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today i met up with my beloved girls again. by "beloved girls", i'm referring to the group of nine girlies that have been with me since the 9th grade. gegege.
well, actually, i only met a few of them. this afternoon i met up with magda and ika at our second home, MALL KELAPA GADING. we agreed to find a gift for our friend, cindy, who's having a birthday dinner later. actually, "finding a gift" has often been used as an excuse to hang out at the mall, for the lack of a real purpose. hahahha. then we would just go round and round, checking out everything, browsing through random shops, and sometimes we would go back empty handed but still satisfied. so, yeah, usually "finding a gift" means more like, "hanging out cos we have nothing to do but since a friend's birthday is coming up so why don't we just go to the mall and look-see-look-see but the main point is to waste time".
BUTTTTTT i truthfully declare that today, we were really dedicated to find a gift for vhavha (cindy)!! today we were focused on the purpose to find something to buy for her, instead of randomly going in and out of shops out of curiosity. erm, granted, i did do some (okay, A LOT) of window-shopping to satisfy myself. and the side effect is i ended up having so many, many things on my wish list. all day i went ga-ga over all the adorable outfits!! tops, vests, dresses, shoes, belts... i want them all! T.T
we found a lovely scarf for vhavha. it was a knitted white scarf, the girly and cutesy kind with pom-poms on each end. SO CUTE! i really want one for myself now.
anyhoo, tonight vhavha took us (magda, ika, yunita, and myself) to have dinner @ bandar djakarta. bandar djakarta is a seafood restaurant located at ancol bay in jakarta. so it's seafood by the seaside! what more could you ask for, right? it was my first time eating there, and i thought the place had a great atmosphere. the deck was covered with giant canopies, and there were small gazebos for lesehan (sitting on the floor). we had a table right beside the sea, but it was dark so we couldn't see anything, which was kind of creepy for me.
bandar djakarta @ night (from bandar-djakarta.com)
more bandar djakarta
the food was great. i tried "kerang bambu"... roughly translated, bamboo cockles, and "kerang macan", which looked more like snails than oysters to me. heh. we also ate this shark fish. not shark fin. a WHOLE shark, only a very, very small one, and they had it grilled. NICE!
besides the ambience and the food, what i loved most was simply being there with my dearest friends. after almost six months apart from them, and really, almost NO communication between us (except for yuyun becos she lives downstairs)... we were still able to click together within the first few seconds. i guess this is how a real friendship feels like. we have totally different lives, different personalities, but yet we have this bond that keeps us together, no matter what we do and who we are.
i loved watching the funny banters between vhavha and yuyun. if you look at them separately, it may seem that they live in two different worlds. vhavha is more relaxed, simple, and she lives to her own rhythm. while yunita is so hyperactive, always keeping up with the current trend (being a fashion student and all), and loves the more "glamorous" life. and yet, they can connect through this stupid arguments and teasing, and it's really hard for me to explain... but you can see how they enjoy being in the company of each other and having fun together.
for me, it's nice to know that back home, i'll always have my friends. they're the ones who pull me close to home, they're the first people that i truly feel comfortable with, and i can't deny that my friends helped me become who i am now. they play an important role in my life, and no matter how far i am away from them, i won't forget how they shaped my life.
of course, every one of us is far from perfect. our differences sometimes get in the way, but somehow, we'll just snap back together. and when we do, we learn from our mistakes and our friendship matures even more.
i guess you can tell that i have so much faith in my beloved friends. after all, when you find a friend, you find a treasure, right?
i remember this quote by the philosopher, kahlil gibran:"For what is your friend that you should seek him for hours to kill?
amazing, isn't it? if i translate it to bahasa indonesia, roughly it is saying:
Seek him always for hours to live.
For it is his to fill your need, but not your emptiness."
"Maka apalah artinya sahabat jika kau mencarinya untuk membunuh waktu?
Carilah dia selalu untuk waktu yang hidup.
Karena dialah yang mengisi kebutuhanmu, tapi bukan kekosonganmu."
on a different, but equally joyous note, i prayed with my mother today. i don't know how God placed this opportunity within my hands, but i thank Him for it. mom is having some doubts about her job, and she just can't make a decision about it. who am i to advise her on work, you know?
if i were the same old me, i would just let her worry about it herself. i mean, why bother with grown up's problems. but somehow, God spoke to me, and He wanted me to do just that. He nudged me to ask my mother about how she was doing. i did that, although a bit awkwardly. my mom told me about her doubts and fears, and although i understood them, i don't know what i can tell her.
but she asked me to pray for her. usually i'd just say okay and mention her to God when i'm saying my night prayers. but God nudged me again to pray together with her. she agreed. and so i prayed, i prayed that God would protect her and lead her, that God would put faith in my mother's heart that God will uphold her.
thank you so much for this opportunity, Lord. i know it wasn't much, but i felt a joy of relief to be able to encourage my own mother. i want You to work in her, just like You have worked in me. i know You have greater plans for my family, that You love us always. i will always have faith in my family. because i have faith in YOU, Father!
