As the saying goes, you're never too old to learn new tricks!
Australia as they say is the land of opportunities (kung hindi ka maarte, okay?) and I am taking advantage of what is available for me, hoping that it in the future it will be of use to me and my family.
Even back in Manila, I have always dreamed of putting up my own pre-school. That was the reason why I actually took Educational Administration for my Master's degree. But destiny intervened and we migrated here and that plan was put aside.
I was blessed to have been able to still practice the same profession as I had in Manila and it was also an opportunity for me to study the ropes of the trade. In our almost five years of stay here I have learned that they are stricter when it comes to your training and the work you're after. Unlike in Manila, where you can teach even if your course is not related to teaching, here you can't. Much more when you deal with smaller kids.
Sa atin, kahit ang layo ng kurso mo, kung gusto mo mag-teacher, go! Kung gusto mo magtayo ng pre-school (syempre dapat may pera ka) kahit kulang ang qualifications mo o wala kang ni isang kurso sa early childhood, go pa rin! Dito hindi. BAWAL.
They take your training seriously. Ako nga, Educ graduate na, hindi pa rin pwede magturo sa elementary unless mag-aaral ulit ako ng Teaching in Primary School (nakakturo ako kasi tinignan nila yung seven years teaching experience ko sa grade school).
Back to my blog. To make the long story short, I have reignited that dream of mine to hopefully put up my own pre-school (and childcare) in the future. You always have a guaranteed clientele for childcare here as nanny or yayas are not really part of the culture. In Sam's childcare alone, there are already 5 unborn kids who are on the wait list! Yes, unborn kids! With the standard of living getting higher every year many parents have no other choice but to work and that is when childcare centres goes into the picture. There is really a need in chidcare especially in our area where there is a boom in real estate!
Thankfully, both my undergrad and Masters' degree were validated and were accredited as to being comparable to Australian degrees. Now I only need to work on my early childhood qualifications. This is the reason why I decided to pursue a Diploma on Early Childhood Education and Care.
It took me a couple of years to muster enough strength to actually do it. It took a lot of emails and researches, comparisons, and inquiries to different schools and providers. I am not just sure if my timing is right as now my plate is already full because as I start with this, we are also very busy with the home project.
I chose to do the course through online study. It will be my first to do online studies and after 3 weeks, I can say that I still have to establish a routine or a style that will be most effective for me. I have three years to finish the course. I am hoping that I could finish that before the deadline.
Thankfully, I didn't have to shell out a single centavo as I am qualified with the government aid, being an Australian citizen. I can study now and pay later, as soon as my annual salary reaches their cap. At this point, I am still not worried because if I continue to work as a casual, I am safe of having to start the repayments to the government. So even if we have started with the mortgage payments, I can safely say that it will still not add to our expenses.
Finishing it in three years' time does not mean I will already leave the teaching force in the big schools. Putting up a childcare here is costly, no make that very costly! I plan to make baby steps. But as for now, I'll just take it one subject at a time.
You might ask, why study again when I can already teach here? Well, as I've said, when I'm much older, I wouldn't want to still be inside the classroom. I want to see myself and my career evolve. I hope to have moved on from teaching to doing the admin work, more of the person behind the curtains.
Big dreams? Yes. I see nothing wrong with it. It's worth a try, right? Libre mangarap. At least when I'm there, I can confidently say that I am ready to cross the bridge.
Keeping the faith!
Thursday, February 13, 2014
Tuesday, February 4, 2014
Growing Together, Praying Together (Overwhelmed - Part 2)
Yesterday, I mentioned to one of my friends, Mitch, more than this dream becoming a reality, I am more thankful of the opportunity for me and Alvin to again grow together and work together both spiritually and mentally. After this, particularly last Saturday, I felt our relationship went up one notch higher.
When I wrote that we continued to pray for it, we were not pushing for us to buying a house. We were praying that if it is His will, let things fall into place. We were praying for guidance for every decision. And most importantly, we were praying for His grace to prepare our hearts, so we can humbly accept His will for us.
We grew together, mentally. Since the time we started sitting down only three or four weeks ago, we had a lot of intelligent and mature conversations. I am the type who feels bad whenever he "audits" me every now and then. I was surprisingly okay when he asked where our money went and why our savings only reached a certain amount. There were a lot of computations involved in those after-dinner conversations. Both were very patient and open to suggestions. We worked together in a way that he led and I did the supporting role by doing errands that were needed in this "project."
On the day the priority numbers were released (which was only last Saturday), we again, like in the past, came as a family (me, hubby and our two kids). Everyone was present and everyone patiently queued. Everyone had a say especially when our first two choices were gone already! Everyone prayed for it. It was a family thing and I couldn't be happier!
