Home Sweet Home

My little office - where I've spent a lot of time at home.

On n’est nulle part si bien que chez soi, when translated in English, means “Home sweet home, there’s no place like home.”

I have been staying at home in Balikpapan, in Indonesia, for over than a month. To be frank, I thought coming home would probably be as awful as last year when the moment of the break with my ex-boyfriend hit me so hard that I couldn’t enjoy my four-month semester break instead of going through hell and crying over my failed very-short-term relationship. Dang it!

Nonetheless, it is great to see Mom and Dad and my family again. This is a happy home – full of love. When I arrived back one month ago, I saw everything in here look the same as always. Only a few changes were made when I was not here. Well, not only did my cousin whom I consider as my own brother leave nearly four months ago, but the person who used to take good care of our house also left – he is currently responsible for another house where we rent rooms. The change – I felt a bit lonely after they’d gone.

Since I arrived, I have done only a little stuff. Actually I’d desperately wanted to get home by the time I came back from Kuala Lumpur. I’d already stuffed my mind with a lot of ideas. But it’s just stuff – if you know what I mean (grinning). I’ve been busy learning French recently to improve my language proficiency. As you know, I’ve enjoyed mastering languages, from English and my native Bahasa Indonesia to French since I was in school – which may become handy when I have job. Yet, I have to fight against my own laziness. Seriously! I bend over backwards trying to assure myself that I can’t rest on my laurels. Pas de problème, je vais me débrouiller – no problem, I’ll manage it.

Another leisure activity I’ve been doing since I came back is reading novels. I had bought the first novel of the Twilight saga, Twilight, before I went back to Indonesia. I couldn’t grab time to read the novel when I was still in Malaysia, so I decided to read it as soon as I got home. I finished reading the book a couple of days ago – I settled down for a long read (giggling). It’s about a pair of star-crossed lovers whose forbidden relationship changes Bella Swan’s life like hell after dating Edward Cullen who is secretly a vampire. According to the author, Stephanie Meyer, it’s a love story with bite. H’m, so mysterious, huh? And I can’t wait to read the other series, including New Moon, Eclipse, and Breaking Dawn. A lot of people think that Twilight could possibly surpass the success of Harry Potter as an earlier phenomenal saga. I’m sure that most of you have already known that Twilight becomes a motion picture now. I haven’t watched it though, but I will. It’s a must-watch movie because Robert Pattinson, the young British actor who starred as Cedric in Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire, plays Edward in Twilight. Don’t you think it’s cool?! Every girl loves Cedric. And I’m quite sure that every girl (like me) can’t wait to watch Twilight just because of Edward’s charms. Hehehe, you bet!

Well, not only does reading novels interest me while I enjoy my three-month semester break, but watching Friends on Star World also becomes my day-to-day leisure activity. Nevertheless, compared with last-year semester break, I don’t seem to be a couch potato this year. It seems rare for me to spend much time watching idiot box – if you know what I mean. But I can wait for the serial until it starts at 8 o’clock from Monday to Friday (grinning).

I’ve gotta enjoy this semester break before classes start - that it means absolute hell for me. Sigh. Life can be a bore if you spend the whole semester get all assignments finished on time while bloody worrying about the whens and hows of the things. I felt like I was in a rut when I had to stay up the whole night doing all of the assignments. Even worse, lack of sleep made it hard for me to concentrate. It sure felt like hell, you know. Sigh.