I lived in a three-story building. There was a restaurant on the ground floor. I had a huge living room with a pool table, WII, and a TV and DVD player. My living room also had a big ice cream freezer and a big refrigerator filled with booze.
I didn't own the whole place. I rented just a bunk bed on the third floor. I shared my bedroom with seven people. Depending on the season, sometimes the room could be filled with a bunch of noisy travelers, a quiet solo traveler or just myself.
Living in a hostel was like living in a student dorm. It was a thrilling life experience that I had never learned formally in school. Hostel living never ceased to amuse me. New faces everyday and new friends to go out with on weekends. Life was good. I lived in the hostel for over a year.
Too bad, good things have to come to an end. They left the hostel one by one. Some had to go back to their home countries to continue their studies and some had to go to other country for work.
Life began to be lonely without your friends. Of course, I still met a couple of great people at the hostel. But, they didn't stay for long. I was reluctant to keep in touch with new acquaintances.
My hostel doesn't accommodate a long staying guest. There were a few occasions that I had to change dorm. That was when a group of guests is booking my dorm. I had to shift to another dorm, even though I had had paid the dorm for a month. The hostel became so noisy when they arrived. Moving my stuffs to another dorm and moved them back to my dorm was troublesome. That was why I moved out from the hostel and rent a room at a shared flat.
Sometimes, I miss the time to linger at the hostel lounge while talking with my friends. We used to talk about how our days were, gossiping who was with whom or which guests that had offended another guests. Those were good times.
Hostel Living
Journey of Self Discovery
My parents were born after the second world war. I think, their perception of a successful life is similar with those of the older generation. Study well, get a good job, work hard, get married, have kids, retire, and die happily.
I wanted to have a big house with a pool when I was a kid. I don't know why I wanted it. Probably it would be cool to have one. I wanted to be an engineer when I was at elementary, because I wanted to invent a time machine. I wanted to be an architect when I was in high school. I didn't have passion for buildings, but I like drawing. My graduation grade wasn't enough to enroll to architecture school. So, I chose design school to the dismay of my parents.
I work for two years in my hometown. I didn't have intention to move to Jakarta. But, a turn of event made me to do it. I was fired. The company was a start up company and didn't have enough cash flow to keep the company running.
I thought my journey of self discovery would stop after moving to the capital city. I became wary and questioning myself, "Have I been successful? Am I happy? Am I at the end of my journey?"
I set my eyes to Singapore. I thought I could settle down and spend my life in this new country. I was wrong. That questions keep haunting me like ghost from the past.
Australia is my next destination. Will I be settling there? I don't know. Time will help me to answer it.
Journey of self discovery is a journey of a life time and it is redefined after I reach a goal in life.
My parents measure happiness by how much they have. I measure my happiness by how much I experience.