Another Victoria's Secrets

These last 2 days of mine were spent with Audry. She's just moved in to Jakarta to start working at Huawei, a telecommunication company, tomorrow.

Yesterday
I went to Taman Anggrek Mall by bus No. 213 and met her by around 2.30 p.m. We went around the mall, browsed for clothes but bought nothing. We chilled out at J.Co and waited for her cousin to pick us up at Metro department store.

Yodi and Endy finally came around 9 p.m. with Om Rudy also, and the boys then took us to dinner at Obong Steak at Jl. Tanjung Duren before drove us home, each staying at an apartment.

I like Audry. She just completed my friends circle. She fulfilled the gap I need from a girl friend that I don't get from the others. That's why we have friends, isn't it? We get some from one and some from the others. And Audry is officially one of my girls now and it's so much fun spending time with her, especially when it comes to shopping for clothes and talking about boys (especially about her beloved mysterious cousin, LOL).

Today
I woke up around 11 a.m., got ready and went by 12 p.m. by the same bus to The Mediterannean Garden apartment complex where Audry stays in for the upcoming couple of weeks. Then we got in a taxi to get to the Grand Indonesia.

We bought clothes at N.y.L.a. boutique just as soon as we arrived because of an emergency and went down to the LG floor of the West Mall to meet up with Rachelle who is also in Jakarta (for her final project's business).

We walked around the floor and found no one and when I checked with her, but apparently she said she was in Plaza Indonesia, not Grand Indonesia, because of her lack of information in Jakarta, LOL. So I and Audry went to Burger King to have lunch and waited for Rachelle to come.

This is my first experience travelling with strangers but my dad sent me the mail about this outdoor activity from the Indonesian Geographic just when I felt like needing a break. So I asked some friends and my sibling to come along and gathered 6 people beside myself to go there. The trip was so fun I am still so excited about it until now and I'm gonna give you the details here: 

Saturday, 11 October 2008
Mr. Frans from the IG sms-ed us all by 4 a.m. to make sure that we're gonna show up at the meeting point that morning. Idoy and Endy fetched us (me, Bent, Clemy and Jeremy--who stayed over night at our place) at 6 a.m. by Idoy's Timor car (imagine how the 6 people and their carriages fit in that sedan) and we all arrived at Marina Ancol Pier 22 before 7. We met Grace (my schoolmate in Maranatha, but Jeremy was the one who asked her to join the trip)


We finally departed from the pier (after waiting for the 44 people + 2 kids to appear) by a wooden fisherman's boat. It was hesitating at first but once we get comfort, the boat became so cool for us all (especially for the roof part). The first destination was the Onrust Island, in the northwest of Ancol.


On the way to the island we got to know some girls about our age and this was relieving because becuase the rest of the members were adults and 2 kids (which could be so boring). Erika, Rika, Camuy and Ci Merry were nice and friendly. We were more excited about the trip but not so many things could be done in our first voyage.



Onrust Island was once an island used to quarantine the haji from their haj pilgrimage (naik haji) before entering Jakarta in 1911-1933. Now the buildings were ruined and the only one that survived was only the doctor's house which is now becoming a museum. The tour around the island was filled with capturing pictures of the ruins because we didn't know each other yet.



There was one funny scene happened on this island. After visiting the doctor's house we looked around a hole that used to be a place to keep clean water. Idoy got idle and Endy just got his sunglasses fell into the muddy-look water (it isn't as clean as it used to be, after more than 70 years, of course).


The sunglasses was expensive enough that Endy made himself go down the hole and tried to reach the bottom of the hole by his foot and in just minutes count he found the sunglasses. It was very funny for all of us who watched him. He was so brave (or did it so spontaniously he couldn't think first) to go down that hole just in his boxer and from that moment we valued the sunglasses that worth the saving act. It was really funny, I mean it (no hard feelings, Ndy!)



The second island we visited was the Cipir Island (a.k.a. Pulau Kahyangan that was named after a Dutch man, Chypeer or something like that). This island was more or less similar with the first one, but smaller and dirtier. People came to this island to fish and they picnicked there or built tents which were really annoying the view.


