#1038 - This Week's Recap

ENGLISH

Germany on Wednesday

So, actually I went to Germany last Wednesday, huahaha It was only a one-day trip though where I did not spend the night there. I left Delft early in the morning (I caught the 5.46 AM train from Delft Zuid station) and I arrived back at home at around 6.20 PM. Ah, I went to Düsseldorf this time. This city is not that far from the border with Netherlands (Germany is a much bigger country than Holland) so in total it took me like only about 3 hours to get there.

Well, I will leave the more detail story about this trip to Düsseldorf for later though (so I will have more material to write down here, muahaha ).

Exercising under the rain

Even though my body was dead tired after that trip to Düsseldorf, I still decided to go to the tennis lesson on Wednesday evening at 8. Yeah, I guess passion beat tiredness, . As I mentioned last week, this course on Wednesday is held on one of the outdoor courts. If last week I said the weather was already bad enough with all the hard wind and coldness, well, it turned out to be a premature statement. This Wednesday, it was (quite) windy, quite cold (of course), and: RAINING!!  It was not a hard rain after all so it was still safe to play under the rain (the court did not become that slippery). But still, it was quite a unique experience for me, hahaha I was completely wet afterward. Anyway, the annoying thing was that it was not raining before the practice session started, it was raining constantly during, and it stopped raining after it finished!

As expected, I could not play my best during that practice session because of the exhaustion. But I did learn something very useful to increase the accuracy of my forehand hit. This paid off very soon as the very next day, I played the best tennis I had played thus far . The trainer looked quite surprised and praised me for that, muahaha . And of course I was very pleased with that.

Exhaustion

But still, I do understand that pushing my body to the limit too often is not a good thing. Thursday morning, my body was still quite sore and weak after the intense previous day. Even, when I was showering, my nose bled a little, huahaha . But I am already fine now, I am already fit just like they way I usually am .

New Seasons of TV Reality Shows

Anyway, I am also very excited this week because the new seasons of two reality shows that I have been following were premiered. Last Sunday, The Amazing Race season 20 (TAR 20) and The Apprentice season 12 (The Celebrity Apprentice 5 (TCA 5)) started airing. The first episode of TAR 20 was okay-ish. The best moment was the race to get the final spot in the top 10, where Misa and Maiya missed Phil and the check-in mat who was literally within their sight, hence allowing Joey and Danny to overtake them and causing them to get eliminated, hmm. What a shame. As I said here, I don’t really like the celebrity concept of The Apprentice. Having said written that, it is still quite entertaining after all. Three of the candidates I have already known prior to the show: George Takei from Star Trek, Clay Aiken of American Idol, and Dayana Mendoza, the Miss Universe 2008.

Talking of American Idol, I haven’t really followed this show that much these past two seasons, huahaha . A friend of mine told me this morning that apparently this week they already aired the top 24 show. Hmm, I guess I will take a look on it tonight, and we will see, haha

A sneak peek of my trip to Düsseldorf last Wednesday.

BAHASA INDONESIA

Jerman di hari Rabu

Jadi, sebenarnya aku pergi ke Jerman loh Rabu kemarin, huahaha . Perjalanannya hanyalah perjalanan sehari saja sih dimana aku nggak menginap disana gitu. Aku berangkat dari Delft di pagi hari (aku naik kereta jam 5.46 pagi dari Stasiun Delft Zuid) dan tiba kembali di apartemenku jam 6.20 sore. Ah, aku pergi ke Düsseldorf deh kali ini. Kota ini letaknya nggak terlalu jauh dari perbatasan dengan Belanda sih (Jerman kan jauh lebih besar daripada Belanda gitu ya) jadi ya untuk kesananya hanya memakan waktu sekitar 3 jam deh.

Aku akan menulis lebih detail tentang perjalanan ke Düsseldorf ini nanti ya (biar makin banyak deh bahan posting saya, muahaha ).

Olahraga di tengah hujan

Walau badanku rasanya capek dan pegal banget setelah seharian jalan ke Düsseldorf, aku memutuskan untuk tetap ikutan kelas les tenis Rabu malamnya jam 8 loh. Ya, kayaknya memang passion mengalahkan kepegalan badan ya, . Seperti yang kubilang minggu lalu, kelas di hari Rabu ini diadakan di salah satu lapangan outdoor. Kalau minggu lalu aku bilang bahwa cuacanya buruk untuk bermain dimana anginnya kencang banget dan suhunya agak dingin, yah, sepertinya aku terlalu terburu-buru deh membuat pernyataan ini. Rabu ini, anginnya (lumayan) kencang, suhunya dingin juga (tentu saja), ditambah lagi: HUJAN dong!  Hujannya nggak deras-deras amat sih jadinya ya masih aman-aman aja gitu bermain di tengah hujan (jadi lapangannya masih nggak licin). Tapi tetap lah ya, pengalaman yang unik deh kemarin itu. Beres latihan langsung deh basah kuyup. Anyway, tapinya yang menyebalkan adalah hujan tidak turun sebelum latihan dimulai, kemudian hujan turun terus-terusan sepanjang sesi latihan, dan begitu latihannya beres, hujannya berhenti dong!  

Seperti yang dijangka, aku nggak bermain dengan terlalu baik deh di sesi latihan itu karena kan sudah capek banget ya. Tapi aku memperbaiki satu teknik yang sangat berguna untuk meningkatkan akurasi pukulan forehand-ku. Ini terbayar sudah keesokan harinya, dimana aku memainkan permainan tenis terbaikku sejauh ini loh . Pelatihnya nampak cukup kaget juga dan memujiku karenanya, muahaha . Dan tentu saja aku bahagia karenanya.

Kecapekan

Tapi aku sadar sih kalau memaksakan diri itu juga nggak terlalu baik bagi tubuh. Kamis pagi, badanku rasanya masih pegal dan agak lemas gitu karena sehari sebelumnya kan kegiatanku cukup intens ya. Sampai-sampai, ketika mandi aku mimisan sedikit loh, huahaha . Tapi sekarang sudah nggak papa sih, sudah fit seperti sedia kala deh saya .

Musim Baru dari Reality Show di TV

Anyway, aku juga sangat bersemangat minggu ini karena musim terbaru dari dua reality shows di TV mulai ditayangkan loh. Hari Minggu yang lalu, The Amazing Race musim 20 (TAR 20) dan The Apprentice musim12 (The Celebrity Apprentice 5 (TCA 5)) dimulai. Episode pertama dari TAR 20 biasa-biasa saja sih. Bagian terbaiknya menurutku adalah balapan untuk mendapatkan posisi terakhir di 10 besarnya, dimana Misa dan Maiya nggak melihat Phil dan matras pitstop-nya padahal ia berada di depan mata mereka, sehingga Joey dan Danny jadi bisa menyalip mereka deh, dan mereka tereliminasi, hmm. Wah, sayang banget tuh. Seperti yang kutulis disini, aku nggak begitu suka konsep selebriti dari The Apprentice. Namun, walaupun begitu, toh acaranya masih cukup menghibur juga kok. Tiga dari kontestannya aku sudah kenal sih dari sebelum musim ini dimulai: George Takei-nya Star Trek, Clay Aiken-nya American Idol, dan Dayana Mendoza, sang Miss Universe 2008.

Ngomongin American Idol, aku nggak terlalu mengikutinya deh dua musim belakangan ini, huahaha . Pagi tadi, seorang temanku memberi-tahuku bahwa minggu ini ternyata sudah episode 24 besar-nya gitu. Hmm, mungkin malam nanti aku akan nonton ah, dan we will see deh, haha