Porsche & Modern Talking

Songs can trigger memories. I was listening to Modern Talking's Cheri Cheri Lady this afternoon and it reminded me of the time when I was in primary school.

My uncle had just bought a red Porsche 944 back then and he decided to take me out for a spin one day in his new car. He put on his shades and told me to hop in. The tape that was playing in his car was Cheri Cheri Lady (Modern Talking's number one hit in 1985).

Wonderful car + Wonderful song: No wonder I never forgot about Porsche and Modern Talking whenever I think about the 80's. When I searched for "Porsche" on the internet, it came out "Porsche - the ultimate mid life crisis car"....LOL! I guess that's why my uncle bought the scarlet car.

If you are too young to remember the song Cheri Cheri Lady, here's a retro MTV of it. When I saw the cellist playing until his cello caught fire towards the end of the MTV, it almost made me burst into laughter. I also like their "so-80's" hairstyles and lead vocals Thomas Anders wearing his "Michael Jackson wannabe" jacket.

Bad Luck Week

This week was an unlucky week for my driver because of the following events:

1. On Monday he had to report to his boss (the person that rents the car to our company) that the wiper's rubber had gone bad & needed to be replaced - it actually made scratch marks on the wind screen.
   
2. On Tuesday he scratched the side of the car bumper while turning - got an ear full from his boss again after the incident was reported.
3. On Wednesday the car's tire burst and he discovered that the spare tire has no air! It was raining and we were on the way back from work. We had to leave the car in front of a shop 10 mins walk away from home.
4. After he walked home with me, he realized that he left his bike's keys in the car. He had to ask for a lift from the security guard to ferry him back to the car from our house and back again.
5. On Thursday he brought the burst tire to the shop to fill up with air but the inner tube was badly damaged, so he had to get it replaced. But he was too afraid to call his boss again until I had to step in and convince his boss that it was not the driver's fault. I had to pay for the inner tubes and deduct it from his boss' rental rates next month.
6. He missed his morning school session due to having to fix the car.
   
7. When he came back to put the receipt for the job on the magnet on my fridge, he dropped the magnet and broke it by accident. It was a Las Vegas souvenir (magnet with clip) that my wife got - but it was broken into pieces and could not be glued back anymore.
   

This is really a case of continuous bad luck days for my driver. I hope things would be better for him starting Friday.

Triumphant But Yet Heart Broken - Brazilian F1 Grand Prix

Ferrari's Felipe Massa passed the chequered flag in the Brazilian F1 Grand Prix yesterday thinking that he had won the 2008 championship. However seconds later, McLaren's Lewis Hamilton overtook Toyota's Timo Glock at the final corner to clinch 5th place and this puts Hamilton 1 point ahead of Massa and became the youngest ever driver to win an F1 championship.

Massa broke into tears as he drove his Ferrari to the base of the podium. Triumphant but yet totally heart broken because Massa won the Brazilian race but could not be crowned 2008 drivers champion.

Massa made a flying start in Brazil by taking pole position in the qualifying rounds and leading the pack all the way to the finish line. However, Ferrari's fuel hose blunder in Singapore really cost him precious championship points.

Ferrari still managed to win the overall 2008 constructors' championship. This is the second year in a row Ferrari won. Looking forward to another exciting F1 championship in 2009. Viva Ferrari!

English Mass

Today I attended English mass in the evening. In Palembang all the Catholic masses are in Indonesian except for this once a month session in English at the St Joseph Church (largest Catholic church in Palembang).

Not many people attend English mass in Palembang. Normally there are 10-15 persons attending but today there's only me, another lady and 3 sisters. So the males vocalists for the hymns are only the priest and me...LOL!

In today's sermon, the priest touched about Jesus being the shepherd having to separate goats from sheeps before nightfall. Sheeps represented "the good" while goats represented "evil"...therefore, bad and unlucky ones are called scape-goats. Goat-like beings are often depicted in mythical evil characters. I never really realized this until today's sermon. Maybe I have not been reading the bible enough!

After mass I had a quick chat with the priest, Fr. Edi, who happened to be one of the first persons that I met when I first came to Palembang 2 years ago. He went to Malaysia last month for some lung infection treatment but the doctor did not give him enough medication. It is difficult to get certain prescriptions in Palembang so I volunteered to help him get some when I go back end of the month.

When I was walking back towards my car to go home, I saw the 3 sisters that were in church just now. One of them was Sister Marta from Brazil. They normally come by bus. But out of courtesy I gave them a ride back to a house bought by the arch-bishop of Palembang.

Poverty & Pain

Today I took my driver, Iwan, out for a meal in one of the shopping malls. He told me that he did not feel comfortable eating in a restaurant inside a mall. He claims that his "status" is not the same as others. Iwan believed that he is poor and would not walk into places that he might think others might look down on him.

Another example is at Novotel hotel. I often asked him to wait around the back lobby area while I go for my gym sessions. That location has very few people but he still refused. He claims that staff at Novotel had given him "condescending looks". Perhaps it was coincidental, Iwan also said that every time he wanted to use the hotel toilet the door is locked.

His lack of self-belief and self-confidence is so bad until he had to ask his friend to accompany him when I asked him to check out second hand car prices in the car studio one day! His friend was forced to close-up the shop just to accompany him to the car studio.

My maid, Aeni, also comes from a not-so-well-off family. Her father was ill one day and I asked her why she did not bring her dad to the doctor. She suspected that his dad had some gastric problems until he was bed-ridden. She has 2 elder brothers and 1 elder sister but they refused to come back to attend to their father. Aeni said sometimes she would avoid going home whenever she knows that her father was sick - claiming that "people worry less if they know less"! She also said that if she brings her dad to the doctor, they might discover that her dad might have some other illnesses that might require additional medical expenses.

After I threatened her that her father would die if his gastric was not treated, she finally agreed to take her dad to the doctor's. I really can't believe how people can behave like this??!! Maybe this is how people who live below the poverty line live? That's why we always remind ourselves to do more charitable things for these people and treat them well. God brought us to Indonesia for a reason and we have to make the situation better for 2 Indonesians if we can't help them all.