The Amazing Race

Sitting in lounge listening to Liszt, I felt calm although the flight was delayed two hours. Again. Malang – Ubud route often left me with little choice. Airline option. Four hours travel from Malang before departure. Bumpy ride. Delayed flight.

I should not complain more. My sister and I had finished our The Amazing Race - Day Five yesterday. We could not help calling our five-day adventure The Amazing Race. It was like one. We toured office to office, went through desks of bureaucracy, figured out ways to do things, like we were given an assignment to solve in a limited time. It was an assignment and time was limited. My sis’ stay is only short.

We worked on papers as prerequisite on Day One to Day Three. Some people told us that the trip from desk to desk is 'painful'. So we stated to just do it. We didn’t want to expect anything before started the process. There’s nothing we could do anyway so just do it!

On Day Four we tried whatever weapons we had collected to start ticking off items. We started at 8. It’s possible to start early in Malang because offices start early and moving from point to point needs less than 15 minutes. So when we drove home before 5, we could say 80% items had been ticked off from list. We giggled and had smile from ear to ear. It is so nice to do the tasks with sibling. I didn’t feel alone. I had other head to think, other hands to help, and other evil to giggle.

Back home after a long day was not a relaxing time for us. A cousin helped us tidying Mama’s bedroom and sewing room. It’s a helluva work. We couldn’t thank our cousin enough for volunteering. It’s good to have someone to do for us because it’s harder for us to decide which stuffs to keep and to go. We shared a lot of Mama’s stuffs with closed ones. Mama kept many spares of anything and of course those were left unused when she passed away.

I feel good this morning. I woke up in my own bed. What a nice feeling! I had nice morning with typical Ubud first-days ritual – cleaning. Black ants from trees resided inside a wooden chest on the foot of my bed. I could not believe they could be so quick. Like they knew I wasn’t around long time. I could not leave this house empty too long, it seems. It’s too close to nature.

Now I look forward to starting my day. The past ten days have enriched my life today in many ways.

Picture of Mama with parents and brothers.