A goodbye to my temporary 'home'.. :'(

In about 20 days, kak Kathy, kak Shima and yours truly will be officially 'kicked out' of our rented home (Yes, I call it home!) that we've stayed in for the past 2 years and 10 days.

Wow! More than 2 years already, huh? I can still remember the first day we moved into that house, 45 Lengkok Pekaka of Taman Transkerian (a.k.a Taman Sempadan). The first thing I did was to inspect my would-be room. Though the room was supposed to be the masters bedroom but the size of all three rooms were quite similiar. The house seemed quite cozy too.

That afternoon, we made a few trips to and fro from Desasiswa Lembaran to our home. Naturally, girls DO have a lot of 'luggage' and I don't mean clothes here! After all the things were arranged in the living room, and all our helpers had gone home, all of us starting cleaning our respective rooms.. sweeping.. mopping.. wiping.. all the works! We retired happily that night, glad that we'd finally got rid of the guilty conscience of staying in the hostel longer than allowed --> Though I can't remember how we slept that night, with no mattress and all.

The next few days, our meager furniture arrived--> mattresses, closets, desks BUT no bed. Since we requested wooden beds, we had to patiently wait for it because the apek had to order them from Alor Setar or something. I remember one night, being unfortunate to know it the hard way, that I had a leaking ceiling. Sleeping peacefully, I was suddenly engulfed in this vision of a beautiful waterfall only to realize that water was literally 'cascading' on me, just like a real waterfall, through the ceiling. I had to spend the night in kak Kathy's room.

Through the months and years to follow, we had a great time in this home of ours. You may be asking, why do I call it home instead of just plainly call it a house since its only rented. Well, lets just say, at this time in our lives, this is what we call home. Even when we go back to our respective real homes, we find out that we really look forward coming back here. For example, during the raya holidays, we'd spend days counting the days we'd be spending raya at our 'kampung'. Its good to go back to 'kampung' but after all the festivities and up to the end of our raya holidays, we'd find ourselves impatiently waiting to go back here. I find myself smiling on the drive back here whenever I think of this house. I thought I was the only one, until I discovered that kak Kathy and kak Shima also feel the same.

We've had our share of laughter and pain. Tok Hassan and also kak Shima's Tok died while we were staying here and these walls were the witness of our grief but countless birthdays, promotions (kak Kathy as a lecturer) and suprises were also celebrated here. Even the goodbye to abg Achai's washing machine was a sad affair but only for a short while until we 'celebrated' the coming of the new washing machine, compliments of kak Kathy, the 'richest' one living here. Gebu also has her share of memories here, I guess. All the rooms have her 'mark of territory' haha..

Many things have happened to me during my stay in this home. It is in this home, that I learned how it felt to have my heart broken repeatedly, and at the same time, by two people I cared for. It was my refuge during those times of sadness. If my room could speak, it'll tell you how dreadful I was feeling during that time. It is in this house that I learnt what real friends mean. Who didn't just stay with me during the sunshine, but also during the downpour that didn't seem like it wanted to stop. It was here too when I realized how afraid I was of losing my dear friends and where I understood that these people whom I loved and cared for would always be in my heart, no matter what.

I feel as if, I came to this house, though 23, but still a giddy teenager at heart and now, I'll be leaving this house, two years older but a more matured young lady (though still childish in some ways). I'll miss this house. I really would. But I hope all the lessons learnt here won't be forgotten.. all the ties made, to grow stronger.. and all the memories made here, engraved in my heart forever..