You have no idea how wet and cold Melbourne is lately. I’m toasting by the heater as we speak, warming the left side of my body while the other half is freezing. It’s 11 degrees at the moment. A far cry from the 31 degrees I grew up and was accustomed with in the tropics. You’d think I should’ve gotten used to the cold by now but I haven’t. I don’t think I ever will.  Heck, there are people who pretty much lived here all their lives and even they are complaining about the cold!

You’d be surprised how the weather can actually be a very good conversation starter if you just know how to break the ice one chip at a time. Not that I’m a sensational conversationalist but I reckon I’m not that sloppy either.

Yesterday, during my 30-minute break at work, I was able to squeeze in a heart-to-heart conversation with a new staff, a fellow Filipino from Leyte. I found out that not only was she a Yolanda survivor, but two months after that tragedy, she survived an armed robbery as well.

Yep, and it all started with the usual “Omg, it’s freezing today!”

Also yesterday, one patient told me, in her own words, that I was “so beautiful.” I don’t know if it was the Propofol talking as she just woke up from the anaesthetics but I’ll take what I can get.

And, no, it had nothing to do with the weather but it’s not everyday that somebody tells me I’m “so beautiful” so I’m deliberately gonna sprinkle that in here so I can bask in the warmth of that comment a bit longer.

Like I said, I’m cold.

And because I’m cold, allow me to reminisce back to summertime when the sun was out, the sky was blue, and Raven and I were happily half-buried in the sand.

We had been promising to take her to the beach. For one reason or another, it took a while to happen but Jeff and I made sure to follow through, albeit on the last leg of summer.

In return, she got a mermaid tail.

Raven gets a lot of compliments when wearing these sunnies. Nothing much happened on this day but I remember this elderly couple walking on the shore who stopped by to tell her that her sunnies were nice.

“Where did you get those?” he asked, leaning down to her like you do when you’re speaking to a child.

“Where did you get those?” he asked again, a bit louder this time.

Apparently, the question was directed to me! Not that I didn’t hear him the first time but I honestly thought he was talking to her. It gets confusing sometimes when adults talk to kids expecting the parents to answer on their behalf. Like, do you want me to answer that or are you just having a playful monologue with my kid?

It’s as awkward as beso-beso, the act of greeting someone with a kiss on the cheek. I avoid it as much as I can.

“I got them online,” I quickly replied, feeling a bit embarrassed.

He must have thought I was stupid.

In that case, he was exactly right.

But, yeah, her adorable pink sunnies: I got them from Babiators, in case you’re interested.

*raven at 2 years old