Heart Talk: My Journey ....

Whenever I visit a new place I am filled with gratitude. It reminds me of how incredibly blessed I am to be able to walk on this piece of earth so far away from where I was born.

Six Things I Love About Adelaide

It has been two years since our move to Adelaide. I strongly believe that it takes you up to a minimum of 2 years to understand a new place. So, if you are new here and things do not make sense... don't worry they eventually will and if you have been here two years and things still do not make sense, do not worry - just know that it is absolutely normal to take time when you migrate. 

But, in all honesty, Adelaide is a great place to start your life as a new immigrant. Migration comes with its set of issues and while job and income are one of the major concerns but, quality of life, security, a strong community, ease of movement and peace of mind are also very important factors. In Adelaide, you can tick off many boxes. I might have found myself struggling harder in a fast-paced city trying to find an identity and stability compared to the ease with which my husband and I were accepted by Adelaide, in fact, South Australia. 

We have come a long way in these two years and I can now say that it feels home. 

Here are six things that make Adelaide a good choice:

Heart Talk: Always Choose Happiness

Hello Friends, Chai Pi loo… 

Celebrating 10 Years of Expat Life

Time is a fascinating concept. I am the kind of person who loves to measure passing time in days, months and years. I am a walking calendar in that way. I have to put my mind at ease by adding a proper number to vague measures of times like a few years ago, a couple of months ago. But, what makes me happier is reaching a milestone and to be able to replace that number with a fancy word. 

Like... March of 2019 marks a ‘decade’ of living an expat life - a reminder that it has been a ‘decade’ to that leap of faith we took... you see what I meant by a fancy word? 

I will be doing a tiny series of posts about the journey so far by answering some of the commonly asked questions 

Let's get a cup of tea first... 

Immigration Diary: Volunteer Work While Job Hunt

While you are job hunting, it is always a good idea to do some volunteer work. Though, it may not give you anything financially but, It will help you stay occupied and keep you away from brewing negative thoughts. A volunteer experience can be added to your CV and may have a good impact on the potential employer. 

Heart Talk: My Growing Tribe

When I entered the world of blogging I was expecting to fill this space with my thoughts and ideas. But, I realized once into it, that it is not that easy to create content and sometimes filling even a small portion of this space takes a lot of time and effort. Figuring out the right words, the right time, the right way and ensuring that I am giving right information is not as easy as I thought when I began. I am mostly criticizing myself on how I could have worded something better after I have posted it. It is a constant battle, trust me.

Also, I did not expect this space to reach so many people and that my words, whether I am pleased with them or not, would one day encourage or help someone. A rewarding experience that makes me happy beyond words. Recently, I have made some beautiful friends through this platform. I am ‘discovering’ friends in people and places I had never imagined. The world is getting smaller and my little tribe is growing bigger!

How beautiful is this journey of life full of unimaginable struggles and rewards which may not be what you expected but only much, much better!

Happy Friday, my growing tribe

Job Hunting - Stay Motivated & Focussed

Job Hunting is the most stressful and demotivating experience for most of us. You apply for tons of jobs while all you need is just ONE. So, during the whole experience, the only thing you face is rejection. Wait and rejection can leave you demotivated and stressed. I have been through this stage and have been around friends and family going through this. It is tougher when you move to a new country and look for jobs as it takes double the effort to prove yourself from scratch. I wrote about it a few days ago here. 

While I may not be experienced enough to give you tips on how to find jobs, I can at least give you some tried tips on how to deal with demotivation during this whole phase and stay focussed. 

Monthly Journal

Exploring South Australia - With Friends

Hiyaaaa!

One thing that I loved about Malaysia was that during the years I lived there, a lot of people came on their holiday trips and of course, we enjoyed hosting them. We met so many old friends and made fond memories. When I moved to Adelaide, I knew that I will for sure miss this and that for a long time I will not be hosting any friends! But, we just had our FIRST friends from Malaysia who visited us during the year-end holidays for 3 days and I cant get over the fact that we had so much fun!

Moving to a New Country - Experiences & Lessons

I moved to Malaysia in 2009... This was my first international move to a country I had never even visited before. I had a rough start in Malaysia but once I was settled, it was heartbreaking to bid farewell in 2017 when I decided to move to a new continent and start all over again in Australia (I deliberately use continent to make it sound huge :D). I have migrated to Australia and I am currently living in Adelaide which is the capital of South Australia. It is a small city and though I anticipated that my move would be really tough, I adjusted much more easily this time.

I am a strong believer that God's plans are the best for us! My move to Malaysia and lessons I learned there had prepared me well for this big move. In this post, I will try to list things that would be my tried and tested tips or things to take care of when you move to a new country!

Please note that this post is based on my personal experiences of settling in a new country and it is not a piece of advice on how to migrate or find jobs. 

Here we go:

Information: Documents/Processes When Exiting Malaysia

This is going to be a simple straight forward post for anyone who may need this information. 

The reason why I am posting this is that while I was going through this whole process I was looking for similar information and I had to call up people who had left Malaysia to check how it all worked. Most had their processes done by agencies and complained of horrible experiences. I did all this myself except for visa cancellation and it was all easy peasy! So, leaving my experience in this post, hope it benefits you! 

So, before migrating to Australia, I was working in Malaysia on a work permit or commonly known as EP (Employment Pass) which was done by my company. These were the things I did before exiting.