It's been a whole year since an Indonesian has "kindly" called me fat (I'm still bitter about that!), though recently one of my super skinny 9th grade students who is into modelling told me that the industry is opening up many opportunities for plus-sized models. Thanks, Janet!
It's been...well, 2 days since I last ate rice. (To be fair, my roommate Mustafa cooked Afghani food and that seems to often include rice!) In the past year, I've eaten rice about 2-4 times a month. I haven't missed plain white rice one bit, Indonesia!
On the downside of being home, I've missed good nasi goreng (my own Indonesian cooking leaves a lot to be desired!), cap cay, and es degan.
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| Some of my own attempts at nasi goreng, tempe, and cap cay are...okay. |
2 of my close friends have had babies since I've been home, so I've missed being there to hold their new babies, and if lucky, have one pee on me, since they don't always use diapers!
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| Welcome to the world, Mini Iik! Iqbal and Rosi's son is 4 hours old. |
It goes without saying that I terribly miss my boyfriend, Vallen. While Whatsapp, Skype, and Google Hangout have provided a variety of internet apps with which to continually lose connection mid-sentence, it will be wonderful to be together again. Prepare for the flood of happy Facebook photos that shall flood your walls, for I am a jealous person who has had to endure other couples' loving, smiling photos for 14 months without my loved one!
I'm also psyched to meet Mayra, Vallen's 2-year old niece. She runs to his side when she hears my voice and loves to watch silly movies of me trying to ask her how life is!
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| Miss Mayra! |
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| Here she is playing at home on her favorite little car |
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| Nining and her husband, Hari, on vaca in Bali. |
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