My Life

INRODUCTION

Hi There,
This blog is about my life and my interest. First I have to say that I am not politically correct and anyone can have their own opinion. However if I have somehow offended you in any way, I apologise and you can just stop reading my blog instead of writing angry comments. Enjoy you life, laugh more, fret less. Cheers!

My name is Eric Vincent Barnabas and I am currently living in Sydney. All my life, I had lived in 3 countries: Indonesia, Singapore and Jakarta. I am as most people call us, Indo-Chinese. For those who're wondering what that means, its just that our ancestors who arrived in Indonesia from China to make a living and gave birth to some kids, who gave birth to more kids and eventually my parents gave birth to me and my 2 brothers. So in my example, my grandparents came from China and gave birth to my parents in Indonesia. So they're Indonesian by status, but Chinese by blood. Thus the term Indo-Chinese. The same goes for Malay-Chinese, or whichever country that has Chinese people that were born there. I still get lots of Chinese friends who for some reason are awed when I say I can speak Mandarin. I mean I am supposed to anyways so it shouldn't be such a surprise...

LIVING IN INDONESIA

I've heard from my mom that I wasn't an easy baby to give birth to, giving false alarms and making her going to and fro the hospital for like 3 times. To cut things short I had been living in my mom's womb for 10 months before I finally decided to come out. Smarty pants... Because of that, I was born in November and had to hold off starting my education until the next batch started. So instead of going to the kindergarten with the babies from 1983, I had to play with the 1984 batch...

Born in a poor family, My older brother Hermes and I had to be content with eating plain meals, sometimes without any meat (which I now cannot live without. They're so yummy!!!). When we were small everything seems so simple. It's just school, homework and play. Everyday of the week. We never thought about how our parents are struggling to bring the bread home, or to keep paying the rent/mortgage (far out.. Now I feel like I'm in Secondary School English exam writing an essay).

Back then, our transport are becak (trishaws) or bajaj - the Indo version of Thailand's Tuk Tuk . We almost never see a becak on the streets anymore, and the bajaj are going to be modified to use LPG instead of low-grade petrol. These 2 are just 1 of the many transports that covers Indonesia's roads. Besides taxis and buses, we still have omprengans, mikrolets and bemos, which are all like mini buses and can fit in around 4 - 10 people. In our free times we would play marbles or Greenspot, where you have to step/avoid another person's foot and is played in turn. Very unlike the games nowadays where everyone has become individualistic, concentrating on their PSP, Nintendo DS or staying at home playing their PS3 / PC games (yeah yeah I admit I'm one of those guys). In Indonesia, almost all families have maids, including mine. Maids are basically housekeepers that cleaned up the house and typically they live in the house as well. They normally come from villages, some at a tender age of 14, to work in the cities like Jakarta. Until now my family still have 1 maid and 1 driver that I know of that has worked for us for more than 20 years.

After saving up some money, my parents decided to start up a bread factory. Everything was starting to become good, great... My mom even gave birth to my younger brother Ryan when I was 6 (extremely cute face when he's just a little boy, but every boy has to grow up...). Until one rainy day when we were about to leave the factory, my dad decided to fix a broken light in the factory and was electrocuted. The workers carried him home and when my mom saw him unconscious, she broke down. Tried to gave him herbal tea to drink. Cried her heart out. Devastated. Lost for words. Called the ambulance. I just stood there... An 8 year old not really understanding what's happening beside sniffing the ironboard smell coming out from the charred hole on my dad's right palm, about 4 cm in diameter. My father was pronounced dead on the way to the hospital. Or at least that's how I remember it. I can vaguely remember his face. But all my relatives said that if I want to see him, I just have to look into the mirror. Well, I must have had a handsome dad...

LIVING IN SINGAPORE

After afew months or so, in 1992, my brother and I went to Singapore to continue our studies. My mom and I had different views on how this happened. Because what I remembered was we were on my mom's bed and she asked if I wanted to go to Singapore and I said yes. But my mom's recollection was different, very different. She said I was begging my mom to send us to Singapore, because my cousins were studying there.

