They tried to guess my country but missed!

Try the Country Quiz at the Blue Pyramid, but they guessed that I'm from East Timor, hmmm...close enough!

You're East Timor!

You're small and lonely and have finally gotten free of a very bad
situation.  It seems like everyone was willing to rescue you, though the wait was
excrutiating for everyone to wake up and set you free.  Now you're still lonely,
but happier in the loneliness since you never really liked people to begin with.
 And people respect you more than you really think they should, using you as an
example for what they hope to accomplish.


Really? Am I that pathetic???

BACK TO LIFE...BACK TO REALITY...

Yeah, Spring semester has begun and I'm overwhelmed with so many assignments that my professors keenly gave us for the courses. This semester I'm taking three courses: 514 ~ Sociolinguistics with Barb Schwarte, 519 ~ Second Language Testing with Carol Chapelle, and 526~ Computer-Assisted Language Learning with Volker Hegelheimer. I knew that Carol and Volker will always give tons of assignments but of course my own low self-confidence is eating me alive and I can feel the surge of panic raising in my throat. I may fail!

MORAL OF THE EVENT: FRIENDS ARE PRECIOUS...

Did I mention that although the trip to Chicago was not planned to last for three days but due to many circumstances it did? Well, I didn't regret it even a bit. I believe with the company of good friends even in the most awful day can be a celebrated one, and that case is so true about my Chicago trip.

My traveling companion, Refina and Pipiet, were just nice. I have traveled at least twice with Pipiet and three times with Fina and they were memorable. Harry, Denny and Juve, they were just so patient in handling the girls' complaints. Rita, my beautiful and understanding host, what can I say? She was very generous and very loving in her gracious way, and I love her as my bestfriend even more. Chris, Rudy and Lukas, the three muskeeters of Savannah, cheered me up in my foul mood *due to the car problem* and showed me that there are smiles in every corner of the events, even the bad ones.


left to right: Rita, Lukas, Rudy, Chris, Neny, Refina, Pipiet (pic by Rudy)

Thank you, Gals and Guys. Although my New Year's Eve was not the best, was not the one I expected to have, but I felt thankful with a handful of friends like you all. And for all my friends all over the globe, thank you for being my friends and please continue to be my friends....

CHICAGO DAY 2

Day 2, woke up late for later of the day dining at Penang Restaurant in the Chinatown! Superb food...imagine, Kangkung Belacan, Cendol, Ikan Panggang...ah...so Indo!

But the exciting thing was actually meeting some old and new friends: Rita and Chris *Mr. Comics whom I didn't talk and meet for ages! I just realized how bad I miss ya!*, Rudy and Lukas *friends of Chris from Chicago and Savannah*. And I found out that they were really funny and fun to be with. We had lunch, chatted and laughed to jokes. Rudy and I were just the clowns of the group that we made jokes all the time and acted silly!


Neny lagi dimarahin Chris hehehehehe... gara-gara kebanyakan makan cendol! (pic by Rita)

We then decided to go to Michigan Avenue, did some window shopping in the countless boutiques and cafes. We wanted to go to the John Hancock building, the 2nd tallest building in Chicago to see the view of Chicago city but it was closed! Alas! Finally we ended up in Starbuck Coffee and the conversation we had was just awesome. I was totally comfortable with the company of the gang..

After Starbuck, we decided to split. Rudi had to do laundry because they would be heading Savannah the day after tomorrow. Refina and Pipiet headed off with Harry and Denny. Me and Rita, we had a girl's stroll toward the bridge of Chicago river. Too bad that in winter the boat tour was not operating. So we had to be satisfied by gazing at the tall antique buildings along the river...


pic by Rita

This is beautiful, but will be more beautiful if Yudi and Jalu came along...it would be way beautiful and surreal....

CHICAGO..THE GLAM CITY

Finally, I got the chance to go to Chicago, Illinois!

We went on Dec 31 morning and anticipated the possibility of hitting Chicago on New Year's eve. As usual, Ari's car came handy but this time Denny was the driver with me, Refina, Pipiet and Juve as the passengers. The travel was nothing unusual, the scenery of midwest was predictably boring, with the farms and fields. But this time, the weather was so good, you can almost believe it's summertime, except if you have to go out there and face the fierce cold. However, the fun did not last long. Suddenly before we entered Chicago, our car experienced technical difficulties like the engine refused to cooperate and always almost dead. Damn...

But, we managed to get into the big C and we spent our evening, dining at the delicious Chinese noodle restaurant, Joy Yee's Noodle Restaurant. The Shezchuan beef was so delicious! And not to mention the mango shave ice was awesome!
After that, we tried to locate Rita, as the girls planned to sleep over in her place during our stay. We found out that she's still enganged in Indo consulate gig, playing keyboard for new year's eve celebration. So off we went to the official esidency of the consulate general. We heard some people singing and they even held a singing competition, singing 'Bengawan Solo' or 'Indonesia Pusaka'. I was challenged to sing by fellow Iowans, so I did! And...Vini, Vidi, Vici! I won...heheheheheheh

After receiving the prize (which btw is a bottle of wine), we were off to the famous Navy Pier, but the parking places were all packed full, leaving us with no choice of passing the last seconds of 2003 in the Hard Rock Cafe, toasting and calling some friends back in Iowa! Suddenly in the midst of busy Chicago and under tons of stressful burdens because of our dear almost broken car, we really missed Ames and its tranquility...