He’s a good musician, a good creator,…

My friend mumbled after the light switched on. Three girls watching This Is It in cinema. We were the last persons to leave the studio because we enjoyed the music to the last note while replying incoming texts. Girls! I don’t mind to watch again! My funny girlfriend announced after told us yesterday that she’s not going to watch twice (with us then husband). We laughed. She got hooked. She even dressed the MJ way. Black skinny pants, pale pink top with sequined vest! I could not help laughing when entered her car because… I also wore about the same dress code. I was quite MJ if I wore white socks. It was fun and it’s Halloween anyway!

It was just hilarious! It’s a perfect girl day out! We had early lunch in a Japanese fast food restaurant then watched movie at 1 pm. It was almost two hours that we thought we would mind. We did not! It’s a nice smooth edited footage from his last days preparing his farewell tour. I was a bit emotional the first half an hour or so. He looked so good, too good! So sad that he’s gone too soon. Much too soon! This man was genius! Super! I’m glad that I followed Chris Botti’s suggestion to spare time to watch live music because it gives you real feeling of real music. I have been to several shows of big artists including the mega Michael Jackson. I still remember my excuse to splurge on watching his show in Singapore some ten years ago: He is part of history. It happened it was History tour that yesterday when I tidied up house I found a cap from the show.

I’m happy that I can enjoy my time in Jakarta this visit. The house has given me new energy and I’m the one who gave the house new energy. This is one of the most beautiful places I ever lived. I just love every piece of art displayed in the house. My girls have been great help. They scrubbed floors since yesterday so now all floors look sparkling. I took off all kilims that has made the house looks colder but the floors need to breathe till my next visit.

I feel rich of good nests 'around the world' (that my friend often said I’m lucky to have many homes) and good friends. It was so nice to sit with six people I know well over coffee after movie this afternoon. We managed to ‘collect’ spouses and friends to join us to ‘after-show’ coffee. I enjoy every second of my visit but I cannot deny that I look forward to landing in Bali noon time tomorrow.

To another nest, other friends.

Real pumpkins for Halloween I spotted in Salcedo market, Manila.

Black frm [sic] cleaning?

A friend asked when I said my hands were black. Yes, from touching dusty stuff around living room. I made major change in the living room today. I moved furniture to get different atmosphere. My drive was so high that I could do anything even moved the big Chinese cabinet. My girls and I did it with trick. Also when three of us lifted the heavy Buddha torso made of lava stone. I’m proud of my girls. They worked fast in cleaning so we could finish our project a bit pass noon then I continued tidying up by myself till late afternoon. We were all sweaty!

I was just amazed (again) to see sea of stuff around house. I thought I had managed to keep the house ‘slim.’ Apparently, I was not so successful. I found some 50 CDs among many that I would like to download on my iTunes. So I did while kept moving things and cleaning. I also noticed that electric appliances went broken when not used often. After released my big projector TV last week, today I found out many appliances are broken that only a sound system survives. I need to get an AUX cable to connect to iPod, my only entertainment at the moment.

As far as I have tried not to shop, I still had to face mountains of unused stuff. It's hidden inside cabinets and in places eyes could not spot immediately. The other day I asked my friend to show me her cabinet to keep oleh-oleh since I saw her bought tons of pearls every time we went to pearl market. And she travels a lot so I… suspected. I was almost fainted when she opened the cabinet. Loaded with stuff from top to bottom! Things from pearl market in Manila, Chatuchak in Bangkok, a market in Shanghai, Stanley market in Hongkong… The good thing about her, she labeled some plastic bags with name so it's assigned. But… I could also see the extra or bags without label. The I-may-need stuff. I was overwhelmed. It was not the first time I saw such view. I helped several foreigner friends moved from Indonesia to handle the humongous amount of stuff.

Anyway, look who’s talking? Mine was not that humongous compares to my friends’ scale but to mine still. I didn’t think twice when put things in trash and to-go bags. No sentimental consideration at all. My girls looked happy to see the space 'grew' bigger. They didn’t know that actually it’s manipulation of effect. By moving a big cabinet from main sight, I could create a totally different mood to the room. I’m satisfied. I still have minor things to do in the morning like change wall hanging and remove anything under table. Not clutter but decoration. I just need to move it to create even simple look.

My friends already set time to meet tomorrow. It’s been awhile since we gossiped, she said. True! Think I can leave the air-conditioner-man with my girls. I asked him to come over to check all air-conditioners in the house. Only 2 out of 7 work properly.

Chiko and PCF’s teddy bear.

U r too funny!

My friend replied to my report that I was not-so-smart reading our new luggage scale. It’s “our” because my friend also bought the same scale. We discussed a lot about it since we are both ladies with too heavy bags when traveling. So why was I not-so-smart? I read the pound metric instead of the kilogram so I kept complaining why the bag is heavier than the real feel. I was so pathetic since I really care about paying excess baggage on international flight. It’s a lot!

So it’s rare that I was 1.5 kilos under my allowance. Yes, I bought 10 kilos excess already. This low-fare flight was not generous with weight allowance. Who can survive 15 kilos? Balikbayan like me needs a lot more. Whatever, I was just satisfied with my new scale. Its deviation was about 1.5 kilos but good enough!

You call the shots. It is your last day and I do whatever you want. My friend was so nice to offer to do anything for me on my last day. I was in between wanting to cocooning and to enjoying my last day doing something. I had big idea to go to Tiendesitas – the antique market – but I really could not bear the thought that I could not take more weight so I changed the plan again. Let’s go to Ayala Museum!

We had nice lunch at the museum café. It’s our favorite alfresco place. This spot in Manila is so convenient. It’s all-in-one concept. Museum, malls (up and mid-markets), restaurants, and a chapel in one location. What else do you need? We had nice girlie talk before visited the museum. I have been there once, my friend is even a member that allow her and her guest to visit without pay. We meant to see the temporary exhibitions only but ended up browsing one floor of permanent display as well. Our favorite floor with ceramics from Asia and Filipino gold jewelries collections.

The young artists’ exhibition was so good that we were close to shopping artworks. My weakness, I could not resist enjoying 3-dimensional artwork these days. This time I fell in like with a metal artwork on a thick slab of stone. I could not imagine how I will carry it back to Bali that I decided not to think about it. I survived without it but not my friend. She reminded me twice about the sculpture in the course of one hour. She was just being a devil sales lady as I did the same to her in the morning. I made her buy a ring! Why do we always end up shopping? She complained.

I am now writing on my flight back to Jakarta. I’m excited about going to Jakarta since I have a big plan in the house. I will redecorate the house and declutter. My girlfriends in Jakarta are already excited anticipating our time together that I'm still not sure about my time. But sure, I will make time for them. I also need to get haircut and else. My usual errands in Jakarta.

Ehm I have been yawning. It has passed my sleep time. Flight is still two hours away. I better start to make bed. Yes, I'm sitting by myself in row of three.

