12.12.1908 is my Grandfather’s (R.A.G. Adhiwijaya) date of birth, 12.12.2011 made history in my life. Yup, it’s my departure day to a new challenge! I woke up around 8.00 GMT+7 by Ega, my cousin, knocking on my room door. Well.. Looks like we’ve got a disturbing guest..hahaha.. It was Ruri and Roro that came and woke me up. They came to say farewell and surprised me also with a farewell present “we miss you already!” How flattered I was.. We chat and played around for a couple of hours. I seldom see them much in Jakarta and we had a great short time fooling around in my house, with my pillow face. Days before I also got presents from Aini, Irna and Ica.
The entire day after my friends came; I was busy on my final prep on the luggage. Actually I have finished packing my stuffs since the night before but my sister and mom insists me to open it up again for a final check. After my mom and sister checked my stuff, a lot of my stuffs had to be left behind because they thought it was necessary. My final luggage weight was 29.5 Kg according to my weight scale back home.
At the afternoon, my Grandmother came. We had a family dinner, my last menu at my house was Sate and Gulai. After we’ve finished the dinner, my “older” cousin, Mas Heru, came to the house to meet me and say farewell. He’s a lecturer at the state Uni in Depok, a law practicioner, and a writer. He had a lot of experience studying and travelling abroad. He shared some stories and experience of his own that might be useful to me.
Around 20.15 GMT+7 I said farewell to Mba Sri, Marno, Atun and Putri the crews that are like my own family back home. My sister didn’t came along to the airport, she had to stay back home because of her 1 month old baby boy, Raka. Mom, Kang Tatas (brother in law), Ega, Enin (Grandmother) and Mas Sohar took me to the airport. Mas Sohar drove slowly and steady on that rainy Sunday night and we arrived safely. Ega assisted me taking my luggage from the car.
I only bring 2 suitcases, a small cabin suitcase and the other one is the big one. It’s always important to put some extra clothes, toiletries etc. in the cabin bag because sometimes in some circumstances your luggage can be missing on an international flight. So I checked in at the Emirates counter. Well look at the weight indicator! It was only 27.5 Kg! I knew it! According to my experience from several flights, the weighing scale at Soekarno-Hatta Airport will always gives you a lighter weight. I tried to tell that to my mom and sister but they insist to be more precautious. What a regret! I didn’t get to bring my rain-proof jacket and my folders. Since I had to take lots of documents out of the folder, there were a lot of documents that was accidently left behind.
After finished with checking in, I went to out to meet my family. I was surprise Mas Roy actually came to the airport. Unfortunately Hughes was too tired to come along. Mas Roy is like a big brother to me. He is very kind and helpful. We like to chat a lot of things and we connected and have a lot of things in common (such as body, hehee). Me, Mom, Enin, Kang Tatas, Mas Roy and Ega ate some donuts and drank hot chocolates, tea and coffee. It was a great moment.
*Thanks to all the people mentioned above and to all my friends and families that aren’t mentioned. Farewell Jakarta! Farewell Indonesia!
