Summer Vacation Day 35: Yesterday Recount and Warehouse

Hello, Tim!

Yesterday marked the end of the third week of our summer courses. Two more weeks to go!

8/4, Saturday

Yesterday, after the clean-up, my mother and I ran some small errands and finally headed home, forty minutes behind the schedule.

Winding back a bit: While I was still trying to sweep up all the feather-light dust without having them floating in the air and giving my allergic nose reckless tickles, Angela called me and told me that they would be in the Starbucks just around my house studying. She, Selena, Cathy, and Melody wondered if I wanted to join them.

I have been working wholeheartedly on the moving business for two consecutive days, and in the spoken two days, I had read none of the textbooks. Therefore, I thought it would be splendid if I could finally calm down in a soft and relaxing place and focus on my studies. I answered Angela, telling her I would be there, but I could not promise exactly when; with so many tasks queuing on the to-clean-list, there was no estimating when we could drag our tired-self back to Tianmu.

When Mom and I got home, Melody made a nicely-timed phone call asking me where I was, ‘Just got home,’ I answered. ‘Want to come over and have a look? Ask the others for me.’ That was how five minutes later, Angela and Melody were marching up the stairs as the first guests of the resident. Without a doubt, my study still looked unruly, cardboard boxes and textbooks around, but I didn’t really mind that much. To me, the only thing that needed to be presentable in my study was my one and only bookshelf. In my bedroom sits a goose plush doll that has been alongside me since my early childhood, and coincidentally, there was a duster behind it. Melody went into my study and notices the doll- and laughed uncontrollably when she saw the doll for what it really was, rather than the lion she thought she saw. Angela walked in at the cackling laughter, and it took less than a second for her to chime in. I was there, and we made a laughing trio.

The two left first for dinner, so I went to Starbucks first to meet Cathy and Selena. The five of us took up a long table, each of the seats occupied. I ordered myself a mocha frappuccino, only to find it too sweet to consume the whole cup. That moment I decided, that the next time I come over here for another studying session, I would order an ordinary americano, sugar-free and creamer-free, just the way I normally like my coffee.

So, this was the part about yesterday I was missing.

Today was a day for lightbulb shopping.

My uncle drove, and with my aunt, we went to a warehouse to get all the things our new house lacked: About fifteen bulbs with white light, a mop, and several other goods. We grabbed every thing we needed, lingered over the whole-set kitchen exhibit (they were really fancy, fancy, but costly), and just before we were about to reach the cashier, a saleswoman spotted us.

This was not one of those average salespeople who quietly handed you a sample and just smiles as they see you leave. No. This lady really knew what she was doing. She started with the mop Mom took (which was from a brand she had been using for years). With a more expensive looking mop in her hands, she rattled off a list of what the mop in my mom’s hands couldn’t and what the one in hers could. “You see, this mop can reach all the way to the bottom of any kind of space beneath the furniture in any angle…” and so on. It was a comical thing to watch: my mom, speechless, defenseless against the shotgun speed of the saleswoman, who was moving on to the next product she wanted my mother to buy.

I discreetly sauntered away from the battlefield of the lady’s mouth, and five minutes later when I returned, Mom had the pitiful kind of ‘Just let me leave’ written all over her face. That’s the story of how mother got a costly new mop and several other additional products. The lady really did know how to nail her job; I had to give her credit for that.

Dinner was taken at Grandma’s. My uncle also came for an early celebration of the Taiwanese ‘August the eighth’ Father’s Day. Since my dad wasn’t there but rather on some ship, Mom and I decided that we would have another meal together when dad’s home.

This is all for today.

Summer Vacation Day 35: The Big Move-in (2) and the Toil

Hello, Tim!

No, no, no, no, no, no…

There is no way we can accommodate to the life here in Tianmu, both me and my mother. That was why we made such a radical decision to move back, regardless of the newly-signed contract. We arrived at the metro station in Xindian at nine thirty in the morning…

No. That was not the truth.

8/3, Friday

The truth, we were having quite a comfortable life here, in Tianmu. For the first time in months, I slept soundly on the new bed my mom passed on to me (she has her king-sized bed right now; She misses absolutely nothing about her previous bed). The one bed I had in Xindian has a mattress that was too soft and unresilient for an ‘old man’ with consistent back pain (Since then, I sleep on the floor in the living room). With this harder and bouncier mattress that once belonged to Mom, I get to have a good night’s sleep without waking up with severe pangs in my back.

The beautiful floorboards were a boost to the mood, but eight in the morning was probably the time when the bakery downstairs starts the oven and hence filling the room with the thick scent of bread. I don’t get why someone could ever envision waking up at the smell of bread? Try living right upstairs to a bakery!

