Why is it that I always seem to find the jologs places in this country?

Yesterday I went to Paramatta for my interview for Coles Myer. What exactly did I apply for, well the answer is anything they would give me. First I made sure that I had everything all set out in the house, so that I could dress up there instead of in my little garage as otherwise there is a huge risk of running into an overexcited cody. (Former room mates, be proud I made plantsa my first shirt all by myself. Jenny, you can tell nene.) Then i left super duper early. In fact I was kinda too early, which was good because when I got to paramatta, well...

I switched at Strathfield to get the paramatta train and when I got there everything was being constructed so there were all these detours to get to the road. When I finally got to Macquarie St, which is apparently very long, i got told to go in the wrong direction twice before people finally pointed me the right way. There were also these lovely confusing street signs, that said "Macquarie Street, 100-115" and pointed to the right, so you would presume it was to the right. But no, this being Australia it basically meant, where the sign is, thats where that is. Thanks a lot. Not only do you guys have a penchant for not making your street numbers match (sometimes the left side is on ascending order and the right side on descending) but you just have the most confusing attempts to be helpful in your street signs. I managed to grab a coffee once Id figured out that I was near to the building.

Had a quick fix me up in the bathroom before waiting downstairs to be called with the rest of the group. The interview was okay. Its not the best one Ive done but having been three years out of practice I dont think it was too bad. They basically asked us situational questions, asked us to give answers and saw how we interacted and contributed to the discussion.

The only thing was that I forgot to bring my passport, which I seem to vaguely remember was in the email I got, so I have to go back on Friday to show them that yes, I can work. Then they will continue to process my application. We are to hear from them in 2 weeks time to see if we made it, then based on our choices they will try to match us with openings and then if we match well be called for interview by the store manager. My first choice was Myer (the department store) but somewhere down on that list I also put Coles so there is a chance I will end up as a cashier person in the supermarket.

After my interview (yep, customer service background and marketing background certainly comes in handy at this point) i walked with this nice armenian/iranian lady to westfield shopping center and from there she showed me where the train was. there was actually this malaysian guy who offered to give all of us (me, her and this chinese girl) a ride back because we all lived in epping - him and chinese girl went to macquarie uni - but i had to go to central, so no go.

And so begins an adventure of jologs proportions, or westies as we call them here. What are westies, you say? Well, the general Sydney area is divided into suburbs generalized by their location, (Obviously North South East West) but with nicer sounding names. For example, as I am based in Epping, in the North, I am close to the North Shore. Where Sacha (and uni is) is known as the Inner City. Where Im moving to (Liechhardt) is the Inner West. Now beyond the Inner West in mostly the same direction you have the more cultural centers, generally where immigrant communities have settled and grown. For example, Auburn (turkish, arabic), Blacktown (infamously filipino) and a whole bunch of other places. Obviously these suburbs have a good share of regular aussie whites, some of them are even strictly white, or whatever. Some of these suburbs dont have the best reputations (ie Macquarie fields and the riots that go with them) which in most cases are well deserved. Now, these suburbs can come in generally dodgy (eg gangs, lotsa drugs, not well off neighborhoods with lotsa criminals, etc) or generally jologs or a combination of both. Westies, are jologs who generally come from these suburbs. (Do we see the connection now?!?)

**Special note, in case I havent mentioned it before: Jojo and I have concluded that the direct translation of dodgy is nakapagdududa, which really isnt entirely accurate but its what you feel when you think something is dodgy - it makes you doubtful, like its kinda shady. Basta.**

Also, Blacktown, the heart and soul of the local philo (yep, thats what we are) community is in fairness, not really jologs. It just has jologs people in it floating around here and there.

