Natal / Christmas

Wasn't really sure what to do for christmas... so I stayed over Vando's place christmas eve. When I woke up I got a call from mum, so was wished Merry Christmas by everyone, Mum, Dad, Nathan, Mitchell n Patti. They all seemed like they were having a great time. Wish I could have been there, so I was a little sad, but at that stage I didn't know I was still gonna have a great day, even if I couldn't be with my family... It was my first christmas without them, so it didn't feel quite right, but I still had fun anyways.

At 11 we went to church, it was pretty good, Vando goes to a charismatic church, so it was pretty fun, up beat, has a live band, tv's around the place, so if you're too far from the stage you can still see whats going on.. haha. After that we planned to watch the ice skating Christmas show at IceLand, but we ended up finishing church at 1:30, so it was already finished when we went up to the rink. Stayed n watched for a bit before deciding to go to Amplaz.

We didn't really know what we were doing there.. haha.. just wondering around, anyways Asterix was on at 4 so we were gonna watch that with some of the others. . after they got back to us, turned out they were all busy. . with time to spare we wondered around for a bit, n then went to find something to eat. I shouted Vando at solaria, a fairly nice restaurant on the 3rd floor. Vando took a while to convince... I said I would shout him dinner, n he went to choose the cheapest place, n was gonna get mie ayam (Chicken noodles that you can buy off the side of the road for around 50c) ... took me about half an hour to convince him that I wanted something special, cause it was christmas, and that price didn't matter. (even tho the place we ate at was expensive, we had heaps of food, and for the same price, I wouldn't be able to go to a restaurant in australia alone! so its still lumayan cheep) but honestly, I didn't care... I didn't want to think about money, I just wanted to have fun, to have a great day with my best friend.

After solaria, it was already 4:15, so we missed the movie... instead we watched Madagascar2 at 6pm... I dunno what we did while waiting for the movie to start, haha, but time seemed to pass quickly anyways. Madagascar is awesome!! so funny! as good, if not better than the first, I wanna see it again!

Movie finished, we went to play pool, again, invited the others, but no one could make it. so just me n vando playing pool for a few hours, til a bencong came along, hosting some special christmas activity. Me n Vando were tied together, back to back, and we had to sink as many balls as possible in one minute, we only got three... but hey, thats not bad right??! I mean, our hands were tied together!! Vando was disappointed the bencong was only talking to me... cause I was "sooo cute!!! .. and only twenty" .. he spoke english, cause I told him i didn't speak indo... I wanted to play a prank on him, but it turned out his english wasn't too bad, so didn't really work.. haha. Vando is getting better at pool, or I'm getting worse, I dunno which... we used to be about the same.. but yesterday dy menang terus! ... (sorry for the random indo, some things just dont sound right in english anymore)

So it was a long day, but heaps of fun. My phone battery died halfway through the night, so sorry for not replying to all your christmas messages straight away.. thats what I get for not ever going home for the last week! haha

Pokoknya natalku menyenangkan, walaupun agak simple... aku senang.

Alpha ... Beta ...

Hore!!! Aku kemaren les ice skating.. it was for a full hour! insane... after the lesson I had two tests.

Alpha:

~Forward stroking

~Forward crossover (left & right)

~One foot snowplow stop

Beta:

~Backwards stroking

~Backwards crossover (left & right)

~T-stop (right & left)

its all basic stuff.. but cause I didn't know a few things about the test, i felt like I did really crap.. like, before you start the movement you must be in a  stopped position and assume the correct posture ( I started from a moving position =S ), each stroke needs to be held for three seconds, for all of the moves, and once you stop, you also need to hold the stop for three seconds. backwards crossover are required, not cross cuts... I knew this, but because in the lessons I'm always asked to do cross cuts, I couldn't do it so well. Also.. I wasn't aware that posture, hand position and arm position are marked, so I didn't pay any special attention to these in the test.

