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.

Photo Update - Vincent, almost 30 years old

Pictures: New house

Those were some of the first photos I took when we moved to this house in Kerobokan. I am sure I have some others but first I have to find the memory card which I took the photos with. :P In the mean time, hope the look of our living room on the second floor (or 1st floor as the French would prefer)

2009 Wrapup

I just learnt (by myself) how to make a video consisting of photos and background music. Here is the result:



Background music: WinzzMusic

HAPPY NEW YEAR, EVERYONE!!!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year....

To all our beloved friends.

The Ring

Based on our reader's request (meaning Sheila - the only reader of our blog), this is the photo of the ring Vincent gave me on our first anniversary last May. Pretty, huh?

Yesterday Morning

Me: Baby, I'm going to work.
Vincent: Hmm...

[5 seconds passed]

Me: Where is my kiss???
Vincent: How am I supposed to know it?
Me: ......

Me: Where.is.my.kiss?
Vincent: Oh! [rolled over to reach my lips]

Me: I love you.
Vincent: [mumbling] I love you, too.

--

Moral of the story: Don't ask any complicated questions that consist of more than three words to your sleeping man in the morning.

Cigar Baby

Ass

From the picture above you can easily see who wrote which. Vincent's reluctance on getting organised and his fascination over ass are no longer a secret.

There were two first sentences that he asked me shortly after he moved here: A. Do you have an ashtray? and B. In your ass.

As soon as he knew how to say the latter phrase, one can never ask him seriously where something is. Because his absolute answer is....

di dalam pantatmu.

Therefore what he wrote on my kitchen board did not surprise me at all.

Ricardo Evers

Even at the time I'm writing this piece, I still can't believe it happened. Not to someone with such a life force like you. Not when you already made great plans ahead. Not when it was so fast, unexpected and seemingly unfair.

But you left us anyway. I'm running out of tears but even so it's still coming out every now and then. Out of my disbelief.

We might not have had our plans come true. But we had the greatest moments together.
We might not be able to see you now. But we saw you in your best shape.
And we will never forget that.

We love you, Ricardo.

Carla and Vincent.

The Culture Hiccups

I just read this article posted by journalist Duncan Graham in his blog. A little information on Mr Graham: he's a New Zealander married to an East Javanese woman from Malang. In this particular post, he was describing how different Indonesians and Westerners are culturally (mostly on attitudes towards cats).

Some of his points which he experienced himself with his Indonesian wife remind me of our own little but sometimes funny hiccups in our relationship.

• On the cat fact: Vincent adores cats. Nice cats, stray cats, it doesn't matter. He thinks they need to be pampered no matter what. I don't hate cats but I'm not particularly in like (let alone love) with them. I am always upset when a cat just came inside my kitchen and stole some food. Vincent thinks it's so cute and funny that cats steal food. The other day he said, "Well, they steal food because you don't give them food." Right, like there are 10 cats in the neighbourhood and of course we have to be the Santas for them. Honey, I really think you should cook more, and I mean not only fry French Fries or Sausages or Crepes. Try to do things from the scratch, and I'll get those cats to steal the food you made. You'll laugh the first time, you'll beat them up the 5th time they do that.
• On washing dishes with cold running water or hot running water: I have to go with the Westerners in this case. Hot/warm running water is proven to be the most effective in cleaning greasy dishes. Though as an Indonesian, I won't die or fuss like my Westerner friends do when they have to wash with the cold water. I think cold running water still does its job. It's just that you have to work twice to clean it.
• Toilet tissues: my boss and most of my Westerner mates always frown when Indonesians use toilet tissues for everything. Even for wiping their nose when they have flu. They think it's disgusting since they were brought up with the (supposedly) right idea that toilet tissue is used only for toilet matter, and therefore has no other use but to wipe your ass. Indonesians on the other hand were brought up with a Turkey-style toilet (squat toilet) and clean up with water and soap (and yes, with your left hand). That should explain why using your left hand for handshakes here is impolite! Anyway, for us, tissue is just a tissue. You will see that in most warungs, you'll have toilet tissues on the tables to wipe your mouth with. Indonesian perspective is, yes, we know it's a toilet tissue. But it's tissue we bought CLEAN from the stores. We didn't wipe it on our ass and serve it on the table. It's just the same with the other tissues and it's only a matter of whether it is tissue sheets or tissue rolls. Well, for me personally, again, I know what the Westerners think and therefore I respect it for not using toilet tissue for something else in front of them. Although once when Vince's sister was staying at our place, I forgot this fact (it was 7 in the morning and I was not fully aware that it was culturally different) and I cleaned the kitchen counter with it because all of my kitchen towels were being washed. She said, "Oh, I just knew that a toilet tissue had another function." Me: Oops.
• On mandi container (bak mandi): Okay, we have two sinks. One in the kitchen and one outside the house. The one in the kitchen is placed right in the edge of the connecting counters (thanks to whoever stupid contractor who built this house). It is not comfortable to use it as my kitchen counters are too low, even for me, especially for Vincent. The other one outside is dysfunctional as a sink because we use the pipeline for our washing machine drainage. In the mean time, in our bathroom, we have both mandi container and shower. Balinese semi-modern houses always have these two because especially if you don't dig your own 40-metre deep well, city water is only accessible during certain hours (like midnight!), which means there are times when we can't get any water at all from the sink or the shower. And the reason that the mandi container was there was so that we could still have water when the stupid water system goes dead again. But Vincent and I don't want to bother to fill in the container. We can compromise that we have to take a shower at certain hours. Let's combine the facts that our only working sink gives Vincent backache if he has to use it to brush his teeth and that our mandi container was there for no use. So he came up with what he thinks is a genius idea to make the mandi container his personal sink. A HUGE sink. How can a guy be not happy with it? Well, I'm not particularly in favour with that idea. I find it similarly striking to the Western frown on the use of toilet tissue for other things than toilet matter, I frown on the use of mandi container as a place where you spit your toothpaste+saliva+water. Again, I was brought up with the Indonesian way of washing ourselves; i.e. mandi. I used to (sometimes still do when I am back home in Surabaya) take clean water from that container and pour it to my whole body to wash myself. Every time I always have to remind myself that hey, the container is not used. I'm not washing myself with it. What's the big deal? I don't know what the big deal is. I just can't help shuddering every time I have to imagine the scene. LOL. You know what I mean? Hehe..

