Habang paikot-ikot ka sa mga isla sa Amerika,

Hihintayin kita.

Dahil alam kong babalik ka.

At kasabay sa iyong pagbabalik

Ay ang katuparan

Ng mga pangako at pangarap

Na matagal na nating inaasam.

"Things start out as they intend to go on."

                                                 - Jo's mom

Who's Jo? She's a 40ish female Canadian, has a strong personality, can be rude at times (and especially when necessary), has above average intelligence, and my best friend in Indonesia.  Who's Jo's mom? I haven't met her yet but her words just hit me that night that Jo told to me about it. So there I was, sitting in our huge 3-story house in Indonesia, realizing how bad things started for me in that foreign country. As a matter of fact, it was sooo bad that all sorts of bad things happened even before I left RP. A few days before my flight, my mom got robbed, my bf got our mountain bike stolen while making a quick call, my dad got bitten by our own cat and had to get an anti-rabies shot (which was rather expensive, by the way), and other things you would never imagine happening all in the same week (some even on the same day)! We should've been able to discern the signs that were being given to us for me not to pursue the job overseas but maybe being the positive-thinkers that we are, we just didn't realize that it could've been the Big Guy's way of warning us that I was about to make a mistake. And boy, was it a BIG one.

A lot of unimaginable things happened to me starting from DAY ONE (and to my colleagues as well, no thanks to an ineffective, unprofessional, and pathetic leader) in that hellhole but I don't want to bore you with details and I don't wanna waste words just recalling those events that I would rather block from my memory. Just to give you an idea how nasty it got, we filed a complaint against our joke-of-a-principal (and make that as a person as well) and the institution in DFA and I was assisted by a consul in the Phil. Embassy there for me to be able to escape from that horrible place. Now that principal just can't believe how a young Filipina like me was able to outsmart her/them! It's a good thing she underestimated me coz it actually worked to my advantage. Now if things do start out as they intend to go on, I can't imagine how much worse things could've been for me have I stayed there! And that's why I decided to get out before things got any nastier.      

But if there's one thing that I would ever cherish about Indonesia, (besides the fact that I love their art and food) it would be getting to know interesting people like Jo and developing friendships with people from other parts of the globe.

Now that's something I won't ever mind to keep on going on and on. ;)   

THINGS I'M LOVIN' ABOUT INDONESIA:

- Apukat almost all year round

- Sambal

- Spicy food (even sweet corn is served with chili! yummy)

- Martabak

- Otak-otak

- Robusta, Singha coffee

- Batik (they even have Batik paintings)

- Bandungan

- Simpang Lima

- Wearing headsets in church to listen to an English interpreter for us to understand the songs and the sermon (which are in Bahasa)

- The people in Desso Computer Shop who are always wiling to assist me (to the extent of installing my Bluetooth in their main computer and talking to the cab company because I don't speak Bahasa that well) 

- Bahasa songs ("Burung kaka duwa...!")

Bandungan - where the temples and horses are

Susan's Spa