We didn't get too long here and went to Kelor Island which looked a bit like the island they used for the shooting of Pirates of the Caribbean 2 for the hostages exchanging. It was even smaller than the Cipir Island but we couldn't got on it because there was no deep water enough for the boat to harbor and there were no decks. It was so bad because the building standing there looked older and nicer than the other 2 islands. But it was okay, we still had another island to go: Bidadari Island.


This is the most famous island among all of the others (Ayer comes to the second position, I guess) because it was organized well. We didn't follow any guide here and got lost with our own photo sessions, exploring the old fortress (that looked like a mini Collosseum) and explonation along the shore line and small labyrinth, until we found a stall that sell fresh coconut water. Now we had to go back to the Onrust Island to have lunch.


The tour management had prepared fishes and chickens for our lunch and after we were fed up, we gathered for the quiz they gave. I answered 2 of 10 questions they asked (which were quite amazing since I never followed the tour so seriously for I was being more busy in taking pictures than listening) and got 2 DVDs of the islands promotion. Jeremy got 1, too, but I gave my other one to the new girl friends.

We got on the boat again and went to the Untung Jawa Island. It was a fisherman's settlement island and there were many more people there. After the pier and its main gate (with a ticket booth for entrance fee) we were welcomed by small road (about 1.20-1.50 meter wide) that spreads out the beach line and houses on the other side. There were police station, homestay rooms, and halls along that road.

We gathered to be given rooms, and I was roomates with my sister. We could pick the room freely in one area and we got the Lape rooms. I took no.3 while Idoy and Endy took the next door. We gathered again on the pier by 3.30 p.m. to get to the next island. I, Endy and Idoy got on the roof top of the boat and enjoyed the wild breeze from there. It was so cool. I and Endy stood on it and felt like we were the arbiters of the sea.





We arrived at Bokor Island for swimming and diving. The water was a bit dirty with so many rubbish but still we enjoyed the swim. We wore the life jackets to keep us floating instead of having to tiredly paddle our foot in the water. The youth enjoyed jumping from the top of the boat and the adults swam in the side of the beach or just enjoyed the view. We finished swimming just after the sun set. I, Endy and Idoy got back to our usual place; on top of the roof, and some of the members followed us.


We had dinner after bath by around 7.30 p.m. by the shore. They served fish and squids with kangkung as the veggie and melons for dessert. We played a game after dinner for fun. First we had to introduce ourselves in front of all the members in the circle. Then we were divided into 7 teams. I got teamed with Endy and someone named Melani.


The game was to guess the title of a song with its singer but it was read mutely from one to another team member. It was kinda hard to do but quite fun. Melani was disappeared by the early of the game so I and Endy paired our team with Idoy's. Still we didn't win the game.

I, Endy, Idoy and Clemy went back to our rooms (or to be more precised, to the terrace of the boys' room) and chat there 'til around 1 a.m. That was another moment couldn't happen so often. That's why I really enjoyed it (and forced my tired and sleepy eyes to be kept open because the fun was so worth it). We finally could slept around 1 or 1.30 a.m. after some late supper.

Sunday, 12 October 2008
Bent called me by the cellphone to ask whether I wanted to see the sunrise but after peeking the outside and found that it was already light, I went back to sleep. I woke up again just by 7 a.m. because of the alarm, Bent's second call (this time he went inside the room), and people's noisy voices who passed by our rooms (that was located just by the main road of the island).

We took bath and had breakfast that was located a little bit farer on the west of our rooms. But I and Clemy don't eat rice for breakfast so we asked the women there to cook us instant noodle. After breakfast we gathered by the pier at 8.45 a.m. and sailed to the Rambut Island. It was a game preserve island for the fauna. We were divided into 2 groups of about 20 to enter the place.



