The four years since the shelter was set-up, we have moved to three houses and by June, it will be our fourth house. House hunting is exhausting; especially when you have limited budget and you need to consider 7 person's input. The first house was in a nice condominium; it felt more like a place of retreat with adult and children's swimming pool. Our heart missed two beats when two of the resident's children went missing. We went frantic but finally realised their father had planted the daughter to lure his other children away from their mother.
To minimise expenses, we had to move. anyway, the landlord was surprised that her house had been occupied by "that type of people"...when asked "what do you mean by that?" her answer was "you know..." My heart was saying "why can't they? they are human, too". But you don't argue with your landlord, not when house hunting can be so annoying.
"wow. spacious. this will be good for them. but what about the two men?"
"oh. they are renting the small unit at the back. They'll use the back entrance."
" ..errr...okayyy..but that would kinda go against our house rules of no men allowed in the house."
"don't worry. we will lock the connecting door so you won't notice their presence."
"...err... okayy...sounds like a plan...."
"...and i am hardly at home and maybe sometimes i may bring back clients..."
ooppssss..
"clients? no no no...we will have children here..."
as i said..house hunting is tiring and time consuming. The sooner you get the house, the better will be your state of mind.
"it's cheap. almost the same as the one we saw. although a little bit dirty, we can spruce it up."
"ok...we will come over to check out the vibes..."
when they said "vibes", they meant the spiritual kind that goes bump in the night. One of a friend's sister had lived with a ghost; a pretty naughty one that locks her up in the toilet but would relent when cajoled.
....but they forgot to check for vibes of the wet type.....
we were located on the 2nd floor yet our stuffs were floating when it poured dogs and cats.... water was coming in from the ceiling and the walls.... this is what i call "instant swimming pool"..
...and so we had to move again within 4 months. The ceiling was practically falling on us especially when it rained.
3rd house.
The neighbour downstairs kept running up; even when we had guests.
"too noisy! too noisy! i can't sleep. I can hear everything you all say downstairs!"
"my ceiling is leaking!"
"somebody threw their hair into my house!"
"your plumbing is too noisy! it's making noise!
wow. how do we make our children play quietly? how did those rubbish come into your balcony when there wasn't anybody in our unit?
It is kind of difficult living with a paranoid neighbour. And so we started hunting again.
"yes! we love your house! we would like to sign up."
"no. people will come in and out of the house. the neighbours will say. malu!"
argue back and forth but you can't argue much because it is their prerogative who they want...
Next day, i ask another estate agent.
"kak, i think it is the same house...errr..maybe not....thank God...oh no! it is the same owner!"
and when asked by the agent why he refused us the house, he said he didn't want a dead body...
i wouldn't want a dead body in my house either but i can't control who wants to die in my house.
so we have people with so many houses and yet there are those who can't even afford a basic house. What is sad is that the ones with so many houses are so prejudiced towards those who couldn't afford them.
A Licensed Counsellor in the making...
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