bf had been eyeing this spot for months and we finally got to go one sunday. as we were trying to catch the sunrise and the spot was a 3h ride away, we headed off at about 2am. i will say that the ride there was An Experience because we spent half the time just praying to be safe and the other half trying to look and catch up with people who were also headed up the mountain. around 2/3 of the way there was a rest area and it was there that we realised there were a bundle of people who were trying to get to our destination and we felt this gush of relief that we didn't have to spend the remaining ride alone in the dark again LOL. 

we got to the spot at around 4:30ish, the mountain itself was SUPER COLD i definitely underestimated it. a lot of people were already standing by so all we had to do was find a safe place to park and walk to where we'd have a good panoramic view. and that we did. i hadn't watched the sun rise in a long time, the ensuing view was breathtaking. nature is...stunning.

ahhh. jakarta and its public open spaces.

i knew i wanted to do something special for bf's birthday so i initially planned to go home to surprise him and spend an entire day at the beach, because it had been a long promise (and jakarta doesn't have proper beaches). because i didn't tell him of my plans, turns out he bought a ticket to jakarta so i had to cancel the ticket home that i already bought and welcomed him here and made do with what i was given and planned a picnic! the first kind of date for the both of us. honestly still surprised there are still "first time"s of his i can do.

we went to tebet for his birthday picnic. i cooked some dishes that i knew he liked, bought a plastic mat online, ordered a bento cake and bought candles, and wrapped his present. all was good to go. thankfully the sky had cleared up by the time we got to the park! the park itself wasn't too crowded (but still full of life) so it was a great place to have a picnic in. i cooked with a recipe i haven't tried out before but it turned out okay? surprisingly?? a satisfactory day in general.

the second time around we had a painting date! i bought two paint-by-numbers kits online so we could have a choice on which to do together. we headed out to GBK where it was then that we found out what a fantastic place it was to have a picnic in. made onigiri, fried karaage, steamed dimsum, and bought pre-cut fruits from the minimarket. i feel like we spent too much time eating and chatting that by the time we started on painting it was pretty dim already LOL. when the sun fully set and we found out that the park didn't have proper bright lighting, we packed up and headed home. the painting is still at that state (pictured) to this day because we haven't had time to go on another picnic, plus i didn't want to finish it by myself. maybe we can finish it in 2025? we'll see.

some stuff happened at my workplace which prompted some of us to decide to take a trip to bandung ourselves! if i'm being honest i was actually surprised we managed to pull it off given that plans involving 20+ people most of the time end up in the bin. 

we took a weekend off to head down to bandung together and had a barbecue, pizza, gift exchange, karaoke, and just bonded in general. there was a plethora of food that we ended up saving it for breakfast too because we somehow overcalculated how much food we needed and there were food people brought that wasn't communicated to us. the next day we cleaned up, checked out of the inn and spent the entire afternoon in a park (currently forgot the name but it'll come up). on the way home we stopped by a rest area, bought souvenirs, and got back to the office at around 9-10pm. it was a really great trip, felt like i indeed grew closer to people i have otherwise would never have the chance to chat with. i will say that we have tried organising another trip since but have all failed miserably. remember what i said about plans involving 20+ people?

this office outing had been in the talks since before i got here and at last it finally happened. we were all pretty excited about it that my team decided to customise a matching totebag (that i designed) to use for the outing. upon arriving we were given free time to explore the island and so the five of us (people in my team) rented electric bikes to go around (which if i may say, was the highlight of that day for me). then they took us snorkelling which i tried for the first time in my life. it was so much fun for me especially since i hadn't swam in a while. seeing how clear the sea can get was refreshing, all the corals and different coloured fish were a sight to see. the only letdown was that the camera the guide brought didn't really produce great photos so that was a waste🫠. on the way back to the island they made us stop at a local market of some sort before taking us back to our inn. huge mistake because 1) we were all still dripping wet and the evening wind didn't help at all, we were trembling the entire time, 2) how did they expect us to spend money on anything when all we wanted to do was have a shower to rinse off all the seawater and sand? and 3) we went way past our rundown (because we made that stop). so everything up until the snorkelling was pleasant.

on the second day, we had banana boat which i also tried for the first time in my life. the seawater from the first day was so bad it stung our eyes for a while so i was worried about banana boat, but as it turns out if you're pretty far off the coast the salt in the water isn't too concentrated?? like damn. so i had no problem being shoved head first into the sea and surfaced just fine. we also played some mini games and were tasked to build a catapult that could launch a very light ball as far as possible without the catapult being touched. given that we were a construction company, yeah of course they had us build some sort of tangible thing. i only stood around and documented, to be honest HAHAHA. by night time we had a gathering because HR had a presentation to show us while we all ate grilled stuff. a small number of us headed back to play uno for a bit before heading to bed at around 1-2am.

the last day came so we packed our stuff ready to check out and spent the rest of the time basically doing more exploring and saying our goodbyes to the island. our group ended up going to a small coffee place to get drinks and just hang around until it was time for lunch and to head back to the deck. slight tragedy just before we returned to the office, my friend dropped his phone into the water so he had to dive to get it LMAO it still worked just fine but it didn't really take him long to change phones as it turns out.

overall there were actually lots of things that could've gone better during the entire trip but who am i to complain. i was content enough with spending time with my coworkers outside of our workplace (and on an island at that!) so it has now become one of my top treasured memories. come to think of it, I've really enjoyed the times I spent with my coworkers. you get to find out all sorts of different people and their unique characteristics, find out that they possess qualities you also want in yourself yet also ones that make you wonder how they've survived in life thus far.

a podcast i regularly listen to went on a live tour around the country and bf and i got tickets to attend! they were hilarious from start to finish that we practically couldn't stop laughing. they actually also went to jakarta but on that day we had planned on going home so we decided to go for the tangerang date. i really enjoyed the entire event because it felt like i was finally home, i was surrounded by people from around my hometown all speaking the same language and dialect, all on the same wavelength. it provided such a feeling of security for a person so far away from home and everybody she knows.

attended quite a few weddings, one of which marked the first time me and bf went as a couple! it was a good opportunity to introduce my bf to my coworkers (and preventing any unwanted interactions thereafter). the weekday after the wedding a dude actually said he liked how bf and i presented ourselves at the wedding and that he thinks if we went to prom looking like that, we'd "win". it was the first time i was complimented for how i dressed and how we came across so that was honestly really pleasant to hear. all the weddings were fun and all because i got to doll up since i don't do it all that often. congratulations to all who got married! may y'all live happy peaceful lives.

mmmbyyeeeeeee