When I arrived in Wagga Wagga, it was freezing, which was a shock for me coming from Karachi in Pakistan! At first, I was a bit homesick and depressed. But after a few months, I moved in with Gloria, an elderly lady, who really made an effort to introduce me to the...
My parents had a good life in Burma, in the upper echelons of society, with a huge house and many servants. But my older brother was born with a rare blood disorder, and my parents were told he wouldn’t live long due to the quality of medical care in Burma. Also in...
It took us 3 near death attempts to escape communist Vietnam. The first time, I was six years old. Of the three boats, one made it to resettlement, one completely sank, and ours started sinking, until luckily 5 hours later a fisherman’s boat came by and rescued us. My...
One of my earliest experiences in Australia was having my first Tim Tam in the hotel room in Adelaide after a very long flight. I remember thinking, ‘Oh my God, I have to keep the other one for my husband!’, but then after an hour, saying, ‘Nah’, and eating it myself!...
At primary school, I was always trying to fit in, but I stood out for a number of reasons, and was often teased. First, I was the only Greek kid in my mostly Anglo Australian class. Whenever my parents came to school, I was very embarrassed because they spoke Greek....
