I am Truly Grateful

Everyone has a story. A story that makes them who they are today. This is mine…

I was raised in a small city, where everyone knows one another’s families. And if you do something disgraceful, we all will notice and talk about it. There’s definitely a lot of social pressure to keep your nose clean, as everybody knew your family and will talk about it. Once one person finds out, the rest of the town will know within minutes. But that’s part of the community. And this is too why, I guess, the bullied kids will forever be bullied until they get themselves out of the town, and change. A lot of my friends did changed after attending university in another town. They even have a lot of new good friends now – which is good for me. 

Small city is indeed interesting. There are no traffic jam. No crazy smog. No annoying people acting like they are the richest in town. And the best thing is, it only takes 7 minutes drive from my home to school – I count it everyday! Well, almost everyday. And 10 to 15 minutes max back home.

The act of killing and robbery is almost unheard. And I feel safe for that.

However, there’s not much to do when you’re on holiday. No fancy restaurant. Even there are no McDonald. And the only place where kids can spend their amusing Sunday time back then was Timezone, a game arena.

I was so lucky that my parents took me away on holiday. We visited our grandpa & grandma a lot (They live in Jakarta). And we did spend New Year’s Eve playing fireworks and grilling corn. Looking back, I know exactly that my love of travelling grows ever since I was a kid. And my mom’s the one who spread the seed. 

I still remember my first time visiting Sea World at Ancol, Jakarta. I was too excited back then. I even revisit it on my next holiday.

I don’t know if you remember your childhood or not – but I do remember it clearly. My mom’s impressed every time I recall something. She said it was such a long time ago and even she has a blur memory about it. I don’t know… I guess kids will forever remember their best times.

A year later on Christmas, my mom bought me to a mall and let me ride the train several times. I was also too excited. See how mean my face was? I was the only one who rides the train though.

My mom also took me to Dufan. It was the only theme park in Indonesia back then. And it’s like the place every kids are dreaming of going.

My sister and I often wears a matching dress back then. Even when a new family member joined us, my second sister, we still wears a matching dress – the three of us!

My very first overseas trip was to Singapore. It was in Chinese New Year season so they decorated the country with some Chinese ornaments. I was amazed of how the situations in another country differs from my hometown. Everybody walks so fast. And for kid like me, they walk really… really fast. And the road is also very clean and well organized. And the amount of cars there are just as little as the amount of bicycle at my country. It’s totally different! I know that I shouldn’t litter as I’ll get fine for $50 and hell yeah I couldn’t afford that. These memories are…. priceless.

My mom took us to Singapore again years later. This time, with my second sister. My first sister who used to wear a matching dress with me betrayed me that time. We went to Singapore Zoo. This was probably the third zoo I visited. The first one was a small local zoo in my hometown, and the second one was Taman Safari in Cisarua, Bogor.

We spent another Christmas in Lembang. It was sooo freezing back then. And it took 8 hours drive from Jakarta to reach Lembang. The hot water pool at the hotel was really worth it! And I was amazed that there’s actually a place as cold as this in Indonesia. And the pain of sitting for 8 hours were paid off.

I do remember how I get really annoyed when my mom don’t allow me to ride a bicycle outside my house. Or when my mom don’t allow me to ride a car myself when I was 19. I often have this stupid mean thought that I didn’t have a happy childhood. But looking back, I was totally wrong. And I feel so bad for myself. I was too selfish, and ungrateful. I had a lot of precious family time I can’t never forget. I have the love of travelling grows inside me. And the best thing is, I have the best family I can’t compare with others. I can’t ask for a better life. Yes, I am grateful 🙂