La Vita e Bella

This morning, as usual, my alarm sings that song, Wherever You Will Go. And as usual, i press the ’snooze’ button without thinking - oh please i deserve another 9 minutes. And again, as usual, in the other 9 minutes the alarm starts to sing again. Even it sings my favourite song, but i just find it so annoying in the morning. Good thing it’s a cellphone alarm, if not then maybe i’ll just throw it against the wall.

After 3 times of 9 minutes delay, i finally to wake up and walk straightly to the kitchen, make my morning coffee. This time, i decided not to drink my coffee while reading e-mails. Avoiding that routine, I climbed the stairs and sat there, to enjoy the warm sunshine on my back, have a small chat with Kristian, gaze at the backyard of Gondel with its 3 huge container of garbage, which needs to be taken out. Usually, this would be Zabi’s work. Zabi is the one who use to help out cleaning Gondel, he’s nice and warm, even with his limited English he always try so hard to communicate with us. But he’s missing, for more than a week. I heard that he’s on vacantie, or something like that. Well, ok, let’s do the community work. I drag one bin, and Kristian drags the other one. Passing through the small halls… 2 doors… aha, finally we’re out. We even argued a little about the place to put the containers. Kristian said it has to be as close as possible to the street, i said, no, pull it back a bit. Then this man who turns out to be our neighbour came. He’s so neat, probably will go to his office soon. While unlocking his bike he asked us, are you students? They made you do this kind of work? Then we had that small conversation about garbage going on with Sultan - his name. I asked, is that ok to leave it here, even it is not the schedule for them to pick this thing up? Smiling he said, if people from the cleaning department (or something like that) see this, they might take a note, and fined you. Yeah right, i thought he was joking because he was smiling. But somehow i get a feeling that he might be serious, so i asked, are you serious?

Well, not long after that i found myself dragging the bin again, back to the back yard of Gondel, and have to wait for Wednesday night to get it out again.

Oh, this is just the way Dutch system works… Everything can be fined - even a garbage container that you put outside your house not in the right schedule.

I drank my first Cortado in Madrid. It was a bit rainy in that afternoon, i think the earth was trying to give balance to the heat of summer in Madrid. With some friends i went to a bar just around the corner of Hotel Fansisco I, the place where i stayed. Gazing to the raindrops… silent street… accompanied by Cortado. It was really nice, that first experience.

People say that Cortado is simply espresso with a drop of warm milk. But for me Cortado has more charm than that. It’s simply indescribeable. Cortado is served in a very small cup, makes you cherish every sip you take. You can always order for more though. There are various forms of Cortado. You can request for Cortado with warm milk or with cold milk (short milk). Both are nice.

July the 14, at night in the airport. I decided to end my wonderful days in Madrid by drinking Cortado again.

Perfecto.

Most frequent-asked-question in ISS nowadays: "Are you going to go back home for your research?"

A question that me myself used to ask other people. To all my friends in ISS. To those who are close to me and to those who are not. A question that i sincerely want to know the answer, and not just a question that i ask for making a conversation. It is strange because I know that even if they are around, i might not see them often. But knowing that some of them will be away makes me feel somewhat lonely. I don’t like to see the empty halls in ISS, the canteen that is no longer full of students, library with empty seats… And i hate to admit that i’m starting to miss the hustle bustle of group work, assignments, presentations, reader, classes, films sessions… I feel like im alone with my RP which is so full of uncertainty.

Last night most of Gondel people have a drink in a cafe near the beach. Fany will be away for months, Rina as well, Tina is no longer here, Manana too, Carlos, Chika, and Jason has already moved… Gondelstraaat will be empty. My constant companion now is the flies, that are suddenly popping in to my room since summer time. Some of them used to make sounds, ngiuuungg…. ngiuuuuuung…. annoying but yet it made me smile because it reminds me to Donald Duck that is used to desperately trying to catch them.

Ah, it’s July already. 5 months left.

This morning i got a message from my mom, saying that Ari Wibowo is getting married today, 7/7. To him i dedicated this song hiks hiks…

Akhir Cerita Cinta - Glen Fredly 

sandiwarakah selama ini
setelah sekian lama kita telah bersama
inikah akhir cerita cinta
yang sekalu kubanggakan
didepan mereka
entah dimana kusembunyikan rasa malu

kini harus aku lewati
sepi hariku
tanpa dirimu lagi
biarkan kini ku berdiri
melawan waktu
‘tuk melupakanmu
walau pedih hati
namun aku bertahan…

Huaa… my Ari!!!

Got a mix of feelings this evening.

I was feeling sleepy an hour ago, was trying to sleep, but a bit of sun rays still hanging outside my window (though its 11pm already!), and it made me: 1. unable to sleep, 2. feel guilty for trying to sleep (i feel like i should sleep when i’m really sleepy, when it’s unbearable anymore, just like most of my sleep-deprived friends in ISS), 3. can’t stop my mind from wandering around.

Then i feel a bit sad, remember Echel my other dog that was being poisoned - she was hanging there for weeks, maybe waiting for me to let her go. And i did. That’s why a week ago when i heard that she finally went to meet her mom Jessica, it wasnt that heavy. But sometimes this feeling of sadness come again…

Then i feel a bit scared, huh…. will have two exams this week, have to deal with Freek’s type of questions that i dont like, and TD’s questions that are always too philosphycal for me. I feel like im not as prepared as i was compared to last term.

Then strangely this light feeling comes when i saw a news about France on the web, with Zizou’ slight bright smile… I remember when they won against Brazil in ‘98, i was watching the match with my siz and got so excited.

Then i feel sleepy again. Ok, time to sleep.