after long and winding road… finally heaven…:)
A friend updated her status on Facebook. It’s ironic. She just arrived Ubud from Malang and I’m in the opposite. We had negotiated our time to meet but travel plan is truly personal plan. Although she is now in the break between two jobs but she already has idea how she wants to time her 'tour de Java-Bali' by car. And I also have the same reason why I cannot be in Malang before today. Like often, I am driven by mood. Even now, I’m ready to alter my travel plan this week. Let’s see…
It was raining hard with thunder last night before sleep. It was so hard that I found another small leak in bedroom. I hope it’s because the rain was a bit horizontal that it went in between tiles. Anyway, it was nice to sleep with rain as background music. My fellows outside had been a bit quiet. The bright lamp must have annoyed them. Back to the rain, it gave me back the December feeling with lots of rain and thunder. Wet.
The aftermath of the rain was extra chores for me in the morning. In the time I had to leave house for airport before 7. Wiped car dry, mopped wet porch with big leaves, and… the same in the shower (if not worse). I dealt with a bagful of leaves around house (not even in the garden). My ritual before leave house before travel often surprises me! It’s so unpredictable! Take garbage out, unplug numerous cables, close windows, draw curtains, and lock doors. And I have to do it with awareness so it won’t bother me if I think I have forgotten something. Like this morning! I texted Ngurah to check if I had closed my bedroom window. Not just that, Ngurah said, I even had drawn the curtain. My memory has gone short.
The house in Malang looked lost its shine when I arrived. It’s so different without the real host of the house. I came home to an empty house. My nephew was still attending a 3-day conference over weekend. It’s not a good time to visit since he is busy this week but like I said I also have personal factors why I’m here today not yesterday or tomorrow. Anyway, we have made a rough plan what we are going to do together in the next two days.
The past weeks, I stocked up books again. I could not hold myself from buying books although I remembered that I still have quite a stack of unread ones. Today I bought a book about the business of AIDS by a British (I guess she is) epidemiologist. I had considered buying the book before had a discussion about the book with my friend the other day. The book appears like a research report with numbers (or statistics) but it is packaged so nicely in good writing. She has a good humor to tell about the conflicts among the big ‘guys’ who poured their money to deal with AIDS in Asia (her field for research). Read only a chapter during short flight, I have already admired the way she describes the sensitive and ‘taboo’ issue. I’m excited to continue reading soon.
Apart from my plan with my nephew, I don’t have plan for the next two days in Malang. I have brought some homework to do but sure I keep my plan open.
A salon I saw in Porong that reminded me of my two girlfriends from New York and Belgium.