November 2014

Married life is great!!!!!!!!

Menjangan Getaway for Our 3rd Year Anniversary

It's crazy that it's been almost 3 years since we first met and fell in love. It makes it officially the longest relationship I've ever been in my life. Okay, the past year wasn't exactly that bright, but it was probably a way for both of us to know each other better. Something may have changed as reality struck and our individual personalities showed their real colors, but hey... we're still here. Not exactly holding hands like we used to (but that's also because Bali is too hot for even holding hands), but we ARE together. We try to learn from the past, do better, and be wiser. It's not easy but everyday is a learning process for both of us.

Anyway, to celebrate the anniv, we are going to Menjangan Island in the north west of Bali for three days. I'm super excited because it's been ages since I took a vacation the last time, and over a year for both me and Vincent to have a vacation together. It's gonna be a short one, this trip. But hopefully memorable... :)

Wii

I remember Vincent already wanted to buy Wii since 2009, not long after he moved to Indonesia. But we always had a shitty finance, so I thought it wouldn't have been wise to do so. 2011 is looking positive so far - though it is too early to tell - but now it is not such a bad idea for him to reward himself a toy game he likes.

So we went to Rimo to purchase one.

It was the same day that I got my new supposedly 28mm lens. But since I have a cropped camera (EOS 400D), it is not as wide as I expected it to be. Anyway, I liked it. And as Vincent was playing with his new toy, I played with mine.

Vincent exploring Wii

In the mean time, Mouche was happy enough with no new toys (she does have toys, she is just not playful enough.

Not caring about the noises Vincent made

Mouche lounging underneath the table

Photo Update

A few minutes before checking in at Ngurah Rai airport to go back to France for Christmas and New Year

Weekend Getaway - Amed

Sunday, 27th of June, we were supposed to leave for Amed at 9-ish. But then my mom called to let me know that Ita and Michelle had arrived in Bali very early this morning, robbed. The bag that I once gave Ita was missing somewhere in Denpasar bus terminal, including Michelle's cough syrup, Ita's purse and money. I actually didn't have time to go to her place as it was 8 when my mother called, but I really couldn't leave for the weekend getaway in peace if I didn't do something about it. Michelle was sick, she threw up before she finally fell asleep that morning, and because all of Ita's important goods were stolen, the poor mother and child only had Rp 20,000 left with them. Moreover, it was Michelle's 6th birthday. How could I possibly grab my own fun knowing that they were far from being happy? So I emptied my bank account, which already had almost nothing, and went there in the rain. At least, there would be money to spend until Ita could retrieve her ATM card.

Vincent's family was waiting for me when I arrived back home, and we quickly had long drive to Amed. However, all the excitement made me really hungry. We stopped at Padang Bai for lunch before continuing the journey.

Amed was nice as usual. But the hotel we were staying in, Hotel Kembali, was super for its price. It is clean, beautiful and the services are not bad.

We were relaxing by the pool until the sun went down. Vincent, being overly exhausted from the late night to morning partying with Marc and all the crazy driving, slept almost the whole afternoon. And then wen had a quiet nice and dinner at the nearby warung. It felt good to get some time away from the south of Bali madness.

The next day, after breakfast, a quick swim and checking out, we got in the car to see the hill side of Amed. Vincent's mother was already excited for it. It didn't last for long though. Because just at the first stop when we saw a beautiful scenery of Amed beach, there was this idea of snorkelling popping out. Marc was obviously more excited to do that than just to stroll around the hills on a car. But Nicole was not very happy. She was looking forward to walk through the mountains, if I didn't get her wrong.

We then went back to the beach side and stopped at a warung that says, "For Rent: Snorkels".

Nicole said to me, "Les hommes!!!" They always do what they want.

I was wondering what she would think later on when she knew that I also went to the sea to snorkel. :p She obviously looked shocked and perhaps disappointed when Vincent brought me the snorkel and fins of my size. She said, "Toi aussi?"

Anyway, the beach was full of medium-sized rocks and they got into our fins and made me hard to move my legs because they hurt. And having seen Gili's incredible underwater corals and fishes, also Karimun Jawa, Amed's sea garden was not very impressive. Unless we did not go to the right spot. But I saw a blue starfish for the first time though! Did you know that starfish was actually quite big?

Ubud and Jimbaran

Continuing the family rendezvous....

Thursday, 24th of June, Vincent went to work. Nicole and Marc were a bit tired from the previous days activities, so we took it easy by taking a different route to walk and window-shop. I took them around the shopping area in Seminyak-Oberoi. Then we ended the journey at Rich Café, the Thai restaurant Sylvie loves and they love too. We had a lovely lunch then took a swim. It was pretty relaxing, but at 4 o'clock I had to leave to my French course. The two came back with me home although I told them that they could stay there and relax more.

