One Lucky Cat

 Lucky Cat

I feel like most of us have those friends who will always revert us back to our youth when we see each other. To me, those friends are almost always my Germany pals—did you see where this was going?—and we met up last Monday. It was a bit of a fated meeting, since we all just happened to have free time that Monday and we spent the greater part of the day together. It was a reunion brought about by a heartbreaking news for one of us, but I'm glad we still managed to laugh a lot. Whenever we're together, for the most part, the world seems to melt away, to make way for the irreversible past—a time when we were much younger, more reckless and more carefree. If only the one member who should've been here could've joined us. We caught up on each others' lives, falling back on old jokes and finding out that some things will never change—even though so many others will never be the same again. I think we're all so different, yet so similar in our curious nature. I'm always grateful for the new pieces of information and knowledge that I pick up after hanging out with them—always something useful to know. It's bittersweet somehow, I miss them already.

Gifted batik jacket // thrifted top + skirt + loafers // outfit photos by Edwin

One of the things I love about hanging out with this lot is the enthusiasm my friend Edwin exudes about photography. It is very rare that I find a friend who is as excited about photo-taking as much as I do. We always exchange ideas and come up with different concepts while we go on. He knows how to make a photo look good and isn't closed to trying something new. It's just so much more fun to do something with someone who's excited to do it with you, don't you think? The place itself is a place I've been meaning to try for a while, due to numerous instagram posts and TV spots. It looks bigger on camera, as it felt a whole lot cozier and compact in person. The interior is very rustic, with some semi-outdoor seats in certain corners—with most locations being smoking areas, sadly. The menu is pretty overpriced, I must say, but it's nothing unusual for places like this. We ended up only ordering one beverage—for far more than I would've wanted to spend, to be honest—while sitting there for an hour or so. I guess here's to me spending the rest of the weekends at home :')

Barrels of Fun

This month has been all about hanging out with Firu and our friends. Honestly, I feel so much more alive now; there just seems to be so many fun things going on that I'm left wishing they will never, ever end. One of the highlights we had was when we were reunited with our core circle of friends in Germany—consisting of Edwin and Wilson, as you probably have seen. This is huge, since it's been around 5 years since the last time we all hung out like this. Technically Edwin, Wilson and I just saw each other around 2 months ago, but even so, a lot has happened in our individual lives that we could all fill each other in on the new updates. We just walked around aimlessly, looking for a place to chat as much as humanly possible. Wish Iva were here too. But I'm a fool if I thought our being together would transport us back to the carefree days of our youth. Nothing will ever happen the same way twice and change is part of being alive. It's time to acknowledge that.

Firu's old shirt // old dress + tights // MKS shoes // hand-me-down purse // photos by Edwin

One of the things I really like about hanging out with Edwin is the fact that he likes photography enough to tolerate my blogging needs. As usual, he took these shots of me—thank you very much!  Wilson was also patient enough to let me get on with things—plus, helping me laugh with his jokes. Firu, on the other hand, sauntered off to the bakery to kill some time. These were actually taken inside a mall, at a far corner I never even looked at before. Incredible how there's the perfect backdrop on some random corner of this food court place. These were taken only a few minutes before we left the building, off to karaoke that we haven't done together in years. I always love karaoke-ing with this lot. I feel so free to do whatever, that I actually broke into a dance in the middle of it. It prompted Edwin to say, "You wouldn't know the difference between her being drunk and sober." Well, what can I say? My whole life is drunk.

With a Little Help from My (Ex-Pat) Friends

 Melly's Garden

The day after Christmas—one that, in English-speaking countries, is called Boxing Day—my Germany pals and I went out for lunch, because one of our own came home for a visit. Unlike usual, where we come up with various plans to have fun, this time—due to the tightness of finances—we decided to find a rather cheap but comfortable place at the heart of Jakarta to converse for as long as we like and catch up on various topics. It was a much-needed quality time, really, with the year ending and all I want to do is reflect and wind down. We came to yet another new restaurant that none of us has ever tried before—I found it online—located in the Menteng area. The place has a rather nice indoor and outdoor area, with a plethora of ornaments and decorations of old. It's also rather quiet and chilled, which was just exactly what we were looking for. We ended up hanging out there for five hours, chatting and laughing and causing a racket. It was hella fun! 

Book of Deer shirt // old varsity jacket + hat + shoes // hand-me-down pants + purse // photos by Edwin

These photos were taken after we had a really great time of catching up, laughing at each other and exchanging opinions on various topics—basically, when we're almost out the door, really. My friend Edwin has always been a photography-enthusiast and he's always been the one responsible for taking most of our pictures when we go on trips together. Needless to say, at occasions such as this, when we get to hang out once or twice a year, he's the one I go to for outfit photos. Thankfully, he never says no—although I'm not sure if it's not out of reluctance. On top of that, Ratri helped too, directing me on how to pose for certain photos, and Wilson didn't utter a word of complaint. They've known me since before the whole blogging thing—and being mostly out of the picture on it—yet never jeered at me, when I ask for help. I'm always grateful for friends like this. Thanks, guys, you all rock!

Sejauh Mata Memandang

Spotted: Dian Sastro just being casual in Sejauh Mata Memandang

During our Independence Day—which was exactly a week ago, actually—I spent the day with my expat gal pal, Iva. It was our last chance to hang out before she would return to Germany—she'll be leaving in 3 days, in fact. Our original plan with Edwin and Wilson fell through, but we were determined to see each other one more time. So I asked her to check out this batik "exhibition"—though it felt more like one huge installation—by Dia.Lo.Gue and Sejauh Mata Memandang. The place looked really cool, with the various fabric being draped over wooden structures and hung on strings going in various directions. There were a few booths/exhibitions from exi(s)t, Sejauh Mata Memandang and Jakarta Creative Hub. Oh! And Dian Sastro was there too! Iva and I ended up stopping by real quick, actually, and most of these photos were taken when I was waiting for her to arrive. We moved on to lunch, took some photos outside—balancing the camera on a stack of books to have our photo together—and walked around places while talking about so many things. I can't believe it will be at least another year before we see each other again. Last time this happened, I had an Iva withdrawal and felt lonely for a month or so afterwards.

Hand-me-down (?) batik top + hairband // thrifted loafers // Sis's purse // Ask by Asky dress // outfit photos by Iva

The older I get, I feel like the less we talk about friendship—as adults, the more popular topics revolve around romantic relationships, career and politics—but it actually gets harder and harder to form friendships as a grown-up. And even harder to keep the ones we already have. But sometimes in life we go through a life-changing phase with someone and it bonds us for a lifetime—or at least for a very long time. That's how I feel with Iva. She was actually Firu's friend and I didn't feel like I could relate to her at first. But we found a common ground in the unlikely and bonded over that all through our summer job together. Obviously, over the last 6 years we've gone through a lot more together and it made our bond even stronger. The thing about being friends with people as expats is that you will eternally share something that not many people will understand—because chances are they've never been where you were—although at the same time there is a good chance you will lead very different lives and probably never see each other again too. You can't always have it all, I guess.