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Sveeeeeennnnnnnnnnn!

One of our department home office’s rule is someone presently need at the office always, it was quiet often to be me. During that period, I was responsible for a lighting project, which means I have to repeatedly communicate with one of the product manager named Sven. I’m glad it was him, back then I wasn’t able to speak much German ~ Of course he could feel our language barrier, therefore instead of explaining on the phone, he always come to me with printed version of everything. I am 100% sure any other PM wouldn’t bother to do what he did, nach dem Motto “nicht mein Problem”.

Definitely he has other projects with my colleague Andreas, sometimes he would like to speak to him but there was only me holding the fortress of our Flügel, asked “Wo ist Andreas?” to which I replied “Zu Hause”. This happened a lot until he comments:

  • Bist du alleine?
  • Du machst definitiv etwas falsch! deine Kollegen mag dich nicht 😉
  • Du bist wieder ganz alleine, ich muss jeden Tag zu dir gehen um zu gucken ob dir gut geht oder was passiert wenn du hinfällst? Niemand wird es wissen!

He kept his words! came to check on me, I can see from the corner of my eyes when someone is coming proceed to scream “Sven ist da! Sven ist da, da ist Sven!” “OK, gut zu wissen du bist immer noch da or du bist nicht verletzt”.

Before long, the lighting project is finished, alas: his visits stops. However, I have an obligation to let him know I am OK or just want to keep the tradition. So…. I come to him…. almost… every… day 😀 Little by little the “Sven ist da” became shorter to only “Sveeennnnnnnnnnnn!”

His desk is not facing the door, that’s why he always shocked whenever I appears. Running, out of the sudden behind him, “Sveeeeennnnnnn”. His colleague ~ Carla constantly say “lässt der arme Sven doch in ruhe” Gurl, what were you thinking? no way, he can’t escape it. Whenever he do Home Office, I call him just to shout “Sveeeeeennnn!”. My colleague PV said “Oh Got Marlyn, der arme Sven eh”

It slowly started became a habit to showed him anything I have which considered as ‘new’ for example my collection of hats, shoes or any other random things possible in order for me to be able to yell “Sveeeeeeeeennn” His comment was never be longer than “Gut” or “Hervorragend”

Besides showing him something, I also consult about random things from residence permit, passport validity, apartment keys. He is very international, he and his wife were once stayed in New Zealand, went to Asia many times for holiday etc. He knows a lot!

His colleagues ~ Carla and Tobi already got used to my “Sveeeeeennnn” Andreas proceed to call him Sveeennnn on the phone. I did it all the time, including in form of writing.

One day, I overheard Milena talked to CB something along the way Sven will leave Nordwest.

  • Was Milena? Hast du gerade etwas über Sven gesagt? Welcher Sven reden wir jetzt?
  • Unser Sven
  • Was? Sven? Sveeennnnnnn!
  • Monica joined the group, “Marlyn que?”
  • Sven und seine Familie werden nach Kanada auswandern.
  • Wer? Sveeeennnnnnnnnn?
  • Jap, genau, der Sveeennnnn!!

I talked to myself, “komme zu Sven” Monica followed me “ich auch” we both stormed out “Sveeeeeeeeeeennnnnn” his reaction was looked at his watch, “oh die Info ist schon bei euch angekommen”

The day when Sven will leave NW is getting closer. Asked Carla if we do something for him, she said no…. doch! Everyone in the room is doing / making / collecting gift for him except me haha I was there only for one last “Sveeeeeeennnn”

Makes matter worse, I wasn’t suppose to be there btw, see the original email hahaha this is the jungle rule when you’re not invited, you invited yourself! 😀 habe auch mit ihm gesprochen und er sagte “Ja, du darfst da sein”

On his last day in the office, I came to him like 3 times he stated “Ja, ja ich komme gleich” whenever he’s still not here I called him. PV reminds me “Marlyn, der kommt noch bestimmt” eventually he really came “Sveeeeennnnnn, Sveeeeeennnn, Sveeeeeennnnnnn” “ich mache eine Runde und komme ja nochmal, muss mich mit Marlyn nochmal verabschieden” On his final moment “Also, jetzt gehe ich” then we hug. When he walked out I kept screaming “Sveeennnnn, Sveeennnn, Sveennnnnn”

Tobi wonder “Marlyn, what should we do now? should I write in the job descriptions that the applicant should be called Sven?” Even so, Sveeeeeennnn ist nicht ersetzbar!

