I stayed with my cousin for a month before moving to my current place in Swindon. In that month, I did not go round 'traveling' for a couple of reasons...
a) WEATHER - as mentioned before, the summer of 2007 is wet and cold and I am afraid of cold. So to me, the best thing is to stay indoors. Nothing wrong with staying indoors cause it's still all new to me. The houses here, the view, the birds, the flowers, the weather. They are all new and different. I am in a foreign land and I still have 23mths to go. What's the rush?
b) POUNDS - The currency exchange from Ringgit (RM) to Pounds is very high, a wooping 7:1 !!! OK, you can argue that I was working in SG earning SGD, but still its 3:1... although I have a certain amount of savings to back me up, I need to be careful on how I spend the money so it could last me 2 yrs. My dad & sis told me if ever i am short of money, they can back me up... thanks... but this is my adventure, I need to do it on my own. (ermm ok la, I cheated a bit by putting up at my cousins...but can save some pounds, of course must save lah)
c) JOB - relevant to the item (b), I need to find a job to support myself. One good thing about this WHM visa is that I am able to find work to support my travel & living cost. There is no limitations as to what job I can undertake but I can only do it for 50% of my time spent in UK. That means if I stay in UK for 24 months, I can work for 12 months. How will they actually check / track? When you get a job in UK, you need to pay tax and National Insurance (which you need to apply for). How tight will they enforce this rule? I don't know. So in the months before I arrived, I already started sending job applications to recruiters in UK. Since money is crucial, I wasted no time to continue on my job search. I shall talk more about the job stuff in another post.
d) I try not to bother other people if I can help it. In my initial plan, I thought I would stay in a hostel before moving into a more permanent place after I get a job. My cousin and her family were very kind and generous to have invited me to stay with them without any obligations. However, I just felt I am intruding their family life. I felt very 'pai seh'. Yes, she is family and I shouldn't feel that way... but I do. It's just the way I am. So, need to find job fast.
Other than the job search, I spent quite some time reading novels my cousin borrowed from the library. I also followed her to visit her friends. Followed the boys to their football matches, and also their sport's day. It's back to simple life. It's nice, not having to work. It's peaceful and relaxing.
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