Becoming an Aussie

I am now officially an Aussie. I have a certificate to prove it. The minister has given notice that the abovenamed is an Australia citizen! I also have a daisy. Well, actually some seeds that I have to grow myself. The box containing the seeds provides me with some words that I may wish to say every-now-and-then: "As an Australian citizen, I affirm my loyalty to Australia and its people, whose democratic beliefs I share, whose rights and liberties I respect, and whose laws I uphold and obey." It also tells me to add water to pellet to allow it to expand and to keep moist until my daisy is starting to sprout.

The ceremony was in Blacktown, which is a long way away, and Sha and I had to leave very early whilst lugging the entire Sydney street atlas with us in case we got lost. I wore a tie. Sha and I were not allowed to sit together. I had to sit on the front row on the left hand side of the hall. Sha had to sit at the back. We then sat for about an hour whilst the hall filled up, but nothing much else happened. "Luckily" we got to hear some inspiring country music: "twang, twang, oh, there's nothing better than a billy of tea ....". We then had a complete rendition of the Man from Snowy River about the man dodging the wombat holes as he comes down the mountain on his horse.

Finally, the ceremony started. It took about 10 minutes. First all the people with a red dot on their pledge card had to stand up. Out of the ~500 people in the room about 450 people got up. These were the people wishing to use the word "God" in their pledge. The few of us sitting at the front, left corner of the room had yellow dots on our pledge cards and were frowned upon. Finally, our corner of the room got to stand up, plus one poor man who was obviously sitting in the wrong spot and was surrounded by people that probably spent the rest of the ceremony trying to save his soul. We then all sang the national anthem and then it was all over!!

Sha and I celebrated by checking out the pet shop and then going into the city for some Japanese noodles. We also checked up on her permanent visa application. Finally, we went to Burwood for some amazing Sichuan hotpot. Oh, we bought a tiny laptop which Sha is trying to install at the moment.

Sha has told me that I have to say how happy I am to be an Australian because it will make mum pleased! So, I'm very happy to be an Australian!! Although I don't think that I'll support our(!) football team.

Oh, when we were checking issues with Sha's visa I got to say that I was an Australian citizen! I was very proud. I didn't mention that I wasn't a few hours before!

Ah ... I apparently have to mention my dad in this blog otherwise "he'll be upset". Hi dad!