The plane landed on Melbourne airport in the morning of the 7th June 2012. I had heard before that this was the cold time in Australia, but I did not feel as cold as I expected. Australia to me first was the big airport of Melbourne. I got out of the airport later than others because my luggage was stopped for checking by the airport custom officers. The checking lasted for about 30 minutes. When I got to the lounge of the airport, other AusAID students had already been there. I thought they had left the airport to go to their temporary accommadation but the airport pick-up service company got confused with the list of arrivers... Some had their name in the list, but some did not. The company also had difficulties in sorting out the names because Vietnamese names are very tough for them to pronounce. Now I had a chance to count how many Vietnamese students had flown on this flight, i.e. more or less than 30.
The AusAID students had time to talk to each other a little bit. But everyone seemed to look forward to reaching their accommadation. Some students tried to find and buy telephone cards in order to call their family members in Vietnam to inform they had arrived in Melbourne...
... I checked the list again and found my name on the list that I hadn't found it before. So now I could give a sigh of relieve...
We followed an Australian woman to her minibus. I asked her where the driver was. "I'm your driver" said the woman. She opened the bus boot and helped everyone to put their luggage into the boot. Then she arranged seats for everyone and she started the bus. I found the woman did everything very solidly and confidently like a very very senior and professional driver. In Vietnam I have seen many taxi drivers as women but I still felt this woman was different from female taxi drivers in Vietnam. I don't know how to say but now I still feel she was amazing!
...So the bus was running. The weather outside was very cold and it was drizzling. Our driver turned on the built-in radio, so I felt warmer eventhough I hardly understood what people was talking about on the radio.
On the way from the airport to Melbourne city, there were very few people. The streets were not busy like in Vietnam. I saw short wooden houses surrounded by gardens. Yes most of the houses were very short and fat!
...
The driver dropped each student to his place and I was the last person on the bus. I had a small talk with her and she said her brother had been to Vietnam. I also had a chance to tell her that I was surprised to see a female driver, who was very professional and considerate...
She stopped the bus at 67 Perry street, where I was going to stay for the coming days. She helped me to bring my luggage into my house.
At that time, I saw a woman sweeping and cleaning up the space in front of her house. I guessed that was chi Huyen.
Yes, my prediction was true. That's chi Huyen. I said thanks to the driver and chi Huyen invited me to come in her house...
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