Homecoming pt 2

h o m e c o m i n g
part 2
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ATTENTION!
Again, just to let you guys know that this post is slightly different from any other posts you'll find in this blog. It's rather writings-heavy. So if you're not really into long texts or can't stand of reading a great deal of writings, simply skip it and wait till I finish all the parts. But for those who are curious enough and will to read it, you are more than welcome to do so. Enjoy!

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I remembered when I reached my friend's car, Elda said. “I can't believe you're going home tonight.” or synonymously as saying “Man, I'm going to be alone for the next month ahead?” I exactly knew how she felt.

We always spend days together, watching dramas and movies, share the fun, cook in turns, and that night, she was going through some nights without me, cooking for herself and refraining all sharing stuff like we always do. But I kept convincing her. “You're going to have tons of fun here with your sister.” What I was saying was true though. Elda would be going through two lonesome nights before her sister came like the day after tomorrow after my departure.

Then I took off, thinking that particular day, I would be transitioning back from the kind-of-getting-adapted-already-with-America Carissa to my old version in Jakarta. I would refrain from doing stuff I had been doing here from those days on, only temporarily.

If here I would always cook by myself, do the chores, run errands by myself, I was excited with the feeling that later back home, I would have someone do the chores and cook for me. Everything back home would be completely the opposite. I would be able to lie down without thinking what to cook tonight, what chores I should run tonight, I would be able to hibernate under my blanket watching TV worrying about nothing. It felt good to finally taking a break after six months of independent life in the US. It was time for me to release my tension as an international student.

Maybe you'd say “Geez, the writer of this blog must be a snobbish and absolutely spoiled girl.” Well, it's up to you to think that way. Moving to the US is a life changing opportunity, and it definitely alters me to become more independent and trigger my courage to interact the community. But my inner lifestyle that I came to live in Indonesia would never be left out. Somehow the thought of having someone cook for me suddenly emerged when I was in the US for the past five months.

Sometimes I thought of accompanying my parents to go on grocery shopping without me worrying on what kinds of grocery to buy. I would just cling to my parents as they asked me every Sunday to come with them to this local supermarket Hero, see them crossing from one aisle to another, while I wandered off by myself to find things that would please me there.

After those five months, I also realized what else I missed. I missed those local nor cable TV shows. I thought local TV here would have the exact same channels airing the exact same shows as my country's cable TV would broadcast. But apparently, we know it wasn't the truth. I simply missed Doraemon aired on every Sunday at 8 am. I missed feeling anxious and excited on what box office movie or the upcoming movie a local TV channel would broadcast.

I missed going to the bookstore and kill time by reading a dozen of comics without being shoved away by the shop employees. I missed going to arcades as there is none here, as far as I could see. I missed mall-hopping as there is only one here. I missed the ridiculously cheap movie tickets that would cost approximately $1.50 the cheapest (here is like $10, especially in the weekend). I missed buying loads of Korean drama and music DVDs and movie DVDs. I even missed the glorious anthem of parking watcher's whistles heard from every corner of the city.

Anyway, as the car rolled down the 280 highway heading to San Francisco, I glanced through the window looking to the car lights that passed by. I went home that night. In just a matter of hours, I would get my old life back. My mind was setting up a party, celebrating my freedom. There were four of us in my friend's car: Lavinia, Sherly, Sherly's sister, and me. Lavinia was in charge of driving. She was also the one that had a flight back to Indonesia that same night. Sherly and her sister just took Lavinia and I to the airport and that was just the sweetest thing. I had quite a talk with Sherly's sister who happened to sit in the back seat beside me. She majored in jewelery design.

Later on, after a while, the car exited the highway and started entering a moderately crowded area with roads going up-and-down. I thought that at once, we were already at San Francisco. After going through a slight jam, the car turned to an isolated yet dark area of the city. Frankly speaking, I was a bit crept out, but then my heart felt at ease as I saw a small but very bright restaurant stood at the corner of the road.

There were lots of car parking, and Lavinia and Sherly had convinced me that the restaurant there had such delicious food that I should try. Apparently another car arrived and Sherly told me that it was another Indonesian student that was going home that night. Apparently Lavinia and Lia – that Indonesian student – had the same flight that they managed to meet up for dinner before going to the airport.

t o b e c o n t i n u e d . . .