For Rent
Saturday, September 16th, 2006I have been quite busy this past week, responding to calls, emails, scheduling appointments for our potential renters for our "in-law" apartment. For people here in the US, an "in-law" is a term to decsribe a room that is usually adjacent to a garage or a room located in the ground level of a house. Usually, that space is converted into a mini-gym or storage but most pinoy families usually convert it to another room, equipped with its own bathroom and mini-kitchen and is rented out for added income.
Our "in-law" is a 2 bedroom, 2 bath unit, w/ its own private entrance and kitchen. Since mortgage payments are starting to get really painful, I have decided to take the lead to advertise the space. We have done some renovations w/ the floor and bathrooms and I felt pretty confident we’d get some good hits.
And we did. I received 3 emails and 5 phone messages. I screened and returned some calls and got to ask a few questions over the phone. We had our first visit Friday night from 2 gals who said they’re roommates. One of the gals, I can only guess, was around 40-50 yrs old and the other gal told me she was 22. They seemed pretty okay up until I asked them if they expect potential visitors on a regular basis, like their families or friends or boyfriends. The question was meant to be a heads up for us and not meant to pry into their weird lives. That’s when I think I opened a pandora’s box and got all the info that I didn’t really need. They started telling me how they were both Christians and do not believe in fornication (they really used this term)…and that they can give me their pastor’s number so I can call the pastor and get some advice (on WHAT??!?!)…and how they were brought to each ther by God as roommates for a reason…The weirdness and awkwardness of the conversation would have been tolerable pa tani, pero when they both put their hands on top of my head and started praying, I was just screaming on the inside (oh no PLEASE! puli na kamo!)..plus they gave me inconsistent information and I even found out they’re NOT currently roommates… There were just red flags all over…One of the gals said she’s taking up her Masters in Drama Therapy (She could be a pole dancer for all I know!)
To make a really long story short, they like the place, even willing to pay a security deposit but I told them it wasn’t necessary. We still had a few ppl scheduled for the weekend to visit the place and I’d let them know by Monday. After they left, I locked the fence, locked all doors and ran upstairs huffing and puffing and told everyone.
Sorry weirdos. Nawp.
, nanay would knock on our doors at 8am every Saturdays to get us started in cleaning our rooms. If I had slept in her bedroom that night, she would just pull the blanket off of me and start clearing the bed nga ara pa ako forcing me to be up. She would give me a silhig and bunot. I would then go back to my room, lock the door, lay in bed and use my other leg to scrub the floor. Although I was really sleepy, I made sure to make a scrubbing sound just enough for my mom to hear that I was actually doing something. Of course she knew I wasn’t. Maybe the long silent gaps in between scrubbing tipped her off. Panic would set in when she starts knocking on the door, calling me CHRISTINA(!) asking to inspect my room. I would only have 2 choices: to unlock the door myself or wait for the door to be unlocked right before my eyes. And that would be a very looong Saturday morning where I’d get lectured on how I could be a good mother and good wife etc…We had help in the house but nanay always made sure we knew how to do the chores. 