About this time I met Joseph Lee a government servant from KK. He was on a one year in-service training course in Melbourne. He had a very old Ford Prefect which he bought for eighty pounds. We had a great time together, going to the Saturday dances held in the Hawthorn town hall, picking up girls, going to parties every single weekend, cooking curries and speaking Hakka. Joe was also very home sick and so was I. He came very often to my house to take me out for a ride to the beach at St. Kilda, visit Luna Park or the ice skating ring. Some times we visited the catholic student centre in Fitzroy run by our chaplain, Fr. O’Conner from Ireland. He arranged free film shows or barbecues for us every month; but we had to say grace and the rosary first! We made some friends at the student centre but they were all as home sick and lonely as we were.
The Rotarians and the Lions in Victoria very often sponsored us on trips to visit the country to get to know the real Anglo Saxons Australians besides the Italians, Greeks and Yugoslavs in Melbourne. On one of these trips I met Malcolm Fraser, an MP in the Harold Holt government. Soon, Joseph Lee went home to Sabah. I found new friends and tried very hard to settle down to study; but it was no use. I moved to another house again!
No comments:
Post a Comment