The container school I visited the other day.

So what do you think?

I was staring at nothing when my friend checking me out. We were sitting in a Japanese restaurant near her apartment after quite a ‘heavy’ day in a slum area in the outskirts of Pasig, east of Manila. We had planned the visit since last week. My friend is involved in the Foundation that helps the poorest Filipino communities through education, nutrition, health, medical and family enhancement programs. Although the Foundation has Christian in its name but its mission is to help people regardless of religion, race or political boundaries.

My friend and her friends initiated a project called Teddy Bear Project at the Foundation’s Livelihood Center last September. The Foundation has done several other projects like sewing polyethylene ex packaging into bags; turning newspapers and magazines into nice beads for necklaces and bracelets; and creating other household products out of used papers. So the idea of producing all hand-sewn teddy bear (classic style) for Christmas is very new.

Actually my friend had 'warned' me about the place but I didn’t think much. Entering a narrow road with house-tall sorted garbage piles on both sides and a tire-thick mud, I went speechless. I felt not so good about being in nice car looking at people living their life. Sorting out garbage, eating, chitchatting, and even… brushing teeth. They led a normal life amid the smell from the garbage and still-mud that has sit for weeks from the flood last month. Got inside the Foundation's office cum school, I said no to the offer to walk around to see outside. I felt not comfortable.

My friend had discussion with the staffs in the Center. They discussed about the cost of producing teddies to set price. I spent time in the Center’s shop buying some pencil cases made of woven polyethylene strips and bracelets made of used papers. Later I asked to be the first owner of the Center’s teddy bear. I set the price! They looked so cute that I could not help but appreciating the work behind a teddy. So much work!!! And each teddy has a ‘character’ because each was produced by different hands. Said the women work in the Center are paid with food to take home that the arrangement may change after the Center has steady income later.

The same incentive of giving food to take home is also applied to the children in school so they are willing to come to school. There are some 500 students from Grade 1 to 5 in the building. They wore nice classic blue sailor-style uniform. They are kids from the area where the Foundation has to attract the children to get education otherwise they prefer to stay in the dump site helping out their parents to collect or sort out garbage. Said they have used to do it since they were 2 years old. That’s sad!

A staff in charge of communication in the office took us to their new school that is still under construction 10 minutes away from the present location. It’s located near the old dump site called Smoky Mountain. It’s like a hill with green (now) that before it had smoke emitting from the garbage mountain. It’s scary. The new school will house about 1000 students from Grade 1 to 6 and later will develop to high school. The design of the school won an award from a well-known cement producer. The complex is actually constructed from used containers stacked up to four levels. From the playground on the top level we could see the new dump sites in the afar and another slum areas with still-water river and floating garbage. Although the containers are rusty but I didn’t feel like I was looking at another type of dump. They expect the complex to finish next year. It’s quite a project from my view. Not cheap although it comes out of dump (in larger sense).

On the way back, I told my friend what I saw is 10 times more than what I saw in Jakarta. We talked about how religion can affect culture and how people live. Here they don’t allow the use of birth control in the other hand the use of drug and alcohol is also uncontrollable. My heavy day has completed. I lost appetite to go to the next destination on our plan. I had enough.

The teddy bear 'factory.'

Hope u r enjoying Manilia [sic]!

A friend texted me in the morning. Living in big city for over a week, I feel positively trapped. Like in Jakarta, what else can you do if you don’t have to go to office 9 to 5? When you can do your business via text messages and emails from wherever? The choice would be stay home do your thing, or out to dine and spend. I have grown 'pouches' on my belt line from having meal like a regime (surrounded by ‘normal’ eaters makes me hard to keep my own). I could not shop much since then I would need a luggage scale. My friend introduced me to the scale the other day. It's similar to scale people use for weighing meat – hang the object to weigh. That’s exactly what I need because body scale doesn’t help me see the real weight.

So it’s understandable that last Sunday became a long day. Spending half day at home reading a book I bought at the Festival, I got inspiration to refresh my spirit to revive my plan to make memoir of my parents. Jaimal Yogis’ Saltwater Buddha tells about his experience of what he called ‘a surfer’s quest to find Zen on the sea.’ He is Buddhist and has passion to be a surfer. I attended his session about travel writing at the Festival and found him fascinating.

He is about 30s and leads a life like nomad (in narrow sense) to entertain his passion to be a surfer. His way to write about his parents and only sister from his point of view has inspired me to write the same way for the memory of my parents. There are some moments and values that stay in my memory that I often shared with my close ones. That I had the idea to turn the blurred anecdotes in my memory into something more vivid through short stories. I was excited about the idea that I dug out a blog I created for the purpose 1.5 years ago when I planned to make a living memoir of Mama. I was slow that I never had it done before her passing last year or even her supposedly 74th birthday last February.

In my search for the blog, I found two old blogs I created in my 'years of living dangerously.' As predicted, I spent long time reading my old blogs that I have closed from public now. I was a not-so-bad poet! My writing style then is so different than now. It’s nice to see the transformation of style and thought. So yes, I gave the blog for my parents’ memoir a life yesterday. Now I need to brush up my Indonesian since I’d like to write it in Indonesian. My first post I wrote 1.5 years ago is in English that I translated into Indonesian later. I’m not good in both languages but I found my thought more fluid when writing in English.

The rest of the day is predictable. I got what I wanted in the morning. Indian food in Manila! How often I thought about it just because I like to have Indian food in any city I visit. The restaurant is called Bollywood. It’s in a big mall in Makati. It’s a restaurant where you need to challenge yourself for seconds before decide to go in. It had considerably loud Indian music in the outside. The music was on full blast that you couldn’t imagine how it feels like having meal with loud music in the background. Glad in the inside of the restaurant there's only TV with Bollywood movie that I could not help watching. Indian movie is so dynamic. So I was happy to have a very good lunch but…

I better not say no to gym afterward. I was on urge for burning my Indian food and else that went in before. It was nice after an hour in gym doing half-portion of this-‘n-that I used to do since I didn’t go long time. Panting, sweating, and muscle aching were all I need to feel good after living in big city over a week. A not-so-good massage after that was great too!

I didn’t make plan for today. I will see an Indonesian lady, ex Frangipani’s patron, in a mall before we run our errands. Isn’t it amazing 8 years passed just like that?

Wall painting in Bollywood, the restaurant.

For Christmas, you can call me Ma’am…

The cookie vendor in Saturday market let me know after I bought a few jars to take home. My favorite homemade cookies. Christmas has come to Manila since September. I giggled the other day when I heard Christmas carols played in a shop. Christmas is here already? The shop attendant smiled and agreed to the fact that Christmas is already here.