One thing I know, I will never come to Flügel 1 the same way again. All the very best to you, your wife, both of your children in Canada. Although Tobi reassure you are always welcome back… come on, you won’t 😉 Canada is something else #Stay stay stay.

  • Er ist in Kanada!

This conclude one more reason to put Canada on my bucket list!

Mach’s gut Sveeeeeennnnnnn!

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Pay Attention – Part 3

When I was in ABBA Museum there is an advertisement about Avicii Experience with code ABBA to get 30% discount, my Asian Genes sparks with joy!

It starts with Tim Bergling’s childhood’s room where it’s written he’s coming from an affluent neighborhoods in Stockholm. Yes, emphasis on the word affluent here, combine with talent = success guaranteed! And that’s exactly what he had.

The success he achieved in a quiet short of time, his name was as big as it can get in his genre. He was only a teenager when he got discovered, through his gift in EDM music he jump straight to famous, the one thing he maybe wasn’t prepare for.

This Experience also have a little bit of interactive part where we got to wear a VR to see the recording studios or when we could hear the songs which hasn’t come out yet.

Although we all know how it ends, I can’t even begin to imagine the pressure in the industry until someone who’s from affluent family decided to end his life. He could easily check out from all of this and still have a good life. After all, perhaps mental health is really something we need to pay attention for.

Thank you Avicii for inherited us your music, from not knowing anything about you to know you as an unbelievable music creator through this Experience your fans has built for you. It is such a shame for a very bright young man to leave the world way too soon.. Now we all have to going out without you.

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Je suis Susi – Part 4

Susi will be my niece’s nickname for a long time, it suits her well #Stay with Susi.

Their final destination is Frankfurt Airport, distance from Colmar to Frankfurt is a bit too far, too much car seat time for Susi. Therefore Sissy and Schwager spontaneously decided to stop at Baden-Baden – stay one night in Heidelberg – next morning Frankfurt Airport.

Susi woke up just in time for Schwager to make an exit from the Highway to Baden-Baden. Priority: Susi!

DM has a baby changing corner, complete with wipes and diapers sizes. From all the sizes on the below shelf available, of course Susi’s size was empty!

Credits needs to be given though, it’s my first time seeing a changing station in DM #Thumbs up.

After Susi has changed, we were more relax for sightseeing and lunch.

We walked passed one museum, making fun of the Peaky FUCKING Blinders! #Arthur’s voice. The fans would know it, the Faberge Egg’s scene.

We were very happy at Baden-Baden, not sure why? maybe just because the name is Baden-Baden 😉 we stayed there longer than we planned. Jumping on the stones, visit the church, had ice cream- I ordered Casis, don’t do it, when in doubt, chose Hazelnut #Sissy wejangan.

Suits ourselves, continue drive to Heidelberg. It was a Saturday afternoon, Heidelberg was packed, I meant packed packed PACKED PACKED!!! I still didn’t do the justice of how packed it was. People everywhere, all parking place were full so full to the point we were waiting on the line to get into the Parkhaus. One car out from the Parkhaus = one car move in from our line and so on.

What do we do while waiting? called our Hotel to ask if they have a Parking Place. The receptionist asked under which name the rsvp was made. Only for us to hear “I can’t find your name, please just come here and we will sort it out”

In the meantime Schwager check his mails, we booked the wrong date! Let’s just carry Susi with Björn, go to Hotel maybe they have free room for tonight.

All three we went, no free room. We asked her if there is something today, to this she answered, “nothings happening, it’s just normal Heidelberg on a weekend”

Me and Schwager went to few hotels & restaurants nearby asking if they have a room: zero squared. Only then we realized our attempt to stays at Heidelberg crashed in front of our eyes. It was a sea of Menschen, impossible to find a hotel here.

Let’s make a cut, quit Heidelberg, snap some pictures here as our hotel was exactly on the city center, this is the only chance we got haha so we could say we already went to Heidelberg 😉 The focus at this moment is to find a new hotel for tonight somewhere else. Get out from the Hype-Heidelberg.

Schwager kept driving on the highway direction of Frankfurt. We will passed few cities beforehand. When we read some name like Weinheim, Heppenheim, Bensheim, search on Google- Hotel.

