After living in megalopolis, rural village, village, small town, to countryside, I realized that it doesn’t matter where we live, it’s how we make the best of it.
I used to get so fixated on aesthetics. That in order to have a curated life, we must live in a certain place. Back in the day, I dreamed of living in a countryside and rural village, thinking I could do a homestead. But now, I came to the conclusion that it doesn’t matter where I go, all those things can still be done, I just need to stay still.
That staying still is quite impossible and in the end, it’s not about the place rather it’s how you make the best from your own circumstances. Nowadays, people are more open about their humble houses or places of living. For someone growing up in a modern small town, village life used to ick me. I looked at the village living as dirty and hard labor. But now, I enjoy parts of it.
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Where I live now is a part of the countryside but it connects major areas of the country. I also live near an airforce military complex that sometimes doesn't seem like it’s in the countryside. But we have a vast backyard where my grandma does a simple homestead. She grows some common tropical fruits and vegetables. It also has a chicken coop with a few chickens in it.
My home office is on the front part of the main house but my grandma visits me everyday to make sure I have eaten. Nowadays, not only do I work for my family business, I also help manage the customers from my brothers. He is an internet business owner providing WIFI to the people around the area.
Today is just another Tuesday in my life here. My morning started with doing some chores before I began to work at 9 to 5. After doing some chores, I typically check out my grandma and the main house.
Luckily, today we have an abundance of fresh bananas from the backyard. My grandma made this traditional Indonesian banana and yam stew. It’s a sweet stewed dessert which feels so warming. The fresh banana also made me want to make muffin.
So, I decided to bake one for me and the rest of the family. Most of the ingredients can be found from our backyard and even the egg is taken from the chicken coop that we have. The only thing I purchased was the muffin paper from the neighborhood corner’s store.
Since I have only moved in here, I am learning how to master the oven. It was pretty challenging to bake it to perfection and it doesn’t have the burnt look that I was looking for. This is my recipe for the banana bread but I didn’t really have the baking powder and baking soda. So, it didn’t really rise as intended. At the same time, I don’t use brown sugar and even added sugar.
In the end, pairing it with americano, it’s good to go and that powers me through the day especially when it’s packed with proteins as well.
The life I have here finally reminded me to make the best of everything. It’s not really about the place, it’s about how we make the best of it.
 | 𝘊𝘦𝘮𝘺 (𝘰𝘳 𝘔𝘢𝘤) 𝘪𝘴 𝘢 𝖼𝗋𝖾𝖺𝗍𝗂𝗏𝖾 𝗀𝖾𝗇𝖾𝗋𝖺𝗅𝗂𝗌𝗍 & 𝘤𝘰𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘯𝘰𝘪𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘶𝘳, 𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘮𝘣𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘵 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘣𝘢𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘵𝘸𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘴𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘶𝘥𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘰𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘴𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘬. 𝘏𝘦𝘳 𝘣𝘭𝘰𝘨 𝘳𝘦𝘧𝘭𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘴 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘭𝘶𝘴𝘵, 𝘤𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘰𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘺, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘨𝘳𝘰𝘸𝘵𝘩. 𝘠𝘰𝘶’𝘭𝘭 𝘰𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘯 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘴, 𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘩𝘯𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘺, 𝘱𝘰𝘱 𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦, 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘭, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘱𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘰𝘱𝘩𝘺; 𝘦𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘴𝘩𝘦’𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘤𝘶𝘱𝘴 𝘥𝘦𝘦𝘱 𝘪𝘯 𝘤𝘰𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘦. 𝘚𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘴𝘸𝘪𝘮𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘤𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘭𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘯𝘦𝘸 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘦𝘴. 𝘍𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘯 𝘏𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘣 𝘢 𝘤𝘶𝘱 𝘰𝘧 𝘤𝘰𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘴. |