Janette Toral sharing her tourist experience in Australia.

Friday 28 December 2007

Australia Top 100 Blogs (as of December 2007)

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Tuesday 25 December 2007

Jobs in Australia

Through this blog, I got an interesting e-mail recently from people based overseas who are planning to move here in Adelaide asking how I find it and the job opportunities available.

There are sites that you can check out to look for opportunities such as Seek and MyCareer. Before applying, you should invest time in making your resume look great or else your efforts will be futile. Getting a resume writer to polish it up for you may be an option if you don't have time to work on it.

Work at home, in the Philippines and whenever visiting Australia, is doing well for me so far as I have a client base. Expanding my ad network in Australia is a challenge I'll be taking on in the coming days.

Tuesday 18 December 2007

Fluff audition and games kids missed

My daughter submitted this fluff drawing the other day hoping to be considered in this (fluff)Friends application which is now popular in Facebook.

She got no response so far so I just asked for her drawing to post it here. She was at first thinking of habitat, fluff food, decorations, among others to compliment but maybe this is something that she can still consider doing later on. A game development competition which she joined lately seems to be taking a higher priority now.

Since we got here, my kids were badly disappointed that they are unable to play some of their favorite online games like O2Jam, Audition, OZ World, and Granado Espada. I hope a gaming company in Australia will consider carrying them here or discover available alternatives.

Monday 17 December 2007

Christmas in Australia

My husband started working in the area of Woodville, South Australia beginning January this year. He has a contract of up to 2010. At this point, I regularly travel between Philippines and Australia to catch up, take care of the kids, and maintain the household. For 2008, I expect this to happen from 4 to 6 times a year.

For 2007, this is the first time I'll be spending my Christmas in another country. I guess what makes it easy is that my family is here and at least we are together.

Although I admit that the kids will miss the December 24 family reunion that happens yearly in the father side of my family. This is where they get most of their gifts and always looked forward to it.

To prepare for the season, extra effort is made on our part. Last weekend, we started our Christmas shopping by buying a nice Christmas ham and cheese. We also found a store and found interesting gifts to give to the kids.

I'm a very family-oriented person and have kept our lives very private, even from my close friends. But for this year, I have to condition myself with the possibility of doing our Christmas celebration with my husband's newly-found friends.

A new book arrived in the mail this week, "The Art of Agile Development".

Thursday 6 December 2007

Filipina in Australia

Last weekend, I just got back in Findon South Australia for a vacation with the family. It is a good thing that my year 11 kids are now on school break so I'm no longer home alone the whole day.

There are a few things that I brought back with me:
  1. Philippines Christmas Lantern - having this at home is like a substitute for a Christmas tree.
  2. Lucky Me Pancit Canton (extra spicy) - there's nothing quite like it and I'm sure anyone who got the chance to try it will certainly miss this variety.
  3. Several books to read and get techie. This includes:
My daughter, who is currently in year 11, just got her 2nd art commission and is truly pleased. To support her further, we got a one-year subscription so she can customize her art site. It is nice that she finds herself generating revenue from it after 3 years of being a site member.

So yeah, Christmas season in Findon, is definitely the opposite compared to Manila, Philippines. As long as I'm with my family, regardless of location, I'm home.