Epilogue: Sampai bertemu lagi

If you were my high school classmate, you'd remember this: "Selamat pagi, nona-nona yang manis. Silah kan duduk." I suppose you can pick up a good number of grammar rules of Malay from those two sentences alone. And I'm glad I listened to 45 episodes of the Learning Indonesian podcast, though I remembered little. The look on the face of W when I was able to count from one to six in Bahasa was priceless.

My handbag, my luggage for four days (my high school bag), and the orange bag for everything I picked up in Jakarta. Traveling light is one of the most valuable lessons I learned from Erasmus Mundus!

a sign at the airport toilet

Back at the airport, we spent the longest time thinking about what to do with our rupiah. V and I were able to get the last two dollar bills the money changer had in hand.

The seven gates of the airport are not enough for all the passengers waiting for their flights. We had to sit on the floor because we were not allowed into the gate until the previous flight had fully boarded.

On the plane, the middle-aged foreigner beside me refused to eat his food and offered me his Kitkat, which I accepted. We touched down before 6am. The pink sky reminded me of what D said about the sky in the Philippines. The colors are unlike anything she had seen in Hawaii, where she grew up.

I am officially loving dots

When I took this photo of an Indonesian mask in September, I didn't expect that I'd see many more so soon. If I come back to Indonesia, I would like to see Bali, Prambanan and Borobudur. For now, I'll just have some PICNIC Dodol Garut, as delicacy made of sticky rice, coconut and cocoa powder.

So long, Jakarta.