In the evening, Vincent wanted to take us to Café Bali, but it was full!!! So we had dinner at the restaurant next door, Khaima, a Morrocan restaurant. I am not a big fan of Morrocan food. It is very nice, yes, but it is a bit too sweet for my taste. It was not because I ordered Tagine with prunes!!! Well, the prunes indeed made it sweeter, but I just think Morrocan food in general is sweeter than the others. If I had to compare it with Indonesian food, it would have to be Jogjakartan food!

Friday, 25th of June, we went to Ubud!!! The weather was not friendly even when we just set off to leave. But that didn't stop us. Nothing can stop you when you have a car, haha!

Vincent parked the car by the Ubud Monkey Forest, then we walked towards the direction of Babi Guling Ibu Oka. I didn't have breakfast that morning because I knew I would totally be stuffed after eating at Ibu Oka, but the walk was SO LONG!!! My mood wasn't exactly going south but it was not going north either. :P

We felt so content after having the great lunch and we visited the front part of the Ubud Palace. Afterwards, we continued the journey browsing for more shops. I think Ubud shops sell better stuff than those in Kuta or Seminyak. Lovely things though rather expensive compared to where we live. But I guess there is the price for the quality. Nicole bought some nice stuffs for herself and she also bought Vincent an early birthday present of a silver ring; while Marc was happy with his new ivory necklace.

Next stop was the Monkey Forest itself. What can I say about this Monkey Forest? There were.... a lot of monkeys? Like hundreds of them! Very cute ones. I especially liked the little baby monkeys.

Saturday, 26th of June, the Chanliaus and the Mengus went to Sylvie's villa to check it out in the morning, while I had to go to TelkomVision to make a complaint about our non-working cable. Later on I found out apparently a cargo truck destroyed the cable so that a few houses got their connection cut.

Then, the best part was the lunch. It was Jimbaran time!!! Let's expect the super delicious, mouth-watering seafood!!! The clams, the fishes, the prawns!!! But hell, as far as I could remember eating there, we could never finish the whole order and had to ask the waiters to bungkus the leftover. But this time, it was clean even before I felt full. How did that happen?

Answer: Marc eats a lot and very, very quickly. And Vincent skipped the rice, so he's also kind of fast with the seafood, especially clams. After that, he ordered another portion of clams so I could eat a bit more, and he and Marc too.

We had a short swim at the beach afterwards, which was nice. Every day is a holiday when you have guests to entertain!!!!

The visit of Vincent's mom and brother

After dreading that I could not communicate well with Vincent's mother for a couple of weeks before they came, Nicole and Marc are finally here and things are not looking so bad.

In fact, it's been awesome. I have never been this busy since I quit my job at Fabio's, and it feels good.

In summary, their stay has been more effective for me to practise my French than one year learning at Alliance Française. Of course the fact that Vince's mom doesn't speak English kind of pushed that to happen. At first I thought it would be more dreadful than a DELF/DALF test because this is my future mother-in-law we are talking about, but no, it is far from scary. Nicole tries as much as I do in communicating with each other. Of course a lot of times we throw each other a blank look, but as Inga said, body language works very effectively. :)

Here's the recap of their stay so far:

• Saturday, 19th of June, they arrived at 7:30. We met Laurence at the airport when we picked them up and she told me not to worry. At home, I was happy with Nicole's small present of a necklace with a cupid pendant. She loves one of my black and white photos of an old woman in Tegal. I am going to print another one on canvas so that she can bring it home in two weeks.
• Sunday, 20th of June, we went to Andy and Nicole's villa in Nusa Dua. Had such a great time. Joanne and David were there. Also Greg, Sandrine and their two girls. I decided that I liked Charlotte, their youngest.
• Monday, 21st of June, Vincent went to work, so I took Nicole and Marc shopping at Seminyak and Legian area. It was kind of funny to see them. So excited to see anything. However, they didn't realise that their one step was two for me. I ended up really tired in the evening with my both feet swollen. Vincent was luckily being a good boy and giving me a massage.

• Tuesday, 22nd of June, Vincent took a day off from the office and we went to Geger beach in Nusa Dua. Nice relaxing time. I got another massage from the ibu-ibu masseuses at the beach, which restored my energy completely. After my lesson (I was one hour late), we went to Warung Gossip in Kerobokan to watch the French national team got beaten up by the South African. They are now officially out of the 2010 World Cup. :P

• Wednesday, 23rd of June, Vincent went to Jakarta to pick up his renewed passport. Nicole, Marc and I went browsing more shops near our place. They were both very tired from the tight activities the previous days so it didn't take very long. Marc was upset though because Nicole kept touching every dog and cat and this one small dog followed her every where. We had to tell her that it was not good to touch every stray animal here, but I left that to Marc. He speaks better French than me; Haha...

I don't know yet what we are going to do today. But hey, another fun thing perhaps.