking is definitely a yes. I was worried when I saw him going down the path of an alcoholic, frequently drinking till he passed out by the roadside & waking the next morning to find his wallet & mobile phone gone from his pockets. I was the one who went to the Ubi police station to bail him out when in a drunken state, crashed his motorbike into a van which subsequently got his license terminated, a fine & a 5 year driving ban.

I cried when he left for Norway to be with his partner, even though I myself will leave for Perth a year down the road. 18 years is a long time. He got mad at me for not informing him that my number had been changed. Actually, I didn't realise it until J told me coz she tried messaging me & got a stranger instead. (Singtel recycled my number & gave it to someone else.) There're many people in my contact list that I don't keep in contact with & I left him out when I informed others of my number. I did give my friends my Aussie number but whatsapp was still pegged to my Sg number you see. So they needed to do the conversion.

Then I found out on FB that he's moving away from Oslo, Norway. When I asked him if he's returning to Sg, he said, "Close. Moving to ST." I can't think of a country with the initials ST & I couldn't get my answer online either. So I asked him. But I didn't get a reply while he continue replying to others.

In Buddhism there is a quote that goes, "It's the heart that is important." I guess it doesn't quite matter whether people wants to keep me in their lives or not. They will always have a place in my heart & my prayers will always go out to them. Be well, my friend. May you find the happiness you're searching for.

1st Valentine's Day In Perth

Looks like I have a lot of catching up to do. I'm back logged all the way to Valentine's Day. Hubs wanted to bring me out for Korean BBQ but I said no. 1stly, I'm still on my diet & going for buffet is counter productive to it. 2ndly, the price is double that of 食客 (we have 1 outlet near where I stay in Sg).  While the credit in my entertainment card is pre-tax, I'll prefer to use it when we go back to Sg where eating out is way cheaper. I told him sternly, "No flowers!". A total waste of money. If you're going to spend $100 on a bouquet, I very much rather receive a sewing machine or food processor. Haha. I think I must be the most unromantic woman around & he must be the luckiest man around to have me as a wife.

I felt that we still have to do something despite my practicality. I decided a home cooked meal speaks more of my sincerity than something you can buy with money. There's a reason why I seldom cook & instead leave the day to day cooking to hubs. I cook for special occasions & these food requires hours of preparation. I love making 粽子 but you start prepping the night before & often isn't done till the next evening. I love making 饺子 with self made skin (they taste so much better than the store bought ones) & we all know the skin is tedious. I love making pineapple tarts from scratch so no pre-packaged pineapple paste rubbish. They're often overly sweet, full of preservatives & artificial colourings. I prefer the paste to be slightly tart. You have to stand in front of the stove & stir non-stop for 2 hours on low heat before the puree turns into a paste. So you get the drill. That's why I never cook during weekdays. I picked out 3 dishes from my new vegan cookbook as our healthier choice Valentine's Day lunch. My preparation started at 7 am in the morning as there're lots of chopping & cutting to do & the bread dough needs to proof. Lunch was finally served at 11.30 am.

Sun dried tomato foccacia with thyme from my pot. The tomatoes turned really dark after baking & Sharon thought they were mushrooms. Lol. They were not burnt, just dark brown.

Smokey moroccan stew. This was the 1st dish I picked out. But I felt the stew needed something to go with & hence I chose the foccacia. 

Then, I felt that we needed a dessert to finish off. I didn't want to bake coz I wanted something that comes in small portions (due to my dieting). So I made these chocolate peanut butter balls. Bulk of it came from dates & absolutely no sugar was added. The added pecans gave it a nice crunchy texture. 

Money Is Not The Root Of All Evil

Money is a non living thing. It has no life. But the human heart is another thing. From the heart, greed grows & if left unchecked, becomes all consuming. How many people have been brought to ruin by their ceaseless desire to have more, more, more & even more? A little propels you to greater heights. But greed, like weed (if you will), grows quickly & relentlessly. It sucks all the good (nutrients) from you (grass) until there's nothing left. How much time & effort do you have to put in before you can pull the weeds out from their roots? Or do you simply give up & apply weed killer that kills even the grass? How many times do we get yet another chance to start all over again?