Anyway, we DID go back to Xindian, but it really was for solely a different reason. You see, now our rented house in Xindian is now mostly emptied, with only the initial basic furniture that came with the house itself. It lacked residents, but it was packed with stains and specks of dust. Seeing this as a problem, Mom decided that we should not give the house back to the landlord when it was still under dusty circumstances, so I took another day off and accompanied Mother back to Xindian for a full-scale clean-up.

Taking a day-off just to be more tired.

On the way back to our former house, we came up with a list of priorities that were to be dealt with sooner rather than later, including the oil-stained kitchen (which Mom later took four hours into cleaning), the floor that was then covered with dust, needing a big sweep and intensive mop care; the corners of both the bathrooms were plagued with mold (both of which were problems tackled by me alone) and there was some hair clogged at the sink in Mom’s; the balcony was a bit covered with dirt, and its railing has several bird droppings residing; the fridge is to be cleaned, and so were some parts of the walls with stains to be repainted once again.

It was straining to keep the same kneeling pose when working, and I got a small blister on my index finger for using the broom overtime (This is when the audience says ‘QUIT WHINING’ so okay.) And also I got a little huffy when I was out in the living room and other rooms doing all the jobs except the only one Mom was working on for four hours even though I knew that the kitchen was sticky because of the oil constantly used in fry pans splatted everywhere in the kitchen.

Painting the walls was the one thing I wholly enjoyed in doing. You get the brush and the white paint the color of the trunk, and then you just begin painting the walls that were lacking in color, most of which were found in my study and the entrance.

After every job was done, we slowly trekked ourselves downstairs and finally headed home, feeling tired and drained. This was an ordeal; I have always known that cleaning up can be torturing, but I never thought it would actually be THAT scary!

There were some other things to talk about, but I think I would have to stop over here; I am too tired to continue.

Outside the beautiful window.

More to come tomorrow.

This is all for today.

p.s. After we were done cleaning the house, Mom and I took a selfie, but the photos are in her phone now, and she’s already sound asleep, so I don’t really want to wake her. Tomorrow!

Summer Vacation Day 34: The Big Move-in and the Bookshelf

Hello, Tim!

Today is the big day!

8/2, Thursday

It was half past eight in the morning sealing up the boxes that were left open.

The house looked horrible- bags piled up in one corner and another; baskets and boxes are scattered around. The sofa was moved away from the walls, just gotten rid of the dust, bubble wraps-covered tableware was put on the floor next to the carton that is already filled with pots and pans. Wardrobes were taped at the door so that it wouldn’t open on the moving truck. With so many things set around the place, I barely had enough place to sleep! As much disastrous as it sounds, it is just how a house should look like when a family is moving. The funny thing is, Mom seemed very stressed out that it looked so chaotic at the moment.

The house has never been so messy.

The doorbell rang, and in came the people of the moving company. With their incredible capability to carry tons of things in one trip, our house was soon devoid of a sofa, a TV stand, a dining table. For the beds, they even got out their toolkits and disassembled the whole bed board, explaining to us they would reassemble it once they reached the new house.

The cushions on the sofa were first wrapped together, and then, along with the sofa itself, they were carried away.

After the TV stand and the TV followed the sofa, the living room looked like this.

Then they took my bookshelf away as I was looking at it with worried eyes. Granted, there were no books left in there, but it was practically the house of my treasure; I treat it like any of my books.

Soon, the two trucks they had driven over were fully loaded with boxes and wooden furniture, but there are still things we had yet brought with us, including a fan, a king-sized bed (that once belonged to Sophie’s mom, but since they got a new bed when they moved, the spare one was given to Mom, who very willingly accepted), several clothes hanger, etc. So that was why I had to stay over here while they dropped everything on the truck at our new place. I looked at the now half-empty (or was it half-full) house, and all the emotions rushed back once more. I knew that I would truly miss Xindian, a place where my elementary and middle school are located in, where I discovered myself and know myself better in general, where bumping into old acquaintances is nothing surprising. I didn’t think I had such a bond with my house before Xindian, a place named Nanshijiao; My school wasn’t there, and plus the memories were quite blurry.

I waited in Sophie’s house before the trucks came back.

Two hours had I waited, for the trucks' return, and I used that time to immerse in the world of TV shows. There is a famous TV show, a sitcom called How I Met Your Mother. It’s American, so I think you probably know it as well. I have always heard about this show, but it wasn’t until recently that I had started watching it. The jokes and the comedy relief are just my cup of tea, and I am sure I have at least cackled once every episode.