I felt like a Detective in the movie, with 3 phones + 1 GPS looking which directions should we go, should Schwager took an Exit to any Heims-City or keep going. I said the hotel name, Schwager put it on the GPS, responded “no it’s another direction” next, next, next we were like that for def under an hour, although at that time it feels like forever. We do have Stau so Schwager can type something on the GPS.

The call was always “Hallo, wir sind 3 Erwachsene und 1 Baby. Haben Sie zufällig heute ein Zimmer frei?” always got replied “Nein, tut mir leid” fuck fuck fuck! No, don’t take exit on Weinheim as there is no hotel anyway, keep on the lane to next city, Heppenheim. Sissy entertaining Susi or keep feeding her banana. The stakes are high, we all knew the moment Susi cries it’s game over.

We kept driving directionless or we gonna end up at Ashley and Ongky’s couch haha I swear if it’s only 3 of us, without a doubt we would slept on the car, doesn’t really matter, go to a restaurant, use the facilities, we already got spot in the Parkhaus anyway, next morning go to Frankfurt Airport earlier to use their shower room. Since it’s not possible, keep focus!

Just to add some tension, the Benzin could only fit for 60km left. AHA! icing on the cake #face palm. It’s getting dark too hahaha strike after strike after strike, give it full gas to our last day. Relax? what’s that? #Hold my beer.

First priority sofar is unfruitful hotel searching, now our second priority is catching up with our first’s, which is to find the Tankstation. Took an exit, fuel some Benzin, next to it there is a McD, Sissy said “let’s sit down, we need to eat something”

We were not really a big fans of McD but at this point we were already desperado haha

We were still calling many hotels near by to no avail. We know we needed to be in big cities. It’s logic, no way in hell all hotels in big cities are full. The situation now is Susi still happy, we all are full, we are secured. The -Heims are small cities maybe the kind of hotel was family own which only have 4 rooms, that could be one of the reason.

Schwager called one last hotel in Darmstadt, hole in one! We got direction on where to go, finally! Now I look back realizing of how calm we were actually. We were just in disbelief or denial phase but not panic since we all aware there will always be a hotel for us, it’s just how far should we drive. What the hell is happening on this Saturday, is it Oktoberfest? yes it’s the very first day of Oktoberfest but we are not in Münich, why would be the reason of this full-ness?

Btw if you wonder how Susi was doing when we were unter der Druck setzen? She was soooo calm the whole damn time! didn’t scream, she even slept! that makes a loooottt easier. I was very very very proud of Susi for being so considerate as if she understood the situation.

Susi was so happy in the new, bigger hotel 🙂 Plaza Western PLUS you saved 4 asses that night! We will never forget you.

We slept so damn well, happy to have a refreshing shower in a big bathroom. Overall, this hotel is better anyway than the small hotel in Heidelberg.

Checked out is at 12, distance from Darmstadt to Frankfurt Airport was only 20 minutes. My luggage is already done, Sissy hasn’t finished hers. She can’t find her legginggggg yet it’s already time to check out. In order to not get a late check out fee, we just checked out first the re-open Sissy’s Koffer in the lobby haha! Schwager started moving Susi’s travel cot or some other Kram to the car on by one. I played with Susi, meaning: Susi is eating my handy case while in return I got Susi’s headphone. At some point I ask “why Susi only wear diapers?” “Where is her pants?” the hectic has taken all of us, here wear the yellow one! Now we all are decent.

Off to Frankfurt Airport. We were all in one toilet in Baby Room in Airport until we got a knock haha All in! It takes a village 🙂 It was amazing that I met them 3X within one month, always come and go, one weekend, next week and one full week. It was so hard to be parted with this kleine Mote since she’s very menggemazkan hhmmmm.

I witnesses the moment she articulate Papa, Dada, played “hide and seek”, peekabo, screaming, number 2, mingkem, cengegesan. So many once in my lifetime memories created and stored innerhalb der kurzen Zeit I have with small Susi. Next time I see you, you’ll be already able to walk, will be very seru!

