Het Krokusvakantie PART II

I went jogging... again!
Yay!
Not that it changed anything because I did stop by Kruidvat and pick up some snoepjes. It was really nice to visit the park again though.

On saturday I had to meet up with all the AFS students in Station Leuven but was the only one who came late thanks to the stupid GPS.

Middle Orientation Camp was awesome.
Sorry for the excitement but I actually enjoyed it.
My Indonesian mates were there, I met a lot of new people, who I became friends with afterwards, or should I say, my international friends.
Well my friends from the DAS chapter are also foreigners but hey, it's always great to know more people!

We had to follow workshops during the camp, which I think were a bit boring.. well it's OK. Just OK.
The camp took place in Leuven and unlike the arrival camp, it was only for a night. Trust me, it was too speedy that I want it to last forever.
Ew... lebaynya.

My favorite part of the camp was meal time.
I don't mean to sound like a cow but during meal times you get to chat a lot with your friends and I like it. I'm not gonna complain about the food though, they were actually lekker!

At night, we had a party and Retro was the theme. Most of us dressed up, some of us didn't really care to match up the theme...
Well, at least we had fun, right?

It was not bad actually, Primus was fine and good thing that they didn't serve Kriek. Widari brought her bridge cards so we played couple of games too. We were planning (it's more like I suggested) on playing the drinking game but it didn't happen. Somehow, we ended up playing tepuk nyamuk.

*katanya* Duta Bangsa HAHA

Plus Turkish out of nowhere

The music was OK, but I was expecting more soundtracks from Dirty Dancing, Grease, etc since retro was the theme.
But they played Pretty Woman... so I guess it's fair enough, eh?

I made a new friend from Italia and hij is super!
Just like me, he arrived late in Belgium so we both missed the first camp.
His name is Elios and his classical piano is excellent.
He told me that his name means 'Sun' so it matches my name (Rainy). During the camp we have this fake facebook wall where we can write (or post) everything we want, and he wrote this:

Elios and I

Nice, eh?
Elios and I ditched the party for approximately half an hour to play with Oelij. Good thing he had internet on his phone because we needed to look up for lyrics to sing.
What I love about this party was that I didn't spend a lot of money on drinks. Milos bought me the first drink, Titus lost a bet and had to buy me another, and then I got another from Koen!
While I was playing my ukulele, some stranger actually throw a 50 cent to me and I managed to buy another pint. Thanks people!
The party ended at around 1.45 AM with the song 'Ik Wil Je' from De Kreuners, yes that's early but we needed to wake up at 7 AM in the morning.

Sunday: workshop, workshop, frietjes, workshop, and finally we need to leave the camp and that also means the end of Krokusvakantie.

In the train with my badass turkish (Dilan)

Ik vind het echt triestig, want de volgende camp is de eindecamp.
Gisteren was ik 5 maanden in België.
Ik heb nog 5 maanden en I promise I'm gonna make the best of it.

Cheers!

Newsletter and Hari Ibu

Writing newsletters for AFS (the organization of my program) is actually an important assignment for an exchange student like me and unfortunately my deadline is tomorrow.
The newsletter has to be written in both English and Indonesian. Instead of working on it, I'm now fooling around on the internet with zero motivation.
Trust me, I really want to work on my newsletter but god damn it! It is one hell of a task.
After all, I really have nothing to say. Wrong. I actually have lots to say!
It's just... that I have this one problem...
I will try my best to explain it 'cause it is really not that easy.

We do know that language is something very important in life.
We speak it, socialize with it, and we practically live with it.
The question is, have you ever felt like you have no language at all?
That's exactly what I'm feeling right now.

Indonesian is my native language and I've spoken it for about 17 years long (more dialect than the real language though).
The thing is, I've been staying in Belgium for 3 months and 4 days with only speaking English and learning Dutch. Honestly, I think more in English than in Indonesian. That's also the reason why my blog posts are mostly in English. Sometimes, it's harder for me to find the words in Indonesian than in English.
Well, I'm not refering myself as an expert in English... not at all!
I bet there are tons of grammatical errors in all of my posts.
I like to speak English but since my current main focus is to learn Dutch, I often mix them. So, my english is also not doing well.

The fact that my Dutch is still terrible makes things even worse :-(
I'm now able to understand most of the conversations but to speak is crazy difficult.
And dialects! Which smartypants invented 'dialect' anyway?

