100 facts at 1 am

OMG this is super random. You can skip this post if you wish to. Guess I need a distraction.

1. I am the only child in my family
2. I am of a Chinese-descent from my mother's side and pure Javanese descent from my father's side
3. I grew up in two cultures, Chinese and Javanese
4. I have a Chinese name, which is Chen Kai Sa.
   
5. I have been raised in mostly Catholic community
6. I am a Muslim
7. A lot of people mistake me as a Catholic from my facial appearance (I can't tell why and how)
8. I have this fear of injection needles
9. I hate dentists and their earsplitting drill sound
10. I feel like the shortest whenever I'm with my friends
11. I had a Dora-like bob hair when I was little
12. I learned English for the first time when I was four, but I didn't recognize grammars and tenses not until I was 11
13. I wanted to be a doctor when I was little
14. Today I hate doctors
15. I am a carnivore but barely gains weight
    
16. I can't stand spicy food
17. I love too salty instead of too sweet
18. I don't like candies. I'm a chocolate person
19. I am really close to my cousins
20. I am afraid of ghost stories but often find myself curious
21. I prefer watching thriller/gore/slasher/violent movie rather than a normal horror one.
    
22. I am a slow reader. The fastest duration for me to read a novel is a week long
23. I pay attention to slightest intricacies
24. I consider myself as disorganized but highly efficient
25. I am rather a perfectionist, ironically
26. I LOVE movies. I'm always excited whenever there's a movie-watching event
27. I have no certain preferences in movie genres
28. I have a wide range of favorite music
29. My first idol was Memes. I shed tears listening to her songs
30. Sharon Corr inspired me to play a violin
31. I was enrolled in acting and modeling classes in kindergarten
32. I have learned to play piano since I was four, but I'm never good at it
33. I prefer to play by ear
34. I have serious issues with piano tutors
35. I prefer to play by ear in both piano and violin
36. I used to perform Disney songs with violin back in middle school
37. I have an ambition to travel the world someday. Even my friend and I have this not-so-impossible plan to go backpacking to China, Korea, and Japan (much like Eat Pray Love-ish?)
    
38. I speak Indonesian, English, German, Japanese, basic French, conversational Chinese, and now I'm learning Korean.
    
39. I resist wearing contact lenses
40. I love winter more than summer
41. I love rain more than sunny
42. I used to smoke and quit immediately
43. I love apple cider
    
44. I am trying as hard as I can to stay sober when exposed to alcoholic drink
    
45. My ears are explosion-sensitive
46. I danced ballet when I was little
47. I learn how to dance hip hop and jazz these days
48. I wish I'm able to have a conversation with Japanese, German, and Korean people
49. I've been mistaken as a Filipino, Korean, Thai, Taiwanese, Chinese, Vietnamese
50. I went to an all girl school
51. I learned to value the power of women in my high school
52. I used to be a tomboy and refused to wear a dress to my middle school prom
53. I love multiculturalism
    
54. I used to play soccer
55. I am gadget-literate
56. I only changed my phone number ONCE and it's only due to moving to the US
57. I have a Blackberry
58. I have been into Kpop since June 2009
59. My first and my most favorite Kpop artists would be Super Junior
60. I am interested in doing Kpop dance covers
61. One of my current goals as of now is to watch a Kpop concert
    
62. For some reason I hate being outsmarted
63. I despise self-conscious people
64. I never attend concerts, but I have attended several orchestral concerts and recitals
65. I want to live in San Francisco, Tokyo, London, Los Angeles, Singapore, or New York (HA! Typical!)
66. So far I have written two novellas and a novel, but I haven't had guts to publish them
67. I love anime, particularly Cardcaptor Sakura and Jigoku Shoujo
68. I love Playstation 1 over PS3 or Nintendo
69. My favorite game are Crash Team Racing and The Sims
    
70. My two cousins and I used to roleplay as Magical Doremi, Power Ranger, and Powerpuff Girls
71. Everytime I take a nap in the afternoon, I always stay up late at night
72. Midnight craving is a guilty pleasure
73. I don't find my weight really that matters
74. I don't find questions about my weight or age really that offensive
75. Laughter is a contagious "disease" for me. Seeing a person laughing can make me laugh as well, even though I don't know what's so funny.
    
76. I LOVE FOOD
77. I always tell people that I major in Graphic Design, no matter it is animation that is written as my major in my I20
78. I wish I could make an animation movie some day
79. I fear of balloons
    
80. I am Coulrophobic
81. I want to learn ventriloquism
82. Whenever I hear someone singing to one song, I'll unconsciously sing to it or hum it afterwards.
83. I have a thing on boots, cardigans, coats, and hats
84. My bedroom in Jakarta is filled with 5 posters of Super Junior, 2 posters of school events, a poster of Daniel Radcliffe, and 2 more movie posters
85. I hate people who ask “I'm right, aren't I?”
86. I always dream of having a minimalistic penthouse overlooking a downtown (any cities)
87. I don't respect people who can't keep a secret
88. I am possibly the least sensitive person you'll ever meet
89. I am not a roller coaster person. I'd prefer experiencing tense or calm dark rides instead of going through nauseous loops and drops
90. As of now, I haven't had any suitors boyfriends.
    
