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andra and Anthony Oundjian bought their new home on Onan Road because of the flavour of the multicultural m neighbourhood; they loved Joo Chiat’s urho local, bohemian atmosphere. “Joo hemi Chiat struck a chord with us because it didn’t feel like an a ‘expat bubble’; there’s a solid mix of cultures,” says Sandra.
PROPERTY
The French couple met at a friend’s place in Montreal in 1998 and were married in 2004. Today, they have three children: two sons, Milos (8) and Agathange (6), and a daughter, Massilia (4). “I always think of an expat as someone shipped around on a company package; I certainly don’t think of myself as an expat in that
sense,” says Sandra. “I prefer the term ‘migrant’. I’ve lived in the US, the Czech Republic, Canada, Belgium and now Singapore. We plan to settle here for the long term, which is why we decided to buy this house.” This is the couple’s second stint on the Little Red Dot. When they moved to Singapore in 2001 for Anthony to do his MBA at INSEAD, they stayed in a condo in Buona Vista, Dover Parkview, which was conveniently close to the campus. “We arrived with one suitcase each and did a trip to Ikea to get the basic bits and pieces,” recalls Sandra. “We had no furniture to speak of. But before we left Singapore, we did a trip to Bali and filled a container with furniture to take back to Brussels.” Their first real home together was in Belgium. “There are some amazing buildings in Brussels and I still have a soft spot for Belgian architecture. They employ natural textures with a minimalist philosophy that I appreciate. The architectural design allows a lot of light to fill the rooms, compensating for the lack of light that results from the generally dreary weather.” Their children were born in Belgium, but the couple returned to Asia regularly for holidays. In their sixth year there, they took another trip to Bali and sent yet another container filled with furniture back to Brussels. In 2008, about a month after it had arrived, they decided to return to Singapore.
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