Big big big thank you for Sissy and Schwager to include me on their trip. I’ve seen + been on tons places because of you. We had so so so much indescribable fun, I’m very happy 😀

Danke – Merci – Terimakasih – 谢谢

么么哒 Kuss

May the force be with our for our upcoming trips

#When you know, you know 😉

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Free At Last

Flash back to a time where I thought I lost my glasses? http://marlynpraseli.com/2022/10/16/marlyns-spectacles/

It is now for REAL! I lost it! somewhere in Sydney…. there are three places of possiblities. First when I had brunch with Alvin and Aldrich in PCP, second when I had lunch with Mom in Spice I am, third when I was on the way from Spice I am to Paddys Market (that’s all on the same day). I only wear my glasses in the morning, afterwards I was wearing my sunglasses, supposedly my glasses was always in my bag or in the hotel (although it’s less likely….)

Continued… picked my Mom up from Central Station, took a Taxi to Ibis, proceed to Spice I Am Thai’s resto, walked to Paddys Market then meeting with Betsy. When Betsy and I were inside, I wanted to see the Menu that was on the wall, this is the moment where I want to change from sunglasses to real glasses…. hmmmm where is it? it’s not on my bag, didn’t pay attention if my bag’s zipper closed completely or not. Anyway didn’t think much of it, thought it could be on my room somewhere.

Back to Ibis, glasses is nowhere to find, ok it’s missing, I’m positive about it, went back to PCP asked if someone see that or if it’s in the toilet, 0 squared. Reported it to my friends, not sure if they are happy that this time it’s gone for real as they were the one who actively sought my glasses last time hihi

I was quite dysfunctional on my last two days in Sydney, relying only with sunglasses, need to go back before dark, I’m not Alicia Sierra who wore sunglasses in the evening #fanatic fans of La Casa de Papel

Good bye my Marc by Marc Jacob’s glasses, wait! it’s not mine from the first place, it was Aggy’s haha she gave it to me back then couldn’t remember when, I guess in year 2018 or 2019. Aggy worked previously in a glasses shop, sorry Aggy I lost it. But I did have a good adventure of 4+ years with your glasses from Shanghai to Dortmund also any places in between 🙂

It’s time for me to move on to a German Brand, Mister Spex! Chose a 4 modes to test it at home:

Do the eye test, waited for one week delivery #believe me for German standard it’s already fast.

From 30.03.2023 on, me and my Lisa-Marie Schiffner will have a new adventure!

I wanted to have a Rosa Farbe for some reason plus pair it with Gold is not bad hey 😉 I realized it’s the same color as my Kaiya’s tumbler, we both wear cardigan too #matchingggg

Missing my niece, at this moment she’s currently sick, get well soon baby K #hugs and love from Germany XX

*Koala icon from Flaticon Australia icons created by Freepik – Flaticon

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Tribute To The Beatles

You say, “Goodbye”, and I say, “Hello, hello, hello” (hello, goodbye, hello, goodbye) That’s just a bit of lyrics from “Hello Goodbye” by The Beatles and this is exactly how I feel right now, every story has two sides, one side is a “Hello” and the other is a “Goodbye”.

On 28th of August I landed Germany, I was so nervous but not afraid-nervous, I was hyper-nervous, too happy to be here. When I accepted their offer back in May, I only informed sooooo few people, as few as my sister, my parents, Markus, Thorben and Marina. Because I don’t want to be too excited as the situation with Corona was still very absurd, the German Embassy closed until further notice, Germany still closed their border for international flight but I don’t lose hope, I put one foot in front the other and keep going. And fast forward to 27th of August as my last day in mother land and going to Vaterland haha!

Once I landed at Duesseldorf Airport, I’ve done my corona test there for frei! yuhuuuu! in love with this country already 😉 after that “Hello” to my two helpers that put a significant contribution on my relocation journey to Germany!

Little did I knew, they even prepared me welcome gift… I would like to say box but it is not a box so a welcome gift paperbag-sounds more environmental friendly too 😉

Then they put me in a hotel to wait until my corona test result came out which should be beginning of next week, after that I told Thorben and he said “it’s time to announce the Disturbed Family!” haha yes Thorben thank you for keeping the secrets away from them for so long 🙂 Haissshhh this is the hardest moment, the “Goodbye” part, they are more than just friends, they’re my family and even better they all are distrubed and (such an) ass-ociates 😀

It took me some time to write them and even some time to look my phone back after I pressed that send button. Thank you for all the messages, such a heartwarming one and I knew I will never have the balls to say goodbye to all of you.

