the joys of suburban living

having been brought up in the tiny, somewhat secluded neighbourhood of serangoon gardens, i spent my youth as a proverbial kampung kid swinging on my grandma's gate and watching the world go by, cycling around the neighbourhood catching tadpoles and fish from the drains, crawling in the grass looking for insects and bringing my neighbour's 2 puppies around in the insides of our tshirts as we cycled around. that sorta thing. so i have nothing but affection for the suburbs when i got my ass down to melbs.

my housemate, on the other hand, was a so-called city kid, brought up in the tiong bahru of the 80's. being very much a citizen of the concrete jungle, her closest encounters with nature were with the neighbourhood kids at the downstairs-playground. the fact that we could hear crickets chirping as the evening set in, and that there were no street-lights at certain stretches of the roads ("wahlau! this is like driving interstate in malaysia!") was a constant source of irritation when we first settled down at our current place.

why i love my apartment in the suburbs!

it takes a 35-minute train ride to get me to my uni in the city
the sign at the train station says 28-minutes. totall bull. but the time in the train gives me a chance to think, zone out or catch up on readings. i can spend close to $150 on transport each month, and many a time, it's slightly irritating when the train gets itself delayed or cancelled. still, i appreciate the 'entrance' to the city, as opposed to 'being' in the city all the time. the separation of both places gives me a better understanding of their differences, and i start to see and appreciate BOTH the suburbs and the city for what they are.

i am just across the street from monash
their library is waaayyyy huger and better-stocked than rmit's, even in the design/archi/philosophy section. but the drawing point is its collection of music: scores and recordings and books on analysis. and parking's free after 4pm! what's not to like?! i could spend a full day there and still find the need to go back the next day!

i can see the dande ranges from my balcony
so it's much colder than in the city. well, by 1-2ºC at least, but the chill-factor of the wind (usually it gets windy near a mountain, doesn't it?) makes it worse. coming from a singapore-kid who brings a jacket along even to borders, i have recently taken to layering. yep. that's the way, i tell ya! looking like an eskimo in my own home with 4 layers, a beanie and a scarf, typing out my proposals. and it's only autumn. am trying to ration and save the use of the heater for winter.

stuff is cheaper down here
hardly buy anything from the city anymore. when we first arrived, vicmart's was the place to go to for 'cheap' fresh produce. but it's only cheap when you go near closing time, when the vendors want to get rid of stock. or if you're really lucky. here in the 'burbs where there are sprawling malls, cheap fruit stalls and horrible-but-cheap clothes boutiques, you can sit at a cafe sipping that soy latte without being assaulted by the dust and grime of pollution. decent meals cost just a fraction of city-prices. it helps that rental is much lower here, too.

it's easy to find parking
qn: what's worse than the long drive to the city? ans: the parking. those 1/2-hour, 1-hour parking limits in the city just stress the hell outta me. i will never again complain about having to use parking coupons (and the subsequent aunty-mary visits that go hand-in-hand with public parking back home). and finding a lot in the city is just close to impossible. once, i *thought* i had reached parkville campus with 20-mins to spare, but just going round looking for a space to park had made me 15-mins late for a lunchtime concert. how unfair is that! madness! so unless i'm heading for the city towards evening time, i have resolved to sit, stone and read in the rickety ol' train.

the weirdos here are milder than those in the city
being approached for money constituted one of the major culture shocks i received during the first week i got here. i mean, sitting at a corner and begging is fine, and i'd usually drop a coin in the can. but the in-ya-face thingy just freaked me out completely. i once got reprimanded by this drunk for NOT giving him money! gosh. i swear these things only happen to me. have since learnt to keep my mouth shut and ignore them. and avoid them whenever possible.

i have a place to return to at the end of the day
i'd imagine living in the city would provide me no reprieve even at the close of the day. somehow, being able to retreat from the city makes it more manageable. and on somes days, i find that i totally cannot handle being in the city for a moment longer than i have to. as a result, excuses are made for not going to the city (and thus skipping class) in order to find my inspiration at the library, or at home. being *that* much closer to the vineyards down on mornington peninsula helps, too! :)

i kinda like being away from the hustlebustle, perils and pollution of the city. sure, all the cool cafes and great bistros are there, but i can always go there to enjoy these treats, and still have the safety and comfort of a quiet place to return to at the end of it all.