Looking at it in a positive light, setbacks build you up if you refuses to let it defeat you. Or in Buddhism, we say, thank you very much for this opportunity to "turn poison into medicine". Meaning, through our practice & faith, turn a setback around to build yourself up. Through everything, I found it in my heart to write this quote: "Blessed are those who can find humour in trying circumstances." For me to be able to say this, I think I have already gained much more than I've lost. To end, I'll quote from the Gosho: "Many people have plotted to undo you, but you have avoided their intrigues & emerged victorious. Should you lose your composure now & fall into their trap, you will be, as people say, like a boatman who rows his boat with all his might only to have it capsize just before he reaches the shore. (WND, 849)" The shore is in sight. Now is not the time to be giving up.

Milestone: 9 Months + 2 Days

Of late, I've been feeling it more & more that this is a place I can live in permanently. Compared to my initial doubts, despite having made the move, I'm definitely more sure of my decision now. When we 1st arrived, I tried to avoid talking to ang mohs as much as I could. Coming from a culture of kow towing to ang mohs in Sg, I'm somewhat fearful of them, made worse by the fact that words don't come so easily to me when talking to strangers. I've definitely gained more confidence in that aspect. I no longer feel like a deer caught in fast approaching headlights.

I also declare the house that we've been eyeing SOLD! Just not to us. Hubs is upset with the results & I told him, "不给你就代表不适合。给你的一定是最好的。" If we set our sights firmly on the goal, we will surely get there without fail. This is what my Buddhist studies taught me. Live your life with a heart of gratitude. I've mentioned it before. NMHRGK when translated into sanskrit means thank you very much. My prayers are in reality, thanking the universe for the opportunity to overcome my negative karma (or fate if you will). It is a teaching of hope. You hold in yourself the power to change the future (in a good way of course) so just keep praying until it does.

I lamented about not even being granted interviews despite applying for so many positions when I 1st arrived & was desperate for a job. Now I have so many people wanting to interview me that I'm so lost as to which 1 to choose. (I was hoping to get some casual work over the weekends so I sent off a few applications.) I'm not exactly sure why the difference. I suspect it's the combination of having local experience & also a lot of staff jumped ship to the newly opened hospital. Of course, interview is 1 thing. Being successfully employed is another. Still, it's better than not even being granted an interview.

Lastly, before I end this post, I have a good news (to me). I've lost another kilo & my total now stands at 2. 我会继续努力的!

Dead Battery

The day started off as usual. Woke up at 5 am, did my morning gongyo, drank my shake & left the house at 6.10 am. Unlocked the car, toss my bag onto the passenger seat, settled in, key in ignition, crank, nothing but clicking sounds. Repeat several times, gave up. I gave work place a call & was told to take personal leave for today. Later in the day, D&J came & jump start my car for me. He found that the negative cable was loose & told me that was probably why the battery wasn't charging. As advised, I left the engine running for a while & even took Ton Ton for a spin.

When hubs came back, I was doing my daimoku. I wasn't done till 4.35 pm. I thought I would try starting my car again just to make sure it's working. Luckily I did coz it wasn't. The clicking noises were not even present, just nothing. We tried to jump start mine with hub's car but the cable he had was too short. With the battery totally flat now, I couldn't put the car in neutral to reverse it manually so he could reach it. It wasn't safe anyway coz the cable was missing the rubber handles as well & threw off sparks. It was getting late & I told him that we'll just drive down to the auto shop in his car or they're going to close. We got there at 5.15 pm, 15 minutes to go before they close for the day.

