Angel Unaware

I'm happy for Angel, no doubt.
In mind, I saw the six of us bursting into laughter at bale bengong. Phew that was 11 yrs ago.

This tired old mind goes back and fro Bali these days. It pays a visit to Pak Simon's house in Tabanan, where Angel was temporarily stationed: Pak Simon, his old Mom (?), the neglected (then adopted) Kamus Inggris-Indonesia, and his lovely house with tatched roof and of course a green-snake killing near the pigs' den. And of Angel wanting to open small business.

One lazy day (as every day was back then at Jl Ratna), Angel was 'inhabited' by a crafty Spirit, that's people's term. She returned to her long lost skill: cooking traditional dessert. This time she chose dawet or cendol. She ground some big amount of rice on the cobek. The stone bowl was big--enough to grind spices for cookings fo 100 people. and she let the wet powder 'rest' for awhile.

later she cooked the dough and made it pass through syringe (a hole-y part of dandang) unto a bowl of cold water. I din remember whether I helped her. She grated some coconut to make cocomilk (super-water-diluted) and sweetener made of a mixture of cane sugar and brown sugar.

We gathered at bale bengong. Everyone celebrated the rare--indeed rare--dessert. Faces couldn't lie. There was something about it.

Laughter exploded. It tasted ... hot! Angel must have forgot to clean the cobek entirely. LOL

In just two hours, everone suffered from stomachache...
I just imagined, what if Angel insisted on us taking more of this supposedly green and white drink...
I'd answer, thanks thanks. One glass is my limit
(of course it would be a lie LOL)


Back in Tabanan (like 5 km away from Canggu where Yohan and I were stationed), Angel fretted, Sem, let's go find Simon & (?). Perhaps he can lend us some money. That's what people now call micro credit.

To this day, i still think, why couldn't I utter to them that Angel was thinking of opening small business. Simon and his friend was celebrating their discovery of naming a cat Sambal. She wanted to teach local people how to earn more money by selling desserts. what a noble heart. my mind was certainly the size of a walnut then.


Angelina Filippiana--I don't know what her name now is. I think she is now in the state of hilarious happiness. She must have adopted her husband's. "He's from Sydney, you know". Ah yes.

She's won the mental battle. There's nothing sweeter than having the last laugh.

(Visiting Pak Simon's was much delight. On the way there, I enjoyed the paddy fields. One time light green, one time dark green, and then entirely yellow. One can wax lyrical about it. So picturesque, so were the kampongs. Yohan even found a 'Pythagoras' short cut through the ripening fields on the way back to Canggu. He even noticed some string beans on the muddy tracks. think Farmers there are quite smart to use their lands to the best result.)

I want to go to the sea

Ah, Josiah!

I never know when I stumble upon a stranger (is that way to say meeting strangers?).

thanks to Josiah Leming's Angels Undercover. i disagree with his lyric but but the song is nice.

if i look back I've been meeting angels unaware. think of Marvin who drove us to the nearest station and Maria (?) the Filippina who helped me and Ayu on the train. "We people here say ha und em" i remember her smile and her curly hair. She was about to pick her son home.

They were Godsends. think of mbak Yayuk and husband on the way down to Purwodadi! if they din spot us, perhaps we children walked miles away and got exhausted hohoho. Sem the child din know what to do that he shamelessly slept soon as his head felt the comfort of the back seat hahahaha

Even now i regard that mustached policeman on my last trip to Pramuka was an angel. He saved me from those noisy impolite people. hahaha

have i been an angel?

(the kindness of strangers)

Got milk?

I read the paper and found this choir singing Un flambeau, Jeanette, Isabelle. I bet it's Bring a Torch, Jeanette, Isabella. I kinda love this song. So i got it from the net.

Un flambeau, Jeanette, Isabelle --

Un flambeau! Courons au berceau!

C'est Jésus, bons gens du hameau.

Le Christ est né; Marie appelle!

Ah! Ah! Ah! Que la Mère est belle,

Ah! Ah! Ah! Que l'Enfant est beau!

C'est un tort, quand l'Enfant sommeille,

C'est un tort de crier si fort.

Taisez-vous, l'un et l'autre, d'abord!

Au moindre bruit, Jésus s'éveille.

Chut! chut! chut! Il dort à merveille,

Chut! chut! chut! Voyez comme il dort!

Doucement, dans l'étable close,

Doucement, venez un moment!

Approchez! Que Jésus est charmant!

Comme il est blanc! Comme il est rose!

Do! Do! Do! Que l'Enfant repose!

Do! Do! Do! Qu'il rit en dormant!