Although we were 18th on the line and started queuing before 7am, (some people were more desperate than us!) we still didn't get the original lot we wanted. It could have been a better choice, a bigger lot, a bigger house, a better plan for the value of money (it's bigger but it ends up cheaper) we're paying. But God had a different plan for us. He directed us to another one, which was actually our 4th choice. Initially, we were sad that we didn't get what we wanted (the ones who got our first two choices spent the night in the queue!). But looking back, we were thinking we could have been spared from a possible stress because of the builder assigned on that lot and God probably pointed us to a different lot so we can be more comfortable with our future finances. The lot that we were able to nominate is 8 thousand cheaper than our first choice. (Now there is NO immediate need to sell our lot).
We took a gamble.
I was scared to let go of this opportunity because I felt that the prices of properties will just continue to rise with the rate things are going here and it would have been harder for us to buy our own home. (The first release was only two months ago and prices have gone up $12000 more!) One professional advice we got recently is, "if you have the money now, then go for it!"
I guess, the gamble paid off.
At this point and looking at the future it's still not 100% kink-free. There are still some areas that causes me and Alvin to worry. But I guess, God would want it to leave it like that so we can have an opportunity to have faith. So we can learn how to trust Him and let Him be in-charge!
The kids did and are doing a marvelous job of helping us. They helped us pray for it. They helped us by being patient when we visited display homes, talked to builders, and even when I queued last Saturday for 3 hours! They are helping us save money. They are excited as us, helping Mama and Papa choose possible themes for their future rooms.
The praying part is not over.
We will continue to pray as we continue to grow on with this part of our journey, as a family.
When I wrote that we continued to pray for it, we were not pushing for us to buying a house. We were praying that if it is His will, let things fall into place. We were praying for guidance for every decision. And most importantly, we were praying for His grace to prepare our hearts, so we can humbly accept His will for us.
We grew together, mentally. Since the time we started sitting down only three or four weeks ago, we had a lot of intelligent and mature conversations. I am the type who feels bad whenever he "audits" me every now and then. I was surprisingly okay when he asked where our money went and why our savings only reached a certain amount. There were a lot of computations involved in those after-dinner conversations. Both were very patient and open to suggestions. We worked together in a way that he led and I did the supporting role by doing errands that were needed in this "project."
On the day the priority numbers were released (which was only last Saturday), we again, like in the past, came as a family (me, hubby and our two kids). Everyone was present and everyone patiently queued. Everyone had a say especially when our first two choices were gone already! Everyone prayed for it. It was a family thing and I couldn't be happier!
Although we were 18th on the line and started queuing before 7am, (some people were more desperate than us!) we still didn't get the original lot we wanted. It could have been a better choice, a bigger lot, a bigger house, a better plan for the value of money (it's bigger but it ends up cheaper) we're paying. But God had a different plan for us. He directed us to another one, which was actually our 4th choice. Initially, we were sad that we didn't get what we wanted (the ones who got our first two choices spent the night in the queue!). But looking back, we were thinking we could have been spared from a possible stress because of the builder assigned on that lot and God probably pointed us to a different lot so we can be more comfortable with our future finances. The lot that we were able to nominate is 8 thousand cheaper than our first choice. (Now there is NO immediate need to sell our lot).
We took a gamble.
I was scared to let go of this opportunity because I felt that the prices of properties will just continue to rise with the rate things are going here and it would have been harder for us to buy our own home. (The first release was only two months ago and prices have gone up $12000 more!) One professional advice we got recently is, "if you have the money now, then go for it!"
I guess, the gamble paid off.
At this point and looking at the future it's still not 100% kink-free. There are still some areas that causes me and Alvin to worry. But I guess, God would want it to leave it like that so we can have an opportunity to have faith. So we can learn how to trust Him and let Him be in-charge!
The kids did and are doing a marvelous job of helping us. They helped us pray for it. They helped us by being patient when we visited display homes, talked to builders, and even when I queued last Saturday for 3 hours! They are helping us save money. They are excited as us, helping Mama and Papa choose possible themes for their future rooms.
The praying part is not over.
We will continue to pray as we continue to grow on with this part of our journey, as a family.
 |
| This is the second release which we tried our luck on :-) The peach-coloured lots were part of their first release, two months ago! Our future home will now be in front of the park. Our future community will have our own shopping centre and will be just across the newest Ikea and Costco, how convenient is that! |
 |
| A glimpse of our future home. We really wanted a 2 car garage so we can house both Maggie and Ben. But after consulting our financial advisers and family, we humbly embraced what God might have prepared for our family. |
Keep an eye on this space as I will continue to share the developments of this part of our journey.
