Time and Happenstance

Stacy and I manage to catch a bus to Hypermart as it's about to pull back onto the highway. A minute later the girl in front of us turns to look at us.

"Hey Adik!"

"I didn't see you," she says.

"Didn't see me where?" I ask, confused.

"Waiting for bus," she says, squirming.

"Oh, huh. Yeah I saw you from behind when you were getting on and wondered if it was you but I thought the hair was too short. So where were you? I waited for you on Friday but you never showed up." This is sort of true. I was home on Friday but I knew she wouldn't show and so wasn't really waiting for her.

She giggles nervously but doesn't answer so I repeat the question.

"Oh, uh I was sick," she says.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Are you better now?"

She nods.

"So have you figured out where you're going from here?"

"Yes. Makassar." She had told me weeks earlier a friend of hers might have work for her there and I'm happy to hear she's finally going to work again.

"Oh good! When are you leaving?"

"Later this week," she is still punctuating our conversation with nervous giggles and glances out the window.

"Well, here," I say pulling out 50,000 rupiah and tossing it at her. "For the cab. Make sure you stop by and see me before you leave and say a proper goodbye."

She nods and I call out, "Love you adik," as Stacy and I get off the bus and head towards the mall doors.

I remember then, the reason for my trip and curse. I should have asked her for my watch back. Certain she will not stop by to see me, I search for an alarm clock. I had been using my "Blackberry" or, when it was being fixed, my watch but, as Adik now has both of these things, Stacy's been knocking on my door every morning, which works but isn't a permanent solution.

I find a battery operated alarm clock and we go to Black Canyon for smoked chicken salads with chili lime sauce, one of the few variations from chicken and rice available to us here.

When we get home I assemble the alarm clock but am not surprised to discover, two hours later, that it can't keep proper time. It's only moved ahead half an hour. Nothing I've bought in Indonesia has worked or lasted more than a week.

But time, in Indonesia is even more subjective than anywhere else in the world. Even at school, every classroom seems to be a separate, exclusive time zone and there are no bells to indicate lunch time, breaks or the end of lessons. Sadly, this relativity doesn't seem to be working in my favour, and the end of my contract in another six months is just as far away as it's always been.