Island of the Gods: Revisited

It's been one whole year since I went to Bali. The last time I visited the exotic island was with my friends for our church camp. My experience going to Bali with my friends is something I will never ever forget. This year's Bali trip is also one that I will never forget. Whereas last year, I went to Bali with my friends, this year I went with my parents. You see, that in itself is already a miracle. The last time my parents were in Bali was close to about thirty years ago. Imagine that! So what triggered my parents to go to one of my favorite vacation spots? Here's the story. My dad went and preached at a church this one Sunday in the beginning of May. After the service, two ladies came up to him and asked him if he could please fly to Bali and pray for their villa there. My dad wasn't very interested in doing that, so he politely came up with excuses not to go there. These two ladies kept on asking my dad, though, if he had the time to pray for their villa in Bali. My dad nonchalantly brought the subject up in a conversation with me and my mom. I jumped at the thought of going to Bali, and asked my dad why he won't go to Bali and bring us along with him for a short holiday. So with very minimal persuasion, my dad decided to go to Bali & bring us along with him. To cut the story short, my dad told the lady's secretary that we're coming with him to Bali. Lo and behold, they decided to pay for all three of us to go to Bali... AND, they are letting us stay in one of their villas! We thought that that was a good deal! The reality far exceeded our expectations. We checked in and got our boarding pass, but, strangely, along with our boarding passes, we each got an "Executive Lounge Voucher." I, naively, thought to myself: wow, Garuda's really improved their service. It didn't dawn on us until we got on the plane. Our seats were in rows 2 and 3. The small number should have been a clue, but I guess weren't looking for an anomaly. We were put in Executive Class, while we were expecting to be in Coach. It was a new experience. I have never traveled in Business or First Class before. This was a change I embrace without complaint. It would just be very comfortable to travel to and from the United States (the 18-hour plane rides) in First Class. This was the first time during the trip that I said aloud: life is beautiful. We got to Ngurah Rai Airport in Bali at 6:45pm. A driver picked us up to get us to the villa in Seminyak. The resort and villa is called SILQ at the Kerobokan. It was amazing. They have 17 suites, 2 junior suites, and a penthouse. I went in the villa set aside for us and gaped. (It was a suite, by the way.) We had a private pool and a private jacuzzi. The room was amazing! The bathroom was amazing! And the service was to die for! I think it's a personal butler service type.So it's like having our own butler! They serve us breakfast in the room. And they provided us with a car and a driver to go wherever we want to. The best thing is: we didn't have to pay anything.Oh my, there's really nothing more I can say. Life is beautiful.

"No, Thank You, John"

I first encountered this poem in my British Literature II class. I fell in love with the poem from the first time I laid eyes on it. I think that all the feelings communicated by the poem are dead right. I have to second Rosetti's opinion. Part of why I love this poem so much is because it communicates my feeling for a certain person in my life. It's interesting that when I read this poem out loud in class, Jason thought of the exact same person as I did. And plus, I'm into the darker sarcastic (and pretty cruel) humor shared in this poem. In short, I LOVE IT!

"No, Thank You, John."
Christina Rossetti

I never said I loved you, John:
Why will you tease me day by day,
And wax a weariness to think upon
With always "do" and "pray"?

You know I never loved you, John;
No fault of mine made me your toast:
Why will you haunt me with a face as wan
As shows an hour-old ghost?

I dare say Meg or Moll would take
Pity upon you, if you'd ask:
And pray don't remain single for my sake
Who can't perform that task.

I have no heart? - Perhaps I have not;
But then you're mad to take offence
That I don't give you what I have not got:
Use your own common sense.

Let bygones be bygones:
Don't call me false, who owed not to be true:
I'd rather answer "No" to fifty Johns
Than answer "Yes" to you.

Let's mar our pleasant days no more,
Song-birds of passage, days of youth:
Catch at today, forget the days before:
I'll wink at your untruth.

Let us strike hands as hearty friends;
No more, no less; and friendship's good:
Only don't keep in view ulterior ends,
And points not understood

In open treaty. Rise above
Quibbles and shuffling off and on:
Here's friendship for you if you like; but love,
No, thank you, John.

What happens after you say good bye?

On August 16, 2006, I left my home country to go to the United States. That was a very exciting yet heartbreaking time in my life. I was nervous and excited to go to an unknown land, full of new adventures. On the other hand, I was living out Ella Fitzgerald's hit, "Every Time We Say Goodbye" - I cried a little, died a little. Throughout the years prior to my departure, I have gained the love and friendship of a new family, a close knit group of friends that do almost everything together. When I said goodbye to these wonderful people, I left a big chunk of my heart back home in Jakarta.

Don't get me wrong. We're all still friends. Everything is just... well... different.

