Stuart finds me crazy. Well, it’s not the first time, but this is the first time I realize that what we usually have in Indonesia are considered crazy.

Here they are:

1. Pisang goreng (banana fritter).
2. Pisang goreng with chocolate sauce, condensed milk, and grated cheese. Or pisang goreng with melted brown sugar and icing sugar. Or pisang goreng with sambal (Manado style).
3. Bread or toast with strawberry jam, poached egg, and cheese. (Or is it just me? Anyone else fancy that?)
4. French fries with McDonald’s ice cream (I don’t do that, but many of my friends are insane enough to combine something deep fried and hot with extremely soft, cold, and sweet taste)
5. We have ice tea and hot tea. We can order teh tawar (means tea without sugar or bitter tea) or teh manis (with sugar). We don’t have tea with milk. Only Thai and Indian people do. And some Taiwanese invent bubble tea, which I love but am sure that British will find it disgusting….
6. Pizza with egg in it. Noone does that, only Indonesians do. And noone serves pizza with noodles as topping.
7. The fact that Indonesians, or Asians in general, can eat anything at anytime. Stuart was horrified to see me eating sticky toffee pudding for breakfast, as well as was confused when I told him I usually went for McDonald’s with Rocky after clubs were closed at 3.00 AM in the morning, or went for chicken porridge with Dinar at 4.00 AM in Menteng.

And I think Scottish people are crazy, because:

1. They eat french fries (or chippies) with salt and vinegar. VINEGAR!!! I mean Dutch are crazy enough by having chips with mayonnaise instead of normal ketchup (tomato sauce), but the combination taste of vinegar with chip is truly strange.
2. They invent a deep-fried mars bar. It’s delicious but I wonder how the man came up with the idea of toss a chocolate bar to a pan and fry it? Must be an incident.
3. They order Chinese takeaway (normal ones, like fried rice, stir-fry, noodles, etc) with chips as a side dish. Chinese don’t eat french fries until McDonald’s arrive in China!
4. Pickled egg. Yuck!
5. They have tea, period. When I said “hot tea, please”, they look confuse because noone serves cold (or iced) tea here. And the tea will come with milk and sugar, whether you ask it or not.
6. \Deep fried pizza (click on the link for more info). Seriously, Scottish has a thing with everything that is fried. No, not just fried, it’s gotta be deep fried.
7. Shopping malls are closed at 6.30 PM or even earlier. Thursday is ‘late-night shopping’ time, which means the shops will close at 8.00 PM. Asians are much more diligent, every shopping malls are closed around 10.00 PM, or sometimes, when we were having coffee at Coffee Club Plaza Senayan, at 11.00 PM, where the waiters and staffs are already lining up, waiting for us to detach ourselves from the chairs and head to the exit door.
8. No ladies nite! Compares to Jakarta: Tuesdays at Bugil’s, Wednesdays at Dragonfly, Thursdays at Aphrodite.

I‘m still gathering some more evidence. So this is to be continued…..

Note: I must say here that I am forced to write something good about Scottish weather. Stuart and GG are deeply concerned that I have sent the incorrect message across the nation that the sun forget to shine in Scotland and the weather is entirely, continuously dreadful.

But to me, the virgin of weather-changing-climate, the amateur of four-season-in-one-day temperature, Scottish weather is still confusing. It’s not just because it is awfully cold during summer, but because it could change just in seconds. Last Wednesday I put a grey cashmere dress which reaches my knees on, have a pair of black thighs and ankle boots, because when I looked outside the window, I strongly believe that it was cold and windy. It took 10 minutes walking for me to to reach the town, and of course, the joke was on me! Suddenly the sun decided to finish hiding and to show itself in all glory, and the town was filled with people walking down in Union Street only wearing tank tops and mini skirts. I felt like a complete weirdo.

