Writing this while looking at my packed bag, sitting in the room that was my temporary home for 3 months. I can't believe how fast the time went and how many great experiences I had. My journey is not yet finished, but leaving this place tomorrow feels like a kind of ending. I waited so long to make this journey. I wished for so many things, but could not ever have imagined it would be like this. My journey to Batik was and is a journey of friends. Seeing friends again after so many years, sharing my experiences with friends overseas and missing. Missing people I just met, just saw or that I will never see again.
The last two weeks of my journey started with very sad news while I was seeing a very dear friend after 7 long years. There was more unhappy news from back home, so having at the same time these wonderful reunions made it tough sometimes. Still without all these dear people here it would have been a very different story. A what a story it is! I still have much to share and haven't shared here about Jember or Semarang yet, but I need some time to let it all sink in. And I'm still on Java!
I want to thank with this post all people that helped me during this journey. I feel so lucky meeting and knowing you! With this post I don't want to say "Good bye", but I like to say "See you soon" instead.
I also want to thank the people back home. Thanks for all the likes and comments. Thanks for following my journey! And keep following it!
After my return from Jember, I needed strength. I decided to make 'Batik Statements' representing some of my Super heroes. No not actual Super heroes. Although I still plan to make a statement with a cape one day, but I can not create more ghost stories in this village while I'm here... (Ask me about it when you see me).
Everyone needs a hero sometimes and "these" three ladies helped me many times through difficult times. So I hope they can do the same for my friends.
With their spirit and their Art they taught me about feeling pain, sadness and unhappiness. Taught me about empowerment, equality and love. And they taught me about sharing it.
I hope my heroes can give a little strength to the ones who need it right now!