The Big Hullabaloo

Jesus, my Captain, my soul's trusted Lord, all my allegiance is rightfully yours. 

//Hillsong United, "Captain"

Sometimes, we think that everything will go smoothly, and without any bumps, as long as we've got Jesus in our boat, right? I mean, obviously, Jesus is always with us, our Captain, Saviour, Redeemer, our constant help - whatever or whoever you need Him to be, HE IS. In this season, Jesus is my restorer. 

Trials, tribulations and hiccups along the way happen for a reason. Sometimes, we wonder, why can't Jesus just swoop in and save us from the perils of this wretched world? We ask, pray and believe that He will intercede in our situation, and we put all our hope in Him alone, for He is our Hope that cannot disappoint. But then.... after waiting, waiting and w a i t i n g, you're like - hey Lord, what's happening? Then you remind yourself, God is never early or late, He is ALWAYS on time. Now that, I know. But, isn't it just frustrating when the miracle doesn't come to pass at the time you wish it would? 

"Rejoice and exult in hope; be steadfast and patient in suffering and tribulation; be constant in prayer." Romans 12:12 AMP

Coming from me, whose hope was dashed for countless times during the past month, let me recount my experience, and how verses like Romans 12:12 really carried me through it all. And hey, we all learn from our mistakes, and for the ditchers, no one is perfect, and forgiving them is the best way to let it all gooooooo. No, we are not about to cue Frozen's "Let It Go", the fad is over, dude. 

SO...

Let's continue where I left off - I said, "Let's take the plunge," - and that was when everything sorta went haywire. But I don't regret it. 

Well, it wasn't just MYYYY idea, Hui Eng agreed to go ahead with it too, even though we knew that it could go terribly wrong. Take into consideration of 2 really excited girls who had nothing to lose - well, maybe except the looming $3721/ person if we failed to get 2 students to take over our CLV contracts. YOLO, in every sense of the word.

Why was it so difficult to find people? Come, let me list the reasons. 

• Expensive rent per week
• Sem is ending in a matter of weeks
• Only students are allowed
• Subletting not allowed
• Newbie taking over the contract must last till the end of 2015, not shorter

HOWEVER, at first, we were doing well for one of the rooms. Shortly after advertising on Gumtree, a Chinese guy called Sidney was interested in inspecting the place. We were thrilled, to say the least. When he came over the following day, we showed him the area, explained everything, gave tips on living in the student village, and he told us straightaway that he wanted to rent out one room - which was mine. To be honest, I was quite confident of having my room rented out, as my room is nicely decorated, and further away from the toilet which may make the room more marketable hahaha. Oh well. Whatever it is, me and Hui Eng agreed to share half of the costs if there were any incurred on either sides.

Now pause.

Let me just say, thank You Jesus for sending Sidney to takeover the room! If it wasn't for him, me and Hui Eng would have never gone ahead with our plans, as losing that much money just to move houses was seriously not worth it. It was like, the moment he agreed to sign the contract, I said, "ALL SYSTEMS GO."

Don't worry, I'm not leaving you guys hanging again, I'm going to carry on with my story for now. (Though I should really get on with revising for my law exam - okay, just a bit more!)

Press play.

I was over the moon. Who wouldn't be?

Well, that was until we proudly marched over to the reception on 18th Sept at 4pm to inform the staff about our move, with the intention of breaking Hui Eng's contract if we couldn't find someone to take over the room by the time we moved. Now that, was the mood downer when we received the shocking reply from the RA (residential assistants who are on duty 24/7, to aid students when the staff leave on the dot at 5pm). He said, "Oh sorry, we can't do that. You're going to have to find someone to take over your contract, if not, you'll have to pay till the end of the year."

UMM. EXCUSE ME? *splutters* What did you say?

I wonder if that thought registered on our faces, but I think we were lost for words in the split second he delivered that defining statement. If I were drinking tea, I would have most definitely choked.

First thought: OH MY GAWD. OH NO. OH, NO. 

This cannot be happening. Our perfect plan had just been ripped to shreds. You see, if we broke off Hui Eng's contract on 26th September, we would save a lot of kaching. Even if we waited for 2 more weeks to find a takeover, it would have been no problem, as our new place came with 2 weeks rent free! (Do you see why this place was just calling out to us?)

As mentioned in the previous blog post yesterday, losing the bond is akin to us moving out in mid-Nov, as we would have lost $1954 anyway. And that would have been split into two, which makes it super ideal for us. By the way, if you haven't seen the previous post, I suggest you start from there, as these few blog posts are gonna be continuous. Now, for those who have read it, let me begin the next portion by saying, student villages main priority is not the welfare of the students, it is money. While I must place a disclaimer here by saying, money is how the world works, and the student village IS NOT at fault for refusing our request, and we are bound by the contract. But the infuriating point is, the fact that they chose not to care about our situation, despite our desperate pleas and emails.

