Love Affairs in Melbourne-Chapter 136 - 133: Putting the Cart Before the Horse

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Foreword

Xiao Mo decided to start a new volume today.

In the last few minutes of yesterday, he snagged the first place in the new book’s monthly ticket rankings.

Thanks to the number one Mo Fan, Silver Alliance, thanks to the Lust Emperor’s many large monthly packages, thanks to the Lust Emperor’s generous tipping to the Alliance Hierarch.

Thanks to Yin Bao for the sponsorship, thanks to Little Grass, his uncle, and Old Wound for jointly sending out monthly packages.

Thanks to the whirlwind and lightning.

Xiao Mo will keep trying hard~

~~~

December, when cold begins to spread across the Northern Hemisphere, Melbourne’s fiery Christmas season is about to kick off.

The couple, Yan Dabang, arrived in Melbourne in early December.

After graduating, Yan Yan was unlikely to return to Melbourne to settle down in a short amount of time.

Therefore, the couple wanted to come to Melbourne earlier while Yan Yan was still there, to get accustomed to life here, translate their driver’s licenses, buy a car, and get familiar with driving on the different side of the road compared to China.

Then there was getting to know some Wenzhou families in Melbourne.

This would prevent life in Melbourne from becoming too boring for the two once Yan Yan left for Europe.

Immigration, just a simple two words, but it cannot be summarized in a single simple sentence.

Immigration isn’t necessarily a good thing, just like studying abroad isn’t necessarily.

There are many different types of Chinese immigrants in Melbourne.

There are those like the Yan Dabang couple who have enough retirement funds.

There are those who want their children to receive a better education.

There are those who ride on the coattails of their kids studying here and get their status to come along.

Many people think that immigrants and international students must be wealthy, but the reality isn’t necessarily so.

There are plenty who go to great lengths, even selling off all they have, to send their kids to study abroad, and in the end, they too want to bask in the welfare benefits of growing old in Melbourne.

But both immigration and studying abroad should be matters measured according to one’s capabilities, and are not necessarily suitable for everyone.

Some kids, with particularly poor self-care abilities, are still sent overseas by their parents; such children are unlikely to study or live well abroad.

Locals in Melbourne are the "Starlight Clan", but kids lacking self-discipline are even more extreme, becoming the "Sunshine Tribe". The day they get their living expenses is the day they spend it all; if they really can’t spend it all, they simply contribute it to the Melbourne Royal Casino.

The first day they receive their living expenses is the happiest day of the month, and for the rest of the month, they live on instant noodles, and there are even days when they can only afford one pack and are reluctant to throw away the soup. freēwēbηovel.c૦m

Such children definitely suffer when going abroad.

But parents who decide to immigrate without a plan suffer even more.

Some, with moderate economic conditions, sell their only property at home to rent a house in order to let their child study in Australia first.

After the child gets their status, they quit their jobs back home, which weren’t bad, and follow them abroad.

There are many who were professionals with status and good benefits in state-owned enterprises back in China, but after resigning and immigrating, they start working as hourly workers in Melbourne.

This kind of life is somewhat putting the cart before the horse.

The parents give up everything for their children, and the children feel that they’ve given up everything for their parents.

If it weren’t for the fact that, after Yan Dabang and his wife arrived, maintaining their new home required occasional help from the property management company’s cleaning staff, Yan Yan wouldn’t have known that such a community existed in Melbourne.

Yan Yan didn’t understand why this was needed.

But then, there are lots of things in the world that she couldn’t understand.

Everyone’s desired lifestyle is different, which is perfectly normal.

If one were open-minded, doing physical labor could also bring in a good income in Melbourne, especially for construction workers.

Many people are unaware of Melbourne’s immigration policy; actually, "tradespeople" find it much easier to immigrate than those who attend university in Melbourne.

Upon arriving in Melbourne, Yan Dabang and his wife noticed that those coming to do cleaning were all Chinese, so they took the opportunity to chat whenever they could. After a chat, they found that these workers all worked for the same boss, who was also from Wenzhou.

Starting as cleaners and then opening a domestic service company, it took just half a year.

Due to the number of Chinese families with similar employment needs, the growth of this Wenzhou-owned company, which specializes in serving the Chinese community, was somewhat surprising.

Speaking of domestic services, there’s something quite unique in Melbourne.

If you rent a luxury apartment, purchasing domestic services is mandatory: at least once a week, you must have housekeeping staff thoroughly clean, vacuum, and tidy the kitchen and such.

In Melbourne, once a rental property is handed over to an agency, landlords rarely bother with its upkeep.

The agency takes care of leasing and the entirety of the lease term, including painting walls and replacing carpets after tenants leave.

The principle is simple: agencies return the property in the same condition it was handed over by the landlord.

If someone casually nails something into the wall, they must fix it before moving out.

The agency has this rule for landlords, and tenants have the same obligation towards the agency; it must be returned in its original state.

This might be why property management companies include the purchase of domestic services in the lease contracts of high-end apartments—this way, they can keep better track of whether tenants are "trashing" the place.

The higher the grade of the apartment, the greater the mandatory domestic service fee.

Tenants don’t pay the housekeeping staff directly; these costs are all included in the rent.

In Melbourne, entrusting property management to an agency is an ongoing process, quite different and more mature than in China, where an agency simply introduces a property and collects a referral fee.

......

"When are my cousins coming over?" Yan Yan asked Yan Dabang.

"They should be here on the 12th, they plan to stay for a week. Think about where would be good to take them," Yan Dabang replied.

"To have fun? That I don’t need to worry about. My cousin knows Melbourne better than I do. The last time he came for a month–I felt like I’ve wasted the past few years. The first time I went skiing was when he took me. Without him, I, who’ve been here for years, wouldn’t even know Melbourne had snow mountains." Yan Yan felt she could only give reliable answers to questions about where to eat.

"Is skiing possible in Melbourne? You didn’t take us last time your mum and I came. Maybe we could go with Uncle this time," Yan Dabang also wanted to take Lu Bingran skiing.

In Wenzhou, although there is a place called Snow Mountain, there is basically no snowfall, let alone skiing, so neither Yan Dabang nor Lu Bingran had ever been skiing.

"Uh... I’m afraid that won’t work," Yan Yan indicated that she couldn’t help.

"Why?" Yan Dabang was a bit disappointed and confused.

"You and your wife came last time in the summer, and it’s the same this time. Tell me, how do you ski in the summer?" Yan Yan continued to look innocently at her dad.

"Ah, I’m getting old, completely forgot about that. So, what’s there to do here in the summer?" Yan Dabang, who just started his "retirement life," seemed to have transformed overnight from a tech enthusiast to an "old child," always eager to have fun.

"In the summer, well, you can go to mostly the same places as your last visit, like the Twelve Apostles, Penguin Island, and the Great Ocean Road. These places aren’t really seasonal.

There’s the hot springs on Mornington Peninsula – now you can also pick strawberries without washing them first, just eat all you want before leaving.

Australia had a good grape harvest last year, so visiting the wineries is a nice option.

If you’re interested in wine, Victoria has over eighty wineries. They’re only here for a week; even visiting ten a day they wouldn’t see them all," Yan Yan started to recommend summer destinations.