[The other way home] People of the World : Jesha
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Nika
Jul 20, 2010, 11:06:00 PM7/20/10
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Trust me, after the last rainy days in Sapa (Northwest Vietnam) my clothes really needed laundry. As soon as I got to Bali we went straight to Gili Air and hadn't had the chance to bring my stuff to laundry...so my clothes and shoes were in a state you would not have wanted to be anywhere near them ! Once back to Kuta - Legian actually - I went to a small laundry place to drop my clothes off. And there was Jesha, a 31 year old lovely woman with whom I stayed for about 30 to 45 minutes when I was only meant to drop off my laundry. She guessed I has 16 years old... nice guess !
Mother of six, she lost her oldest kid due to an infection before being left by her husband 7 years ago because she hadn't had any girls.
She now runs two laundry businesses and is in charge of two of her remaining 5 kids.
She asked me where I was staying and what was I going to do when my friend left (Fred). Worried about me, she offered me her room upstairs where she rests sometimes. Almost apologising she told me that the room had almost nothng, only "fridge, TV, DVD, fan"...okay, that's about the most luxurious place we've been ! So we came back with Fred to check out the room and stayed there, for 50.000Rp/night, for both of us ! This is probably the best deal ever in Kuta....and in high season !
We then invited her out to dinner, and stopped by every day at the laundry to have a short chat or to leave some laundry for which she would continously refuse to be paid !
She would always make fun of her 14-year-old son who tried to help her out at the laundry sometimes.... and could only iron 1 piece/hour ! Because she could do around 500/day !
When I went by to say good-bye she wondered how was I going to go to the airport and told her I would grab a taxi (my flight was leaving at 1:40am) so she begged me to come by whenever I wanted to leave so taht she could take me. I say beg, but it was actually non-negotiable.
It was a pleasure to see that even in the heart of the busy Kuta you can still find such great people.
--
Posted By Nika to The other way home at 7/21/2010 05:06:00 AM
Mother of six, she lost her oldest kid due to an infection before being left by her husband 7 years ago because she hadn't had any girls.
She now runs two laundry businesses and is in charge of two of her remaining 5 kids.
She asked me where I was staying and what was I going to do when my friend left (Fred). Worried about me, she offered me her room upstairs where she rests sometimes. Almost apologising she told me that the room had almost nothng, only "fridge, TV, DVD, fan"...okay, that's about the most luxurious place we've been ! So we came back with Fred to check out the room and stayed there, for 50.000Rp/night, for both of us ! This is probably the best deal ever in Kuta....and in high season !
We then invited her out to dinner, and stopped by every day at the laundry to have a short chat or to leave some laundry for which she would continously refuse to be paid !
She would always make fun of her 14-year-old son who tried to help her out at the laundry sometimes.... and could only iron 1 piece/hour ! Because she could do around 500/day !
When I went by to say good-bye she wondered how was I going to go to the airport and told her I would grab a taxi (my flight was leaving at 1:40am) so she begged me to come by whenever I wanted to leave so taht she could take me. I say beg, but it was actually non-negotiable.
It was a pleasure to see that even in the heart of the busy Kuta you can still find such great people.
--
Posted By Nika to The other way home at 7/21/2010 05:06:00 AM
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