Enough of my 'problem' already.
Today, December 22th, 2012 it is Hari Ibu in Indonesia.
Hari Ibu = Mother's Day in Indonesia

SELAMAT HARI IBU MAMI<3<3<3

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY MAMI<3<3<3

Mami and I (yup, with my long hair)

 

Mami, I love you so much.

You're the greatest and not to forget, the coolest mom I could ever asked for.

This cover is especially for you.

I hope it's still one of your favourite song... and it's an Indonesian song!

I miss you, always.

('Pernah Muda', an Indonesian song originally sang by Bunga Citra Lestari.)

Amsterdam!

Gisteren, ben ik met AFS Familie naar Amsterdam geweest.
Het was een heel tof dag!
We bezochten het Anne Frank museum, het theater en de bazaar.
Hier zitten de foto's van de reis..

Dat is van het muziek theater. Ik ben niet zeker welk muziek theater, omdat ik ken de naam niet.
Anyway, we didn't really watch a play or anything.. it was only a quick visit.

Ik zag op de straat interesant, grappig en enkele raar dingen.
By weird, I mean things that I would probably not find in Indonesia..

Bakfiets is an typical bike in Holland.

The second picture is a restaurant. The building has a medieval style.
Honestly, I can't remember in which part of Amsterdam are these buildings located, since the touring was in Dutch and I tried my hardest to listen and understand.. Not sure if I have a terrible memory, or just know nothing about it.

Ik zag een Heintje straat!
What is so special with this street?
Nothing. Its just that Heintje was my grandma favourite singer and I think my mom was also his fangirl.
Heintje was the only Dutch singer I know (except for Daniel Sahuleka, but he's actually Indonesian living in Holland).
Dus, wanneer ik las de naam van de straat...

Yup. This picture perfectly describes what popped in my head...

Do you want to know what other things that I found in Amsterdam?
Indonesische Restaurant!
Ik ben heel blij! Ik dacht, "OMGGG INDONESIAN OMFFGGGGG."
Ok, I exaggerated a little bit, but I'm still happy!

Thanks to my brazilian friend, Tàssya. If it wasn't for her I wouldn't have noticed this.
We didn't eat there, we just passed through it but that's not a problem 'cause after that came the best part..

I met Indonesian people and talked to them!! There were two Indonesian guys and they are university students currently studying in Holland. I was too happy that when they ask if I can still speak in Indonesian, I can't think of a word and keep replying in English.

Though I did later speak in Indonesian, it was horrible!

I totally sounded just like Cinlau hahaha!!

Oh, I almost forgot!!
Ik ben ook naar de Wallen geweest!
Wat? Ik vind het..... crazy.
I mean with all the girls in each cabins against the glass wall...
Too bad pictures are not allowed.

It was a bit shocking when I witnessed an old guy walked into one of the cabin.
What is so wrong about it?
Well, the fact that he's VERY OLD! Old enough to have walking problems and uses a stick to help him, but not only that. He entered a cabin with a girl, which in my opinion, was really not attractive at all!
I mean, come on! If I were the old guy, I would've chosen better!!

Raya you judgemental jerk, maybe she doesn't have the look but what if he's into her personality?
Wrong. You don't pay someone to seduce you for their personality. Unless you talk a lot during the...
You know what? Forget this discussion. Never happened.
Here are other things that will not be found in Indonesia:

When we passed the condomerie, we saw that they have also condom in sizes..
Tàssya was like:
"Oh, look at the small sizes! It is so sad when someone have that size.."
I know right? Crazy Brazilian.. hahahaha!!

The Anne Frank Museum was really.... touching.
Again, we were not allowed to take pictures there..
There, I found the answer to one of my endless question.
The question:

"Why should we learn history? It's in the past and we should let go the past and move on!"

Me.

The answer:

"Om een toekomst op te bouwen, moet je het verleden kennen."

Otto Frank (1967).

Ok, the last picture is a bit random but when I saw this in Amsterdam it reminds me of one of the school subject I'm learning in Belgium.
Esthetica.

*P.S: sorry for the language mixing.. I need to learn writing in Dutch but I'm still a beginner so feel free to correct me, thank you!

well that's Dutch

a student: you speak Dutch?
me: no, but i know some words
a student: ja? nee?