I enjoyed Saturday market so much. My eyes are bigger than my stomach and this is the place. Many vendors sell ready made food and fish is favorite dish. There are many stalls sell either raw or cooked fish. I spotted Indonesian food today. Nasi goreng is about $3 per portion, not cheap but already good for Bangaray (similar to banjar in Ubud) Bel-Air they say. We can also find many vendors sell puddings, cookies, and breads! And not all vendors are Filipinos, some are foreigners living in Manila, like the German guy who sells nice rye bread. And everybody’s favorite gallete/crepe stall is run by two French guys. I guess the Indonesian food stall is owned by an Indonesian but I could not tell. We all look alike. And don’t forget, the beautiful indoor plants stall is run by two… transvestites.

There’s something sweet about the Filipinos. I enjoy the sound when they are talking. Fast and melodious. Often they talk to me in unstoppable Tagalog. And when I stare at them blankly, they look back at me blankly until I say I’m not Filipino. I wonder if I can learn Tagalog because I feel the melody plays important role to be understood. Not many foreigners, if none, I know live in Manila can speak Tagalog even in simple form unlike foreigners speak Indonesian in Jakarta. A friend who lived in Jakarta three years ago can still comment in Indonesian when we met the other day. Interesting.

Yesterday I got pedicure for the first time in Manila. I noticed that men here enjoy getting manicure and pedicure in barber shops. So the shop has a troop of salon ladies waiting. It might be as many seats available. Men come to the barber shop for haircut and nail treatment, or just nail treatment (rarely just for haircut). I must say I liked the way they do the treatment. Using different liquids to soften dead skin, they worked skillfully to trim and shape nails. I enjoyed looking at some 8 bottles of liquid in different colors and wondered what they do to my nail. The last liquid she poured (many bottles are without spray) was red. The color went under nail before she brushed it off. My guess is to give my nails a healthy pinkish shine. It did!

My friend and I went to check out two art galleries in the afternoon. One has exhibition opening this evening that we skipped. It’s owned by a Malaysian I know in Ubud. He has galleries in three cities in Asia. He is known for his good curatorship. The paintings exhibited from today on are good quality and ‘different.’ It’s realist with small-framed boxes fixed on the canvas. The boxes contained preserved insects attached on embroidered satin as background. It’s cold and a bit spooky but it has great effect. I liked it although I might not be able to live with such art at home. I was just amazed by the creativity of visual artists lately. They explore things so much to present artwork with signature. I don’t know contemporary art market in Manila but I believe such paintings have its market here. The other gallery presented a couple artists who worked together as team and individual. So the gallery showed each artist’s and their collaboration artworks. Another interesting style.

Up to now, no sign of Typhoon Lupit comes to Manila.

The French gallete guy in Saturday market.

People make adjustment…

I felt bad that today I had to reschedule meeting with a friend for the second time. My friend calmed me down in car after spending morning together. I told her that now I’m being an Indonesian who could not make up mind because things changed unpredictably. Yes, I might have made too much commitments today that I ended up mess things up.

It’s all about miscommunication. My friend said she’s going to look after our jewelry in her mahjong meeting but later she also expected me to come too. I knew that she expected me to try playing so she could include me next time I visit Manila again. It’s a good intention for sure but I was also told that I had to go with other friends at 16:00. That’s when I realized that I could not be in three places within 3 hours so I decided to just do one thing at a time.

My friend and I had at least a nice sweaty morning in a museum in Makati that held a textile fair this weekend. It was so hot outside in the museum patio. Like often, seeing other culture’s crafts is fun. Filipino work a lot with plant fiber like pineapple (pina) and banana (abaca) that both form stiff material. For me, they are nice to see but not to wear while in the Philippines the national costume is made of pina. Also, expensive clothes for party. The idea of wearing pina for top makes me feel ‘drown’ while my Dutch friend thought she will look much bigger. Yes, not easy.

Since we didn’t intend to accumulate stuff we cannot use in household or daily, we were quite selective in shopping. Some nice ikats on abaca were about 25 yard long that we didn’t know what to do if we don’t have mezzanine to hang it all the way down. It’s good in a way because then we could hardly shop! I bought colorful palm-leaf mat made by the Bajaus through a fair-trade organization. I haven’t studied the ethnic group map in the Philippines so I have no idea yet where those people live. It must be near ocean since the label mentioned about sea-dwelling people.

And our mutual good friend in Jakarta also had a stall selling her product made of recycled plastic bags. It’s her new line after she moved ‘back’ to Manila some three years ago. She was the first who had the idea to sew polyethylene packaging of household cleaning agent in Jakarta years ago. Her creation became trend that many organizations copied the idea. I remember she said that she made no issue out of it because for one the activity is good for the environment since more people will recycle the imperishable trash. And secondly, it's good for her so she has to keep creating. In Manila she applied different way of recycling the poly-trash. She formed a community of women in poor areas to crochet out of plastic bag strips.

We admired the designs and color combination. We examined almost all purses and shopping bags to have a good look of the work and admire the intricate design. It’s another fair-trade product that the revenue goes back to the community. I like the idea that each bag has tag mentions the name of the craftsman. My friend has become familiar with the names hung on each bag and their works. Like designers' handbags, the name also carries certain character to the product. Since we didn’t meet our friend so we speculated who might have selected the color combination. We know that our friend must be the one behind the design development as said in the website.

Our friend is special. I have admired her since I knew her years ago in Jakarta. Her imperishable energy is so inspiring also her spirit to teach community crossing different cultures and languages. Heard she is going back to the US in near time because her husband is retired. That’s sad. Developing countries need her. Or, maybe it’s also good to have other from our own community to take over the spirit.

Davao woman demonstrated how to weave in the fair.

I feel like a little kid in church

My friend sat next to me texted me. We were sitting in front row attending a talk by a textile expert from University of the Philippines in National Museum. We were half an hour late because of the traffic. Manila has so many museums so we had quite a discussion about which museum we should go for the talk because suddenly we were confused. It’s good that the driver is one of the calm persons I know. He was so sure where Ma’am would go. Yes, my friend often showed him text or brochure of where she needs to go. Not just mentioning the place.

We were sitting half an hour only but already finished half package of Mentos and started texting each other. My friend started. The lady lecturer seemed to be the top expert on the Philippines textile but the way she delivered the lecture was not… for non-academician ladies that like textiles so much. For one, she often leaped into Tagalog. She talked fast mumblingly. She sat down, looked at her laptop at all times so had very limited eye contact with the audience. Not even with us who sat in front row. I could see the lady next to me dozed off. I made myself busy so my friend. So there we were, little kids in church.

We had traveled ‘that far’ so we maximized the visit by walking the museum after the talk. It’s a huge building but only a few rooms are utilized for museum display that in Jakarta I experienced the opposite. Many places in the museum were tagged ‘Off limit’ meaning ‘you cannot enter.’ National museum here is more for artworks done by the Filipinos. Like a national gallery? I saw one room with huge bones from proto (Filipino’s like to use this word) history but the collection is not enough to show the prehistory of the Philippines. So it’s a bit away from national museum concept. Hey who am I to say?