I went straight up to the cashier & asked for assistance. The battery costs me $155, plus a new jump start cable for $30. Changing the battery looked easy enough. I think I'll be able to do it myself if there's a next time. Hubs called this the moment of truth. I cranked the engine & with pleasure hear it roar to life. Still, I better wake up even earlier to check again before hubs leave for work at 4.50 am. That way, at least I still can jump start my car if needed & leave for work earlier. Then I'll worry about getting home later.

There's a sequence (for safety), be it attaching cables to the new battery or attaching the jump start cable. This was told to us by the cashier who served us. Hubs remembers it as NPPN. Negative off, positive off. Positive on, negative on. So positive cable is always the 1st to go on & the last to come off.

Cost Of Owning

Despite our chances of getting the house being very low, we decided to take a gamble & make an offer for it. We don't lose anything anyway. If seller decides to award us & the finance part of it is successful, we'll have our own place. If it doesn't, we'll be refunded our deposit. If the seller decides to award to somebody else, we don't even have to pay deposit. It's definitely a good experience & the knowledge that we've acquired will surely come to good use in the future.

We met up with the agent yesterday after work. He could only make it at 4 pm & I had a list of 16 surgeries to do. Even though the surgeon is very fast, I have no guarantees that he would be done by 3 pm. So I told hubs to go ahead if I couldn't make it. Time end for last case was 3.05 pm. By the time I'm done cleaning & locking up, I signed out at 3.15 pm, made my way to the carpark & shimmied with the morning shift ward staff getting off work. I managed to get to the agent's office with 5 minutes to spare. Although the information of what others have offered is confidential, up front, he told us that our chances of being awarded the house is very low. Including ours, there're a total of 5 offers & they have pre-approval from the banks while we don't. He suggested an old villa unit in Tuart Hill asking for $409k to $419k. He said that it's very close to the city & the value will surely go up more than the 1 in Ellenbrook ever will. There're no offers as yet & he's pretty sure the owner will be willing to consider $399k. Hubs is adamant about his choice & on my part, a $350k loan is the highest I'll go. He said if we're going to pay $399k for an old villa that requires renovation, we're better off buying a turnkey villa which construction is due to start in Ellenbrook that is selling for $379k. I think hubs loves Ellenbrook.

I managed to get some of my questions answered:

1. Strata fees are applicable to villas or units & is on top of council rates (aka shire rates) & water rates. But paying strata means that you don't have to buy your own house structure insurance coz it's covered (home contents insurance is still your own responsibility though). Exterior maintenance, lawn care if any are covered by the strata fees. Generally around $1.2k mark.

2. Council rates differ from suburb to suburb. It is based on the Gross Rental Value (GRV) of your property. If the GRV goes up, your council rate will go up. Same for the reverse. You have to pay an Emergency Services Levy & Rubbish Service as well. For both the Ellenbrook & Tuart Hill 2x1 that I've seen, council rates comes to about $1.7k. I've seen on FB people paying over $2k for their property.

3. Water rates are generally around the $800 mark.

So if you're looking at a villa or unit, you're looking at around $3.7k per year on top of your mortgage. If it is a house, it'll be around $2.5k if you're not taking up a structural insurance (I'm told this is roughly $800 a year). Divide it up & we're looking at an additional of $200 to $300 per month. That's the cost of owning your own place. Bills (bills come bi-monthly) depend on your usage but so far our electricity is about $80, water about $20 during winter coz reticulation needs to be switched off totally & about $80 during spring to summer. These bills are pretty constant & varies by very little. Gas is the most erratic 1, due to the amount of cooking I guess. I've paid between $60 to $80.

Renting is cheaper. You'll save $2.5k to $3.7k per year compared to owning your own place. But if you don't have the deposit, you don't really have a choice. At my current rental of $430 a week, I'm blowing off more than $22k per year. This is money that could have been paying off my mortgage. But of course, having another year to save will be ideal. No guarantees I can meet the 20% deposit but 10% is definitely possible provided the property prices don't go up. It's alright. Be it near or far, it will become a reality without a doubt.