Having unpacked the last box last night and put its contents in their designated space in our new flat, I can finally--and with much delight--say that things are more or less back to normal. Yes, there are two suitcases full of clothes and a huge box full of readings that still need to be sent home, but that's going to be a breeze. I just need to get a balikbayan box (from some store called Jollibee Boxes no less!), fill it with all the stuff, then have it picked up. It's nothing compared to the big move and all that it entailed.
We moved to a new flat two weeks and two days ago. But a month (or a month and a half) before that, things were already hectic. First, we needed to find a flat. This year's flat hunting was actually smoother than last year's. We knew which area we wanted to live, we had a clear idea of how much we were willing to pay, and we knew how to deal with agents better. So after visiting three flats (the first was asking too much for what it actually offered; the second was very nice but we couldn't afford it; the last, though a bit far from school and the city, was also very nice and we could afford it, but it didn't work out in the end), we found one just a few blocks away from where we previously lived. (It was so close we just needed to change the last two digits of the zip code to show the change in block number. And, oh, the other thing, the flat was on the same floor as the previous one, so we didn't even have to change the floor number.)
The problem with this flat was, it was partially furnished, which meant it didn't have anything but an AC in each room. I was pretty struck by that actually, because I thought 'partially furnished' would at the very least include a fridge and washing machine, apart from the AC units. But no, I was wrong. There was no fridge, no washing machine, no beds, no dining table, no chairs, no sofa, no nothing. Until now, I'm not entirely sure why we decided to take it when it didn't really have anything. I suppose part of the reason was that the flat felt okay, maybe even a little nice, when we went to view it. I don't know if that makes sense, but sometimes, you get a feeling about a place, and I've always believed that if it's an okay, maybe even nice, feeling a place is giving you, then it's not so bad even if there are a few things here and there you want to complain about, and if it's within your budget and in the area you want, maybe you should take it.
I suppose we also took it because we were thinking buying the appliances and furnishing we needed would still be cheaper than getting a higher-priced flat in the end. Our agent was also very pleasant, and assured us it would not be difficult finding second-hand stuff, so that was a big plus. She also said that the tenants would probably leave their fridge, because it was old and it was just given to them, and it would actually be more expensive to move it than just leave it there. Over chicken rice and cheese prata and Milo (for me!) and Tiger beer and a successful finishing-a-dissertation story, we decided to take the flat. Yes, with its 2 AC units and (probably) an old fridge and nothing more.
In the next few weeks, we started looking for the best second-hand stuff. Alright, I'm not sure about the best, but we did get some decent second-hand stuff. Credit should go to the owner of our previous flat, who sold us his washing machine for 80sgd, and then told us to just take whatever else we needed--except for the fridge and tv, which he said would go to his sister (and which we wouldn't have taken for free anyway), and some furniture pieces, which would go to his mother (and which we didn't really want anyway, because they wouldn't go well with what we had in mind for the new place). In the end, we took his stove (+LPG) and stove stand, toaster oven, rice cooker, bed and matching bed frame, and other miscellaneous household items--all for free.
Our next goal was to get furniture. We made a plan to go to the Salvation Army, as we'd been advised by various people that we could get good stuff there. We checked online and found out that some branches of the store were open until 9pm on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays. Wanting to avoid the sun and the heat of the day, we decided to go on a Friday to the store's Bukit Timah branch. Thea, my flatmate, and I checked streetdirectory.com for bus directions. We got two different sets of directions, but as there were overlaps, we thought they were the same--and the difference was just a glitch in the system, which streedirectory.com is prone to having anyway. We followed Thea's set of directions, because the bus in hers came first. It was only when we reached our destination that we realized the two sets of directions were actually for two different Salvation Army branches. The one we went to, somewhere in Little India, was the one that closed early.
I'm sure, those of you who are more or less familiar with these areas are wondering how we could have mistaken the two directions for the same if one led to Little India and the other to Bukit Timah, but, as you also probably know, Bukit Timah is a very, very, very long road. It went from end to end of, well, I'm not sure, but what I'm trying to say is that it goes on and on. I suppose we were on the right road, but we went the wrong way: we went left when we should have gone right. Also, you have to understand, even after three years in Singapore, my only hope, every time there are friends or relatives visiting, is that I don't get them lost, so it's not actually much of a surprise we ended up in the wrong side of town. But we were not worried, as it was still early, and we could definitely get to the Bukit Timah store before 9pm.
