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August 28, 2005
not speaking the same language
you know how sometimes in the working environment you encounter people who just don't speak the same language you do? someone who comes from a totally different level, someone you want to turn around to and say, "i don't know what planet you are from, but english is spoken here."
him: people should be flying.
me: cool idea. let's think of how we can achieve that goal.
him: we should fly. i want to be flying. why aren't we flying?
me: yeah yeah, i get you: the future is flying. let's brainstorm how we can do that, shall we?
him: i want to fly! everyone should be flying by now! it's a wonder that no one is flying right now! *starts singing R.Kelly's 'I Believe I Can Fly*
me: would you like A. a personal rocket pack, B. a consumer hovercraft or C. be pushed out of the window?
Posted by Yasmina at 03:38 PM | Comments (7)
August 24, 2005
the one about self-isolation
i'm speaking more and more dutch these days. oh, it's far from perfect, and i'm sure robert cringes behind my back as i slaughter the dutch language, splitting the plural verbs, confusing the tenses and making direct conversions from english sentences into less-comprehensible dutch ones.
my brain's processes for speaking dutch:
- thinks in english
- makes sentence in english
- find and replace all english words with dutch
- if dutch word is unknown, keep the english word
- send command to mouth
in a way, i don't want to be fluent in dutch. i like the self-isolation i make for myself in public spaces. i still need a certain degree of concentration to understand other-than-basic dutch and i like that. lose the concentration and the rest of the world disappears for me.
being back in london or in indonesia bothers me a lot, because i can understand everything. that's just an overload for my senses.
here, i can read peacefully on the train without getting involved in other's conversations. i can listen better to other more interesting sounds: sitting outside sipping a cold Hoegaarden in amsterdam's negen straatjes, i can hear the neighborhood sounds of people cooking in their kitchen, a baby crying somewhere, children playing together, children singing, someone playing the piano, the sax.
why was the baby crying? what are the people cooking? are they having friends over? is someone going to have a performance soon? how long have they been playing the sax? all these thoughts fly into my head and i'm off in my own cloud of stories of how these people came to be.
i wonder how long until i understand dutch and it starts to drive me crazy. i wonder if this will spark me to continue moving until all languages are exhausted.
Posted by Yasmina at 10:35 AM | Comments (8)
August 22, 2005
are you scottish?
bisa-bisanya ada orang menyangka gue orang skotlandia. asli bingung gue, gimana si supir taksi bisa salah tebak meleset total gitu yah? heh, that's a first. sebelum-sebelumnya i've been mistaken for an american, a brit, a mexican/central/south american *pokoknya spanish-speaking deh*, a portuguese, a filipino and japanese.
and the thing was, i barely said 10 words to the cab driver! the first thing i said to him after "hello, how are you?" was our destination, and all this was in dutch! *i do all my transactions and some business meetings in dutch now, i'm so proud of me* then i turned round to speak to cathrine in the back seat.
and the cab driver asked me, "are you from scotland? are you scottish?" hah? scottish? apanya gue yang scottish yah? dan si cathrine sempet confused juga tuh. "apanya elo yang scottish yah, yas?" dia nanya pas kita udah sampe kantor.
entah. tapi jarang banget orang nyangka gue orang indonesia. lucu ya. apa english gue yang misleading? over the years, i picked up different accents. my american friends say i have an english/dutch/european accent. my english friends say i have dutch/american accent. and obviously, to this dutch cabbie's ears, gue punya scottish accent kali yah? OMGLOL. :)
btw, kalo mau dengerin english gue, ada disini.
Posted by Yasmina at 10:36 PM | Comments (5)
August 21, 2005
missing my mom + dad
robert and i went to meet my parents at schiphol airport friday night. they were flying back to indo from their vacation in portugal and were on a transit for a couple of hours at schiphol. traffic was terrible and i was freaking out that i wouldn't see my mom and dad. we made it in time, though, and went for a coffee together.
*sigh* i miss my mom and dad. and my sister. and little xavie. :(
my dad fell in love with the new mac mini when we visited the apple shop last week in eindhoven. so we bought one for him and gave it to him at the airport. he was really pleased.
i spoke to my sister this morning and she had picked up my parents at the airport and that they were all home safe and sound and were all unwrapping the presents we bought them. i bought xavie a miffy tent and he didn't quite get the concept of a tent. so he stood inside the tent, and ran around the garden with the tent over him; like a giant house-shaped snail.
*kebayang ngga sih, ada tenda miffy jalan-jalan sendiri di halaman rumah, with two little bare feet sticking out the bottom... kocakkk, seperti keonggg, huahahaha*
Posted by Yasmina at 03:08 PM | Comments (5)
August 19, 2005
never the patriot
sometimes i don't know how to be indonesian. i spent my life following my dad on his tour of duty around the world, in the name of indonesia, the indonesian people, the indonesian government. along the way of representing my nation, i forgot how to be indonesian.
what is it to be indonesian, anyway? i never really understood when people told me i was too westernised. i've been thinking about it a lot and it bothers me. maybe i should write something for the blogfam August 17th event, one of which is a blog entry competition on the subject of being indonesian, reflecting upon 60 years of independence.
mbak retno posted a nice entry about the indonesian independence day and how it was to be indonesian in another land. her blog is one of my regular stops for reading :)
have a good weekend, everybody! i'm meeting my parents tonight for a couple of hours as they are on stopover from portugal to jakarta, and then spending the weekend in amsterdam with robert. birthday party to go to tomorrow night, then sunday remco is buying us dimsum lunch in namkee :)
Posted by Yasmina at 10:03 AM | Comments (4)
August 16, 2005
the dutch wedding
well. the day we had been preparing for finally arrived. we were strangely relaxed and totally not nervous. i think kathya was more nervous than us, running around taking photographs. :)
the song for when we signed the wedding papers was "You Sexy Thing" by Hot Chocolate. wildly inappropriate, there were some raised eyebrows in the room, but our friends in the back giggled really hard.
