100 Days of Happiness – Day 80

I planned to have a quick walk up the street this morning to go in search of bread as I woke up absolutely famished! As usual I left the house with Samudra on my hip and the camera slung over my shoulder, and we headed straight for the main road as I had no idea where to get bread at crazy-early-o’clock in the morning. We had made it no further than 5 minutes away from the house, up near the park, when I heard a ladies voice calling out ‘Samudra! Shasha! sini!!’ and I turned to find a lady that lives near by, jogging, with her friend and family riding their bikes behind her, all waving us over. I cannot for the life of me remember this ladies name, but she is so loud and always so happy to see Samudra that she starts singing loudly and makes him laugh hysterically at her enthusiasm.

We ended up standing around basa basi (chit chatting) for ages and then at her insistence had to follow the same lady to the other side of the park so her son’s could say hello to Samudra.  It was actually really lovely as the boys played peek-a-boo from behind a tall tree and we watched her son try riding a bike for the first time. He was so cute but quickly decided to cry and say he had ants crawling all up his legs so he didn’t want to ride anymore.. there was no ants on further inspection but I think his nerves got the better of him.  By now my stomach was grumbling so I made our exit and decided to head through some back streets to Circle K and just buy anything to eat as I was so hungry. Along the way we stopped to say hello as a grandma proudly showed off her 3 day old grandson Ryan to us.  He was absolutely adorable kicking his legs around in his pram out the front of their modest little home, but I wondered if he was too hot as I was dripping in sweat in the heat (as usual!) and he was in the direct sunshine.  I guess he was absolutely fine and I was just being a ridiculous bule, used to sitting inside air conditioned rooms all day to cope with the heat, while many around us don’t have such a luxury. I must remember to print out a photo for his proud grandma.

Today was also a super special day as it was Aunty Putri’s birthday! So after a quick rest after Samudra and I finally returned from our entertaining walk, we headed into Citos to Imperial Kitchen to have a celebratory lunch for Putri.  The vegetarian egg noodles were delicious but Putra almost had a heart attack to find that the listed vegetarian vegetable and chive dumplings were also filled with chicken! Indonesia has a weird idea of what it means to be vegetarian and what is considered to be meat and what is not. It does make me laugh as you never quite know what you will end up with.  Asking for no meat in your fried rice means that you may still end up with slices of sausage or chicken or bits of fish in your dishes, or loads of oyster sauce, no matter how many times you request there be no meat, chicken or fish.. that’s why I stick to tofu and tempe for almost every meal!

So Happiest Birthday wishes to beautiful Putri and we are so proud of her as she will soon be heading to walk the Camino trail alone from France to Spain. It is very rare from my experience to meet an Indonesian female that would either want to walk alone, or whose family would allow their daughter to take a trip alone, so I am blessed to know such a strong female and be part of such an open minded Indonesian family.

I hope you had a beautiful day too wherever in the world you are.

Day 80: Making new friends at the park. Happiness.

Day 80: Playing peek-a-boo. Happiness.

Day 80: Ready to surprise Samudra. Happiness.

Day 80: Morning love from some ‘big brothers’ in the complex. Happiness.

Day 80: Abdul’s first attempt ever at riding a bike. Happiness.

Day 80: Meeting three day old Ryan. Happiness.

Day 80: Happy Birthday Beautiful Putri! Happiness.

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