Monthly Archives: August 2007

Here I am… back in Beijing again…. Arrived in Beijing at midnight yesterday.

One day has passed, and I have to say that I accomplish quite a lot today.

I couldn’t sleep well last night, it was a bit hot even though the aircon was turned on. So I woke up like at 4AM and organised my room a bit. I know it was too early to do that, but I had nothing else to do because the Internet (and the phone line as well) was disconnected as we didn’t pay the bill while we were away in Indonesia.

Then I went back to bed. LOL!

In the morning around 8AM, me and Can cleaned our apartment because it was VERY dirty. You don’t want to know how much dust has accumulated for 1.5 months in Beijing, even though the apartment’s windows were shut.

After finished cleaning, we organised reconnecting the phone line so we can use the Internet. Had to wait for the agent to come by, which took forever and I felt asleep again. LOL!

After the Internet was back online, we went out for lunch but we made a stop first at a fitness centre just across the road from our apartment to join there. It took forever just to get it done. That fitness centre has everything, including a heated pool! Guess what greeted me when I checked out the locker room, hanging penis-es everywhere. LOL!

These people really don’t know personal space, they walked around naked just like it’s their own home. If it was in Australia, I can sort of understand but this is worse than when I was in Australia. Most people in Aussie covered themselves, not here…..

After training, I’m back at home. Trying to relax myself before the semester starts….

Happy 62nd Independence Day, Indonesia-ku!!
Long live the republic! LOL!!

As some of you probably know, 17 August is Indonesia’s Independence Day. This year is our country’s 62nd year of independence, and I’m glad that I am able to witness the nation’s celebration once again after few years of never seeing one.

The atmosphere reminds me of what it was like when I was a little kid. Every year on Independence Day, my surrounding area always hold some kind of celebration party which includes some traditional games and competitions. I used to participate in some of the events.

This year’s celebration includes a “Jantung Sehat” (a mass walk in the morning), and a concert of a local band and also involves a lot of “Dangdut” (a traditional dance).

After seeing the celebration that was held just in front of my house, made me miss those years when I was still a little kid. This morning, I met with some local people who used to be my playing-buddy when I was little, and they still remember me even though sadly I don’t remember all of them. LOL! What can you say.. I’m bad with people…

Nevertheless, it was a good day-out for me and everybody else who lives in the surrounding area. There were a lot of people selling food, drinks, and children’s toys. I know that I should be on diet, but I couldn’t resist buying “Gado-Gado” (a vegetarian local dish with spicy peanut sauce and prawn crackers on top) from my neighbour.

Me and Can took a lot of pics during the day, we even went on top of my factory’s roof to capture some of the “interesting” photos. One of my drivers is in some of these “interesting” photos, but I’d rather not make a big deal of this because the guy was drunk. LOL!

The atmosphere was great even though it was bloody hot outside. The sense of togetherness and friendliness were there.

I know that there are some people feel that there is no need to be mingle and be nice with native Indonesians, but I think that’s not right. Yes, there are many of them that hate Indonesian-Chinese. Beside I’m sure out of 215 million people in Indonesia, many of them do not hate us that much.

Time for photos…

Returning from the market

Mbak Atik, Bu Mur, Mbak Kiwit

Bu Mur and Andri

Bu Mur worried about Pak Budi’s dance move

Toys seller

My female workers

Mbak Iful, Mbak Kiwit, Cie Siang, and Bu Mur

For more photos, please click here.

Also, have a look at this short video to view some of my driver’s dance moves.

Get the Flash Player to see this player.

That’s all for now, gotta go with my parents to the mall. I want to buy a new pair of glasses, the old one is… well… too old… LOL!

After those few days of lonely and inactive days and nights, I’m finally back home! Thank God my parents were granted with their Resident Return Visas in only two days!

Looking back of what has been happening the last 12 days in Melbourne… I have to say that it was rewarding nonetheless. Although I didn’t get as much chance as I would have hoped to catch up with this particular person, but I managed to get to know another friend who I thought we wouldn’t be good friends after uni.

I’m very pleased that I got the chance to know Mark better this time around. I also got the chance to meet his cool mother and step-father, and stayed at their home far far away in the woop woop.

On my last night in Melbourne, Mark also came to the city after work so that we could have dinner at a Korean restaurant (he said the food is strange! LOL!) and tried a fantastic “Chocolate Pizza” from the famous Max Breener. He also stayed overnight because I didn’t want him to travel far at night. I had to sleep on the couch because of this.. what can I say… I’m a good friend.

Mark also tried my mum’s cooking and I’m glad that he found the food nice. It’s a training process to adapt him if he ever decided to come and visit Indonesia. Maybe I should make Nathan convinces Mark to come. LOL!

As I have promised earlier, here is a photo of Mark having Indonesian brekkie at my apartment.

Mark eats Indonesian brekkie

For now I’m just glad I’m home!