91. Everytime I'm asked if I have or ever have a boyfriend or not, I'll instead proudly yet defensively say “But I do have a crush and an ex-crush!” *lame*
    
92. I hate and will always hate Mathematics
93. Around 43,298,766 people have said this to me. “You have such neat and small writings.”
94. Around 2,231 people call me Teresa, since "Teresa" and "Carissa" are similarly pronounced
95. I love shopping. I think it's girls' nature.
96. My favorite clothing store is XXI. I always spend two hours nonstop grabbing and trying out some clothes in the fitting room, but end up buying only one of them or even none.
97. My hidden ambition is to be either a teacher or a psychologist/therapist.
    
98. I wish I had a drawing/painting studio, music studio, private movie theatre, and a library in my future house
99. My most favorite coffee type is latte.
100. I want to be part of an orchestra

black black white white (ambiguity)

The title literally means "black black white white"
This entry is posted as requested by Elda
Just now we were arguing over something ridiculous, but I guess it'd be worth to post.

My earphone's speaker happened to nudge against the glass that stood in front of me, making a "cling" sound. Actually it was nothing much, but apparently Elda heard it and said.

Elda: "The sound reminds me of a food wagon in Indonesia that sells...." (halted for a second). "That black, white thingy...black and white... black...black...white...square...cube sized...."

Me: "What?"

Elda: "It's an Indonesian dessert. The black thing is soggy like jelly. The white thingy is..."

Me: "Es campur? (mixed ice)"

Elda: "No, the black thingy is cube sized, squares, yeah, and there's a lot of them in the dish."

Me: (frown) "Kolak? Cendol?"

Elda: "Noooo... You'd always have that to break fasting."

Me: "I'd always have either kolak or cendol to break fasting."

Elda: "Nooo, it's...umm...black, black, thingy...."

Me: "Kembang tahu? (douhua)" (trying to guess if maybe she meant the food was of hot black gravy with thin white tofu layers floating on it)

Elda: "No!! It's not hot. It's cold, it's a dessert, it's sweet!" (her tone rose)

Me: "What then? Nata de coco?"

Elda: "Yeaaaaah, you got the white thing right!! The black thing should be...should be...."

Me: "Gula jawa? (Javanese sugar, cos once it's blended with water, it'll make the water turn dark)"

Elda: "Nooo!!!"

Me: "Pudding?"

Elda: "Noo!!"

Me: "Jelly...jelly..."

Elda: "No!!! No jelly!!!"

Me: "Does it contain coconut milk?"

Elda: "Not even close!"

Me: "Err...es campur, es doger, es kacang hijau (pea ice)?" (going back to the very first guess)

Elda: "Nooo!"

Me: "Es kelapa muda? (coconut ice)"

Elda: "Nooooooooooo!!!"

Me: "Black, black, white, white huh?"

Elda: "Yeah, it's black, black, white, white!! Cube-sized!! Look it up on google! Search for...'Black black white white'."

(I guess we Indonesians always have that tendency to keep repeating an adjective word when it comes to exaggeration)

I literally typed 'black black white white' ridiculously in despair on Google search engine field. I knew no result would be found, but I was just under pressure of decoding the puzzle. Then I kept continuing to search for relating keywords, from Indonesian desserts to jelly.

After a minute of stressful moment, my search came to its end after I typed "Agar-agar hitam" which literally means "black jelly"

Right at the bottom of the first page, this word caught my attention

"Es Cingcau"
or literally means "Grass jelly beans"

Me: "Es Cincau?!!"

Elda: "Yeaaah, es cincau! Hahaha"

Aaaaaannnndddd...here's what she actually means:

And also the black thing Elda referred is...

Correction:
- It does contain of coconut milk
- It has black jelly beans inside its white milky like water.
- Most pictures that I found about this dessert have moss green jelly beans instead of black or brown
- IT'S NOT EVEN NATA DE COCO, because Nata de coco is white jelly beans. Duh. Sorry. My bad.

It's lame how I rarely encounter or even eat cincau. It's not my preference for dessert back in Indonesia. That's why it takes time for me to see what it really looks like.

The debate lasted after approximately two minutes long. I predicted it could've lasted for an hour long if not solved.

Homecoming pt 3

h o m e c o m i n g

part 3
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

ATTENTION!
Again, just to let you guys know that this post is slightly different from any other posts you'll find in this blog. It's rather writings-heavy. So if you're not really into long texts or can't stand of reading a great deal of writings, simply skip it and wait till I finish all the parts. But for those who are curious enough and will to read it, you are more than welcome to do so. Enjoy!

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

So there were like three of us that were really going to have our flight back home that night, but there were about five of them that took us to the airport and had a brief farewell dinner. Therefore there were about ten of us in the restaurant, with only three of which were going to be taken to the airport. One of the boys that joined us in apparently had made a reservation, so despite the fully-packed restaurant, we eventually got our seats, which was a traditional Chinese round table with a spinning platform in the middle of it. It was a really interesting experience as the restaurant had small spaces between one table to another, small room, sour and sweet smell that floated in the air, and the Chinese words-exchanged that filled the room. I mean, really, the waiters literally shouted the ordered food to the cooks in the kitchen and the costumers in the other tables threw rapid fire Chinese words with the waiters in high-pitched voices.

The food served soon after was mouth-watering, although I hardly recognized what they were though (I believe they were of chicken, duck, and beef). It was already 9 PM and my flight was in two hours. As time went by, I started to be a little bit worried if I could make it on time to the airport. What even bothered me was the question if the airport was nearby or not. But it was impossible for me to ask such questions to my friends while they were having warm chats in the table, while my mom was in a frenzy, calling me where I was just to make sure I wouldn't miss the flight.