with all of this... I wasn't sure how I'd do.. but it turns out I passed both of them =D n the grades weren't too bad either... senangnyaaaa... hehe.. so now there are two more levels left... "Gamma" and "Delta" but with this being holiday season, and thus the small rink being sooooo crowded, leaving no room to actually practice, and having just three lessons left... Im not sure if I can do it.

fingers crossed... wish me luck.

on other thoughts... its not long til I come home now.. I really cant believe how fast its going!! ... I really dont wanna leave jogja.. but to keep me from being sad about it, I'm having as much fun as possible, and trying to think of all the good things back home.. I'll finally get to see all you guys again (well not all, but those of you in adelaide) I'm gonna see my family and friends!! I'll get to go ice skating on a rink about three times the size of the one here!! all the space and freedom!! cant wait. . I'll have to buy some skates first, but that means forking out almost $1000 for good ones!!! haha... a "tad" expensive... And I've learned the art of "Street-Street" here and now I want to apply it to my own town. I'm determined to live a different life when I get home. A better, more fun filled one!! So look out Adelaide!

But before that, I've still got a few weeks here to go insane!!

Three days of nothing but Jalan-jalan

Had a bit of a busy weekend... but I'll try to keep it short and sweet.

Saturday was invited to go to an overnight christmas party with Vando for his church.. but I decided not to go... Instead, I went jalan-jalan-ing wiht Heru and Amel. Was heaps of fun!

Saturday went n ate with Heru, then Amel picked us up from his kost, went to a distro pameran, heaps of clothes n stuff there, all locally made, heaps cheap, n funky designs. I take forever when shopping tho, and didn't wanna make the others bored, so we just had a quick look around before leaving. Amel still managed to buy a jacket. hehe After that it was off to Amplaz to swap a few (few thousand) timezone tickets that Amel had been collecting.. turned out to be over 5000!!! so she got a heap of pens, stationary, accessories, chocolate, drinks and ice cream.. haha.. HEAPS of stuff... (none of the good prizes were there, so instead of getting one awesome thing for 5000 tickets, she was forced to get HEAPS of cheaper stuff.. haha) still awesome, lol.. we got free ice cream n drinks =)  after putting all her stuff in the car we went up to the roof.. just to rest for a while, turned out we were there for about 3 hours or more! haha

Confuseeeeedddd... dunno where to go or what to do.. we drive around aimlessly before deciding on going to benteng.. while there Amel started talking about magelang (her town, about an hour from jogja) saying how she often comes to Jogja, but we haven't been there yet, n there's a few good things to see... So I jokingly said, "why don't we just go check it out tonight" ... nanti beneran loh! ... so we did! haha.. went home, grabbed my camera, then headed off to magelang. glad we went by car, cause it started to rain! in Magelang we went n saw the alun-alun, n then over to Amel's house, met her crazy dogs! haha... one of them, every time you look at it, it just starts rolling around on the floor.. haha... lucu. walked around her area, the houses n stuff are pretty interesting, not indonesian at all.. I think its probably Dutch design... just a guess tho.  Went n took photos EVERYWHERE haha, beside canons, a sign that said "save energy" but ironically had lights all over it so it could be seen at night. there was even a small version of Monas! hehe.

Back to Amel's place... now about 1:30 am.. We decide to go home, n Amel said she would take us! insane! so far... but ok, sure! lol. get back to Jogja and she is dead tired. Me n Heru didn't wanna let her drive back again when she was sleepy like that. so we all ended up sleeping at my kos.

