Accomplished

It’s still 10 o’clock when I got in Mama's house. Of course, it was dark when I left house. I think Chiko was nervous, he miau-ed at my door around 4:30. So I just got up and played with him in bed. He slept in chairs close to me since I arrived in Jakarta. Poor cat.

The flight was good, a bit bumpy. Mama had a get together with friends from the Friendship Force in the morning. She tried to squeeze her time to pick me up but I told her not to worry about me. So it’s nice to sit in car – without driving – in Malang. I had a chance to see Malang from tourist eyes. My view now.

This town still looks simple. Although the infrastructure and houses look neat and updated but I could see that people are simply simple. I giggled reading signboards by the road I passed. I love observing signboards. Pity I didn’t have time to steal pictures because the traffic was generally smooth here. A neat warung with sign Juwal sayur-sayuran. A garage with sign Kursus bahasa Tionghoa. And there’s a little old shop between two newer ones selling only tobacco and accessories for smoking with pipe and tingwe (self rolled cigarettes). The paper and tobacco in jars looked interesting. Ah…

It’s so good to be back. Mama and nephew Dhana looked well and in harmony. They were excited when sharing the story of how they acquired microwave oven Dhana had asked for months. They got it from a lucky draw! It’s so nice to see them sharing a nice experience.

Mama already received a nice birthday cake from her close friend in sports club. She came with teary eyes hugging Mama. She’s always the first to congratulate and this year she came a day earlier. After she left, Mama showed me memento she prepared for her birthday celebration tomorrow. It’s very Mama, she always has something to share.

I enjoyed looking at the stuffs. It’s very her. Mama is good when it comes to recycle and reuse. I checked with her if the material is… recycled. She laughed. Of course not. She made use of textile in her stock to make a hundred nice wallets. Some are really nice because of the kain ikat. And to share the business with people she knows, she ordered a hundred jars of cookies. I’m amazed. Yea, she needs business. Simple explanation. It seems that she’s going to have a big celebration. She explained to me that she is lucky to have many good friends. It touches her to see how friends give her… attention. Ehm.. sounds familiar.

I showed her pictures of my house in Ubud. She loves it. It gives her idea to downsize her house but later she said that she couldn’t live without extras. Ya, she has lots of household stuffs. She showed me lots of baskets when I said I need one. Anyway, I told her that I have moved my Cherokee to Ubud. The reasons entailed for sure. She didn’t look surprised as she followed the details. She could even make jokes of the situation. I’m glad that after all she’s happy to see me happy leading a good life – on the right track. I’m doing good deeds.

When it’s time to have lunch, we both gasped of too much talking. We were light and happy. We changed subjects. Someone stole four pots of anthurium and forty small cacti from her greenhouse near front gate. Now the fence is higher with barbed wire. She’s not happy more because of the feeling that someone has entered her territory.

So many stories to share after four months of not meeting. I’m glad to have passed the most important piece of information on the first day. I look forward to having nice time with Mama and Dhana the coming days.

Photo of ciamsi in a temple in Cirebon – when a choice has to be made.