When we told the RA that in places like Urbanest and other student villages, we had heard of students being able to terminate their contract early, and lose the bond as compensation. However, Iglu had strict policies in place. He then told us to email the reception, and on Monday, the staff would see it and decide if they could make a special request, seeing as to how we had tried our best to find a replacement. Our weekend mood was clearly dampened. Every time we walked past the reception, we would harrumph in displeasure. We did, however, send an email to reception the moment we got back to our unit.

Monday came. No reply. And that was just the beginning.

We proceeded to reception in the afternoon to check up on the email, and one of the staff members reiterated that it was not possible to break the contract, and advised us against signing the contract agreement for our new place. She did, however, give us the direct email for the manager, and told us to try emailing him. So happened, he was at a conference in Sydney, but he would reply their emails.

After emailing him, and explaining our side of the situation fairly, he didn't reply us. For the next two days, there was still no reply from him. Forwarded the email to reception to ask them to relay the message to him, and even visited the reception again just to inform them about the email I sent, then finally did someone forward it to the manager. Talk about efficiency.

After checking my email like a madwoman, he finally replied me. And he said we are obligated to find someone to take over the room. Basically, his indirect reply in his entire email was, NO, we are not accepting your request. He even had the cheek to say that we gave him very little time to consider. *cue the rage that lies within thy soul*

EH HELLO, FROM THE PREVIOUS WEEK WE KEEP SENDING EMAILS TO GET A REPLY, AND NOT EVEN THE RECEPTION BOTHERED TO REPLY OUR EMAILS. I MEAN, YES, IT MAY HAVE BEEN A RATHER SHORT NOTICE, BUT DON'T YOU GO ALL RUDE ON ME, MISTER. HMPH.

Sheesh. Well, being the vulnerable party, you can't reply that way. Any right thinking ordinary member of society has better common sense than to do that. (LOL, such a law-inspired statement) ANYWHO. I replied, and got Hui Eng to bring out her writing chops as well, in an effort to get the manager to reconsider his decision, as we apologised for any inconveniences, and tried with all our might to ascertain a favourable response. Guess what happened next?

HE DIDN'T REPLY. OH MY GOODNESS. 

Sighpie. 

When he finally arrived back on the 28th of Sept, we had already moved to our new spot.
Like I said before, 

"ALL SYSTEMS GO."

And now, my friends, here we begin the story of the 3 Ditchers and the Big Hooha..... in the next blog post. *evil grin*

Okay c'mon, gimme a break. There's seriously so much to tell, so let's do this in juicy bits k?

Just wait for tomorrow or something,
Cherlyn Aurora xoxo

In raging seas, He is with me

Many, many, MANY things have happened over the past month. Like probably the most tumultuous one I've experienced in quite a long while. I have been ditched last minute by 'potential' takeovers in the most rude and aggravating ways possible, 3 times in a row. Every time there was hope, it got crushed, stepped on, well till the point of giving up and going past my breaking point. Emotions ran high, but through this experience, I have grown up a lot, and realised that in this world we live in, it's a harsh reality that can be unrelenting, which has opened my eyes. BUT - though I am in the world, I am not of the world, and Daddy God is with me through it all, holding my hand & leading me towards greater things that I presently cannot see. Restoration is coming, and I know it.

"So I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten, the crawling locust, the consuming locust, and the chewing locust, My great army which I sent among you. You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied, and praise the name of the Lord your God, who has dealt wondrously with you; and My people shall never be put to shame." (Joel 2:25–26)

This long story ahead will detail the student village experience, the good and the bad, and lessons learnt from it all - all in the hope that juniors will have prior knowledge before entering any contract, as breaking one is not as easy and simple as one may think. It can well be the financial black hole if you do so. The following text is super grandmother story, and will be split into separate continuous posts, so if you're looking for a quick glance, prolly come back later? But, do read this with an open mind & heart. :) Also, note that I no longer harbour any bitter feelings towards CLV (aka Iglu) & the three ditchers, and I'm gonna let bygones be bygones.

LETTUCE BEGIN, MAH FRIENDS. (Don't you grammar Nazi me)

Well, as you would all have known by now, I've recently moved house with Hui Eng - yes, we moved during the mid-sem break heh. It all started on 1st Sept, when CLV (the student village we were living in) changed their management to Iglu, and when we checked their contract renewal for 2016, our jaws dropped. While our current contract goes for $296/week for rent, from 1st Jan 2016 onwards, it would be $309/week. I already knew that the price increases every year (no freaking idea why they do that when there are no upgrades in premises), but $309 was just.... superbly unreasonable. Yes, utilities are included in the rent, and we can basically go crazy using how much electricity we wanted, but internet is apart from that. Oh yes, they would try to argue, saying, oh it increased coz of the high usage in utilities etc, but for the 2016 contract, they would include 10GB worth of data every month for free. Sounds like a good deal right? N O P E. The biggest NOPEEEEEE ever puh-lease. *scoffs*