Two milkmaids. Milkmaids! cool! How Jeanette and Isabelle went into the composer's mind is a mystery. Could they be his/her children? Or nieces? or lovers? or children he/she wished he/she had?

whomever, it's funny I instantly remember a trip to Kletak. On those days Hermon, Karis, Nelly, (I din remember if K Es came along), Atok (?), Dion (?) camped at Kletak. It was by the river and by the bridge. we went sorta “napak tilas”. I din know and dont remember we did in the footsteps of whom. all I knew, napak tilas belonged to Donald Duck n friends from Napak Tilas Perjalanan Jules Verne (li'l Sem spelled it, Jou-les Vair-nuh).

In the evening or morning, we drank fresh milk. from the cows living next to the tents! i din know who milked them. all i know it was put inside an aluminum pan with black butt because everyone around used wood as fuel. To 'hide' its strong smell, someone mixed it with coffee. I saw the cream separated itself from the rest, forming mini meatballs. Funny. It reminds me of a silly experiment of mixing milk with lime juice. Odd lumps appeared after I stirred the glass. I din drink the milk

What we did was too hard to recall by this old archiving brain. Did we walked through the paths with kak Flora (curly yellow haired Sunday school teacher) or that happened at Gebuk when we did Sunday school outbound? Mas Toton?

then someone in red Hiace (om Darto? or Om Deogenes?) picked us up and drove downtown to Lawang. It was great that I sat next to Mirthe. She was sorta mysterious woman with red hair. She said, “i like this type of hair”. That was like the best compliment for a teenage boy like me. tee hee

thanks to the choir for this friendly reminder. although I din see them performing, I kinda remember the song. Un flambeau Jeanette Isabelle....

Weekend in Bogor

Villas, Kebon Raya, kue cubit, cold breeze, greenery signify Bogor. I gladly nodded when offered. Just to be shy away from the city'd be great. At first I din expect the villa includes sawah, pond, and garden.

Sara said, it's not far from the station. farther the location was only in my mind. I thought it was like near Curug or so. "In suburban" she said. She spent countless weekend there with cousins and fam.

it's her uncle's. the house has the nuance of eighties: all the sky high trophies, "window shopping" cupboards, Life published books, stuffed birds of paradise, and carpets. very cool. and they have a cupboard full of NGMs dated from 1983! not to mention some stuffed tigers. Rooooooaaaarrr! Well, I can get used to this place LOL

Wina, Sara and I went straight to the pond. there awaited a goose, honking as we approached the green sawahs. the butler's children joined us. Putri and Febri conversed well.

Shiny, happy people

Later Linda, Didin, Wiwid, Irsan came. Linda and I went down to the sawahs and made some noise. We climbed the trees and "rubbed shoulders" with epiphytes hahahaha. Bleki (Blackie?) joined us and later he let me rub his neck. good boy. In the afternoon came Togi, Pithe, Lisa and Hendro.

Everybody was in good spirit. Pithe provided me with a surprise story, Togi strummed the guitar and set the night to music so did Wiwid who talked at length for the first time haha. The way Didin "drained" Hendro was very fun ("one sweet one with cheese, and don't take too long"). Irsan acted laid back and that was cool of him, and Hendro shed some light on us that night :)

There was much fun inside and outside. We--I--ate much, for sure. The people made the tastiest pisang goreng (sweetened with brown sugar) and dadar jagung. How this could not be satisfying? Yummy!

Anast

Anast is very 'teasable' and that was good for us

Cika would say, stop taking care of everybody!
Me'd add, Ah, you noble heart
:)

She's so sincere that we never misunderstand her even when she said--in perfect English, for she teaches English in a high school, "Guys, I've been to Great Wall of China..."

Our jaws dropped. Ah, well, we din take that as an act of snob. Instead, we knew that she was being genuine.

It was us who started to take care of everybody--in this case, of her. Hahahah. She loves walking and hiking.

It was great to have her as travelmate.

So we walked down after the historic climb (none of us had been there before).

It was a fun hike. I love the horse ride. Rebo was kind and he seemed to know every rock there. good horse.

"i have been given one moment from heavens"

I love Enya for singing this nice song. It is inspiring.

On my way home I remember only good things


I can't say i dont remember the awful and unnerving things but the last trip turned to be exciting, i should say. i get different perspective on how i see. (see, i paid! hahahaha)
now i can overlook the piques.

even the thoughts of giving medicinal instructions (?) still produces a hearty giggle. We were the front guards (or the point of the spears, as people here love to use the term), said cika. We were....uhm, perhaps. I aint sure. Now I think Martha was right. she said all people like that need is love.

Did i gave them? i still aint sure. but sure, i learn from this. my. see, every one needs to be loved and when it is you the one who should give love, give them. "Cepat sembuh ya Pak, Bu, Dek..." Meanwhile in the classroom, I saw Anast was sharing her knowledge, her enthusiasm with those children. It was cool to see how she lit them up.

yesterday i broke my promise and called Cika. We talked about this and ended up laughing out loud. the last trip was equally awful and fun. hey, i dont think it's equal.

but speaking about laughter, there was much laughter. more than i've ever had before during my trips. hahahahaha i think Anast will agree with us.