The trucks came back again, and this time they took away everything else, including me. Mom was already in Tianmu, probably already working on rearranging everything. I followed the workers onto the truck as we hit the road.

Bye, Xindian. I'll be back and visit you :<

It was one of the most unpleasant car rides I have been on in a long while. I know that all the roads are bound to be a little bumpy, but in such an old large truck, it felt like the bumps are made ten centimeters higher. I felt my brain bouncing around, migraine and nauseating waves struck me at once; had I had lunch a little later, I believe that I was going to throw up. Fortunately, I made it to Tianmu in one piece.

In accord with my speculation, Mom was already unpacking everything whilst fussing over the placements of the pieces. Without actually putting down the end table in the living room, she was convinced that there is no space for it (which was proven wrong later on). The table is moved from next to the fridge to the wall facing the living room, etc.

SEE MOM We have a path wide enough to pass even with the end table!
P.s. With all the furniture, the house does look more than decent.

As for me, I knew exactly what I had to do for the next couple of hours. I sliced open all sixteen boxes of books and started putting my books back into the exact same order as it was before moving. How did I do that? Well, a week ago, I took pictures of every single row of my book, knowing it would be necessary. Therefore, with the aid of the photos and three hours, the bookshelf is back in its perfect state once again.

Pictures from a week ago, back in Xindian

Two hours later.

A few more things are done after the coming several hours, including plugging in all kitchen household appliances, putting the clothes into the new shelves, laying the tablecloth back on the dining table, the whole house looked considerably cozier and more home-like than it had ever been. The plastic tiles were a big plus.

I have yet gotten a desk for my study, meaning there are a lot of textbooks in the boxes, but we decide to let the problems slip. After all, this is the first day. After a more thorough cleanup, I’ll be giving you the promised photo essay!

This is all for today.

Summer Vacation Day 33: Apologies and the Last Night

Hello, Tim!

Today is the last day living in Xindian, and it also happened to be the first day of August.

8/1, Wednesday

The mishap happened once again!

Being so tired, I didn’t even remember myself hitting the snooze button on my cell phone, and hence I was late for the breakfast AGAIN! Candy called me, and after she heard a muffled, apparently-just-out-of-bed voice, she understood, and the same curt hanging up the phone (which was only two days ago), and the same me, feeling like a very horrible person, standing someone up the second time in three days.

I was contemplating all the way on the metro, thinking about how I should apologize, but I knew it was meaningless. You see, I have a bad habit, and it was that I give out my apologies too easily. Every single event, even those of the most trifle things that turned out to be wrong, I apologize. I don’t necessarily take the blame all the time, but there I was, always saying sorry. There was actually one time in middle school, where I unintentionally offended a guy named Jack, and I kept saying ‘Sorry’ to him to an extent when he told me to ‘quit saying sorry’, and guess what I said in response?

‘Oh, okay. Sorry.’ That just came out of my mouth without further thought. I think the word ‘sorry’ has embedded itself into one of my reflexes, and it doesn’t make me look sincere; instead, all the incessant sorry’s make my apologies cheap. I don’t like that. Back on the metro where I was pondering, I reached a conclusion; I am not going to say sorry, but in place of that, I am going to tell her how lame I was for being late again, and just show her I knew that I was wrong. It was probably better than the numerous times of ‘Sorry about that’s and ‘This won’t happen again’s.

I really need to work on my apologizing skills and understand the right times to do so, or I would keep offending people no matter how bad I feel.

My mom hired a cleaner to our new house to deal with the bathroom stains and the dirty balcony and kitchen today, and tomorrow the moving company would come to our house in Xindian for the furniture and all the other things we want to be moved over here at nine in the morning. Since Dad is away at work on a ship, I had to be with Mother to help with the moving, meaning that I won’t be at school tomorrow.

I was lying on the floor in the living room at sleep time, and I thought about going through every amazing thing that happened when we were living in this house, but I was too tired to let the thoughts go in my mind, so I think I dozed off when I only started picturing the first time I visited the house with my parents, my cousin, and Eliza, the grownups arranging matters with the landlord while Eliza and I sitting on the brown couch goofing around… I knew that I would miss this place dearly. This is the place where some highlights of my seventeen-year-old life took place. If life were a play, that house was the stage. At this moment, several specific events ran past my mind, one including a cup of freshly-made frozen yogurt pineapple smoothie, but those memories are better left unsaid, for they feel sweeter that way.

This is the last night.

This is all for today.

Summer Vacation Day 32: Rooftop and Mom

Hello, Tim!

