so, am staying until end of june, it's almost official, and i'm even getting some sort of salary which is nice. will be enough to pay for my trip afterwards... so everything is good from that point of view.
then there's oxford. soas is fucking about with this form they need to fill out and send me back so that i can apply for scholarship. but i don't care, i'm so happy i'm going. oxford, can you believe it? one of the best universities in the world... i feel so lucky. i've spent my days downloading maps and photos and trying to find out what college they could put me into - i'm hoping it'll be wolfson since the head of the development studies department is there and it's all postgrad, which means some peace and quiet to study... and it is nice, modern buildings but on the lake with these amazing sceneries. mmmh. i can't wait. six months and i'll be there.
in other news, i got sick and tired of being the lazy slob i am and realised that if i don't take control of my body now i never will, i need to be healthy and well, i seriously need to lose weight cause i've put on 4 kgs. so yesterday i went running with aron; in the end i mostly walked, for about 30 minutes (and nicolo' joined me half way through) and got home wet with sweat and very happy and energetic... so today i did some exercises on aron's mat and then went walking ('happy' walking, as in quite quick) with philippa for an hour. i'm also trying to be careful with what i eat - low fat milk, as little rice/bread as possible and trying to eat more proteins. hopefully i'll get some results... in any case i feel happy - there's this weird sense of satisfaction in having all of your muscles ache.
and to reward myself, i'm going to get some clothes made every now and again - last sunday i went crazy, went to market, bought $50 worth of fabric (which is a lot, i can assure you) and then went to the tailor... so this sunday i'll have three new skirts (two made with cotton sarongs and one made with a silk one), four pairs of trousers, five shirts (two silk and three sarong) and three bags! and in the end i only spent about $100, which really isn't a lot considering how many clothes i'm getting. i can't wait. there's nothing like clothes to make a girl happy. ;)
my mum might come visit me in may when i'll have to leave indonesia to renew my visa - but i can't decide where we should go. she doesn't want to go to cambodia (she went there with my dad last year) or malaysia (nothing so interesting to see from a cultural point of view)... laos is a bit complicated but i'm trying to work out a way to go. we could spend two days in bangkok and then 4 or 5 in laos... but i have the passport issue to deal with - in the sense that i also need to get my visa renewed and that takes a couple of days!!! so annoying. i'll work out something.
could go watch a movie now... in my nice little room which now looks like a hotel room because i've moved everything. i'm too girly, seriously. i can't believe i get excited about things like that...