My friend showed me the huge painting by one of the Filipino maestros, Juan Luna, The Spoliarium. The painting is spectacular because of its size and history. It was submitted by Luna to the Exposición Nacional de Bellas Artes in 1884 where it won a gold medal. The Spoliarium measured four meters in height and seven meters in width. The painting depicts a chamber beneath a Roman arena, where bodies of dead gladiators are being dragged into a shadowy area, presumably to be put in a bigger pile of dead bodies. The size of the painting, its color and its massive wooden frame with metal were just indescribable. Fabulous!

Anyway, my friend was nice to ask her driver to make a detour loop to show a bit more of old Manila near the bay. We drove passing the outside of Chinatown. Chinatown looks the same everywhere. An alley with busy cables hanging and signboards written in Chinese with busy lamps hanging and on. I was too tired to accept my friend's idea to jump off the car to taste the crowd. The tour had made me happy. It’s enough!

On the way back, the driver took us passing the cultural complex as part of Imelda Marcos' big plan. It’s a complex for visual art performance and multipurpose big venues with one big parking lot that connects the buildings. The buildings looked old and dirty of pollution; and generally looked massive. There’s one building that looked abandoned. Rumor says a hundred people were buried alive in the collapsed building because the construction was so poor. Too fast to build and corruption had made it. Now the building is haunted!! Cool!

We decided not to do much today as we both needed to slow down a bit. Like in Jakarta, doing things and moving in the city in Manila is tiring. The pollution perhaps. Typhoon Lupit is expected to make landfall in northern Luzon this coming Sunday morning. It may make Manila really wet if not flooded again. I miss reading again…

A Spanish-style fountain in Chinatown in Manila with low water and floating garbage.

No, that’s for Friday!

My friend reminded me that tomorrow is still Thursday. We already planned our days this week. It’s a busy week with meeting, talk, and lunch. Like today. I was out from 8 to 8. Manila was humid hot since early. I walked to the Filipinas Heritage Library in the center of Makati. It’s a 15-minute walk under shade but really it was not that ‘shady.’ I was all sweaty sitting in the cool classroom inside a library in an old building. Said it was building of the first airport in Manila. It’s similar to old Dutch house in some cities in Indonesia including Malang with yard in the back and nice garden in front. But where’s the airstrip? I guess the park behind was the one.

I was invited to be guest in the history course class organized by the organization I belong. My friend is student and she is allowed to invite a non-student to attend class with guest speaker like today. It’s a big class of 52 ladies of many nations like the Heritage in Jakarta. I recognized some faces from previous meetings and of course it’s easy for them to remember this Indonesian-looks-like-Filipino girl who showed up from time to time. It’s just nice to feel at home in a place I visit.

Today we learned about the Philippines' kulintang from a professor from the University of the Philippines. I was interested in learning more since I found out that kulintang in the Philippines is not a bamboo xylophone I know in Sunda. Although he also mentioned about its origin from Sunda but kulintang here is actually a row of small, horizontally-laid 8 gongs that function melodically. In an orchestra, it is accompanied by larger, suspended gongs and drums. The speaker demonstrated how to play a simple traditional composition after his talk and during coffee break.

I was curious to know his idea about kulintang in Indonesia. I only got a chance to talk with him during the break. He did not get what I meant and seem to interest to know more. I guess he had studied enough about musical instruments in the world. Or, it happens that both instruments carry the same name. So sing kengken. The Filipino professor 'answered' my question by playing the kulintang more. I was just satisfied to listen to his 'response.' I felt like listening to Malay rhythm, I could not help moving my legs following the music. Outside the traditional snacks of the Philippines served at merienda (Filipino’s coffee break) had been waiting.

It was still hot when we finished the 3-hour class. I was half asleep in the car with my friend going to lunch. She was so nice to take me a bit off the track to try a place I had not been. An Italian fine dine restaurant that I hardly saw anyone else in the room. We had nice lunch though. And going back to her place was really bad. The traffic and my sleepiness.

We worked a bit on preparation of our jewelry sale on Friday. We also settled some unfinished business (a real business not karmic past). That she had to ask me if I owed her something. Fortunately, nothing to balance, my dear. We had a good laugh! We might be lost because of currency exchange rate difference. Many have happened since my last visit eight months ago. It seems.

The professor demonstrated how to play the Philippines' kulintang.

So you’re a pearl girl now…

I went to the well-known pearl market in Manila yesterday. I have been there several times. I’m not a pearl person but yes… if you mingle with stone girl you become a stone girl, if you mingle with diamond girl you become a diamond girl. So I became a pearl girl wearing a long string of biwa pearl from the market. I accompanied my good friend shopped for her in-law’s orders that was unbelievably a lot. It’s a long Christmas-present list. My friends created some color combination. Stringing pearl is special because it needs a knot after every pearl unlike stringing stones. So asking somebody to do is more efficient.

I was not in the mood of shopping (still I got home with three long pearl necklaces). There were some stalls in the market selling stones as well. It was humid since morning that I had to change tee before left. I could not even stand a tee with 5% elastane only that looked nice but gave extra temperature to body. The market was ‘mildly’ air-conditioned but the amount of goods had made me felt suffocated. It’s also market for cheap fake branded bags. In Jakarta, I don’t go to such market but experiencing market in different areas is always nice.

So I learned about pearl instead of shopping. I asked my friend to show me how to differ fresh water pearl and south sea pearl. Luster. Shine. Depth. Okaaay… But for sure I can tell fake pearl from the real ones now. I also learned about color name (lavender, teal, silver, gray) and how it gets color. Dipped or injected. And the shape? Round, baroque, biwa, flat… Later before home we learned about stone marketed in Manila. From China and Brazil. What’s the difference? People are just clever to create fake of many things. And we the global consumers are not bound by borders.

It was a tiring day. Tired of thing I could not describe. I blamed it on the weather. Stuffy depressing.

Digi-flyer I made for jewelry sales on Friday in mahjong circle of Manila.

Why don’t you take the test?

My friend suggested me to take a strengths finder test provided online after reading the book Now, Discover Your Strengths by Buckingham a few chapters. The book is written by an established organization on research and education. The organization creates a program to help us identify our talents, build them into strengths and enjoy consistent, near-perfect performance. That’s what they promised. When I write this, I haven’t done the test to find my talents among thirty-four dominant themes introduced by the organization. I believe if we figure out our combination, the book can help us to get insight of our core abilities.

I realized yesterday that I could not sit still reading for even ten minutes, let alone one hour straight, like my friend. When I read, I move every now and then. To get drink, to get cookies, to fix this ‘n that, to Google… It seems that I multitask my mind although I’m reading and able to absorb what I read. In Ubud is even worse because I could just get up and put things in the sun, or grab wipes to clean here and there like no other time. Then I blame it on the time I don’t have. Anyway, now I know better. It’s not just in my habitat I have the habit. It’s also in different habitat so it must be me.

