Recharging

Happy Easter everyone! I just came back from a lovely long weekend visiting my family in Bogor. It was great to get away and relax for a few days, especially I haven't visited my eldest sister much lately, so it was nice to spend time with them. For me, visiting Bogor has always meant enjoying the best of both travel and home life. Bogor city is only an hour drive from Jakarta, a place for those who like to take it easy and relax whilst enjoying the fresh air.

I decided that we needed to go to Bogor Botanical Garden. My sister and my niece, Van, came with me. And while I normally like to shop to the Factory Outlets with my niece and buy stuff when I am in Bogor...I can safely say that the shopping is out of my system for a while. We were in botanical garden for 3 hours walking and taking pictures. Three hours is enough for me to bathe in sweat. By the time we reached the exit gate it rained really hard. Well, Bogor is the city of rain. Some days, it rained for a few hours. Some days, it rained all day. The rain in this city is incredible. Sometimes it pours like a torrential downpour and then is sunny five minutes later.

Saturday night, I went for the Easter Vigil Mass. It is one of my favorite religious celebrations. I felt guilty I've been away from church for a few months. I only go to church only when I feel I need to go...d'oh!!! Back in my dormitory school days, the nun would kill me if I skipped church!!! Although the procession was quite long (3 hours and a half), it makes for a very unique and meaningful liturgy. The church is darkened at the beginning of the Mass, the congregation sits in the darkened chapel with unlit candles. Upon the priest entering the church, the entire space goes from pitch blackness to the lovely, comforting, and warm glow of hundreds of candles. Combined with the singing from St. Cecelia's Cathedral choir, and the general atmosphere of joy in the room, it becomes breathtaking, even awe-inspiring. To me the Easter vigil is magic and it was different from any other masses.

So in a way, the long weekend was what I really needed ...but the trip felt too short *sigh*. Sunday afternoon I returned to Jakarta. I'm home now, and glad to be in my own bed, and dreading for a long week ahead. You know the kind of whether it's Monday or Wednesday. Or when you look at your clock and it's 3pm and you've forgotten to eat lunch.