The last seven days

From my previous posts, you can see what happens when things get weird. It might paint a picture that things are always weird but I wouldn't say that weird things happen everyday. However, I would say it's probably more often that in most other counties. As evidence, I present this- a few little strange moments I have had in the past seven days.....

Friday

After posting on my blog on Friday morning, I left for work (as usual). It was an ordinary day at work. The day before I had received an Instagram direct message from the manager of my favourite band (NOAH) saying “do you like beer?” which eventually lead to an invitation to go for some drinks after work on Friday. Of course I agreed.

On Friday night, it turned out the manager was busy playing indoor football, so I went to a café with a friend instead. Later, as I dropped my friend off at home, I received another message from the manager of NOAH saying that he was back at the hotel. I asked him if it was okay to leave my motorbike at the hotel as I didn’t want to drive after drinking and I could easily pick it up from there the next day. He said it was fine.

As I reached the hotel lobby, I received another message from the manager saying  “sorry I have a meeting now, I can’t go out”. Well, these things seem to have a way of working out in my favor. Immediately, I ran into the guitarist and drummer of the band, who were drinking coffee in the lobby and I decided to have a drink and chat with them instead.  

Saturday

Straight from work, I headed to the NOAH concert at Makodam Stadium. I arrived three hours before NOAH were set to play so I knew I was in for a big wait. I’m used to attending concerts alone and it’s not really a problem because it is easy to find someone to talk to in Indonesia anyway. I sat on the ground and ate a chocolate muffin and eventually started chatting to some random people around me.

After a while, one of the event’s security guards started talking to me. He asked a lot of personal questions about my reasons for being in Indonesia, my dating history and why I have watched NOAH so many times. The problem was, everyone nearby decided to listen to the conversation and laughed at half the things I said.

“You can’t stand here” he said.

“Why not? I’m already here.” I replied

“Because you are different. It’s dangerous up here because a lot of people will push from behind.”

“It’s more dangerous back there because there are pickpockets, I feel safe up here with the real fans, I don’t mind if I get pushed.”

“You should climb the fence and watch it here with me.” he said pointing to the area directly in front of the stage.

“No thank you, I’d rather watch it from here” I said (of course it’s more fun to watch a concert with other fans right?).

“If you climb over, I’ll take you backstage to get a photo with NOAH” he urged.

“No thank you, I already have a photo.”

“You can meet NOAH again then!” he said

“I don’t think it’s fair because I have already met them before. Maybe take someone else instead” I said, trying to make an excuse.

"Well at least stand at the fence" he said indicating that I should stand in front of a girl who was standing there.

"No, it's okay. She's been waiting longer than me. I'm fine here, I've seen a lot of concerts and I'll be okay" I assured him. 

Eventually he left me to watch the show.

The show was good, but I did get pushed a lot, but that's normal concert stuff. A random guy let me get up on his shoulders. I saw the band members look at me and laugh. I saw the security guard from earlier and waved at him. While I was up there my favourite song came on and I danced like crazy until I realised there was a close up of me on the two huge TV screens at the concert. Then I realised how ridiculous I looked and got down.

Overall it was an excellent evening.

Sunday

Woke up covered in bruises and in a lot of pain, so stayed in bed all day (seriously the only time I got out of bed was to get the pizza I ordered from the front gate). I guess nothing weird happens if you stay in bed.

Monday

This was a really good day. Got a massage, went swimming, bought new sunglasses and ate cake. Nothing strange happened, just an awesome day.

Tuesday

As I was opening the front gate to leave for work a man riding past on a bicycle stopped out front.

“Australian dollar!”  he said

“What?”

He pulled out his wallet

“I have Australian dollars! How many rupiah to one Australian dollar?”

“I don’t know” I said.

“Can I exchange my dollars for rupiah?” he said

“I don’t need Australian dollars.”

“Okay, no problem” he said and drove away (no idea how he knew I was Australian).

Wednesday

I barely remember Wednesday, so probably nothing worth mentioning happened.

Thursday

In the morning, I went to collect my clothes from the laundry place. I have been going to Save Laundry every week for about 18 months. Today as I was collecting my clothes, the owner handed me a plastic bag with a bottle in it.
"It is happy birthday Save Laundry. This is Fanta. Thank you for being our customer" she said.
So apparently on the anniversary of your laundry place opening, you should give your customers free soft drink... Good to know.

The work day went by fairly normally...

As I walked to my motorbike in the parking lot after work, a guy looked over at me.

"Beautiful" he said.

"Oh thanks" I replied.

"You can speak Indonesian?" he asked.

"Yea I can" I replied.

"Where do you live?"

"Kenjeran" I lied

"How can you be so beautiful?"

I laughed awkwardly.

"Is your mother beautiful?" he asked.

"Yes..." I said and drove away. 

(By the way, these kind of conversations happen quite often).

So, I guess this actually proves that weird stuff really doesn't happen everyday (just 4/7 days). I'm totally ready for the next weird adventures....