It was quite interesting, entering the forest with swamp of mangrove plants, some kedoya trees (that I just found out to be a tree name beside a house complex in West Jakarta)... and a 15 meter high control tower on the center of the island. We had to climb up the steep stairs but it was worth it cuz the view from top was so beautiful. We only saw few kinds of fauna there but it was okay cuz we were there not in a study tour. 


The tour guide found a black-yellow snake on the way back to the shore and brought it so the whole trip member could see it. We went back to the Untung Jawa Island by around 12 p.m. and had lunch by 12.30. But instead of having another fish, we decided to eat the noodle sold in a cart. When we finished eating we still had some time before we had to leave the island so I and Endy rented a bike and rode it around the island.

We really biked around every corner of the island that we got thru the main entrance of the island, saw an elementary and junior high school buildings, get on a very beautiful beach the water looked so clean and fresh we wanted to just jump swimming there (but didn't), went across the mangrove forest, and finally biked thru the public swimming spot and market that looked quite famous there (seeing the number of people who spent their Sunday there). We were so tired (the fact is, Endy was the one who pedalled the bike while I was just sitting on the back so Endy was the one who was tired while I wasn't to be that tired).



We packed our bags then and got on the pier by 2.30 p.m. The sun shone so brightly it was so hot but I, Endy, Idoy and Clemy got our VIP seats again; on the roof top, and this time we were alone there, the four of us. We had to wear our life jackets for the tide was high and the trip was quite far (around 1 hour journey) and it was so cool and exciting (beside its danger) to be up there, challenged the wind and shaken by the tide wave. It was just soooo cool!


We arrived at the Edam Island that has a very high white old lighthouse. From the distance I and Clemy knew that we had to get inside it, get on top of it. And we were so excited when they say it was on our trip plan. But we never thought that it would be so high (52 meters with 16 floors) that we became so exhausted climbing it, exploring the interiors, got around the top and got back down of it. But it was nice, though, being inside and up the lighthouse. I remembered one of Tini book (that series of a child named Tini from Germany that Mom bought for my childhood book collection) and felt so happy to finally get in it.


After climbing up and being so tired, when we got back to the boat, the boys were already in the water, floating in their life jackets and the even cleaner water looked so inviting. This was the cleanest water we've ever saw along this trip and the happiest closing moment we've ever had. We even took pictures under water by Reva's waterproof camera (Reva is a photographer from Female magazine). That was so cool!


We didn't get in to the Ayer Island cuz it needed another Rp 50,000.- to enter and we enjoyed the water and sun set from the Edam Island already but we didn't feel sorry. It was nicer to swim (I mean, float) in the sea than in the pool. So, by the time the sun was set, we were all ready to go home feeling satisfied.

I and Clemy had to change my clothes because we were so wet and it was so breezy up there so when the boat started to depart I was still in the toilet inside the boat. We stuck inside for a while but we felt that we couldn't miss the last trip down there so we asked the crewmen to help us to get up (which was quite difficult because the tide was so high and the wind was so hard) but we finally got up somehow.


The roof top was so fully loaded that time, the fullest time ever since the first time we sailed but we still got seats. That last trip lasted for about 1 hour and it was so beautiful because beside of the tide, there was an almost full moon above us, lighten our way back and made the water texture looked more dramatically. Too bad we couldn't take any picture of the view because we were shaken so hard. But it was so worth it, being up there on top along the way home. The effect is still felt until some hours from that, even until now that I'm typing the post (I still feel so dizzy like floating now, plus the burnt skin that tingling on the back of my neck).

We reached Ancol just a moment before 7 p.m. so when we walked our way back to the car, there were fireworks shooted above us, as if welcoming us back to the mainland of Java. This trip was so beautiful and unforgettable for me, because of the experience of visiting the islands (being a beach girl, too, as well) and because of the people that I'm sharing the memory with. God is so great and I'm so thankful that I'm now back to Jakarta. Still feel like holiday I don't want it to end but I have to go to sleep now and face the new ordinary day tomorrow. This really is a marvellous holiday!

