1. Coffee. My one, amazingly tampered espresso shot with perfectly done frothed milk, complete with beautiful latte art and to-die-for freshly roasted coffee beans aroma. Oh, what would I give to have you right now…
2. Library. Free books in exchange with your member card is heaven. You can read very random books and return them the next day, without even paying any penny. There’s no such thing in Jakarta.
3. Painful public transport. Even though you’re a pain, you, at the very least, still exist and operating. Don’t ask me about how the public transport systems even work in Jakarta. In fact, I don’t recommend you to ever use them.
4. My lonely second sister living in our two-bedroom apartment alone with no one to listen to hear ramblings after work nor to iron her clothes. I bet she misses me more (right…?).
5. Oh my friends, my friends, don’t ask me, if my decision is worth it. Empty chair and empty table, where I used to sit, listening to your theories about life after graduation and telling you my hypothesis of growing up. I know, by the way you tag my phantom face at the reunion dinner, or telling me you miss me at the brunch table, that you miss me. And I miss you more.
6. Traffic. Please. Be. Nice. I used to need 20 minutes to go anywhere. Now I need two hours.
7. Declaration of Independence: Torn to pieces by the time I stepped my feet at the airport. Back to sending reports, to be nagged on when to sleep, to not go somewhere when you really want it, and to have a significant time loss on being alone, among others.
8. Being independent. You can’t go to places without a car (and most often the driver) and act on spontaneous decisions. Everything needs a reason of doing and to be planned thoroughly days before.
9. My two-year-old red wine from somewhere in Adelaide, my six-month-old Strawberry Liquor from the mountains of Mornington, and my beers, oh my beers, oh how I miss the indulgent of the weekends to drink those 5% alcohol while chilling out on casual dinners with friends. Oh, fyi, I’m not an alcoholic. It’s just that I have an extremely low intake of alcohol at the moment.
10. You movie freaks, I miss you. Do you know that I have zero resources on downloading movies now? Oh, you laugh? I know you’re happy without me nagging you to download 29 movies every month, but still, I know deep down you miss my nagging. Yes?
11. Menya’s Gyutandon. Ying Thai’s superb pad thai. MaBrown’s quails. Ampang Tofu’s Indian mee goreng. Jalan Alor’s hainanese chicken rice. Laksa King’s seafood laksa. Auntie’s Dumpings’ dumplings. That Korean Restaurant’s soondubu jjigae. Nando’s peri-peri sauce chicken. Three Bag’s Full’s big breakfast. Hardware Societe’s baked eggs. Oh, I’m crying…
12. Speaking English. I can see you rolling your eyes. You, yes, you.
13. My books. How did I have the heart to leave all but two? Oh, I didn’t. My luggage did.
14. Road trips to faraway land. Going out of town from Jakarta? Heh, beware of traffic and a high increase in stress level.
15. This may come as weird but I do miss doing my own stuffs in Melbourne. You know, those menial stuffs like ironing your clothes (while watching TV), cooking edible stir-fries, and arranging stuffs in your room to look pretty. Now that I’m a princess, ironically I feel time goes much faster.
16. My student life. Having 12 hours of uni per week and skipping the eight. Waiting for inspiration (and adrenaline rush) while assignments’ deadline is knocking on your doors. Running to grab coffee in between classes just because you deserve it. Talking about our dreams and futures to like-minded future Arts graduates. Taking life as one little step each day. Sleeping late, waking up late, and still manage to get decent marks. Joining organisations, going to events, meeting new, exotic people each day.
17. Meld. You guys contribute to two-third of my uni life, do you know that?
18. My psych(o) peeps, do you remember about our deep conversation regarding love? That it’s an absence or presence of balance? We sure look like professors back then.
19. Meeting you on my first real date. Life was…. beyond beautiful.
20. Going out on my own to have coffee or window shopping and not met with a single pitying glance. I must have forgotten that people in Jakarta do everything together, and by everything, I do mean, everything.
21. You. I miss you, my old self. I wish we can meet again in another life.
