Tuesday, August 31, 2010

_more than a pad_

Long overdue, but I'm finally taking time to write about something important to me and my bes.

I am admittedly sentimental. With that said, I was a little sad leaving the flat we've lived in for 2 years.

How do you say goodbye to a place where you spent probably half of your life in a foreign land?

The simplest things gave life to this place.


:: my first Christmas in Singapore, 2008 ::


I love how the smell of freshly brewed barako coffee wakes us up during weekend mornings. Pair that coffee with our homemade choco banana pancake or cinnanom toast and my day is already complete.



:: father's day 2009/vodka night with my dad, no less!::



:: another one of those vodka nights with our giant cards ::


I love lazing on the couch or in my bed during hot afternoons dressed in house clothes that outsiders are not supposed to see (although sometimes it happens by accident. Tsk tsk!) I love staring at my orange bedroom walls and how they actually make my day and even night bright. (Sorry, no photo of my bedroom for this post.)



:: my favorite corner in the living room ::


It was this place that made me enjoy doing chores. Whoever thought I'd love being Inday. :P And thanks to having a chef of a best friend and flatmate, I never missed most of the Filipino dishes since we make it in our own kitchen. Chicken adobo with ginger, daing na bangus, sinigang na hipon, adobong pusit and our award winning leche flan all kept homesickness at bay. :)



:: the hallway which we passed by a thousand times ::


The flat was witness to a lot of memorable moments: birthday celebrations that were fun from the preparation stage until we wrapped up; my first Christmas in SG which I thought I'd spend alone but turned out to be a party (we even had friends fly in from Manila); countless vodka and wine nights which consisted of conversations from shallow to serious stuff about our future plans (work and love life included), and our past (work and love life definitely included); from the bathroom sink, my best friend announced that she was engaged and I shrieked with delight; in my bedroom and practically anywhere in the house, we discussed her wedding plans; we made the dining area a factory of purple themed wedding favors; knocking on my bedroom door on an ordinary friday, Sam showed me her pregnancy test kit where the word "pregnant" was glaring at me -- and that friday turned out to be extraordinary! And from then on, we discusssed everything there is to discuss about pregnancy. I especially enjoyed discussing possible names for their baby. I am just so happy now that they are not naming him Brandon (no offense to all the Brandons out there).



:: sam's birthday sparklers which almost caused fire :P ::


On a more personal note, this flat, specifically my bedroom, became my refuge. It was where I cried myself to sleep and and recovered from heartaches. I won't elaborate on that anymore. What's important is I'm ok now, and I will always remember our Compassvale flat as the place where I dealt with the worst and celebrated the best.



:: our very last big gathering: my 31st ::


And most importantly, this flat was where we nurtured a home. Bes and I have always wanted to be flatmates and Singapore made that happen.

Leaving this flat was altogether a different thing for me. I was not only vacating a flat. I was leaving something good for the hope of something better.

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