So after moving restlessly half day, I got the idea to watch movie! Julie and Julia. I read the book after my trip to Malang a couple weeks ago so it’s good if I could see the movie while I’m in the city. It’s a 125-minute movie!! Oops, I should not have let you know. My friend knew that I’m not a moviegoer just because I could not sit still for over an hour. 125 minutes had scared me a bit. A drama movie usually lasts 90 minutes that I can handle. But yes, we went.

It was a funny and a bit exaggerated movie set in the 1940s and 2000s. It has different atmosphere but it's in the same line of story about ADHD ladies. Not that disorder, only a few symptoms I mildly suffer too. Be easily distracted and frequently switch from one activity to another; have difficulty focusing on one thing; become bored with a task after only a few minutes, unless they are doing something enjoyable. In short, it's about super active ladies!

After 125 minutes of watching two ladies busily cooking, we got the inspiration. We dashed into a bookshop to shop for… cookbooks! Jamie Oliver. The toss toss guy. It’s fun though to tap my maybe other talent. By the way, I just got the meaning of 'talents' although I know it’s an aptitude but I hadn’t quite seen ‘the connection’ actually. I thought talents are ‘just’ what we are good at. But the book explains about even if we are charming, that is a talent too. Also of what seemingly negative traits like obstinacy, but… only if it can be productively applied. Now I have something to say when people think I’m kepala batu. A good talent!

A potential supertyphoon is coming to Philippines in a couple days. People who are still overseas a bit worry about not having a chance to fly in. Typhoon in Manila means super heavy rain that may cause flood like Typhoon Ondoy that hit last month. I hope things would be fine. It must be hard for many…

A part of an installation in Yuchengco Museum, Manila, with used CD and gas lighters.

Why don’t you learn Tagalog?

A fellow suggested me after I said that many have thought I’m a Filipino. She thought the same too when we were waiting for a guided tour of a private museum in Makati this morning. I joined the museum tour organized by the MVP organization I belong since last year. I have kept some email notices from the organization since last week to know about happenings in the city during my stay.

I walked for about ten minutes in the heat to reach the museum. It was a nice private museum in the center of business district of Makati. The owner is a business tycoon in the past. The 4-story museum is not big but neatly arranged. The first floor stores paintings from 3 maestros of the Philippines. The second floor is an exhibition of Manton de Manila (Spanish style shawl). It’s interesting about manton because of geographically ‘misnamed.’ People thought the shawls are made by Filipinos but actually hardly anyone in the Philippines knows about the shawl because it’s made in China! It has Chinese style embroidery with phoenix and chrysanthemum designs. Isn’t it interesting?!

The other rooms in the museum show gifts people give to the family and works of aboriginal Australian painters. Another mix-up in culture because such paintings are also produced in Bali as part of souvenir industry. Another interesting case of global trading. But it’s always nice to learn about other culture in other country.

I had a chance to be introduced to the new MVP chairwoman that looked familiar to me. That I also to her. Of course, she lived in Jakarta three years ago and belonged to the Heritage. She had fond memories of Indonesia. In the end, we talked about organizing a group exchange between Jakarta and Manila to visit museums and have some fun. We were just excited about the idea while my mind whirling… Ouw no!

Manila is nice but very humid at this time. Today the coming typhoon has become the topic of the day. They expect a big typhoon passing the Philippines tomorrow or the day after. Said it may hit other parts after Luzon was affected in last month's typhoon. My friend’s helper chatted about it on and on. She looked so thin that I felt concern. She survives the big flood but now it takes her twice the time to get Makati from her place. I care because if she finishes her work around 17:00, she can only get her place 4 hours later. Aaargh!

I don’t do much the past days except lots of reading and working ‘together’ with Ayuk in Ubud. It’s weekend again. I look forward to experiencing new things this weekend.

Mannequin wearing a jacket made of used tea-bags with crocheted plastic bags in the background in Yuchengco Museum today.

I’m just tired of being with company…

…if you know what I mean. I understand my friend completely. She and I had talked about our plan to visit Manila together since weeks ago. Today she called me and… expressed her mood. She reconsidered the plan too, I know, but I also understand that in the end she dropped the idea. Actually I also had the same feeling just before left house. What is this? Today is the same date I left Schiphol last month (only). I’d been to Jakarta and Malang in between the date to today. And the Ubud Festival. Like my friend said in text, I need to be grounded. But it’s always fun to be on a trip.

I don’t know what I did the past two days. I had no time for writing. I realized I need to delegate more things to my staffs to lift a bit of work off my shoulder. My regular trips have stopped me from working in continuation so in the end it returns to me in bigger wave. I have started to delegate a bit of my homework this afternoon by entrusting Ayuk to handle more jewelry business at Neru. A part, not all. I still handle the ‘big picture’ and that I thought it could be not necessary. I don’t know, I haven’t found the formula yet.

Today is Galungan in Bali. It’s the day for gratitude. The town seemed busy since early. Ayuk was nice to come to my house to give my car a simple offering. Simple? I don’t think so… it’s a sokasi-ful of food and fruit to accompany the incense stick smoke that went up to send her wish to the Almighty. I could not be more grateful. She started doing it six months ago after I wondered why my car had no decoration on that special day. I was so naïve not to know that the decoration goes with the blessing ritual. So… it’s nice of her to do it voluntarily today.

I feel blessed to have nice friends in Ubud. I was touched by my yoga teacher yesterday. Had known I was on my way again, she texted me in the afternoon. I shall miss you! She never did that. I understand. Being regulars, my friend and I have occupied at least two exercise mats in class. And now we are all gone!

I’m sleepy now. I’m ‘goodly’ in need to sleep on my red-eye flight in a few hours.

I'm grateful for the nice scene today.

Do not involve…

Be the observer of your practice today! I got up with my yoga teacher's command in mind. I feel that she has helped me to practice 'detachment' through her guidance to the right practice of yoga. Yoga is about ‘torturing’ body while taming mind. No pressure, just find the ‘yummy edge’ then stay in the position for a while. It teaches me to channel the discomfort into something else. True they say, it’s all in your mind.

Enough about yoga. I didn’t do today. I decided to stay in. It was raining hard since dark. It’s so nice to stay in bed listening to the rain. I tidied up my house that has been abandoned the past four days I attended the Festival. It’s not that bad but I also needed to start packing up for my next trip. I have some stuff for my friend that I haven’t had time to take stock.

I’m writing in the dark now. It’s been over half an hour. I heard that Bali would have power out every now and then for a couple hours in different areas. It must be shortage again. I live with my mobile Internet and an emergency lamp. My laptop battery may only last two hours. Maybe it’s time to start reading. I bought some nice books at the Festival with the same high spirit like last year. Like I have all the time to read but yes I need to buy the book at the Festival since some titles are brought exclusively by the author so it will not be available after the Festival is over.

