Oh so expensive dollar!

My daily food allowance from the company for the first month of my stay in Sydney was about A$50. It took me no time to figure that Sydney was more expensive than to have good meals (for two) in that budget. For starters, coffee costs about $3.30 and ice-creams are nothing less than $6. The cheapest sub-way is probably $6, and with a cookie and drinks for two you get close to $20. One regular-pizza costs about $25 and sandwiches and salads at the most modest of places are for anywhere between $12 and $20. Meats and hams can get even steeper. Bottled water will cost you $4.5, but of course unlike in India you can drink out of the tap here.

The quality of food is great, of course very hygienic and except for a couple of places in the last 60 days I’ve not been disappointed with the taste either. If you were to buy greens and fruits at stores, you will be spoilt for choice. The variety is humongous. I had never come across so many types of fruits before. I have never liked French beans as much as I love them in salads here. The milk tastes great and talk about bakery… ah, delicious!

Back home, we always questioned where are veggies came from. Some friends advised against buying from near railway stations in Mumbai for they would have grown near the tracks in filthy, toilet waters. Not surprisingly, they even lacked any real taste. You had to put heaps of spices and tomatoes to dish out tasty stuff but I don’t work that hard in the kitchen here and the food has always turned out fine.

The Aussies take care of your food alright, but they think of public toilets as well! ;-)  This was my pet peeve in Europe where you had to shell out at least 1 Euro (mighty 75 rupees) just for a 1-min pee! Arrgghhh. Public peeing, if I can say so, is free in Australia, and unlike in India the toilets are almost always clean.

On our very first Sunday in Sydney we went to an Indian store so we could buy our one week’s provisions. In hindsight, that was a really good decision because I was getting tired of eating the same salads, sandwiches and subways outside. If you get home-made food, and lots of love from your husband chances of feeling homesick diminishes widely! We were enjoying our meals every time. I developed a penchant for cooking, soon I was returning home during lunch breaks to make food at home so we could both enjoy a good meal. Now, I am on an experimental binge dishing out everything from veg biryanis to English pancakes and I can say cooking has never been so enjoyable. Bon appetite! 

... And we move out!

Nervous, excited, jittery, elated, confused, enthused, nervous and afraid --that’s how I felt in the run up to my move to Sydney. It was a big decision, indeed, a life changing one. My sisters were home to see me off, my father-in-law with whom my husband and I stayed in Mumbai and my brother-in-law were all there to see us off at the airport. The previous night was emotional. My sisters celebrated my birthday, which would fall the following week. There was cake cutting at midnight, a fire-cracker candle was lit on top of the cake that burned noiselessly for a few seconds, offering beautiful photography opportunities but leaving the top, white creamy layer of the cake with tiny black dots of char.  Never mind the carcinogenic burns, we merrily enjoyed the cake! After all, being in India we are subjected to heavy doses of the poisonous green house gases anyway.

Several relatives called to say their final good byes to us (As if we were dying ;-) LOL) Earlier, my mom insisted to giving me a birthday gift. It was all very touching, and I must admit in those final minutes I did get second thoughts about going. Unfortunately, it was too late then to look back.

The trip to the airport was fun and the flight was good, yet exhausting. We were flying Malaysia Airlines. By god’s grace not MH370, otherwise I wouldn’t have been writing this! Duh! For all the negative press they have got in the last month, I found them pretty decent, lot better than many other carriers that I have flown in. Anyway, we reached Sydney in the morning, after almost 19 hours of leaving Mumbai, and were greeted by a lovely sunny weather. 

While still at the airport, we had some food items to declare, and the officer (probably in a good mood) let us go. We immediately regretted not getting more Indian food, teas and spices.  I found out later that it's always a good idea to declare. Always. Point noted.

Soon we were on big cab – station wagon - with a massive boot, tucked in our luggage and took off to the city. Half way through our journey, we decided we had to take a small detour to collect keys of our apartment. My husband got off the cab to locate the ‘eezymart’ store which had our apartment keys and soon enough I realized he was on a completely opposite track. He didn’t have a phone on him for me to call. Fatigued from the long journey I didn’t think twice before storming out of the cab and chasing after him yelling ‘Prashant’ all the way. Sounds really hilarious now, and I can imagine the Aussies around, the cabbie included, must be thinking I have gone nuts. Never mind all that drama, I found Prashant. Needless to say, I gave him a piece of my mind for walking the wrong road without seeking directions from passersby. “But there is nobody to ask to,” he said. I looked around. The city was indeed deserted. Welcome to Australia, girl!

We reached home alright and that same evening walked down to the harbor to take in the fresh air. For me, it was nothing less than nirvana. Somewhere in my mind, it still didn’t feel like I was there for work. It felt nothing short of a fully paid holiday!