Home and away...

Its amazing how time flies. This time last year I was still wondering whether or not I would be spending the next year in my life in a foreign country.

Now I'm (almost) one month away from coming home and saying goodbye to Melbourne.

I am looking forward to coming home. There's nothing more comforting than knowing that the house you come home to at night has most, if not all of your worldly possesions in it and that your stay there isn't a temporary thing. Its home. Its where you'll always belong. Home is where you don't have to ask people to repeat what they just said because they don't really a different accent. Its where you can hang out with people who understand you when you mumble, curse or groan (haaay ginoo)....

And yet as the time draws near, I'm also a bit apprehensive. Home means real world. Home means traffic, pollution and all the economical problems that comes with being part of a third world country struggling to survive. Just thinking about the ongoing electoral count and the scandals that will inevitably follow gives me a headache. Not that I'm an expert on the Philippine political scene, I don't deserve that credit. I just know that times become tougher when people start craving more power.

One more month...and then I'll be back. Manila, here I come.

Okay so they still lack that oomph...

..but I'm still proud of them anyway.

I'm referring to my latest gallery up over at pbase. I think I must've sent the link to all I know, whether they care or not.

That's the thing with happy-snappers like me I guess. Whenever we come up with a photo that has some semblance of decency to it, we like to dance around and rave about it over and over again. Its some form or rain dance I think. Maybe if I keep doing it, then I'll eventually have real talent and not just luck.

So while I dance around and pray for the gift of artistic ability, bear with me and drop by my humble little gallery...

36 men and a ball

We were told right from our first few months here in Melbourne, that our Aussie experience would not be complete without watching Aussie rules Football.

So we did. Almost everyone from AGL Onsite team trekked to Telstra Dome last Saturday to watch the St. Kilda Saints eat Collingwood Magpies alive. They are currently the first and last ranked teams respectively.

My thoughts on the game? While nothing still beats The Beautiful Game, it was not boring. I was cringing with pain everytime they slammed into each other. Don't know how the game is played? Imagine American Football without the pads and Rugby without rules. The field is much much bigger than Futbol, and people are everywhere. You have 36 players running around, 3 (or is it 5?) umpires inside during the game, plus coaching staff from each team (yes, they can run inside to hand water to the players and there are other staff whose main job is to relay the coach's orders direct to the players.)