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April 29, 2005
finding mr.v
Flashback to 1992. Northern Virginia town, near the US capital of Washington D.C. The weather getting warmer, school would be out for summer vacation soon. We were fourteen. I discovered that i liked kissing. More importantly, I liked kissing him, hahaha. So we kissed and kissed and kissed. :)
Fast forward to 2005... Thirteen years later, we found each other again! Ahhh the wonders of Googling... He's still in Virginia, still sweet, and he seems to have a very enjoyable life right now, and I'm glad for that...
So, here's a song for Mr.V. I couldn't have said it better than Beth Orton with her Daybreaker lyrics.
We lay on our backs in the grass
Silently watching the rain clouds move by far too fast
You said it was a night where anything could happen
But nothing was gonna last
And we're doing fine now yeah we do
We don't feel sad or bad or blue and you know
We ain't never defeated
Not broken inside all that is fine
Yeah all that is fine
Have a good weekend everyone.... Queen's day weekend this weekend... :)
Posted by Yasmina at 05:12 PM | Comments (1)
April 27, 2005
10 years
wow, i didn't realise it but last march marks my 10th year in europe. i really have not lived in indonesia for a decade. *fyi, i lived in ch 79-84, usa 88-92, uk 95-00, nl 01-05, indo in between*
by "live" i mean, actually residing in an area. so for example, i wasn't living in indonesia this year, because it was just a sabbatical leave from work, all my stuff were still here, etc. and as with my parents being based in portugal, i didn't officially "live" there because i didn't hold a portuguese residence card.
let's see, in those 10 years, i:
- graduated highschool (london)
- moved out of parents' home
- got into a really cool art school
- met some of my best friends (you know who you are)
- started smoking
- worked in sushi bar (london)
- worked in pizza restaurant (london)
- fell in love (many times over)
- graduated university (london)
- became financially independent (no liabilities, yay!)
- quit smoking
- moved to NL to work for this company
- got design patents for several products
- got some of my designs produced and launched into the market
- travelled europe, africa, asia and us
- got to work with some of the most creative, inspiring designers ever
- met, seduced, fell in love and got married to the delightful mr k ;)
- became an auntie to the cutest bulin babyboy ever
*edit* in those 10 years, i also:
- learned to rely on myself
- realised that friends are the new family
- reached the point in life where i want to reconnect with long-lost friends
this event reminded me that i should report myself to the indo embassy this year, otherwise i'm on the verge of losing my nationality *again?!?!*, which would be a really big oeps...
robert and i are thinking we would stick around europe for a few more years before moving to indonesia to start our indo design domination (haha!) and build our empire... :)
actually, on a more practical level, robert says it is better if i am pregnant in indo, so it is easier for him to get me the food i'll likely be craving *pempek palembang, soto mie, duren and asinan bogor probably* and i'll be close to my parents. i thought that was a really funny thing of him to say!
Posted by Yasmina at 06:09 PM | Comments (6)
April 25, 2005
mom and xavier
thanks to gerard for taking this of my mom and nephew.
Posted by Yasmina at 12:01 AM | Comments (3)
April 24, 2005
bread
i love freshly baked bread. since i started living with robert, i've been eating more bread than usual. brown bread, baguettes, german rolls, roggebrood, tortillas, turkish bread. i even baked my very first loaf of bread this week. yummm... bread, i love you...
Posted by Yasmina at 03:00 PM
pixel creature
a few years ago there was a design project where packs of tiles were sent out and designers made their own creatures and pasted the tiles on public streets.
i got the amsterdam one (on keizersgracht), the london one (portobello road) and the the one below is the rotterdam one (hotel new york). we were having brunch at hotel new york last sunday. :-)
Posted by Yasmina at 12:41 PM
April 23, 2005
laszlo's bread
lesh had a little housewarming party in her new flat in rotterdam last weekend and this is the picture of the bread loaf laszlo made. :)
Posted by Yasmina at 12:31 PM
April 22, 2005
kathya and kerupuk
dear K,
i got your kerupuk. and supermie. and a lot of other food stuff.
will try to mail this weekend. keep an eye out for the postman.
xxx, ysmn
Posted by Yasmina at 11:40 AM | Comments (2)
baking bread
*still part of my 43things goals*
last night i baked brown bread for robert and i. robert only eats brown bread. it was my first time ever making bread on my own. we got really hungry waiting for the dough to rise (60 mins) and to cook the bread in the oven (30 mins)
i made two loaves. one plain big brown bread loaf for robert. one small loaf with grated orange rinds and poppy seeds, for me. thank you monica for the recipe.
the bread turned out ok, for my first attempt. the outer crust was a bit hard, too hard at the bottom, but the inside was soft and fluffy. so last night robert and i had a bread party together.
robert even took half his loaf today to work for his lunch. :)
good start, i think.
see more progress on: baking bread
Posted by Yasmina at 11:32 AM | Comments (2)
April 19, 2005
roasting your own coffee
i was inspired to do this after making a trip to java with robert this year. my family own an estate in west java where my mother's sister has coffee trees, amongst other things, and she roasts her own coffee.
we took some of this coffee to bali with us further on our travels, and it is heavenly. it tasted even better knowing that my uncle and aunt had put in all this work so we could enjoy lovely coffee.
the problem is: i'm bloody back in the netherlands, where there are no coffee trees. grrrrr... can i buy coffee beans, roast them then grind them? does that count?
