salt of the earth

need to spit it out

2012-01-28T23:30:00.000+07:00

that awkward moment

when you found out

your boyfriend gave you the same souvenir from his vacation as

the ones he gave to his female friends

while you were thinking the gift was really special

(i'm not angry, though.. it's just awkward and i want to laugh at myself)

beachy

2012-01-27T15:18:00.001+07:00

it's probably my most favorite place in jogja, called sadranan beach. lying on the line of southern beach of java island, this quite hidden beach offers you the breathtaking view. this beach has everything you want from a beach, except proper shower rooms, hahaha..

you'll see clear blue water, white sand, reefs, and coral cliff (well, and the hot sunny perfect weather if god permits). the sand is not soft, it's as big as sesame seeds. the wave is big but a wide bunch of coral not too far from the shoreline (i guess around 25meters away) blocks up the wave so that the water on the shore is quite steady. and since this beach is located far away from the main beach, baron beach, not so many people know about this beach. sometimes when i and my friends go there, we'll have the beach for ourselves.

it takes around 2.5 hours to get there from the center of jogja city, but it will be paid off well soon as you get there. above is my boyfriend's fave pic of the beach when we went there in march 2009.

marriage

2012-01-26T23:03:00.000+07:00

yesterday i posted this on my twitter

lately the thought has been bothering my mind. i've been raised in the middle of society with norms. and some of them talking about the idea of marriage. people said marriage is sacred; you need to possess certain preconditions to be eligible to get married; it's a huge responsibility; and so on.

but i think it's becoming.....errr....more complicated than it should be. what's the main point of a marriage: the unity of 2 individuals in love. so, why is it actually needed? as long as these 2 grown-up individuals have the commitment to be together, i don't think that marriage is essential anymore. if now we're talking about the risk, some said relationship based on commitment only is risky because one of the parties can just leave just like when a dating couple breaks up, so can they in a marriage. marriage doesn't always guarantee that the couple will stay together. there's a divorce. now let's see the advantage. in this case (the divorce), marriage is legally beneficial for couple with kids since with the marital status, law will arrange the child's rights. but it's for the kids. it has nothing to do with the couple. beneficial of course for one of the parties (let's say) who wish for the divisions of assets or possessions since they married a bloody filthy rich (but dumb) person.

furthermore, in this society, marriage is not that simple. a marriage needs to be done with huge ceremony where you'll be displayed and shakehand with hundreds of guests that probably 70% of them you barely know. this is because marriage is not only the unity of 2 individuals, but also the unity of 2 families, which makes it much bigger than that. i'm not against this idea but if it leads to your extended invites strangers to your wedding or intervenes the marriage life (which happens often), well i surely am. the big ceremony also costs a fortune. as a young wedded couple, the money is much better to be invested. why can't i just go to whatever the place called to sign a legal document stated i am married and say my vow?

well enough said, to me what is more essential are the togetherness and the bond. marriage is for the legal paperworks. my partner said marriage is the best options among the worsts. i'm writing this not that i fully oppose the idea of marriage, don't get me wrong, i'm even looking forward to having mine soon. just for the sake of the legality to live together under a roof with my partner :)

artemy(s)

2012-01-25T18:24:00.000+07:00

a fiend on twitter once said, if you've ever lived in jogja, you'll feel ripped off whenever you eat outside of this city. and somehow i find it's true. well at least for me who once was a dweller of the lovely city. again, still about my last visit to jogja. i and my friends went to have some italian gelato on malioboro street, to be exact it's in front of ibis hotel. the place is called artemy. to me the taste is okay considering the price. Rp 10.000 for one scoop, and Rp 17.500 for two. you can choose the gelato to be placed in a cup or cone with the same price. too bad i chose the cup because afterwards i saw the cone was more appealing. the taste varies from sour fruity flavor such as berry and kiwi (sorbet?) and the sweet flavor such as chocolate and caramel. besides gelato, they also serve the topping and cheese stick.

above is my handsome friend, dedek. happy, dek?

