The thing about living off-campus
Living in private housing really makes a difference to the things you can learn. I'm not sure if this is in any way useful in life, but it sure teaches you that things exist in this world that you wouldn't have cared about before.
How come these things never happen in my home in Singapore?
For one thing, I've never had my kitchen sink get stuck so often and so easily before. Which is not really an issue here because now I've learned that there's this thing called an 'In-sink-erator', which is a garbage disposal system. Basically when I first came back to Aus my housemate, who was not in Australia at the time, left me a note asking me to check with the housing agent about a problem with our sink. The water didn't drain as fast as it should. So I gave them a call and yep, there's this 'in-sink-erator' thing (had to go online to check that up) that pretty much clears the drain for you when you press a button. As easy as that! But my query is still...why does it get stuck so easily in the first place? Again I've NEVER had that problem back home EVER. The toilet yes, but that's 'cos my sis throws everything into the toilet like it's a dustbin so that's a different story.
Then today I just learned there's this thing called a lock lubricant. Nope it's not like oil which loosens the lock so your key can turn. It's actually graphite. What happened was our main door lock was getting more and more difficult to turn, and by the grace of god (which I guess isn't a very suitable thing for me to say since I'm not a believer, but well...I'm a questioner? searcher??) anyway BTGOG, my housemate who ALWAYS goes to the lab to do her research stuff chose to stay in yesterday to do her assignment. And I went to uni. When I came back I couldn't open the door after trying for 10 min. So I called her to open it. Then we tried her key, and we still couldn't open it. So basically as long as both of us leave the apartment we cannot go back in. Luckily today I was going to be in the whole day. So anyway, I had to leave the apartment door open while I went down to the building manager's office to ask for help. And lo and behold, the lock lubricant came to the rescue. After messing up my hands (it's basically like playing w/ pencil lead), and starting to despair, it FINALLY turned. Geesh.
And I haven't even mentioned the inconveniences of having to go up and down 4 times just to catch the building manager who tends to disappear for long periods (although it is because he's doing his job around the building so I can't complain).
Again my question is...so much for living outside. Other than learning that there are these inconveniences, which somehow NEVER happen in Singapore, I really don't know what one learns living outside of college. Cooking? Check (I already knew how to). Cleaning? (Okay...maybe I learned how to clean regularly instead of having my maid do it but really what do I gain in terms of knowledge from that? I mean I've never been a soft, squirmish kind so cleaning the toilet for the first time (we did do it once in DHS for that 6 hours community service thing though that was a group effort) was no big deal. Changing the lights? Check (I already knew how to do that). Setting up furniture? Check (Easy as pie. I enjoy setting things up. And I love the power I feel when I have the hammer in my hands. HAHA. Ehem...) I guess the only thing I learned was how to get your timing right so you don't have to buy furniture separately and end up having to pay freight twice (and I managed to escape that so I only paid once). So, organisational and negotiation skills, creativity and flexibilty. Can I put that on my resume???
How come these things never happen in my home in Singapore?
For one thing, I've never had my kitchen sink get stuck so often and so easily before. Which is not really an issue here because now I've learned that there's this thing called an 'In-sink-erator', which is a garbage disposal system. Basically when I first came back to Aus my housemate, who was not in Australia at the time, left me a note asking me to check with the housing agent about a problem with our sink. The water didn't drain as fast as it should. So I gave them a call and yep, there's this 'in-sink-erator' thing (had to go online to check that up) that pretty much clears the drain for you when you press a button. As easy as that! But my query is still...why does it get stuck so easily in the first place? Again I've NEVER had that problem back home EVER. The toilet yes, but that's 'cos my sis throws everything into the toilet like it's a dustbin so that's a different story.
Then today I just learned there's this thing called a lock lubricant. Nope it's not like oil which loosens the lock so your key can turn. It's actually graphite. What happened was our main door lock was getting more and more difficult to turn, and by the grace of god (which I guess isn't a very suitable thing for me to say since I'm not a believer, but well...I'm a questioner? searcher??) anyway BTGOG, my housemate who ALWAYS goes to the lab to do her research stuff chose to stay in yesterday to do her assignment. And I went to uni. When I came back I couldn't open the door after trying for 10 min. So I called her to open it. Then we tried her key, and we still couldn't open it. So basically as long as both of us leave the apartment we cannot go back in. Luckily today I was going to be in the whole day. So anyway, I had to leave the apartment door open while I went down to the building manager's office to ask for help. And lo and behold, the lock lubricant came to the rescue. After messing up my hands (it's basically like playing w/ pencil lead), and starting to despair, it FINALLY turned. Geesh.
And I haven't even mentioned the inconveniences of having to go up and down 4 times just to catch the building manager who tends to disappear for long periods (although it is because he's doing his job around the building so I can't complain).
Again my question is...so much for living outside. Other than learning that there are these inconveniences, which somehow NEVER happen in Singapore, I really don't know what one learns living outside of college. Cooking? Check (I already knew how to). Cleaning? (Okay...maybe I learned how to clean regularly instead of having my maid do it but really what do I gain in terms of knowledge from that? I mean I've never been a soft, squirmish kind so cleaning the toilet for the first time (we did do it once in DHS for that 6 hours community service thing though that was a group effort) was no big deal. Changing the lights? Check (I already knew how to do that). Setting up furniture? Check (Easy as pie. I enjoy setting things up. And I love the power I feel when I have the hammer in my hands. HAHA. Ehem...) I guess the only thing I learned was how to get your timing right so you don't have to buy furniture separately and end up having to pay freight twice (and I managed to escape that so I only paid once). So, organisational and negotiation skills, creativity and flexibilty. Can I put that on my resume???
posted by A.Yu at 11:59 AM
1 Comments:
Wow. I haven't heard of the in sink erator? nor the lock lubricant. Interesting. :)
I guess it's a bit like that when you live off-campus. And I think a big factor is that you're not with family but with friends/randoms that make it oh so much more interesting. ;)
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