This is Australia

Home Sweet Home...yet home has changed for me.

As Vietnamese Airlines Flight 856 landed in Melbourne I had a feeling of coming back to a place where I knew I could be the master of my life rather than the ‘city’ becoming the master of me. Yet before I could address that situation Sab and I had one last hurdle to get over, Australian Customs. Now us Aussies are pretty stingy when it comes to bringing back souviners from overseas. I was afraid for a little while because I wasn’t sure that I would have to declare my fantastic little Cambodian Cow Bell. That was a non-issue as the major concern was the over 300 DVD’s I had stashed in my bag. I threw away clothes so I could fit the movies in there. They were my lifeblood (as they were Sabs) for our time in Asia so we took a chance rather than leave them in our boxes as we knew that if they were left in the boxes, they wouldn’t have made it past the Customs officers at the docks.

I was lucky enough to be waived through but Sab wasn’t so lucky. After taking out three of her 80 CD holders that had most of her DVD’s the Customs guy let her off with a “severe warning” as she had “an unusually high number of DVD’s.” I think Sab would have jumped over the counter and smacked the Customs guy senseless with her illegal copies of ‘Seinfeld.’ Sab also helped me purchased some grog and smokes for my family as the amount needed was more that I could legally bring into the country. Thanks Sab!

The re union with the parents was fantastic to say the least. My feeling of coming home was now complete and with this happiness I found myself back at Norwood Drive in my old room feeling a sense of nostalgia. I was back in the room where I grew up and I have come back a different person. I know deep down that even though the stay here is temporary, I don’t want to get too attached to life here because I honestly don’t want to get sucked in by my surroundings. I did that after university and I felt trapped by East Keilor and I don’t want it to happen again.

Throughout the day I visited my Gran and thanks to dads driving we drove through Footscray and Newport listening to the best of the Bee Gees CD. Two old industrial suburbs which these days look nothing like the days before I left. On the way back from Gran’s I told dad that I had to purchase some adapters for my laptop and phone. After driving along we eventually ended up at an electrical superstore. Dad waited in the car whilst I popped inside and somehow came across a face from my past.

I was in an aisle just browsing for the cheapest adapters when a voice floated over the USB Ports before I turned around to see that face...the face of the man who sold me my Apple iBook three years ago. Of all the computer departments in all the electrical superstores in all of Melbourne…I walked into his.