Sunday we had breakfast at PKL at about 12:30.. haha then headed back to Amplaz, kalo nggak salah, played at one of the game centres there, not Timezone, but the same Idea. Bought drinks from McD n hung out near the fountain out the front. Amel had never been to Prambanan before, so why not now? we thought.. haha.. headed over to prambanan, but it was already closed... so I suggested we go to Ratu Boko again, neither of the other two had been there. its not a bad place, but didn't do much exploring again, as the sun was almost set when we got there... so we just went photo crazy instead.. haha

Time for more shopping! haha.. went to a distro on the Ring road (slackers kalo ga salah) I got a jacket =D (senangnyaaaa haha) Amel got a jacket (again) and a hat, n Heru bought a shirt. the guy at the counter said the Distro exhibition was still on n today was the last day, so the discounts are usually big. no one needed to tell us about a discount twice! we were there! haha.. we arrived at UNY and the place was completely packed!! motorbikes n cars everywhere! usually if you park a motorbike they tell you not to lock the steering, so they can move them around as people come and go... we were in a car tho... n the parking guy said not to use a hand break... for the same reason!!! haha.. so we parked where the car in front couldn't leave, n left the handbrake off just incase! crazy! haha

went around to the entrance and it was closed... a little annoyed that we were allowed in to park if it was already finished, we asked n apparently after it cleared out inside, they'd open the doors for more people to go in... we waited half an hour til 9pm... then we gave up.. haha.. but at least we got some shopping from the distro anyways right.

back to my kos to watch a movie... "What happens in Vegas" Amel fell asleep, but she had school the next day, so I wanted to wake her up... turns out her class was at 11am, so she stayed the night again, n in the morning headed back to Magelang. 

Today, waited for Heru to wake up... haha... I couldn't get back to sleep after Amel left at about 8am, so just went online. turns out Amel sms'ed me when she got home, the jacket she bought at the distro, and the jacket she bought at the exhibition were exactly the same!!! just a different colour! .. haha.. how can you forget what you bought yesterday??! aneh! 

Ice skating for a few hours today... everyone is back from bandung! (guess its not gonna be so quiet at the rink anymore...lol.. now im gonna have to share the ice again) everyone did really well tho!! almost every student came back with at least one gold!! some with SIX!! Sarah n Dewi got gold for everything they went in! crazy.. n Ninik did well with 2 out of 3 being gold!  and Yudhis did quite well too... I couldn't see Dimas' results tho.

anyways.. just got home n thought I'd put all this in words before I forgot! haha

Good night all =)

If you're happy and you know it clap your hands . . . *roar of applause from Bondan*

Saturday Sebel... Sunday Sendiri... Monday Maen di IceLand... Tuesday diem di kosan, bolos karena hujan. . semuanya sendirian... temenku ke mana ya?? kok nggak pernah sms?? Ya udah, aku mikir, I guess they're doing their own thing now. Terus Rabu kuliah... kuliah nggak ya?? aku lupa.. kebanyakan bolos akhir" ini.. hehe... anyways.. I met up with Vando at Inculs after Grammer class.. ternyata dy juga nungguin smsq, n dy juga bosen aja sendirian di kost.. haha.. jadi aku nanya... 'kenapa ga sms??!' Anyways, the whole thing is kinda confusing.. dasar babi! haha... tapi yg penting, Wednesday was the best day ever! haha.. well.. maybe not ever.. but in a long while.. aku 'pelacur' sama Vando di Inculs, abis itu, aku balik ke IceLand dulu... 

Ok.. hold it there for a second.. there's something I missed...

I got offered a job!!! =D sengennyaaaa!!! haha ... you'll never guess where... yep.. thats right... at IceLand!!! haha... On the 10th December, almost all of the coaches and students left for bandung, there is a skating competition there.. so they are understaffed. I was offered to become a coach!! ... ME! COACH ice skating!! haha... kok bisa ya??! baru belajar 5 minggu. Kayaknya mereka ga mikir dengan jelas dulu deh! haha. anyways... I drew up a time table with them... turned out to be more hours than i expected (35 per week! haha) but I was still happy, I mean, I play there often enough. so why not work while i practice my skating? anyways... the next day I brought the timetable to uni, n double checked with Sinta, ternyata nggak boleh.. Even tho I wouldn't be getting paid (not allowed cause of the visa) I still didn't get permission to work... =( .. not so bad I guess... cause at the time I was also thinking "I'll have no time for friends.... tp emang mereka masih mau ketemu ma aku??"