Think I cannot do anything online now since printer doesn’t work. My neighbors seem to stop cooking as well. Tomorrow is penampahan galungan – one day before the big day. Today is the time to prepare pork satay and other dish for lavish banten on the day after tomorrow.

Okay, time to read!

Morning I saw from my bed two days ago.

So you live in Ubud now?

Fortunately yes, I replied. At least three attendants from previous years approached me today. They still recognized me. Time just flies. One is a psychologist specializing in trauma recovery that now she is also known as writer. Said she needs to write to channel out problems people ‘threw’ at her. What a clever way! She is a speaker this year. I congratulated her. We met during lunch in setup food court at least three years ago.

Another young woman is an interpreter from an English course in Denpasar. We met three years ago when I still stayed in hotel. We were room neighbors. She missed the Festival last year since she worked in Australia. So it’s nice to see her again. Funky as I remembered. And there’s another young woman I met four years ago at the Festival. She was still a girl then. She missed the Festival two years and this year she worked as volunteer. She lives in Yogya now after lived Surabaya and Bandung. Hm… We all went through change in life but we keep our memories very well. That is very nice!

Talking with people we don’t know is part of the fun to be in the Festival. The other day I had a chat with an Australian writer who was also speaker. She had her book close to her while she had lunch so we talked about it. What a special private session! It’s really nice that I really didn’t mind to miss half a session. One-on-one interaction is more fun. Today my friends and I shared a table with a well-known Balinese journalist cum activist cum writer. He was so much fun. He had a lot in his mind. This time we were not late for a session since he chaired the session.

I enjoyed every experience I got during the Festival. The other day I took picture of somebody’s socks because he wore different colors on the right and left. Like many have warned me, in Ubud, karma doesn’t wait. Yesterday I was introduced to a friend’s of friend. Over lunch she told me that she saw my pictures on media’s camera screens. She was curious to see the media aimed their cameras with big lenses to the back of the audience. That’s when my new friend saw my pictures! I cried out in alarm! Ouw no! A friend teased me what it feels like to be in a stranger’s Facebook photo album. Don’t tell me!!

In a such important event like the Festival, I try to be watchful of people taking pictures for media or fun. I watch from the corner of my eye if somebody aims lens. I will give my back! But I gave in this afternoon. I saw a lady aimed her camera to me and I quickly stood up to leave. The lady then asked me to stay. Said she is a painter then tried to convince me that she will only take my lines for her painting. I could not know how much I have to believe that. I just moved back and sat cross-legged on the couch. She took a picture and looked happy with that. Ugh.

Some interesting sessions were canceled today. I ‘worked’ for the Heritage in the morning. My photographer friend has left for Jakarta this morning so I was in charge to take pictures of our chairwoman giving speech at a session the Heritage sponsored. So I attended 1.5 sessions in the morning because of it. Interesting session about how to make people laugh. Those funny three writers with different ethnic background: Chinese, Mid-East, and Canadian black.

This week is special for me. I met many old friends and like I said I also made friends. Last night I went to a dinner in Canggu with a well-known historian and archaeologist specializing in Borobudur. Our Mexican friends set us up to go together. We just clicked. And what a small world, she knew some of my relatives in Yogya where she spent time for work. She must be over 70 and I felt like I found another Eyang this week. She treated me like her grand. We had very nice discussion in car and at our friends’ rented villa. She thought I didn’t look like Indonesian and she herself is mix of English and Swedish but children live in Amsterdam where her ex husband from. Her ex was another mix of Chinese – Indonesia – Dutch. Later the Canadian lady I had chat almost all night told me that in marketing we belong to global consumer’s section. We don’t belong to any particular place. She could be true! Another interesting person I met this week. Very active Canadian who fell in like with Bali 20 years ago.

So yes, what a rich week! Now I have to get ready to work in the coming 2.5 days before my next trip.

Paintings in a gallery in Sayan where the Festival held a music and poetry jam session this evening.

I remember you from jalan-jalan last year!

A Thai lady lives in America patted my shoulder. I could not recall her face but apparently she knew quite a bit of my life in Ubud. So how’s business? I don’t like the moment I’m blank when meeting people that can happen sometimes. I enjoy connecting with new people so how could I let her slip my mind? Anyway, she was nice not to discuss it further. Of course!

I arrived almost half an hour late for the first session yesterday. I chose the open venue so my late presence would not be noticed. The next-door venue is an air-conditioned room with main door next to the stage. I feel awkward if I come late like entering a quiet classroom. And as often, even the session I didn’t choose could turn out to be interesting or very. I normally didn’t choose session with Indonesian speakers and an interpreter because the translating process takes up half the allotted time. But I was lucky the all-Indonesian panel was conducted in English. It’s an interesting session with a legendary woman writer talked about how she got inspiration for writing. She has been writing almost 60 years now producing about 30 novels and numerous short stories. Her name has become part of Indonesian children childhood since that long. Considered as classics, we are required to read her works during elementary and mid schools. I had a chance to chat with her when she was waiting for car to pick her up to a ticketed lunch in a fancy hotel in Peliatan. Such a sweet Javanese woman that reminded me of Mama. Very nice!

And again, I was late for the next session next door because of the chat so I stayed in the venue. It turned out the all-Indonesian panel rocked! Both speakers spoke very fluent English so the session went smoothly. The journalist-writer is gay and able to speak out the life of gays in literary world. I missed the session where three gays from three different countries talked about taboo in Asian writing. In the session, we all missed out the topic of the session since the speaker and the moderator were busy gossiping about high-level government officers who are gay!

My grand aunties left the venue after the speaker mentioned how value has shifted that now he thought people from Solo are the rudest. He gave examples that I could see his point sociologically and anthropologically. I could feel the tense in my grand aunties since I happened to feel when she reacted to my 'slight mistake' earlier the day. I told somebody that I’m from East Java. It got me thinking that I should have said “I grew up in East Java.” I hardly gave such personal information a thorough thought.

I attended the last session with the author of the box-office movie set in a slum in India. About a guy won a thousand rupees quiz. The author is diplomat in South Africa that he still serves to now. He talked very fast and funny. It’s interesting to listen to his story about writing the book in the only time he had after office hours and when he became a sudden celebrity after the movie won Oscar. I liked the part when he told about how he was interrogated by the immigration in the US. What brought you here? My book. What is your book? You know the movie about a boy won a thousand rupees quiz in India? What?! Can I have your signature?

He was trying to picture how authors of filmed books are rarely recognized by the audience of the film. A friend of him called to say that the movie reminded him of his book. The way he shared the story with us was hilarious. This is what I like about attending such forum. We see real human behind big works!

I have to get ready for the last day now.

The author and moderator after the session.

