On the last day of Bengkulu trip, Sandra told me to rub my feet with the sand, hopefully they will be smooth again, and I will get my dancer feet back!
Friday, July 14, 2006
THE SURVEYOR’S STRUGGLE
GAJAH….GAJAH…AND GAJAH……!
How cute and smiley those big animals are!
I have decided that gajah (elephant) is my fave animal. One of my Mom’s fave story about my childhood is when they took me to the zoo for the first time, and they lost me. I actually don’t remember being lost in the zoo, but Mom and Dad recounted that story many many times, of how they panicked and started searching for me, only to find me squatting in front of the elephant’s den, staring at them with bulging eyes. Amazed.
Never thought I would ride on their back someday, though it was always one of my childhood dreams.
During my trip to Padang, we dropped by Bukit Tinggi and saw a zoo with a big board saying: Horse ride Rp. 5000, Elephant ride Rp. 3000. Sandra and I were rushing to the officer to ask about it, and we were stunned to learn that the elephant had died. Maybe too much being ridden.
The first time was in September last year, when I went to Thailand with my colleagues. I made a mistake of spending the rest of my baht to join a tour (that was a fiasco and didn’t include elephant’s ride), and that night I was very sad to think that I would miss the opportunity to ride an elephant while I was in Chiang Mai. Fortunately smart Sandra offered a solution and there we were….riding my fave animal in the drizzle.
I told myself that though it was very exciting, I actually wanted to sit right on their back, and not in a chair like that.
God listened to my secret wish. Watch this!
On my first day in Bengkulu, I was surprised to see a couple of elephants roaming around along the beach, taking the kids on their back, and it was very cheap (less than a tenth of the elephant ride in Thailand).
The elephants’ names are Dino and Natasya, the pets of the owners of the cottage we were staying. I told Kristina and Gina that I wanted an elephant as a pet, but I wanted it to be forever small (to save space). When I learned about how much it cost to feed an elephant, I changed my mind. I don’t think I can afford it. Anyway, we made friends with the owners and they invited us to come and feed them. They usually go to the school every morning, to learn the trick and also learn how to play football. Maybe someday there will be a World Cup tournament for the elephants and I bet Indonesia will win.
The next Sunday, we were at the same cottage again, after touring the area. And the elephants were still there, tempting me to ride on them again. But this time, fatigue defeated my desire, as I just wanted to sleep. Sandra arrived that day, she came late because she had just gotten back from visiting her boyfriend Daniel in the US. I told her about the elephant, but never thought we would get a chance to have a ride.
But we did!
The next Sunday (They’re only available on Sundays, by the way), we were there again, and it was our last day in Bengkulu. Sandra had been expressing her desire to ‘naik gajah’, but we doubted if we could because they’re only available at 11, and our plane was leaving at 12.
We spent the morning worshipping as a group near the beach, and as Sandra and I walked towards the cottage, we saw Dino and Natasya again! And it was only around 10. We were scared if there would be a long line, but when I asked the guides if we could ride, they let us right away. Sandra was about to hop on Natasya’s back, but she was gracious enough to let me taste the ride with her now, because I had ridden Dino before.
SHY SUNRISE AND NAUGHTY WIND AT SANUR BEACH
My schedule in Bali was so tight that I only had time to explore either early in the morning or late at night.
So one morning I woke up early and went to Sanur with a hope to see a beautiful sunrise.
But alas!
The weather was not too friendly. The wind blew hard and the flying sands hurt my feet as I shivered along the shore.
The sky was cloudy and the sun was timid. Still I wanted to pose.
And I found some white flowers we call Kamboja here (usually found in the funeral, but Balinese wear them behind their ears), laying on the ground. I picked one and tried to pose like Balinese girl, but the wind was so naughty. It took my flower away, and I kept chasing it like a fool. Every my time reached out for it, it just went further. So I gave up and picked another one. And it stayed in my ear long enough until the camera clicked.
Monday, July 10, 2006
VIVA ITALIA!!!!!!!!!
Tuesday, June 20, 2006
THINGS I’VE JUST LEARNED ABOUT PAGLIUCA
After more than 11 years rooting for one of the best goalie in the world, Gianluca Pagliuca, who kindled my love for Italy in the first place, I thought I had known ‘almost’ all about him.
But, I was surprised to learn several new things about him while reading his cool unofficial web (www.vivapagliuca.com). There’s some good and bad news.
