I loved my landladies. Am I being sarcastic here? Let’s see…

Since I moved out, I’ve been renting places everywhere I stayed in all these countries. Thus far, I’ve had three landlords. I’ve heard heaps of stories about fussy landlords. It is rather difficult to maintain a good relationship between landlord and tenant. You’d be glad if you don’t end up badly with your landlord.

I was having real problem in finding a place to stay after my immediate move out due to the incident I mentioned in my previous entry (Good Old Days Part 2). In the end, I shared a three room townhouse with two new people I just met during the house hunting. To be precise, I was their subtenant. No, I am not referring them as my landlord(s) at all. So this townhouse belonged to a Greek family, who was staying next door. There was a bit of a drama later on in my stay there. I am not going to elaborate much about that because I believe that encountere have made me learned about some sides of human nature. To cut the long story short, the students weren’t honest about the actual rent of the whole house and thus incurred me with a much higher pay rather than a fair share period. Anyway, back to my Greek landlord and family. So that was my freshman college year. And the Greek family was my first landlord ever. I was staying at a student hostel the year before after stepping into the soil of Country B. Thus the thought of having a landlord is somewhat strange to me. The thought of seeing your landlord almost everyday when you walk pass their house is bizarre.

In the beginning I was struggling to settle down. I was beginning a new life there despite that was my second year of stay there. Almost all my pre-college mates known from previous year disappeared to different colleges. And I was having trouble in coping with my studies. To start with, I wasn’t even familiar with the new neighborhood. During this time, my landlord’s mother, an old Greek lady approached me. She asked me to join her for weekly grocery shopping every Saturday morning. I thought she was just being nice seeing I was all on my own in the first few weeks. She also invited me to her house for some yummy Greek delicacies for tea. There was once that I hurt my eyes and was panicked of getting help. Without much hesitation, I knocked on her door and she immediately dropped her housework and brought me to the medical center. Seriously I’m still very touched about her kind gesture. I don’t know why. I really like her a lot. Looking at her, she reminded me of my maternal grandmother, though they are two distinct individuals. I didn’t know how we communicated. She speaks very little English and I don’t understand any Greek word. Yet we always chatted while walking to and from the supermarkets. That was when she introduced some Greek culture to me. After a year, I decided to share an apartment with a pre-college friend and my younger sister who was coming to join me the following year. It was so hard for me to say good bye to her and her family. Her eyes were watery when I finally had to leave. I really like her. 9 years has passed, I still appreciate and can remember her and her family for being a wonderful landlord to a young girl struggling to survive on her own alone by herself.

I have my third landlady when I was working in Country C. (This is the last landlord in my record thus far. I am currently staying at a student apartment owned by an organization/company.) This was once again an unplanned move. Initially I was staying with some relative. After a month, the sudden news of her wanting to sell off the condo prompted me to move. Thank goodness with my dad’s friend’s help, I found this apartment nearby my workplace. But the only thing was I had to stay with my landlady, who’s an old widow. She looked a bit unfriendly when I first met her. But very soon, that impression was erased completely. My landlady is a wonderful cook. She always fed me with different yummy food. Since she’s retired, she has a lot of time participating voluntary jobs and spending time cooking with her friends. Every now and then, she would bring me food. Geez, did that explain why I couldn’t lose weight while I was so stressed and burnt from my previous job?! There were a few times I was sick, she even made me some porridge and traditional medicine! She said she treated me like her daughter. My landlady is illiterate of English. I was her translator for all her letters and stuff at that time. We missed each other on the day I left Country C back to my home country before I left for Country D (where I am now). She held my hands and wished me luck. As much as I was eager to leave Country B for Country D to start a new life, I was worried for leaving her. I hope she would manage to find some tenants to take over my room and the other room. I didn’t mention during my stay there I managed to meet two friends, a Korean and Japanese. My landlady had two rooms to rent out. But she always had problem in getting tenants to stay long. I guess I was the exception.

I haven’t had the chance to go back to Countries B and C for a visit. Anyway, no matter where I go, I’d never forget these two landladies. It is already fortunate enough to have just one sweet encounter. And I have had two! What makes it more lucky is, come to think of it, there were some bitter encounters/events that led me to these two sweet encounters. If you know what I am trying to say. I think I’m really lucky and blessed.Thank you so much. =)

♥ every page of my imagination

Viewing the fleeting world
- a star at dawn; a bubble in the stream; a flash of lightning in a summer cloud; a flickering lamp, a phantom, and a dream together with Jade