Am Just back from my vacation last Tuesday and got a message from Brandon if I was tagged and I immediately said, “sure, will do!”
Unfortunately when I actually started to write on it, I just realized that it is a lot harder than I thought it would be. This exercise became sort of self-reflection and revelation time. What a homework, Brandon! :)

To make matter worse, these are one of the posts that have to begin with “I” in each point which I don’t like to do. But then I thought it can also be fun to make fun of yourself and announce it to the whole world. Let’s just try.

1. I’m a super coward when I see snakes, but I bumped into them everywhere in the least expected places. Horror! One time I almost stepped on one just in front of my room in my house, another time a snake running after me (literally!) in an asphalt road in front of my campus. These strange encounters happened more than several times, but the most notorious one was when I was just about to clean up the cables on my room’s dresser/make-up desk in a resort in Bali and when I almost reached out to one cable, all of a sudden the cable moved slowly and a second later I knew it was actually a (baby) snake! I screamed loudly and endlessly everyone thought I was attacked by a serial rapist or so. Then I did my first diving ever in Gili Trawangan, I descended and swam around underwater and guess what is the first living being underwater that I bumped into?? A sea-snake, gracefully swimming and slowly passing through.

2. Both of my parents are PhD’s but until this second, I have not yet thought of being one myself. If there is something I would like to brag about in my life, it is my parents. Both are super-active and highly intelligent, both are successful professionals as well as academic nerds, yet there were no single moment of which all their three daughters feeling unloved or so. I can’t be thankful enough! As for the PhD thing for myself, i am one of those people who thinks that higher education is both life-engaging and rewarding, but I still have things I’d like to do more in the meantime. So maybe later.. and strong emphasis in the word ‘maybe’... :)

3. I can’t live without my weight scale. I don’t know if this is something very shameful to admit, but my scale is a very important tool to keep me on track. As much as all the diet specialists keep warning of not to measure your weight every morning, i still think it is important. In every vacation trip of 2 weeks where I am not doing that, I usually gain between 2-3kg it is not normal.

4. I’m addicted to taking extra-curricullar courses. It has been started since I was very very young. Although I am never in “mastery level” in any of those, it is the process of getting to know something that I am so fond of.

5. Outside Indonesia, (I don’t know why) people have a hard time to guess where I am from. In Indonesia although sometime I am asked if I have India or Arab heritage, in general people would say I look very Indonesian, which I am. Outside is a different story. Many times people from Thailand, Vietnam, India, Pakistan, Philippine, etc., even people from Iran and Mexico said hi to me in their language. My name “Nadia” does not help as well (looks like everyone claim it’s a typical name from their country, even Tanzanian!). And now in Angola my girl friends call me “a minha boneca chinesa” or “my chinese doll”. Haha! But I believe this happens to many Indonesians. Indonesia must’ve been a melting point of trading back in early years of the previous millenia that results in undefined roots of its people’s face and profile..?? At least that’s my stupid conclusion from what I’ve learned from history books and museums. Hehe. :)

6. Another addiction: I’m so addicted to chocolate especially the dark ones, and I literally have received a big trophy from Toblerone. Cosmopolitan magazine had this Fun Fearless Female contest in 2004 with Toblerone as a sponsor. I participated and then in the final night, they announced my name as the sponsor-chosen winner which is sort of like the runner-up. The funny part is years later I know from blogs that the next cosmopolitan FFF runner-up 2006 is Ms.Sandra Dewi, only that the sponsor in her year is WRP, not Toblerone. Now see where she is now, a glamorous Indonesian celebrity, and where I am now, somebody that is just stranded in Angola. What a big contrast, huh? Haha. Hey, but at least I have a trophy from a chocolate company, an ultimate achievement as a chocolate addict. Yay!

7. I travel a lot, but only once on a backpack. Somehow in both sides of my small brain I had formed strange theories against backpacking, but then when I actually did it I admit traveling with only a backpack is fun and practical. Hehe! :)

8. I’ve had an insomnia tendency for God knows how long, and that was how I started blogging. Just like many other bloggers, maybe? It’s getting a lot better with my sleep lately, and it is not blogging that helps. Those classic methods of exercising regularly, yoga, meditation and ‘letting go’ really do work. Lately I found that doing headstand followed by shoulder-stand just before sleep also improves sleeping quality.

9. I depend too much on my kohl liner and eyebrow pencil. I am not blessed with beautiful eyebrows, they’re too sparse.. and so that’s my eyebrow pencil dependance comes from. As for the kohl liner, I don’t know how it started I just think it gives my face a more defined look. I can skip any make-up but not this two. I even wear them during diving I must’ve looked ridiculous!

10. I can’t eat in a restaurant where I can see its restrooms from my table. And I don’t understand how anybody else can, seriously!

Now, to continue with the tagging game, I can not think of other than 2 of my friends:

Nila Tanzil, a dear friend of mine which I believe has some engaging stories to tell.

Ika Natassa, I think she likes to do this kind of thing.. and as well as Nila, I believe she has some interesting stories to reveal as well! :)