WHO WE ARE
Matteo, Italian, from Rome. A wild traveler, art and adventure lover, a digital nomad with no roots, a wandering soul among the Asian borders and without any idea about “how to stop somewhere and, I mean to stop for real!”.
A day I met Milia.
Milia, Indonesian, born in a remote paradisiacal island, one of those places that every single person on this planet dreams during the lunch break when it’s winter, dark, it rains, everything is cold, also the job, also the feet. You’ve got me, right?
She is shy, until when you know her, serious when she wants, pharmacist, independent, an explosion of life.
#1 Bali and the Motorbike - The Tire is flat
We were both living in Bali and using one of those applications where you can meet people online trying to guess if potentially could be matching, yes or no, before to real hanging out with them and regretting it. Yes, Tinder. Only a few chatting later, I understood I was going to discover a hidden treasure.
I’ve promised her a sunset time with something to drink, and I’ve promised myself, to be myself. No fancy places with colored cocktails, cause I had neither the right clothes to wear among my travel stuff. I’ve opted for my favorite beach bar instead: The Kokoloko. A wood house surrounded by hundreds of sandbags. I’ve thought that if she was going to like the place, I had some chances even some hours later!
#2 Milia - First Date
When I picked her up, I felt like an ice cream melting under the sun. She just exited from the office. She was beautiful, even more beautiful than how beautiful she was beautiful on that phone, and simple, and there in front of me. I’ve tried to be funny and kind at the same time. Everything seemed to run smoothly. And I knew we had not a long time before the sunset gone down, so I’ve asked her to jump on the bike and to do not be scared. I’ve switched on my “Valentino Rossi Mode”, so I pushed down the gas.
#3 Matteo - First Date
After 3, or maybe 4 traffic lights, well, not so far, maybe only after some minutes of incredible stunts on the wheels, well maybe between a Vespa and a Toyota, a few millimeter far from the car door, before a big hole in the road, on the right side of a wood log, and after avoiding a splash of water from the Warung Lalapan Goreng Mantap, well, there, I felt the motorbike weird.
I felt unsure, I stretched my arm on left to give a sign and I stopped the bike. The tire was flat. Milia laughed hard. “Valentino Rossi, uh? With this bike, you will never finish first, you know?”
We’ve laughed hard and we both understood that we would never be on time for that sunset.
HOW WE'VE GOT THE IDEA
By the way, the tire blown in Bali is not rare. That’s the reason, driving around, you will always find a “Press Ban” every corner, ready to repair your tires between a puff of a cigarette and a hammer hit.
Well. Ok, that was our first dating. It wasn’t horrible at the end, we’ve just changed the plan and met again until actually we got married. But one day I’ve thought again about that tire, and I’ve realized how it was so normal for me it blew, so regular and common, while it wasn’t for many other people around the world. And I’ve also realized how many cultural differences, every day, me and Milia have to deal, digest and transform in something beautiful and something which it is “us”, like two engineers building a huge and colored bridge. Colored. Boom. What if I draw it?
Welcome to West in Asia. The first illustrated blog talking about how an Italo-Indonesian couple lives a normal, such different, happy married life.
Matteo & Milia
About the Autors: Matteo, digital nomad. Milia, pharmacist. Happily married, living in Bali, often traveling around.
