Ricky

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Hi all, my name is Ricky.
I’m from Indonesia. I’m about to tell you a little story about myself. Have some cokes and chips if you’d like, and here we go.. I was born 24 years ago in Medan (North Sumatera province). For you who don’t know where it is, it’s right below Aceh. I assumed you all know where Aceh is– with its tsunami tragedy back in 2004. Medan is the 3rd biggest city in Indonesia. One thing I can promote about my hometown is that we have the best food in Indonesia. If you come to Medan, I recommend you have a culinary trip. I have 2 brothers and 3 sisters –big family hey? My father is a retired teacher, and my mother was an advertising agent – she passed away 3 years ago. Anyway, I grew up there until I was 17, but after that I started to become a wanderer. I went to Uni in Bandung (West Java province) until I graduated 4 years later. Then I worked for Sampoerna, a cigarette company – but I don’t smoke, fyi -, a subsidiary company of Phillip Morris International (PMI). I reckon you’d know Marlboro right? Yea, that’s one of PMI products. I worked there for 2 years as Packaging Researcher. And then, here I am, in Australia… How did I get here to Australia? It was in the mid of 2006 when I read a vacancy information posted by a BhpBilliton employee on a mailing list that BhpBilliton was looking for Indonesian graduates to be sent overseas. At that time I was looking for another job more related to my Chemical Engineering background, because my job-desk at that time had not much connection with my background. I said: “Whoa.. This is just too good to be true..! I’ve got to apply for this” So I applied; the next month I got interviewed, and during the interview, the interviewer told me that this position is going to be assigned in Australia. My first reaction when I heard that was not too excited –to be honest. Because my dreamland is Europe, I want to go to Europe more than anywhere else, but then I thought: “Hey, Australia is not too bad..!” So long story short, the next month I was told that I got the job, and they confirmed that I will be assigned in Perth, Australia. But it took them about 2 months to submit my visa, transfer my stuff, and arrange my accommodation. It was a hard time, leaving my family, especially leaving my friends, after all we’ve been through. When I arrived in Australia (it was midnight, a fortnight before Christmas ‘06), my 1st impression of Perth airport is: CREEPY! The immigration and the customs officers were not looking friendly. But then it was all right. The company sent me a chauffer to pick me up and get me and my colleague (there are 2 of us from Indo to Perth) to our apartment – it was such a nice limo..:) For the 1st week, we were still just hanging around, so we went to Kings Park, Perth Zoo, mall in the city – they are such beautiful places. Perth is a beautiful city, nice people, neat and clean city, great beaches, but it’s just too quiet for me. Shops closed at 5pm, only some are open on Saturday, and no life on the street after 7pm, etc. I still need to get myself used to this. So I’ve been here for almost 4 months. I work at Nickel Refinery Plant located in Kwinana as a Graduate Process Engineer. I’ve been to Kalgoorlie and Melbourne, and one thing I can say: Melbourne rocks! I like it, but Perth is not too bad either. I’ve lived in Rockingham for the first 3 months, but then I moved to Hamilton Hill. I rent a house with 2 other housemates. They’re Australians, originally from Melbourne and Canberra. It’s good for me, because it forces me to practice my English more intensely at home. So here I am.. and that’s my little story.. well, not that little. Cheers.

**During dinner at TAFE I met some interesting people**
I had an interview with Chao. Here is a summary of it: Chao is from Vietnam, Saigon City to be more specific. She came to Australia 5 years ago. She works in a mushroom farm as a mushroom picker. She lives in Kwinana with her husband. Chao’s husband is an Australian. He works at the same mushroom farm where Chao works as the manager. Her hobby is to taste the meals she cooks. She can cook both Vietnamese cuisine and Australian cuisine. She regularly goes back to Vietnam, and she just came back last month from a trip to Vietnam. During the dinner last week, I also had a conversation with Bal. She was originally from Malaysia. We had a chance to chat in Bahasa for a little bit. About 30 years ago she got married to Michael. He is a Scots. They lived in Suriname for a couple of years, and after that they moved to Australia and stay here until now. They live in Fremantle currently in a lovely house where you can see the views to the river and the beach as well. Bal has 2 children, both are boys. The oldest one was a chemical engineer, just like me, and the second one is a doctor. Bal doesn’t work anymore, but she was working at Fremantle Hospital as a nurse. Her activities now are more focused on creative writing class (Robin’s class) and as a grandma of a 3 month old granddaughter. I sat next to Annie, and of course we had a great conversation. Annie is Fred’s wife. They were from Chile, and they have been here in Australia for more than 20 years. They love Australia, “We can’t complain…” they say about living in Australia. Annie works as a hygiene-instrument analyst at Fremantle Hospital (same place where Bal was working). She has 2 daughters. Both of them now are studying in Uni. The oldest one is 24 years old, studying Architect, the second one is 20 YO, studying Law. She loved the joke about the Architect & Lawyer thing that was told by Bal. Annie is a fun person, and a nice person to have a chat with.
 * __about Chao:__**
 * __about Bal:__**
 * __about Annie:__**