one month in Utrecht
I have not been posting anything for the last one year (even more), just look at my archive..
but I think it is time to start posting something, just like what my buddy Mario said...
To begin with, I arrived in Schiphol on the 28th of August and spent my first three days in Rotterdam, pampered and taken care of by Bram and Michele... Couldn't thank them enuff..
I had to learn how to bike in the WRONG side of the road, well, at least that what I think as Indonesian.... used pedal brake (not recommended unless u are an advanced biker)... and many other important things which I did not think of before... (like shopping for groceries... hemm...)
So after three days, I moved to my nice little room in Utrecht... it is nice, cozy, in the attic, with lots of window... I love the room instantly!
And here comes Ramadhan after that... Fasting has always been something that I could deal with quite okay at home, but it is not that easy anymore, not when everyone but you are not fasting, not when you have to fast longer that you are used to (it's still summer by the way, the sun set at 8.30 PM, although now, it is around 7.44 or something), and especially not when you don't have your mom cooked excellent dinner for you... *sigh*
So how do I deal with it? I became a regular visitor at ifthar organised by Indonesian community in Utrecht! aha!! very nice indonesian families, delicious indonesian meals, sholat berjama'ah and indonesian language (with some Dutch translation)... feels like home....
I have three courses this period (while, most of the students are taking two, silly me!), human rights in international and european law, international human rights law and comparing criminal justice system. What does it mean? It means tons of reading assignment!! like tons of it!! no kidding.... I should say that I am coming from a laid-back-kind-of-education-system (I think it was during my time, things are improving now... I wish!), you don't have to read that much... not to mention that it was four years ago the last time I went to college... Gosh...
But Utrecht is a really beautiful small city, I love the canals, old buildings, the dom tower, the small shops here and there, the park.. I could even ride my bike now quite comfortably.... It is quite expensive in a way, but I think that is because I shopped mostly in Albert Heinz instead of going to the Turkish shops..
How's my Dutch doing... square one I guess... I can say goedemorgen, goede middag, goedeavont and daag! can I say something more? nope! but funny though I catch some words that are used in Indonesia and also used by my dad quite often, like Pindakas (for peanut better jam), persis, teken, les, schoonen (well this one is my dads), etc.. and the Dutch used some Indonesian word as well like kerupuk, nasi goreng, sate, and sambal.. I guess that is what happened when they colonialized you for hundreds of years..
Nevertheless, I have to admit, I miss people from home.... I miss my hubby, I miss my nephew (soooo much), I miss my mom, my sisters, brother in law, dayu, mario, adhe, wiendy, aciel, plo2, nad2, rhiena, and many more... I think I miss my dad too although he is not home often enough... but then he will have his holiday while I am still here and when I come back, he would have gone back to work again... so most probably, I can only meet him in 2010...
I don't want to get to melancholy... I am gonna leave it there for a while...
posted by Rully @ 11:22 AM
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