It lasted only for less than 2 weeks, but I still can't shake the feeling that during that short while, I called Perth "home". Perth, from what I've read on the ever reliable Wikipedia, placed 8th in the World's Most Liveable Cities by The Economist, and just having that feeling of being so much at ease there made me a true believer of this achievement. Almost everything I do at the moment reminds me of that beautiful place filled with lovely people. I'm sure some of these things are not exclusive to Perth, Western Australia, or Australia as a whole, but it's my first time to encounter such things there.

Scenery

Speaking of encounters, the bird's eye view of crowded Metro Manila from the airplane window is indeed a scary encounter that reminded me of how spacious and clean Perth is. The city itself had smaller buildings compared to that of Makati. There are also lots of parks in every area, as well as really clean lakes and rivers that are great for fishing. Yes, there are many kinds of fish and other marine animals in their bodies of water, not just schools of janitor fish.

Looking at the local Mayas flying here took me back to the many variations of birds seen throughout Perth. The Fremantle Port and its nearby beaches feature pelicans, while the mountains have ducks. In the city, there are really colourful birds alongside really noisy crows that can beat the meows of our stray cats in heat any time.

Climate

Now that I've mentioned heat, just after getting out of the plane, I was welcomed by the very hot climate that made me remember how cold it was back in Perth. And since I'm not accustomed to the weather, I'd see everyone in their everyday clothes just doing what they want without a care in the world, while I'm sitting on the corner shivering like a sick puppy. I brought several shorts in my baggage, and only one of five was used simply because it was just impractical for me to wear them. It did help that I bought a thick jacket there, which I decided to leave there because I'm sure I won't be able to use it here. I'll just perspire inside while walking around Makati with that thing.

Community and Transportation

That reminds me. While walking around and crossing the streets of Makati, I recalled cars with the driver's seat on the right instead of left, with the "right of way" being on the left side instead of the other way around. This has always confused me as to which door I should enter whenever we want to go out. Also, the switched road lanes make it dangerous for me to cross because I tend to look at the direction opposite of where the cars supposedly come from.

Returning back to the subdivision where I live in made me think of how wide the areas of the Perth suburbs are. The houses are gateless, yet there's still the feeling that you're living in a secure community because of all the friendly people around who always greets you with a smile. There are no humps on the roads, as they are replaced by mini rotundas known as roundabouts. These function both as means to slow vehicle speed as well as manage intersections.

Commuting to work evoked memories of how Australians are almost always never late. I would attribute this to their wide roads that have lesser cars passing through them, as well as much disciplined drivers. These make slow traffic flow almost inexistent, thus letting you arrive to your destination really fast regardless of distance, as well as busses arriving on their bus stops exactly at their designated times.

Spelling and Vocabulary

Speaking of bus stops, seeing the advertisements on busses and taxis here brought back memories of certain things here that are labelled differently in Australia. Candies and sweets are usually called "Lollies". As such, you buy these things in Lolly Shops, which are coincidentally filled with kids as well. I'll just leave it at that. Tissue papers, on the other hand, are called "Toilet Rolls" when inside toilets and "Serviettes" when placed on dining tables. Their favourite sport is Australian Football, colloquially called "Footy". Don't let the name fool you though; it's not the football you and I know, whether it be the American contact sport, the European name for Soccer, or even the other name for Rugby in New Zealand. They have their own set of rules that somewhat combine the three footballs I mentioned. Anyway, you'll be hearing a lot of footy chatter in Aussieland. McDonald's, colloquially called "McD" in the US and "McDo" in the Philippines, is called "Maccas". And while not a different term essentially, Burger King is named "Hungry Jacks" due to trademark issues. If all that is giving you a headache, you won't find pharmacies there to buy your poison. You buy them in "Chemists", which somewhat sounds more like a dance club or a bar to me. Then again, I'd imagine Australians being dumbfounded if they see drug stores in our country, thinking they'll get high inside.

As I am typing this journal, it took me back to how Australians spell their words. They follow the British English spelling convention, which either adds additional letters, switches letter positions, or change some letters on words altogether, for reasons I don't know as of yet. Take for instance the word "Color". An additional vowel "u" is added between the second "o" and the last letter "r", making it "Colour". The word "Center", on the other hand, has the last two letters switch positions, turning it into "Centre". The word "Recognize" will have the consonant "z" changed into "s", transforming into "Recognise". The different spellings don't really alter the pronunciation of words if you look at it; especially on words of American spelling convention that are spelled as pronounced. "Program" and "Programme", despite the additional letters, would be imagined to sound the same. However, how "Diarrhea" turned into "Diarrhoea" is beyond me. It's probably the only British-spelled word that irks me.

