30

"In the midst of total uncertainity, we can love"
-Terrance Keenan-

I started to suffer from what i used to do when i have too much free time on my hands : thinking too much about every little thing.
Decided to have a nice, relaxing day today because last weekend was just so damn tiring. So went swimming in the morning with Angel, took a nice afternoon nap and rode Siegfried in the afternoon. All within 1km radius from my house thus saving me from the crazy traffic of Jakarta today.

I recalled what I was talking with Andra and Yaya the other day in CCF about well, whats going to happen when we turn 30, oh well say about 10 years or so from now. Me think that i'm not going to get married, probably i'm going to work like crazy, safe a lot a lot of money..then use all the money to either travel or spend it on horses. Thus at the end of our discussion we decided that most likely we all will end up living like hippies, work a lot..use the money to enjoy life...then work again. Hmms. Oh well, plans are plans..they can only be plans. maybe.

Jakarta .. ..

Today is one of the rare days where i got the chance to view Jakarta from a different point of view. to put it simply : from a lower class people point of view.

I went out with Yaya and Andra to Mangga Dua today..took busway and angkot from Kota, all the way to Mangdu plus walking to Glodok. Reason being was to keep Andra company as he was looking to buy a new video camera, canon XH-A1 ..very cool, very expensive lol.

As i was sitting in the crowded angkot and packed bus, i realised that it is possible to live in Jakarta perfectly fine without the need of having a car/drive your own car (like what i did). because here, due to the terrible traffic..you lost most of your time (at least a third or even half from 24hr) on the road.. stuck in traffic, driving from one place to another etc. However, today or days when i wanted to go to Mangdu, ya it is much more convenient to take the public transport as parking in that area was hell.

At night,on our way back.. we passed this very young boy, about 3-4 yrs old, opening and checking piles of leftover carton lunchboxes, stacked in a corner of a staircase beside a busy road. It was Sudirman road, which was like..um the Knightsbridge part of London.. He was checking if there were any foods left that can still be eaten in those boxes. The view like that was extremely common, but dont know why tonight it really struck me that how lucky we were. No matter how sweaty, dusty, sticky and hot we get during the day..at the end of the day we have a nice house to go back to. hot shower. hot meals. comfy bed. waiting for us. We are very LUCKY people indeed. Thanks to Andra and Yaya, i really had a good time today guys! and really should do this more often :) :)

Mind reader

I'm bored after a morning with no riding

it's Monday morning = the official holiday for all the horses (yeah, theirs are not sundays like us humans)

Yesterday I rode Alla's horse, Landetta. a big, young and green mare who is well honest, but can be hard as a brick on the left hand side :p

in the end i managed to get her going in a nice collected canter by using every single cell in my body to REALLY concentrate and focus on my riding

Haven't really done that in a while, because if riding my horses..especially Chief, I hardly had to do a thing as he almost can read my mind.

okay i caught the second cold/flu over the past 2 weeks (and these are the really BAD ones, like the one me and inka caught when we came back from Japan.. which kept me sneezing and awake most of the night. terrible.)

like..wtf??

ive never been sick at all for one whole year in london..

my immune system has dropped way wayy lowww in indonesia apparently :( sigh

Nika & Decky's

19 July was Nika's wedding in Hotel Borobudur. Me and Andra went to the morning ceremony at the church where we got the task to bring the gifts before the eucharist ceremony..with none of us actually attending the rehearsal!! :p oh well at least it went ok, its a small but nice ceremony in the catholic church near my house. I realised tht actually the church ceremony is more moving compared to the reception party at night. Later on we (thia, me, andra & yaya) went to Hotel Borobudur.. We all left from Yaya's becos my sense of direction in Jakarta is so bad if it concerns the jakarta kota part where the hotel is located, so yeah better leave it to Yaya & Thia who knows how to get there best. It was a slightly different wedding receptions. Where here people used to have grand weddings, where the groom and bride stood up in the platform in a big ballroom and endless guests come and go to congratulate them..Nika & Decky's wedding was indeed different. It was a small, yet intimate and cosy celebration. Involving only main families and close friends, in a much smaller place as well. I would say it was a bit like sweet 17-ish style of party mixed with a bit more wedding-ish atmosphere. The dj, band and all are all Nika's good friends. Plus scattered around the room were mementos, snapshots and small bits of thingies that were owned by Nika and Decky which they collected during their three-years relationship..like the 1st valentine present Decky gave to Nika, snapshots of their photos, small bits of written things from him to her or vice versa..There was also a 'wishing tree' where all the guests who came wrote their blessings to the couple on scraps of papers and tied it to the 'tree' branches for them to read later on.

