Just Keep Moving...(Part 2)

Three apartments later and the saga continues...

We loved living with housemates but with a growing family we needed more space for the baby and the subsequent nanny which we planned to hire. So we decided to split up. My sister stayed with me and moved with us to our next apartment which was a 2-bedroom unit in an old condominium building. How old was this condominium building, you say? Well in the two years we were there, we had witnessed construction on three (!) new condominiums on each side of the building, one after the other. Needless to say, the unit was rented out cheaper than the going rate at that time, but to be fair, the noise was quite tolerable. Now this apartment was smaller than any of the other places we had previously rented given the fact that it was a 2-bedroom but we rented it out of necessity more than anything. It was cheap, it was central and it was just the right size. Also, it was now all ours (and my sister's, of course), or rather it was now the baby's. The apartment was taken over by baby stuff. There was a playpen, high chair, stroller, toys, milk tins and feeding bottles in the living room; sterilizer and bottle warmer in the kitchen; baby bath tub in the bathroom and tons of cabinets to store baby's clothes and paraphernalia all over the apartment. My husband also went on a babyproofing binge and tried to stick safety bumpers all over our furniture, which was an epic fail, since our baby pulled them all out anyway the moment she learned how to. Still, we had a lot of memories in that place because that was where we learned how to parent.

Eventually, I got pregnant again, decided to take a break and packed up my family to move back to Manila. When the second baby came though, and with me having no regular work (I was working freelance), we realized Singapore presented more opportunities for us to provide for our growing family and moved back.

  Global Ville

We are currently in a lovely 3-bedroom unit in a condominium building which has lots of other families with young children. There is a sense of community we've found here which we haven't experienced elsewhere. We're friends with the guards, we're familiar with the other residents (although our kids are probably more popular than us) and people are generally friendly to each other. Also, everything is just next door. There's a wet market, a 24 hour supermarket, bakeries,  hawker centres, clinics, preschools and even a cinema (though that last one is a slightly longer walk). I would love to stay here even though me and my husband both work an hour away from our home. But it seems we can't catch a break. Our new landlord has again decided to sell the place. We're almost 5 months into our 1 year contract so we're guaranteed a stay until the end of the year, but after that, who knows. I guess we just have to keep moving.  

 

Just Keep Moving...(Part 1)

I came to Singapore in December of 2004. It was my first Christmas away from my family. It was also the first time I've been on my own, away from home. I spent that first Christmas in a rented 3-bedroom apartment which I shared with 5 adults and 3 kids. For the next few months, I adjusted to living alone and living with strangers. I learned to queue for the bathroom, to take turns doing laundry, to pay my share of the rent and utilities on time, to do ironing, to wake up in time to take the bus to work and to subsist on canned soup and noodles. It was a cheap and quite pleasant arrangement. My housemates introduced me to new friends, one of whom would later become my husband, and made sure I wasn't lonely. But I also missed having privacy and having a place where I could relax and just be myself. So when I heard one of my old officemates was coming to Singapore, I got in touch and asked her if she wanted to share an apartment with me. Soon after, we found the perfect apartment and moved in together.

I loved our first apartment. It was on the top floor (4th floor) of a relatively old building, which meant bigger cuts, bigger space. The landlord just renovated the place so it looked like a condo, with all new fixtures and furniture and unlike other owners who scrimped on renovations and would just splash new paint on the walls, this landlord was a graphic designer who wanted the apartment to look nice. We had accent walls, pendant lamps, modern furniture mixed with antique furniture pieces, and granite flooring for the bathrooms. And she splurged on the kitchen as well. All the kitchen equipment was Ariston, there was a double sink, a humongous 6 foot refrigerator and even an oven. Everything was sleek, shiny and new. Win-win all around. Sure, there was no elevator, but hey climbing up and down those stairs was good exercise. The two of us would eventually share that apartment first with my sister, then two other friends and then my fiance. However, all good things soon came to an end and the dreaded renter's dilemma happened...our building was up for en bloc sale. We had to move.

       Our first apartment at Shrewsbury Road

By the time we moved out of the Shrewsbury apartment, there were six of us sharing it. We moved literally a stone's throw away to an apartment on Moulmein Road. Now this apartment was the complete opposite of our old one. Whereas the old one was sleek, shiny and new this one was the kind of apartment you could describe as lived in, homey and had character. It was again an old building, more of an apartment complex really and this time we were on the second floor. Again we had lots of space, windows all around and overhead fans in all the rooms so it was very airy. Technically, there were only 3 bedrooms but we converted the storage room into a tiny bedroom so it fit all six of us. We rented it unfurnished and brought in our own furniture. Some of the furniture from our old apartment made its way to the new one (bought from the landlord) and we added new pieces as well. By this time I had gotten married and that was my first home as a newlywed. That apartment was also where I started to learn how to cook. However, that was around the time of the economic crises and after months of renting, the owner decided to sell the place. Despite having a 2-year contract in place, we eventually came to an agreement with the landlord to move out after a year provided the owner compensate our moving expenses. And so we moved again.

Our apartment in Moulmein Road

With our next move, we realized how difficult it would be to look for a 4-bedroom apartment and considered splitting up. But we thought we'd try looking first before deciding anything. And good thing we did. Our next apartment was quite a find. It was a split-level penthouse apartment on the 17th floor of a newish condo. It had 4 bedrooms, 5 bathrooms, a balcony and outdoor rooftop. Big enough to fit all six of us. The views were quite stunning and there were lots of floor-to-ceiling windows to enjoy such views. It was a great place for parties and there were a lot of things to celebrate. Here was where I got pregnant and where we brought our first baby home to. You could just imagine how fit a pregnant woman I was climbing up and down stairs inside my home everyday. But again (I'm sure you know the drill by now...) the owner decided to sell the place. And no, that's not a euphemism for the owner decided to throw us out. So we moved, yet again.

 Scenic Heights (our third apartment)