Never may the will be relaxed

I was queuing in this fast food restaurant when I noticed the extraordinary good looking Ambonese woman with long curly hair in front of me. She probably was around 40 years old but the short skirt and high heels made her look fantastic! I cowardly told my companion in the Dutch language to check out the lady in front of us. With a 'Wow!" and 'Not bad at all...!" he was also impressed. The lady surprisingly turned around and reacted in perfect Dutch:' Well, well! That is the nicest comment I have heard today! Thank you!" I was instantly ashamed but her smile made clear that she was very happy to hear our basic instinct opinions. Another similar but less positive case happened in my earlier years in Indonesia.

Soon after getting my BSc. degree at the Tropical Agricultural University Larenstein in Deventer, Holland, I moved to Indonesia in the hope to find a job. When I just arrived here, I was on

a shoe string budget. I traveled by bus, drank my beers in Jalan Jaksa and rented a room in Rumah Susun Tanah Abang. Rumah Susun Tanah Abang is one of the most crampiest places you can imagine. When I rented a room on the third floor of this overcrowded flat I found out that the person who lived in the room before me was an old, sick lady.

They had moved here to the already very small gangway. Some curtains divided her from the gang path. The old lady slept on some blankets on the ground, no mattress was provided. Twice a day her son came by to wash and feed her. It was a very sad scene and I felt guilty I had taken over her room, probably just because I could pay more then she could. I only saw the old lady once. She once moved aside the curtain and her fragile face gave me a very friendly, but painful smile. I could see it took her a lot of effort to lift herself up a bit so she could see me. 'Are you from Holland?', she asked me in a soft voice. I told her I was and she immediately looked pleasantly jovial. She continued in perfectly 'old' Dutch. "Oh, then we can speak Dutch!" But obviously she was not strong enough to talk a lot. She excused herself and closed the curtain again. I still remember that last peaceful and pleasant look of her face. That same day this Dutch friend came along to pick me up for a weekend out of town. In plain and loud Dutch he said:" He! What did you take home last night? When I asked downstairs where your room was, they asked me to be careful and not step on a dying old woman. Is there somebody dying in here?!?"

I quickly pointed at the curtains and whispered: 'SSsst! hut up! She speaks Dutch....!' When I came home two days later the gang

path was empty, the curtains were removed. A note was posted on my door. It was of the old woman's' son. 'Sorry for the inconvenience that we gave you while staying here. My mother passed away this Saturday morning. Regards.' For a long period I felt guilty but didn't really know why. The face of that friendly old lady is still in my mind.

I left that place a few weeks later. Sleeping under a klamboe to fight of mosquitoes, a rat had managed to climb in my bed! I panicked and jumped up! With a pillow I managed to smash it back but the rat attacked again and again! Finally I managed to push it to the side of the bed and kicked it to the ground. The whole klamboe had fallen down on me and the bed had given in at the feet end. I guess the spirits in the house found it better for me to leave. Although I am non-religious, some experiences moved me into changes for the better. Not long after that I had my first job with a Swiss company called SGS and made so much money that my parents were seriously thinking I was in drugs trade! Now I don't make a lot, but have more fun and the rewards are there. Like when I wrote a week ago that I lost my handphone. An email from a Siemens reader who offered me a new one! Any Ford or BMW directors reading this newsletter? I have problems getting taxi's lately...! ;-) -- Bartele