Let me break it down for you. In CLV, BigAir is the only Internet Service Provider (ISP) available and allowed for students to use. You're apparently not given permission to use a different ISP, which obviously sucks. After asking around, I realised that BigAir charges exorbitant prices for their data. Basically, each month while living there, I paid $40/month for 40GB, and to give it some credit, it was high-speed Internet, which was gladly welcomed. However, mind you, Australia's version of high-speed Internet is nowhere near Singapore's speed, which has evolved to optic fibre speeds, but over here down under, they have yet to catch up. Right now, in Aussie, the govt is rolling out NBN, aiming to get it ready to every home by 2018. To be fair, Australia is enormous, compared to tiny Singapore, and for that, there is no one to blame. My issue with CLV was that their ISP was fixed, and you can only use it for one, O N E  device at any point of time. Which means, only my laptop could be connected to the Internet, which is why I went with a $60/month prepaid Optus card for my mobile phone. To be honest, the Optus prepaid plan of $2/day = 500MB/day with free calls and text messages is a steal lah, which is why I'm still using it concurrently, even at my new place.

OKAY MOVING RIGHT ALONG. *whoosh*

So, when Iglu took over, suddenly the data plans changed from 2016 onwards, whereby, if you wanted to top up your data from 10GB (which would have been included in the rent), to plans like 40GB, it would be an additional $7/week. While I agree that may sound pretty okay for now, it really isn't worth the money, and it just costs so much more than before. So, for the usual 40GB/month plan, that would cost you $1/GB, which is, well, expensive, but no choice right. But when you consider the new arrangements, the $13 increase in rent PER WEEK does not amount fairly to 10GB PER MONTH, as 10GB basically costs $30/month as a plan on its own, but if you use more than that a month, you'd upgrade to 40GB, at $40/month. I think generally everyone goes with 40GB at the very basic, since the price for 10GB isn't worth it haha. I'm not going to calculate it digit for digit, but if you have a look, and use logic to do so, you'll realise that the "free 10GB" is more than paid for in the rent increase. Sigh, and I need tons of data.

AFTER CONSIDERING...

We hesitated on the thought of moving, as it would involve a lot of commitment, looking for a house, and bringing our independence up another level. The other problem is, the damned 1-year contract signed with CLV. For this student village, only 1-year contracts are available. 6-months are okay, but it will cost you more. Why can't this place learn from others and provide 6-month ones at the same price? Gosh, create so much trouble for residents who want to move. For me, I just had a niggling feeling that we SHOULD move. Now, after all this has happened, I know for sure it's the Holy Spirit that prompted the move.

With several unsuccessful attempts at finding the most suitable apartment, we nearly succumbed to renewing our contract with CLV. However, on 15th September, Hui Eng randomly checked the latest rental offers on Real Estate AU, and to our surprise, the preview pictures, furnishings, location and price matched our expectations. It was like, ohmygawd this looks promising! Our time after that moment was a COMPLETE WHIRLWIND.

That very morning, we checked the place out, registered our interest, and took the application forms home to fill up. We were majorly excited, coz when we inspected the unit, every inch seemed perfect! Maybe only the fact that the master bedroom had a queen sized bed, and I wanted it changed to king single so that there was space for the owner to fit in a study desk and chair (which I had requested for). Haha and we even offered a lower rental price (eh we didn't go that much lower k, from $520 -> $500/week), which was ACCEPTED. Yes, I had the shalom peace feels when I went into the unit, the furnishings exceeded our expectations, and our requests were all accepted! Side note: the owner left the queen sized bed as it is, so maybe it's a bit squeezy, but it's comfy, cozy, and bless, I've got a bigger bed now - can fit another family member or friend when they come over HAHA. Count my blessings, yeah? GOD IS GOOD. :)

Yes, Jesus is my constant, in this world of uncertainty.

Everything was gonna go well as planned. Put up ads on every site possible, hope that 2 people want to take over our individual contracts till 31st Dec, and get away scot-free without any liability. If not, just break our contracts and lose the bond (1 month of rent, usually paid at the start of the contract as a deposit that will be returned to you upon completion of the contract, provided there are no damages to the unit/room). Coz, losing the bond is akin to us moving houses in mid-Nov originally anyway. Things were going to go SWELL, and move like a boss.

Yes?

.

.

.

.

.

.

A BIG, FAT, SHOCKING, SLAP TO THE FACE - NOPE.

First off, the reason why we HAD to move during mid-sem break (26th Sept) was coz the owner did not want to wait till November to rent the place, and I felt a gut-prompting feeling that we should move, as we may not find a place like this again. I totally remember saying to Hui Eng, "Let's take the plunge."

"TAKE THE PLUNGE," CHERLYN SAID. 

Want to find out what happened next? Stay tuned. Coming up real soon.

Seeya in a lil' while,
Cherlyn Aurora xoxo