Recollecting 2009
Woke up today and it struck me that we’re already at the very end of 2009.
What a year, 2009. It has been an eventful year in my life, 2009. Recollecting…
This day last year I flew from Goldcoast to Sydney with Sze-Zin to spend the turn of the year.
January 1: We started year 2009 in Sydney, watching the grand New Year’s fireworks at Darling Habour.
January 17: We went to Phuket, Thailand, to spend the weekend. After having been to Krabi and all the islands activities just several months before, we decided that this trip would be just about checking Phuket town.
January 24: I flew home to Medan, Indonesia to spend Chinese New Year with the family, and to see my niece Gricelia for the first time. She was just about 2 months young then. Sze-Zin flew to Brunei a day earlier to spend CNY with his dad’s family.
February 14: Our first Valentine’s in KL.
March 6: Farewell to working in KL. My first working experience was in KL, with this same company (Kudos/Anfield). I was thrown a spectacular and jaw-dropping farewell do by my colleagues. That same evening I drove to the airport to see my mom and dad who just flew in.
March 16: I left KL after living there since August 14th 2000. Flew to Hong Kong in the afternoon en route to Vancouver, Canada. This would be one of the most important days in my life so far.
March 16 (NA West Coast time): I arrived in Canada for the first time. Sze-Zin and his sister Lan saw me at the airport, and he had a video taped for me for my first few moments of arriving in Canada.
March 16 – September 11 (NA West Coast time): I lived in Vancouver from the end of winter through the end of summer during this period. It has been the most important trip in my life thus far. I took a break from full-time job. I took all the time and space to figure out what was next, my goals, and our plans. We formed a solid idea of how to work things out, what we wanted, and what we needed to do now so we could have what we wanted. I met lots of people, I saw how they lived their lives, I formed ideas of how I wanted to live mine, and what I do not want. I was truly pampered during this time. We went around eating all sorts of cuisines. He took and showed me around mind-blowing and breath-taking places around Vancouver including inland B.C. It was during this time I truly realized you don’t really get to know a place from a short trip. 6 months is the minimum it takes to assess a place like this.
July 12 (NA West Coast time): Went to Seattle, Washington, USA. It would be the third city and state I visited in the US.
September 11 (NA West Coast time): It was midnight and after a big dinner with his family when Sze-Zin drove me to YVR airport. I was kinda sad to leave a place I’ve lived half a year of my life in, but we were also excited to move on and execute our plans.
September 13: I arrived in Hong Kong in the early morning. The transit time was kinda short, otherwise I might have headed out to the city to meet up with a friend for dimsum (if you’re reading this, you know who you are, LOL) before getting back on the plane. So I stayed at the airport for a couple of hours before heading to KL. Arrived in KL after noon time. Spent a day there with my sister.
September 15: Left KL to fly to Melbourne. Got to Melbourne midnight of the 15th. My cousin and aunt saw me at the airport.
September 16: I officially started my life in Melbourne (Aussie) on this day. There was no hanging around. I got in gear immediately after I got up from a good night’s sleep. No jet lag whatsoever despite having flown through 3 flights and 3 cities for the last few days. I also saw my nephew James for the first time. He was extremely friendly with me, and a very cute and smart 22-month-young toddler.
November 2: I moved in to my first place in Australia. It’s a one-bedroom apartment in Melbourne downtown.
November 4: I started my first job in Australia.
December 31: I am going to spend New Year this time in Melbourne. I am all prepared.
It has been a year where I hopped around 6 countries, both for short trips and longer stays. Thinking about it, I spent an equivalent amount of travels in 2008… now recollecting 2008…
Starting the year of 2008 with my family in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia at Sutera Harbour Resort (the best-rated 5-star resort in Sabah). I returned to KL and few days later flew to the US for work (Raleigh, North Carolina and San Francisco, California). I flew home to Indonesia in February for Chinese New Year, then again in May for my sister’s wedding. In June Sze-Zin and I took our first trip together to Bali. In August, we went to Krabi, Thailand when he came back to KL to stay for longer this time. In September I took him to Medan, Indonesia. Went to Siem Reap, Cambodia in October to see Angkor Wat (which has been in his list-to-visit since he was 17!!). We spent our birthdays in November in Singapore. Went to Goldcoast in December to spend end-of-year holidays, and spent a short day in Brisbane as well.
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Indonesian-born Chinese. Grew up in North Sumatra, Indonesia. Went to college, worked and lived in KL, Malaysia for 8.5 years. Lived briefly in Vancouver, Canada before emigrating to Melbourne, Australia.
A world nomad.
Seafood and spicy food lover. Electone and piano player. Meticulous, inquisitive, and quite a neat freak sometimes.
Honest. Organized. A little hard-headed. Ambitious. Idealistic. A combination of strong-willed and silent personalities.
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