Friday, February 21, 2014

Four years and so much more

Well, four years have come and gone.   Yet, we seem to have come full circle in rather ironic ways.

I think one of my first posts to this blog was about being only 3 or 4 weeks in to living in a foreign land and my honey had to go to Australia.  All of this occurred right before my birthday.  I got great opals from the land down-under for a gift and specially made creme bruleĀ“for dessert in celebration of the day of my birth.  I survived the panic and overwhelmed feeling I had during those particular difficult early days.  It wasn't easy, but we did it.

Why am I bringing this up?  Here we are four years later and sugar lips came home last night and told me he has to go to Australia for a meeting.  You guessed it.  It's over my birthday.   This time I am not nervous or panicky.  I know how to get to and from Australia if I want to go.  I know how to talk to the clerks in the store to ask for things without having a dictionary in my hand.  I don't have to drag my laundry across the street, through security, and dump it on a counter for all to examine just to get it washed.  I am used to being swarmed by motorcycles inches from my car door or vehicles, large and small, coming at you from all kinds of directions that are not natural.  I know which local dishes I like and don't have to resort to just ordering pasta off a menu because it is the only thing I recognize.

The other thing that was ironic was that on the actual day of our "four years here" anniversary we had to resort to riding to our destination in a bajaj.  Yes, we got to ride in the very contraption that I have found so amusing from day one.  My honey pot has never ridden in a bajaj the entire time we have been here.  Yes, it's hard to believe.  However, it was easily fixed.

The reason for this situation was because our car was being serviced.   We knew we could just get a cab when the schedule worked out that way.  No worries, pak and ibu.  However, the problem was, there were no taxis at the normal place there are taxis in our neighborhood.  This left us with two choices, bajaj or ojek as a means of transport.

Since I don't relish the idea of head lice, and a communal motorcycle helmet is a prime cultivation area, we chose a bajaj.  We scored well.  The bajaj we chose at the front of the line was clean inside.  The seat wasn't ripped or the foam pad missing chunks in strategic places for sitting comfortably.  The little door stayed latched.  Pak Ito was very nice and best of all the bajaj did NOT smoke like a volcano.

We climbed in and off we went to the Dharmawangsa Hotel for a round of chocolate martinis with friends and a nice dinner to follow.  As we putted along, my sweetheart, who has so gotten in to cell phone photography and videography, made a little movie of our excursion.  The only crucial thing he left out was the struggle that little bajaj had when we got to a very large hill.   At one point I thought we were going to have to get out and push the bajaj to the top.  Two bule behinds are much heavier than the local ones apparently.

We arrived to the Dharmawangsa a little sweaty but relatively fume free and had stunning chocolate martinis with friends.  It was an unexpected way to add local flavor to our "four years here" celebration.

So, are we back to where we started?  Kind of.  But the view is so much different with four years of experience.


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