[Check more pictures of our holiday at Om Frans' and Dwey's multiply sites]

Before I begin, I just want you to know that this is my 200th post, hip hip hooray to this (never thought I could manage a blog for 3 years like this) and I'm happy to know that I have so many readers. For that, I thank you all.


Okay, there are 5 kinds of Love, according to the Greek words. Here's what I found at the wikipedia :

• Eros (ἔρως érōs) is passionate love, with sensual desire and longing. The Modern Greek word "erotas" means "(romantic) love".
  
• Philia (φιλία philía), which means friendship in modern Greek, a dispassionate virtuous love, was a concept developed by Aristotle.
  
• Agapē (ἀγάπη agápē) means "love" in modern day Greek, such as in the term s'agapo (Σ'αγαπώ), which means"I love you".
  
• Storge (στοργή storgē) means "affection" in modern Greek; it is natural affection, like that felt by parents for offspring.
  
• Thelema (θέλημα thélēma) means "desire" in modern Greek; it is the desire to do something, to be occupied, to be in prominence.
  

So, Mas Pluki said that in finding the 'perfect' lifetime partner, we have to find someone that we love as agape, not only eros, for eros will fade in around 2 years, while agape, the purer kind of love, stays. This is a nice thought, one good point I can use on finding my future husband, so let's see who's got my agape love. LOL.

He also added that love is just one of the basic stuff to build a marriage. Of course, we all knew this. This is just a reminding; the other thing is commitment. While communication is one thing that is needed to develop the relationship.

Another thing we discussed that night was about God. He said that we human were designed to believe in Him. But we are also given our free will to choose to believe or not. In all our lives we must have chance to hear about Him and the gospel and the Good News about the coming Heaven Kingdom, for the only salvation is thru Jesus Christ.

People just say that they never see him, that's why they don't believe in such thing. But my cousion said that if people can see him, that's called know about, not believe in. One good point he had been thinking there. Actually there were a lot more in our discussion but that's the 2 most important points I noted. I hope this sharing can help you too somehow.

Wow, I've been absent-writing for quite many days til now.. Guess I have many stories to be updated here so you can catch up with my latest news. Okay. The last time I posted, I told you I went to Grand Indonesia for 2 days in a row, noon 'til nite. Guess what? I went back there the next day! Lemme bring you the details:


Friday, 3 October 2008
I went to my old office to take my last salary and met up with Ira and Friska by 12 p.m. just 15 minutes before Blepak (friend of Mas Pluki) fetched me up. We got on the Kopaja 19 toward the Grand Indonesia (againn!!) for lunch at the Food Louver, then had a tour to book stores (Kinokuniya and Gramedia Finest). We also met up and chat with Andrew and Bomo, another friends of my oldest cousins at Gloria Jean's Coffee.

My cousin, Mas Pluki, and his wife, Mba' Mia, came by around 7 and we had dinner at Food Louver (again...) and had some chat there, at the same table for 3 hours until 10 p.m., then Mas Pluki went back to the apartment with me and continued the chat 'til 2 a.m.

It was so exciting and enlighting since this could be said as our first private conversation after 24 years in my life. LOL, I am 24 yrs old now, btw, which means this kind of conversation was never happened before between me and my 13 years older cousin. Kind of ironic, but I was happy to did that. That way we know each other better.

Saturday, 4 October 2008
My cousin stayed over that night but went hurriedly in the morning cuz he was to meet the doctor by 8. And I continued sleeping 'til almost noon when Mario called. He was just back from his 10 days holiday to Hong Kong and Macau. Before he came over I've succeeded sweeping, washing, and cleaning the apartment unit so it was a bit fresher when he finally showed up by around 1 p.m.

He patiently waited for me to finish mopping the floor before we could go out to fX (he had never been there) and had a kind of late Japanese lunch at Zhuma at the 2nd floor. We had chat and shared stories, catched up with the gap of the last 3 months of our separated lives. But we had to get back soon cuz we had booked travel tickets to Bandung that night and still had to get some stuff from our cribs.