Shortly afterwards, the dinner came to an end – much to my relief. I mean, really, I had a great dinner with my friends. We talked and laughed during it and it felt like forever, but my flight was in two hours and it wouldn't be funny if I happened to miss it.

Apparently, Lavinia and Lia's flight time was also close to mine, even theirs was five minutes earlier than mine. Then we got back to our cars and rolled off straight to SFO. It was about 10.40 pm when we hit the airport. Good thing it wasn't as far from the restaurant as I had thought. It was also the first time for me to be dropped not in the departure hall, but in the parking lot.

Well, that makes sense since Lavinia who was going to have her flight that night, was also the one that drove the car. So she needed to park the car first then went to the departure hall from there. Lia and Lavinia each brought with them two colorful yet big suitcases. When they saw mine – which was only one and considerably small – they went like “How come yours is small?” So I told them that I had no idea what to bring home, except unused items, clothes, unnecessary books, and souvenirs for my family and friends. Lavinia told me. “Makes sense though, you just arrived here like six months ago. You surely don't know what to bring home.” While Lavinia and Lia themselves had studied in the US much longer than me.

When we got to the departure hall, Lia and Lavinia scurried off to the check-in counter of Cathay Pacific, while I was looking for China Airlines. Sherly willingly helped me to find the counter in the huge hall and finally we found one. Much to my surprise though, there were three girls coming from my college who happened to be at the same flight. I didn't seem to know them very well as they were practically seniors. It was a relief that I wasn't the only early-bird home-comer.

I reconciled with Lia, Lavinia, and the rest of the entourage. I also had a short chat with a girl who happened to be taking the three girls from my college to the airport. Then we moved to the scanning section. This was a very memorable moment for me, as the rest of the party walked me, Lavinia, and Lia there, because it was the place where the entourage would part with us passengers. We took pictures and walked through the scanning process. As we were lining up behind the glass wall, Lavinia gave me and Lia each a sheet of tissue. Lavinia told us to wave the tissues to the entourage waiting for us outside to enter the scanning, you know, like that kind of thing people in old times would do in farewell. It was hilarious and silly at the same time! But such memory would surely stick in my mind forever. It was probably the most memorable farewell and I didn't even care if people around us would see us doing such a thing.

It was 11.10 pm when we passed the scanners. Lavinia and Lia's flight was in five minutes while I still had ten minutes. They quickly rushed to the gate and bid me farewell, while I was walking to my gate. As I got there, people were already lining up in front of the gate entrance and I thought to myself that I was lucky. Lavinia and Lia got their points to spend some time for dinner before going to the airport. They said it would be boring if we went straight to the airport and spent plenty of time to wait for the flight (because when I travel with my family, we always get to the airport at least two hours before the flight and yes, it was hella boring).

I spotted those three Indonesian girls from my college but I didn't get to greet them again as they happened to be in a different line. Shortly after, the passengers were shoved into the gate. I felt very ecstatic when I was about to enter the gate. I was thinking “Here's where the journey back home all by myself begins! I'm beyond excited! I can totally feel it!” I had always wanted to travel and encountered challenges along the way. Sometimes I felt like doing it alone since it would give me more chance to interact with strangers in case I need something, or just make friends with fellow seatmates.

t o b e c o n t i n u e d . . .

tumblr-ing

Hey hey!
Apparently my story-telling mode is still off.
My friend has finally stepped her foot to the world of blogging!!
Yeah she just launched her blog a week ago.

aymee's mumbles

Go and take a look!!

It's funny how I'm not a Tumblr person. I'm more into Blogger because it focuses more on writings rather than just a series of pictures. But then, my other friend decided to create a blog, which is in Tumblr. So far, I haven't seen any Tumblr sites posting a bunch of looong text.

After all maybe that's what Tumblr's all about. It's about reposting and reblogging pictures, but I never seem to understand why people are so into it.
I guess I need to learn more about this considerably new blogging site :3

Tonight

I've been in the exhaustion-bored-mood-swing state especially today.
I went to ISV. It was the last meeting so practically everyone that I recognize attended it. They greeted me. I greeted them, but I didn't feel as ecstatic as I was last week. My friend pointed it out. I guess she's right. I'm not myself today. Aunt Irma is definitely approaching pretty soon.

They happened to play this Big Bang latest song in the meeting. It's called Tonight and it's basically their comeback.

Without further ado, here's their MV, which looks effin awesome. Taeyang, G-Dragon, Daesung, Seungri, and T.O.P look unexceptionally flawless. Last time I saw Taeyang on "I need a Girl" and also G-Dragon and T.O.P's "High high high." It feels good to finally see them back as a group.

I don't consider myself much as a VIP. I'm more an ELF, Shawol, Sone, well, you name it. But VIP has never been in my list. I love Big Bang, but I don't crazy all over them. Even I think Haru Haru is a standard song for me. It sounds...okay.

But Tonight, their latest single, just flipped my mind upside down. I can't stop listening to it ever since I got back from the ISV meeting.

I miss fall quarter.

ohhitherebitchieess.
Finallyyyy, a post with quality after so long. Yeah, nothing much happened to me these days. I've been feeling so-so and more to bored especially these days. Not having mood swing to be exact. I dunno, maybe because Aunt Irma is approaching? Possible.

