Dutch = bicycle
Mood:  happy
Topic: Everyday life (weirdness)

No Dutch goes without a bicycle. If you don't have a bycicle, you're not a real Dutch (and you'll have to walk most of the time). That's why this is my new (2nd hand) baby...

Deepa-cupcakes
Mood:  celebratory
Topic: Everyday life (weirdness)

Went to my friend’s parents house for Deepavali. I missed out last year due to night shifts and so on. Brought some cup-cakes of the renown brand “Pretty Frostings” that Liza picked up @  Amcorp Mall (thanx ;o). It was a joy to see how the little one of Saundri’s brother was handling her cupcake. Just to think that about 3 years ago she was born some 6 weeks too early in our hospital, due to bleeding placenta praevia. I still remember how anxious Saundri’s sister in law was @ that time, as I was part of the team taking care of her in that time. Looks like some things turned out all right for sure…

Always right... as always...
Mood:  accident prone
Topic: Everyday life (weirdness)

Part of the reason why lately I haven’t been putting much on my blog were the ongoing troubles I had with my brand-new Sony VAIO. From the very day I bought it I went into trouble, the thing hanging, slowly responding and finally fainting, aka total black-out. Initially I thought it was the new Windows Vista softyware, but after I had to bring it back to the repair centre a 4^th time, I was already convinced there must be a Gremlin inside my laptop (Remember that movie from the 80’s ?). I told them that this baby was not gonna leave the repaircentre ever again, at least not in my hands. My demand for return of the purchase sum was not granted, but in all fairness, after my rambling they did compensate me by giving me one of the later models, brand-new of course. It looked promising, though Windows Vista seems to have some inherent Gremlins of its own indeed. But fortunately for me I didn’t end up like this cartoon.

In turmoil
Mood:  not sure
Topic: Everyday life (weirdness)

Haven’t been updating anymore these days. Life is in turmoil lately, a whirlwind with me in the middle of it. I don’t know yet whether going back for 4 months is a good idea… whether it will turn out in another disaster, both careerwise and personally. But, a man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do… And like always in life, anything you do will always have its backdrafts, it’s just a matter of how you’re gonna cope with it… But as for now, I guess it’s just go with the flow… See all you friends in December….

RRRRrrrrrrrrrr.... I'm a piranha
Mood:  hug me
Topic: Everyday life (weirdness)

Two weeks passed by very fast. Things I have found out are amongst others; a child that falls asleep in the car within 5 minutes of departure is a bliss, There is no limit to the number of cheap-bead-necklaces that a child is willing to buy (or ice-creams, for that matter), a loose tooth can become a sudden & sure obstacle to eat veggies, but krupuk is never a problem, Children don’t like to wake up early in the morning, even if they’re gonna see “Flipper”, Dolphins don’t like to “perform” for a crowd of 50+ boats, however damn early in the morning, and snorkeling is fun for a 6-year old only untill she takes in the first good gulp of seawater. But however nauseous the seawater made her, it didn’t temper her enthousiasm over the seastar I got her, and I’m sure in the future she will readily forget about her newly developed distaste for seawater. 

Now they’re gone, and I miss the cheecky little one… RRRRrrrrrrrrrrrr….. I’m a piranha…

Back to Bali... back in history...
Mood:  happy
Topic: Everyday life (weirdness)
My first days in Bali… I hadn’t set foot there in the last 6½ years, for reasons I felt no need for to share with most people. I don’t know what it is about Bali. To me, it’s like being covered with a veil, immersing me in a strange mix of feelings of coming home, belonging and faded memories that seem old, so very old, even though they don’t cover events from a past of more than 10 years. Arriving at the airport fills my heart with mingled feelings of expectation and anticipation; memories and thought of things to come compete. The customs officer is passed fast enough and I can see my backpack on the nearby conveyor belt, trying to make it’s way back to the wide opened mouth in the wall of the terminal building, that, by being small, looks rather cozy compared to its big brothers in S’pore and Kuala Lumpur. The next minute I’m almost outside already, only to suddenly change my mind and quickly make my way to the ATM’s that I had seen inside. I had anticipated to spend the first evening in Kuta, before heading north, and I needed some money for this. Only then I make my way out. 

It was truly a surprise… outside was the seemingly ever present crowd of people. Waiting for the arrival of family, friends, husbands, wives, lovers, business associates, and, of course, tourists, part of what kept this place going. A small girl broke away from the crowd and leaped forward into my arms. I was so surprised, it took me a second or 3 to see it was my little gem, welcoming me with a handfull of these exquisitely fragrant flowers that, to me, are almost synonymous to Bali, even thought the local Indonesian name is “Cambodja tree”. What better welcome can you have ?

