It has been almost a year since we got our keys and about half a year since we have moved in. We’ve settled in really well actually, and the best thing which happened to us has got to be our neighbors.
We actually got to know them through Facebook. Our original Facebook page was created by an ID soliciting for business. He actually found my blog and added me to the group. Through it, we got to know other neighbors and the closer ones formed another group as the ID started removing posts which shared other contacts or good deals. Somehow along the way, a close group formed and it’s really amazing to have a close knitted group of friends staying in the estate.
We started with gathering for dinners to get to know each other. Till date, we’ve a wadsapp group and have dinner and outings together often. JY cooks the best lotus root soup, we bake together, cook together, eat together, shop together. We had help moving our purchases from Ikea, installing our curtain rods and mirrors, laminating our main door. We share all sorts of good deals, help each other buy stuff, and just went to the zoo together. We started playing badminton weekly at the sports hall just behind the estate and go jogging/swimming together these days – even the husband who has flatly refused any form of exercise for the past 8 years joins us!
It’s truly amazing and something I really cherish. This is especially so as you find it harder to make new friends as you grow older. It’s difficult to meet people who genuinely wants to be friends instead of wanting to sell you something or drag you to church.
As the Chinese saying goes, "Better good neighbors near, than relatives far".
I miss staying in HDB. I feel that neighbors tend to be closer in HDB than in private estates, and the people are generally more down-to-earth without airs. It’s not important what car you drive nor what job you hold. I remember how my grandmothers knew all the neighbors and how they chat often. I ran around the corridor as a kid and everyone knew me. I don’t quite understand the obsession with private housing. Houses are expensive to maintain and repair, private apartments with facilities are nice but often small and cost quite abit monthly. If possible, I’d like to die in my HDB flat and have my turquoise-themed jazz funeral downstairs, with friends singing karaoke!
And because of the close proximity, we meet very often and it makes us know each other a lot quicker. There’s so many of us from different walks of life and different ages, and we talk about everything under the sun – from renovation, sales, food, childbirth, in-laws, baking, exercise, jobs – everything really!
This was last September when we first joined them for dinner.
And this was last October when we were mobilized within a day to help with a proposal in the estate.
They bought me my one and only cake for my birthday this year. My actual birthday was actually during the honeymoon and they surprised me with a cake on the eve of our wedding. I was packing and getting ready at home, totally tired, when they suddenly turned up with a cake. *super touched*
Just few weeks back, they suddenly presented me with birthday-cum-housewarming gifts.
We just went to the zoo together too, using their free corporate passes.
It’s just the little things everyday that makes me so thankful to have known these people. Some days, we get desserts or food delivered to our doorstep, and there’s always something to look forward to everyday.
We are very truly blessed. May all positive forces prevail and surround us, shoo all bad people away. =)