Just a few days ago, on the 9th, most of international students at my college struggled to get their seats in their preferred class. Yeah, it's registration day y'all!!

Yes, today I registered for my spring quarter classes. Wew, winter quarter has been a hectic and crazy quarter so far, compared to Fall Quarter. I only (yes only) had 14 credits (the minimum credits to achieve is 12) on Fall. This quarter I have 18, then Spring I'm going to have 20. I'm soo going to drop one of them, or at least I wanted to.

Oh my God speaking of Fall Quarter, I miss it so darn much. It touches me everytime I see this:

and I can definitely list down the reasons why:

E N G L I S H W R I T I N G C L A S S

1. Despite having a class that ended at 10pm (yeah, in the evening), I made many friends in English writing class. I miss them, really.
   
   
2. Aside of the bunch of homework the professor gave, she was also a very nice lady and made an evening class not as stressful as I thought it'd be.
   
   
3. I miss having a bite of snacks my friends had provided in the break time.
   
   
4. I miss reading Call of the Wild by Jack London no matter I got really stressed reading it since I was not into animal literature.
   
   
5. I miss having quizzes no matter I sometimes didn't do really well it them.
   
   
6. I freaking miss watching a movie nearing the end of the quarter. Call of the Wild FTW!!!
   
   
7. I miss my friend's "I spy on my panties" jokes while he actually meant to say "I spy on my patients."
   
   
8. I miss getting a ride from my Vietnamese friend back home.
   
   
9. I miss doing NINE FREAKING HOMEWORK that was to be turned in in every meeting. Duh. Like seriously.
   
   
10. I miss the book "Write Stuff" even though I know there's nothing much we learn there.
    
    
11. I miss that bonus question in every quiz that tested my knowledge about America
    
    
    

A L G E B R A C L A S S

1. I don't honestly miss the professor. He's one of a sarcastic, not-so-friendly, scary guy with dry jokes that I believe everyone would hate. Even he gets a low rating as a professor. The way he speaks and gestures reminds me of that typical army commander and that antagonist on James Cameron's Avatar. Well, maybe he was enlisted in the army before, don't know how he could end up in my campus lol. But now, after enrolling in Stats presently, I started to miss my Algebra professor's teaching method.
   
   But frankly speaking, he's nice, it's just that he's not that expressive when it comes to well...expressions. His kindness is somehow implied, instead of visibly seen. He lectured slowly and everytime he finished introducing a new Math topic, he always gave the students several problems to solve using the method and formula he just introduced.
   
   Then he'd try to remember each students' names and called them out with his deep, eerie voice that sent chill (as if he summoned you to step on to the execution podium) to make sure if they could solve the problems.
   
   My friend and I kind of talked about him in the middle of stressing over stats homework we hardly understood and how the stats professor didn't conduct 2 way communication.
   
   Our stats professor is like a total opposite of my Algebra professor in terms of personality: he's nice, friendly, jokes a lot, talks about random stuff, brings cookies to class for a sample example, very expressive, smiles a lot unlike my Algebra professor. But when my stats professor lectures in the speed of light, he's like talking to the white board and those series of slide-shows all by himself. My friend came up with the conclusion that "Our stats teacher doesn't care if we understand or not, he keeps giving us 'chocolates, branded bags, car' without giving us 'love'." So yeah, I don't really understand everytime he lectures.
   
   But being taught by my stats professor felt like I was given a hundreds of boxes of chocolate, a Mercedes Benz car, a pile of branded bags by my parents, but they didn't give me love. It's the same as my stats professor. He gave the students handout to study, which sadly the handouts feature a problem and the answer, without giving the solution. Math is all about solution. You can't achieve answers without going through the solution. The stats professor also gave out practice exams, but then that's it. He didn't review anything before the exam.
   
   Guess my friend and I are a bit biased on our Algebra professor in the previous quarter. Maybe it's just that I have my own preference on math teacher. Maybe I'm stupid at math particularly at stats (which is ironic since stats is supposed to be my favorite Math subject. I achieved the highest score in stats back in high school. I was even more ecstatic on taking stats rather than Algebra). But my friend that also shared the same feeling with me towards the stats teacher, was hella smart. I can tell. Smarter, much smarter than me.
   
   It's undeniable that I really suck at Math and I need a teacher to kindly and patiently guide me going through the problem using a solution. Maybe for some people in my stats class, the professor is the best because they have strong and fast perception towards math. They are fast learners. While after the lecture, there's always this big question mark on my brain. I always need to self-teach myself and my friend, finding the answers by ourselves through our studies and research since the professor doesn't help much.
   
   Dude, I mean that's what a Math professor's supposed to do: conducting a practice for students to make sure they understand the topic! Math is not just about talking, lecturing, introducing the formula, doing the examples without giving the students the chance to do them, then just letting the students leave after class, leaving a big question mark in their brains.
   
   Like one time, my Algebra professor went over to my desk to hand me a Math exam and said "Carissa, good job." (see how he remembered my name, and not just my name but everyone's names in the class? I'm not kidding. Again, he called out my name which has the same tone as saying "Carissa, any last words?" Very much contradictory) with his signature yet scary frown on his face. The stats teacher seems to bother to remember students' names I guess.
   
   To conclude everything, my Algebra professor what an ideal math professor should be.
   My friend and I couldn't help but think why our stats professor got a much higher rating than our Algebra professor.
   
