Chapter 4: chapter three
my city is located near the pillar mountain in Kodiak, Alaska. One side of the city is bordered by the pillar mountain and at the bottom of the mountain spreads the city with a marvellous view. My city is known for an incredible subspecies of brown bear especially known as the grizzly bear.
The days rushed fast and within the blink of an eye, it turned Friday. The day of our departure arrived. one of Simon's friend would be driving us to the Kodiak airport from where we would be departing. It is quite far from downtown. Away in another town. We had to go to the airport through the night to reach there before 2 hours. Just in case.
Alex is fully prepared with GPS, the local satellite time and most of it like always. Before she ever leaves a place she has to know most about that place. That's what I like most about her. Very organized.
We all were prepared. This would be the very first time we would be going out of the country without our parents. We are so excited that we couldn't sleep through the last night. We did. But a little.
When we reached the airport, the sun had already risen then. And we were just on time before 2 hours. Since this airport isn't too much occupied we got to our immigration easily. And we waited until the plane arrived.
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after the flight hour of 16 hours and 49 minutes, we reached the capital city of Indonesia, Jakarta. it was pretty tiring. we got our luggage and walked out of the airport. Simon scanned the lobby to find Ashram. while doing so he looked at a person with a mild beard which turned grey due to age. he was wearing a semi-formal suit and was quite tall. He also wore the cap which resembled him as a Muslim. beside him stood a girl. it looked like his daughter. she was wearing a black cloak which is what the Muslims call abaya and a black hijab. by their appearance, it seems they are religious. By Ashram's wristwatch and the girl's handbag, they looked quite affluent.
Simon's smile confirmed it was His friend, Ashram. When ashram recognized it was him, he walked towards us and spread his hands for a hug. Simon hugged him back.
"Hello, my friend. It's good to see you after a very long time." He spoke humbly with a calm tone. It was surprising to hear him talk in a fluent British accent. Well, it is obvious as he lived there for some years. same goes for Simon.
"Hi, good to see you too." Simon greeted.
"Welcome to Indonesia, my homeland. This is my daughter, Saima Malikana." Saying so he pointed at her.
She smiled revealing her dimples. " Hi". then We smiled and greeted, 'hi!' All at once.
"didn't you bring your daughters?" Ashram asked. it seemed they had been keeping contact with each other. that has to explain why he knows Juliette and Alys. they are carmen's cousins.
"Juliette is having horse riding tournament the next week. she needs to practise. and Alys is too small to come without her mother. as a result, my family couldn't make it."
"it's alright." Ashram confronted. then he looked at us and raised his eyebrows, "and might i ask who are these beautiful young ladies?"
"yes Ashram let my introduce you. they are my niece that i talked about and her friends". saying so he began introducing us to Muhammad Ashram. after a bit of chit chat, we headed to the car and were driven to java where Muhammad ashram lived.
the world is so huge in the sense I can feel it. there is a huge difference in time between places. in my case, it is 15 hours difference and adding to that it is the same day, Friday! despite the fact, I travelled 16 hours and 49 minutes.
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their house is huge and elegant. it is single floored with glass windows and aluminium doors. the house was well architected. there was a range of mountains a few miles away. it is the first thing we would be visiting from our list. Saima led us to the room where we would be staying. they were delighted to have us as their guest. after talking to her we came to know a few things about her. she is 17 years old. she has three brothers and one sister. she is the eldest among them.
then we sat for lunch on the floor despite the fact they had a huge area for a table. and ate our food using hand instead of a fork or knife. it is amazing to experience a different culture and tradition. after finishing our food, carmen, Alex and I went to our assigned rooms. while uncle Simon went to his assigned room and we all collapsed into the bed for some rest.
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"that's FDC's truck!" suddenly I saw one while I was observing the city from the terrace.
"yes. it is a food distributing campaign. they store staple diet that is grain. apart from that, they also produce fertilizers and pesticides for the farmers." Saima explained and ended up asking me a question. "how do you know FDC?"
"I read about it in the news. but why are they going up the hill? is their granary over there?" I asked.
"yes, but in fact, their whole factory is up, over there," she exclaimed.
"do they have 'open doors'? I was wondering whether I could go there," I asked.
"yes they do but it is limited. we can go there now if you want" she exclaimed.
"yes, I was looking forward to going there," I said.
"what are you waiting for? come downstairs. I will go ask my father." she caught my hand and rushed downstairs. but I worried my friends will not be happy and will stand to give me a lecture on what to do on vacation.
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"seriously Jules...you want to go there? to a factory?" carmen shouted. Alex too nodded with her in frustration.
"Listen, it's just for an hour. this factory is different. they made a remarkable harvest. I could take this opportunity for my assignment. it's just one hour" I wailed. "please..please?"
they exhaled their anger and agreed. I jumped up of them for a hug. and screamed, "you are the best!"
since uncle Simon would be spending some time with his friend in a park our tour guide will be Saima Malikana.
TO BE CONTINUED...
'open doors'= an approval by the factory for tourists.
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