Either way, I'm still here

I looked back at the pictures I've transferred from my camera to my laptop, then realizing quite a long time has passed since the first Olimpiade PPI Prancis.

I was slightly skeptical before, since it was the holiday season and most of Indonesian students who were studying in France had flew back home.

The event occurred in Ecole des Mines Nantes. The weather was chilly but since the event was held indoor, everything went smoothly.

(A fella's first time eating Lemper. He almost ate it all with the leaves)

After lunch break, we've got to meet two very special guesses.
Representatives of Indonesian Embassy came all the way from Paris to Nantes, Mr Rezlan Ishar Jenie and Mr Syafsir Akhlus.
Seems like age gap didn't matter, the came dressed in sport attires and joined the boys during the game.

It ended up pretty good. Really good I should say.
I can't believe I'd say this since I'm not keen on sport at all (in fact, I hate sport) but I guess, sport unites people?
Yes? No?

 Don't give me that look, I know I didn't even participate in any games, but.....yay to sport?

At the end of the day, our stomaches were grumbling and we decided to have kebab and fries for dinner.
 Mr Rezlan and Mr Syafsir stayed to share dinner time with us. 
The chilly weather didn't bother us, not even a bit (perhaps except me, my hands were freezing) and as the sun set and sky was getting darker, we enjoyed our dinner to the sound of acoustic guitar while singing tacky, cheesy songs. Nevertheless it was fun.

After we finished our dinner, the two gentlemen had some chit-chat with us, shared some encouragements, wise words, and told us funny jokes too.
 That day was awesome, I'm looking forward to the 2nd, 3rd, and more Olimpiade PPI Prancis!

On the other note,  I know I shouldn't nag about this again but summer supposed to be sunny and all but instead we get rainy days and chilly weather here. Boo hoo.

Le Bon Coin

Based on my previous entry, you might guess that currently I'm not living in Jakarta anymore. 

Some people know that I had been taking french course for quite a while, 

but I guess my decision to move here in early May sounds a bit sudden.

I preferred to keep the news under the radar just few days before my departure. 

Only few of my closest ones knew already, 

though I feel kinda guilty when I received tons of messages and calls,

asking me why I didn't tell them earlier.

That day I was really nervous.

I've never been so far from my family before. 

So I've no idea how my life would be once I got there.

And I might sound like a sore loser, 

but before I came here I didn't know how to apply for bank account, life and health insurance, monthly transportation ticket, basic house chores, and other basic stuffs that I didn't bother to worry about back then in my home.

And about living alone? Guess I underestimated it way too much. 

Having the obligation to take care of myself in a country far, far away from my home is way harder than I thought. 

Don't get me started with the weather. 

Coming here in Spring/Summer time, I thought I'd be fine with jeans and t-shirts, 

but on the contrary, I need to stuff my shopping list with coats and jackets.

 It's been cold, rainy, and pretty much windy through the weeks.

Talking about the citizens? Screw stereotypes. 

I think it's safe for me to say that people here are (mostly) really, really, really nice. 

I think in every part of the world there will always be annoying arseholes and ignorant people,

so stereotyping people solely based on your personal experience and comparing their culture with your own culture is obviously not fair. 

But even so, I sometimes still miss Indonesia's hospitality and food. 

They sure have lovely selections of food here, as french is known for their gastronomy varieties. 

But nothing beats the ones we had where we grew up in, right?

It still feels kinda weird, but in a good way, you know?

Somehow it feels like I'm starting my life all over again here. 

New places, new faces, new personalities, everything's new.

I stayed in Paris for quite a while and left some of my stuffs there before I moved to Nantes.

Been settling myself down, doing this and that. 

I know this sounds incredibly cheesy and maybe slightly, too early? 

But I think I'm starting to fall in love with this city. 

I don't know if that's even possible, but I think it does.

(PS: Sorry for random photos of me, or other things, I put here and there in this post. I left my camera in my friend's house, for all of this pictures, the credit goes to Grace. Thanks for letting me using them!)

So, hello again, I suppose?

I didn't realize how long has it passed since I swore to myself that I won't neglect this blog. 
I know this sounds rather awkward but, let's just start with quoting a famous sentence by C.S. Lewis ;

"Isn't it funny how day by day nothing changes, but when you look back everything's different?"

When I first read that, I thought, well, that's kinda funny.

And so very true.

You know, 
when some days you feel so lost like every other person in this world just don't get your situation, 
or as if you barely know them. 

As if you're not really living, 
you're just passing time, 
without knowing what are you really doing.

Some days in life when you feel like you're in a deep shit and nothing's ever going to change.

They say, it's okay to look back and visit the past, 
but be very, 
very careful, not to live in it.

Those weren't even something that I wished ever happened to me.
But maybe I was just tired of everything. 

Tired of my surroundings. 
Tired of being unhappy. 
Tired of seeing people that I thought would be there,
walked away one by one.

I didn't know what or where should I start fixing it. 
Because too much things happened and they were too overwhelming. 

So I started with myself. 
Because that was it, nothing left. 
Because I choose to be happy, 
and I know I deserve to. 

I haven't made any post for quite a while so, here you go, a long one

I promised to feed this blog more and yet here I am, neglecting it for months.

I'm currently still a little bit overwhelmed with university preparation, future accommodation and papers, but I guess updating one or two stories won't hurt.

#1. My 6 month baby Lotso is sleeping. Quite massive, isn't he?
#2. Jakarta is getting pretty windy and chilly lately, and my lips are even more chapped than ever. Been using Burt's Bees for months, it helps hydrating my lips much better than other lipbalms. Before I use this acai berry flavour, I used the mango one, both smell yummy.
#3. Some CD collections in my course place. Awezumness.




#4. Pizza e Birra's Panna Cotta, indulging myself in one fine afternoon with some highschool mates.
#5. Spending weekend, watching Paranormal Activity 3 & had some japanese fast-food from left to right chicken curry, dory katsu, beef teriyaki or tepanyaki, I'm not quite sure what it was. 
#6. Golden Egg Tart's Portuguese egg tart.

I went out with some friends to 10 years anniversary of Ada Apa Dengan Cinta but we ran out of tickets. Then one of my friend said not far from that place we can find loads of vintage/secondhand/rare books, CDs, and vinyls. We thought that was interesting, so we decided to gave it a go rather than heading home with disappointment.

I got this two antique french novels in a tiny shop owned by Pak Djo. It was originally 30k for each book, but after some bargaining in french, I got two of these for only 45k. 

Did I mention bargaining in french?

It was already pleasantly surprising when we told Pak Djo we were looking for something good to read, he suddenly pulled out a classic Shakespeare's Hamlet from the shelf. 

Him & his friend were really friendly. As we were looking for the book, he helped us with some references. 

Suddenly my friend said I'm currently learning french, he suddenly asked "Parlez vous francais?". 

And the conversation (including the bargaining, of course) went on in french.

His friend, another bookshop owner, who was sitting beside him told us that Mr Djo used to work in France.

Now that's what I call, really, interesting.

And oh, my friend also got a classic Jane Eyre novel (from around 1960s) for 30k, again, in his shop.

I mean, where can I find a humble vintage/secondhand book shop owner who speak french and has great book collections? 

Would definitely come and have my second visit later on.