   I guess I could compare my Algebra professor to Kikujiro, the character from the movie of the same name. In the movie, Kikujiro is a bitter person, unfriendly, and rude, but deep down he's a very nice person and cares to the kid that he helps out.
   
   My friend and I really hoped that our Algebra professor taught Stats in the first place. That way we'd definitely take his class instead of our current Stats professor's.
   
   Screw Stats
   Praise Algebra
   
   
2. Moving on, phiew, finally. I got 100 for the first time in my Math history for over 14 years. Finally. Finally. Finally. FINALLYYY!!
   
   
3. I miss asking questions even though the Algebra might think of me as a dumb person for not knowing what an "Every Other Odd" number is.
   
   
4. I miss selecting problems from the textbook as homework problems. What an un-stressful way to do homework, especially when you don't have to turn it in.
   
   
5. I miss having quizzes every meeting. It really helped me boosting my score and develop my Algebraic skills
   
   
6. I miss feeling NOT SLEEPY in math class. That's a very phenomenal yet scarce experience since I always yawn if exposed to numbers and math formulas.
   
   
7. I miss feeling challenged to my classmates. I miss the feeling that I know I should beat my other classmates in terms of Algebra, since I have a bit Algebraic background back in high school so yeah, that really helped a lot.
   

G R A P H I C D E S I G N C L A S S

1. Err...I have no specific impression about this class at all. The students are just silent. They are like captivated by their own computers without giving attention to other classmates, like the employees in Ministry of Truth in the novel 1984 by George Orwell. So basically my Indonesian friend and I are like the loudest in the classroom and probably the only ones that talk in the class.
   
   The picture below might explain everything.
   
   
   
   
   
   And yeah, we do take pictures in the classroom even though we know the professor was there. Aymee even took a picture of the professor candidly lol.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
2. Overall my grades in Graphic Design class are just fine.
   
   
3. The professor doesn't leave me much impression, except the fact that he reminds me of a Santa Claus.
   
   
4. The only thing that I love about this class is how the professor doesn't give us much projects. Only four projects in a quarter! And you can actually finish that project in a day if you want to. Well, or so I thought, because I'm talking about a short, simple project that a non-Adobe Photoshop-er can even finish within a day. So after you finish a day/meeting working on your project, you'll spend like four meetings ahead doing nothing but editing or making some new samples of your current project until a new project was introduced.
   
   
5. I also miss going home half an hour after the class started, because after a short lecture by the professor, people literally just leave the class and prefers to do the projects at home.

H I P H O P C L A S S

1. I miss my friends. They're mostly outgoing people. At first I was a bit afraid of them since they were kind of those street boys you see on TV, you know, wearing baggy jeans, messy look, piercings all over their body (not really though). But then they turned out to be really nice and didn't even bother help each other out when it comes to difficult choreography
   
   
2. I miss especially the second choreography piece, using the song "Make Me" by Janet Jackson. Personally for me, the dance movement strongly resembles that of jazz movement. Apparently everyone else in the class seems to like the second piece so much. In fact at one time, everyone in the class was simply addicted to the dance that they were excited to dance it over and over again. Even when the instructor (not the professor) called it a day, we were all like "Again! Again!"
   
   
3. I miss especially the finals. So awesome seeing everyone making up their choreography piece for the finals. One of my friends dared to perform belly dancing instead of normal hip hop which gained applause from everyone.
   
   
4. I extremely don't miss my professor. That's out of the question. It's obvious that he picked favorites. Period
   

All in all, there's a reason on top of all my reasons that I classified by classes.I kind of feel fall quarter was like a temporary stay for me. Because before I even got to go to the US, my mom had booked me the ticket to return on December 10 (speaking of that, I haven't finished the Homecoming story). So it felt more like homestay or summer class where I was supposedly scheduled to go home by the end of the quarter.

Also, maybe because it was my first quarter, I still felt fresh and so ready for college life. I was still hella excited to embrace it. That's why for me, everything in Fall Quarter was like a new, exciting experience, like meeting new friends, curious what kind of friends I would get, where they came from you know.

Now can I just scream out loud?
I FREAKING MISS FALL QUARTER!!

I miss lacking of depression that I felt. It felt truly relaxing and enjoyable. Well, at some points I did feel a bit stressed especially on English (when it comes to dealing with 9 freaking homework to be turned in in every meeting). But other than that, everything's fine.

Yeah, Fall Quarter felt so short. You know what those people say: time flies when we enjoy ourselves.

Nice weekend guys.

WOCHENENDE

Peopleeeeeee!
I'm totally done for this week!
It's been a freaking busy week for me
Final paper, art projects, long-period assignment, homework, all mostly due this week, but glad it's done.
*sigh deeply*

Basically I've nothing specific to discuss here. Just want to greet y'all since it's been AGES for me not to post. Where the heck have I been? I guess my statement earlier can explain everything? I've been doing good lately, aside of my stressing, brain-squashing college life. Everything else is fine.

I've made new friends recently, particularly boys. They're effin fun! Just in case you don't know, one of them - especially - is an avid gamer. He initially invited me, Aymee, and another boy to come over to his apartment and have this playstation session.

You know what's even better? He has Crash Team Racing (CTR). I was literally surprised when I figured out about that, because the fact is, Crash Team Racing is a popular game that dates back to the time when playstation 1 was a hype.

