13th of September was my 22nd birthday. I didn’t see anything special about it, until Mayu told me, “This would be your last birthday in Australia!” Oh, damn… that made me feel so sad. But my day passed by with many unexpected things. Jenny told me 2 days ago that she wanted me to be home for dinner on my bday. She said, “I know this is not a surprise anymore. But I don’t want to risk it. We’re going to have dinner together. I’ll cook you dinner.” So, on that day, I went home just before six, not expecting anything except dinner with my housemates, Jenny and Mayu. They were busy cooking and didn’t allow me to help them. Then at about 7pm, Mayu asked me to stay in the room, because she wanted to prepare the food on the table and make them “pretty”. Hehehe. After long arguments, I finally listened to her and stayed in my bedroom. She also told me to CHANGE my clothes! (I was wearing pajamas that time). I was like, what?? “You see, I’m all dressed up. You should change now. Coz we’re going to take photos. So change your clothes and put on your headscarf now.” I was a bit reluctant to change my clothes. There would only be 3 of us! Who’s gonna see me anyway? But in the end, I followed her instructions.

“Amalia, come out!” Mayu said.

When I came out of my room… oh my God! There were Mark, Sean, and Shrikesh!! It was a surprise!!! I didn’t know that it’s gonna be like that! Hahaha. I was sooooo happy to see all of them there. Mark is the SWEETEST guy I’ve known. He’s just adorable. I knew him from AIESEC and I remember that when I first saw him, he wore a PDI Perjuangan red t-shirt!! Hahaha. He said that he went to Indonesia during the election and apparently he got a free t-shirt during the campaign. He also told me how he calls his girlfriend using different names of veggies everyday, e.g. broccoli, spring onion, etc. Soooooo sweet!! Sean is my Singaporean friend whom I met 3 years ago at IES (foundation year college). He’s a GREAT guy who is very dedicated to his family. I’ve never known any guy (yet) who is as family-dedicated as Sean. He comes to our house very often, coz he’s very close to Jenny. He also taught me how to play some of the card games, e.g. Big Two and Poker. Shrikesh is also a friend I met at IES. He was my classmate and apparently we’re always fighting. He’s a great cook; he brought a home-made Indian Daal on that day — soooo delicious. Our friend Will also came a bit late coz he got a class until 8pm. Will is a very nice guy and a deep-thinker. One thing I remember about him is when I bumped into him on the bus on my way to Indoroopilly shopping mall. When we arrived in the mall, he insisted to accompany me to a nearby bus stop (coz I had to hop on to another bus). I told him that he didn’t have to do that, coz the bus stop is very near and I can walk by myself (it was not even at night!!! it was in the afternoon). He replied, “It’s alright, Amalia. I’ll walk you there.” Ooooh, he’s such a gentleman!! He’s so considerate to girls. In Indonesia, guys don’t normally do that to girls. I mean, they’d do that to their girlfriends, but not to “normal” friends. It’s so rare to find a guy like him in Indo .

We finally had dinner. It was really gooood! Jenny cooked chicken balls, Mayu prepared tortilla fillings, Shrikesh brought a delicious home-made Indian Daal, Mark brought a tasty cheese pie, and Sean brought fried rice. The foods were so diverse hehe. I ate quite a lot. I was full, but then I still wanted to eat more . After dinner, I thought we’re going to play cards straight away. Instead, there was a birthday cake!!! Whoaa. It wasn’t really a surprise coz Sean accidentally mention it, “Jenny, are we going to wash these plates or use them for cakes?” LOL. The most surprising thing for me was a nicely wrapped gift!! Dinner, cake, and friends were MORE than enough for me. I got a new wallet from them . I don’t know how to repay their kindness. This is toooo much! Thanks so much guys!!!

Finally after a long wait, we played the card games! We had a so called “card night” about a week ago where we invited Sean, Will, and Mark to play cards in our house — so I’m already familiar with the games and tricks hehehe. We first played poker. Sean brought the poker chips, but we never involve money or anything like that when we played poker. You know what?? Mark and I got the most chips! Hehehe. We also play the famous “Chinese poker” big two. I looove this game, though I won few times only. We played until (new record) 3 am! It was crazy. Well, the good thing was that I had sahur right away (Friday was the first day of Ramadhan).

In conclusion, I had soooooo much fun. I think this would be the best night this year and one of the best moments of my life! Thanks so much guys. You mean a lot to me.

*Thanks so much for all birthday wishes that I received through text messages, phone calls, Friendster, Facebook, and YM!

In this picture (L-R): Mark, Will, Jenny, me, Sean, Shrikesh, Mayu