footprints of life

the cat…myth and reality…

are you familiar with the Javanese belief (at least the Javanese, that is the only thing i can state, maybe other cultures also believe in it, too…) that if your vehicle hits a cat, especially kills it, then you and your vehicle is doomed for bad luck? If you ARE familiar with this, let´s talk about something a little bit more "extreme"..

our "cute" Acehnese driver has a profound belief on cats and bad luck.  profound…i mean…profound…strong,deeply rooted and has never failed to come to surface whenever the opportunity permits…and somehow, he is living, and driving, in a wrong place, if he has this dread of cats. hm, maybe i was not being accurate when i said that he has this dread of cats…that´s so not true…what he hates, and fears, is the way they stroll calmly and gracefully right in front of car, since somehow, there are lotz and lotz of cats in Banda Aceh. i don´t know why, maybe because there is a lot of left-over fish that they could feed themselves with, good city for cat breeding ground, or i don´t know…but all these cute, plump cats and kittens seem to be everywhere…

each and every time a cat happens to stroll gracefully across the path in front of our car, he would hit the steering wheel and curse under his breath.  the first five times when it happened, i stopped and asked him why. and he went into lengthy explanation that what i was about to hear was not a myth, it is a proven formula for failure and disappointment…TO HAVE A CAT CROSSING YOUR PATH ON THE WAY SOMEWHERE…

whenever it happens, he would say "Sh*t, i will not meet the person i want to meet today, so will you…" Hah? since he drives me to work in the morning, that is not exactly the prophecy i would like to hear at the beginning of my day. and sometimes he would even relate to some stories he told me earlier during the week, like for example, "Do you remember when i told you about this girl (blind date - note) two days ago? that i planned to see and did not manage to see? well, as i drove out, there was a cat crossing my path…see, it is proven. it is not a myth…"

i was just sitting there, calmly holding my smile back because i didn´t want to offend him.  for the first FIVE times. after that, i started smilling, and now, i simply burst into giggle or laughter…no offense meant, it is just amazing for me to see, that EACH and EVERY time it happens, he always reacts the same way. never for once he failed to react with such agitation. always this low S word, and the omen following it.

but…but…wait a moment, still according to him, the nice "Abang" who is actually younger than me…, that if two cats cross your path, then the bad luck is undone.  cool hmm? you know, there is always remedy for "almost" anything, including the bad-luck-carrier-cat…

i thought it would stop at that. no…no…no…

one day, driving out of the office compound, i saw a cat two meters ahead was getting ready to cross our path from our left side to our right side. i kept my smile checked, waiting for that usual swear and thump, and the familiar routine. oh yes, the S word, oh yes, he hit the steering wheel…but then, "Hm, i forgot what it really means. if a cat crosses our path from the left side to the right side, is it good luck or bad luck? or is it the other way around…?hmmmm…i just can´t remember it…"

WHAT?? not only the omen could be undone, the direction could actually revert the meaning of the omen…?? oh gosh, this ancient wisdom is simply too much to bear…

no offense. but i hope you understand why i think my brain is too small to accomodate such knowledge. and knowing that i don´t have ,yet, enough "knowledge" about these things…i will wait and see on more lessons that i can learn from sharing the car with our driver…

"oh Mak, kucing!!"  

Banda Aceh, June 29, 2007 

first, i don’t know what language will come over me as i am typing this story, so excuse me for my mixed and upside down style of writing…

you might remember that a couple of months ago I made a page on this blog related to my friend’s daughter.  an old friend of mine from my highschool years was blessed with a baby daughter, unfortunately, she had (well, still has…..) problems with her stomach.  so since she was 9 days old (imagine that..) she had gone through surgeries…

anyway, just two, or maybe three (?) days ago, my Skype button lighted up, and a familiar name popped up on the corner of my screen…and my partner asked me, "Hey there…Could you tell me the name of your friend’s daughter, again?" since my e-mail had just crashed…(oh yeah, just when I needed it…) and all the details were there, I had to rack my brain, and I typed, "Hm…maybe Mariana, or something like that..Why?"

he went on to tell me that he had just received an e-mail via a mailing list, from a German, in German, of course…sharing about a little girl by the name of Marina, with health problems.  the story was so close to the one I told him about my friend’s daughter that he was curious, "Could it be Marina?" "Hm, maybe."

I asked my partner to check with the German guy, with a set of names and details on my friend, and he said, "It is the same girl."

I checked with my friend via SMS, and yes, this German guy is a good friend of his. he even sent me my partner’s name via SMS and asked,"So you must have known…..? Who is he?" so I suppose his best friend was quite surprised to receive a mail from a German in Banda Aceh with his complete name and all….and checked with him.

imagine THAT.

this guy was a friend of mine, whom I met like hm….ten years ago…as we were waving goodbye to our school and boarding rooms to "explore the real world". did not really hear any news on him, until early this year, I guess it was March, when another friend wrote in the highschool mailing list that his daughter was about to go through a surgery. and then came his own recount of what had happened. then I contacted him. 

look at that.  old friend. highschool. 10 years. baby.

look at the chances that I happen to have a German partner.  look at the chances that this old-highschool-friend-of-mine has a German bestfriend.  look at the chances that this German guy and that German guy actually subscribe to the same mailing list that mainly focuses on Indonesia. look at the chances that Banda Aceh, Semarang, Germany, 10 years and the internet made the whole thing seems …hm…like a weird fairy tale…

just hoping, like any other fairy tales….that by the end of the story of epic journeys and connections and efforts and bravery….Little Princess Marina Gabriela lives happily ever after…with the Prince Charming (well, let’s face it, maybe not-always-so-charming…) waiting on her doorstep as she steps into adulthood.

prayers and support for my friend and his family…and I’m eager to see how the story unfolds.

buat yang penasaran (padahal ga perlu sebenarnya…hehe….) ini dia barang-barang yang ada dalam eksperimen macro photos…

now you will find the names of the things that might have seemed obvios, but then again…maybe not…

let’s start from the earliest photo i posted… 

the first two shots were actually the same object, alias setali tiga uang bo’…which is cheese cake with strawberry a’la Mandarin Oriental, Jakarta.  

the shot was so close that when i finished i found cake crumbs on the camera   alias ada yang nempel di kamera (untung ga di lensanya )

original posting:  click here 

 fruits on the rocks, bisa mengenali potongan, semangka, dkk kan?

original posting:  click here

fav shots: sendok-garpu dalam sisa kuah cap cay bersaus…sapa nyangka bisa begini hasilnya….

another fav shot: apa hayo….ada yang nebak sumpit bambu….tapi, meskipun sama-sama bambo…ini adalah tusuk gigi bambu alias bamboo toothpicks…(yang masih baru, tentu saja…tertata manis dalam wadah plastik ijo itu…. 

original posting:  click here  

opo yo iki?

 und was ist das?
 

more to guess….