I admire your spirit to live in a small town…

She is Indonesian. Have lived in France for a decade, she wants to live in a province like Toulouse but in Indonesia. Although she already has a house in Seminyak but she still dreams a village life. She aims for Ubud but it seems she is still collecting ideas to convince herself. I met her the other night in a get-together dinner with friends from Jakarta. She was interested in me right away learning that I have lived in Ubud over two years after lived in Jakarta 20 years. Over long lunch in the venue today, she wanted to hear more about living in Ubud.

Like responding to “tell me about yourself,” I also find it difficult to answer “so what do you do here?” or “how do you spend your time?” It bothers me if people think that I only have fun by touring cities and meeting friends. But I also understand since they might not know how much time I spend at home making accessories, doing the boring bookkeeping for both shops, and ‘online trading’ between trips. And when I said that I could buy air tickets from being an inang-inang selling accessories while traveling, they thought all I have in mind is purely business. My new grand auntie snapped at a poet when we talked about "what I do" that then he expressed his thought. No! No! She doesn’t do art just for money!! I had been speechless already. Or, I was not interested to elaborate it further.

For money? Of course. I just chose different path than most people do. I don’t do 9-to-5 that means I have taken bigger risk of not having a steady flow in my bank account. But sure! I have all the freedom to travel and spend time with friends if my bank account allows. This part has become part of my speech about living in Ubud. You have to have something to busy yourself to fight quietness and loneliness. Facing solitude because the town doesn’t offer much during the day especially the night. My new friend seemed to still consider what she could do in town.

I was 'interviewed' by my friends a lot today. By my friends and grand auntie who was still in euphoria of finding me. She handed me the precious batik from our ancestor in the venue. I had pictures taken with her and the batik with such an odd background (festival venue!). I take it as part of the romantic moment. I’m touched by her excitement. It was nice to catch up again with my new grand auntie. She asked me to “tell me about yourself” that I told her to just ask whatever she wants to know from me. It’s fun! I like her.

We were in a big group having long lunch because a session was canceled and we were too lazy to move to other venues. Said the Festival is not well organized this year. I heard many complaints. I could also feel that things didn’t go as smooth as previous years. I don’t think much about it since I live in Ubud now but I could feel for people who travel to Ubud for the occasion only. Many flew from Australia, Singapore, and Hong Kong where they have annual book festival too. So for people who travel from those cities they experience at least two book festivals every year.

I attended two sessions in the morning. The first session was in line with the Festival’s theme this year: compassion and solidarity. It’s a bit odd discussion about ‘suffering’ that I don’t see its connection with literary work. It’s fine though to talk about spiritual stuff. The second speaker was children book illustrator and writer from Australia. I could see that she is well known from her works that have been translated into some European languages. She is fun person. She told us how she got into the profession. She said she was just lucky to get the job as illustrator when she was broke and heavily pregnant. It opened a big door. Yea… we never know what we could end up with if we never knock on the door. It’s inspiring! The last session is about mentor and protege in writing. Another world I just discovered. This Australian young lady was just lucky to have a chance to be mentored by a Nobel laureate from South Africa. Said the selection to get the opportunity is purely by luck because the selection is done by a sort of 'word of mouth.' Isn't it interesting how we got good things from the Universe?

I had nice short dinner with friends in a resto by Ubud Palace’s stage. The Festival held an event on the stage but it was not so interesting so we left after dinner. Maybe this year is more for friends thing rather than books.

Listening gives us time to observe our surroundings.

Excuse me?!

My newly 'discovered' grand-auntie responded to my ignorance about the extensive family tree from Papa side that I don’t master at all. So yes, I suddenly have two grand-aunties visiting Ubud. I discovered the younger sister a few years ago. We belong to the Heritage but had never been in the same event until the day we met. Her American husband is diplomat so they often lived overseas. Anyway, she came to the Festival with her eldest sister that I met at dinner last night. They were overly excited about having me as their grand. Since we met years ago, she always excitedly introduced me to her friends as her grand. I don’t mind but… I just felt shy having to listen about what I do and have done. Okay, I take it as a compliment.

This morning I took a seat behind the elder grand-auntie, the one I just met last night. She was wearing an old batik in a ‘complete set’ (with embroidered kebaya and gold jewelries). I loved it! We had some 20 minutes before the session start when she started talking about book she’s writing. She writes ‘messages’ her mom passed to her. She takes it as family heritage that she has to preserve it in writing. She reminded me about our great great grandfather as literary figure in the early 1900 in Solo. That he was avant-garde at that time. Listening to her, I asked if that answers my inquisition about how I got western way of thinking. Excuse me?!

She was just surprised that I knew so little about my ancestor. That great great grandfather was a sort of ambassador that once lived in Netherlands and UK for long time. I was glp glp glp. I knew names and a bit history here and there but please don’t ask me how to put everybody in the family tree. So she continued her mini lecture on how our ancestor ‘introduced’ equality through his literary works. He was from keraton but he didn’t like the idea of distinguishing people by social status. He even made batik with 'anti-keraton' design. At this point she stopped and looked at me with her big eyes.

She is one who doesn’t believe in coincidence. Last night she thanked the Universe for having brought me into her life. This morning she found in her suitcase a semi old batik, copy of that anti-keraton design, that she had it made decades ago. The original batik has been totally damaged by age. She didn’t understand why she took that Sida Luhur batik with her. Since she believes there must be a message out of the coincidence so she is going to give that batik to me! I choked! Are you sure? That is yours and you had it copied because you love its meaning and you often wear it? Excuse me?! I stopped 'arguing' with her. In the end, I got double literary sessions this morning. We continued the same topic between sessions before I left her to have lunch with my Festival friend from Australia.

What a way to start a morning! I ended up attending about 3.5 sessions out of 10 sessions in 2 venues. I’m not interested in talks about myth, folklore, and supernatural so I skipped those to spend time with friends. I saw many people did the same. This event is a pot where friends from all directions meet. Some of our friends in Singapore and Australia came. It’s really nice!

I enjoyed the poetry session in the morning where the three poets read their work in such a style. A real style! I felt like crying because the performances were so fine and touching. And the second session was about a boy who fled from Afghanistan and came ashore in Australia. In the new land, he managed to get his life back as a rugmaker. It’s a touching story about pain in life and cross culture. I decided to buy his book for gift. Book signing is always nice. The family was warm also the biographer. To have a private chat post the talk is always super.

I decided to skip a jalan-jalan sore with poetry reading along the way. The sun was too bright for a walk without shade. I already felt hot and sweaty after the last session. I still have homework to do at home. Tomorrow is another day.

The grand-auntie in her grand outfit.

I just have to see you!!

A friend repeated it several times every time we’re on phone call trying to arrange time to meet in Ubud. She and her husband are my good friends since long time but then they moved from Indonesia two years ago when the husband was posted as ambassador in Hungary. So yesterday was the first time we saw each other again after two years. Bali has a place in their heart that my friend said she has to see it every year if possible. It’s just great! I hope they will come more often after her husband retired in a few months. My friend has several businesses sourcing from Indonesia in her hometown in Mexico.