Today is the last day of July!

7/31, Tuesday

Yesterday in the afternoon, I suddenly decided to visit the roof of our building.

It didn’t sound weird until I started the sentence ‘I have never been on the rooftop of this building since we have moved here for three years and a half.’

With this notion in mind, I, impulsively, stood up from the mat I was lying on watching TV, and headed for the elevator, with which my mother came along. Dad, however, was unaffected by my sudden enthusiasm of taking a look at the roof floor, remained the same pose he had had on the couch for over an hour with eyes glued to the television.

Our building has twenty-one stories, while the bottom twenty hold residents. The roof was just normal as any other rooftops you can find on an average apartment: unfurnished, dusty, cement walls and basic tiles for the floors are stained unevenly by the visits of rains. 

Selfie with Mom!

What really mattered, was the view. It was just the Xindian River, the very one we can see from our window every day, every time. During one typhoon, we saw it flooding, flowing with an over-excessive amount of muddy water. It is also the river along which I had twice biked.

I like the river, and this is the first river that has ever meant so much to me.

Today is also my mom’s last day working at the 7-11. It is too bad that we had to move during a time when Mom is having both a sense of achievement and fun when I am supposed to have my head buried in books (it wasn't like I was studying all that much, though), but that is just life.

Here is a picture of Mother at work.

 

This is all for today.

Summer Vacation Day 31: Being Late and New Tiles

Hello, Tim!

Yesterday night, Dad called and said he would be back home in the midnight.

7/30, Monday

Since it would be about one or two in the midnight when he arrived home, he told us not to stay up and wait for him. Therefore, I didn’t see him until I woke up on the next day. At 6:15.

6:15.

What a terrible time to wake up. Why?

During the summer course, Candy and I often agreed to meet at the metro station, seven o’clock, for breakfast for school, and one day, she asked if I could have breakfast meetings every day before I moved, and of course, I said yes.

The last metro I can take without being later than 7:00 is the one coming at 6:19, while the metro after that would make me twenty minutes late (Metros normally follow a fixed schedule). That was an awful thing since this means Candy wouldn’t want to wait for me and would be heading to school on her own. I normally am not a running-late kind of person, but recently, with the moving and the school, the blog, and the leisure activities going on, I can sleep in on occasions that are quite important. Candy, unexpectedly, didn’t sound happy when I told her I couldn’t make it in time, and that made me feel guilty and antsy all the way to school.

I was relieved when she was still friendly at school.

Today, people came to our new house to put down the plastic planks, and my dad would also be there, which would be the first time my dad seeing the house.

When I first saw the house, the floors were just the most normal tiles you can see in old houses, and I was just sitting in the corner, staring at the tiles, nonplussed. I was glad that the planks are set.

Before & after.

 

Small changes make big differences.

Though we all knew it, the new tiles do look like wood, and it feels nice when walking on it. What’s better, it is a kind of material that is designed to withstand scratching and towing. When my dad was moving the fridge and the large cupboard around, trying to make different changes to the placements of the furniture, I was really afraid that we would have to repair the damaged tiles on the first day is was installed- but there were absolutely no scratches on it!

Just a few days more, and I would be living here.

This is all for today.

Summer Vacation Day 30: Moving Books and Heat

Hello, Tim!

Today is a day for labor. You’ll see why.

7/29, Sunday

At nine thirty, I went over to the community center to borrow a wagon to move most of my books downstairs to fit in the car of my uncle, who later arrived at ten. It was a small purple wagon, so I could only stack two boxes a time (plus stacking three boxes might be too heavy for the one at the bottom). Each box has about 35 to 45 books. Let’s do some calculations. Let’s assume every book is about 350 grams. Forty books in a box mean that each box is about 14 kilograms. Without a wagon, it would totally make my back hurt! By the way, to prevent back injuries for the second time, I fished out my long-unused medical belt just in case I put all the pressure and the weight of the books on the wrong places.

After a thirty-minute ride from Xindian to Tianmu, my uncle and I unloaded the ‘cargo’, and one by one, we hefted the ten boxes of books upstairs, settling them on the balcony, under the burning gaze of the sun.

One of the perks of having myself move the books is that I got to watch over the books so I could be less worried. Why put them on the balcony, then? That is because on Monday, people will come over and put the plastic planks on the current ceramic brick floor, and all the things would have to get out of the way or it would spell trouble for them. The only place where the planks won’t be installed is the balcony. Worrying about the rain is not necessary, for there are windows on our balcony to fend off the possible rain.

After the planks are set, I would move my books back inside.

This is all for today.