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.

Staying over at teh Rita’s place today. I had to help her cooking but I ended up helping mas Umar with the RDF thing. I learnt new thing today about RDF, for sure 🙂

As there’s another guest of teh Rita who’s staying over tonight, I’m going to sleep at her daughter’s room. I really love the room! So cozy and pink! It’s not my favorite color but this room was the kind of room I longed to have when I was still a kid. I used to love looking at IKEA catalogues and dreaming about the sort of room I would like to have. It was a little kid’s wish. I’m kinda reminiscing about my awesome childhood memories.

I have successfully influenced my friend Ari to Arabic music! Haha! And she seemed to like it! 🙂

Anyway, I was supposed to have dinner with my friend today, but unfortunately she cancelled it. I was a bit disappointed about it as we hadn’t seen each other for so long, but I understood that she had some stuff to sort out.

I went for an afternoon walk today and I thoroughly loved it. Walking for half an hour, thinking about my life and other issues. It’s enjoyable. Spending your time alone is really important 🙂

And what was the result of this afternoon walk? I got an idea to write for my blog. Stay tuned!! 🙂

Everyday I check my mobile phone hoping that I get a missed call or a text message from you.

Every time you send me an instant message and ask me how I’m doing, I wonder if you miss me.

Sometimes I wonder if I was ever on your mind today. Or yesterday. Or the day before yesterday. Would you let me know if you did?

Then I thought, why would I hope for such a thing? Why would I wonder about something that will not lead me to any concrete point?

Perhaps, I am just curious. I want to feel secured. I want to feel like I am not the only person in the world hoping and wondering for such things. Knowing the answer to these bits would make me smile.

Eventually.

I’ve been having a healthier breakfast or brunch everyday since I was sick 2 weeks ago. I usually opt for fresh milk and cereal in the morning, but because I’m still coughing I try to avoid cold milk for now. So I’ve been drinking delicious Chocomel everyday. I’m also a big fan of any kind of cheese, butter, or margarine and I can’t miss it on my breakfast! To add a little bit of “energy”, I add tuna salad spread which is really delicious 😀 Not to forget a fruit, of course.

I miss banana milk, the white milk, and the cereal. I can’t wait til the day I’m totally free from cough 😉

But for now, I enjoy this kind of breakfast/brunch!

Jessie, Ari, and I were supposed to wake up at 8am today. We planned to go to Lisse, a town made famous for tulip fields and the biggest flower garden in the world: Keukenhof. But none of us seemed to hear the alarm and the next thing we knew, it was already 10.30 am! LOL!

Today wasn’t as beautiful as yesterday though. The sun was hiding and it was forecasted to be raining. It was a bit chilly too (good thing I brought my coat this time!). But we went to Lisse anyway. We rented a bike near the Keukenhof and cycled around the town to see the flower fields (especially the tulips!). It was beautiful! Such an amazing thing to see massive fields with different colors of flowers scattered for many kilometers! Although I did the same thing last year, it was still worth doing! 🙂

We went back to Utrecht at around 8pm to pick up my stuff at Jessie’s place and went straight to Eindhoven. Overall, I had a super great weekend with my girls 🙂 Really enjoyed the laugh and the talks we had! Next plan is: ice skating 😉

Had an awesome day today with my girls, Ari and Jessie in Kinderdijk, a village that was famous for the windmills. There were 19 windmills in total, which made this village one of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites. The day was PERFECT! The sun was shining so brightly and the sky was clear and blue. It was such a beautiful day. We walked along the path leading to these windmills, sat nearby a small river (or canal) and warm ourselves up under the sun, and had a great talk, as usual.

We went back to Jessie’s place in Utrecht at around 8 or 9pm, where Ari and I slept over there for a night. I was REALLY tired as I slept at 5am the night before. But I really enjoyed my day and I couldn’t be more happier and thankful 🙂

A friend asked me over YM: “How did you know this guy – the time when you were not using your brain?”

Yes, it’s so harsh, I know. I was even offended when he said it. But he’s always been like that. He say things honestly without thinking about what the other person will feel like. Yes, he’s too mean. We fought many times because of it. But I always turned to him for opinions.

When I said to him about how nice the guy was, he just went on to tell me: “I just don’t listen easily to a judgement made under the condition where a brain is absent.” OUCH! It directly stabbed my heart!

But, for whatever reasons, I appreciate that he said those mean words to me. Perhaps, I need someone to remind me that what I did was absolutely wrong. I shouldn’t be doing it in the first place. I needed someone to slap my face. And he successfully did that to me. Thanks a bunch, Kram for the reminder 🙂

This is his favorite song from Alicia Keys’ newest album. It’s one of my favorites too. Every time I hear the song, it reminds me of him. I never actually paid attention to the lyrics. But then I realize that this song is about a guy and a girl who are not in a committed relationship, but somehow one of them are starting to have the feeling that’s impossible to ignore.

This storyline is somewhat familiar.

I spent almost the whole day with him today. I’m happy. He’s happy. We’re happy.

And that would be the last time we spend time together as “friends”. We’ve made the decision. And I think that’s the best thing that we can do. Can we do that? Will we stay to our words when the next time we meet?

…

But I do feel a little bit sad knowing that I won’t receive his call or sms everyday. I won’t hear the sweet words he used to utter to me. And I won’t probably see him as often as I do now. I’ll definitely be missing those.

But I guess, if we don’t take any actions now we’ll suffer more later. And I don’t want that to happen. None of us want that.

Thank you for the memories, sayang. Thank you for treating me the way I wanted to be treated. Thank you for making me feel important. Let’s seek for the better future, shall we?