Living out of a suitcase!

My main suitcase!

Have anyone ever imagine how living 6-8 in a room with double beds is like in Singapore. Unlike some bigger countries, Singapore is a small island, the size of many cities in a bigger country. For example, Singapore is probably just about the size of Shanghai or Beijing in China. As such, homes are much smaller and rooms are even smaller. Housing 6-8 in a room means there is hardly any room to move, not to mention storing your clothes and other belongings.

My hand-carry!

So how do we live? Literally right out of a suitcase like a jet-setter who travels round the world. Only in this case, we are staying put in the same place and our rooms aren't quite like the posh hotel jet-setters are known to live in.

I came to Singapore bringing one check-in suitcase and a hand-carry wheeled bag. However, as this is already my second trip, I actually have some stuff in Singapore. My mistake was not bringing a bigger suitcase (actually I don't even have a bigger suitcase). So for now, all my valuables are stored in my locking check-in suitcase and my general stuff in my hand-carry suitcase.

The suitcase a friend gave me!

I also have some good Singaporean friends who gave me some of their stuff such as shoes or handbags or even clothes that they don't wear anymore. This I appreciate very much... but where do I keep them, when my two suitcases are already full. We do not have wardrobes to hang our clothes in and no shoe racks to keep our shoes, so everything is out in the open. Fortunately, a friend of mine gave me an old suitcase which I use to keep some of my favorite clothes!

Common clothes area!

Living in a "community" like where I live, we do lose things every now and then. Recently, I lost a very nice jacket given to me by a friend. It's a windbreaker and one of my favorites too. I use it especially at this time of the year, when the morning can be really chilly! One day, I came home and it just wasn't anywhere to be found. I know some of my room-mates commented on how nice it looks and they could have conveniently "borrowed" it. We have people moving out every now and then and new people coming in, so it's not easy to keep track of our things as we do not have our own individual cupboards and hang our clothes in a common area.

Well, this is part of the life of a migrant worker I guess...