England Diaries: Day 47

It's a lovely day again today. The past two days had been miserable, and yesterday it was raining. Although James and Maddie both described the rain as "heavy", back home, we call that drizzle. James know what I mean since he'd always loved the rain back home, but Maddie couldn't believe it when I said back home, our heavy rain will flood England.

It's so adorable to watch the birds in the garden. I have never really thought of birds as interesting until I got here. Back in the Philippines, all they did was annoy me. But those were the caged birds our neighbour kept as pets. He's dead now, God bless his soul. But seriously, his pet birds made such loud noises at 3AM! But I do remember feeding the sparrows at the back part of our house when I was younger. I was amazed at how they come from out of nowhere a second after u chuck a chunk of bread out. I checked the nestbox beside our bedroom this morning and waited for a bit until I saw a sparrow hover beside the box with bits of bread in it's mouth, and I heard the chicks chirping, and I was relieved. I had a dream last night that James told me they are gone.

I meant to write yesterday but I somehow didn't find the time. I was just getting up at 10:45AM yesterday morning (late night, don't ask) when Maddie knocked on the door and told me someone's on the phone for me. And it was my Auntie Julie in New Zealand! I didn't realise how concerned she is about me. I mean, of course we've always been close because when my mother was in New Zealand, Auntie Julie was one of those who looked after me. I call her "mama", and my other auntie (Auntie Sylvia) in NZ "mommy". As you have probably figured out, I am very close to them. It's really good to hear from Auntie Julie. I think she is mostly concerned about me missing home, and she told me that I will always miss home, but I should think of James and I and our life together and that I should think of the future. She said I will start to like it when I am making lots of money what I won't earn if I were back home still. She's got a point and I know she knows what she is talking about having moved to New Zealand in 1990. She realises that my situation is much harder than hers, or my mum's for that matter. They both had husbands who were in the right age (tried not to say old ^^) and settled. As Auntie Julie told me, she never had to take the coach because she always had her own transport, and she reminded me to learn how to drive as soon as I can. It was funny how she said "Beng, if this cuts off, you know that the card run out cos this is only a NZ$10 phone card" and we ended up talking for two hours! Since the phone card did not seem to be running out anytime soon, she decided to say goodbye because she had work at 6AM, and it was already past midnight when we realised we've been talking forever. She said that phone card would have only lasted twenty minutes if she rang the Philippines. Shame I am not in the Philippines when they go there this Christmas. Rubbish.