Okay, let me sort of try to explain where I'm coming from. I just got back here about a week ago. I couldn't describe to you how I felt the days prior to going home. I was kind of nervous and, inside, I really wished I could chicken out and not go home. The $1,600 already paid for airfare forced me to board that airplane. Some might ask why I felt that way, especially since I haven't gone home for nearly a year. I guess the reason why I felt the way I did was the sudden realization that when I come back home and meet up with my friends, I will find that things are not as I remembered it. My fear proved to be true. I came back and saw my friends at church again. I felt as if I didn't belong there anymore. During the two years I have spent away in college, I have changed. I no longer think the same way I thought two years ago. I no longer act the way I did two years ago. But I am not the only person that changed. My friends did too. They had birthdays and other interesting changes. They stumbled across new inside jokes that I know not the origin. I'm now back for the summer, and it's pretty intimidating to hang out once again with my friends. They are still my friends. They still want to hang out with me. Some things, like Josh's big bear hugs (thank God!) never change. But things are just different. I used to walk into the church gallery and feel like I'm at home. Now, I come in and I feel so out of place.

I realize that it's really nobody's fault. Nothing can stay the same forever. Things are bound to change. It's unnatural for things to permanently stay the same. I know that the reason why this realization hits me hard like a brick wall was because I've been running like every thing is the way it was when I left it two years ago. I think part of my slow thought process comes from my selfish wish for their world to stop when I'm not around. In my head, I never fully comprehended that after I left, my friends moved on with their lives. I also think that part of why this bugs me so much is because I have never been a lover of change. I want things to be the same and predictable. Maybe that explains why I rarely can branch out. When I go to the Aerie, I order a tall vanilla latte. I wouldn't order anything else. When I go to Starbucks, I order a caramel macchiato with extra caramel drizzle. When I go to Sarduccis, the only thing I ever get is ravioli with meatballs and garlic bread. But friends cannot be compared to coffee or food. They are people. And, of course, people change.

I guess the only thing I can do right now is accept the change and run with it until I get to the next brick wall.

Among the Clouds

I officially arrived back to my home country on the 3rd of June, 2008, at 1:11pm. It has been a long awaited arrival. In order to fully grasp the reason behind my misery-filled seventeen hours bonding time with one (or, to be accurate, two) Economy class seats on two China Airlines aircrafts, one must care to note all the wonderful embellishment that life seems to throw my way.

Okay. Enough with the ornamentations and pretty words. So, my Sunday started out as planned until it came the time for me to move out and check out from my room. We [Anna & I] told Marissa, our RA, that we were going to check out at 2:30pm. It turned out that I own a lot of stuff (surprise, surprise). I had to haul all the things I’m not bringing home to storage, and then pack all my things in a suitcase and a duffel bag, and stuff all that in Anna’s Honda Passport. We officially left at 4:00pm, an hour later than what we planned. We arranged that Anna would drop me off at Sandra’s house in Puyallup on her way down to Oregon, so that I could hang out and catch up with Sandra and then Sandra could give me a ride to the airport at 10 that night.

Anyways, one of my concerns about flying out is the weight of my baggage. I totally think that limiting the baggage weight to 50 pounds per baggage item is ridiculously stupid. (Well, I guess it’s not stupid. It’s just very inconvenient.) Anyways, it’s interesting that both my suitcase and my duffel bag are right around 50 pounds. One is like 50 pounds exactly, while the other is around 48 pounds. They’re both really cutting it close. I brought my purse and my violin with me. When the person asked, how many carry-ons are you bringing with you, I answered two. He looked at the violin and was going to have me check my violin in. Before he could finish his sentence, I told him firmly, this violin is going with me. In my head, it was far ruder. I wasn’t going to let my violin be banged around by their people into little pieces. I am not even done paying for the thing! I think I had the I’m-not-accepting-no-for-an-answer look and so he cowered and asked his coworker. She looked at it and said, “What is that?” And before I had the chance to answer her, she said the stupidest thing I have ever heard come out of a person’s mouth: “Oh, it’s a guitar. You can bring your guitar with you.” I was offended. This is nothing the size of a guitar. I was so appalled I just walked away without saying a thing.

All in all, I would say that the flight from Seattle to Taipei was the worst flight I have ever been on in my entire life. You see, there’s one thing you might want to know about me. My parents love to travel. I first went on an airplane when I was 3 ½ years old. After that, I was constantly going places on planes. I am very used to airplane rides, even 20 hours of flight. I also have a strong stomach, so I never had to use the paper bags they kindly provided in the seat pockets. My mom used to put rolls and butter in them. This flight witnessed me regurgitating on an aircraft for the very first time. So the last three hours of my thirteen-hour flight was decorated with extreme turbulence. It got to the point where people fell down when walking or standing up. It was awful. I was getting a headache but I was doing okay. The thing that triggered the reverse of my peristalsis was the fact that the gentleman sitting next to me took his shoes off and his feet ranked. On top of that, someone in the area had excruciatingly bad BO. I was out. As soon as the fasten-your-seatbelt sign went off I hurried to the bathroom and threw up. I felt a little better afterwards. Then when it was time for a meal, they had the option of some kind of porridge and so I gladly took that option – to the delight of my poor stomach.

The rest of my trip wet a lot better. I had a layover at Taipei for about 3 ½ hours. I had time to eat real food (which cost a fortune - $9 for a bowl of noodles and $3 for bottled water) and freshen up. Then I boarded a plane heading to Jakarta.

When we landed and I stepped out into the ramp, I could feel the rush of humidity wash over me like waves on a beach. All of a sudden, I felt sweaty and sticky. Yuck. O well, I don’t know whatever adventure lay in front of me, but I think this next 3 months will be interesting, to say the least.