I started my evening from 2 o’clock yesterday. A couple friends wanted to see paintings at Pallava, then my Mexican friends wanted to meet me wherever in Ubud, then I made commitment to do pranayama with a friend, and my good friend in Ubud had arranged dinner for ladies from Jakarta come for the Festival. All fell into places but the pranayama. My afternoon was simply ‘surprising.’ Too much good emotion that I could not sit and empty my mind in pranayama class. I dropped the idea to squeeze it in my tight agenda.

Instead I chilled out with Untung, my friend’s cat, in her house on the hill. She had just finished packing. Two big bulk string bags for below zero temperature that each has to weigh less than 20 kilos. What a challenge! She managed to make it at 16 kilos only. She spared some kilos for shopping big beads in India. She looked so excited. I am happy for her! We had quite emotional lunch after yoga on Tuesday. I don’t know why she started talking about what if they never come back. I was scared but I took her feeling seriously. We ended up talking a bit about technical details of how. The couple live without family and relatives in Asia and they also planned not to share the property with their family in Europe so somebody has to manage it for Ubud people. That’s their rough plan! Oh my.

Anyway, this week is special. A couple friends will leave for long holiday. Many friends I know from Jakarta come for the Festival. There were 15 ladies at long table dinner last night. We didn’t expect. We thought there were only 6. So it was fun, it’s like a reunion! I also met some new faces. Apparently my face has been everywhere. A lady thought she saw me everywhere. The other thought I look familiar. Hm… Not bad for a 3-monthly visitor of Jakarta.

Today the Festival starts. The feeling is back although I haven’t had time to study the thick program book. I will pick out my first session before I leave and study the rest in the venue. Too many things occupied my desk… rrr I mean… my mind these days.

I spotted a Buddha statue in the rubble on my way to yoga studio yesterday.

i can see you living the city life.....

but i can also picture you living a more laid back life.... A friend I knew since 24 years ago commented on my life she follows since we became friends on Facebook. She wants to travel a lot like me but her two cute kids are kind of restraints. I gave her hope for her next life that I might be the one who’s stuck with kids at home. She thought as long as we stay connected, all is good! So we both hope Facebook lives long enough to cater our needs in our next life.

I’m back in my habitat since yesterday late afternoon. A week just passed. I was still in Jakarta and Malang when some old friends contacted me if I’m in Bali this week because they would. It’s so nice to anticipate meeting old friends. The Ubud Festival has contributed. So I did my first meeting. I made time to see my jeweler friend in Petitenget after landed on Bali at noon. It was nice to see her after long time. I enjoyed her new creation as well. She displayed her work in a new hip restaurant owned by Prince of Ubud. And on the way back to Ubud, I met up with a friend from office years 20 years ago. We might have not seen each other over 12 years before yesterday. We had a hilarious catch-up! What a great start of the week!

The past days I thought about me being tempted to take control of something I cannot yet manage. Hm.. How should I rephrase? Now I sound like I’m a control freak. Maybe this way. I like to do things without delay. It’s good. And it’s not good. It’s good because I have less life clutter but it’s not good since I don’t give an issue or an idea enough time to sink in before further action. And also, actually many of my ideas or plans involve other parties. That’s when then I have less control of my plan. Since I’m better in letting go things, now I tend to forget things too. I let a plan sank in too long.

So I live in both worlds – an amphibian. I fix plans and I don’t fix at all. I fixed my plans for this week that I forgot I had impolitely treated my business appointment the same. And I put aside a long time plan with a friend just because we haven’t gone into details after our first talk about it. I often took an idea too far that people don’t; now I’m way too laid back than others. My friend in Jakarta protested the other day that I didn’t decide on the spot if I would go to airport with her boys in the morning. And in the morning, she didn’t let me take easy if the arrangement can’t meet. I enjoy my new me.

Wow everybody is so quiet today! I have some issues that haven’t got any response so technically I can’t do anything now. I mean… it stops me from planning. So it’s good! Or not?

I was surprised to find that actually I visited Papa’s graveyard on the anniversary of his passing.

So you gain extra miles…

A friend I met in airport yesterday thought I looked shrunk but later she said I have gained something else… extra miles. It’s so nice to run across her in the queue. It’s been almost a year we didn’t see each other although we live an hour away in Bali. She too traveled a lot the past 10 months. We had some an hour chat before her flight. I arrived airport way too early since I went with my good friends’ boys that their flight was almost 2 hours earlier than mine. Anyway, it was fun. I don’t mind staying a bit longer in Terminal 2 with a nice bookshop and food court with Starbucks.

Like often, I was a bit confused to where I was going to fly. There are times. I told the porter I’m going to Bali. I looked for Denpasar check-in counter in international side. I thought I would be on the same flight with my friend that she also believed so. I don’t miss Ubud that much but now I know that Ubud has become my hometown default. A base to return to after a journey. I forgot that I’m in a tour again.

I had nice last day in Jakarta. A bit depleted when at home but had fun time when meeting friends. My friend and her boys, and I, attended a talk – the last part of raise-fund series for the Ubud Writers and Readers Festival organized by the Heritage. The speaker was a Balinese from Australia – the well-known gardener in Bali. It’s just fun to meet him in different setting outside Bali. His presentation was interesting but I found it too ‘technical’ for newcomers. Said that many in the audience only live in Jakarta less than 10 months. So yes, even for me who I considered have known Bali a bit, it took time for us to laugh at his remarks about being a Bule Aga in Bali. The first foreigners living in Bali. He coined the term from Bali Aga – the first occupants in Bali and called themselves Balinese. They were actually from Java in Majapahit era. And Bule Aga consist of many nationalities that have blended with the culture by living the Balinese way since Covarrubias and Walter Spies years to his year in the 1970s.

I arrived Malang in the late afternoon. It was cloudy. My ritual started. Checked out what’s on the dining table and in jars. It seems I didn’t miss Eid at home. Yu Sih was so nice to cook me an Eid menu for dinner. A complete set with ketupat and condiment. She also bought me fruits I often had when in Malang. My dear auntie spared me three different cookies in cute jars. The ‘traditional’ Eid cookies: kaastengels, nastar, and chocolate. I was thinking to order another jar of the chocolate cookies but… no. I preferred to just enjoy watching nephew Dhana busy in the kitchen making nastar cookies he likes this afternoon.

It’s nice to stay home today doing things around house and online wearing batik sarong. Batik is made official in the UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage today. I could feel the euphoria on Facebook. I wish I were in Jakarta, I believe 99% of the occupants wear batik today. That is nice! I myself didn’t bring a batik outfit (that I hardly had) but have two pieces of old batik tulis with me. I’m happy to be part of the euphoria.

Me and my batik sarong today.