Project 365

Koninginnedag (Queen’s Day) is a national holiday in the Netherlands which celebrates the birthday of the Queen of the Netherlands and symbolizes a national unity and togetherness. Queen’s day is one of the most celebrated holidays in the Netherlands, where people dress in orange (which refers to the name of the Dutch royal family, The House of Orange) and gather in the center of the city (in Dutch: centrum) for parties, concerts, etc. The centrum of all big cities in the Netherlands are generally packed with people, with most main roads are closed to cater for many entertainment events. Amsterdam is perhaps the most visited city for the Queen’s Day. A friend of mine told me that even the trains leading to the city had to be suspended due to the exploding number of people in the Central Amsterdam train station.

On this special day, anyone in the country are also allowed to sell things in the streets without being taxed. As I’m not a big fan of being around with drunk people and loud music, I preferred to spend this year’s Queen’s Day helping teh Rita and others selling many things on the market. I got the opportunity to practice my Dutch speaking skill with the customers and Oma Yana (pictured). It was a fun day; we managed to be there from 9am til 3pm and got about 70 Euros!!! I was so happy. The money would be used for our religious activities (i.e. mosque) and donated to Indonesia. I was very satisfied 🙂

I also went around the market to hunt for cheap stuff. I was looking for Scrabble, the game I used to play when I was a teen, but found none (I found the children version though). I bought two beautiful necklaces for 50 cents (both!). It was worth it!

We went home (back to teh Rita’s place) at 3pm and it took us more than half an hour to reach home! All roads leading to centrum were closed for concerts (the music was very loud, it could be heard from as far as teh Rita’s place! — about 2 kilometers from centrum). I was quite tired by then and decided to take a rest about an hour before continuing to cook for our weekly pengajian.

After having a 4-day road trip in 3 different countries, I came back home and arrived today at 2am. I went to bed at around 3.30am and woke up again at 8am. I had to go to Den Haag with my friends Ian, mbak Linda, and Sam. We had planned this gathering two weeks ago so that we could have a reunion with all the Indonesian people at the Boekenfestijn. And I was so glad I met all of them, except Maureen though 🙁 She had promised to come but I didn’t hear any words from her.

Anyway, we then went to the Pasar Malam organized by our Indonesian embassy in Den Haag. I spent quite a bit of money as I ate too many foods there! We also got the opportunity to watch some of the performances which were very entertaining! I had such a great time! 🙂

Ian and I then went to Amsterdam at around 6.30pm. I asked him to accompany me to meet my mom’s friend in Jeddah, tante Novi & family, who were here for vacation. I brought some stroopwaffels for my little brother 😀 . Tante Novi and oom Agung then invited us for dinner at an Indonesian restaurant called Kantjil (yet another Indonesian foods for today! hehehe). It wasn’t bad at all.

We took the last train to Eindhoven. I’m too tired but I’m impressed that I still managed to write this post! 😀

*the last 4 days of the posting will be written later 🙂

The Boeken Festijn has ended. Today was my last day of working there. I worked from 12pm til 10.30pm! It was tiring, as usual. But I had SOO much fun with the people I worked with; my new friends. We had a lunch break together and some brought foods to share with. Ian brought a delicious kentang kering (dried potatoes), kak Linda & Sam brought some kerupuk (and something else, probably? I forgot!), and I brought macarona bechamel (a left over from the dinner party last night). We ate together, took pictures, made jokes, and laughed… while visitors passed us by probably wondering what in the world we were doing there! Hehehe. It was as if we had our own world and we didn’t give a damn on other people hihihi.

Too bad that we couldn’t work together anymore! But we planned on meeting up (and reunion) in the beginning of April and I just couldn’t wait for it! Hope to see you all sooooon!

* Picture taken by Maureen. L-R: mbak Dessy, Bahri, Ian, Sam, me, kak Linda, Indah.

The Book Festival @ Brabanthallen

A book that has 300 recipes for Nutella!

taking a pic with a DJ bfore he’s famous

Some ppl are working, some are posing…

Bahri & Linda working 🙂

Bosche bollen — a must eat! Super!!!

Today was the second day I worked at the Book Festival. I went to Den Bosch with my friend Bahri as well as my new friends Maureen and mbak Dessy (who stayed over at my place for few days). We decided to take a bus as it was much cheaper (although it took us 1 hour to get to Den Bosch; compared to only 20 minutes by train hehehe). Once we arrived, we went straight to buy Bossche bol, which was a super delicious chocolate ball and was only available in Den Bosch! It was my second time eating it, and I couldn’t be happier! 😀

I took few pictures today when I was working at the Book Festival. It was in low quality though, as I took them with my poor mobile phone. But anyway, that’s how the festival was going to be like. The place was quite huge. My job was to unload and arrange those books; it involved a lot of carrying, pushing, sorting, walking, good eyes, and good memory. We worked for 9 hours for the preparation of the festival and got 15 minutes break every few hours (1 hour in total). Today was the last day of the festival’s preparation (tomorrow is the opening), so I worked longer than expected and went home quite late.

The good thing was I went home with Bahri so at least I wasn’t alone and had someone to talk with. We had a good conversation on the way back and we reached Eindhoven at around 9.30pm. Quite late, huh? But anyway, there were a lot of things to be thankful for. Judging by the pictures, didn’t I look happy (though tired)? Hehehe.

I work at the Boeken Festijn (Book Festival) again this week. This is my third time working in this festival (I worked in Rotterdam and Eindhoven previously). I’ll be working for only three days though; trying to get money for my Easter trip. Den Bosch is only 20 minutes away by train from Eindhoven, so it’s not far at all.

Anyway, I really enjoy working at this festival. Besides having the opportunity to see the books and buy them with the discounted price, I get the chance to meet new people, including Indonesians living in different parts of the Netherlands. They are mostly students and ex-students who are searching for permanent jobs and trying to survive in this country buy being part-timers. I do admit that sometimes I’m quite hesitant to meet Indonesian students; mainly because I don’t feel that I think the same way as them. We have different lifestyles. We have different ways of thinking. We have different stuff to talk about.

But these Indonesian people that I usually meet at the Book Festival are of different category. Perhaps they’re more mature. Or they don’t mind to work and try not to spend their parent’s money. Or they’re humble. Either way, I feel like I belong into the right group.

Although the work is quite tiring, but every time I have a break, I always have wonderful time. Laughing. Cheering. Even to the point… screaming! Hahaha. It is such a joy to be entertained and to be “freshed” again when I go back to work after a 15-mins break.

I’m off to work again tomorrow. I have to wake up early and gain extra energy. Good night, people!