Xmas in JK – part 2 (LONG POST)...

I’ve been a little too busy to Blog the last few days. I’ll try and catch up now.

Monday:

Yhantie had to work, so I stayed in the Hotel and did some work on my project. Note: This was the day they started filming the movie outside our room.

Yhantie came home early and we had a great evening together that for an appetiser included a long conversation about religion (Yhantie is Muslim – I’m not any religion). For main course some excellent Chinese/Japanese food. And for Desert we shopped for pirate DVDs.

I have to say - it was great to have an intelligent conversation about faith with Yhantie. See – in Indonesia only people of the same faith can marry. So, if Yhantie and me want to ‘tie the knot’, I would have to become Muslim (on paper at least).

It’s something she’s worried about for a while, but I think after we talked - everything will be okay. Basically – like anything I don’t know much about – I’m going to research the faith. There are no promises to convert and there is no pressure from Yhantie to become a practicing Muslim. I simply feel that I should know more about something that means so much to the woman I love.

Her faith is spiritual and personal and she would never expect me to do anything I don’t feel comfortable with. It’s what works for her and she feels a great deal of comfort from her religion. I respect that as I respect the faith of everyone.

I consider myself a spiritual person. I believe in being kind to people, strive to be a good person, and often question what kind of impact I am having on the world. The only difference between Yhantie and me is that I don’t believe in the existence of God.

Normally I avoid all conversation about religion because people with faith often close their mind to other people’s ideas and concepts. Never once did we argue – we simply listened to each other’s feelings about faith and readily accepted then. There is A LOT of common ground between how we feel spiritually. Muslim or not.

After that - we went to go get some food.

The hotel is in a great location. So many great places to eat are close by. The first night I was there we went to an amazing Indonesian Restaurant, but I forgot my camera so you’re just gonna have to believe me.

This night we decided on an open-air Dim Sum house.

Yhantie had Chicken Feet...



...which is something I’m not quite ready to try at the moment :)

I had BENTOOOO (I’m so predicatble)...



and we shared some dumplings and squid...





The food in Indonesia is amazing. I haven’t had a bad meal. But – I’m sure I have put on lots of weight while I have been here. I think in the New Year it’s gonna be salad and fish for awhile.

Half way through the meal there was a power cut – which made the whole evening even more romantic. However, later photographic proof shows this was really a diversion tactic for an invasion of the Earth by evil light monsters form Kappa-Fila-Nike.



After dinner we headed to the DVD stores that were at the back of the Restaurant. I’m not going to get into the whole debate about the ethics of pirate DVD/Music/Games etc. It just happens to be part of the Indonesian culture – and to be honest, the cost of living is so low in Indonesia that only a few people could really afford to pay legitimate prices for this kind of entertainment.

I bought a few movies and we headed back to the Hotel and watched ‘Chicken Little’ till about 2pm.



I don’t think I’ve ever had a more perfect evening.

Tuesday:

Yhantie wasn’t feeling too good so we didn’t do much. Ate some Korean and hung out in the Hotel.

Wednesday:

Yhantie had to work so we had breakfast and I headed over to the Mall next to her office to do some work so I sat in Starbucks and did the same.

The malls in Jakarta are a nice mix of Western and Eastern. There are lots and lots of clothes shops and department stores and hairdressers.

There are also lots of familiar faces. Marks and Spencer, Boots, Body Shop, etc.

There is a lot of poverty in Indonesia and it sometimes made me feel uncomfortable seeing the contrast between the people who live in box houses under the freeway and the people shopping for Gucci. However, this incredibly wide gap between the ‘haves’ and the ‘have nots’ makes Jakarta the wonderfully organic city it is.

I’m still in awe that I never saw a single road accident, yet the driving and traffic in Jakarta needs to be seen to be believed. Maybe there is a God after all.

Anyway – so I spent most of the afternoon in Starbucks, planning to do some work – but when my mouse failed me (need a mouse for SketchUp) I decided to do some music instead. I’ll post it later.

Yhantie joined me later in the afternoon and I told her about a conversation I overheard while I was getting a coffee. Some Australians had been talking about PlayStations and how they were already modified to run import/pirated games.

My PS2 is failing me. The DVD drive is going (when will Sony ship a good drive with a console) and I’ve wanted to get something that would play import games for a while.

