This is the time that weighs most heavily...the wait for the visa !!!
How do you keep it all going in this part of the process ??
Both of us just want to be together and get on with our new life, so much we have to do, so much we have planned !!
Here are some things we are doing to keep from going stir-crazy in the meantime
Ming has access to Google Earth and has spent many hours "virtually" walking the Streets (no...I dont mean it that way !!!) of Perth.
So every day, I give her a new place to look at and next day we talk about what she saw and what she did or did not understand.
She also downloads each day one of the examination papers that are needed for the test to obtain a driving license, they are to do with the road rules etc, I am often in stitches over some of her answers to the questions...........Chinese road rules dont compute in Perth !!!
She also looks every day on "BBS"..(this is what she calls it, but I'm not sure what it is)...it seems to be an internet place where she can converse withe Chinese women in similar situations
She has actually spoken with women in Perth.
After these conversations, there are always some points of "cultural" difference that we need to straighten out between us.....
a few examples......
Medical treatment in Perth is very bad, people need to wait all day to see a Doctor....even if they are very sick.It is not difficult to see why Chinese Nationals in Perth have this perception......if you want free medical treatment, you go to the casualty Department of a Hospital....where you wait, and wait and wait, unless your problem is life-threatening, then you are attended to immediately.
If you want to see a private Doctor, then it is not free, the Doctor visit costs about $40, but $38 is rebatable through our Medicare system.
Guess which one the Chinese Women choose
??
Shops in Perth often sell bad foodLast week, a butcher shop was prosecuted for having a pack of Chicken legs for sale that was 1 day past it's "recommended use-by-date"...I saw meat in Chengdu that was probably 2 weeks old, covered in flies and hung out in the open...people were buying it with no worry...go figure !!!
Everything in Perth is too expensiveWe dont go in for bargaining for every cent...we have recommended retail prices and sometimes things are on sale....Chinese people hate this !!!
Perth is so short of water that you can only shower for 2 minutes every 2 daysWe have just had the driest Winter on record, and our average rainfall in a good year is only 300 mm, this year it was 120 mm. Our Water Authority has asked all of us to be careful with water, and has given us many suggestions how to cut back on usage...one of the ways is "reduce the time of your shower by 2 minutes and try to wash your hair every 2 days.
Not difficult to see how this message got twisted !!!
So...we still find enough to have great conversations every day, and every conversation adds some more to Ming's English skills