ok... so back to the story... I went to IceLand, to apologize for not being able to work.. .they were cool about it. Just hung out there for a bit, kinda boring now tho, cause everyone is in bandung!!! haha.. btw GOOD LUCK GUYS!!!! BRING BACK THE GOOOOOOLLLLLDDDD!!!! =D 

another side story... hehe... Since Ice skating lessons, i was always there alone... which didn't bother me, cause I need to practice anyway. so I could still have fun skating, without distractions.. but anyways, now, after a few weeks, I've gotten to meet the other skaters, n the coaches, and it turns out, they're all really great people!! just sux that I make a bunch of new friends one month before I leave!! haha.. but maybe I'll see them at an international ice skating competition next year! haha

so where was I again?? ... oh yeah.. so, after IceLand I went back to Vando's kos n we went n ate... kayaknya... haha.. when do we not eat?? we're always eating... so that's the next logical step right?? then just hung out at Vando's place..  just there for maybe an hour hanging out... the usual.. maen laptop, maen kojotan etc etc.. haha

THEN!!! SUDDENLY!!! you wouldn't believe what happened!!!! .... got you're attention again? hehe... Vando got an sms from Amel (ciiiiieeeeeeee) she wanted to play bowling... sif... so off we went.. Hadn't played in AAAAAAAAAAAGES. Heru had never played before, but he picked it up heaps quick! we suggested he join the bowling team! haha (there is always so much stuff to do here.. and it always seems so easy (maybe cause its cheaper here) but yeah, anything you wanna do, you can do it here, Just made me realize I'm missing out on so much stuff back home!!! I need to get out more! I need to get involved more!! ... Need to do SOMETHING back home!!! even if it means i gotta get a job) (sorry... side tracked again.. hehe)

bowling.. right... so its 5pm... I should have just finished class... (but I didn't go... damn takayama sensei!!!) I get an sms from Laksmi... SHHIIIIIIIIITTTTT!!!! how the hell could I forget?!?! I was supposed to be teaching her how to ride a motorbike tonight!! .. but was only half way through the first game, we'd already paid, and I got a lift with Amel, so couldn't leave straight away... luckily Laksmi had her laptop tho, n she said it was cool if she just goes online at uni while she waits =S so after bowling... straight to campus.

then something STRAAAAAAAAAAAANNNNGGEEE happened!!

Laksmi sat on the front of the bike... alone at first, cause its hard to balance with two people for beginners... anyway.. just as she started the bike up, this guy appeared... looking all confused.. he was asking where gunung kidul (or something) was... I had no idea.. either did laksmi... pokoknya kita cuman tau t4nya itu jauuuuhh... his story was strange... said he caught a bus from there to monjali... n then lost his wallet, walked from monjali to jogja to ask someone how to get home..... now why wouldn't he ask people in monjali??? why come to jogja?? on foot no less!!! ... everytime we asked him something he had to think long and hard first... strange kid... so we figured it was a hoax n he was just trying to get money... to get rid of him, i said I'd take him to the trans jogja bus stop, n he could ask someone there... he refused at first, but didn't leave... so i insisted. I dropped him off n he just stood there with a blank look on his face again... "itu lho mas... masuk sana... nanya mbanya di dalam" aku bilang... he stood there again... bewildered.. the look on his face was like he had come to the city for the very first time from some deserted village, like he had never seen a bule or buildings or cars before.. his expression just so blank... well... what more could I do... he turned and walked away n i went back to pick up Laksmi.