We went to Bandung by 8.30 p.m. by Cititrans from the Sudirman pool (at the complex of Grand Lucky super store, FYI, and I sort of like Cititrans the best among all of the other Bandung-Jakarta travel services cuz it provides 6 reclyning seats only, each with safetybelts and pillows and private air-cons and lamps like in the night buses. It's super comfort!)

Arriving at Bandung again was kind of funny cuz I hadn't been there for about 2 months and I saw some changes here and there and it was funny how I could feel that.. well, basically I just came home. And I guess I missed my home quite much.

Sunday, 5 October 2008
All I did that day was just laying on the couch watching TV. Thanks to the cable service, I watched many episodes of F.R.I.E.N.D.S., iCarly, CSI:Miami, and other series that I missed since I moved to Jakarta. I laid in front of the plasma TV for so many hours it made my neck hurt and caused a headache it could only be stopped by taking a bath.

I promised my best friends I'd meet them when I get to Bandung again so I prepared before 6 and was dropped by my siblings to Paskal Hyper Square to meet the girls and their partners; Ester with Boyank and Hayden, the 10-months old baby, Irma with Yanto, and Livia.. who got introduced to Eric, a friend of Boyank. We had dinner at the food court, then moved to Happy Puppy for some karaoke-ing.


I guess everybody knows that I dislike karaoke. But I don't think my girls do. They were so eager to sing I couldn't decline. So there we were, singing wholeheartedly for 1 hour in a closed room with nice aquarium-like interior, to the songs I truly hate; songs by ST-12 and D'Masiv; all those songs I hate during my work cuz a colleague turned the songs over and over everyday it made me so sick. OK, I am being so sarcastic now, but dunno why I really hate those songs.



Well, thankfully the crap songs were over soon and I could choose my favorite so I picked Always (Bon Jovi's) for the closing song by the end of our one-hour sing-along-song session, which made everybody sang and I guess it made the night just alright. Irma and Yanto drove me home and I slept over with Mom that night, shared stories and other stuff. Missed my Mom so bad..

Monday, 6 October 2008
I was supposed to see the dentist that morning but I woke up late so I prepared to go to the campus but I had to wait for Mom and sister to get ready cuz they were coming with me since there were no maids at home, means there was no food for lunch. We went by around 11 a.m.

We had lunch at Reds Dipo, a 'waroeng bawal' that serves fish as their main dish. It was at the frontyard of Flashy store, at Jl. Dipati Ukur No. 1. It was a nice lunch but the cat was so annoying (there was a very dirty cat waited for our fishes who bothered Clemy 3x which made her so upset with the cat. One more reason to hate cats..)

Then we went ahead to Maranatha, they dropped me in front of the campus so I could photo copied my transcript documents at the other side of the road. I went to my old faculty building and met some of my juniors (most of them I no longer know); Mel and her girl friends and also Andri (the one I met up at Grand Indonesia just 4 days before, at the second day of Lebaran--the one who is similar to Bamz of the Samsons band, remember?)

I was supposed to meet Andri by 9 that morning but it was almost 1 p.m. already and he had to go to class, so I worked on my documents to be legalised at the GAP building while waiting.

Andri finished by around 2, just in time when I finished my stuff. We met up at the SRD (Seni Rupa dan Desain) building and hung around there, til Livia came by and asked us to go with her to the police station to take care of something. She lost her student card and needed the police's report to get the new one. We went to the police station near PVJ, at Jl. Sukajadi. Then, after that we went to de'risol near PUSDA'I (Pusat Da'wah Islam) to meet her new friend Herman, who was with his friends having afternoon break snack there.

By 5 p.m. we finished and Livia dropped me and Andri at campus and we went to his house by his motorbike and met with his family again. After some quick dinner we went by his car to Eiger, Giant and Kawani to check out the backpacks. I wanted a backpack for my backpacking plan, and Andri gave some advices to choose a good backpack.

After the browsings we went to PVJ to check on the Zoom store for the macbook. Okay, I got all the informations I needed that night. Not being so long at PVJ, we went to Cafe Asix at Jl. Talaga Bodas and met up with Andri's biker friends. We had pizza and chat til around 10.30 and I needed to get back home before everybody was sleep.


