Everyone I know loves vacation as much as the next guy, but although I've went to quite a lot of places on vacation, there's one rule that exists in all my vacations: I always go with my family. So I've never went on some kind of trip out of the city (let alone out of the country) without my family. So that sparks quite a problem between me and my family when I received a letter from my school to go to a camp in Jogjakarta (for those of you who don't know, Jogjakarta is a long way away from my home in Jakarta you will have to take a plane there). Today my family was quite excited (and a bit unsure) about their son going out to some camp out of the city. The next paragraph will tell you about their responses to this never-before accomplished trip:
My mom was the first one to read the letter. She was quite doubtful about me going to camp, but she was quite fine with my new experience. She questioned my dad about the camp and if I should go to it or not. My dad had a totally different response. "If you ask me, it's going to be quite an exciting journey for Jason! He gets to socialize more, make more friends!" My dad cheerfully responded. He kept on explaining the upsides of this camp until my mom told me to break the ice. "Tell Papa the price of the camp." She said. And so I told my dad that for five days in the camp, it will take up Rp.7.000.000 (approximately US $700). His reactions went downhill from there. Let me tell you something about my family: They love to express their feelings in a hilarious way, so if we're showing our jealousy, we 'mock' each other.
It was one of the longest comparisons between privileges of my parents and me. My dad 'jealously' exclaimed, "Rp.7.000.000! And look at this! You get to fly in Garuda Indonesia! Even I didn't get to fly in Garuda! (That's quite true, because if we fly, we usually fly in either Lion Air, Air Asia or Citilink Airlines) And look at this! You get to stay in FOUR STAR HOTELS!!! When I went with MY school overseas, we had to stay in a small, cramped INN! Look at this! You have breakfast at KFC before you go! (Shortly after this statement, he slapped me on the knee) And look at this! You visit the SULTAN'S PALACE! (Another knee slap) CANDI BOROBUDUR! (I managed to dodge his deadly strike this time) Rafting in the Elo River! (No physical attacks. Phew) He jokingly expressed his jealousy on and on. He was joking, so I didn't take his ranting seriously. After he finished debriefing me, he noticed a 'parental agreement' at the end of the letter. "Oh HO! So both parents have to sign the agreement, eh? I won't have to sign the agreement if I don't want you to come! I never thought of that!" (For a moment there I thought he was really thinking of not enlisting, but luckily he was also joking about that bit) he exclaimed jokingly. But the punchline of the whole thing was the money issue. My parents found a part in the letter that stated that parents who had issues may contact the school 'treasurers' about how the money should be handled.
My mom saw the part of the letter about the money issues and joked, "If it's possible for the money to be paid as instalments, tell Jason to dress up as a beggar and start working on the streets as a homeless boy! That's bound to get us enough money for the camp!Haw haw haw!" (At this, I could picture myself in ripped clothes out on the streets carrying a sign, "PAY ME AT LEAST RP.7.000.000 TO GET ME OFF THE STREETS"). Luckily, my dad 'protected' me from getting owned by my mom ("Just do it like this: Ask for a 7-month instalment, and every month we take it off Mama's shopping money! HA HA!).
But despite their sarcastic and hilarious arguments, my parents were still happy to send me off to the camp. Although they said that they were less fortunate when it came to THEIR overseas journeys, they were happy that I finally got the chance to see what was it like to survive out there without mommy and daddy. I'll be going on the 23th of September and I'll be back on the 27th. I'll probably write about the journey when I get back. Wish me luck guys!
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