So back to my westie experience. Basically I was walking around thinking, ano bang nangyari sa akin at para akong naglalakad sa SM Bicutan? Or possibly SM North Edsa. Or even parts of Megamall. Or more likely Harrison Plaza without the hookers. And you know most of them were kids. I got out of the interview the same time school let out and they were all over the place. About fifty percent of them looked pinoy and probably were, as Paramatta is another great philo center. And i dont know. I guess its because we were all picked up from school or had the school bus, but these kids took themselves home via train or bus so they were all there in their little groups, loud and... Now Ive sat next to kids on the trains before. Yeah, they're noisy and they laugh a lot and are somewhat rambunctious and shit but these kids were just jologs. The vibe was soooo different. Like, what the heck have i just stepped into?

To add to the weirdness, as I was walking to the train station, I saw a sign outside a convenience store that advertised phone cards, with Manila at 1 cent a minute so I walked in right after this girl. The lady behind the counter seemed to be of russian/armenian/slavic origin and was on the phone. The girl in front of me said, "Excuse me what street is this?" and so the lady told her. And she thanked the lady. At which point the lady said, "That's it? You interrupted me just to ask for directions? Its not even important!" And flabbergasted, I just left. I mean no way was I going to buy anything from this totally rude person! When I stepped outside the girl came out right after me and we had a short chat on the sales woman's rudeness. The girl said, "She said she was on the phone calling the police because there was a fight going on. And that it was important." Hello, like there was even a fight outside. The closest to that were these kids laughing and being rambunctious outside Mc Donald's down the street. Whatever, lady.

So I make it to the train, its four minutes late (no big) and there are all these kids, waiting, and shit and Im just thinking, God, where am I? Who are these people? How can you all be in the same country and be so different. And whoever bloody said Australia had no class distinction was friggin wrong. It may not be as clear cut, but its more of an invisible line. Its not like at home where class distinction is clearly defined by the amount of money you have. Here its more of where you are and what you do and the image you project. Or I should say the kind of aura you project. I got the feeling that half of these kids aren't even going to go to uni, (which is actually a good thing if they go to the trades, as Australia is running out of people like electricians, plumbers, joiners, cabinet makers, mechanics, sheep shearers - guys, if anyone's interested...they'll sponsor you!) theyre just going to run around and not care about their education, etc. and if they turn out great, which is a 50% chance then all well and good. The other 50% chance just sort of has them going down the truant way, which in an environment with that kind of vibe just looks equally likely. (And im told parramatta isnt so bad, its one of the nicer places in the west...)

I know that at some point this is coming across as elitist but rather than say, this is my blog and I have the right to say whatever I think (which is true, though) Id like to say that its not exactly that... its more off, im glad that y'all are happy with where you are and what you do, but there is no freakin way I am ever living in your part of the world. Oooooh no. I may have to work in Paramatta some day (it being the second largest city in Sydney and home to many major offices) but there is no freaking way I am living there. Ain't goin to that part of the west side.

(God, Ive just realized I sound so cono)

Seriously though, I can now say that I have encountered entirely both spectrums of Philippine society in this little large country down under. On the one hand, you have the manila society where everyone knows each other (as in 6 degrees of separation - ah you're the sister of the boyfriend of my cousins kinakapatid choovaloohlah) and the sosyal society - have I mentioned that that dinner that jojo took me to had, aside from the usual crop of white-ish spanishy looking (all nice people of course) ones, an actual coujuangco in it - except i didnt find out till a month later? Its also interesting to note that the biggest horse race in the state, and possibly the country is sponsored by San Miguel Beer, which is famous here, widely advertised, and at some point had an advertising campaign that went something like, "if you dont know what this beer is you havent been around," implying that you were not well travelled, which for an Aussie is a big no-no because absolutely everyone out here does the travel thing.

I have also been to one of the bastions of jologs society! Of course, I could not say this to my philo friend from kickboxing class (who is the only other pinoy i have ever met at sydney uni) who lives in paramatta. This weekend, i am also going to sample pinoy goodies at blacktown and hopefully have my sinigang (no maui, i havent done the cooking thing yet). In the meantime, I would just like to say, jologs or no jologs I am proud to be pinoy or rather, philo in this country. Though if I have learnt one thing from this experience is that I will never live in Paramatta or anywhere beyond the more familiar portions of the little purple squiggly inner west train line.