Friday, April 20, 2007

Looking back. The view from Australia.



On April 7, I came dangerously close to missing the plane.


- If that had happened, there would have been no civil ceremony of marriage ahead of the church wedding fixed for April 9. There was a problem with Qantas at Melbourne Airport.


- Qantas had converted without prior notice the check in for a domestic Sydney connector flight, to a full international check in. Added to which there were different lines and delays in waiting to reach the desk. The officil notice was to check in 45 minutes before departure, but the warning received at the sesk was that I should have checked in 90 minutes in advance.





Let's just be thankful that they rushed me through at the last minute. - The problem with Qantas is that there is no through flight between Melbourne and Manila. - Unlike other airlines, where the same plane continues on. - This means that you are required to take a domestic flight between Melbourne and Sydney. At Sydney there is chaos because the international and domestic terminals are miles apart, linked by a primitive bus service, and requiring additional baggage handling and security checks.



But on April 18, feeling weak from the effects of colds, pregnancy and Qantas, ..... Ai stepped out from melbourne Airport into the Australian sunshine. We were met by the incredibly generous Michael P., with a stretched limo!

So let's work back over the events of the weddings [plural]. Civil and then religious. And take note of the realities underlying them...



Monday, April 16, 2007

Leaving Manila Together - April 17, 2007

Since 3 April, I have been with Ai in the Philippines.
There have been times when internet access was not possible,
notably between 6 and 10 April when we were based in Santa Rita.
The wedding took place on 9 April at the church of Santa Rita,
with a reception at the magnificent modern gymnasium.
More on all this, and the photos later....
But at this moment we are within 24 hours of Ai travelling with me to Australia. An exciting and life-altering moment!
We are due to arrive on Wednesday morning, April 18.

Meanwhile the pregnancy is very important to us, not least because it is causing Ai recurrent abdominal pain and frequent bouts of nausea and sickness beyond expectations.

I have the impression that her gynae care in the Philippines has
been deficient, and am awaiting a chance to get an Australian opinion.

But with all the regrets that go with departing her family and friends, it is great to be heading for Australia.

And Ai mentioned today how Philippine women are driven to seek foreigners as partners, partly because they feel imprisoned in the Philippines. ---- In other words, because of their relative poverty, they do not enjoy the basic human right of travel to another country. In the case of Australia, they need either considerable personal wealth of their own, or an Australian to sponsor their visit.

There could not be a more fabulous country than the Philippines to be imprisoned within, but the feeling of being condemned to spend your whole life in a third world country is
oppressive!

We will add pictures and narrative of the time together, the wedding, the farewell party, the honeymoon and the travel to Australia as soon as we have some free time there later this week!