30/3 – The last day

Miri, more than five weeks my home and then suddenly, it’s here. The last day of the course. Edwanee shows us a video of what happened for real at the Rabi field, and asks us to fill out a survey to evaluate the course and then we’re done. We mail our course books home, have lunch and then it’s the big goodbye. Many hugs, handshakes and kisses later everybody is going their own way. It’s a bit emotional of course, but since many people will visit Holland to do courses in Rijswijk I have plenty of opportunities to see them again. Simon tells me we will meet, be it in Rijswijk, Assen, Aberdeen, London or Paris, and I wholeheartedly agree with him. Shin Yea will be visiting Rijswijk in the summer, Tan is going to Germany in June, Frank will be in Assen for the next four years. We will meet again. Unfortunately Tan is already gone; he had to rush to catch his plane. He sends a nice SMS to apologize for his unceremonious goodbye.

After saying goodbye I join Chia and Simon to do some shopping. Simon spents about 90 minutes to buy a new cell phone, which gives Chia, Frank and me the opportunity to feel very tired and not look forward to the flight home and the resulting jet lag. Not for Chia of course, he’s going back to KL on Sunday. Chia has given the whole group a DVD with the photos everybody took the past five weeks. A great goodbye gift. Back at the hotel, we shop around the corner for some birds’ nests for Simon’s parents. This stuff is expensive; six tiny pieces for 380RM!

Four o clock draws near, and after I find the battery charger I forgot in my room it’s on to the airport. Frank, Severine, Sebastian and me are all on the same flight to KL via Kuching. We say goodbye to Chia, Azwan, Anis and Bob, and the friendly staff at the Grand Palace Hotel. They’ve done an excellent job of ensuring our comfort these past five weeks.

At the airport I have more trouble with my ticket to KL, just like on the flight over here. It gets settled, but I fly cattle class to KL and the rest is flying business class. I feel lonely… We stop at Kuching for about an hour and head on to KL, where I realize that Frank and Severine are on the Malaysian Airlines flight, while I am on the KLM flight. This is a slight problem, since Frank has checked on of my bags since I couldn’t take it due to cattle class weight restrictions. I’ll have to wait for him in Amsterdam, his flight is 45 minutes later then mine.

The flight is long and boring. I watch Happy Feet, which is a stupid movie, and A Night at the Museum, which also is a stupid movie. I watch Supersize Me on my laptop, which is not a stupid movie. Finally, the plane lands after 11 and a half hours of flying and I’m home. When I collect my luggage, the customs officer asks me where I’m from, and when I say ‘Malaysia’ I’m in for it. My luggage gets turned inside out, but despite my score of 49 DVDs, there is no problem. Very good. Then I’m free again and I move into Holland again. Mom and dad are there, and surprise, so are Danielle and her father. Great surprise! We sit down to have a cup of coffee and wait for Frank’s plane to arrive. He arrives about an hour later, and then it’s on to Nijmegen and lots of sleep.