December 25, 2007
Still randomly... from real Jakarta
Because according to Emmanuel, our very thoughtful host, life is Jakarta is just so real. And life in Singapore is just so artificial. That, coming from someone who is now a Singaporean PR.xxx
First impression: Down-to-earth. The Soekarno Hatta was built to function like how an airport should function. Nothing extremely breath-taking or spectacular. They didn't even air-con the whole airport! How modern can that be!
But, as Chaw Su and I stepped into the Mac with Maria, our co-host, sister of Emman, my first impression was that this place didn't aim to impress. It's just how life is lived. Simple, no frills, down-to-earth.
xxx
I would love to visit the museum which used to be the Dutch governor's house. But, there was the traffic to consider if we were to go back again. And there was shopping to be done, for so many everyone else. Right?
I loved taking the Transjakarta. I love sightseeing a city in a bus. Squeezing in with the locals and every turn of a junction, every halt at a traffic light, I get to see something different and uniquely local.
It helped so much that I was on the same bus with Emman, when Chaw Su was on an earlier one with Maria. He pointed out to me the major or significant buildings in the city. My response to all that - 'Jakarta is sooo big! You have a building for about every little thing...' - was entirely boring. A boring understatement to the bustling city where disparities are as omnipresent as vehicles on the road.
I chuckled once while trying to cross the busy road near the Jakarta city train station. There was nothing funny around me. I just took a second to take in all the sights, sounds and smell where I was standing and somehow, it felt like I was living another life altogether. A total escape from a comparatively sterile Singapore. There is some humour in that since my host must be more worried about me feeling disdain than feeling some form of escape from my usual monotoned life in Singapore.
xxx
There are some really, really yummy snacks that I really, really think should be exported to Singapore.
Enough of Hong Kong cafes in Singapore! There's only so much almond paste one can eat at one time! Even if that's one of my favourites. I simply love the smell of insecticide, can?
But let's bring in the pisang goreng, Indon-style! And all those snacks we had from Mangga Dua? Good stuff, really!
My sisters dig the wafer-sugar-thread thingy that I bought for my students! I should have bought a dozen more for their breakfast.
xxx
Hope is a very powerful thing. Let there be hope for all who seek it.
xxx
It was my first time attending a Catholic church service.
Perhaps in the years I grew up, when I was being put through some kind of spiritual faith, I've never learnt and thus, don't quite believe in redemption. My religion, through all those years, taught me karma - thought before deed. And that life is suffering.
Indeed, if the half-committed buddhist in me dared hope, I could only hope for an end to this suffering, a breakaway from the realm of rebirth. And to remotely be considered for some kind of salvation, I kept expecting the best from myself. Especially in my relations with others.
I absolutely believe that the only good we could do at any moment in time, is to do what we believe is the best for that moment in time. And indeed, if that best has been, redemption cease to be necessary. And when the deed has failed to be the best, I take responsibility for the consequences. In time, I try to forgive myself.
Then, later, I learn another more efficient way to even stop thinking about the things that didn't end up being the best.
I learnt to just say, 'Ahh.... what the fuck!'
xxx
Can you not try to understand me but still make me the reason for your continued existence?
Let's not both land in the state where we feel disappointed at not having been understood and fail to understand. Let us pass this existence with some kind of conviction that we are each other's reason for being here.
Otherwise, I'd rather be lonely.
xxx
"Hello. I promised my friend I would say Hello to you today."
I haven't cried in movies for a long time. Jeez. That was fantastic thrill.
Posted by 杏 cy （Jancy） at 18:55