Insya Allah I will depart tomorrow to start my one month travel :). Hopefully I can get the visa on arrival! I don’t want my visa to be rejected anymore 🙁
Where am I going? For now, let me just show this picture as a hint:
Super excited! 🙂
I’ve been so busy these days! Too many things to do yet so little time. I’m heading for an uber awesome trip (still a mystery for now ;)) in 9 days time. Yes, you hear me, NINE DAYS! I’m just too excited about it! Wohoooo…
But despite of the excitement, I’m currently super busy with 2 projects. I want to finish them before my trip but I think I can only complete one of them. One of the projects that I’ve been doing is this:
I’m developing a website of Angklung Eindhoven (yes, it can be viewed). Compared to other websites that I’ve created, I didn’t design the template. I focused more on the back-end part (yes, by that I meant that I actually edit some plugins to add more features that suit my needs). The website is almost complete though. I think I can finish it by this week :).
The other project that I involve in is developing an Android tablet application for a restaurant. It’s kinda weird to develop this app, since I never actually played or owned an Android phone. But it’s been a fun journey! I’ve been learning a lot of things and I love Android! I’m doubtful that I’d be able to finish this app by next week, but I want some parts of it running, at least.
In addition to those two projects, I have another web development project to be done by next year AND a WordPress plugin related to traveling that is currently under development… which I decided to create for my own excitement. My own excitement?! Yeah, when a geek is bored, he/she would usually resort to coding. LOL.
🙂
I still can’t believe that I have left Europe for good. It does feel like a dream. It really feels like yesterday when I stepped into this country for the first time. Now I have left. I have left for the better :).
How long does a person need in order to feel rejected? The signs are posted everywhere. Only blind person can’t see them.
I wish I could just say, “Here. That’s the way out. That’s the door. Thank you for coming.”
But I just can’t.
This is what happened when I didn’t tidy up my room for more than a week. This is what happened when my desk is full of things and stuff. Papers, books, notes. All of them are in one messy desk. I think I need to spring clean my room before Ramadhan.
Speaking about Ramadhan… it’s going to be one lonely month for me. As always, I’m going to miss my mama’s foods!!!! *crying out loud* Hopefully this would be the last time I spend my Ramadhan in a non-Muslim country. I miss the Ramadhan atmosphere in Jeddah. Everyone’s mood is usually very happy and cheerful during this holy month. Everyone smiling. People giving foods on the streets for free. Colorful lights decorating the streets and shops. Taraweeh and tahajjud prayers echoing the neighborhood. The shops staying open until 4am. It just feels so different than here. Yes, I’m homesick. Terribly homesick.
I’ve said it before and I’m going to say it again. I’m not excited about working in KL at all. Part of the reason is that I don’t know the country! I hate this feeling of not knowing what to expect. I’m kinda lost and intimidated and I’m not confident about it at all.
For studying, I’d prefer to go to a country that is unknown and foreign to me. Before I went to the Netherlands, I didn’t read anything about the culture or the people or even the country itself. I wanted to surprise myself and experienced that culture shock. I deliberately did that.
But for working, I’d rather go to somewhere I’m familiar about. I’m not sure why it matters so much. Somehow, working in a familiar place boosts my confidence. I know how to deal with the people. I know the tricks. I know what to expect. I know what to do. I know my way around. I just feel more confident about myself.
But, seriously Amel!!! You just have to dive into it whether you like it or not!!! What’s so different about working and studying in a foreign country, anyway?! Both of them are foreign to you and you just have to get used to it!
Meh. Oh well.
I’m trying to list the good thing about living in KL/Malaysia so that I’m not too stressed out about moving there:
I didn’t plan to go anywhere today as I had to do my take-home exam. But then at the end of the day, I realized I didn’t have any foods left in the fridge, so I decided to do my last-minute grocery shopping.
On my way to the supermarket, just a few meters away from my house, I saw a huge bear-shaped balloon placed in front of a house. The bear balloon was so big!!! It’s twice higher than the entrance door! Then there were also many pink decorative balloons in front of the door, with a VERY BIG sign:
HOERA! EEN DOCHTER!!!
In English, it translates to: Hurray! It’s a girl!
Somehow it made me laugh! I could definitely understand the happiness of an arrival of a new baby, but to put a big sign and many huge balloons in front of your house, located on a busy street?! Hahaha. I didn’t know what to say. Ok, the street isn’t as busy as the city center, of course. But there are many people passing by, as the red light district is located just few meters away.
Suddenly, I felt like going to that house to congratulate the parents. LOL. I wanted to take a picture of the house, but there were just too many people there and I didn’t want to attract attention hahaha.
Thank God I went out of my cage.
2007. I started my final year project with 6 other great teammates. I became involved in a student organization called AIESEC, became in love with it, dived myself into it, and devoted my time for it. It was such a busy year, but I found a way to divide my time between uni, AIESEC, and Saman Dance. I met a lot of new awesome people, but I had much less quality time with my closest friends. I was ignorant enough to realize that this was my final year! I wasn’t ready to be apart from my best housemates in the world, Jenny and Mayu. As expected, time flew by and suddenly I held my farewell dinner. I had planned on going back to Jakarta upon graduation. But suddenly, my mum changed the plan; she would rather having me back in Jeddah.
2011. I’ve started my thesis project. I’ve been involved in an Indonesian student organization, PPI/e, become in love with it, dived myself into it, and have been devoting my time for it. It’s been quite busy time for me: thesis, PPI/e, and angklung! I’ve been meeting a lot of new awesome people, but I’ve been having much less quality time with my closest friends. No more potluck dinner or hanging out in a café for hours — I wonder if it was me or them who have no time. As usual, I’m ignorant enough to realize that this could be my last year in the Netherlands. I’m not ready to face farewell and to give up my routine that I come to love and enjoy. I’ve been planning to go straight to Jakarta upon my graduation, but 2 days ago, my mom called and she told me to go to Jeddah first because she misses me hahaha… 😛 So it seems like Allah SWT still wants me to go back to visit the Baitullah, uh? Lucky me 😉
I feel like my life is in a circle and I’m almost approaching the finish line. After the finish line, I’ll start the lap again — from the beginning — fresh, confused, and excited. I’ll be in the stage where I’ll try to adapt again, find new friends, be longing to go back to the past, and then… at some point in time, I’ll be enjoying my life again and thinking nothing but about the present and future. If my life is a process, then this would be the so-called steady-state (geek mode: ON hahaha).
Oh dear life. Please be gentle on me.
I finally met up with a Brazilian CouchSurfer, Vivian. She contacted me two weeks ago but I had been busy the past two weeks so we only got to meet today. I was so glad I met her! She’s my age, friendly, open-minded, and thoughtful. We had a very nice conversation for 3 hours at Usine, my favorite café (of course!). We just talked, talked, talked like we knew each other for years! Hahaha. It was a great afternoon!
Well, I learnt quite a bit of things about Brazil from her:
I can’t remember what else we talked about. There were too many things, but these were the main ones. We’re going to meet up for lunch next month probably… I’m going to cook an Indonesian food and she’ll cook a Brazilian food. Excited 🙂
I’m getting bored. Getting bored of spending my time with the same circle of friends again and again. It’s been a month (or probably more) that I unconsciously never move from this circle. I never even try to peek to another one. I’m kinda stuck here.
Don’t get me wrong, nothing wrong with them. This is just me. If you know me well, then you won’t be surprised. I need to be in a different environment. I need to talk to different people. I need to share with different individuals. I need to hear different stories. Something that stimulates me. That’s the reason why I like to have a different group of friends.
I guess, now is the right time to meet up with fellow CouchSurfers…