There are some other small things that we don't share culturally, which I can't remember right now. But the point is putting two individuals together in one same place is not an easy thing to do. It is not easy when you come from the same culture. It is especially a real challenge when we come from absolutely different ones. Some couples can go through it, some can't. The ends really depend on (maybe) how much both parties are willing to compromise with each other.

The good thing is that we take things with (most of the time) a laugh and not a shout. And maybe that's what we should all do.

Weakness

Vincent is leaving tomorrow for overseas work assignment. Only for two weeks, but I miss him already. And he has not yet even gone!

It's weird that I'm losing a bit of the sense of my independence with the love I feel for him. This time last year, I would have laughed and mocked my girlfriends for being such a crybaby for the most simple thing.

I guess I'm joining the club now.

Right of Answer!!!

I think i have the right to explain myself about the ashaming attack i've been the victim by my beloved Carla...... :)

I've been raised in the respect of others, always beeing polite and respectful of my neighbors.... but only in one condition... the respect as to come the other way too.... so let me give you some examples....

There are a lot of dogs in our neighborhood, but only two are annoying, and guess what the two dogs are the only dogs the owners don't take care of. Those poor animals are tied 24/7 behind the house without beeing able to run and play, nobody takes care of them.... you really wonder why people take dogs.... i guess one day they were like, oh yeah my neighbor has a dog, i need one too... but never noticed that in fact a pet is alive and need attention.... I'm sorry i don't respect those kind of people, plus in our street, true, people are not rich and i understand that, but people make efforts to keep their houses clean. Those neighbors are the only one with the crappiest garden i ever saw, plastic everywhere, trashes... and more...

My second point will be the stupidity.
Let's go back to this same neighbor that regularly burns his plastic trashes in his garden, making everybody suffocate in the street, and killing slowly our planet... i mean really? those people are that stupid not to understand that plastic is not meant to be burned like this? I'm sorry, but when i see this, it doesn't appeal my respect a lot.

My other neighbors wich are nice people, at least taking care of their dog.... (By attaching him at OUR door everyday so they won't be bothered lol). those 'nice' people have a van, at least 200 years old, and yesterday they started the van and let run the engine for ONE HOUR before they actually get in it and leave.... The whole street was full of smoke, my all house was smelling benzin, all the clothes Carla just washes were good to wash again cause of the smell....

I say ok i can be respectful... but not with basic stupidity, i won't respect people who doesn't know basics of respect to the neighbor, the ecology, and animals.....

True those people are very smiley, they always great you when you get out.... but I say... smiling doesn't make you smart, or civilised....

Another annoying point, the children... ok they're children... but i think even them are grown alone and not taken care enough by their parents.... i feel like a circus attraction since I'm here.... example two days ago the technicians from Indovision came to install in my place, i had to open the gates to let their car in... In less than one minutes at least 6 or 7 kids came to the door, to watch me while laughing and even without asking were coming inside the garden, checking how it was inside.... I don't blame them of course, I blame the parents.... cause for example my mum was concerned enough to teach me respect of property, and not to be rude with people.... Once again i blame those stupid parents taking care of nothing.....

So question : WHY SHOULD I RESPECT THOSE PEOPLE IF THEY DON'T EVEN HAVE A CLUE OF WHAT RESPECT IS?


let the one without sin throw the first stone in my face lol :p

The Enemies are....

the neighbours' dogs and children.

As opposed to Surabaya's many cats, neighborhoods in Bali are full of dogs. Dogs are cute and Vincent and I love them. In fact when we feel we have more time to put affection to one, we will get a dog.

But when there is at least one dog in every house of an alley that has perhaps 50 houses cheek to cheek, it may not be a good idea. Add at least one child in every two houses to it. And these are the noisy children who ran back and forth, shouting and scaring the dogs out.

Result: the most noisy morning (or afternoon, or evening, or night).

Vincent almost lost his temper (as usual) last weekend. He took a few small rocks, put them on the balcony of our bedroom upstairs and said to me, "If these evil dogs bark again, I'll throw these rocks onto their house!"

I tried to cool him down that there is no point of making enemies here. But he was like, "But they started first!"

And very quickly as we talked, the dogs started barking again. In a blink of an eye, Vincent jumped out to the balcony and threw one rock on top of the roof where the dogs were.

Coming back inside the room, he said, "One more bark, I'll aim at the window."

He's unbelievable!!!

I mean I'm disturbed, too (though not as bad as he is, since I was brought up with a 24-hour noise - cats meowing every night), but I really don't see the point why we have to attack them for what the dogs have done. True they could have educated the dogs. True they could have silenced them since they were really disturbing the neighbours. But who would really care to do that when the other neighbours also have dogs and they don't silence them either?

This is what I was worried about before we took the house. Not the house itself, but the surrounding. Vincent didn't get it back then. But now he does.