However, since my goodbye is through text, I don’t think it is a proper goodbye and mostly you guys are European anyway 😉 I’ll come to your home invited or uninvited mwhaha to have my “Hello” moment with your parents, Hello Sir / Ma’am, I’m a friend of your son / daughter 🙂

Germany, you are such a whole new world, a hundred thousand things to see and I can’t wait to reveal it one by one 🙂

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Ready Player One?

The first month of this special year 2020 has been the longest January ever! Bombing in Iran, bush fire in Australia with a special hail that only last for 30 mins in Canberra yet successfully destroyed my sister’s car pffff, flood in Indonesia and Covid-19 in China… what a tough month indeed!

I witnessed the easiest order, within 15 mins we collected over 3000 pcs mask N95 but our lovely Taiwan factory only have 2080 pcs left and we took it all, delivered by air freight and the next day we got it. This was 1 day before the Chinese New Year so it is indeed the best present 🙂

It really strikes me when 24 hours before we all just had lunch together, drawing a mouse in the red paper to welcome CNY

and the next day it was mandatory to wear mask, the following days after that we were advised to not go out unless its necessary. How things can change within 24 hours?! #I may sound very dramatic now but it’s either I am over-react or the condition is really not good. I really wish that I was over-react and laugh about it later.

Few days after wasn’t bright either, restaurants started to closed mainly because they want to celebrate CNY and secondly because of the virus. So what did I do? I cooked! I managed myself to get back to the kitchen again #proud me! but I did what everybody else do which is stocked up some snacks! At that time it was still around 4-5 degree Celcius in Shanghai and quiet rainy so going out was kind of a hassle therefore snacks is definitely necessary!

Besides that we also need to equipped ourselves with mask, see my mask-volution 😉

However, with my new home, my stock of food, my mask and my laptop I think I’m ready for the situation. But…. one major issue that I still need to face is the IELTS test that I will take on 9th of February. On 27th January, I received the official news that they cancelled the IELTS test in China for the whole February and March but I need to do it in February therefore what should I do? I decided to fly back home and do the test in Indonesia. And yes, I am heading home the next day. It is indeed a very spontaneous decision.

Indonesian, my country mate, no need to worry, I declared myself as healthy because I did my self-quarantine for 14 days and I’m clean! Yeay!! Also thank you for my friends that texted me to make sure that I still alive (read: Eiman, Frida, Arana, Tabitha, Elle, Dennis, The Bejes- Revina, Erin, Marissa, Cecil, Memey) You guys can’t get rid of me yet 😉

How long will I be here? probably longer than I expected, my plan was no longer than 3 weeks but almost a month now and will still be here for another as the official cancelled flight to China until end of March.

I have a mix feeling, of course I am sad that I leave Shanghai unexpectedly but also gyms and restaurants are mostly closed until who knows when so I’m still glad that in here I can eat and still go out freely without anyone measuring my body temperature and so on.

Owh well, this is life I guess, we as the Player One of our live need to be ready to expect the unexpected.

Wish the very best for China to fight with this coronavirus, 中国加油!

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Dede with Mom and Dad…. and other relatives

I’m coming home, tell the world I’m coming home. The world?!?! pffff that’s so exaggerating haha 😀 Yais, yais, yais! I’m coming home finally for 13 days minus the flight, so I was at home for 11 days actually.

Crazy Rich Asian was so hits! and I haven’t watch it in Shanghai therefore I was so happy when I found out that it still air in the cinema here, I watch it with my mom. I was extremely happy to see Asian face in Hollywood 😉 Spoiler: I really like the soundtrack of one of the scene at CRA which is Cant Help Falling In Love, covered by Kina Grannis, OMG! that was such a very touching scene! And from CRA followed by watched Searching, gezzz! Searching is sooooooo awesome! not only because it was also another Asian face but the story itself is soooo unpredictable! 😮 My sister was the one that very very very keen about Searching, because it was aired for 1.5 months ago so she was afraid that the movie already taken down and she was right, it was almost taken down but we still managed to watched it! highly recommend!