Either way, we arrived in Singapore and my mom used whatever money she had left to try and get us accomodation. I think she told me it was $5000. That's also the same amount that was conned by some fake real estate agent. With no money and no house to live in, I am not sure how my mother can rent a flat for me and my older brother at Bishan. I do not even know how she can single-handedly raise 3 boys - 2 in Singapore - all these years. Al I know is that everytime we come back to Jakarta, my relatives would always remind us that my mother is very great, very capable, and we should not hurt her or disobey her for she has sacrificed much and worked so hard. We must have heard that at least 100 times, but we never feel sick of it, because we know it's true. in 1992, the exchange rate was roughly Indonesia ~1000Rp to Singapore $1. By 1998 when the Indonesia Riot happened, the exchange rate has gone up by 5 times - ~5000Rp to $1. Yet, my mother was still able to support my brother and I through Primary School, Secondary School and Polytechnic. Even through university in Australia. Who cares if my classmates said that I was a Mommy's boy. I still am and I'm proud to be one.

FORTUNE TELLER

My mom and Ryan were in Jakarta 2 nights before the riot happened. She used to go to this fortune teller who was very accurate at what he can see and advise. So 2 nights before the riot, she went to him for her regular visits, not knowing the riot is about to start. From what my mom told me, the fortune teller took a leaf, rubbed his right hand against it and a hole burnt up in the middle of the leaf. He said that something very bad is going to happen in Indonesia, although he did not say what. Curious, my mom asked,' When will this bad day happen?' To which he replied,' Tomorrow.' He then gave each person who came to his house a charm and said that anyone who had possession of this charm will not be harmed tomorrow.

Always believing in fortune telling and not wanting to risk the chance, my mother bought 10 tickets straight away and asked some of her relatives if they wanted to go with her to Singapore that very night. I cannot remember how many people went with her but in the end at least my mom, Ryan and my Grandpa made it to Singapore. That night when they were on the way to the airport, the riot has just begun. The rioters had started setting cars on fire, looting the houses and raping people. Some cars were even stopped and then burnt with people still in it. Somehow, my mom's car just drove through without being noticed by the rioters. At that point my younger brother who was 9 years old told Mom,' I'm not coming back to Jakarta ever again.' My mom then told me that on the way to the airport, she told herself that if they were able to get to Singapore safely, she would kiss the ground of Singapore. According to her, that's what she did when the plane touched down at Changi Airport. Since then, My younger brother Ryan has lived with my older brother and I in Singapore, while Mom went back to Jakarta some months later to continue her business when Indonesia had somewhat stabilised.

Life in Singapore is fun. Almost every town (no, not suburb. The whole of Singapore is smaller than a suburb) has a community centre which has basketball court, squash court and a hall for watching TV. It is a good place to find and meet new friends. More so for my brothers who like to play basketball every day after school, 7 days a week. For me, my spare time was spent running up and down Orchard Road with my friends, or playing Pool or Counter Strike, the hottest game in Singapore back then. Almost in every shopping centre you can find a place that provide Pool tables and LAN shops. You just have to find 1 with the lowest price. Another favourite game of mine back then was Dance Dance Revolution. I used to play that game almost everyday with the same bunch of people. Those days I could dance for like 15 songs a day. Unlike now where 3 songs can make my legs start shaking.

Food is abundant as well. With some hawker centres opening 24 hours a day there's no way you can starve... At least not when 1 of those is just opposite my apartment, beside my neightborhood Primary School. Some of the best food in Singapore are definitely Fried Carrot Cake, Oyster Omellette, Kway Chap, Grilled Sting Ray, Laksa, Roti Prata, Bah Kut Teh, Hainam Chicken Rice and Fried Ice Cream.

Singapore is also a clean place. I do not think I can find a place where I cannot see any trees. Of course, chewing gums are prohibited and there are people who avoided visiting Singapore just because of that, seriously... Come on, at least I do not have to worry about gum stuck on my shoes, something that has happened to me quite afew times in Jakarta and Sydney, disgusting...

LIVING IN SYDNEY

After living in Singapore for around 10 years, my older brother had finally finished his 4 years of Diploma of Electrical Engineering from Singapore Polytechnic at the end of 2002. I was still in Year 1 of my Diploma of Accounting in the same polytechnic when my mom decided to send both of us to Australia. She said she wanted to retire there and if we can get Permanent Residency after we graduate from a University in Sydney we can get it and therefore sponsor my mom. So off we go down under, leaving all our beloved friends behind.

Before we came here, my mom had bought an apartment in a suburb called Rockdale. It was quite cheap since she bought it from blueprint, i.e. before the building was even constructed. It was all good, but the thing is... My university is Macquarie University, which is in Epping. It took me 1 hour plus by train, and it's not even a straight train, I needed to change it in Redfern first. Luckily we had bought a car so I drove it to uni. My mom had asked my uncle, which is only around 5 years older than me, to accompany us in buying the car.

