We have launched the “Your Aussie Story” series around this time last year. Now here we are again, welcoming yet another year with an inspiring and relatable story of an immigrant here in Australia. I’m very enthused, grateful and proud that we get to continue to showcase your stories.
As for our guest for today, she’s someone that you may have seen on TikTok before. I’ll give you a clue, her TikTok videos usually end by her saying “Imkompyused”. Let’s get to know her a bit more personally as she talks about her journey in Australia. Please welcome Rovie of The Mommy Roves:
A bit about me
My name is Rovie, I’m a full time working mom in Australia who loves creating content on social media, hence, you may see me on The Mommy Roves or on imkompyused. Prior to moving to Australia, I was working in the sales industry in the Philippines while my husband “Facundo” was working in the IT industry. When I gave birth to our son Leon, our lives and priorities changed. We were first time parents who were responsible not only for our own little family. We needed to find ways to effectively support 3 families.
Why we migrated to Australia?
Australia was not in our radar at first. We were mainly considering the US or Canada as my husband had opportunities to travel in those countries in the past. We had some friends who successfully migrated to Australia and they convinced us to migrate to AU instead. We toured the country in 2016 to attend a wedding and Australia blew our mind. We were impressed by how clean and efficient the country is and that was when we have decided to migrate to Australia instead. In 2017, my husband was given an opportunity to transfer to Australia through his company who sponsored him with a 457 Working visa (which is now 482) and luckily, my son and I were included as dependents.
What we like about living in Australia?
We’ve been in Australia for 5 years now and it has been amazing. We are grateful for the opportunities and privileges that we have here. Let me give you a few examples. Medicare and Centrelink benefits are a huge help. It gives us a blanket of assurance that when we get sick or when we’re in need, that we’ll have those benefits to help us. There’s also the established daycare as well as before and after school care systems. Although these services can be expensive, they are quite handy for parents who want to pursue their careers.
Let’s not forget the free and accessible parks as well as the (NSW) government support vouchers which enables us to enroll our son to sports and creative classes to help him become more well rounded. And of course, the transportation system and traffic rules make the commute to work less exhausting compared to what we have experienced back in the Philippines.
However, I must admit that it’s still very challenging, especially because we are living here without our families around us. It can be very sad and difficult to not have family members to reach out to when we need help especially during the moments when we feel overwhelmed.
The challenging first couple of years
Apart from the homesickness, the need to learn a lot of things all at the same time came as a shock. I had to learn to navigate my way around Sydney — the transport, groceries, where to buy certain things, what to buy for the house, amongst many others. I had to learn to cook, clean, iron and use appliances that were new to me (growing up we didn’t have a dishwasher, oven, dryer, vacuum cleaners etc.). The budgeting was a challenge too, especially on a single income, being that goods and rental costs are surprisingly high.
In the Philippines, we lived with my husband’s parents who fortunately have a helper. During those times, we had support to help us through and I did not know how hard it is to do everything on your own. I realised how lucky we were to have someone doing the laundry, cleaning and grocery shopping for us. Growing up, we did not have a helper but my lola (grandmother) was so nurturing that she did almost everything at home. I remember complaining every time she asked me to do the dishes or hand wash the laundry, not knowing that those skills she was teaching me would be so useful when I moved to another country. Now, every time my lola and I would video call, she’ll laugh and say “wow, nagpaplantsa ang donya! (wow, the lady boss is ironing!)” because she knew how “lazy” I was growing up.
I also did not realise that I had to adjust to the language. Despite knowing English, there was still a “language barrier” because of the different accents in Australia. Before coming here, I was confident that I could easily blend in because of my fluency in English but I was wrong. I found myself getting confused with the language and the way words are pronounced. I needed to get used to listening and understanding the Aussie accent (and all other accents). To be fair, they had to adjust to me too.
Anyway, it was challenging! That’s why I do those skits on TikTok — to help potential migrants to adjust to the language and avoid or minimise the barriers. In my TikTok videos, I do these Aussie pronunciations and Aussie slang contents.
Last but not the least, I had to learn the healthcare system, as it was different from that of the Philippines. Our bodies also experienced shock and changes. I had skin infections and boils because of the water, my son had 2 lung procedures because of a misdiagnosis. There were so many new things that were happening to our body that we needed to learn about and address. We did so by asking questions and getting support from our friends.
