Klessis

January 07, 2009

A Whole New Living Experience

Quite frankly, I've always been living on high floors since young. This latest flat that we shifted into in Sep last year is the lowest floor I've ever lived on - 4th floor. It's common knowledge that most people prefer to choose high floors when selecting a unit, but I only understood why it was so after living in this place for about 6 months. Let me share with you the 'unique' experiences I have gone through:

Low floors mean you are nearer to the rubbish collection centre and this means a few things:

1) You practically live with a clan of cockroaches.

Yes, I know how 'ekkkksss' this sounds, but it's really true. I have seriously never seen so many cockroaches in my entire life as what I have seen in this flat alone. The unit was rented to some people previously before it was left empty for a while till the houseowner renovated the whole place. Obviously, the cockroaches multiplied freely during that time.

My MIL used to tell me that she would wake up in the middle of the night to go kitchen to drink water and find several cockroaches crawling on the kitchen floor. (AHHHHH!!!!)

Thankfully, the problem was totally eliminated after we placed a total of 4 cockroach traps in various places. For the first few days after that, we would spot dead cockroaches on the kitchen floors ever so often. It was such a happy sight. Hehehehe. Now, we don't see any more cockroaches. Ha------llelujah!!!

Living near the rubbish collection centre also meant:

2) You have a free & automatic alarm clock waking you up every morning between 7am - 7.15am.

I am not joking about this. The garbage collection truck is extremely noisy. Extremely. Even with all windows shut and aircon on full-blast, you can still hear it. If you can endure through the 30mins or lesser when it's in operation, you win the battle and can continue sleeping (only to realise that your own alarm clock at home will ring at about 7.45am anyway).

I tried to recall whether I could hear the garbage collection truck last time when I was staying on the 14th floor, only to realise that all I could hear was 'whispers'. Not a big surprise, I must say. Plus, the collection time was arond 5pm at sembawang. Why are the people so hardworking here?!!

3) You hear every 'slightly-louder' conversations of people on Level 1, and even dog barks.

I seriously don't know why people talk so loud. I hear them all the time especially at night.

4) It gets very hot especially in the afternoons.

It gets very stuffy and hot simply because it's low floors. The higher floor you go, the more windy it gets. Simple theory.

Living on low levels also mean:

5) That majority of your neighbours are non-Chinese.

This is not racism, but everybody knows that Malays and Indians prefer to live on lower levels because they kind of miss the kampong spirit, I guess. On the level I live on, I don't even think there is another Chinese family like us. I think every unit is Malay or Indian. This is sometimes a little disturbing for me, because the kids that Joey plays with are all Malays, and I really wonder how she communicates with them. =P

Thankfully though, we have neighbours who are very accommodating and nice to us. Our loud cell group meetings don't disturb them, and our next-door neighbour even gave us a Christmas hamper during Christmas. :) We respect each others' religion and have been living in harmony.

Apart from living on low floors, my floor is NOT the lift landing, which kinda demotivates me from going home or going out again after that. Cos I have to take the stairs to get to the lift everytime. If we run errands and bought alot of stuffs, lugging them home is a chore. Sigh. That's the price to pay for choosing a nicely-done-up flat unit, and ignoring the rest of the elements.

Still, the most agonising problem was the cockroach problem which I am very glad had been resolved! So, generally, even though there are some inconveniences, I enjoy living in my current place very much. Even if the lifts break down, I know I will not have such a hard time getting to my unit. =D Plus, mine is a corner unit, so we kind of have a private corner all by ourselves, and it feels serene and havenly when we close all the doors. Plus, our house is nicely done up and what we like, so the interiors make everything nice again.

However, when we next shift, I will be sure to choose a higher level. =)