Mich’s Journeys

Finally able to get some time to blog again, still here in Manila for those of you wondering. 3rd week of May had us finally moving out of our rented condo in Singapore. The day before we moved out we had arranged to have the movers come to pack the stuff that we were shipping to Australia. What stressed us out was the organizing of all our stuff, deciding also which ones to send, to donate or to throw away. But on packing day it was all a breeze, it was the first time that we were using movers and we marveled at how efficient they were with packing all the stuff, aside from their experience I guess it also helps that they’re not concerned with how many boxes they fill up, haha. Even E was okay with his toys being packed, the uncle (a title of respect for elders even strangers in Singapore) who was packing his toys was really friendly and was also patient in answering some of E’s questions. After the movers left we still had some work to do as we had to clean the unit up for handover to the landlord the following day. We had also scheduled a pickup of a balikbayan box we were sending back to Manila filled mostly with E’s old toys that we were giving to his cousin Mika.

We finished late into the night cleaning (uhm, remind me next time to just hire cleaners ok!) what we anticipated to be a smooth handover to the landlord didn’t happen. Pagkatapos magikot-ikot sa unit ng ilang beses para siguraduhin na maayos lahat, umupo na kami kasama ng kasero para pagusapan na ang pagalis at pagsoli ng deposito. Akala namin ay wala ng magiging problema dahil simula’t sapol ay maayos namang kausap ang aming kasero, walang palya naman ang aming pagbayad ng buwanang renta pero syempre sa huli din nakikita ang tunay na kulay. Naghanap talaga siya ng paraan para hindi maibalik ang deposit namin dahil hindi namin tinapos ang kontrata kahit na dalawang buwan na lang yun at aalis pa kami ng di pa tapos ang buwan ng mayo na bayad na ang renta. Iginiit niya na ayon sa kasulatan ay kailangan daw na pinadalhan namin siya ng sulat para abisuhan siya na aalis na kami hindi daw pwede na sinabi lang namin sa kanya at dahil wala nga daw kaming pinadalang sulat ay ang gagamitin niyang basehan para sa dalawang buwang pasabi para sa diplomatic clause (kung saan maari naming makuha ang aming deposito kahit na hindi tinapos ang kontrata, kailangan lang ay dalawang buwang pasabi at kailangan din ay aalis ng bansa) ay ang text ni Ichi sa kanya (mga isang linggo pagkatapos namin siyang makausap) upang ipaalala nga na aalis kami. Sana naman ay binanggit yung pagpapadala ng sulat at hindi puro oo lang ang sagot, eh kahit na yung deposito na yung paksa oo pa din yung sagot. Ang nakakainis talaga sobra ay kung paano ginawa yung hindi pagbalik ng deposito sobrang underhanded, eh wala namang hindi nadadaan sa maayos na paguusap. Hindi na nga niya naisip na pasalamat nga siya na aalis kami at maari na niyang paupa yung unit sa mas mataas na renta. Nanghihinayang kasi siya sa kung magkanong halaga at hindi na tiningnan yung bigger picture. Laking pasalamat na lang namin at nandun yung aming ahente para tumulong sa handover. Siya yung nakipagusap sa kasero para maibalik naman ang karamihan sa aming deposito at para na din hindi umabot sa away ang usapan. In the end, we just decided not to let that incident overshadow the good memories of the place that we called home for almost two years. It is what E knows as his first home. We feel blessed with how everything unfolded and how everything was taken cared of.  

*zài jiàn = goodbye