My parents wasn’t so update about what kind of movies that new released, of course they know about Mission Impossible or another James Bond movie because these are the Hollywood Hollywood style of movie, but for the one that starred with Asian actress they don’t really know. My father didn’t watch CRA, only mom but she likes it, the three of us watched Searching and all of us like it a lot! Me and my father like the movie that was based on a true story, so I downloaded Hacksaw Ridge and watched it with them, and I also asked them to watch Lion. And maybe tomorrow we will watch Venom at the cinema haha! Yes, we watch many movies 😀 But I also learn how to cook Thorben! haha

I brought my HSK 6 book with me because in theory I will learn the HSK back home but in fact I didn’t even open that book! hahaha 😮 gosshhh I think I will have to postponed the test otherwise it will be the same as I’m tossing RMB 650 registration fee to the window hahaha

First weekend, I met the family from my mother side (not all only 2 uncles with their family) and OMG my cousins all are grown ups already! These 3 are the ones that still shorter than me but I’m sure next year they all will be taller than me huaaaa 🙁 but yeah what do I expect anyway 😀 They were 10 yo, 15 and 16yo….. and me… 27! haha!

We went to Abuba steak to kind of celebrate my birthday

But honestly speaking, it was nothing compare to Thorben’s 😉 and I’m serious!

Fast forward to the next weekend, we were at the mall and yes! We as Indonesian went to mall often haha something that maybe European or American cannot relate to that *face palm* and my father saw an orange squeezer on discount to only Rp 20,000.00 which is around RMB 10 and my father said to my mom that this is on discount, let’s have a look on this shop. And we bought that orange squeezer and my mom bought something for the bathub and while we want to pay to the cashier inside, we found out that all the furniture there was also on discount! I mean BIG SALE! and my father just asked the shop assistant “Are you getting to close down so everything were on discount?” anddd! She said “Yes, this is the last day, we will close tonight!” And suddenly out of nowhere my father got all the energy to checked the furniture hahaha! and in the end we came home with a new dining table + 6 chairs, and a new shelf 😀

At first, the reason why we need to buy the new dining table and shelf so that our home will be more neat because everything will be on the places, but not long after they finished assembled it and they started to put everything on the table and I was like “The table and shelf now is bigger and indeed has more space but you will also put more stuff so in the end it will be the same always full and not so neat” hahaha *face palm* it will be full sooner or later as my mom will bring her collections somewhere from the boxes to put it on the shelf haha 😀

Another family meeting! We met 1 aunt from my father side 🙂 we went to Central Park (also mall! don’t get deceived by the name Park and Central) we had lunch there. She was my most realistic aunt! She said she just had a high school reunion, for about 40 years they haven’t met each other and she said all of them they still recognize her, without a doubt, while everyone was still guessing who is who because all of the changes that happened within 40 years but to her, everyone could guess it was her. And I was a bit confused of why? she said because when I was in high school I was already 62kgs and now I’m 70kgs so it was only small differences, while the other was 35kgs and now become 80kgs of course nobody would recognize them. HAHAHA! I was laughing so hard, she said it very relax XD.

And I remembered my highschool, I was between 40-42kgs let’s see in 40 years how much weight I will be 😉

Next family meeting is my uncle from my father’s side but I only meet his kids which is my cousins. They are the youngest cousins from my father side which is 18 yo and 15 yo and kids…. you grown so fast! haha I’m the smallest one then 🙁

Out of the sudden this is the last weekend I’m here 😮 and I’m flying back to Shanghai again on Tuesday morning another 😮 Also, I will see next time I’m coming back home again, how full our shelf will be 😉 haha

Stay healthy and happy Mom and Dad! ‘Till we meet again, hopefully next time we will have full Praseli’s clan 😉

 

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Owh Mother!

The last time I met my mom was on November 2017, and for the past few months I have been dreaming of my mom, there were 2 dreams. The first one was quite scary because me and my mom was in a disaster area, a flood in Indonesia, a real flood and I was hugging my mom and the water just took us somewhere and then I woke up. The second one was I was having a phone call with my mom saying “Oh, this weekend is a holiday, I will go home to stay at your place (in Jakarta, while me staying in Bandung)” and then I woke up from my dream and realized that my mom is in Indonesia and I’m in Shanghai. I’ve told this to my mom and she became sad realizing that both of her daughter are not with her. And then out of nowhere she knew that there was a cheap tour to Hainan and that’s why she and I got to meet again 🙂

Before she went to Hainan, she went to Thailand and she knows the only snacks that I eat back home was Pocky. But in Indonesia (or at least while I was there) the flavor of Pocky was only chocolate and strawberry, and while she was in Thailand she saw many many many different flavor of Pocky. So she bought two flavors for me mango and cookies & cream. She said I will bring it to you when we meet in Hainan and she did!