ribsss

2012-01-24T14:37:00.000+07:00

i and my boyfriend are often disappointed everytime we go out to eat. because in jakarta sometimes the price doesn't really reflect the taste. this time i decided to eat in 'sop konro karebosi' (which in english will be ribs soup). masheru had this when he went to makassar, south sulawesi, where this food is originated. karebosi itself is the name of a field in makassar where the owner of this restaurant first sold this food. meanwhile konro is the local language for ribs.

thankfully, it has one branch in kelapa gading which is quite near from my workplace so i was excited to try this konro. well to be really honest, we paid around Rp 100.000 for one portion grilled ribs, one portion ribs soup, 3 plates of rice, and 2 glasses of sweet ice tea and they're worth every cent!

the ribs was so big yet tender. if you order the grilled one, you'll also get the broth just like the one in green bowl in the picture. the grilled ribs is different from other grilled ribs because it's served with peanut sauce, just like when you eat indonesian satay. however, the peanut sauce tastes really delicious, not too thick but not too sloppy, not too sweet as well. as for the soup, the broth is really light and tastes better if you put a little bit of chilli in it. it's highly recommended!!

here's the address:
Jl. Bulevar Kelapa Gading Blok TA2/38 , Kelapa Gading - Jakarta Utara

move out

2012-01-24T12:30:00.000+07:00

tolol

2012-01-23T08:15:00.000+07:00

got a text message yesterday from erika, my colleague in previous company:

"father! yesterday a guy pretended to slap paulita's ass when she wasn't looking and then i stood in his face gave him the middle finger and called him a tolol! thanks for the bahasa! it made us feel great!"

she gave me this caramel popcorn which she made by herself on the last day we worked together. what a sweetheart!

roasted chicken

2012-01-22T21:57:00.000+07:00

this is a review of a recommended place to visit in jogja. so the place is called 'pasta gio'. it's specialties are pasta and roasted chicken. located in a small garage, pasta gio serves european food with reasonable price (a bit pricy actually for me as a proletarian common college student back then). since the food style is european, so don't expect some strong spicy taste in the food. a bit plain, but still nice. in my last visit there, i had this quarter roasted chicken served with spinach and mashed potato (costs Rp 40.000). the gravy was good and the chicken was huge. and usually i don't fancy mashed potato but this time, i was able to take it.

for the pasta, they have various kinds of pasta. i will recommend their soleho spagetti and carbonara fettucine (costs Rp 25.000 if i'm not mistaken). the cream tastes really nice. and you should try their american chocolate cake for the dessert, you won't finish it by yourself, trust me you'll need back up :)

Here's their address and contact number.

Ngelempong Lor Blok 1 No. 4, Rt. 7, Rw. 22, Krikilan, mudal, Sariharjo, Ngaglik, Sleman, Yogyakarta, Indonesia 55281

081802740181

friendly jogja

2012-01-22T20:58:00.000+07:00

just got back from my 4-day trip to jogja. the point of my visit this time was actually to take off my braces. well, i also spent much time hanging out with my friends, there. i had lots of fun!!!

andrew picked me up eaaaaarly in the morning when i got off the bus and we directly hit lempuyangan market to have this for breakfast...

soto ayam which costed Rp 6.000 for one portion plus one satay

and apparently andrew planned to go to jakarta on the same day as me, so we decided to take bus together. so here's my travel mate, holding a delicious home-made baguette sandwich made by ella.

i was really satisfied that during this visit, i was able to eat everything i wanted: soto lempuyangan, bakso lombok uleg temanggung, soto kehutanan, phuket, pastagio, mie dog2 burjo.. and furthermore, met my friends.. so thanks to andrew, ella, dedek, heru, pipit, timur, and anggia for the company.. i love you guys!!