Good news: he intends to play as long as possible, and then open up a goalkeeper school in his hometown Bologna… (Italy will surely have lots of great goalies in the future, in say, 14 years to come, I’m expecting one of them to be Mattia Pagliuca, his own son)
(According to my Italian source, there’s also a rumor that Inter might recruit him for the next season. Sure he’ll sit on the bench most of the time, but that is fine…it will be cool to see him again with La Beneamata, the team he played for when I started to like him)
He also owns a resto in Milan, which he runs with Simona Ventura. I have to go there someday for a nice dinner ehehehe… but I bet it must be very pricey.
Bad news: someone has already written his biography (Gianfranco Civolani), titled ‘Pagliuca, una vita da numero 1’. Why is it bad, because I had wanted to be the first to do so (mimpi!!!). Naah, it was and is still in my ‘fancy’ rather than ‘dreams’ category. Anyway, would love to read it!
But, I was surprised to learn several new things about him while reading his cool unofficial web (www.vivapagliuca.com). There’s some good and bad news.
Good news: he intends to play as long as possible, and then open up a goalkeeper school in his hometown Bologna… (Italy will surely have lots of great goalies in the future, in say, 14 years to come, I’m expecting one of them to be Mattia Pagliuca, his own son)
(According to my Italian source, there’s also a rumor that Inter might recruit him for the next season. Sure he’ll sit on the bench most of the time, but that is fine…it will be cool to see him again with La Beneamata, the team he played for when I started to like him)
He also owns a resto in Milan, which he runs with Simona Ventura. I have to go there someday for a nice dinner ehehehe… but I bet it must be very pricey.
Bad news: someone has already written his biography (Gianfranco Civolani), titled ‘Pagliuca, una vita da numero 1’. Why is it bad, because I had wanted to be the first to do so (mimpi!!!). Naah, it was and is still in my ‘fancy’ rather than ‘dreams’ category. Anyway, would love to read it!
Sunday, June 18, 2006
ITALY OH ITALY…….. (A BLOODY RED GAME)
Sadly, this is going to be my last blog post about the world cup before I’m traveling tomorrow.
Sadly, last night Italy failed to get three points because the score was tied 1-1. Both goals were netted by two Italian players. First, Gilardino scored from the free kick taken by Pirlo, but then the USA attacked consistently that the Italian defenders seemed to be nervous about that and eventually Zaccardo made a fatal blunder, kicked the ball to their own goal.
If the Italians thought that things could not get worse, they were definitely wrong, because soon after that, the hot-tempered De Rossi let his elbow fly too high and made McBride’s nose bleed hard, and of course he got a red card for that.
Weird enough, rather than taking advantage playing against 10 people, the Americans followed De Rossi’s example. They played rough and eventually had to play with 9 people after two of them were also sent off.
However, I must admit that USA played much better than when they faced the Czechs. Their strategy in guarding every Italian striker worked really well. Lippi’s decision to replace Totti with Gattuso was quite right, but still Italy could not score any more goal, thanks to Keller.
This result made the competition in group E more interesting, because I heard Ghana won against Czech Republic. Italy is still in the top position with 4 points, but they have to win next week to go to the next round.
It was funny because I read Ryan’s email in the afternoon, calling Italy lousy because they’re too busy taking care of their hairstyle, and it made me pay close attention to their hair. I don’t think it’s true, though. No one seemed to have a fancy hairdo, compared to several players in some other teams. They seemed to be natural to me, no too much hair gel (even Cannavaro and Del Piero don’t have too much hair now!). They’re just handsome as they are, and it’s not their fault.
Btw, I loved the way Gilardino celebrated his goal, maybe he likes to play violin. I noticed there have been so many goals resulted from the free kicks. I saw Deco made one for Portugal yesterday. Actually I missed the first 30 minutes of the first round of Iran vs Portugal. Gina and I went out to have dinner together in a place not far from our neighborhood. After that she came up with an idea to have a gelato in a mall around the corner, so off we went there in our pajamas and flip flop, mixing with other nice-dressed people roaming in that fancy mall spending the Saturday night. But as Gina quoted from the book she’d read, we women have to be confident, and so we decided to put it into practice.
We went inside a gelateria, decided to share a small cup of buonissimo gelato and sat in the big table for six people right facing the TV with other visitors behind us, also watching soccer, and Gina lost her confidence. Just imagine, we didn’t buy much, but we were hogging the biggest table in the front row licking our ice cream and staring at the screen surrounded by many well-dressed people only in our pajamas and flip-flops!
So we decided to go home, after dropping by the music store (in which I was unable to resist the temptation to buy a CD of The Corrs’ Irish traditional songs-I loved it anyway), and watched the rest of the game together.
Sadly, last night Italy failed to get three points because the score was tied 1-1. Both goals were netted by two Italian players. First, Gilardino scored from the free kick taken by Pirlo, but then the USA attacked consistently that the Italian defenders seemed to be nervous about that and eventually Zaccardo made a fatal blunder, kicked the ball to their own goal.