Monday, February 3, 2014
Overwhelmed - Part 1
Overwhelmed.
That is the best word to describe what I am feeling right now.
Emotions are running high.
Overwhelmed.
Another big dream is about to materialize and we can only thank and praise God for it!
We are one step closer to getting our dream home! Our own home!
The past week was the peak of our discernment process.
In my last blog entry, I told you that I, we, were willing to wait and see if everything will fall into place.
And it did.
Our plans of buying our first home has happened earlier than we have planned.
Proves that God's plans for us far better than what we have for ourselves!
After we met with the broker almost two weeks ago, we had the impression and got to a conclusion that it's not yet time for us. We were still thankful for that meeting as it paved the way for us to set our financial goals so we are better prepared when another opportunity comes. That was Tuesday, 21 January.
Long weekend. Even if we were sure that it will be impossible for us to buy, much more try, a home on the 8 Feb release, we kept on praying for it. Over the long weekend, we went to the Sales Office and hubby got the plans and prices of the home and land packages for the upcoming release.
Seeing the prices, our dreams came crashing down at us again as the prices has increased tremendously from their last release end of November 2013. The cheapest now is $544k and the most expensive ones were somewhere around $720++ thousand!
Another reason for us to give up, right?
We really didn't give up 100% because we kept on praying and discerning for it, still.
And in His goodness, He sent people our way to help us arrive at a decision, to gamble.
My friend Vera got the actual land value of the package and it gave us hope!
The funny thing is, the ideas to continue trying came in dreams and very early morning! As my friend puts it, a Eureka moment!
Alvin and I haven't really told one another to make computations and see if we can work out something, financially. But when he gets home from work, he starts talking about the topic and lo and behold, we have, on our own made some plans on how we can possibly try to work it out. And from there, we sit down and discuss Plans A, B and C. Including the implications for each. I've never had a more interesting discussion than the ones we had last week! Maths. Big Time!
Mid of last week, we have our eyes set on a particular lot which costs $560thou. We were ready to gamble but there was fear in our hearts. First, it will deplete our savings and I REALLY need to have plenty of casual work to have enough funds before the land settlement late this year. This is just in case the amount being loaned to us by the bank doesn't meet the amount we need. And another implication is we REALLY need to sell our lot in Manila.
But God in His goodness had a different plan for us.
That is the best word to describe what I am feeling right now.
Emotions are running high.
Overwhelmed.
Another big dream is about to materialize and we can only thank and praise God for it!
We are one step closer to getting our dream home! Our own home!
The past week was the peak of our discernment process.
In my last blog entry, I told you that I, we, were willing to wait and see if everything will fall into place.
And it did.
Our plans of buying our first home has happened earlier than we have planned.
Proves that God's plans for us far better than what we have for ourselves!
After we met with the broker almost two weeks ago, we had the impression and got to a conclusion that it's not yet time for us. We were still thankful for that meeting as it paved the way for us to set our financial goals so we are better prepared when another opportunity comes. That was Tuesday, 21 January.
Long weekend. Even if we were sure that it will be impossible for us to buy, much more try, a home on the 8 Feb release, we kept on praying for it. Over the long weekend, we went to the Sales Office and hubby got the plans and prices of the home and land packages for the upcoming release.
Seeing the prices, our dreams came crashing down at us again as the prices has increased tremendously from their last release end of November 2013. The cheapest now is $544k and the most expensive ones were somewhere around $720++ thousand!
Another reason for us to give up, right?
We really didn't give up 100% because we kept on praying and discerning for it, still.
And in His goodness, He sent people our way to help us arrive at a decision, to gamble.
My friend Vera got the actual land value of the package and it gave us hope!
The funny thing is, the ideas to continue trying came in dreams and very early morning! As my friend puts it, a Eureka moment!
Alvin and I haven't really told one another to make computations and see if we can work out something, financially. But when he gets home from work, he starts talking about the topic and lo and behold, we have, on our own made some plans on how we can possibly try to work it out. And from there, we sit down and discuss Plans A, B and C. Including the implications for each. I've never had a more interesting discussion than the ones we had last week! Maths. Big Time!
Mid of last week, we have our eyes set on a particular lot which costs $560thou. We were ready to gamble but there was fear in our hearts. First, it will deplete our savings and I REALLY need to have plenty of casual work to have enough funds before the land settlement late this year. This is just in case the amount being loaned to us by the bank doesn't meet the amount we need. And another implication is we REALLY need to sell our lot in Manila.
But God in His goodness had a different plan for us.
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