Project 365

God turns you from one feeling to another and teaches by means of opposites, so that you will have two wings to fly, not one.

— Jalal ad-Din Rumi

I went to Enschede, a city about 3 hours away from Eindhoven by train. I visited a good friend of mine, Maureen, and I wanted to get out of Eindhoven for a while. I just needed something different (how many times did I say this?).

I had a great time catching up, of course… despite the tiring 6 hours back and forth journey by train. I slept the whole time! I managed to read only few pages of Dan Brown’s before eventually fell asleep. I was too tired. I had only few hours of sleep.

I reached Eindhoven at 8.45pm and was relieved to find my one and only bicycle was still there. I parked it in the train station and it’s risked of being stolen. But I had no choice, I almost missed my train. Thankfully, it was still there when I went back.

Then I went to Andreea’s place to catch up with other friends. It was a long day. It was fun and worth it at the same. Did I mention that the snow has melted already? 🙂

It was snowing SO.HEAVILY. today. ALL DAY. It was the worst I had ever experienced. The country never had this much of snow for one whole day. Today was clearly the exception.

It just happened that today I had so many things to do which required me to go out of the house. I used to live in the center for two straight years, so everything was close by. But it was different this year. I could really feel the hardship of fighting the snow, trying to get from A to B. I almost fell from my bike for many times. It was so hard to keep it balance. It was quite scary. The roads were soooo slippery. Going by car was as much dangerous as going by bike. A friend even told me she hit another car as she couldn’t brake her car.

And you may wonder by now, why didn’t I take a bus?

EXACTLY.

Your pain is the breaking of the shell that encloses your understanding. Even as the stone of the fruit must break, that its heart may stand in the sun, so must you know pain. And could you keep your heart in wonder at the daily miracles of your life, your pain would not seem less wondrous than your joy; And you would accept the seasons of your heart, even as you have always accepted the seasons that pass over your fields. And you would watch with serenity through the winters of your grief

— Kahlil Gibran

It’s weird not to play angklung for awhile. I miss it.

Alhamdulillah, I’ve passed a small milestone. I’ve created a project description for the thesis and thankfully my professor liked it! He signed some documents to be passed to the education administrator, in which a green light to start the thesis project will be given.

Even though it’s a small milestone, I’m so happy. That means my thesis will definitely start soon and I have no reason to postpone it again. The project will officially be started in February and will hopefully be finished by the end of August *fingers crossed*. At least, that’s what I wrote in the document 😀

Ya Allah, please guide me through this difficult journey. I need Your support.

I was watching some videos on TED.com when I suddenly encountered this interesting comment about poor people:

You probably think poor people all across the United States can just pick themselves up out of the dirt, go to college, and get a great job, thus eliminating all of their problems. And if they don’t do that, they’re lazy. It’s so frustrating dealing with people who do not understand how external factors contribute to the perpetuation of poverty in the United States. Take a look at "In Search of Respect" by Philippe Bourgois, and he’ll show you how the downtrodden turned their lives around, ditched the drugs, and said to society "I"m ready to change my life." They try to get a job. Society replies, "sorry, you don’t fit in with us well-to-do people. You don’t dress right, you don’t have the skills, and you don’t have the attitude to be a successful person." Yet, from the beginning, society inhibited their ability to, for example, get the decent "education" required to function in society. It’s a vicious cycle, and it applies here.

— Michael Toyama

It doesn’t only exist in the U.S. It’s everywhere. What can we do about it?

Yes, I didn’t plan to go out of the house today. But I had to go to my friend’s place for a while. The streets were very slippery! I almost fell from my bike a couple of times. It was truly a challenge to cycle on the snowy roads. Let’s be more careful, yes?

-16 degrees Celsius of windchill! Time to hibernate?

I woke up with this view 🙂 . It was snowing heavily yesterday and I had trouble cycling as the streets were quite slippery. It will even be more slippery today. Cycling can be very dangerous. Well, I’m planning to stay at home today anyway.