the day we found our first apartment
The day me and r found our apartment 2 years ago, something about it just clicked.
It was almost noon and I remember how we were just about to give up the hunt after walking for almost an hour, just traversing the streets near a train station that was a jeepney ride away from our uni. We were students then, so at that time the purpose of the whole move is to get closer to school. We could not stand having to catch a bus before the sun was up just to get to class and as pandemic restrictions had waned, onsite classes and my internship were imminent.
With the heat and unfamiliar streets and talking to landlords and none of our needs being met, we began to feel tired and hungry, an ugly combination to feel. I told r, we'll turn to this street and then we'll stop, have lunch, make the trip back home again and try at another district. The street seemed like a dead end street, which was fitting, and along it was a hip restaurant, which was random. In my mind, I bet they call it a hidden gem because it was was quiet despite the chaos of the main road a few minutes away, so it was just that kind of place.
We went around and asked again, only still we were met with no vacancies. We walked to the end, and apparently the street was not a dead end! It was a connecting street !!! And only a person could go through as the small alley was in between houses with homeowners having their plants lining its path. It is not always that streets were laid out in such a way so me and r were surprised! :o
It is so familiar, that feeling of relief when we were through that small alley. And then we saw the ad, literally right in front of our faces across the connected street. It was posted to a gate: a studio for rent and a phone number. So of course we had to call !!! And the rest was history.
Every time I leave the house I walk through the alley and that street and I pass by the restaurant. Which is probably why I will never forget this story, so now I'm afraid that the experience of everything falling to place on that day will not be so easily emulated when me and r start to hunt for a new apartment again.
There was definitely a little bit of magic and whimsy to it that I can't explain. It just had everything we needed and most of what we wanted at that time. Only that, this was exactly 2 years ago and though I still feel that deep-seated joy of moving out of my childhood home into a new one with the love of my life, I have recently started feeling that we are outgrowing the place.
Two years feels so long ago because I started living there as a student and now I'm a full-blown adult. My parents are no longer paying the rent and every facet of the household and housemaking has fallen to our responsibility. This transition has been quite the leap and I probably can no longer recognize my old self if I was to bump into her in the street. All of this makes it feel like the past two years is in dog years, somehow.
This is likely a canon adulting event. I will now manifest the things I want for our new apartment. Wish us luck ^^