Just a quicky
Mood:  spacey
Topic: Everyday life (weirdness)

I went to see another apartment together with our new oncology trainee. She is from Sabah, will stay around for 6 months and is desperate for a place to stay in KL. Her friends put her in a room in Milennium court, a place that I have renamed into "Alcatraz" and where I myself narrowly escaped from when I almost ended up there 3 years ago. Need I say more ?

Looking at the place, it was a definite yes-yes for the both of us. Better than this you won't get, we both knew. We walked around, saw all the rooms and I started thinking that I would not be too particular regarding master bedroom or other room. One of the smaller rooms had this particularly nice cupboard, and just when I was thinking I might just as well take up that one, Mary was already handling the sliding doors, humming approvingly and right after that expressing her appreciation of the piece of furniture. Haha, I realised, that room was not gonna be mine; don't come in between a women and the place where she needs to put her wardrobe.

We made the down payment and will move in this week. Now only remains waiting for the 3rd tenant....

The last 2 weeks
Mood:  caffeinated
Topic: Everyday life (weirdness)

The Blog crashed last week. Another proof of the validity of the golden rule; always make a back-up. So fortunately, I restored it readily and added a few funny pics. But the speed hasn't changed, so bear with me and don't delete your cookies to assure faster future loading of the page... Hey, it's a free webhost, ok !!

July has arrived and time seems to fly. A mere 2 more weeks will mark the ending of my oncology posting, the start of my well deserved and longed for leave and, who knows, perhaps even the end of my stay with Cipto. I'm looking forward to have a place of my own, even if it would only be for the last year. It's gonna be a year of hard working, prior to these exams...

A dear friend in trouble who asked me for advice last week, managed to get herself into even more trouble by doing exactly the opposite. I felt pity for her, but at the same time was so upset, since it didn't need to go that way. Sure, she is being bullied by her agent, who sucks the blood of her and all the other Indonesian co-workers. It's the same old story, really; naive Indonesian girl signs contract without properly reading and then lets the bad guys intimidate her. Still, I feel if she would have listened to me, she could have gone to the newspapers with a really good story on abuse of foreign workers (like myself hehehe) and she could even have gotten financial compensation, and in the process a possible improvement for other people finding themselves in the same situation. After all, it is a very hot topic at the moment. But now they will make her pay money to them, which I'll have to lend her. I don't know what to say anymore, just feel bad for not being able to help her after she eliminated all possibilities for a succesful way out...

Homeless ???? not yet...
Mood:  not sure
Topic: Everyday life (weirdness)
Saw a few apartments last week. Some nice, others less nice. What they all had in common was the price, a bit too high... Had spoken to some people who were also looking for a housemate, but no definite conclusions... So now, I'm still looking for that housemate to take up an apartment...

Vaderdag
Mood:  crushed out
Topic: Everyday life (weirdness)
The biggest surprises most often come quite unexpected and, of course, unannounced.... When the door bell rang this morning, I initially hesitated for something as long as up to 1 minute before opening the door. I was peeking through the hole in the door, trying to see who was there, expecting it to be "P-boy", Cipto's nowadays best friend. Eventually I decided to open the door after all, which turned out to be a good idea. The young chap from the Malaysian Postal Service was pretty much as surprised as I was, judging from the confused expression on his face. Me suddenly talking to him in Malay by no means improved things and only increased his confusion. After having signed the receipt slip, he quickly made his way out and I went back into what now is still my apartment.
Ik sloot de deur en maakte het pakje open. Groot was mijn verbazing over de inhoud van de envelop... Maar toen ik de bijbehorende kaart opende, klaarde mijn hele gezicht op en de glimlach op mijn gezicht zal de gehele volgende week kunnen kleuren. Dit is het beste vaderdags kado dat iemand kan wensen, de eerste voluit handgeschreven kaart van het prachtigste kind in de wereld; mijn dochter...

Ik voelde me uiterst dankbaar dat W. dit samen met Gita heeft gedaan. Door dingen zoals dit, weet ik dat er, diep in haar hart, werkelijk iets goeds schuilt, iets waarvan ik hoop dat we in de toekomst het goede in haar vaker aan de oppervlakte zien komen. Morgenvroeg is Gita bij Arjan. Ik hoop dat Gita voor hem een lekker ontbijtje maakt en dat W. ook voor hem samen met Gita iets soortgelijks heeft gemaakt. Dat zou het voor ons allen maken zoals het moet zijn; Gita die 2 echte pappa's heeft en van hen allebei kan houden zoals haar pappa's ook van haar houden...