Project 365

It’s definitely not about my residence permit. But it’s a very very good news coming from Brisbane, Australia!

A close friend of mine sent me a message today that she’s planning to get married next year. And she insists me to attend the wedding ceremony and be her maid of honor! I was so happy and thrilled upon reading her message!!! I was crying of excitement! I felt so touched too, to be one of the first people to know about her plan — and not to mention that she chooses me as her maid of honor! Wew, I feel so honored! This would be my first time to be a bridesmaid!!

Ah, next year is still a long way to go. But I don’t know how I’m going to do this, seriously — knowing that I already have so many traveling plans laid out. Going to Australia is not cheap. The travel costs are too much and I haven’t got any money for that yet. Maybe I should book AirAsia flight from KL to Gold Coast by this year. And maybe I should cancel my other plans and put them for the year after. Or maybe I’ll do all of them. It really depends on my financial situation next year.

Whatever happens, I can’t refuse to attend the wedding, as I have promised her for many times that I’d come back to Australia if she’s going to get married. She also kept her promise that she’d tell me about it a year ahead before her wedding, so that I would have enough time to prepare. She’s even willing to change the wedding date if the time doesn’t suit me! So there’s no reason for me to not attend the wedding! Hehehe.

If I eventually go back to Australia, it’s going to be a sweet reunion! I haven’t seen her ever since I bade farewell 2 years ago, although yes, we do have Skype session once in a while. I miss the 3 years we spent together as a roommate. And I’ll meet other friends back in the college too!!! I can’t wait! I’m sure Brisbane has changed a lot. I want to reminisce the good old days. Ah, those sweet days that are unforgettable. Insya Allah I’ll find a way to be there.

Who wants to join me? 🙂 (maybe this would be the best time for me to go to Cairns too! To see the Great Barrier Reef!!!! If only money can be grown like plants…)

in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

Life is somehow full of irony. Full of surprises. Let us go back in time 14 years ago. It is now 1996, Junior High School.

I sit in the back seat of the class, not too excited to hear the lesson given by my teacher. I can barely hear what she is trying to say, anyway! The class is too crowded. Everyone is busy with their own thing. Chatting. Drawing. Making jokes. The teacher does not seem to care. She is giving a lesson to the three pupils in front of her. And she probably thinks that we does not exist.

The class is getting more like a fish market rather than a place to get someone educated. The boys are getting so bored that they keep on teasing us and making us annoyed. I have been in the same class with them for years and I know how naughty they are! They love to mess around with us and the teachers! Being punished in front of the class becomes their daily food. And they do not have a slight regret about it!

… and let us go forward to the future. It is now 2010. Andalus Mall, Jeddah.

Here they are! We are all reunited once again. I have not seen them since God knows when. We talk about relationship, love, life, work, and many random issues. Damn, it has been so long. They all have changed! They have surely grown up. I can no longer see a naughty boy who likes to get into troubles, but I can only see a man. A good man with a good heart and responsibilities await :).

I am curious of what kind of future we are all going to end up in. What will we become in 10 years?

* Such a great day with some friends! Thanks all 🙂

Today was my last day in Eindhoven before leaving for Jeddah. And it was my last ifthar at the Turkish mosque as the Turkish people were going to celebrate Eid the next day. So since some of my friends would go back to Indonesia and I wouldn’t be seeing them again until they would return next month, I proposed to have a small gathering at Usine, a cozy cafe in the centrum (city center), right after the ifthar.

I was quite happy that it turned out many of my friends who came to the mosque joined the gathering at the cafe! And out of nowhere, Jessie gave me a birthday card and a gift!!! I WAS SO SURPRISED! OMG! An early birthday surprise! I never expected anything! And I didn’t suspect anything was going to happen that day! I mean, come on, I was just expecting a simple gathering, everyone enjoying themselves catching up with others… But it turned out that there were some hidden agenda behind it! Hahahaha! Jessie covered it up so well and got everyone write something on the card itself! Good joooob!

And what did I get?? A Versace perfume with the body lotion!!! I smelled this perfume when I was at a perfume shop with Jessie and I immediately really loved it! And she bought this for meeee… oh how sweet of herrrr. I was so touched, moved, and overwhelmed today! Thank you everyone, especially Jessie and Agni who planned the whole thing! 🙂

   

So yeah, since everyone knew that my birthday was coming up soon, they expected me to pay for the drinks. LOL. Sorry guys, I wished I knew I’d have been prepared! Hahaha.

