I wrote my shopping list for boyfriend’s Christmas presents in code in case he happens to find it. Here it is:
bl dress calcitenes
belt negro
dict
camiseta
thermal moby dick
cafe
Guess what he’s getting?
PS - As of December 1st, we’re engaged. : ) I just haven’t been on tumblr in forever and ever!
He went all the way to Semarang to bring me a meat lover’s pizza from Pizza Hut for dinner. What a beautiful man. : )
Well, as near as we can figure, given cultural differences, November 27th is the day we started dating. We can’t really be sure since our accounts vary slightly. He thought we were planning on getting married before I even knew that he was my boyfriend. But once we got that all cleared up and started thinking about when everything started getting serious, this is the day we came up with. It’s also a handy day to remember since it’s my brother’s birthday.
So happy 1 year to us!
Boyfriend is up to something today. He tried to get me to go to Solo with him to eat at O Solo Mio, the restaurant where we first hung out alone. That trip happened quite by accident, and we actually haven’t eaten there since. I told him I couldn’t, since I have about a 25 page write-up I have to finish by Wednesday for my online class. It wasn’t until after I turned him down that I realized the significance of today. He’s still up to something though.
Usually after church on Sunday, he hangs out at my house all day. Today, he dropped me off at home and left right away, claiming that he needed to wash his underwear (he has this fear of sending them to the laundry lady with the rest of his clothes, because he claims they just throw his underwear in with everybody else’s and he could get diseases. So he washes them by hand at home. This from the man who wears his socks four days in a row). I pointed out to him that he just washed all his underwear. I was at his house yesterday and saw the whole rack of them hanging out on his front porch to dry in the sun. His response was something to the effect of, “Yeah, well… I have other underwear too. So I gotta go wash them.”
So I guess I’ll find out later what he’s been up to today!
Sooo… I happen to know that boyfriend called my dad on Saturday morning (Friday night for my dad) to ask permission to ask me to marry him.
Since boyfriend related the whole conversation to me himself, it’s not much of a secret. Boyfriend isn’t too good at keeping his own secrets. He’ll carry anybody else’s to the grave, but when he’s excited about something, he just can’t keep it in.
Apparently, boyfriend is fuzzy on whether or not he got my dad’s blessing, because after boyfriend asked him for permission, my dad - as my dad tends to do - talked a lot and didn’t really get to the point. Boyfriend says he went on and on about how he had hoped boyfriend would come home with me earlier this year so they could meet, but since that didn’t happen, he hopes we get a chance to come home again before we actually get married (which is not going to happen either). So my dad was talking about our wedding, but never actually told boyfriend, “YES, YOU CAN MARRY MY DAUGHTER”. That would be too complicated…
Boyfriend woke up with a bad cold yesterday, and he had to leave to drive some people to Surabaya early this morning. So last night I made him soup for dinner, and we made two batches of granola (one with chocolate chips for him and one without for me). He burnt his, so I told him I would give him mine. He said that he could just eat his anyways, black and crunchy and all. I wasn’t having it. I don’t normally put my foot down with him too much - he’s not usually very demanding or obstinate. But I did make him take my granola so that he’d have something to eat in the car. He finally agreed to. But he made me promise I wouldn’t throw out the burnt so that he can eat it when he gets back on Sunday. Waste not, want not. He and my gramma would get along famously.
I also gave him some pills to take with him. I gave him some Ibuprofin in case he got a headache or stiff from driving so long. I also gave him some vitamins to take. I just didn’t let him see that the vitamins are One A Day Women. It won’t kill him to take girl vitamins just this once.
My dad and I are very close because we are very similar. One thing we have in common is that we procrastinate a lot. In fact, we have this one very special tradition - the two of us begin our Christmas shopping together mid-afternoon on Christmas Eve. Every year. We try to hit Wal-Mart first because it closes early, then we drive 30 minutes south to the closest mall and spend the rest of the day there buying gifts we only hope will please our family and friends. Basically, we both suck at gift giving and it really stresses us out. So instead of being like my mom who sale shops (sales shops?) year-round and stockpiles gifts in her closet, we think, “Why have a year full of stressful gift shopping? We can totally cram it ALL into 5 hours in a blizzard!” Then we come home, and I wrap everything for the both of us.
Since living overseas, much to my chagrin, I’ve been forced to start Christmas shopping early. My first year was a disaster of mild proportions. I pushed Christmas shopping up all the way to early December - a BIG step for me. But my family got their Christmas package in March. My second year here, I skipped Christmas altogether. I mean, I’ve never really been much of a fan. I just went to Bali for a few days and hung out at the beach. My third year here, I was feeling guilty about not sending anything my second year here, and anyways, I’d already bought my family some gifts when I went to visit Korea for 2 weeks during the summer. So I mailed them those at the beginning of November. They got their gifts in mid-December. Much better.
Now I’m at the four year mark. I had a nice week-long break from work this week, and I put it high on my priorities list to do Christmas shopping. Besides just shopping for my family, I also wanted to ship boxes to two friends stateside who have done a lot of really special things for me to support me over the past three years. Again, another pretty big step. First of all, I’m shopping in OCTOBER! And not just for my immediate family. What am I turning in to?!
I had some other friends who wanted to shop, so we rented a car and boyfriend drove us to Jogja, a city 2.5 hours south of where we live. I think I got all my shopping done for everyone in one fell swoop. A success, if I do say so myself. The only hitch in my plans was boyfriend and his style of “Christmas shopping”. He felt compelled to send gifts to my family as well. At first, he drug me over to a beauty products display and made me smell about 398437 different soaps and pick one that my mom would like. Then he found tea. He knows that my dad likes tea.
