Saturday, September 10, 2011



Yup, Kathy and I have officially turned two years down under and what’s the best way to remember those two years than checking the balance.


Sadly, this post is being written as the migraine strikes back, so please forgive me if is total nonsense.

This story has two sides, one happy and one sad. Let’s start with the sad one (that why you won’t end depressed at the end of the post... maybe a little in the middle).

Three days ago (on September 7th) I was having a lovely moment with my missus, watching a movie when I received a call.

This was the movie we were watching on that day...
Confessions of a shopaholic – if you are a guy and your girl brings this movie to your place... RunRun away from her, leave her behind and never look backJust RUN!
Save yourself while you can, it was too late for me!

I think my testicles shrank twice while watching it

At first it was confusing and could not understand what the person in the other side of the line was saying to the phone because there was too much interference, but I decided to give it a try and replied: 

‘Alo? Hello? Anybody there?’

At that precise moment, the sounds coming from the other side resembled someone crying and mumbling something...

‘Today... is two years... have been two years since you are gone. I miss you so much!’

My chest felt instantly heavy, it was difficult to talk, to breathe and I had to stand up and stepped out to the balcony replying:

‘Hi Mom! I was not expecting your call! How are you?’

The conversation went on for another ten minutes, with my mom crying more and more, my dad trying to make her smile (unsuccessfully) and I... I was trying to maintain my calm.

Must admit, it has been one of the most sad, complicated and depressing conversation I have ever had with my mom, but I fully understand that for her is not easy. But for me it was extremely difficult to respond to some of her questions, such as:

“How do you feel? Are you happy?”

Are you happy????? What am I supposed to say here? I know there is no right answer to this... maybe a 
‘No mom, I am being miserable in here. I am being treated like shit, less than rubbish and because of my masochist tendencies I am going to stay for as long as possible?’

Obviously that is not the case, telling her that I feel utterly happy and comfortable was not very well received; triggering a new river of tears, with eventual phrases saying ‘I know you are very happy... it was your choice of leaving us, pursuing your adventure of trying to be happy... is just that I miss you so much!’

Up to this point you might be wondering... but why isn’t your mom taking the first plane to Oz?

Economical issues will be my first answer and probably lack of interest to take a plane for more than 20 hours.

To my mom, anything that is not America or Europe is far far away.

Why am I not taking a plane to go and visit her?
Yet again, economical issues will be the first answer. Flying to Venezuela is very expensive from this part of the world, but sadly enough is not the main component of the full answer; Venezuela has become very hostile place to anyone, categorised at the moment as one of the most dangerous country in America and the world. You don't believe it? Google it and you will find in no time posts and articles pointing it out.

But... Why am I telling these stories and thoughts?
Being far away from my family has been hard. There have been times when I would like to be with them, share some of the same experiences, enjoy my nephews and nieces, play with my brothers or just take a seat and chill out, hear them talk about baseball, or what was the last big move with the national soccer team, or my sis laughing of my stupid jokes or sarcastic comments about different situations.

I miss those tasty treats my mom used to cook for me, even though she was going to tell me later on I am eating too much and that is why I am too fat! Or going bald or whatever.

I miss them, all of them very much and the feeling is neither getting worst nor decreasing as the time goes by. This is part of the decision I choose when starting somewhere else.

Now... the happy and more appealing side of the post!

There is always a bright side.

The 9th was our second anniversary since our arrival to Australia! Heey!

On these two years we have been able to:

  • Start different projects and studies. Kathy has been back to her belly dancing, and I have been reading different types of articles and magazines, most of them related to photography and how to improve the image composition and general appearance.
  • Buy the camera we always wanted (and now we are fighting to get a chance to use it... and highly probable we will have to buy another one). I was not going to include material things into the list, but the camera (for me) isn’t part of those material things. The camera give us the opportunity to show to our families and friends how we perceive and appreciate Australia (and our lives).
  • Establish our home. With all the crap need it for it.
  • Make friends, very dear friends.
Say whaaat?
Say whaat? Two years?

These two years have been great yet a bit melancholic... or should it be melancholically great? In general the balance is still pretty good! We are deeply, truly and madly in love of our new home.

I am unimaginable grateful to this country for giving me the opportunity of being part of it and I will try to do my best to be a great investment for its future.

Thanks to our friends (in and out of work) for being great with us, to make the effort of understand, comprehend and share our journey.

Till next post.

6 Comments:

Adriana C Lopez said...

=S ... it is impossible to answer that question from your mom... I guess we have to say something like " I'm happy but I would love to share this with you and that makes me feel sad"? I don't know.

Congrats for your 2 years and you positive balance and of course your new home =) and there is coming more of those good times, so you better be prepared! Hpe you soon find the way to see your family and your family gets economically better too... We migrate, looking for peace but still the situation of our families in Venezuela doesn't allow us to find that peace...

Rod said...

Thank you :)

At the end we talked again the Saturday and she was a lot better (mood-wise). With my mom, everything is timing.

Zohi said...

No puede ser¡¡¡¡ como pasa el tiempo... Rod hace ya dos años que se fueron¡¡¡
Realmente me alegro leer que están muy bien, que están llevando a cabo sus sueños...
Comprendo a tu mamá, es triste...
También es triste ver desde lejos lo que está sucediendo en nuestro país... pero más triste es darse cuenta que muchos todavía no ven lo que sucede.
Nosotros estamos en Colombia, tratando de comenzar de nuevo, viendo desde mas cerca como cae todo y nada se hace para mejorar....
Mucho exito, saludos¡¡¡

Rod said...

Hola Zohira, el tiempo si pasa rapido.

Es preocupante ver las condiciones en las cuales esta viviendo el Venezolano, pero bueno... Solamente me queda esperar ver lo que pasa.

Furio said...

Good Lord!

Mi mamá es un clon de la tuya. Aun no hemos partido y ya está moqueando largo y tendido. De hecho, se le ha ocurrido pedirme un nieto antes de irnos...

Por otro lado, para mi papá ya no existen Algeria, Argentina, Aruba... ni ningén otro país que empiece con A, gracias a nuestra decisión.

Por otro lado, me alegra que les esté yendo tan bien, ya estén trabajando, hayan equipado su casa y ya estén desarrollando sus hobbies nuevamente.

Rod said...

Hola Furio, efectivamente los padres se parecen entre si... Se les activa la faceta manipuladora y comienzan a mover las cuerdas para intentar hacerte cambiar de opinion.

Y Si, poco a poco hemos estado retomando nuestros hobbies... E incluyendo otra buena cantidad, por ejemplo, Kathy y yo no acostumbrabamos a sentarnos en frente a la tele a ver series; ahora es casi una costumbre mientras tambien expandimos nuestro conocimiento de cultura pop aussie.

Gracias por los buenos deseos.
Saludos.

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