In addition to the surprise, I had a great time that evening! Had a good laugh and catch up. Thank you again for coming! I really appreciate it. See you next month! 🙂

I wasn’t planning to do anything today as I only had few hours of sleep. I was still very tired. I just wanted to stay at home. But then at around 12pm a good friend of mine, Arya asked me if I would be interested to join in for cycling. His cousin was in town for a visit and he wanted to show her around. Since today was my last day of vacation before going back to school, I decided to join them for a city tour 🙂

We first went to the lake near our campus. It’s quite a big lake and it’s a really nice place to do picnic. If it was sunny, we would have done that!

Then we went to Evoluon, the UFO-like conference center which was originally built by Philips to house a science museum. Evoluon is one of the icons of Eindhoven. It isn’t a pretty building if you look at it in closer distance, though.

From Evoluon, we cycled towards the south of Eindhoven to the Genneper Parken (Genneper Parks). Nothing much here, except few museums and a water windmill.

In total, we cycled for around 15 kilometers! I could feel my back needed a massage afterwards :P. But it was quite fun. The weather was really gloomy with occasional rain. If it was sunny, it’d be much better! I reached home at around 6pm and dropped dead to sleep right away. I wanted to go to the Turkish mosque for ifthar but I overslept until 9pm! Haha. I was too tired. Great day!

Just some of the pictures of today’s highlights:

This is me and Jessie at an electronic shop, Mediamarkt, amazed by this Samsung’s 3D TV!

And we found the most expensive headphone I’ve ever seen in my life! Yes, the price tag was 399 Euro (which was about US $500 or Rp. 4.6 million)! What’s the special thing about this headphone? It could “reduce” the external noise. For example, if you’re in the airplane, which usually requires you to turn up the volume of your player because of the noise coming from the airplane. But, using this headphone, you’ll most probably no need to do that. Amazing, but useless, somehow. I’d rather spend that amount for a tiny Sony laptop, which was 30 Euro cheaper than the headphone!

Then I went to the graduation ceremony of my friend Reyhan. There were 19 graduands who were given their degrees, but only one person was a female. Awesome! 🙂

After having ifthar at the Turkish mosque, I sat in a cafe with a CouchSurfer from San Diego, the States whom I currently hosted. I had a nice conversation with her. Great evening, indeed!

Phew, what a day.

Look what I got today!!! A book sent by a friend of mine, Mulia who now lives in the UK. I promised her to send the “mim” chocolate letter and she sent me this one! I was so happy when I received it — though I was a bit concern that I got more unread books nowadays. Gotta read them soon!

From another different part of the world, Mayu sent me a message on Facebook. Geez, I didn’t realize we haven’t been in contact for over 2 months already! She’s a close friend of mine who used to be my roommate in Brisbane for almost 3 years! We usually have this regular Skype session, updating on each other’s life. That’s the only way to keep us bonded. One thing that struck me was the closing sentence of her message, which read: “Anything new in your life? Don’t be a stranger!”

I won’t, Mayu. I won’t. I promise I’ll contact you soon. I miss you!

And though the waves might bring you down and though the currents might pull you under, the sky is always still right above you. And your friends will show you the way.

— Iain Thomas @ I Wrote This For You

Yes, my friends will show me the way. They already did. I just can’t stop being thankful for their lovely presence :). For their ‘commitment’ on this friendship. For everything they have done to me. Though they always feel that they did nothing; trust me, it’s something significant to me.

And there’s him. Despite of our past, he’s somehow always there, appearing in front of my door every single time with his lovely smile, expecting nothing than a delightful moment together. We understood that it couldn’t go any further, for we sail to different directions. But we are in the same ship. And we’re going to cherish every memories of our friendship.

And that’s how a real grown-up is supposed to act. Don’t you agree? 🙂

* Got a lovely present and I’m happy! Thanks!

Happy to find this calendar made by my dear friend, Tina 🙂 Miss you, girl!

One evening with Jessie resulted in this “nice” conclusion:

He is an a**h***. He is not worth it for you. And you deserve someone much better than him.

… and some disagreements and arguments, of course :D. Such a nice evening! Hihihi. A slap in the face is all I need now 🙂