Last Friday Stuart took me to Carnoustie to spend a mini-break there. That Friday the weather was particularly good, hitting 25 degree in our digital clock by the window, so we were so excited to feel the burn sensation in our skin (which normally I avoided in Indonesia), and Stuart kept trying to convince me that this was the summer should be in Scotland, normally. Since the humidity in Scotland is particularly low, we weren’t sweating, something that considerably good compares to Indonesia, because at least our perfumes will last longer.

Unless you’re a golf junkie, Carnoustie has nothing interesting except the beach. The town is occupied by 16,000 people (which means, probably less than Taman Rasuna Apartment complex residence), and everything is so close by, even to my standard. But determined to feel the real summer, I put my orange halter-neck dress on, my 7cm-heels open toe sandals, and (just in case) I have my cardigan ready. “Do you want to walk on the sand?” Stuart asked. Feeling like a romantic heroine in drama movies, I nodded quickly, but regretted it the next second because I was wearing high heels! By now it’s too late to cancel the idea, so with a deep sigh I started walking on the soft sandy beach and sinking my spike heels deeply. When turned back, along the beach I could see paw prints of dogs who looked so happy playing with water, bare feet prints, sandals prints, and of course, my spike heels. I could hear my shoes were crying of this cruelty.

When Stuart commented how nice the weather today, I nodded but inwardly praised myself because I had my cardigan which was wrapped around my back, protected me from the strong ocean wind which blew so strong my hair turned frenzy. He then asked me if I dare to sink my toes into the water. “Are you crazy?”North Sea !” I said. “It’s Just in case you don’t realize it. North Sea is linked up to Arctic Ocean, which ends up at Arctic Pole, so I could safely assume that it’s really, really cold. Therefor despite the sun is shining and the birds are singing, I will say no, thank you.

We stopped by at Stonehaven during our trip back to Aberdeen. Another small town with Dunnottar Castle as one of the main attractions. By the time we got there, the sun really shone and the town was buzzing with people who couldn’t believe their luck that they were blessed with such a beautiful day. I even felt hot, the first time since I got to Scotland! So when I saw an ice cream shop, I treated myself with two scoops of ice creams (which surprisingly, were melted quickly - that shows how hot the weather was!), and when we headed down to the beach and Stuart asked if I dare to sink my toes in the water, I said, “Ha, why not!” So there | was, bare feet, both ankles were in the water of North Sea (I must remind you again the water is linked to Arctic Ocean!), bravely put a smile on to camera. Of course, there were 20 minutes passed of persuading, touching the water with the tip of toes, yelling “I can’t, I can’t, it’s bloody too cold!”, assurance that the toes will be fine and they will not come of my body, and frostbite wouldn’t happen, before this picture was taken. The fact that there were so many toddlers playing with water with their cute tiny swimsuits and building sand castles with only their tiny shorts didn’t minimize my triumph.

Honestly the weather was so fine that day I began to think that I might just survive here. Of course it all vanished when we reached Aberdeen and it was raining and cold, again.

That actually makes me think that probably the profession of pawang hujan (rain doctor) is desperately needed here! We desperately need a good summer, and the rain doctor can easily send the gloomy weather somewhere else.

Anyone interested?

Tips: read this while listening to Ciara’s 1,2 Step song.
Let me see ya
1, 2 step
I love it when ya
1, 2 step
Everybody
1, 2 step
We about to get it on

People have had warned me that UK weather is terrible, but I’ve only come here during autumn and it was usually cold and cloudy, so I thought, what can be more awful than that? I’ve had a bonus when the first time we landed in London three years ago and it was so bright, warm and clear I was only wearing a tanktop next to my pregnant friend. And my experience of autumn in these past 3 years wasn’t so bad, ultimately I’ve survived by wearing 3 layers, my winter coat (bought in Australia, so it’s not thick), and knee-length boots.

So when I arrived in Aberdeen in early July, I thought, it’s summer, it’s supposed to be warm (hopefully hot), and I can wear my Bali attire (you know, backless, low neckline, very short pants, and jeweled sandals).