bye braces

2012-01-19T10:38:00.000+07:00

after 26months

my braces were taken off

my teeth feel weird, though

(writing this in Jogja, in Andrew's office with his computer on his desk)

my first job

2012-01-16T23:08:00.000+07:00

for these past 10 months, i've worked for wall street institute in la piazza branch as personal tutor. this is my first full time job. and then i finally resigned. a couple of days ago was my last working day and yesterday we had a quarterly meeting at penang bistro. in the quarter meeting. i was kind of glad to have my resignation date the same as the meeting since in that way i would be able to say my farewell to all of the la piazza team. furthermore, usually there will be a regular announcement about who will leave the company. i had expected that but what happened was beyond my expectation.

so after we had had dinner, noah (my manager) said that there will be a poem performance from the teachers as a form of appreciation for me and jessy since we have conducted bahasa lesson for them for the last two months. so i thought that it would be an ordinary poem in bahasa. apparently it was pantun!!! pepi helped them preparing it. you know what, it was dope..

i recorded their performance and i could catch what they said, but still i missed some words :( see what they got....

noah: jalan2 beli gorengan. beli gorengan di kelapa gading. selamat datang para undangan. dalam acara quarterly meeting. (noah is the most progressing student)
mike: nasi uduk masih anget. belinya di pinggir jalan. yang lagi duduk manis banget. boleh gak kita kenalan.
erika:ke pasar baru naik angkot. beli jeruk purut tak lupa juga kue. tiara kamu jangan cemberut. kalo cemberut ntar diculik wewe.
paulita: buah manggis buah mangga. belinya banyak makannya (unclear words). cukup lama mengenal tiara. orangnya ternyata oke juga loh.
tom: lama2 ke pasar ria. nyarinya baju nemunya kantin. buat jessy dan tiara. makasih buat pelajaran bahasanya ya cyiin.
daniel: jalan2 oh jalan2. beli gorengan hari ini akan beli di (unclear words). salah2 mohon dimaafkan.cukup sekian dan terimakasih. (tom is the least progressing student, hahaha)

see, it's amazing, right!!! i was so glad to see the performance. but then i cried since elis (the center director) said her farewell to me and gave me her personal present, and invited agitha to give me present from the team. i got this huge cute pink box complete with the ribbon (latter i found out that there were a card written by pepi, a pretty sweater, and a chic clutch inside). then i cried more loudly seeing jessy said her farewell to me with watery eyes plus mike also said his farewell to me and invited all the teachers to give me a group hug.

i felt so blessed to know each one of them. i felt so loved and welcomed. we shared laughter, sadness, happy times, craziness, food, and even deadlines. i felt that this job has changed me in some ways, helped me to improve as a person. wall street is such a cool workplace and a perfect stepping stone. what a lucky me.

deuter hunt

2012-01-16T16:50:00.000+07:00

mas heru kept bugging me to buy a new 'deuter' backpack. he's been crazy about this brand. and actually i think i need to have a new one since i'm getting bored of the one i'm having now. so i inherited my 'eiger' backpack to my brother and yesterday mas heru took me to a store to buy a new one. and yes, he paid for it, hahahaha. i was so fortunate that i found this nice functional daypack.

it turned out that this brand is really good. the bag even has that area that can reflect light. it has many functional pockets, the pad at the back is very convenient. and the cherry color is not too much. happy!!! and happy that i have him as my generous boyfriend *evillaugh

west sumatra, baby!

2012-01-16T15:50:00.000+07:00

oh, this silly young lady completely forgot to share her trip to padang!! what a shame..

i went to padang during christmas vacation. on that 3-day trip, i managed to visit some places in padang. actually i think i've explored almost 50% of the region on the second day. it could have been more actually but with the fact that i traveled with a 14-month old baby, it was quite satisfying to me. i was so happy since it's the first time i went to another island in indonesia.