I reallyreallyreallyreallyreally miss this game so much! I still have my playstation 1 and the game as well back home. But you know what they say about old stuff: the longer it exists, it will gradually lose its ability. So yeah, my point is, my CTR game doesn't work anymore. But so far, among all racing games that I've played, CTR is the best one I've ever played, despite its appearance for being a kid's game much like Mario Kart. But this game totally beats every other more-realistic-looking car racing games.

You wouldn't imagine what it felt like being reunited to a game I haven't got to play for the past five years. It was a heavenly feeling. I couldn't even stop reassuring myself if it was a dream the first time I played this game after five years *exaggeration*. Well, at least you get the idea right?

Sooo many things I want to share here! But since I'm not on the story-telling mode on, I'm just going to give you a couple of pictures instead with brief explanations.

These pictures above were taken on the not-really-latest volunteer events, where we all worked together to reorganize the cans. Quite a tiring job but actually it was fun! The place was such a mess though, but it was so much fun if done together with friends.

The venue was in Milpitas, and since it took place near a landfill, you can imagine all the mess. But again, it was tons of fun! Especially after the event, we had lunch in a nearby noodle house.

And those three pictures up here were snapped from the very latest event. The venue was close to my campus so it didn't take a while to get there. Unlike the previous volunteer events - which are food-related - this event was kind of different. It wasn't food anymore that we were dealing with right there, but we dealt with autistic children.

I felt a bit touched seeing them in the first place, but seeing how they acted as if they were no different than us, like how they did things the way we are, cycling, working out, singing, and dancing, gave me a different impression towards them.

What else?
Uhm...
Oh anyway, I have something else to show you. It's not a really big thing but I'm quite proud of it. It's an art midterm assignment. Basically this nice professor told the students to create some sort of a storyboard of 6x4 boxes. Then we were to pick out two pieces of picture taken from the magazine by the professor. One picture for the first box and another one for the last. We had to make a connection between those pictures, no matter in a narrative storyboard or morphing style.

Here's how mine turned out. It took me 12 hours to work on it and even on the D-day, I still haven't finished the coloring and the finishing touch. The solution that came with it was that I had to skip a class before the art class in order to finish the project.

It was really worth it! I got positive reviews from my classmates and teacher, and even I got an A+! :3

What my storyboard really tells is really simple. Compared to other works my friends made, mine is far from creative. Basically, I just viewed it from camera's point of view, which rotates, zooms in, focuses, follows up, and constantly changes objects to follow. The last and first pictures are actual pictures taken from the magazine.

Anyway I actually have got some much more stories and pictures to share, but it's like 3 o'clock in the morning here and I'm having sleep deprivation, which is bad. I gotta get my butt on the bed and had my beauty *ahem* sleep. No, just kidding. I don't have much stuff to do today. It's Sunday for God's sake! Sunday is the only chance I can ever wake up late. lol. So glad I don't have much homework. Maybe I'll just have to do a bit previewing and reviewing before the finals *gulps, don't remind me*.

Winter quarter is coming to its end, and class registration for next quarter will be up by Wednesday. I'll have to struggle and get all the classes I want before the seats are full! Especially by the time the registration is open, I'll be in my dance class. I just wish the professor will give me and my friends permission to register for classes first.

Well, I've been talking too much, ey? Yet random?
I'm starting another documentary series on this blog, which is homecoming. The words a bit off the track from my daily ones, probably since I've been reading 1984 by George Orwell. A doubleplusgood novel, which means, really a great novel. So my style of writing becomes sliiiiightly altered. Good thing I haven't started writing in newspeak (the language used in the novel)

I hope you guys enjoy it. Wow, I AM talking too much, yes? I've got to stop here. Right here! Night peeps! Or should I say...morning!

나는 이해를 못합니다... ^^"

The title literally means: I don't understand.
This is super random random and hopefully, considerably short for you guys. It's an interaction between me and a Korean guy at my volunteer club.

Guy: "Are you in the tennis class with me?"

Me: "No, why?"

Guy: "Really??" *frowns*

Me: "Yeah. I don't take any tennis classes. Maybe you mistake me as her?"

Guy: "Yeah maybe. You look just like her."

Me: *a bit crept out, starting to think whether I might have a doppleganger* "Hahaha really? That's interesting"

Guy: *laughs and suddenly...* "Are you Korean?"

Me: "Eh?" *dumbfounded* O___O

Guy: "Hahaha just kidding!"

Me: *sigh of relief*

I really wish I have enough guts to at least say "Annyeonghaseyo". After all, that's the only formal word I know in Korean. I'm not so sure if other words I picked up from Kdrama and Kpop reality shows are formal or not.

Seriously, this guy is the second Korean guy who thought of me as a Korean. I'm flattered really. I don't look a single thing like a Korean. Or maybe I look like a Korean for Korean people? I gotta ask Super Junior for clarification before I can stop blushing out of flatters.

Still about Korean people, I happened to make friends with a Korean lady in my dance class. She's older than me, older than any college students you've ever seen. She's most likely considered as an ahjumma, but what interesting is, she has young spirit and acts much like teenagers.

Lady: "Are you *my friend's name* friend?" (She's referring to a friend of mine which is also enrolled in the same class)

Me: "Yes."

Lady: "Oh, you're also from Vietnam then?" (Seriously, her Korean accent is cute!)

Me: "No, I'm from Indonesia."

Lady: "Ooh...Indonesia. I see."

Me: "Where are you from?"

