Life On Rainy Friday

The world turns on and on.

The flick of raindrop now becomes a lullaby embracing me all the night long. To my ears the distant thunder sounds like an acoustic percussion of natural orchestra. Really, several days raining made me getting familiar with them all. Even the cold air I breathe gives me an exotic sensation inside my lungs. Once more there’s no warm golden sunlight to greet pedestrians on the street. But life doesn’t need any choice. It keeps going on no matter the picture of gray cloudy sky still hanging outside my window.

I spent my last Friday to have jungle trekking to the heart of Sungai Wain (in English it means Wain River) Protected Forest. I went there with my grade 9 students in correlation with their Biology project. SWPF is pure tropical rainforest in East Borneo. It is a living laboratory where the Dutch scientist Gabriela Fredrikson did her research on sunbear (Helarctos malayanus) population.

Having jungle trekking on such rainy days actually could be funny and challenging experience especially for my students. The hard rain the days before had changed the trek line into a 3 kilo meters blanket of slippery mud. It was exactly where the worm leech family hid. A group of mosquito welcomed us every step we took. Every fifteen minutes I heard a student screamed when his/her body successfully landed on that soft sticky mud. It felt like rollerblading along the jungle trek :p. Lucky for us, the sky was a little bit brighter. The soft sunshine was shining through the canopy of leaves above us.

As we walked deeper to the inner side of SWPF I wished to see the legendary sunbear or the species of orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus). I thought it must be brilliant if I could see them right on their habitat. But the only animal I found was a giant centipede crawling on the trunk of tropical tree. Eka, our guide said that sunbear and orangutan were completely shy and sensitive mammals. It meant we couldn’t find them easily.

It took about two hours to finish the trek. When we got to the camp, the rain poured down once again. After having lunch, the boys went to the close mosque to do Friday praying and the girls prayed at the camp. At 2pm we made our way to Tanah Merah beach. Based on the schedule arranged by the Biology teacher, the students had a final project observing mangrove ecosystem there.

During that one hour trip, the weather didn’t seem to be better. I let myself lost in the green scenery outside the bus and wondering what I am going to write in my daily journal. Writing about another rainy day would be so boring if I couldn’t smartly alternate my words. It is the hardest part in writing an interesting journal since I am not a professional writer. Describing what I have experienced on my own words and way is something what I am doing right now. In most part of its process I often let my instinct leading my way to the source of inspiration. Write it or leave it. That’s all.

Finally it didn’t take along time to stay on Tanah Merah beach. As soon as the students finished their Biology project, we were heading back to the school. The mangrove was 300 meters in front of me but I was too lazy to walk under the rain all over again. I think I’d be better choose another day. The mangrove can wait.

Well, the world turns on and on.

Should I miss the sunset on that rainy Friday evening?