Friday, Mar 13
He landed late in the day. I picked him up after work, carrying a small suitcase full of his prezzies. Will never know how he manages to smell (and look) so damn good.
Saturday, Mar 14
I hoped the morning he took to rest was enough cause we were about to start a jam-packed day! Gyu-Kaku lunch, La'Seine venue survey (which was his first and last time seeing *rolls eyes*), and crash course on Aku Percaya prayer with Bapa an hour before the baptism rehearsal with Inang Rita. My gut was completely wrenched in anticipation of the mandatory pre-baptism oral exam.... that turned out to not be mandatory as Luis was ushered by Inang Rita directly to the altar! All the reading material we had digested to prepare for this and apparently no questions asked! :D She's great. Closing the day with a dinner with Mama's side of the family.
Sunday, Mar 15 - Still obsessed with everything that happened today
Nothing better than cheap breakfast by the pool. Our kind of morning.
Today was going to be super intense! For starters, lunch and ice cream with Bapa's side of the family (please don't act like I didn't write 'super intense' in the previous sentence). This bunch (read: my people, in other words, multiple forms of me) is a lot to deal with, but Luis handled himself incredibly well, including and especially during his very first ever impromptu mandokhata. At least my family was meeting him in the middle by choosing Sate Khas Senayan and Pisa Cafe as the places.
Nobody had prepared me for this view.
His Aku Percaya was flawless and we welcomed SO MANY of these questions at the exit, "How long has he lived here?" "With whom has he been practicing the prayer?" "How long did the language course take?" and so forth. Bapa and I would just be exchanging dirty looks, not having the heart to tell them his first time mouthing the prayer out loud was exactly 24 hours ago. God is good! Worth noting as well that it was the first time HKBP Menteng has ever seen Inang Rita speak English.
We celebrated his baptism that night during the warmest dinner at Amanguda Hari's house. Today just could not be any better by any stretch of imagination.
Monday, Mar 16
Morning was spent at the tailor, choosing material, color, and model for his suits. From there, we met up with Mama's work friends while picking her up and were on our way with Abang too to the food tasting. Umara is definitely not the cheapest but they're just so, so good! Luis and I were so full that we had to pass on Al Jazeerah's famous kebuli set while on double date with Araz and Nadhy. Could never say no to late night Martabak Favourite though.
Tuesday, Mar 17
And just like that, this was his last day in Jakarta. We looked for a cute little souvenir for his The Navigators spiritual father back home, enjoyed two large pans of pizza, ran some errands, and looked for wedding rings before starting with packing.
Those long hours on an airplanes (times two) only for (what feels like) a blink of an eye. Sometimes you make questionable decisions all for the sake of, uh, priorities.