What I would’ve done differently
If I were to do it all over again, I would have researched more, read more and talked to a lot more people, especially to Filipino migrants and ask them about their experiences and their advice. When we were migrating, the excitement came in first and was then followed by shock the moment we arrived and started living here. I had this romanticised concept of “living abroad” and I didn’t realise the challenges that came with it. That’s what inspired me to create #imkompyused on TikTok. I wanted to share how migrating to Australia “kompyused” (i.e. confused) me and how those little funny skits would help other migrants to navigate their way in Australia.
Important things I’ve gained since migrating to AU
I’ve gained so much since we migrated here. Moving to Australia has given me this sense of maturity and independence. Though life could be busy at times, I think the thing that inspired us to move is seeing how “family oriented” this country is. In our jobs, we are encouraged to leave at exactly 5PM (or whatever time the shift ends) to make way for our responsibilities at home, like picking up the son from daycare or school, or bringing our kids to their extracurricular activities.
This allows us to be physically present for our son, who is now 8 years old (he was just 2 when we moved) and be there for him and attend to his needs personally while we also pursue our careers. Unlike in the Philippines, we found ourselves staying back late, or stuck in traffic only to come home to our sleeping baby and leaving him early the next day. We learned to do things all together as a family and bond.
Moving to Australia has allowed us to fulfill our goals for the family and also support our respective (extended) families in the Philippines.
Being in Australia has also given me the chance to be open and respectful to everyone from all races, cultures, nationalities, genders and abilities. Before coming here, I had this concept of Australia — one that is full of Caucasians, just like in the movies. However, when we migrated, I was shocked to see how multicultural this country is! I also learned about its indigenous people — the real custodians of the land. It has opened my eyes on diversity and multiculturalism. Living here has humbled me and taught me to be open, kind and respectful to everyone. I also learned to be careful of the things that I say and the questions I ask, as it may be perceived as “racist” or “inappropriate” despite my best intentions.
Life now is …
My life now is crazy busy but good and we are so grateful. After 5 years of many ups and downs, we are proud to say that we have somehow adjusted to the life in Australia. My husband and I have found ourselves in jobs that are secure enough to provide for our families. Our days are usually busy and are comprised of working and bringing our son to his karate, swimming and guitar classes. We have a dog named Neo. Despite the busy schedule, we still find time to cycle on the weekends.
I’m also proud to say that we are now living in our own home which we have “bravely” purchased. This is our first home. We are still very surprised by how we were able to build our own house given the time frame but as I’ve discussed in my Youtube and TikTok, we had a lot of “lakas ng loob” (guts) to grab this opportunity. We were lucky to have built through the First Home Owners program that allowed a very minimal deposit in exchange for a huge amount of loan. We were brave enough to grab this opportunity. Therefore, we are working extra hard to pay off that huge mortgage.
Apart from slowly ticking our own family goals, living in Australia has also allowed us to support our respective families back home. I don’t think that I would’ve been able to provide this amount of support to my family back in the Philippines had I not migrated to Australia. Although, I must say that in exchange for these little “wins”, I have lost loved ones due to COVID. I was not able to visit them because of the restrictions. It pains me that those loved ones would not be able to see the fruits of our hard work.
Are you new here in Australia? Here’s some advice
Be resilient.
It would be challenging and very confusing at first but as you slowly navigate your way through, thing will get better. Filipinos are so resilient, so hardworking and so adaptive to change. Still, do not be afraid to ask questions and ask for help when you need them. Things could be so overwhelming and it is important to seek help. Find a trusted friend who would help you with things like finding a place to live in, assembling furniture, lend furniture from and many more. However, I must say that at the same time, be careful of who you trust.
Moving here should not feel like a competition or a race. It doesn’t matter what your visa is or how you got to Australia. To me, all that matters is that if you are here to fulfill your goals then find a person who will help you do so. That is how we were able to adjust to Australia and achieve our goals — we have friends who helped push us up. And that friend who convinced us to move to Australia? It’s the same friend who pushed us and helped us build our first home. 🙂
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About the ” Your Aussie Story” series:
Immigrants in Australia, though from different cultures and backgrounds, tend to have similar experiences and common ‘struggles’ as they build their new life here in Australia. Through My Aussie Story, I’ve been trying to help out people like myself to be able to navigate the Australian way of life a little bit easier by sharing my own experiences.
I’ve always believed that every migrant’s journey would be less challenging if we learn from each other. This is why we’ve created Your Aussie Story. Your Aussie Story is a ‘series’ in our website where we feature inspiring stories of immigrants in Australia.
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Disclaimer All content and information in this post is for purposes of sharing my experiences only, does not constitute professional advice and does not establish any kind of professional-client relationship.
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