Sing a song of Birthdays
Full of fun and cheer
And may you keep on having them
For many a happy year. – Anonymous

That’s right.

I am officially 24.

Hmm..Apa yg biasanya org2 lakuin waktu mereka ulang tahun? Well, selain nerima bejibun ucapan selamat ulang tahun via sms, telfon, dan juga wall post di facebook, pasti bakal ngerayain ulang tahun tersebut sama org2 terdekat dan terkasih seperti keluarga, pacar, sahabat dan temen2 deket. Hmm, in my case? Let’s see..

Keluarga? Nun jauh disana: skip.
Pacar? Big null value. skip
Sahabat dan temen2 deket? Okelah, I have them here..

Jadi sepakat deh utk merayakan bersama teman2 terdekat disini. Para anggota milis TKI Jaya tercinta: Fikri, Ghozi, Heri, Febrian. Terima kasih utk Christin dan Ulfi yg sudah membatalkan in the very last minute *lirik Ulfi* Tapi ternyata ada special guests from Indonesia, my very old best friend from high school, Medi yg lg jalan2 ke Amsterdam sama temennya, Velanie khusus utk ngerayain ulang tahun saya. *ngarep* Trus ada tamu dari Wageningen juga yg walopun harus menempuh perjalanan naik bis ke stasiun terdekat dan naik kereta berjam2 ke Den Haag (halah lebay..*lirik Jijie*).

So, on Saturday, August 22, 2009, I woke up, took a bath, put on my best summer dress, some make up, and my new shoes! Voila! Birthday girl was ready to celebrate the day! Hehe. Together with Medi and Velanie, we headed to Rotterdam, where we spent the day exploring the city, enjoyed some shopping spree in Zara’s latest sale (I got a gorgeous top and a cute mini skirt for only 15 euro btw), nagih kado di Body Shop (if you got a member card, you can shop anything for 10euros on your birthday, nice!) and of course took lots and lots of pictures

Tired of being turis-sehari, we continued our journey to Den Haag where I would treat my friends with a very special dinner in Fat Kee. Quite a nice restaurant especially because we had a very special and private spot (so, next time do reserve!). We had shrimp wonton soup for starter, enak! For the main courses, we ordered Roast Peking Duck, Fu yung hai, Chicken BBQ, Eggplants with Chicken, and Paksoy with Beef. Ohlala. That’s a lot of food..and calories T_T but it’s my birthday so they didn’t count :p

Kenyang. Next, we headed to Scheveningen beach where there would be an international fireworks event from different countries: China, USA, and Holland. As soon as we got there (despite the fact that all trams were so hectic that kept us waiting for ages!!), we searched for the best spot to view the fireworks. Geezzzzz the night was sooo cold and windy and I only had my mini dress on. Semriwing dimana2. Hihi. Tahpapalah. Biar mati kedinginan asal jangan mati gaya kan? :p

The fireworks were so AWESOME. Beautiful. Cantik. Aahhh pokonya bagus bangeeetttttt. I felt like it was made especially for me ya. Haha. I was the birthday girl, I got all the benefits! Heran kenapa bisa secantik itu kembang apinya. Jadi bertanya2 kira2 apa ya ingredientsnya supaya mereka bisa meluncur ke atas seperti bola api terus tiba2 memercikkan berbagai warna yg terpancar ke berbagai arah. Hayah bahasanya. Hehe.

I got presents too, btw. Flowers from Heri, and then a cherry stone pillow from Ghozi and Fikri. I didn’t know what that is of course. But I found out that it’s a pillow you can heat in a microwave and gives you warmth in winter. Ahh, boys, they are so nice. They said, they know that I will be freezing in winter and since they cannot either give me warmth or boyfriend to warm me, they give the pillow instead. Aww..so thoughtful of them. Well, I know they won’t give me new shoes anyway :p

Birthday girl

Besties on birthday

I was sooo happy at that time. Knowing that I was not alone on my birthday, I got great friends, and I knew my family was out there praying for me. Even though I am so terribly scared of that quarter life crisis disaster which leaves me no clue about my future *aga berlebihan*: where I will end up, who my soulmate will be, what I will be 10 years from now, I know for sure that everything’s gonna be alright.

Whatever with the past has gone,
The best is always yet to come. – Lucy Larcom