Au Revoir, Mbak Ina!

I've known her for years, we attended the same university back in Indonesia, the same faculty but different departement. She was two years of my senior so we never made any contact at the university, but I shared a flat with some of her classmates so yes, her name and her face were familiar to me. She has a lovely petite figure, which made it easy to recognise her :)
I knew she went abroad for her master degree (later I learned that she went to Netherland), through friendster (without being her contact) I knew she married  a French man and moved to France, has a cute little boy...

When I moved to Jordan, a friend told me that Ina is currently reside in Amman too. We made contact through facebook, she called me at the hotel and we met up in PAUL cafe at the City Mall.

We clicked straightaway, we did not meet that often but tried to catch up whenever we can, spent some times with the kids, Indonesian women gathering, watched late night movies at the cinemas after her kids went to bed (while mine were still running around the house but poor husband of mine happily agreed to be with the kids while I was having ladies night out), and lots of shopping trips to flea market, downtown, outlets, shopping centers...

And the kids are so get on well together!

Our kids at The Children Museum of Jordan

As long as I can recall, its only with Nicolas that Dilara has never get any argument with, never cried when they were together, never told me Nicolas did this did that. For them only laughter laughter and laughter even when they had nothing to do or to say, even small thing could make both of them burst in to laugh :) Even when they don't know the words, because both of them speak little Indonesian, Dilara know nothing of French, Nicolas neither of Turkish, but thank God Nicolas knows little English (Nicolas attended French school but he took a private english lesson). So its a mix of everything but who needs a same language when you are kids and you have a big lovely heart, right?

I just love to hear Nicolas calling DilaRa with his strong R French accent :)

Ali and Raphael are about the same age and because of their multilingual nature they haven't spoken much. But they always find a way to play together :)

So its a great loss to me when it is time for Mbak Ina to leave after 4 years living in Amman. we are together in this city only for less than a year! I found this lovely pattern that I made for her during Themealicious Obligation October.

It is a very simple and small project so I wanted to turn it into something special and useful. So I took it to a random frame shop that I found on the way to downtown and when I saw him has an example of a box, I asked him if he could make a box for me too. I gave him the description, we agreed on a price and he said he would call me in a week to collect it. One week passed he didn't call. Closer to 2 weeks, I called him. He reasoned that he'd been sick so he hadn't made it yet but it would be ready in 3 days. I said no worries I called you in 3 days. I called to pick it up he said come in 2 days, I couldnt go on that day so I called again can I get it tomorrow, he said come in 3 days... and on and on and on until more than 1 month after I took it there! I was getting cranky so finally we agreed on time and date and... it was a disaster! The box was rough, uneven, and the worst of all didn't show my full work! The framed picture was not straight, the name Le Duguey was almost cut at the top, the bottom was also cut (Ina and Manu name were almost cut and Nicolas and Raphael name were nowhere to be seen!). The left side was also cut, where the word LA should be you can only see A. My goodness! He claimed that he didn't cut it off only folded it and promised to fix it in 3 days but I was so disappointed, can't think straight because my husband was in hurry to catch a plane to Aussie... I gave him another chance but on the way back and also at home I couldnt help but crying! I really don't know what to do because I have no time to go to another shop or stitch another one!

After a lot of hassle finding the taxi, describing the way, got lost, tried to call him etc etc etc... to my relieve he made a better job this time. Not as perfect as I wanted in the beginning but this time its acceptable. 

Two days after that when I held a gathering in my house for some Indonesian ladies (I cooked delicious Indonesian chicken porridge, perfect for cold winter weather, yumm) , I proudly presented it to her :

When being asked what is she going to put in the box, she said she wanted to use it as a JOY Box instead of a Joy Jar as adopted from this idea:

Little minx

loving this for next year - The Joy Jar. Put the good things that happen all year in - and take them out at New Years just to remind yourself of all the good things that happen to your famly every year. (from facebook)

Au revoir Mbak Ina... Selamat jalan dan selamat pindahan to your 'La Maison Du Bonheur'. I don't  want to think how Amman would be for me without her anymore... I do still have some other good friends but still it is sad when one of your good friends is leaving. I told Dilara that maybe we can meet up with Nicolas in Indonesia and I like to think that at least if one day I finally have a chance to go to France I have something else to look forward to (beside Eiffel and Louvre): to visit Mbak Ina in her quiet village :) 

Next Monday we will have a send off party with Indonesian ladies in her apartment, we planned to go to watch late night movie again for the last time on Tuesday. We want to watch the Hobbit... I so look forward for seeing the Middle Earth again but some of my friends told me I'll probably be homesick for NZ afterwards... and watching it with Ina who is leaving soon, maybe it will be a bitter sweet one?

She will go on Friday, the same time with our flight to Turkey but we are going with Turkish Airlines while she and her family are going with Royal Jordanian Air. I am afraid we will be in different terminals even though it would be nice to catch up at the airport for the last time...

PS: 'Mbak' means big sister. In Indonesia it is impolite to call someone who is older than you (or maybe younger/same age but you respected her for some reasons) by name only. It is Javanese word but commonly used in Indonesia in general. 

***** many thanks, terima kasih, sağol, شُكْرًا