PLAYGROUND

From the pedestrian bridge near the Hotel Indonesia roundabout, I looked at the Welcome Statue while imagining the Statue of Liberty in New York City.

I love stopping here to look around at the monument. The wind that blows from all directions makes my chest feel spacious; my heart is at peace.

This bridge is newly built in the era of President Jokowi. Actually, before this one, there was already a bridge located a bit backward near the car exit from Plaza Indonesia. So, this new bridge only shifted slightly forward closer to the HI Roundabout fountain.

In the mid of the bridge, I can parallel stare at the bronze statue of a young couple on the monument stretching their arms excitedly to say Welcome to the participants of the 1962 Asian Games in the era of President Soekarno.

I explored Europe when I worked at the DOER Company and cities in Indonesia. I've traveled the Capital to its rattlesnakes for the last five years while I've worked in Insurance, Network Builder, and a variety of other jobs. And when the results of my efforts were far from the target, I failed to get the opportunity to travel to America and take selfies with the background of the Statue of Liberty; for me, enjoying the HI roundabout monument was no less beautiful.

Hahah, seriously, I'm not feeling sorry for or comforting myself; this is serious. I never required anything for my happiness.

This world is like a playground for me. I am grateful that I was given the bonus of experiencing a longer life in the world before moving to the grave and living life after death later.

THIS WORLD IS LIKE A PLAYGROUND TO ME, like the pedestrian bridge on Jalan Thamrin in front of the Pan Sari Pacific hotel, which became a playground for the mother and her three children, whom I met one afternoon while we were eating dumplings together.

And every time I cross the pedestrian bridge, it feels like I always want to stop in the middle, just quietly enjoying the view below and in front of it.

Remember when chatting on the bridge with the woman who lost her cell phone at Metromini. And the story about the most memorable bridge while riding the gondola over the Grand Canal in Venice, Italy. The gondolier or better known as the Gondolier who stood at the rear end of the gondola shouted:

"RIALTO...!!! RIALTO...!!!" While his hand pointed at the bridge above us that we just passed. His loud booming voice echoed along the Grand Canal. The people who boarded the other gondolas also looked at the bridge my Gondolier pointed to. That's when I found out that I was crossing the Rialto Bridge on the canal of the famous Venezia River. The oldest bridge connecting the districts of San Marco and San Polo was inaugurated in the 15th century.

I FEEL LIKE I WANT TO GO TO THE MIDDLE CENTURY AND FEEL THE BREATH OF THE TIME, FEEL THE LIFE WHEN THE OLD BUILDINGS THAT WERE MOSTLY SUBMERGED BY WATER WERE STILL OCCUPIED. The old buildings along the canals are now silent witnesses that there was once a civilization with all its dramas and problems.

Ah, it feels like life is so short. Couldn't understand why is everyone so busy trying to have something that they forget to enjoy it. Enjoy this very precious short time. What a loss. They will all become bones like this old building along the Grand Canal. Everything will become history and we will die with our problems. The world doesn't care. Time will fly...

In the middle of the RIALTO BRIDGE above the Grand Canal in the city of Venice, I stand. It turned out that there was a movie shooting which I later found out was 'the Tourist', starring Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt. Early May 2010. Uh, I can't believe it's been more than 10 years.

***

"LUNA!!!" A familiar voice interrupted my thoughts.

I looked in the direction of the voice. I saw a dark-skinned foreign man walking toward me.

"Hi... where have you been? Where is your driver?" I asked.

"Embassy." His short answer. Then he said he was waiting for his driver to pick up the paperwork from his apartment and drop them off at Starbucks later.

I did make an appointment with Steve, the man's name, at Starbucks Plaza Indonesia this afternoon, and instead, we meet at this place, in the middle of the HI roundabout bridge.

There's something strange about this guy. Every time made an appointment he always pointed at Starbucks. But the funny thing is that whenever the time comes, he always comes later, carrying a bottle of mineral water in his hand, not ordering anything, just accompanying me to drink coffee.

He has a mining project in Papua and asked me to be his translator. Because he is a foreigner, I will be the liaison between him and the local government of Manokwari in West Papua.

Today I will give the translation document. I have one more document to work on and he's asking his driver to pick it up.

Steve and I walked side by side across the pedestrian bridge to Starbucks Plaza Indonesia. Down from this bridge just walk no more than a hundred meters to enter through one of the lobbies in the Plaza.

Sure enough, I was in line at the cashier myself. When the waiter asked for my name to be written, I looked for him. It turned out that he was already sitting on the bench first.

I waved at him, and with a facial expression and hand code I asked him what he wanted to drink, it turned out he was shaking his head sign, holding up his mineral bottle.

OK.

Then I sat in front of him, next to us the glass window where we could look across the Grand Indonesia building.

He told me that his colleagues in his country were sending money from his country by sea to finance his Papua project later. He sent the money by shipping goods by sea, not by bank transfer for some reason. The money will be wrapped in a certain place and coated with aluminum to keep it safe.

Ah, it feels like there are hundreds of stories like this in my bulk email, every time they come, I delete them, without reading them first.

It turned out that stories like that weren't just in emails, there were people in real life who delivered messages like that in front of me. There is. Duh. I also forgot where I first met this person.

Someone sitting behind Steve, exactly across the back watched me from earlier.

I looked at the man in front of me and the man behind him alternately. The man back there seemed to want to say something to me. And sure enough, when the guy came out past our table, he stopped facing us both, and then his face purposely looked into Steve's face in such a way, that then looked at me and said,

"Be careful with this guy!!!!" he said to me pointing his finger at Steve.

Steve looked away at the street from the glass window next to us. I don't know if he knows what the man said. But I'm sure he pretended not to know. Then calmly as if nothing had happened, he continued his story about sending money to be used to finance our project later.

"Don't you think it's against the law, Steve?" My comment is trite.

My mind is still on the man who advised me earlier. But I'm not interested in the project anymore. Moreover when he said that he need a fresh fund of about 25 million rupiahs to smooth the shipping procedure. Why did he think I was that stupid to trust him?

I Already 'Ifill'. Lost Feeling.

Never mind, I'll just let go of the work of translating the documents that are now in his hands.

Finally, I said goodbye. I don't want to remember or discuss it anymore. I directly Delcon.

Deleted Contacts.

I don't want to pollute my playground with weeds. Negative energy, toxic relationships, and unhealthy friendships, I don't hesitate to get rid off them or leave.

***