So much to do, so little time.

 

My journey back to Indonesia is truly on now. I’m standing here at the free Internet terminal at the Sydney International airport that is so painfully slow. Never mind – it’s free. 🙂 I finally made it without any major issues, even though I had to leave the house still not as clean as I wanted for a friend for church who would keep an eye on my house while I’m in Indonesia.

The last few days have been like a major blur for me – so many things to accomplish, so little time. Work has been hectic as well with projects needing to have a logical closure prior to the Christmas break. On top of that, the house needed to be tidied up, things needed to be bought and packed, fishtank needed to be cleaned. I was as frantic as a one-legged man in an arse-kicking contest! You should’ve seen me on Saturday – I was like Lola in Run, Lola Run, trying to beat time as I raced to the post office to send a package overseas.

I had to battle amongst the Christmas shoppers in Rundle Mall – as I work in woopwoop, well, Marden, a northeastern suburb of Adelaide, I hadn’t really had any Christmas experience similar to the previous years. In years past, I would walk through Rundle Mall and smiled when I first heard a Christmas carol. This year, I only experienced it, all within three days – shopping and running and frantically calling my sisters, confirming what they wanted me to buy. I had no time to stand still and breathe!

After church on Sunday, I stayed around with my friends as I really didn’t want to be totally antisocial prior to my long holiday. I headed home afterwards, did a batch of laundry, cleaned the fishtank, changed the bedsheet, swept the bedroom, washed the dishes, packed, and so forth, and so forth.

I slept only for about 3.5 hours last night as I wanted to cram in as much as I could before I was due to leave to the airport. My flight was at 8am in the morning so I had to be ready by 6am pretty much. There was a minor scare as I couldn’t find my Citicard (Citibank ATM card), which would be the only access that I have to my fund. My Adelaide Bank ATM card cannot be used overseas so I really need my Citicard if I don’t want to use my credit card constantly. At the last minute, after a few desperate prayers, I found it in the middle of my pile of papers and stuff in my study room! Phew!!! That saves me a trip to the local Citibank branch in Jakarta, and seeing whether they could help me at all as my account is with Citibank Australia.

So I’m now looking like a panda, no doubt with humongous bags under my eyes, and needing some desperate sleep. I still need to send an email to my friend who will be house-sitting as well, just to give him some instructions on what to do. This trip will be a life changing experience, as I will return from Indonesia a married man. I still haven’t got enough leisure time to properly contemplate the impact of my decision, but I’m sure everything is fine. From time to time, I still have a sense of loss of the things that I would have to let go once I get married, such as my independence, my emotional “enclosure”, among other things. I’m sure I will gain a lot more, however – I just need to have faith.