• Nancy told us that she was ‘dying for a creambath’ even before she stepped to Indonesia. Thus, we instantly arranged a creambath appointment in Salon Nurita –a small, somewhat obscure salon that offers one of the best creambath in town.

    Nancy offered all of us to join her. I took my chance immediately. Who wouldn’t love an indulging creambath after all the exhaustion for the past few days? Yet, Alma and Dania were still reluctant. Alma stated that they ‘didn’t like anyone touching their skin’. I knew that they would give up their stand any second now.

    They ate their words; I told you! It only took a few minutes after Nancy and I were seated in the salon for them to rush in. Alma sat next to me and Dania beside her. I giggled at their hypocrisy. It’s time to start being fabulous.

    We were spoiled in a pampering creambath while grinning widely to each other. Nancy even made me took out my big camera to capture this moment. We smiled for the camera, foam-covered heads and all. I sprawled back and enjoyed every massage, letting go of all the muscle tensions from all the weary dance rehearsals, and traveling places. I can’t believe this is my job.

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    Next on Nancy’s schedule was Polo shopping. Alma and I went straight to Bandung Indah Plaza while Dania had other jobs to do. We needed something for Nancy to wear for the luncheon and opening ceremony for the Arte-Polis Conference tomorrow.

    Nancy was thrilled when we arrived at the Polo store. She tried on a couple formal shirts; our job was to grade her looks from 1 to 10. Strictly speaking, it was almost entirely my job to grade her looks since she gingerly doubted Alma’s judgment that always exceeds ‘ten’. On the other hand, she was impressed by my pedantic ‘four’ grade on an outfit that doesn’t pop through her blonde hair. Although Alma was bestowed the honour as her GPA (greatest personal assistant) we all agreed that I should be her fashion GPA this time.

    Next on the list was A&W Root beer. Honestly, both Alma and I never enjoyed a root beer; but we knew that it was not about us right now. We learned from Nancy that Australian A&Ws serves papa, mama, teen, and baby burger on the menu. It was such a cute way to sell your products. Nancy recommended the teen burger. Alma and I couldn’t wait to try them.

    We strolled along the mall after finishing our root beer. Nancy abruptly let out a sudden gasp. A ‘Fish Spa’ booth stood on our left hand side. Fish Spa is a recently popular therapy in Indonesia. It claims to get rid of dead skin cells and facilitate your blood flow by having little fishes attack your feet and nibble them –no I’m not making this up. We were too used to see them in Indonesia; yet we still had a hard time explaining to Nancy matter-of-factly. Nancy flinched in disgust; but she still managed to take a quick photo of one of the defenseless pair of feet.

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    I was dropped back to the museum for another rehearsal for the welcoming dance. Cio and Irene were already there, accompanied by a girl named Dinna – a representative of the flag carriers. Maya and Uthe were not there yet, but we really have to start going.

    Irene declared proudly that she had edited the song into just four minutes long. I was very relieved. Designing and dancing choreography of eight straight minutes would be impossible –especially if the performance day was tomorrow! I showed them my silat routine that I designed last night. They all loved it. Irene came up with her ideas inspired by a Javanese dance. It was very lovely. Soon, a riveting four-minute choreography for the song was ready.

    No, that wasn’t the end of our problem. All this time, we have been practicing in a small space inside our office. We would be dancing in the main hall tomorrow: a much bigger and wider space. We would have to rearrange our counts again, since it would take much more time to dance across the main hall. Currently, the hall is used by the ITB Symphony Orchestra for their rehearsal. There was no way we could practice there. Soon, Cio had to leave us to get our property. Irene and I were left in the venue, waiting for the main hall to clear up.

    After a few minutes, the orchestra packed their instruments and the main hall was empty. Irene and I were too tired to practice again, though. Moreover, there was no point practicing anyway since three of us were gone. I wondered around the building, offering my help to other committee members after strolling around the big museum to kill time.

    Then, I saw it. Ibu Dhian and Maya appeared in the neglected main hall together with a bunch of people. They were redesigning the flag bearer’s choreography.

    “We just... we just designed the our choreography to perfectly fit the flag’s routine!” panicked Irene

    “If they changed the choreography of the flag, that means they’ll change the whole dance choreography as well!”

    “And Maya! She will not argue back because she was not there when we practiced it!”

    We stared idly at the scene. Maya was leading a line of flag bearers to enter from the center part of the stage. Ibu Dhian was observing carefully from the side. This is not how we vision it.

    Irene gave me a look, insinuating that I should talk to Ibu Dhian about this. I returned her gaze, but she refused to move. I gave up and strode reluctantly to discuss with Ibu Dhian.

    I head back with a smile. It was very relieving once I found out that we didn’t have to change any bit of the dance choreography. Luckily, her routine to match our timing perfectly. The flag bearers move when we wanted them to do so. Irene and I can now smile at ease.

    Soon, the dance troop was in full attendance and armor. Uthe brought our finished costumes and Cio brought our ribbon sticks. We practiced in the main hall from the top. Over and over again. Our worries were right; it does take a longer time to travel across the main hall compared to the small space in the office. We had to delete some moves, and add a few more. It was a long night, but we finally got it.