This is not the only snack that she brought, she also brought the famous noodle for us to eat it as dinner as we both landed Hainan pretty late and we did kill that noodle.

Prior to her boarding from Jakarta, as this Hainan was a cheap tour and Hainan did a crazy promotion to Indonesian therefore its not only people from Jakarta that knew it but also from another city like Semarang, Bandung and so on. And one of my cousin get married with a guy from Semarang and turns out his parents also went to Hainan! the same trip as my mom, but different tour agent as they are from other city. At first while still in Jakarta’s airport, my mom didn’t really recognize them, my mom was recalling about who is this familiar face but didn’t really 100% sure that it was the parents of my cousin’s husband, until the boarding time then she remembered who are they.

They sat on the same airlines but different rows, my mom was sitting with someone else from the same tour but mostly at first she was alone because she didn’t know anyone. While this aunt and uncle (yes we can’t call by names in Indonesia it’s consider impolite) sat quiet in front, so my mom could see them. And during this flight this couple was “ngebala” (Idk how to translate that to english but this words only use if you have too much snacks and the rubbish are everywhere). And my first reaction was “oh poor the flight attendants because they need to clean it” but turns out it’s not like they’re throwing the rubbish everywhere but my mom just use this words to describe that they have many snacks and eat many snacks during the flight! haha. From behind, my mom could see that this auntie gave varieties of snacks to the other passengers on their group, and my mom said “I was sitting on behind and drooling to see that they have many snacks” hahaha! I was laughing so hard when I knew that turns out my mom wants to eat their snacks also, and I said to my mom “had you knew they have many snacks, you would have say hi to them at the first place, instead of making sure of who these persons are” hahaha

Moving on to the next day, the breakfast at the first hotel wasn’t so great, and we have to got up early but the night before my mom’s flight got delayed for 2 hours and then she got stuck at the immigration for 1 hour and the flight from Jakarta to Hainan was 5 hours so it was a lloonnnnggg “flight” for her, that’s why we got up late, and we only had breakfast very little. My mom went to the bus first, and then when I arrived, I found that she’s eating my Pocky! hahaha! I was like “mom, didn’t you say that this Pocky is for me?” and she said “hihihi I’m hungry, but there is still half of the Pocky for you” and I ate the other half 🙂

Is it just me or do you also feel that your mom know everything? Like for example when you were a kid and you were looking for a pair of socks, and your mom said it’s in the drawer and you looked for it more than 3 times and you couldn’t find it and you came to your mom and she came with you to the drawer and then find it within a second? That’s my mom, she knows everything, including the time in Hainan when she knew it already that I will have 1 clothes less, I didn’t realize it until the fourth day that I don’t have any clothes to wear again! As the weather was hot there, and I can’t wear the same clothes twice, and she said “I have another spare clothes for you” and I was really against her to wear it, but I don’t have any other options and my mom insisted me to wear those. And she dressed me up as Luigi!

I said to my mom that I will looks like Mario Bross’ cousins but she couldn’t remember Luigi, she said “No, Mario bross is wearing jeans and red clothes, you’re wearing jeans and green” and I said “Yes! That’s Luigi!” and I will have to search for Luigi pictures and ask her to see that but in the end I still wear that clothes… pfff…. I just need to wear the hats and I become Luigi……tsk tsk tsk

And then here’s come the times where I will have to say goodbye to her, due to my flight was domestic because I’m flying back here to Shanghai and her flight was international as she was going back home. I thought that I will have to hop off from the buss to the domestic terminal but then I hop off to international terminal and walked to the domestic. During the time that we still on the bus my mom asked me “So, you will hop off first, will you turn around and say bye bye to me?” I was like “Of course I will, and it’s only 3 weeks before we meet again at home”. We both got off at the international terminal but then as I walked to the domestic terminal I kept turn around to see her until the point where the trees was too much too block our view.

Owh Mother, please don’t worry, I am super OK here and I hope you’ll be fine there too… Lots of love from me!