Lady: "I'm from Korea"

Me: "Oh...*pauses* Annyeonghaseyo"

Lady: *smiles* "Ooooh...good, you speak it really good! Where did you learn that?"

Me: "I learned that from...*pauses for a second* my cousin. Yes, from my cousin. But I'm still learning."

Lady: "Oh but that's...gooood!"

Me: "Thank you."

You know, I was about to say that I learned it from Korean dramas and reality shows, but again, I have no guts to do that. She might think I'm some sort of an avid Kdrama and Kpop fan. And I don't want to embarrass myself for that as I'm not like a Korean maniac. :)

And finally...my very first real yet epic fail conversation with a real Korean. I don't mean to brag about it but for someone who doesn't have any backgrounds or informal/formal Korean language education like me, I'm quite proud that at least I can respond to basic phrases.

So this last conversation takes place when my friend from China brought along her Korean friend. My Chinese friend, who's a Kpop fan, happens to know that I love Korean music and dramas too. So she went...

Chinese friend to her Korean friend: "She's learning Korean too." *points at me*

Korean girl: (she spoke excitedly to me) "정말 (Jeongmal)?" (which means: "really?")

Me: *nervously* "네 (Ne)." (means: "yes")
I almost said 조금 "jogeum" which means "a little", but I was like having a cork stuck in one of my brain's nerves. So that word didn't make it out.

And OMG, I just realized now that "Ne" is "yes" in informal way.

Shoot, see? That's what you get from learning straight from Korean shows and dramas. But seen from my friend's reaction, I think she's totally okay with me. After all, she's about my age.

Finally I managed to at least respond to the simplest yet most basic Korean phrase. I have to thank those artists, singers, and actors I've seen for indirectly implanting me with some basic phrases. So...

너무 감사합니다... :)
(Thank you so much)

Homecoming pt 2

h o m e c o m i n g
part 2
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

ATTENTION!
Again, just to let you guys know that this post is slightly different from any other posts you'll find in this blog. It's rather writings-heavy. So if you're not really into long texts or can't stand of reading a great deal of writings, simply skip it and wait till I finish all the parts. But for those who are curious enough and will to read it, you are more than welcome to do so. Enjoy!

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

I remembered when I reached my friend's car, Elda said. “I can't believe you're going home tonight.” or synonymously as saying “Man, I'm going to be alone for the next month ahead?” I exactly knew how she felt.

We always spend days together, watching dramas and movies, share the fun, cook in turns, and that night, she was going through some nights without me, cooking for herself and refraining all sharing stuff like we always do. But I kept convincing her. “You're going to have tons of fun here with your sister.” What I was saying was true though. Elda would be going through two lonesome nights before her sister came like the day after tomorrow after my departure.

Then I took off, thinking that particular day, I would be transitioning back from the kind-of-getting-adapted-already-with-America Carissa to my old version in Jakarta. I would refrain from doing stuff I had been doing here from those days on, only temporarily.

If here I would always cook by myself, do the chores, run errands by myself, I was excited with the feeling that later back home, I would have someone do the chores and cook for me. Everything back home would be completely the opposite. I would be able to lie down without thinking what to cook tonight, what chores I should run tonight, I would be able to hibernate under my blanket watching TV worrying about nothing. It felt good to finally taking a break after six months of independent life in the US. It was time for me to release my tension as an international student.

Maybe you'd say “Geez, the writer of this blog must be a snobbish and absolutely spoiled girl.” Well, it's up to you to think that way. Moving to the US is a life changing opportunity, and it definitely alters me to become more independent and trigger my courage to interact the community. But my inner lifestyle that I came to live in Indonesia would never be left out. Somehow the thought of having someone cook for me suddenly emerged when I was in the US for the past five months.

Sometimes I thought of accompanying my parents to go on grocery shopping without me worrying on what kinds of grocery to buy. I would just cling to my parents as they asked me every Sunday to come with them to this local supermarket Hero, see them crossing from one aisle to another, while I wandered off by myself to find things that would please me there.

After those five months, I also realized what else I missed. I missed those local nor cable TV shows. I thought local TV here would have the exact same channels airing the exact same shows as my country's cable TV would broadcast. But apparently, we know it wasn't the truth. I simply missed Doraemon aired on every Sunday at 8 am. I missed feeling anxious and excited on what box office movie or the upcoming movie a local TV channel would broadcast.

I missed going to the bookstore and kill time by reading a dozen of comics without being shoved away by the shop employees. I missed going to arcades as there is none here, as far as I could see. I missed mall-hopping as there is only one here. I missed the ridiculously cheap movie tickets that would cost approximately $1.50 the cheapest (here is like $10, especially in the weekend). I missed buying loads of Korean drama and music DVDs and movie DVDs. I even missed the glorious anthem of parking watcher's whistles heard from every corner of the city.

Anyway, as the car rolled down the 280 highway heading to San Francisco, I glanced through the window looking to the car lights that passed by. I went home that night. In just a matter of hours, I would get my old life back. My mind was setting up a party, celebrating my freedom. There were four of us in my friend's car: Lavinia, Sherly, Sherly's sister, and me. Lavinia was in charge of driving. She was also the one that had a flight back to Indonesia that same night. Sherly and her sister just took Lavinia and I to the airport and that was just the sweetest thing. I had quite a talk with Sherly's sister who happened to sit in the back seat beside me. She majored in jewelery design.

