“Oh, and one more thing, the area floods a bit when it rains,” my brother’s girlfriend warned. And since it was always raining my first week on the island, it did not take me long to discover that it actually does. But after maneuvering the makeshift bridge for the nth time, I got immune to that as well. Besides, the construction guys were gentlemen enough to line up sandbags and cement blocks outside the terrace so I didn’t have to get my feet wet on my way to the bridge.
What I wasn’t prepared for, however, was the flooding bathroom.
It happened on my third day. Oh, they warned me about it. In my excitement, I just didn’t think it would happen that soon… or ever. But the rain’s been nonstop for days now. I could only watch in horror the water creeping out of the drain… slowly but surely. What’s more, it came with worm-like organisms, which I belatedly realized were baby mosquitoes. Eeew. I distinctly remembered it from fifth grade science class. Then I saw another icky creature which hopped in and out of the water. A tadpole? Double eeeww. As I sat right outside the bathroom door, all ready to bawl and praying the water would subside before it reaches the living room level, I saw ugly mud gushing out of the drain as well. That pissed me off.
I hate being sexist but -- what’s a single clueless girl to do in times of distress? Well, play the part of the beautiful damsel in distress of course. So I put on my most dazzling smile and called out to the gentlemen outside for help. Immediately, they did magic with the pipes or something outside the bathroom and cleaned up the drainage. And the dirty water was gone. And I saw that it was good.
But not for long. For a couple of days later, it started flooding again.
I finally realized that if I were to remain loving the rain, I had to give up the apartment. But then I wasn’t ready to give up on living on my own yet though.
Good thing, a few days later, I met Mr. XXX [read: Tres Ekis, the new tequila brand that’s even pricier than Cuervo]. Aside from introducing me to this new product he’s currently distributing in the island, he also pointed me to my new apartment. Admittedly, it’s a big chunk out of my budget but - what the heck - I’ve decided to be crazy for a month anyway.
Living alone certainly has its challenges. For one, you clean up after your own mess. Two, there won’t always be anyone around to rescue you from the icky insects. And, there’s laundry.
But then, living alone makes you discover things about yourself as well. Now that I don’t have a housekeeper to depend on, I found out I’m actually a neat freak. I don’t like mess in the bathroom and I like walking barefoot on clean, cool floors.
I realized too that I’m braver than I thought I was. Just today, I’ve learned how to deal with the weird-looking creatures – killer Baygon for insects and a cold shoulder for men.
Living alone also made me learn to always have in hand these few essentials to survive – an electric water heater, a cell phone, flashlight, lighter, soap of all kinds, basic utensils, medicines, vitamins, a spare key, bread and butter and yes, Lucky Me instant noodles.
It’s not always easy but I gotta say living alone rocks. Even if only for these reasons:
- You can walk around naked or eat dinner in your undies and nobody would mind. You’ve only got to close the windows.
- You get to pick your own noise. In other words, total tv channel and music control.
- You can bring a man you like any time without having to face the questions.
- You can be as moody as you want and you don’t have to explain why.
- You get to test what you can and can’t do. Your survival skills kick in and are constantly challenged – and you become a better person for it.
