Cubicle Living Style, is it Bad or actually a Training to be Survivor ?

For several years, I experienced living in limited space. It is a story back to when I was the first time deported temporarily. I wouldn't say which country did this to me. Anyway ! Since that time, I started to experiencing something not so many people understand. The very first place I lived alone was when I was in Yogyakarta. This city was the first I started experience a limited yet rural living space. It was a boarding house, and I rented a room there to complete my college studies of Tourism and Hotel.

In that place, being a rural and rather small village, given me a level of how to deal with small yet scary bugs. The room itself wasn't so big, it was around 3 x 3 meter, perhaps with attached rather big toilet. The toilet was the problem back then. The area of the house are rather....swarm and freezing at night, which makes me didn't really need a help of fan back then.

Anyway, after spend almost 5 months there, I moved to Lombok, which represent the on-site training facility with foreign teachers. I even already forgot what was her name. I have this tendency to forgot people who I made despised, But I still admire and respect her although she cut all connection from me. Rather good teacher.

For about a month or more I lived in the facility and we've been given a rather survival technique and discipline. I, myself, not actually need it in the first place, because I am a discipline guy especially when it comes to Time. Past trauma made me this way and I don't really wanted to erase it from my brain. Living and Training back then was really helpful especially in discipline, we were trained by a real army of Indonesia. After a month I was asked to wait until the Job sent to me via e-mail. It was great, and I decided to train myself and doing part time (yet work as full time) job at Laundromat, in Indonesia, there's no Chinese race work as Laundromat staff, they're mostly the owner, and my owner was Chinese and younger than me !

For about 6 or 8 months I was working diligently and never late. To be honest being there, I was trained to be patient handling customers and the owner, sometimes. They're young, but I work and behave carefully to not thinking too bossy towards them, but they already felt that way and by luck, they're not really hate me back then, in fact, they want to learn a bit of my experiences. 

Time passed and I suddenly got e-mail about my assignment to work on Cruise Ship, I was excited back then. And hoping my first assignment wasn't so bad, but Fate tells different. At first when I on board the ship in Taiwan, I am honestly grateful and planned a lot to work there. Living space on ship as you people may know, not so big for Crew. It was around the size of my Toilet back at my old first home I was born (3 x 2.5m pretty much) including tiny toilet. I don't mind at all, since I used to lived in many bugs yet rural place, the crew cabin indeed small but clean. But It was shared room, so the image below is just example of crew cabin, this is not my cabin but similar to this.

                                       Illustration of Crew Cabin

For about 5 months living on Cruise Ship, I realized that living here wasn't as economic as people told me back then in my tourism school. There are a lot of things needed to buy apart from Entertainments. They were told me that I might going craze for alcohols or doing gambling. But the fact is, those were just simply for social life. And I'm not that kind of guy, yet I still found fact that my salary wasn't enough !! I really despised and felt depressed back then and nearly planning to going overboard. But after 5 months, I find it pretty stupid just to kill myself and let people who made fun of me on ship laugh at my stupidity. So I decided to cut my contract halfway by the reason of not connected well to my Supervisors (these supervisors were the one made my live on ship goes hellish). I bought my own ticket and return to my hometown in depressed and thinking of another way to get back on the other ship, but the company simply rejected my application and abandoned my life. 

For about a month I lived in friend's house and I decided to find my destiny on other rather small town far east of Java. Back then live on Surabaya wasn't really a good example of survival style, so I can't say anything good from living there besides the fact that where I was lived were rather dangerous place, so quit having night walk on Surabaya especially country-side area. So I decided to move again to rather small town, Malang, and this town is the first time ever I lived in Cubicle room. For about a month and half I lived there and living in cubicle kind of opened my eyes that Privacy are rather bad here but would give you quite social life here. I've met several backpackers back then and they though I was kinda weird and similar to Japanese trend people called "Chuuni-byo" guy. But apart from that, a few things we need to remember by living in Cubicle is you gotta find a laundromat outside of the hotel. Or sometimes they provide a delivery laundry which need to paid separately from living cost. After quite sometimes, my dad send me back to his town and asked me to stay somewhere near his town, as I couldn't live too long in his country.

I decided to skipped my experience living in another country, as I sensed that sounds illegal and would never recommend this way to any people out there. Anyway, before reach Batam, I lived in one another cubicle for quite sometimes like 2 months. I tried getting a job and failed, but this cubicle probably the most convenient I ever had. There were actually 2 places. One expensive and one rather cheap. The expensive one, well as you might saw in most Youtube videos, provided with air-con, wifi, public toilet and a small drawer. It was pretty nice to too much for me, to be honest. Because the place was really, really in the best spot of downtown. And I don't want that !! That place clearly for Tourist Backpackers. 

                                    Illustration of Capsule Hotel

So I decided to find a better and cheaper place to stay back then, and luckily they provided monthly stay. Living in the new cheap place actually giving me the best experience of poverty living in big city. But the rules are the same, public toilet, and laundry, outside. End of story.

Ok, don't worry that's not me and certainly my room wasn't that dirty

But that's almost the size of where I lived, one thing you need to avoid while live in this kind of place is, don't ever make too much noises. And usually in a shared air-con room like this, usually disallowed people to smoke. Although back then, some nasty tenants still do smoke. However that's not the reason I left that place.

Anyway, after experienced all those places, I started to forgot the feeling of living in a house or at least a boarding room. When the first time I visited this Batam's boarding house, I was like, Wauw, this room is huge !! And truthfully I really love that this room meet all my expectation of "runaway" person like me ? However, problem by living in boarding house especially in Batam, and I believe this also happening anywhere else in other boarding houses in Batam, is Electricity and Water Pump. They are occasionally switch off due to lack of management in Power Plant and Water Pump Facility. Well, I believe this problem is also lack in any other countryside or rural place of countries, right. So things I should do just plain, patience. 

That was mostly my experience of living. Looks tiresome, but at least for those who wanted to know the feeling, I can give extra explanation soon :)

Oh, by the way, I just wanted to say that. It would be great if every human in current era learn to live in this kind of place, probably one or two night to actually learn. Because you know, in the future, we might caught in the situation where we need to live in a limited space despite wherever we are, be it on Earth or even outer space. Some people may find this kind of place as disturbing and very inhuman. But the fact is, it is a necessary training for human to survive in any worst condition in the future. We may live in peace now, but that state, won't last too long soon. With so many climate crisis happening now, how would you still thinking, "There's always private space house for me out there" the fact is when it comes to Refugee, we're not the one deciding the space, it's a team of volunteer and faith deciding on us.