Observations

by Ronnie Tolentino
(as published 3 years ago in MVP)

sydney harbour

Australians are different from Filipinos in a number of ways and I want to share some of the more glaring ones.

When I was new here and absolutely jobless, I had the opportunity of meeting a sleeping guy in the local mall.  He was slumped in one of the benches and sitting next to him, he woke up and we made acquaintance.  In one of those ‘How small the world is’ moment, he turned out to be the father of my daughter’s classmate and the nephew of our next-door neighbor in Kapitolyo, Pasig.

The reason he was sleeping was that he just finished his rounds doing his mobile car-wash business and catching a few winks preparatory to his night job in the post office.  He offered me a job assisting him with his mobile car-wash business and with nothing to do I said yes.

I need to tell you first that unlike Manila, Sydney’s streets seemed to be almost litter-free and I wondered why.  Joining him the next day for our roving car-wash, I finally solved the mystery.  The cars we were cleaning are absolutely filled with rubbish inside!  So while we Pinoys just conveniently throw our rubbish out of our windows, the Aussies collect them inside their cars.  And don’t we do that also in our houses?  Our houses in the Philippines are absolutely clean inside while our rubbish are all outside.  Go to one of the Aussie car garages and they are filled with all sorts of rubbish.  This is because we cannot just throw our rubbish away.  There are collection days and we must adhere to it at all cost.

my wife and daughter at our backyard

Elementary education here is a pleasant experience for the kids.  It’s more about art, sports and culture. While the Asians are toiling away with their books, the Aussies are off playing and surfing.  Politicians are lightly-regarded unlike the ones in the Philippines where they act as if they are kings of their own domain.  Our Attorney-General and previous Immigration Minister lives in our area and we get to see him sometimes.  He shops alone in the supermarket and everyone just ignores him.

Our Archbishop drives himself and carries his own luggage.  They are so simple and unassuming.  No preening around like peacocks.  The former Prime Minister’s family has no maid in their house. The former first lady was spotted shopping alone two months ago, a few months after they left office.

And the police are hardly visible here.  No patrol cars, no police doing the traffic.  Absolutely no security guards in the banks.  And the mall where I work??  I can enter in it anytime I want.  We fill up our own cars with petrol.

And to the mall rats among you, this is bad news!  The malls here close at 5pm and the Pharmacies as well.  It’s a huge inconvenience this one.

All beaches here are public.  Free access for all.  We have lots of lovely parks and playgrounds and all of them have toilets with running water and toilet-paper.

And contrary to popular belief, kangaroos are not to be found jumping around in Sydney. They are there alright in the bushes but I never saw one in the wild yet. And we don’t get to see boomerangs flying around as one might wish.

And don’t go into any drinking-session with the Aussies.  It’s a standing only affair and NO PULUTAN at all!!  Worst of all, you have to buy your own drink.  But to the admirers of beautiful people, Sydney is the place to be in summer.  The beaches are fall of shapely things sunning themselves topless!!  Don’t be too obvious though. When my father-in-law came here for a visit, he cannot help himself and stare at these beautiful sights in spite of my wife’s repeated warnings.  Naughty!