Our Third Week in Australia (15 – 22 March 2019)

Yep, you read that right… Week three of JallOZ in Aus! Where has the time gone?

15 March

It’s Groundhog Day… Or should I say week?

It seems like we’re reliving the same week again! Today, we took the children swimming at a local YMCA! They had a massive indoor pool which we all enjoyed. Also, there was an amazing outside space with a number of different pool sizes and toys for young children (and Ahmed), but it was only open on weekends (One of the AJs was disappointed – not the one you think) to ensure there are enough lifeguards to keep everyone safe. We will definitely have to pay it a visit on a weekend.

We also spent some time job hunting today; there are a number of jobs in my field of welfare worker, which makes complete sense as my profession was in the skilled migration list of professionals Australia were interested in sponsoring to come over. I have applied for quite a few jobs now and am hearing back slowly. I have had one interview with Barnardos which I was unsuccessful with and have another lined up for this week. I am looking at it all as a learning experience and I am appreciative that I had an interview and had traction on some of the other applications I have submitted. Things are definitely a lot slower here and that is going to take a little getting used to.

Today, we also decided it was time for our daughter to start taking driving lessons; she did really well and was very confident behind the wheel. I think she is a natural and having a drivers license will give her a lot more freedom.

16 March

Today, hubby and I decided to go for an early morning work out; we found a local park that provided us with the perfect back drop for our next ‘big idea’… Australia was one of our ‘big ideas’, now we need another one…. This time it ‘operation beach body’. Wish us luck, trust me we will need it. We are going to start tracking our progress so we can look back in a few months time and reflect on our progress. As many of you know already, I lost 9 stone in weight just before I had my son in 2009 and have kept 7 stone 7lbs off; which means I put back 1 stone 7lbs. If you ask Ahmed, that’s a good thing. So, if I can do that, I am sure I can tone up a little bit more and have that beach body I desire…. As for Ahmed, he is fit as a butcher dog! seriously this guy has the body of a god; perfect. But he wants to tone his tummy a little (#side eye).

(AJ) Your honour, I would everything said in the last sentence, stricken from the records… Clearly, this is salacious in nature and this is a family blog!

(RJ) We do really well mentally, physically and spiritually when we have a goal to work on together and this is the next big one for us, so watch this space… Here are a few pictures from our new workout spots.

17 March

(AJ) So, today we decided to go shopping at Kmart – yes, kmart… not Kay-mart; We all had a full blown argument if it was K-mart or kmart! I think I won the argument though. My point is, if s-m-a-r-t is smart then k-m-a-r-t should be kmart!

We walked away with an eclectic list of ‘stuff’

Piñata: for my sister in law’s gender reveal I am trying to plan, along with sweets and stuff to fill it

T shirts: because I am living in workout gear at the moment (and loving it)

Eyelashes: Because? Well, because my daughter’s face is always ‘beat for the gods’ and this is part of her armour. Really, I do not have a clue where she got this from. I am not a fan of make-up and have worn it once since being here (for the wedding). My mum never even owned a chap stick, let alone a lip-stick… But yet, here we are – you do you boo!

(AJ) I think she accidentally waxed her eyelashes off and she’s been trying to cover it up for the past 5 years. I’ll keep an eye out and report back!

Nurf guns: personally I am not a fan of toy guns; I am anti all violence and the behaviours people demonstrate when playing with these type of toys, hence the vegan lifestyle etc, but I won’t go into that now. However, my son is now 10 years old and has wanted a toy gun for as long as I can remember. My husband is 36 years old and has also wanted a toy gun for the last 23 years we have been together, so after some back and forth they were purchased. Yes, I said they as Ahmed also left the store with a Nurf gun and the biggest smile on his face.

(AJ) It’s not just any gun, it’s an X-Shot Turbo Advanced with pump-action aaaand a 40-round drum magazine… Oh, be still my excited inner child! It costed $39 which is like £23 and in the UK it would be like £40-£50… Had to get it!

These were the things that took us out of the house when we were younger and now we ask, why don’t kids go out?

We’re planning a Nerfing good day at my parents’ land 🤗🤗🤗!

(RJ) On our way back home, we saw some guys playing football, so decided to go and have a chat with them. We found out that they are there mosts Saturdays and Sundays from around 3pm. We know what we will be doing on the weekends then and it makes me happy. So much of who Ahmed is and what he enjoys is based around football (and me of course lol) and I could watch him play all day, which I have!

Oh and whilst Ahmed was ‘making friends’ I took these pictures of the sunset… Spending time with one of my best friends, Mother Nature.

18 March

Today was the first day of our new schedule which started with morning homeschooling. Ahmed really has a unique way of teaching children and I could see my son learning and developing in front of my eyes.

We also decided to do a little house hunting lol… We decided to have a look around some new houses being built in the area; wow, they are amazing.

19 March

Today started like yesterday with a little home schooling from 09.00 – 12.00 at a local coffee shop. Our son is really getting to grips with this new routine and it’s lovely to see him learning in such a non restrictive environment.

I feel good homeschooling mum, because (1) I have an education, (2) I get to do it with my dad and (3) I love being with him and spending time with him. Once we have done the math, we get to have fun and a laugh and then move on to English (which people call literacy).

I find English challenging, but that’s the good part about it. It gives me confidence to have an education and learn more about different things.

A-J Jalloh, aged 10 years old (March 2019)

We then went to Sunny Bank Hills, shopping mall to sit and do the usual job hunting and home searching, our daughter came with us and did some of her art work. We are looking at online business studies courses for her to start in the next month or so, this will really help her with her goals of being an artist and working for herself, we are also speaking with a friend in the UK, who is in the creative industry, to see if they have or know of any internship opportunities. Our daughter will be going back to the UK in a few months to see her boyfriend and family and an internship along with the online business course will keep her foucsed on her goals.

In regards to home hunting, there are so many affordable rentals in Canberra that are on the market, so I am not too concerned about finding somewhere to live when we get to Canberra. We are in a fortunate position to have saved some money to cover our costs for a while, so at the moment there is no real pressure. But in true Jalloh form, we are trying to find jobs as quickly as possible for a number of reasons, including: (1) being able to embed ourselves within a community and start making a contribution; (2) to make friends; (3) So, we don’t have to dip into our savings; that way we will be in a position to buy a property sooner than planned. We are looking at our savings now as a safety net, rather than financial capital, which was our plan in the UK.

With regards to buying a house, we looked around a few places and here are a few images. This gives us a new goal to work towards (along with operation beach body) over the next 24 months and some serious motivation.

20 March

09.00 – 12.00: Homeschooling, today we focused on mixed fractions math and fact finding and selecting information in reading comprehension.

12.00 – 14.00: Creative time for our daughter, technology time for our son (part of his daily allowance) and job hunting for Mr and Mrs Jalloh, oh and a touch of blogging for good measure.

Today we needed to take mums car to the garage for servicing, so we headed back to the house around 2.30 to meet Ahmed’s sister and mum.

In the afternoon we went to the park, had a picnic and danced in the rain.

We have factored our ‘PE’ sessions in the afternoons as it’s a lot cooler at this time of day. We go to grandmas land (12 acres), play football, use some tyres for weights and generally work up a sweat. The land is massive, so we also use this as an opportunity to ensure we get more than 10,000 steps in each day and more importantly knock our son and niece out before bedtime.

Thank you for your generous and thoughtful gift of time. You could be anywhere else at this moment but you chose to be here reading our blog and for that we thank you.

The Jalloh family

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