After dinner, Nika, Decky and their parents also gave talks.. mainly expressing wht they feel and also Nika being Nika :p was able to make us laugh when it was her turn to confess what she felt.

So happy for you both guys :) :) :) !!

Love my friends :) thanks you all who came to my house yesterday for my grandpa's 4o-day memorial mass service :):)
and you, yeah YOU. am good now, so yay!

Graduate//DIVEEE!!!!

Wah i havent blog for quite long!!!

ok updates for you who are interested to know whts going on with me these days...

1. i've GRADUATED!! wheeeeee...yeah me :) :) though its still unofficial but i got a 2.1 BSc Biology from Imperial College :) yayy cos for a while i was really damn scared and thought i might end up with a 2.2

2. Im at homee atm! so yeah ppl dont contact me to my UK number, instead go to my indo number (ive always used the same number)..will be here until mid Sept !

3. I had 4 dives yesterdayyy!!! and i saw sea turtless!! and we caught, yeah CAUGHT a 15-kg tuna !!

Ok i will elaborate more abt the dive cos it really was wonderful. Lets start from the beginning, I flew home to Jakarta from London 1 week ago, then immediately flew to Makassar (South Sulawesi) to attend the 100th-day memorial of my grandpa from my father's side. Met lots of family, endless foods (yummy ones!), then as we stayed for about a week in Makassar..we decided to go for a 2-days trip to Kapoposang Island. Makassar is a port city so yeah access to islands and dive sites are plenty and easy. Kapoposang island is quite far out, but we borrowed om Freddy's speedboat and managed to get there in abt 2hrs time. About 15 of us went there.. soo... yeah went diving there!!! Managed to borrow the dive equipments last minute from Nadia, then 5 of us dive together. 2 dives on the 1st day and another 2 on the second day. I must say, during the first dive I was really quite nervous as i was still trying to patch together wht i remembered Gerben taught me during Opwall which was 2 yrs ago! plus the 4 other ppl who dive wt me are all seasoned divers, who practically live to dive like wht me to horse riding is... so they're all like, just telling me to chill and relax... dont worry to much and just remember to equalise often as we go down. So yeap off we go, and guess what in my first dive we go down to 25 m as the deepest!! so cool :)!!! the dive sites are all cliffs ... with bottomless drop but gorgeous reefs and similar colourful fishes as Egypt. Then by the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th dive i feel more confident as things i learnt came back pretty quickly once you actually dive again. Oh we went down to 35 m at one point!! so cool!! but it doesnt really feel like 35 m tho, i only realised it as i checked my depth gauge thingy. Om Philly caught a 15 kg tuna fish!! ok these 2 guys, om Philly and Ian..carried a ..umm spear-gun?.. to shoot at a big fish or whatever edible fish..so its like fishing whilst diving ;p

(Not actually the safest as it does attract sharks sometime they told me.. cos the fish they caught will be all bloody..so once you caught and kill the fish, then quickly go up and surface)

ps : ninghan i miss you my eternal dive buddy!!! come here to indo quickk!! alex you too haha

We sliced up the tuna and actually had sashimi for dinner!!! hohoho... a plate of super freshhh sashimi slices... which wouldve cost a fortune in restaurants, esp in london haha

Then 2nd day same thing.. we saw like 3 sea turtles during the dive. Sadly didnt see any shark even tho one of the area we dive is quite famous for sharks.. its called 'Shark Point' afterall.

Andd yeapp i got back my tan also!! hahaha.. i feel so pale in london..

Now im back in jakarta now, hv to prepare for 40day memorial for my other grandpa tmr.. and sort out bits and pieces. Also visit my horses in Bandung! Kim and Chief won gold medals for the team in Indo National Games which just ended last week!! i feel so damn proud of them..and of James, Ferry, Meky and Steven who rode, trained and took care of them. Then Kim also won the individual silver..but wht makes me even prouder is tht Chief is the only horse who got a double clear round in the team final..! Good old Chief.. :):):) am a proud mommy!!