It hadn’t really struck me that 90% of the games in Jakarta were pirated. It was only when I was in a Toy Store and they were selling 120 GBA games on one ROM and ‘The Sims 2’ for about $1. Everything else in the store was legit – just the games were copies.

Actually – the only original games you can buy are for the Nintendo DS and the PSP. I guess cos they are not so easy to pirate (well – okay… I know they are but hey, lets pretend).

So, Yhantie and me went to go seek out a PS2. And here’s what I got:

1 PS2 – with Mod Chip
1 Official Sony Memory Card
2 Unofficial controllers (which are a bit poop)
15 Games (yes – pirated)

Total cost? About $200 US. I only need the main PS2 body and it’s so small it’ll easily fit in my hand luggage. Oh – and no… I’m not bringing you one back with me next time!!!



After the uber-geeky purchase we went and ate. This time – Indonesian.

It’s tradition to bring LOTS AND LOTS of dishes to the table and you just share and eat what you want. This is what a meal for 2 looked like.



Amazing. Yhantie spared me from trying the Brain and Cows feet (I think that’s what they were). A lesser woman wouldn’t have told me what they were and let me eat them. True love protects you from strange foods :)

After dinner we headed back to the hotel and tried out the PS2.

Did I mention that Yhantie is a professional Ninja? You seen hat scar on the top of her chest? That’s a scare from a Katana. She has one on her back too.

Seems professional Ninja training extends to PS2 fighting games too. She kicked my ass 7-0 at ‘Soul Calibur III’ and 10-1 on ‘Tekken 5’ (and I think she let me have that round). Now – I’m meant to be pretty good at fighting games. I beat on of the guys from Namco at Tekken 4 when I was working on ‘Orchid’. Yhantie is an amazing girl with super Ninja powers. The world is safe in her hands.



Defeated and humiliated – I decided to put on ‘Katamari’ and roll around collecting Earth junk into the wee-small-hours before bedtime.

Thursday:

Yhanie had to work a little. I had to sleep a little. I woke up to help Hanny with the MP3 player she got from her BF for Xmas. Yhantie turned up a little later and proceeded to kick some more ass at Soul Calibur III.

I’d promised to cook – and this was our last full day together, so I went across the road to the super market to buy ingredients to make Sushi. I haven’t made Sushi for over a year and I was worried I was out of practice. But it’s one of those foods that’s fun to make and even better to eat – so I took a risk.

I started boiling rice. Yhantie started a two-player game of Sim 2 and ended up playing both characters!!!

After making sure I could still roll Maki, I introduced Yhantie to the art of Sushi rolling, and for her first attempt she did really well.




Of course – I made too much. I think it is impossible to make a small amount of Sushi.




We decided to store it and give it to Yhantie’s housemates.

We ate – and talked late into the night. Neither of us wanted to sleep since I was heading back to the UK on Friday.

Friday:

Woke up late (yes – we did fall asleep) and had breakfast, packed the room and headed out of the Hotel about 1:30pm.

Call me sentimental and stupid, or just in love – but that Hotel room felt like home. It felt like mine and Yhantie’s apartment. It really felt like THIS WAS MY LIFE and I was so happy! It was very sad to say goodbye to the room. I knew it was going to be even harder to leave Yhantie and get on my plane.

We got the Airport really early and sat down at ‘Hoka Hoka Bento’ and talked until it was time to check in and catch my plane.

I don’t know what life is going to be like when I get home. I’m going to miss Yhantie SO MUCH. I don’t normally talk about my personal life on this Blog because, to be honest, it’s been a bit of a disaster.

Like that trip to Chicago last month. That was one of my personal life disasters and I didn’t Blog it. But through all these disasters I have to think one thing. If none of these attempted relationships (and folks – I’ll be honest, there was exactly that many of these attempted relationships) I would never have me Yhantie.

There is hope for everyone and I hope that if you’re reading this and feeling lonely – our story will bring you some hope.

My Sister once asked my Grandfather why he married my Grandmother and he answered, “Because I couldn’t afford a bike.”

He couldn’t leave the village he lived in, so he married someone who lived in the same village.

I’m lucky enough to be able to afford a bike, and a plane ticket. The world is my village and I have searched the world to find the one person who makes me complete. I found her.



There is hope for everyone.

Nic.

posted by Nic @ 2:35 PM 2 comments