| Lose the house,gain a lesson Foreclosure is painful, but it isn’t the end of the world Weekend • March 21, 2009 Esther Fung esther@mediacorp.com.sg AS A reporter covering the business beat amid Singapore’s worst recession in memory, I often have a sense of deja vu whenever the issue of home foreclosures crops up. My family and I have been down that road before. Back in 2000, my parents, whose business had yet to recover from the 1997/98 Asian Financial Crisis, managed to stave off bankruptcy. But our family had to move out of the semi-detached bungalow that we had called home for five years because the bank was breathing down our necks. I watched as my parents, who were in their late 40s, overcame feelings of inadequacy, anxiety and angst when they were forced to sell our home. I remembered how sad I was when my parents told the six of us — we were then between five and 18 — that the red-roofed home, along with the sushi dinner parties and garden barbecues, had to make way for something simpler. As a 16-year-old caught in this unexpected setback in life, I had to make some mental adjustments quickly. The house that I had imagined I would live in until my wedding day had to go. My parents also had to swallow their pride when relatives, friends and business partners asked about our downgrading. But later on, I realised that children could be pretty resilient in times of adversity. Rather than wallow in self-pity, my siblings and I kept our chins up and learnt to be more accommodating towards each other. The spacious Volvo was sold and the whole family adapted to squeezing ourselves into the more economical Hyundai Elantra. This reduction in personal space soon became a regular fixture in our lives. Moving into a rented, smaller terrace home packed with unopened cardboard boxes subsequently made me a wee bit more responsible da jie, or eldest sister. |
Name: Gurlstrange
Email: nohandphone@gmail.com
MSN: Instead why not follow me on Twitter? :)
Mini Bio:U wanna noe a lil' something abt me? Well, I'm a girl.
Paranoid, pessimistic girl with near zero self-esteem. Works in the
digital media arena in a country so fond of traditional media. Wished she could sing like Christina, danced like Ciara, play the guitar like Steve Vai, play the trumpet like Louis Armstrong and play the drums like Mike Portnoy.
Collects Tamagotchi and finds nothing wrong with it because it makes her happy.
::MORE About Me::
Blood Type: AB+(RARE blood. I think I shud start donating my blood in case I need it in the future
Nicknames: Tweety(can u believe my frens?)
[Mental]
TV: Whose Line is it Anyway?|Desperate Housewives|Ugly Betty|America's Next Top Model|Spongebob Squarepants|Punk'D|Ellen Degeneres|Heroes
Movie: CHICAGO|Pirates of the Caribbean|Transformers|The Green Mile|Sweener Todd
Books: Neil Gaiman - Neverwhere
Tom Savage - Valentine
Music: Anything goes..rock,classical,hip-hop,R&B..
Game: Baldur's Gate 2| Diner Dash| Granado Espada
Food: There's too many food I love!
Drink: Too many to list lah deh
Character: Emily Strange|Spongebob!
China girl rolled her eyes at me!?
David Gan the Himbo
Singapore's RETARDED
The shredding machine
TK Band's LOST. Deyi's win. My thoughts...
My last day of school FOREVER
Sleeping: A graphic representation
By 2008
By 2009
New PC set
By 2010
Canon Camcorder
Mini Cooper/Honda Accord Sedan
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