So we reached my house by 11 p.m. and chat about many things 'til around 2 a.m. that night and I found that Andri was a really nice talking friend, and a gentlemen boy (due his 22 years old of age). He's a great companion to me and I like being with him.

Tuesday, 7 October 2008
Again, I woke up late. I was supposed to be at the dentist by 8 but I woke up just 30 minutes after. I reached St. Borromeus Hospital by 9.30 and waited for my turn there. Thankfully a friend of Mom took a number for me already I didn't have to wait for too long.

Drg. Swanny Sentana, also a mother of my friend Ian, is a really nice and friendly dentist. She cares a lot about me and she's been handling my teeth so patiently (I hate going to dentist but I love all the dentists that have ever handled me cuz they're all friends of Dad). I had to go back to her by the end of October and I still need to get back for at least 2 more times. I was thinking about getting braces for my disordered lower teeth.

However I finally done by almost 11 a.m. and called Adit to ask if he was at the campus but he was at home so I drove to his house to get my USB flashdisk back. I called Luppi to make sure she's at campus but she was out at Istana Plaza so I drove there to picked her up.

We went to PVJ and chilled out at Black Canyon Coffee for lunch-time coffee (I shouldn't eat for at least 2 hours after the dental care) and we shared stories, all those which we lost for more than a year being on our own. I know people don't get why I care for Luppi so much, but yes, I do. I care for her and somehow, love her for being herself. Of all our misunderstood in the past time, we've managed to understand and respect each other better. That's why we're friends.


I had to get back home before 2 so I drove Luppi to the campus and ordered fried rice for our lunch at home. I went home, had lunch, and already had to go again before 4 to drive my sister to Cititrans. I called Alex for an instant meeting and he said 'Sentra Kampus'. So I drove there after dropping Clemy.

Today was the 3rd time I went to Grand Indonesia in 24 hours. Yesterday I went there with my siblings, Aunt Dewi, Aunt Siska and Goldi. They fetched us at the apartment by 12 p.m. with Aunt Dewi's car. We chilled out there, had lunch at Food Louver, bought a pair of Speedo goggles and coolin' down with Mocha Ice Blended at Coffee Bean and Tea Leaves 'til 5. It was nice to see my aunts again after some time. And Goldi has grown so fast she's now higher than Clemy (no hard feeling sist!)

I watched this 'quirky' movie last night and think that the movie was cool. It made me think otherwise about being pregnant; as if it's something so usual and nothing to be ashamed of, even if you're pregnant outside of a marriage and you're still 16 years old.

~Nidji

Lita and Nina had been calling me since afternoon for the night's plan. They were at the salon and wanted to chill out that night but I was with my siblings so I said no. But the girls just not give up so soon. They kept calling and see, effort made result.

I agreed to come since they were going to pick me up from Abuba Steak. So they fetched me up and the three of us went to Pisa Cafe, Menteng. There was a group of 'mermaid' ladies singing live on stage which made it felt so relaxing for me (after those walks and swimming sessions) and we ordered 3 scoops of Banana Split.

This is a really nice place, especially for its mediterranean interior and live music. With special Italian menu and gelato, this really is a must-visit spot for chilling out and to see nice people.





It was nice to meet Nina again after some time. She's transformed herself into a very beautiful lady (she was really tomboy back then) but well, she has to change. She's gonna married next year by the way. And she asked me to deliver the offering at her matrimony mass. Of course I want to!



By the time we were about to go home, the mermaid ladies sang a closing song, then you know what! Andre Hehanusa popped out and sang his legendary song 'KKEB' (Karena Kutahu Engkau Begitu) and he sang it just soooo nice!

After the applause and 'encore' shouts, he got up back on stage and sang 'Bidadari'. How beautiful his voice was and how lucky we were last night! It wasn't an every week performance, I know. So, after such a beautiful day I passed, I blacked out and slept for almost 11 hours... finally, there's a Monday I shouldn't go to work!