Later on, after a while, the car exited the highway and started entering a moderately crowded area with roads going up-and-down. I thought that at once, we were already at San Francisco. After going through a slight jam, the car turned to an isolated yet dark area of the city. Frankly speaking, I was a bit crept out, but then my heart felt at ease as I saw a small but very bright restaurant stood at the corner of the road.

There were lots of car parking, and Lavinia and Sherly had convinced me that the restaurant there had such delicious food that I should try. Apparently another car arrived and Sherly told me that it was another Indonesian student that was going home that night. Apparently Lavinia and Lia – that Indonesian student – had the same flight that they managed to meet up for dinner before going to the airport.

t o b e c o n t i n u e d . . .

Homecoming pt 1

h o m e c o m i n g
part 1

to be continued...
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

ATTENTION!
Again, just to let you guys know that this post is slightly different from any other posts you'll find in this blog. It's rather writings-heavy. So if you're not really into long texts or can't stand of reading a great deal of writings, simply skip it and wait till I finish all the parts. But for those who are curious enough and will to read it, you are more than welcome to do so. Enjoy!

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

As promised, I'm finally, ultimately posting the story of my very first time going abroad all by myself (not really though, maybe it's better to say it “going abroad without parents”). Unfortunately, there would be no pictures posted as I couldn't get myself a chance to take them on my journey (apparently, I'm too occupied with handling the immigration form, passport, watching over my stuff, etc). But still, this experience left me with such an impression that I won't forget, thus I promise myself I'll write about it someday...and I guess today's the day!

If you guys are wondering, this story is a continuity of this post, which you can tell that it's set exactly a day before my departure. But anyway, let me just get this started. So the morning after the crazy sleepover night spent with Aymee, Terry, and Elda, I went to the campus again with Terry. It looked like Terry had something to do at the library which I forget what it was, and I had to settle my matters as well in the International Student Program Office relating to my employment in the upcoming quarter.

The campus looked awfully quiet that day and it was not a mystery anymore, since most classes had concluded their entire quarter's schedule. That day, December 10^th, 2010 was the last day for classes to hold final exams. Good thing for me, I have everything done before the tenth, including my classes' final exams. I couldn't imagine what it was like having final exams right on the day of my departure – my attention would be extremely divided into packing, excitement, as well as rushing to finish off final exams before enjoying my winter break in my home country.

Fortunately for me, nothing much to pack for my homecoming, since I only brought with me a small suitcase and I had no intention of putting it in the baggage. It would only be but bothersome, especially I'm not a patient person when it comes to waiting for the baggage to roll out on the conveyor belt.

From school, I rushed to Target to grab some authentic American sweets to be brought home as souvenir. Then I went home for final checking and repacking all the stuff before my friend came to pick me up.

I was scheduled to leave the apartment at seven o'clock and my flight was at 11.30 pm, quite late at night though. She told me that apparently, many Indonesians (not just Indonesians but international students) would head home that night. Most of them would return on the other days after the tenth. The earliest international students homecoming was on the tenth, which was the last day of the term as well. So you could say that I joined the first wave of international students homecoming. Considering I would be the earliest to leave town, I was looking forward for more chance and days to spend in Jakarta before going back.

The feeling of going home rushed through me from that afternoon until the sky grew dark. Still I could hardly believe that I was going back home that night to the country where I belong. The thrilling sensation tickled me. Should you say that it was something that I shouldn't praise since I only spent like five months here and I could already feel the exhilaration of going home. To some people, five months were short duration for someone who stayed abroad, some of my friends even said that. To be honest, I didn't wish to be return home in the first place.

It was just apparently my ticket to go to the US also came with a ticket to go home as well, making an impression as if I was in the US for some sort of a round trip – a very long one of course. Then I figured out the fact that I was the only child was the reason why I was to be sent home on winter, despite the fact I just arrived on late summer entering fall that year, especially some of my friends mentioned how I was going to regret for not seeing snow in the other side of the US (since the city where I live in doesn't snow in winter, in fact, these days it becomes as hot as Jakarta, but not as humid as Jakarta of course).

Anyway, for me, five months were already a long time to spend abroad. Of course, even though I wasn't all gushed with the excitement of going home in the first place, I sort of missed some things that could be seen, felt, or experienced in the US. There was something about Jakarta that was irreplaceable and couldn't be achieved here no matter how hard I tried to find it here. Those Javanese and Padang food that had been haunting my mind after all those times are scarcely found here.

They remained but stick in my mind until the moment came, which was no other than my homecoming day itself. I had thought to devour loads of food when I stepped my foot to Indonesia. There's only one restaurant though. It's pretty close from here, or at least it's considerably close. But nothing beats the authenticity of Indonesian traditional spices mixed up together, forming a combination of perfect tongue-spoiling taste.

Anyway, the moment finally came. After doing million times of checking and repacking, I finally shut the suitcase. At seven o'clock, my friend called me saying that she was already at the lobby to pick me up. My roommate Elda took me to the car. I pitied the fact that she couldn't go home that winter, but then she had something more exciting comparable to my trip home to do. Her sister lives in the US and she was planning to go on a vacation with Elda. I have set up my assumptions that maybe she was going to Disneyland, Denver, or even skiing in Lake Tahoe. But I shoved my thought away, thinking the SFO-TPE-CKG ticket attached to me was a hint of my own upcoming yet exciting vacation back to my home country.

t o b e c o n t i n u e d . . .