Him: Black tea. I’ll get your dad some black tea. Grab a bag.
Me: I don’t think he drinks black tea…
Him: Green tea?
Me: I think he likes fruit tea better. I’ve never seen him drink green tea either.
Him: Kopi jahe?
Me: He hates ginger. You could just get him some normal Indonesian tea from a warung somewhere. I know he likes that stuff.
Him: Teh jahe?
Me: Uhmm… He still hates ginger.
Him: Then what should I get?
Me: I just told you.
Him: What?
Me: THIS! Get him this! *pointing to some random kind of tea in a decorative package*
Him: OK. *throws one in the bag*
Then he started following me around. Every time I picked something up off the shelf, he would start to hover. “Are you buying that?” If I said no, he would look disappointed and back off. If I said yes, he would ask, “Who for?” And when I told him, he would grab an identical item off the shelf, throw in the bag, and say, “OK. This is from me. What’s next?” and walk off, leaving me standing in the aisle, still holding said item. After the first 45 minutes of shopping, we had something in the bag for every member of my family except my brother. BUT NONE OF IT WAS FROM ME. Essentially, I’d been shopping for almost an hour, but I had bought nothing. I was nearing my exasperation limit.
When we first went into that store, I had asked boyfriend to keep his eyes open for nunchucks. I had bought some for brother the year before in Korea, and he thought they were pretty epic. But he had used them so roughly, he broke them. Story of his life… He broke just about all the toys in our house when we were little. My sister and I always had to hide anything that was dear to us. Anyways, I felt bad that the ones I bought him broke, so I really wanted to get him some new ones. And now that he’s all grown up, he’s turned into one of those men who are hard to buy for. That was the one thing I knew would make him happy. So right before we were about to leave, I found nunchucks. ALL STEEL ONES! Perfect. Of course, boyfriend took them from me, put them in the bag, then went and got in the checkout line. He took all the things out of the bag that were from him, including, of course, the nunchucks and the cashier started to ring things up.
I almost lost it. In the checkout line. In Mirota Batik.
Me: Please don’t buy those. Please.
Him: They’re from me.
Me: It’s really important for me to give those to brother. That’s the one and only things I’ve been planning on giving him for the past THREE MONTHS.
Him: Get him a T-shirt.
Me: YOU get him a t-shirt! Those are from me, and you knew I was planning on buying those for him, and it’s really not fair for you to take them away from me.
Him: But I don’t know what else to get him.
Me: ME NEITHER! And I might actually start to cry if you don’t put those back in the bag.
Him: You will not.
Me: PLEASE.DO.NOT.PAY.FOR.THOSE.
Him: *turns around and takes one look at my face* OK.
He put them back in the bag, and he ended up buying my brother a really nice T-shirt that I picked out.
I explained to him later why it was really important for me to give the nunchucks to brother, and why that was special to me, and I thanked him for letting me buy them. But as much as I love my boyfriend and the fact that he was really trying hard to do something nice for my family, there is a fairly large chance that I will never go Christmas shopping with him again. Like, ever.
I have had no time or energy to write anything lately. Life is good though. I think I’m in my fourth or fifth week straight of being healthy, which is my longest streak since my 2 months of no sickness at all in America this summer. I think it’s because of my health that I’m so busy lately because I have SO MUCH energy! I haven’t felt this good in a year and a half probably. Just in the first 2 months of being back in Indonesia in August, I had the flu twice, a mild case of bronchitis-type-something that hung on for forever, and an infection in my gums which led to a 5 day fever. Boyfriend is extra patient and caring when I’m sick, and he always takes good care of me. But I’d rather be healthy than waited-on.
I’ve been having boyfriend watch some of my favorite classic movies this year. We’ve watched every single Indiana Jones, a James Bond (with Sean Connery), and a few other childhood favorites. Tonight, we made it through the first half of Swiss Family Robinson before we were both falling asleep. Not because the movie is boring. Because it’s basically awesome. But this weekend, the school I work/live at is hosting a three day soccer tournament for all the international schools on Java and Bali. So we were both out in the hot sun from 8 AM - 5 PM. I was working in the first aid tent almost all day, so I am quite confused about how sunburnt I ended up being. But even boyfriend is quite red! So I guess if my dark-skinned man can stand in the shade and get red, I definitely can too.
Anyways, as we watched the movie earlier, we were quite shocked to find that the pirates, in this, a favorite childhood movie of mine, speak Indonesian!! In the movie, the family is trying to get to New Guinea when they are shipwrecked and have to live on a deserted island. So I looked up where the movie was filmed, thinking it was possibly an island of Indonesia - but it was filmed on Tobago! So strange. But when the pirates are chasing the boys, they yell things like, “DI MANA KAMU?! AYO! KE SINI, KE SINI!”
Childhood subliminal messages from God about my future life?? I think so.
I’ve been dormsitting for the past week. It’s an indefinite gig, but not altogether bad. I’m taking care of 5 kids ranging in age from 10 - 17. But this massive, massive dorm has 2 dogs, 8 computers, wireless internet, 3 TVs, satellite TV (American channels!), a Wii, an X-Box, Rock Band and Guitar Hero, an amazing library, a massive DVD collection, three full time cooks, a foosball table, ping-pong, and a pool table! Boyfriend hasn’t been shy about coming to visit me here, so for the first time ever, we’ve played pool! And played more… and more… and more. The good news is that we suck equally. He beat me every time at first, but I’ve won the last 4 or so games. Also, I gotta say that my boyfriend is just shy of amazing at ping-pong. I played with him once. That probably won’t happen again for awhile.
Next, to get him hooked on Settlers of Catan, which they also have here.
About Armpits Become Moustaches