Well, so far I’ve been here for a month, and never in my life I’ve worn the wrong outfit anywhere, but here. Most of the time I chose an outfit, it’s always wrong I ended up looking for something hot (my fiance, a cup of tea, radiator, shopping mall, or kitchen, anything that generates heat!).

One day the sun was shining, the digital clock showed that outside temperature was 25 degrees, and my fiance kept assuring me that it’s hot, so I put a tank top (here they call it a vest, just like they call it tea instead of dinner, I know, confusing!) with a sheer jewelled top, and we went to Carnoustie to have a peek on Golf Championship Tournament. And yeah, the temperature was 25 indeed, but the wind blew from the ocean that brought a chill to my very skin! I felt cold! It wouldn’t be if I was being sensible and wore something with sleeves, not pretending I was such a fashionista and wore something cute but made me grind my teeth all the time.

It got worse when we went to Fraserburgh to meet the photographer. Convinced that it was hot and shiny, at least in Aberdeen, I pull a tight red polo shirt with an A-line skirt off, feeling that the summer was coming and this was the right outfit to embrace it. Little did I know that although Fraserburgh is only 30 minutes away from Aberdeen, it was 100 degree colder and 100 times more windy than Aberdeen! I ended up feeling wearing the wrong outfit at the wrong place that time, only that it was proven true, when a big truck passing by when I was just outside the car and to my horror, blew my skirt right up, in a manner of Marilyn Monroe’s famous picture but without the smile and spirit!! Never ever I felt so embarrassed in my life like that. Even to walk from the carpark to the photographer’s house, I had to keep my hands down on both side of my thighs otherwise I would flash myself to the entire world, again….

Yesterday I must go out for shopping, and since it’s been warm for the past few days, I bravely wore my long tube dress with my jeweled sandals and a cape, the same dress I wore on Dinar’s birthday party in Jakarta last June. Just in case, I still had my leather jacket and an umbrella in my huge bag, but of course since the sun was shining, I put my sunglasses on. But after walking along Union Street for 10 minutes, and got out of the Post Office, the sky suddenly went grey and it started to rain. Refused to be called crazy, I took my sunglasses off and open my umbrella up. Although it took only 3 minutes walk from the Post Office to the Waterstone bookshop I must have my umbrella on, otherwise I would have a VPL (visible pantyline) because my tubedress is cotton and can reveal my sin…. I spent only 5 minutes in the bookstore, and before getting out, I opened my umbrella up and got out, ready to embrace the cold win and the rain. But wait, the rain had stopped and people walked passed me and looked at me like I was a lunatic, wandering around the town with umbrella on. Sheepishly, I immediately shoved it back to my handbag, only to realize that now it’s colder than 20 minutes ago, so I must make another stop and took my jacket out of the bag and put it on.

That was the steps I kept repeating yesterday. Umbrella on, umbrella off, jacket on, jacket off, sunglasses on, sunglasses off. Too often to do that, I heard myself singing Ciara’s 1,2 Step
Let me see ya
1, 2 step (sunglasses & umbrella)
I love it when ya
1, 2 step (jacket & sunglasses)
Everybody
1, 2 step (umbrella & jacket)
We about to get it on

The weather is so bloody confusing! Oh how I miss Indonesian weather, where we could just put everything on without too much preparation and go out, without thinking whether it’s gonna be raining or not, whether we need sunglasses or not….

My handbag was getting heavier each day. Alongside my mobile phone, YSL compact powder and L’Oreal Glamshine lipstick, my handbag is now filled with a wallet, a coin purse (I must have a separate one because UK coins are worthy here, not like in Indonesia where you keep 500 rupiahs coin for preman/pak ogah on the roundabout), an Ipod (I need that to keep me company while walking down the street) with blue tooth headset and its transmitter (stolen from my fiance’s possession), an umbrella, a notebook+pen, a jacket, a wipe tissue box, a namecard holder, and a book….

And I thought living in Aberdeen is simpler…..

PS: Today is 19degree Celcius according to Yahoo! UK Weather Forecast, while according to our digital clock it’s been 16 degree since this morning. And this is what people call summer!