If the Italians thought that things could not get worse, they were definitely wrong, because soon after that, the hot-tempered De Rossi let his elbow fly too high and made McBride’s nose bleed hard, and of course he got a red card for that.
Weird enough, rather than taking advantage playing against 10 people, the Americans followed De Rossi’s example. They played rough and eventually had to play with 9 people after two of them were also sent off.
However, I must admit that USA played much better than when they faced the Czechs. Their strategy in guarding every Italian striker worked really well. Lippi’s decision to replace Totti with Gattuso was quite right, but still Italy could not score any more goal, thanks to Keller.
This result made the competition in group E more interesting, because I heard Ghana won against Czech Republic. Italy is still in the top position with 4 points, but they have to win next week to go to the next round.
It was funny because I read Ryan’s email in the afternoon, calling Italy lousy because they’re too busy taking care of their hairstyle, and it made me pay close attention to their hair. I don’t think it’s true, though. No one seemed to have a fancy hairdo, compared to several players in some other teams. They seemed to be natural to me, no too much hair gel (even Cannavaro and Del Piero don’t have too much hair now!). They’re just handsome as they are, and it’s not their fault.
Btw, I loved the way Gilardino celebrated his goal, maybe he likes to play violin. I noticed there have been so many goals resulted from the free kicks. I saw Deco made one for Portugal yesterday. Actually I missed the first 30 minutes of the first round of Iran vs Portugal. Gina and I went out to have dinner together in a place not far from our neighborhood. After that she came up with an idea to have a gelato in a mall around the corner, so off we went there in our pajamas and flip flop, mixing with other nice-dressed people roaming in that fancy mall spending the Saturday night. But as Gina quoted from the book she’d read, we women have to be confident, and so we decided to put it into practice.
We went inside a gelateria, decided to share a small cup of buonissimo gelato and sat in the big table for six people right facing the TV with other visitors behind us, also watching soccer, and Gina lost her confidence. Just imagine, we didn’t buy much, but we were hogging the biggest table in the front row licking our ice cream and staring at the screen surrounded by many well-dressed people only in our pajamas and flip-flops!
So we decided to go home, after dropping by the music store (in which I was unable to resist the temptation to buy a CD of The Corrs’ Irish traditional songs-I loved it anyway), and watched the rest of the game together.
Saturday, June 17, 2006
STILL, MY HEART GOES FOR..............
And they're playing at 2 am tonight (or tomorrow morning) against USA! Sorry, my American friends, but as you all know I'm always all about ITALY!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yea azzurri!!!!!!!!!!
GREAT GAMES LAST NIGHT!
The Argentines definitely indulged their fans by scoring 6 goals (3 in each half time). Poor Serbia-Montenegro, even Savo Milosevic could not do much to save his country from shame, esp after one of their players got a red card. The goals were all beautiful, but because there were too many of them, I could only remember the last two ones. Messi assisted Crespo to score, and then netted a goal himself. I think the presence of Maradona helped boost their spirits.
The indulgence continued as Cote d’Ivoire gave a good fight to the oranje team. Had they had a little luck, they could’ve equalized. If in the last match of Holland I was quite impressed by Robben, this time van Persie did it. I think he deserved to be the man of the match. I was actually curious about what his actual position was, because he was all over the place. He was great at attacking as well as defending. And he scored one great goal from a free kick outside the penalty box, then passed a good ball to van Nilsterooij who finished it well and hence gave the victory to Holland by 2-1.
Actually, after Argentina won, I was hoping that Holland would lose, so their next duel will be even hotter. Now it doesn’t matter anymore because both are definitely going to the next round. But still, I won’t miss it anyway.
The Argentines definitely indulged their fans by scoring 6 goals (3 in each half time). Poor Serbia-Montenegro, even Savo Milosevic could not do much to save his country from shame, esp after one of their players got a red card. The goals were all beautiful, but because there were too many of them, I could only remember the last two ones. Messi assisted Crespo to score, and then netted a goal himself. I think the presence of Maradona helped boost their spirits.
The indulgence continued as Cote d’Ivoire gave a good fight to the oranje team. Had they had a little luck, they could’ve equalized. If in the last match of Holland I was quite impressed by Robben, this time van Persie did it. I think he deserved to be the man of the match. I was actually curious about what his actual position was, because he was all over the place. He was great at attacking as well as defending. And he scored one great goal from a free kick outside the penalty box, then passed a good ball to van Nilsterooij who finished it well and hence gave the victory to Holland by 2-1.