Toilets

Speaking of Diarrhoea, seeing the comfort room signs here made me remember politically correct term for this place: the toilet. Force of habit made me ask an Australian where the comfort room is, and he was not familiar with the term. From now on, I'll see to it that I use the term toilet instead of comfort room, the more convenient "CR", or even bathroom. This made me realize something: Why did we not abbreviate bathroom into "BR"?

Getting inside the CR, I mean toilet, I recalled that while most of the indoor toilets found in shopping centres are squeaky clean, the outdoor ones found near parks are really untidy. Seats are sometimes soiled and muddy, and mirrors are scratched with vandalism. Such outdoor toilets, by the way, are high tech despite the smell. Aside from the automatic flush that's already a common thing on our comfort rooms, these toilets have a 10-minute timer on the door. I really don't know what happens after 10 minutes. Maybe it opens up to reveal your "activity" to the public. Well, regardless of being high tech or not, these toilets never fail to have toilet rolls available. It's something that's almost always absent on our side of things, especially in malls.

Shopping Centres and Other Establishments

Since I've mentioned malls, strolling around Glorietta made me think of the many shopping centres around Perth. They are everywhere; either as huge parking spaces with individual buildings of shops or as a wide building with all the shops inside. Either way, they're not as huge as the malls here, and are not "all-in-one" places in terms of customer entertainment. Movie theatres and video game arcades are not commonplace here, and are usually located on their own, separate establishments. Despite this, the shops themselves can be considered "all-in-one" solutions to both needs and wants, whether they're food, clothes, toys, gadgets, or even plants. Yes, plants. I'm surprised to see one shopping centre with an indoor greenhouse. What's noticeable as well is that they are usually just really wide one storey areas, wide enough for you to bring your pushcart wherever you like. Food and drinks are also not prohibited when strolling inside the stores. Another noticeable difference between our malls and their shopping centres is that there is no shop exclusivity. Target and Kmart, for example, are competing department stores that can be found together in the same building despite selling the same range product. It's something you won't see happening between SM and Robinsons. Other examples are competing groceries Coles and Woolworths, also with the same deal.

Going home late from work evoked memories of how shopping centres and other establishments close earlier than what I'm used to. I don't know the exact schedule of things, so I'll just put this up in a vague way: on certain days, certain establishments on certain areas close as early as 3 PM. The usual closing time is 5 PM, and it seems that the 9 PM closing happens just once a week. And when I say establishments, I mean individual stores and not whole shopping centres. For example, at a certain shopping centre, the groceries are open till 9 PM while the restaurants close at 5 PM. Therefore, at most days, the city is dead past 5 PM. You'd see really few people on the streets by then.

People

That reminds me. Getting to mingle with people here again reminded me of how friendly the Aussies are. When leaving the bus, they rarely forget to say "Thank you" to the driver. The sales attendants there don't pester you as much as the sales attendants here. They'll basically just ask you if you're doing well with your shopping instead of pushing you to buy the thing that you're looking at. They're also well informed with what they're selling, and if they don't know the answer to your question, they'll say it up front and lead you to someone who can help you better. That being said, they're also very helpful. At one night, we were tasked to buy two cases of Heineken on a place filled with what looked like rednecks. Scary as these huge guys were, they were very friendly and even assisted us in carrying the cased to the car's trunk. If you end up not buying anything, no worries. They'll still bid you a "See you later", still with a sincere smile. And when you do decide to reach the cashier to pay for your purchases, they'd always greet you with a smile and a "Hi", "Hello", or "How are you doing". They'd always tend to start a conversation with you, sometimes talking about what you just bought, or simply say "I like your shirt", among other things. Whenever we ride the train, it's as if no Aussie is alone there. Everybody's talking with someone whom they probably met as a stranger in the past. It's as if being able to connect with someone is a necessity for them.

So there you have it. That pretty much sums up my impression of Perth during my short stay. It feels so different from the country where I came from, yet it feels like I've stayed there for a very long time. It's as if I've always belonged there. Everything feels familiar, yet new and fresh, and I'm looking forward to what they can offer me as well as what I can offer to them in the future, given the opportunity of a return trip.