It must have been about 5 o'clock in the evening by the time we arrived at Ibuk Ati's house. We didn't call to let her know we were on the way. In Indonesia, no one really bothers to call or leave a message; you just show up at the door and hope whoever you're wanting to see is home. May be a waste of time if it doesn't work out, but that's just the way of life in Indonesia. Fortunately for us, it only took one loud knock on the front door while my mom called out, "Ati! Ati! Ini Kak Nurul dengan anak-anak" ("Ati, Ati, this is your older sister, Nurul, with her kids.") before Ibuk Ati and her husband, Om Ir, appeared at the door. They were very happy to see us. Though she mentioned she and her family came by our hotel three times today to no avail. Yeah, we've been gone ALL day since 9 AM. You might be wondering, why didn't she just call us? Unfortunately, we forgot to give out our international cell phone number to her last night. We just didn't think it was necessary at the time. Anyway, no big deal. Here we stood reunited, and everyone went inside to catch up, eat some more, and celebrate the holiday.
No sooner had we stepped over the threshold than Zaskia, the adorable and very spoiled baby of the family, came out running to greet us. She is the
cutest three-and-a-half-year-old ever! And feisty too.
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| Zaskia, Ibuk Ati's youngest daughter |
My mom and I met her for the first time just the night before. The girl didn't say much, but she wasn't shy. She was very smart, and very active -- she couldn't keep still for three minutes -- and she loved her toys and clothes. She kept changing into one dress after another, and bringing out all these different toys she had. We all couldn't help but think this little girl was showing off her possessions. It was funny.
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| We finally got her to sit still for a whole minute to do her hair, whose result she did not approve of. |
We all sat on the cool, tiled floor to enjoy some more snacks and catch up with one another. I don't remember now what we talked about exactly, but I'm pretty sure we talked about everything and anything. I believe most of our conversations revolved around Zaskia. My sisters and I couldn't keep our eyes and hands off her. But it was almost impossible to hold or carry her. The girl was independent and liked to roam free. Who could blame her? She must be so sick of people pinching her cheeks and trying to carry her everywhere. And did I say how smart she was? Rhevy, Ibuk Ati's eldest daughter and my cousin who unfortunately couldn't make it home for the holidays due to work, had taught Zaskia many English words like 'cat,' 'dog,' 'elephant,' 'bird,' and the colors of the rainbow. Her mother would say the Indonesian words, and Zaskia would translate them into English. She got every single word right and without hesitation. We were impressed.
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| From left to right: Om Ir (Ibuk Ati's husband), Okky (their son), Ibuk Ani, Gigi (my sister), Ibuk Ati with Zaskia, Sandra & Dinda (Zaskia's sisters), and Sahara (my sister) |
About an hour into our visit, Ibuk Ani, my mom's third sister (FYI: my mom is the eldest of 12 children -- 9 girls, 3 boys) came by to visit with her eldest son and his girlfriend. My mom and I had seen Ibuk Ani and her family sans her eldest son, Dennis, last night. It was nice, however, that they came by to see Sahara and Gigi. The more family members the merrier, right?
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| Me with Ibuk Ani, my aunt, and her eldest son, Dennis, and his girlfriend Neneng of four years |
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| Gigi and Sahara with our cousins, Okky and Sandra |
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| Group photo with Ibuk Ati's family. The only person missing is her eldest daughter, Rhevy. :( |
And again, once that camera was out of the bag, it was photo after photo non-stop. And this was just on my camera. We had another round of photos with phone cameras too. Indonesians sure love photos.
After many hours of chit chat, we finally decided it was time to call it a day and return to our hotel. Om Ir was nice enough to offer us a ride home where we invited them up and ... more photo-taking continued ...
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| In our hotel bedroom -- uh oh, where's Zaskia? |
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| OK, there she is. Everyone looked OK except Om Ir wasn't looking towards me, and my mom was looking away. Darn! |
Ibuk Ati and her family then left. That was fun, but it had been a long day and we all needed a shower. And of course, just when I was about to hop into the shower, another cousin of ours from my mom's second sister, showed up. Apparently, unbeknownst to my sisters and me, Ibuk Ani had talked to my mom about her coming by our hotel to visit with all her children and that Ibuk Ida, my mom's second sister, and her family were also going to visit. I had to put off my shower and greet my two aunts and all my cousins and their girlfriends. It was now 10 PM and we had to squeeze all 14 people into our small living room. With a little adjustment it all worked out perfectly. Remember all that fruit that was swarming with ants? Well, we still had them (all washed, of course) on the table for our guests to enjoy. By the night's end, there was nothing left on the table but the fruit's skin.
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| My Indonesian family with cousins from both my mom's sisters on the right |
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| Sahara and Gigi with Ibuk Ida's kids, our cousins, Andy, Eva, and Fitri |
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| Me with Ibuk Ani's youngest child, Lara (left) and her son's two girlfriends, Sandra & Neneng |
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| Me with Ibuk Ani's kids, Wahyu (left), Dennis, and Lara |
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| My mom (center) with her sisters, Ani (left) and Ida (right) |
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| Me with my aunt, her daughter, Lara, and her future daughters-in-law, Sandra & Neneng. I don't remember what I was laughing about -- probably the number of times we had to get this photo taken. |
It was incredible to see everyone that night. We all sat in a big
circle and asked questions of one another. After all, it had been 10
very long years since we all last saw each another. Everyone was all
grown up, yet looked the same. Though my family and I were all so
incredibly tired (remember, we've been on since 9 AM), it was so much
fun talking, laughing, reminiscing, and of course, snapping more
pictures. The room was like one huge photo-booth. It felt like the night was going to last forever, and deep
down inside I wanted it to. Things like this don't come around very
often, and life is far too short. Why not savor the moment. But with all good things, everything must come to an end, and it did. Shortly after midnight, everyone got up to leave and we all said our good-byes and wished them a safe trip home in the rain. What a day it had been. What a very special way to celebrate the end of Ramadan. I will forever cherish these memories.
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