walking out of the den bosch city hall, our friends and family showered us with rose petals. after some photos at the city hall, we drove to the castle where the dinner + reception was held.
our guests were really impressed with kasteel maurick. it is a beautiful location, with lush gardens all around and elegant rooms for dining and receptions.
we had champagne and a toast *to happily ever after*. we also cut the wedding cake. robert and i couldn't decide on a proper wedding cake *we both hate icing* so we picked five of our favorite cakes from de bijenkorf instead. :)
after some time lounging + mingling and eating hors d'ouvres and drinking wine, we all went to dine upstairs, where a 3-course meal awaited us. the meal was very yummy. yummilicious. i had wild mushroom soup, duck breast in berry sauce and a sorbet with forest fruits.
everyone else started arriving just as we finished dining. so onwards to the ballroom for a dance. radek had arrived and was spinning the decks already. we danced and danced and danced. the castle staff flitted between people, discreetly topping up wine and removing empty glasses. the chemistry between people was great. the music just rocked, everyone was on the dancefloor, radek is just the best.
it was so so good to spend this special day with our friends and family. we had a fab time, and from the feedback and compliments we've been receiving, the party was a smashing event. it was a really international group that we had that night; global nomads that have travelled and lived everywhere.
i was especially pleased to see the sillem family: faisal, luzita, kohar, hassan and aisjah. i had not seen them in a couple of years, since they went to south america. they travelled extensively in south america, and i had seen kohar's pictures of his visit to his brother and sister there. i thought hassan and aisjah wouldn't return to the netherlands, but they are back! yay!
also susje was so so sweet. she must read my blog often, because every time i introduced her to someone at the party, she would remember them from a blog entry. that's so funny!
you can view the indonesian + dutch wedding pictures in my flickr set. thanks to everyone who helped made this day truly beautiful for us :)
p.s. and send us your photos!
Posted by Yasmina at 02:39 PM | Comments (3)
August 11, 2005
the day before
one more day to go. :)
monica arrived this morning from chicago. she drove down in a rental car, and came by the apartment to say hello to my parents *sambil ngemil martabak telor bikinan nyokap gue* sekarang dia lagi facial di dorint hotel. gue pengen facial dari minggu lalu tapi takut jerawatan ntar ah. risky banget.
i'm going to pick up kathya in about 10 minutes, at the train station. dia datang dari jerman naik kereta karena si david engga bisa ikut dan harus kerja weekend ini. tuh kan, it's all george bush's fault that david couldn't make it this weekend to our wedding.
sore ini kita akan ambil wedding cake, ambil menu card and seating card di printer trus ke kasteel maurick untuk meninjau lokasi pernikahan. gue dan robert sih udah sering kesitu, dan nyokap gue juga udah pernah kesana desember lalu, tapi kathya dan bokap belom liat. sekalian drop off wedding cake disana sore ini.
ntar malem gaya dan joachim tiba dari london. horee! jadi nanti malam kita akan pesta rendang, pesta pempek palembang dan pesta tom ka.
and tomorrow, robert and i will repeat our vows in front of the people we love, and run away to the castle for celebrations. yay! i'm so thankful that we have come to this day :)
Posted by Yasmina at 02:02 PM | Comments (2)
August 07, 2005
wedding + reception countdown
woo hoo! our dutch wedding is in five days. it will be a busy week for us. robert did the clever thing and has taken all week off work. i have to work monday and tuesday :(
my parents will arrive on tuesday morning. 05.40 in the morning, a rather ungodly hour, if you ask me. our car is broken but michael has kindly lent us his volvo :)
on thursday, more visitors will arrive. gaya and joachim from london. kathya (and hopefully, david) from wiesbaden. karen and patricia from berlin. monica from chicago. yay! :)
i wish joão could have made it, but i know he is with me in thought.
Posted by Yasmina at 02:51 PM | Comments (5)
August 02, 2005
what's your secret?
i've been reading postsecret for a while, and i love it.
for those not familiar with the concept, postsecret is a blog where you can post your innermost secrets, anonymously. make your own postcards depicting your secret and mail it to the street address provided on the site. entries get updated every sunday.
i love this site because it makes me feel human. me with all my imperfection, all my shame, guilt, pleasures, big secrets, little secrets, forgotten neglected scary funny secrets.
the words and images on the postcards are beautifully moving and powerful. what an amazing feeling to disclose your secret to the world, with no one being the wiser.
some that make me smile:
one
the above with text : "I steal small things from my friends to keep memories of how much I love them."
two
three
four
five
the ones that make me cry/sad:
one
two
three
four
five
six
i see people mailing their postcards off and walking away from the mailbox much much lighter, and with a pair of wings on their backs. :)
Posted by Yasmina at 04:54 PM | Comments (2)
letter to vientiane: praise you
Fat Boy Slim got it right with his words:
We've come a long long way together,
Through the hard times and the good,
I have to celebrate you baby,
I have to praise you like I should
You know who you are. We've come a long way, baby, as Fat Boy Slim would say. Twenty years of friendship, spanning three continents, and you were always around the corner. I would not be here if it weren't for you.
Thank you.
For everything.
Posted by Yasmina at 12:22 AM
