Thursday 10 September 2009

Moment of happiness

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Elders said that there are three big events in your life that bring you and your family joy and happiness: graduation, marriage, and birth. From all three events, only the first one brings you happiness without possible pain.

In marriage, you may get stressed by the pressure to provide a "perfect" marriage. You have to accommodate both your family and your partner's family wishes. Friction may happen when the families have different arguments or different point of views. The same friction may also happen when you have your own child. Don't get surprised if in the end, the name of your child is decided by both your family and your partner's family rather than yourself as the child's parent. In the eastern culture, at least in Indonesia, the name of a child is a kind of family legacy and is believed to determine his/her character and fortune. Hence, both families often "suggest" you name for your child... which means that if you totally do not accept it, there always a chance that your parents or parents in law may feel uncomfortable. Wisdom is needed to accommodate both families' wishes.

However, graduation is very different. Everyone is happy during graduation. Nobody has any reason to complain. This makes graduation as a perfect moment to gather with your family, friends, and people close to you.

This noon, I had my graduation ceremony. It was nice. I wore my one and only suit that my father gave me before I arrived in the Netherlands. I tried to be the best as I can be. I ironed my clothes, used my perfume, shaved my beard, just to make this day perfect.

The ceremony went very well. The main event was held in the "blauwe zaal" (the blue hall). First, the dean representative gave a speech. Then, personal speech were given to each graduate candidates by their supervisors (dr. Natalia represented both Prof. Wil van der Aalst and Boudewijn as my supervisors, because they were not able to come due to an obligation to attend a conference in Ulm). The ceremony ended with a reception in a room just beside the blauwe zaal. Some friends came to share the happiness: Andi Rusiawan, Mas Lesky, Ceu Qonita, Phacoel, and Eva. Later during reception, Agni came too.

Apart of my sister, Elva, and my best friends, if there is something else that I really wanted for my graduation, it is the presence of my Mom and Dad. Mom, Dad, thank you for all of your support. Without both of you, I wouldn't be here, choosing the path that I'm on. This following picture of me is dedicated to both of you. Hope you notice one of your favorite suite in this picture, Dad. And Mom, hope you can see that I am smiling in the picture in the way that you like me to. :)



P.S: Special thanks to Ceu Qonita and Andi Rusiawan, as both of you helped me to document one of the most important events in my life.

Tuesday 8 September 2009

Posting blogspot posts to FB notes

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As mentioned by the title of this post, I'm just trying whether this tutorial really works... hmm...

1 day, 3 friends, 4 cities, and 8 Bossche bols

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Last Saturday, I went to several cities throughout the Netherlands for souvenirs hunting (as I'm coming home this Saturday, guys!!!). To my surprise, although the main purpose of the travel was to hunt some souvenirs, some good friends were willing to accompany: Amalia, Reyhan, and Mbak Nelly. With their presence, hunting souvenirs event changed into a lovely weekend vacation!

The first place that we visited was 's-Hertogenbosch, the capital city of the province of North Brabant (Noord Brabant). FYI, this city is commonly called Den Bosch by the Dutch people. Several days before our journey, mbak Nelly went to a shop in the city that sells various souvenirs in a relatively cheap price, even cheaper than the shops in the small city of Volendam. Therefore, motivated by my hillarious economic instinct, I decided to hunt as many souvenirs as possible in the shop. Unfortunately, when we arrived, it was closed until the middle of september without any specific reason. But hey, it wasn't so bad after all. See the picture below?


It is a picture of a Bossche bol. Bossche bols are kind of "Soes" cakes (in Indonesian) that are covered with chocolate. Thanks to Reyhan, we're able to find a store that sells the finest Bossche bols, Jan de Groot banketbakkerij. So, rather than buying souvenirs, each of us bought two Bossche bols... However, the most of us were fasting. So, although the bols looked very delicious... we had to wait until it is dawn before we can taste them... Let me tell you, they looked marvelously yummy!

Next stop: Utrecht. In this fourth most populated city in the Netherlands, we have only one thing in mind.. coming to the book festival. We were lost at the first place, as we went out from the wrong side of the central station. After we asked a guy with yellow uniform (which then answered our question in Dutch [^^]' ), we were able to find the place where the festival was held. The place was very big! I had a very good time, exploring books as I usually did during my childhood. Most books were sold at a relatively low price, so I bought two books: one is about how cool things works (yeah.. just say I'm a geek :p ) and the other is about pirates. The latter is also the first souvenir that I bought at the day. I'm anxious about how my cousins will react when I give them the book. Using the guide and the paper materials in the book, you can create a model of a pirate's ship! I'll be happy to have it for myself if I'm a kid (well.. I still feel like one, actually).

Then, we went to the student city, Delft. Our agenda was clear: Souvenirs, walking around, and meet some friends. Alhamdulillah, we managed to do all of the things. We (well, actually just me) bought some pretty souvenirs at the shops around the centrum. We walked around the Oude Kerk and the Nieuwe Kerk, and we met our friends, the "tampan" guy and his two side-kicks :p. And guess what, on the centrum, there was a half-aged lady who brings pig as her pet! Just as if the pig is a dog, she tied the pig and walked him around. Gee... I would like to take a picture together with the pig, but my reluctance to be touched by any parts of the pig prevented me to do so... It's just so.... eeewwwwwwwhhhh!!!

Last stop of the day was the Hague, where we walked around Binnenhoff and joined an ifthar in the only Indonesian Mosque in the Netherlands: Al Hikmah. All of us have already been on the city, so there's no new things to be seen. However, when we came to the ifthar, we had such a good time! The foods were authentic, so authentic that it really felt like home. Many people were coming as well, regardless of their nationality. I ate various foods, such as fish meatballs, "balado" meat, yellow-spiced fish, kolak, bala-bala, and many others. I really miss my mom's cooking. Hope that in a short time, I'll be able to taste some of these foods again in Indonesia.

After ifthar, we traveled back home. We were exhausted, but excited as well. In the train heading back to Eindhoven, we finally ate our Bossche bols.. They were simply... DELICIOUS. So delicious that mbak Nelly's book also "ate" some bols :P Thanks Amalia, thanks Reyhan, thanks mbak Nelly, for such a nice experience. Looking forward to travel with all of you again! :)


clockwise: Me, Reyhan, mbak Nelly, and Amalia