See more progress on: roast my own coffee
Posted by Yasmina at 12:07 AM | Comments (3)
April 18, 2005
holidaying solo to a place where you don't speak the language
went to tunisia on my own, in 2001, when i was 23. it was really cool, even though i didn't speak the language, which was predominantly arabic and french. i got by on the french somewhat, because i got to all the right places safe and sound, without any hassles.
i didn't know anybody but tunisians were friendly enough, often mistaking me for being japanese, and the country is liberal and stable enough for a girl to travel around on my own. it was nice traveling on your own; you had your own pace, didn't have appointments to keep, and could do anything i wanted to do, see the sights i'd marked in my guidebook, and i didn't have to talk to anyone if i didn't want to.
in fact, the most interaction i had were with tunisian students and the waiters at cafes.
spent a lot of time on the beach, on my back, reading books, but also hit the local medinas or old town squares for shopping or photography. i ate like the locals, in the market, and went to the coffee shops where the men are always smoking pipes. at the time i didn't realise that women don't actually go there to smoke; it was a men only place. oh well.
anyway i would definitely recommend going on vacation alone.
See more progress on: take a vacation alone
Posted by Yasmina at 11:54 PM | Comments (1)
waking up before robert so i can make him breakfast
most of the time i wake up before robert anyway, but then immediately i shower and get ready for work and i don't make him breakfast as much as i like to. even if i do make him breakfast, it consists of me making a cup of tea or coffee and pouring his yoghurt into a bowl.
so the plan for me to wake up before robert consistently for three weeks, and make him a proper continental breakfast that consists of tea or coffee, milk or juice, yoghurt with muesli or toast with jam or cheese croissant.
it's getting to summer now, so i wake up earlier with the sun rise, but i wonder if i can keep it up for the winter time?
See more progress on: wake up before my husband so i can make him breakfast
Posted by Yasmina at 04:21 PM | Comments (2)
April 14, 2005
43 things
my friend sahala started me on 43things.com. i linked my blog to my profile, so i will be blogging from there as well as here. you can view my to-do-things here. my have-done-it list is also there on the right hand side. so come on people, cheer me on, or motivate me to get the things on my list done and dusted... :-)
some of the things i want to do: actually learn to play my guitar properly, to live instead of exist, write more letters by hand, to go on a road trip with no pre-determined destination.
things i have done: live in london, visit italy, amsterdam, portugal, and travelled alone to a country without speaking the language.
Posted by Yasmina at 11:00 AM | Comments (4)
April 11, 2005
the homesick post
ugh. i'm at that phase where i wish i hadn't gotten on that stupid plane to amsterdam. why oh why did i come back here?
i miss my family. i miss the crickets at night. i miss the frogs after the rain. i miss the fresh slices of papaya for breakfast, the fresh fruit juices. i miss bubur ayam medan topped with cakwe, lovely crunchy ifumie and soto mie and pempek kapal selam and nasi tim ayam and kue serabi. i even miss the sticky heat, only because we can cool off in the pool afterwards or take a cold shower.
last week was really tough at work. tight deadlines to meet. plus, getting back into work mode after 2 months' leave was super hard. you know there's something wrong with your job if you've been back a week and are already stressed.
my only consolation is seeing my lovely friends again. natalie was here from london, visiting her boyfriend in rotterdam, so we went for witbier met citroen at loo's and then a sushi-and-gyu-don dinner at fugu. we partied together in london during our undergrad days; i used to hold her hair back if she needed to throw up, haha.
thursday, judith and marnix came by for dinner and looked at the videos and photos we made in indo. they travelled to southeast asia from november to february and were in indo around the same time, although we didn't get to meet. next time, we'll come round theirs and see their documentation of their journey.
friday, drinks with michael after work. bitching and moaning about work, so what else is new?
saturday, rotterdam with laszlo, lesh, anton and kata. we watched the wedding dvd and photos on anton's beamer on his wall. pizzas and snacks and mint tea. it was great, i love anton's flat; cozy, with people you know, and i felt like a million miles away from here, in another place.
sunday we were watching the rotterdam marathon in our pyjamas on laszlo's balcony, having a really great breakfast. robert's brother jeroen ran in the marathon but we didn't manage to see him there. we went for a coffee and chocolate-truffel cake *yummm!* with robert's dad at cafe dudok before rushing off to steenbergen to see jeroen and his wife, carolien, for her birthday dinner.
knackering weekend or what?
Posted by Yasmina at 01:36 PM | Comments (3)
April 05, 2005
ideas for blogging alias
so i notice my username for blogging is still miss haryono. using mrs.kortenoeven just reminds me of robert's mom. hummm... must do something about it, but what? i'm at a loss... any ideas?
plus server is still doing weird things... only have limited access on some days *if i'm lucky* so perhaps it is time to move...
oh, started work today. ugh. my mind was everywhere. received a beautiful bouquet of flowers from laszlo and lesh. mine was red, robert's yellow. plus everyone at work said i look different. hummm, am i sporting the "married" look? gerard said i have a "glow" so that must be the spa treatments! *or love?*
Posted by Yasmina at 05:16 PM | Comments (8)