NISSAN PULSAR Q

On a hot afternoon, my uncle Jacob took us to the most car dealers in a suburb: Parramatta. Never in my life had I seen so many cars grouped together in a block of land... I mean I know I was still 19 years old but I've had my share of life, moving on...

After sweating 69% of the water in our bodies, Jacob finally found us this cool-looking car. A charcoal-black 4-door coupe, 2001 model with only 30,000km under its belt. He said $21,500 for the highest class of the Pulsar range was a good price and my mom thought that is cheap compared to the cars in Indonesia, so we bought it home. Few months later, I saw a tv ad featuring Nissan Pulsar ST, a lower class model but also with similar features that really mattered like central locking, auto windows and air-con. Only 3 differences: it's lower class, it's brand new and it only costed $19,999!!!I told myself,' !@#$%^&*'

So yes, now I've got a car to go to uni. Thing is, on top of having short term memory in names and faces, I also have trouble remembering roads, unlike my older brother Hermes, who can remember them just by going there once. So for the next 5 weeks, I took the 1.5 hour train to uni. Apart from Fridays because that's the only time when my brother did not have to go to his university in the city, lucky guy. So every Friday he would wake up at 6 and drive me to my uni, a 45mins drive 1 way and another 45 mins back home. He did this for 5 weeks i.e. 5 times before I knew the roads well enough. Yeah I've got a brother who loves me, lucky me.

Life in Australia, should I say NSW since I've never lived in another state, is very relaxing. The shops closed at 5 apart from Thursday when most workers get paid. It took some time for us to get used to living here because back in Indonesia and Singapore, the shops mostly close at 9-10pm everyday. If we feel hungry at midnight we can go to lots of hawker centres that are still open. But in here, we cannot go shopping at night apart from loitering in Chinatown, and the only restaurant open at midnight within 15 mins travelling radius is MacDonald's opposite my apartment...

University life is even more relaxing... 4 subjects per semester is standard, as compared to the Diploma I took back in Singapore Polytechnic, where I had to take about 7 per semester. I'm still unable to work out why Singapore Polytechnic needs 7 subjects per semester, 2 semesters per year for 3 years to complete Dilpoma of Accounting. But the institutes in Australia only need 4 subjects per semester and 2 semesters per year for only 1 year. That is a massive difference of 34 subjects!!! And don't get my started on the difference between Australia's and Indonesia's university subjects that the students have to take... Shocking...

I mean in Macquarie University (here I go) I only have to take 4 subjects per semester for 3 years. That equals 4 sub x 2 sem x 3 yr = 24 subjects. My relative who also took Bachelor of Commerce -Accounting took around 8-10 subjects per semester, which equates to roughly 50 subjects!!! What good does that do? I mean no offense but in the end the net income difference of a graduate from the 2 countries is 8 times!! The standard of living in Australia is higher but the cost is maybe only 2-3 times higher. Make it into a ratio and Aussie salary still wins by about 2.5:1. So what's the point in studying so much? Even better, Australian universities are recognised, unlike most of Indonesian Universities. Again no offense but its the truth.

After almost 7 years living in Australia, I have almost totally changed my lifestyle. I rarely go out with friends anymore. Playing pool and Counter Strike are not that hot in Australia, in fact Australia almost never have any craze in anything. The only thing I know is ipod, which is taking the whole world as its own anyway. I remember back in Singapore I used to know almost every model number of Nokia like the 8210, 8250, 8800 or whatever, just because mobile phones are 1 of the craze in Singapore. In here, I only recognise my current mobile model, Samsung U700, with a broken camera lens. At least I got it for free under contract. We'll never get a free mobile in Singapore or Indonesia, so I did not believe it when my other uncle Ricky, who's also about 5 years older than me, told us that he got his for free. Well I guess he's right then... That's my 3rd free mobile charging between me and my computer. THE Samsung U700, with a faulty camera. And it's getting worse.

Right now I spend most of my spare time at home, playing PS2 games like Winning Eleven or PC games like Warcraft III: Defense of the Ancients. I have also started trading options in the US market. Don't even know what that is until I was studying Investment Planning, a subject I took when I was studying Diploma of Financial Services. Life has become monotonous for me now. Working in a Big 4 bank for a 9-5 job.. Well, 8:30 - 4:30 to be exact. Come home and switch on the TV and PC while preparing dinner for myself, and then watch Channel 10 (always) and either play game, blog, or look at the US market when it's sleeping. Some times I do go out with friends or families for a movie, some karaoke or eating out. Maybe this will change soon, probably when I have a girlfriend, but that's still a long way off... Till then, take good care of yourselves and feel free to post any comment, cheers!!!!