We did get to where we were supposed to be before 9pm, but the store was nowhere in sight. We called one of our friends who knew the place, and he said we were right where we should be. But, yeah, he did wonder why we were there so late. After explaining to him what the store website said, we went to the church lot where the store was supposed to be located and looked around. But, nothing, we couldn't find it. It was dark all around, and all we could see were the church, which was closed, and stores and restaurants, which, to our relief, were still open. At this point, Thea and I were so hungry--because it turned out this part of Bukit Timah was so far out it was probably closer to Malaysia--we didn't even have the energy to ask around. We were just so happy there was a Subway there. So there we went and ate and decided we'd just go to Ikea the next day. So as not to totally waste our time and efforts though, we went to the Cold Storage there and bought some stuff. We also saw a bakery and strudel store, so we bought apple and banana chocolate strudel and eclairs and vanilla rolls and cream puffs. In the end, it turned out we didn't waste our time after all.
The next day, we went to Ikea. We got a dining table, chairs, and a sofa for the common area. Thea got a mattress (the bed from the former owner is mine!) and I got my chair (which deserves its own blog post!). It took us about an hour to choose the items we wanted and arrange them for delivery. The staff there asked us if we wanted help in putting the furniture together, but we said no. We were confident we could put everything together. We were also thinking that the sofa, which would probably be the hardest to assemble, would come 'as is' and we wouldn't have to assemble it. We just couldn't imagine how it would have come in parts. There was also another reason: we were trying to avoid more expense.
Everything was looking good, and all we needed to do was pack our things and move. A week before the move, our agent informed us that the tenants wanted to sell us their fridge and washing machine together. Since we already secured a washing machine and knew that the fridge that was being sold to us was really old (in fact, we couldn't believe they'd actually sell it, though we think it's probably why they included the washing machine), we declined the offer. This meant we needed to find a fridge--and fast! I went through the online classifieds first, and found two good deals. I was too late on the first one, as it just got sold, and too early on the second, as it wouldn't be available until later. Thea and I decided to look at the newspapers we had accumulated while looking for a flat. Fortunately for us, we found a store that sold reconditioned stuff.
The store was in Ang Mo Kio, another area we weren't really familiar with. This time, though, we didn't get lost, found the place without much difficulty, and got a fridge in about 15 minutes. There was a bit of a suspenseful moment when the sales person told us we needed to add a few more dollars to make the fridge last longer, and then he paused, as if he wanted us to get used to the idea. Thea and I were a bit worried, because we didn't know how much 'a few more dollars' would translate into. And the pause was unnerving. Then he said, "You need to add 9sgd more." I guess you could imagine how relieved we were by that--but we were also curious as to why the sales person thought it was a big deal. On our way back, we decided he probably just had a flair for the dramatic. Or maybe he thought we were very poor. Whatever. The important thing was we got ourselves a fridge.
During our last week at our old place, we also made arrangements for phone and internet transfer. We hired a mover. We packed and packed and packed. When the day finally came to move, we were already so tired it was a wonder we were still able to carry some of our stuff ahead of the movers and cleaned parts of the new flat. That day and in the following days, we waited for deliveries, cleaned out cabinets and drawers and bookcases, soaped and washed and disinfected toilets, sinks, tiles, and floors, unpacked and sorted and organized our clothes, books, readings, etc, assembled furniture (actually, it was mostly Fama who did this, and yes, even the sofa needed to be assembled) and arranged them, and threw out trash again and again and again. My tiredness was such that I couldn't sleep. If I did sleep, it would be uncomfortable, restless like I didn't sleep at all. It was only after the first week in the new flat that I began sleeping properly again.
Complaining about it, I was told by Lis, one of my closest friends, that I should just think of the whole thing as a cleansing process--the cleansing of whatever negatives vibes had been left behind by the former tenants. That made me think, and I realized she was right. After the clean-up, the place felt much lighter, more airy, more open. And to some extent, it wasn't just the cleansing of whatever negative vibes the former tenants left, it was also a cleansing of my own negative vibes as I threw away stuff accumulated over the years, stuff I didn't need, stuff that was taking the space of other things I really needed. I suppose one good thing a move would force you to do is to make a decision about stuff you'd keep and stuff you'd lose. In that moment of decision, you realize that which is really important to you and that which you can let go. I'd like to think that, for that reason, it's not only the place that feels lighter, I also feel lighter (though I think the lightness probably has to do with all the moving about that I've been doing since the move--still a good thing, right?), and it's just what I need to carry out my plans for the second half of the year.
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