Pre Wedding Gift

Several years ago on a mid September day, Adi Seno who was part of Mapala climbers took me to my first climbing trip. It was my pre wedding gift from an old friend, he told me through the phone.

Adi is an experienced climber whereas I don’t have any knowledge about mountain climbing.

We left Jakarta early Saturday morning after I finish working on Friday. Our fist plan was to climb Mt. Gede but since we didn’t bring the permit, we climbed Mt. Salak instead.

When we started, the weather was relatively good but when we were in the middle of our trip, the weather suddenly got worse. Heavy rain accompanied us during our way to the summit. Adi could easily climb the mountain but not me. I was having difficulty in manage my step. It was hard for me to climb in the middle of rain. I fell down many times; try to balance myself and the backpack. Tried to find a path with the tiny lamp on my head.

We didn’t reach the summit that night. I was exhausted and refused to continue the climbing event though the sky was clear. Adi decided to take a rest for a while before early in the morning continue the trip. Not more than 10 minutes after we put our sleeping bag, I already in heaven.

I had a bunch of funny stories about myself, but the worst part was when I had to go to wee. No toilet – no anything, we were in the middle of the mountain. Therefore, he instructed me to do my number 1 duty at the bushes. During am doing my number 1 duty, I heard a bunch of several climbers behind my back. Without finished the task, I ran to my sleeping bag and slept. The next morning, Adi was so happy to tease me because of what I did.

We woke up early in the morning. Adi insisted me to continue the climbing but I refused. The pain that I suffer really made me afraid to continue the journey. So even though it was close to the summit, I prefer we went back to the base.

It was not the end of the story. The worst part was I have to drove from Adi's house to mine and had to work on Monday. What a nightmare. Pretended that everything was fine, no pain, no anything, and gave my best smile to every customer.

Looking back into those days, I had to say that he was extremely patient. He helped me with the raincoat, taught me how to use the hat with the tiny lamp, took out the leech from my raincoat and help me bring my backpack during our trip back on the next day.

Since that day, my climbing trip to Mt. Salak, was the happy memories of the most beautiful pre wedding gift I have from an old friend.

**
My English writing task from Hemma Patel. She’s going to move to Dubai on 25 October 2006 for good.


So what’s up till yesterday :
Traffic jam, laughter and gossiping during launch, meeting at Cyber, bought 12 DVD (I don’t know whether I have time to watch it all – my bad habit), finish my work at TBI library, be the only student in my English class and several business phone call on way back home.

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