My bloggy friend Melany aka as Supermom from South Africa left a comment on my “We’re moving!” post a couple of days back saying,
Yay for bigger kitchen! but now you will have to post a photo of your current kitchen!!
Well, we have cleared the old apartment and ready to hand-over the keys to the manager real estate but before that, I had to take pictures.
~ kitchen area as seen from the living room hall ~
For a small family, it’s not that bad really but when you look closely:
This was the kitchen we woke up to and had to live with for three years. Shocked? Me too (well, not exactly). On the right side, our gas cooker, gas tank and fridge were placed. The microwave oven and the dish rack on the left side of the sink.
And that’s pretty much all! Now you know not everyone in Dubai lives in posh villas!
My weird husband brought a measuring tape and measured the area of our old home. We were shocked to know it was just 50 sq. meters in all, including 2 1/2 bathrooms and the kitchen! We are 4 adults (me, the hubs, my mom and a cousin) and one child so no wonder we always bump into each other’s bums all the time!
We have a plumeria tree in our balcony to put a green touch and somehow add life to the desert feel of Dubai. My mom went all the way to planting some vegetables – some grew, some died. One vine persisted, I don’t know the English name of it (in Japanese it’s tsurumurasaki). Mom takes out young leaves and put it in soups and mung bean dishes we love to cook. The thing is, we couldn’t take it with us because the tree died after being infested with bees (the stems remained intact though) and is heavy, we have to cut it down and clean the whole balcony and the most unexpected thing happened!!
Pristine broke down.
Cried huge, hot, crocodile tears, saying “I love that plant…I will miss it!”
Oh my God. Who would have thought!
I know it must not be nice to take photos of crying children especially your own but I’ll document it here anyway to she can google someday and know how much she loved plants. Am I making any sense?
I took her back to the new apartment so the hubs and I can proceed to cleaning out all the remaining stuffs. I couldn’t bear her crying over all bits and bobs we had that we needed to throw out!
She even cried we couldn’t take the Santa sticker (without destroying it) in the window she put last Christmas.
We lived in that little apartment for 3 years starting from when Pristine was just 3 years old. She must have had so many memories of that house and loved every bit of it, no matter how inconvenient (she wasn’t the one who had to juggle things at the kitchen) and small.
Finding Backroads 
Your kitchen…O………M…….G….. ( said in the nasley, whiney, voice you know the type in movies or otherwise.. lol) Thats crazy. I know it could be worse. The way the tile is it looks almost a bathroom..
Your poor sweet daughter. So cute and sentimental. now grandmother will have to buy new plants for new place and take granddaughter shopping with her.
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I remember moving out of the house I had grown up in when I was 9 years old. I was so sad and I cried. I wrote Maribeth was here hidden in the closet and under the basement stairs. (I am sure the new owners loved that!) But it was just terrible and I missed that house for a long time. Occasionally I dream of it. Funny how kids are.
.-= Maribeth´s last blog ..Splish Splash! =-.
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she formed an attachment to your old place, i think that’s normal.
i felt like crying when i left my apartment in hirooka to start married life with hubby.
.-= Charlotte (Life’s a Charm!)´s last blog ..On Tiger Woods? Public Apology =-.
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That is a pretty small kitchen I must say. From the living room hall POV it does looks wide enough. Post pictures of your new kitchen please. I’m betting it’s huge! 🙂
On a side note, how is Dubai in general? Is it nice and safe. The nice part I’m guessing it would be since they are advertising it as a tourist destination. 😀
.-= Derek´s last blog ..Pluslån =-.
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Moving tends to be a very sad and happy time. Your happy and excited to be moving to going somewhere new. But your also sad that your going because of all the happy memories and events that happened there.
Good luck!
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I totally know where she’s coming from-It’s the small things that we see EVERY day that really hit home when you realize you won’t be seeing them anymore. I mean I remember sobbing over a random, little mark that was made by some sort of accident in one of our old houses when we moved. It’s the memories these things evoke that she’s really heartbroken over…
She’ll bounce back-It’s a new adventure of sorts and I bet she’ll be excited once your in the new house for awhile 🙂
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It’s interesting how children can help us to see situations in a completely new way! She probably thought the apartment was magical even though the adults might have focused on the inconveniences.
Cool Brands of Britain
.-= Cool Brands´s last blog ..Enter Vodafone =-.
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Awww…. it’s the only place she remembers, eh?
.-= willowsprite´s last blog ..Some pics… =-.
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poor Pristine… but she can grow another plant in the new house! more exciting
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Wow that’s tiny. You must be so glad to have a bigger place now!
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I’m so happy for you in your new apartment! That kitchen was SO tiny, I cannot imagine how you and your mom managed to feed your family. Poor little Pristine, she looks so sad, she must have such wonderful memories about the old place. But I know that you are going to make the new place such a beautiful home for her. You have already started by letting her drive her Plasma car all over the bare house and by observing the bird eggs. She will have so many fabulous memories just because you are with her.
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Yeah the old kitchen was so tiny, it’s ridiculous! Pristine has gradually settled in the new house but since the old apartment building is just around the corner, sometimes she still says she wants to be there again. *sigh*
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When we moved I had one more load in the laundry at our old apartment. I picked up Cory from my parents and then stopped by to get that laundry. I told him the apartment would be empty, but when we got inside he got really sad and almost started crying (made me want to!). He just said “it looks so sad” and I don’t think he knew what to think. Thankfully once we got to our new house and he saw his room (which we had all set up for him although the rest of the house was full of boxes) he was okay again. He still says that our old apartment is sad though!
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Kids are so sentimental..especially with houses they grew up with. My parents moved a lot when I was young so I didn’t have time to get attached to a house and get emotional during every move.
Pristine still recalls our old apartment and says she missed it. 😦
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