Our first attempt at buying a flat in Singapore was considered easy, because we had a fixed budget. There were not many choices when one has a FIXED AND LOW budget. ☹ At that time, our ‘first time buyer’ eligibility entitled us to a housing grant of $40,000, as long as it was within X kilometers from our parent’s home. Did I take into account HDB Feng Shui? Of course not! My Feng Shui knowledge was limited to having attended a Feng Shui talk, looking at my Mum’s scribbled notes, buying a compass and flipping through a book authored by the very same Feng Shui speaker. My understanding of basic Feng Shui principles were so lacking that nothing I read made sense! And worse yet, my work life and my marriage life was not stable enough for me to spend more time to Feng Shui. Indeed, as I said in ____, my initial journey into Feng Shui can be described in one word: clueless!
我们在新加坡第一次尝试买房可以说是被很容易，因为我们有一个固定的预算。当有固定和低预算时，没有多少选择。当时，我们是“首次购房者”资格使我们能够获得4万元的住房补贴，只要距离我们父母的住所不超过X公里。我是否考虑过HDB风水？当然没有！我的风水知识仅限于参加风水讲座，看着我妈妈的潦草笔记，买了一个指南针，翻阅了同一位风水师所写的一本书。我对基本的风水原则的理解是如此缺乏，捯至我所读的书都没法理解！更糟糕的是，我的工作生活和婚姻生活还不够稳定，我无法花更多时间去研究风水。事实上，正如我在____中所说的，我最初的风水旅程可以用一个词来形容：不知所措！
The original house-owners were an elderly Malay couple living with their grown-up son. It was a 2-bedroom in it’s original condition (this means that the place has never been renovated), and it was located smack in the middle of the common corridor. The unit number was #04-94. My parents were never superstitious, and my husband and I, having graduated from Australia, did not think anything of the double 4s (4 in Chinese sounds like “death”). To top it, it is a 94 combination (in Chinese, it sounds like “die a long time”). I did think about the 4s for a fleeting moment, but I don’t know if this superstition issue even crossed my husband’s mind. Men! We never know what they are thinking! 😅
I only remembered 3 things about this apartment.
(1) The spare bedroom that faces the common corridor had black ceiling paint, and four dark blue walls. There was a black color motorbike helmet on the cupboard shelves.
(2) The plump Malay makcik (aunt) was kneading curry puff when we visited, and she kindly fried 2 pieces for me to eat. Though she did not speak English, she gestured “Eat, eat”.
(3) On the day of the final inspection (I think it is mandatory for the buyer to inspect the flat one last time before the HDB appointment to finalise the sale), the agent asked if we could help the elderly couple by proceeding with the sale, but letting them stay on until they find a new place. I don’t remember the details, but I was so upset about not being able to shift out of my Mother-in-law’s place asap, that tears rolled uncontrollably down my face. Perhaps the agent did not expect such a big reaction (haha, poor fella!), but the sale went through and we owned our first flat! A big sigh of relief!!! 🎈🎊🎁
经纪人按四楼纽，走过去的时候说单位是九十四号。哦，有四号。在那短暂的瞬间，我有这个念头。先生没说什么，哎呀，反正他本来是个扑克脸😂!
原来的主人是一对老年龄的马来族夫妇，和他们儿子。单位位于公共走廊中间，没有装修过。我只记得：
（一）位于沿着公共走廊的房间是他们儿子的房间。天花板油黑色的漆，四面墙是深蓝色。还有一顶黑色的摩多单车安全帽在架子上。
（二）我们过去时，那位马来阿姨刚好在捏咖哩饺，她不会说英文。。。 她炸了两个咖哩饺给我们吃的时候，她不停挥手势叫我们“吃！吃！”
（三）要完成组屋销售的前一个礼拜，我们照建屋发展局条规过去做最后检验的时候，经纪人问我们可以帮个忙吗？就照约定时间把组屋销售完成，交易完毕后让马来夫妇继续住，他们找到他们的新家后才搬出去。我一想到还要看家婆的脸色，眼泪不停留，经纪人可能吓到（他应该没有聊到我的反应会那么激烈！😂哈哈哈），不过我们隔一个星期就拿到我们第一个家的锁匙了！终于可以松了一口气！
