Day 16: 26th March 2006…Last day
Finally the day had dawned. Most of us didn’t sleep much (or at all)…busy packing..drinking Bintang..etc. Me? I was feeling very very sick (and sad, of course). The helpers were very nice. They cooked for us noodles at 2-3 in the morning. Our last meal from them. In the wee hours of the morning, I went around taking photos of the hostel, our doors, the pantry, the toilets…* sniff *
At about 0530hrs, we were all ready and Pak Budi, Ibu Peggy, Pak Guido, Pak Theo and Pak Lief finally came to pick us up. Ibu Peggy handed all of us a gift each (a batik sarong, a decorative sasando (musical instrument) and a scarf) and one by one, we started sniffing. I was made to give a thank you speech to the helpers. Once we all gathered, I started my opening words…and then, I couldn’t continue. I was crying already.
(translated)
“We just want to say a very big thank you to all of you. Thank you for taking care of us all *sniff* this while. *sniffsniff* We are very grateful..Marinah, please take over. I cannot take it anymore.”
Then I hid behind someone and started sobbing, Tsk tsk tsk. We were all then ushered to the cars and I was in the cruiser driven by, who else, Pak Lief…still sobbing. The helpers all stood at the side, waving and tearing…gah..couldn’t take it anymore.
At the airport, it was more dam-bursting episodes. Ibu Peggy hugged all of us goodbye and well..nuff said. Very soon…it was goodbye Kupang. Goodbye Timor.
We were off to Surabaya and then at noon, we reached Jakarta.
Hung around at Soekarno Hatta for a while and with the Jakarta sunset, we set off for home.
2030hrs and well, it was TOUCH DOWN. While some of them were happily shopping at Duty Free, I stood there trying to make sense of it all. I was home. My Timor trip was over.
We walked out and there we saw…the people from the e-rotaract club. I saw Sha, the mother and the sister. I’m home.
With quick hugs and hurried goodbyes, it was all over too soon. See you around guys. Will miss your presence tomorrow when I wake up.
Now, I have to unpack all this mess.
I’m missing Timor and the guys already.
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