An Afternoon in A Park

A man (probably in his 30s) is rowing a brown boat. In front of him sit a blond woman(it might be his wife) and a cute girl (probably their daughter). The water reflects sparkling sun shine. A duck is swimming, or I should say, sailing  silently in the middle of the pond  (or a made-up lake?). And here I am, sitting on a green bench, 50-meter away from the pond, watching people rowing their boats or simply sit on the grass, enjoying the sun in the spring time. Once in a while, a bicycle or two come past in front of me. The first time in my life enjoying myself sitting in a park surrounded by greening trees.  

Yes, until now, I still find it hard to believe that I have stepped up my feet on Europe. The real Europe town, not just pictures I usually saw on TV shows or magazine such as Nat. Geo. The first realization came when I was still sitting on my economy class plane. It’s a good thing to choose a window seat. I could see what’s outside. Actually, most of the scenery you will find is dull white clouds (hopefully, not grey ones, or prepare for a shake!) or blue sky.

I looked at the display. 50 mins before landing. Gee, it was a long flight! I was not feeling quite well after a small bottle of free-on-board red wine. I could sense that my face was flushing. I could not go to sleep anymore. In fact, I have had enough sleep. I have watched all the film I wished to watch and found it a little silly to start a new movie as I would have never finished it. Again, I looked at the display which now showing the route the plane had been taking. We were somewhere in Poland! Another excitement popped up when I read the names of the cities on the display. Those names only come to me during the classes of Geography or Social Science. Or when we, my friends and I, as kids, used to play “Mention the name of countries or cities”.  Gosh, do I really fly over those cities?

Being bored, I looked at the window. Land! Green in color, with some red spots. I kept telling myself: Europe! Is this really true?

Duck on Boat

I don’t know how to describe the feeling in words. I mean, when I was a kid, let’s say 9 years old, I used to read a kid magazine. I remembered my teacher (she taught Bahasa Indonesia) asked me to ask my mom to subscribe a magazine for kids with blue bunny as the main character. In that magazine, sometimes there were reports about other cities in Indonesia or other cities. And you know, as a kid, I usually dreamt that one day I would visit one of those cities, just to see it for real – not only great scenery pictures.  Then, TV came into my life, which even gave more dreams because not only did I “see” stories but also motion pictures, video, and sounds. “It’d be nice to visit those places one day”, I told myself.

Then I grew up. I read more, I watch more and I listen more. All in all, the asian countries seem somewhat easier to reach. I mean, thanks to budget airlines which make everybody can fly, so that I had a chance to visit several places in Asia and beautiful Indonesia. (Now my appreciation towards Indonesia’s nature is even more).

A woman sits next to me. She is carrying a cute baby. She put a bottle of water to the baby’s mouth.

I took a deep breath. Still can’t believe in myself, but it’s for real now.           

Here I am now, in Der Bürgerpark, Bremen.