Actually, after Argentina won, I was hoping that Holland would lose, so their next duel will be even hotter. Now it doesn’t matter anymore because both are definitely going to the next round. But still, I won’t miss it anyway.
The indulgence continued as Cote d’Ivoire gave a good fight to the oranje team. Had they had a little luck, they could’ve equalized. If in the last match of Holland I was quite impressed by Robben, this time van Persie did it. I think he deserved to be the man of the match. I was actually curious about what his actual position was, because he was all over the place. He was great at attacking as well as defending. And he scored one great goal from a free kick outside the penalty box, then passed a good ball to van Nilsterooij who finished it well and hence gave the victory to Holland by 2-1.
Actually, after Argentina won, I was hoping that Holland would lose, so their next duel will be even hotter. Now it doesn’t matter anymore because both are definitely going to the next round. But still, I won’t miss it anyway.
The Argentines definitely indulged their fans by scoring 6 goals (3 in each half time). Poor Serbia-Montenegro, even Savo Milosevic could not do much to save his country from shame, esp after one of their players got a red card. The goals were all beautiful, but because there were too many of them, I could only remember the last two ones. Messi assisted Crespo to score, and then netted a goal himself. I think the presence of Maradona helped boost their spirits.
The indulgence continued as Cote d’Ivoire gave a good fight to the oranje team. Had they had a little luck, they could’ve equalized. If in the last match of Holland I was quite impressed by Robben, this time van Persie did it. I think he deserved to be the man of the match. I was actually curious about what his actual position was, because he was all over the place. He was great at attacking as well as defending. And he scored one great goal from a free kick outside the penalty box, then passed a good ball to van Nilsterooij who finished it well and hence gave the victory to Holland by 2-1.
Actually, after Argentina won, I was hoping that Holland would lose, so their next duel will be even hotter. Now it doesn’t matter anymore because both are definitely going to the next round. But still, I won’t miss it anyway.
Friday, June 16, 2006
READY TO SEE ARGENTINA!
Last night I just crashed and missed the three matches.
Kristina, Gina and I went to the factory outlet at 4, and as we were walking to find a cab, a Canadian stopped us to ask where the nearest mall was, and then he talked a bit about himself and the business he's doing. Apparently he's a retired doctor and now working in a marketing company which sells stuff like sex products (whatever that is), face lifts etc, and he says we can make ten thousand bucks a month. Little he knew bout his audience lol.....
Anyway, I got a nice white shirt with light blue and green flowers (a birthday gift from Kristina). Gina bought one shirt as well, and Kristina picked a lovely green shirt, and two pairs of pants. We went home hungry, and the traffic was bad, and the taxi driver talked incessantly. We arrived around 6 and had nasi goreng and eggrolls for dinner (yummy), and continued to work some more.
Btw, I got the long awaited CD from my Italian pal Cristina, consists of some Italian music and lots of pictures she took during her trips to Europe, they are breath-taking! They make me want to see Europe more!
So I went home at 8, and passed out. I woke up a bit at midnight, turned on my TV and got to see Gerrard's goal for England. I didn't regret to bad missing those all matches yesterday, because none of them are my favorites. But there's no way I will miss Argentina and Holland tonight. I'm excited too to see they face against each other next week (poor two big teams, haev to be in the same group!)
I hope I will not cry for Argentina tonight! I hope Aimar score!
Kristina, Gina and I went to the factory outlet at 4, and as we were walking to find a cab, a Canadian stopped us to ask where the nearest mall was, and then he talked a bit about himself and the business he's doing. Apparently he's a retired doctor and now working in a marketing company which sells stuff like sex products (whatever that is), face lifts etc, and he says we can make ten thousand bucks a month. Little he knew bout his audience lol.....
Anyway, I got a nice white shirt with light blue and green flowers (a birthday gift from Kristina). Gina bought one shirt as well, and Kristina picked a lovely green shirt, and two pairs of pants. We went home hungry, and the traffic was bad, and the taxi driver talked incessantly. We arrived around 6 and had nasi goreng and eggrolls for dinner (yummy), and continued to work some more.
Btw, I got the long awaited CD from my Italian pal Cristina, consists of some Italian music and lots of pictures she took during her trips to Europe, they are breath-taking! They make me want to see Europe more!
So I went home at 8, and passed out. I woke up a bit at midnight, turned on my TV and got to see Gerrard's goal for England. I didn't regret to bad missing those all matches yesterday, because none of them are my favorites. But there's no way I will miss Argentina and Holland tonight. I'm excited too to see they face against each other next week (poor two big teams, haev to be in the same group!)
I hope I will not cry for Argentina tonight! I hope Aimar score!
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