Well.. after that strangeness, the motorbike lesson went quite well... as she started out, it wasn't so promising... she was wobbly as all hell!! .. but it didn't take long for her to get the hang of it.. so after she did a few laps of campus on her own, i jumped on... took a bit of getting used to as well... (and it doesn't help that I'm heavier than her.. hehe) a few more laps, n then we went out on to the main road (all but one of the campus gates are closed at night, so the roads in campus are quiet as.. perfect for beginners) she did fine, up until we came to a series of really high speed bumps in pogung baru (have to admit tho... those polisi tidur are quite difficult to maneuver over, specially when you've only ridden a motor for maybe an hour)

done with the motorbike lesson, went back to Vando's place again, dropped of my bike n waited till we were picked up by Amel (dy bawa mobil.. hehe) (shit it seems like I did a lot on wednesday! I'll try to finish up quick!.. hehe)

So dinner at muara kapuas... A great place, cheap as hell (or used to be til the price of everything rose Rp500). after dinner ngobrol lagi di tempat vando sama yg laen. terus aku anterin Miss Jogja pulang. 

udah.. kayaknya.. I mean, the day was nothing special... but its the first time in ages that its been really great to hang out with friends... I guess I've had too much on my mind.. and so have the others.. so its everyone's fault... tenang aja... bukan salah ikan lu yg mati Ndo..

THURSDAY:

wasn't too interesting.. but still a good day none the less.. Even if it did start out with me being sick.. I have a sore throat... maybe too much laughing caused an infection??

went to campus for a while, wanted to steal some water.. hehe.. but the galon was kosong.. so couldn't, then practiced ice skating for a couple of hours, ate with Vando n then hung out at his kos it had been ages since we just hung out... so even tho we weren't doing anything.. just sitting there talking while he played some game on his laptop...lol.... it was good to just catch up again. Just felt like before, when none of us had anything to worry about, nothing preoccupying our minds. We could just chill. Even if it did make me half an hour late for my meeting.. tapi santai aja.. aku ga peduli.. haha. 

Sempat sedikit sebel.. haha... nungguin Vando lagiiiii... tp gpp... after the meeting went home, cause still no sms. . was supposed to be meeting up with vando, heru, amel n meme lagi. so I smsed n ternyata mereka udah di Code... kenapa ga sms dari tadiiii??! .. ya udah, gpp... aku blom maem, jadi maem dulu.. n beli obat.. abis makan.... aku malas nyusul... kayaknya mereka udah senang ber4 gitu... jadi aku malas ke sana... aku nonton aja di kos... trus 1 stengah jam kemudian, vando sms "kamu dimana?" ... aku bilang aja aku tadi ketiduran, n ga jadi. ... dy basa basi aja kayaknya.. haha.  jadi ya udah, biarin mereka ber4 cciiieeeee!!!! cciiieeeee!!!! ihiii!! wkekeke

NOW! ... I'm still freaking writing!!! haha... "when is he gonna shut up?!?!" you're thinking... Even tho my throat was killing me this morning.. I feel way better now =) so I think I can still make it for my ice skating lesson... I've already started freestyle moves loh!!! 

ok.. thats it from me... I swear... Just wanna say that the last two days have been awesome! I dunno what's different... but I hope it stays this way =D

Hidupku berulang-ulang

Cold Pizza for breakfast... going to bolos my class... why? .. I have no reason... I don't know what's gotten into me lately, why am I so up and down recently?? Karena aku mau pulang? mungkin... aku bingung aja.. aku bisa liat, kalo aku kayak ini, temenku ga enak, tapi aku ga bisa berubah. aku ga mau kayak gni terus. aku udah minta maaf berkali-kali, tapi tetap ga bisa berubah.. aku takut.. terakhir kali aku merasa kayak ini, itu akhiri dengan aku depresi selama setahun lebih.. 

Otakku lagi hancur, kalo nulis pikiranku, itu terlalu susah, membingungkan dan aneh.. jadi gini aja ya...

Routine

Something I used to have in my life... something that kept me from going insane... now... after a 10 months of having no routine... no set structure... no planned events... everything spur of the moment, everything impulsive.... I learned to enjoy it, to love not knowing what was coming next. want to go somewhere and just suddenly leave.

so now, when routine starts to show its face again, it feels strange.. I dont want it anymore.. I dont need it. So why is it here? Why do I feel like my old boring life is already coming back  to me?