The Days of a Silly and Ordinary Girl! :D

Watching "Found" left me feeling sentimental for the day. It makes me rethink about myself, and how lucky I was and I am (still) being born as a girl and the third child in a Chinese family in Indonesia. Well, if my parents had been living in mainland China during the times of "One Child Policy", I would probably have never been born, I would not be here right now, typing this post and smiling awkwardly thinking about how weird it would be. 

Here's my logic, with the policy, I would not have stood a chance as the third child. They would probably stop having child after my eldest brother was born. He was a baby boy, he would carry the family name, and they would for sure keep him in the family. My second brother would still stand a chance, maybe, but since he was a baby boy too, I don't think they would send him to orphanage and give him up for adoption abroad, he probably would be adopted by a close relative, but he'd still be around. While for me, as the third child, as a baby girl, I really don't think they would have much choice. The penalty would be too much for them to cover, and no other relatives might want a baby girl. So either they don't have me at all after the second child, or they really should give me up. My mom stopped by to watch some parts when I was watching the documentary, and she said "They were still lucky to get adopted in good families, I heard that some families even left their babies to die and even floated them on the river, with a very small chance of surviving." *shocked 

See how lucky I was? I would have almost NO chance living with my family if I was born in mainland China that year. Although I doubt that my family would let me die XD or float me on any river, but still, I would probably be separated from my biological parents and brothers, or maybe, I wouldn't even exist at all XD I'm not saying that being adopted by another family is a bad case, NOT AT ALL, the babies might have much better lives living with their adoptive parents. My point is, it was so unfair for baby girls, they didn't get to choose their genders, but just at the very moment that they were born, they faced discrimination right away. 

On the other side, the documentary also lets us see from the perspective of the parents who had to give up their children. They were often left with no choice and how heartbroken they must have been, having to leave their children, not knowing whether they will live or not, not knowing what will become of them. These parents might have guilt, remorse, and regret haunting their lives, and most people who don't understand would just point their fingers to them and criticize them for being "bad parents who threw their children away". They must have felt sad too thinking that their children might hate them for giving them up, that the children would feel abandoned and unwanted and blame them for that. But we never knew how they have been feeling inside all this time. Just because they leave their children, doesn't mean they wanted to do that. 

It was quite crowded when we arrived, and it took me by surprise to find out that restaurants charge more on public holidays, like 10-20% more. (it was 15% surcharge in The Grounds of Alexandria), which was also confirmed by my ex-student. He said it is very common in Australia, and this is also probably why part-timers are paid more for working on the 'holiday' shift. 

This is something I've never found happen in Indonesia, or maybe it does? but I just never come across it? Hmm, or maybe I didn't eat out often enough? 

Well, the Grounds of Alexandria is well known as one of Australia's top instagrammed locations and to be honest, that was what initially attracted me to this place. XD I guess I simply needed to find out what the hype was all about :DD

But we got there, there were so many people, and it was almost impossible to explore and look around while also trying our best to find some seats. We were both first-timers and we didn't know back then that there are several parts in the Grounds and three main spaces: The Garden (a restaurant serving BBQ meals and bar), The Potting Shed (a rustic garden themed restaurant), and the Cafe (bakery, patisserie, and cafe).