pantai muaro padang: it's just like a common beach. but the wave was pretty big and i love that it had lots of food stalls providing seats with big umbrella along the shore line.
lembah anai: there were many wild monkeys around there. the weather was really nice and there was a small waterfall. it's a good place to take a rest when you drive all over the region.
istana pagaruyung: it's a big palace with the shape of rumah gadang (traditional house from west sumatra). it was really huge and breathtaking, especially because at that moment it was foggy. when i visited, it was under construction since last year it was burned down due to lightning strike.
lembah harau: this place is beyond my imagination. so you can see magnificent valley here with many many waterfalls on each side of the valley. i think, king king movie should have shot their scenes here.
payakumbuh: we just passed by this place but i told you, they've got the best sweet corn ever. we bought boiled sweet corn and perkedel jagung manis and the taste could really make me happy.
ngarai sianok: this canyon was unbelievably pretty. between the canyon, there was a small river running through. i wish i could walk on the riverside.
jam gadang bukittinggi: its a downtown which had a big clock as a symbol of the city. since it's a downtown, you'd see bunch of people selling stuff. this was the place i liked the least, just because i didn't really fancy the crowd.

apart form those visitations, what we did were just buying boxes of crisps for friends, visiting relatives, and of course eat. i mentioned in a post that i will feel this unusual happiness when i can eat food in it's origin. finally it happened again after that bakso uleng temanggung time. i finally ate sate padang in padang!!!

ohmygosh ohmygosh ohmygosh it was so delicious and cheap. the sauce was a bit darker than sate padang sold in jakarta. but one of my relatives said that the sauce color will be different in different region in west sumatra. and also they had different way of serving the sate compare to what we usually have in jakarta. so basically they put a full plate of sate and let us eat as many as possible and then they would count the leftover when it's about time to pay. and the unique thing was the way they count, they used local language with that unique accent. i could hardly hold my laughter.

a total hunk

2012-01-16T14:51:00.000+07:00

last week was mas heru's birthday. i found this uber cool card for him.

this is the picture of the inside part of the card.

on the front cover, with the picture of a girl watching a boy fixing a car toy, it's stated:

i wouldn't trust my chassis to anybody else

on the back cover, there's this sentence:

you've got all the tools, and you know how to use'em

*gosh, hallmark is genius*

jakarta city tour

2011-11-29T23:50:00.001+07:00

last weekend i spent one whole day to visit some places in jakarta with masheru. it was really fun since we literally walk around places.

National Monument (monas)

in a bright saturday morning we agreed to meet at monas transjakarta shelter. when we arrived, the queue of people wanting to go to the top of monas was already long. but with less that Rp. 10.000 finally we could reach the top. it was actually our second visit to monas but it was our first time to be at it's peak (not literally though). in the basement there were several chambers (or spots) showing the national symbol - big garuda (what's the english word for garuda? whatever) and the illustrations of past time struggle to gain independence. at the top, you can enjoy the city view. since monas was in the heart of the city and surrounded by many many magnificent hellish important buildings, you can see all of them with maps explaining which building was which. at the end of this visit, we rode a free looked-like-half-bus-half-train to get back to the main gate.

National Museum

from monas, we took a long way to get lunch. masheru said that there was a delicious mi ayam (noodles) stall behind indosat building, not very far from his office. so we did go there and found it. the place was really common and a bit dirty but the noodles was really good. and it was cheap. then off we went to national museum (popularly called museum gajah -elephant museum- by indonesian, it's due to an elephant statue standing in front of it. the statue was a present from chulalangkorn, king of thailand, when he visited batavia long long time ago). the entrance fee was cheap, only Rp. 5000. mostly you will see ancient statues from ancient kingdom in indonesia. but it also displayed indonesia's rich culture such as the textile, traditional houses, traditional outfit, the ritual ceremony, local beliefs, and so on.

Museum of Bank Mandiri

i didn't really fancy this place. it was because the smell wasn't very nice and i got the impression that they just put everything inside. they need to hire a capable curator i guess. however, the entrance fee was free, so whatever. this museum actually displayed the history of banking activity in indonesia since bank first emerged in this country during the netherlands' imperialism. but it lacked of explanations. people said pictures can tell a thousand words but pictures can't tell history. it displayed pictures of high officials from merged banks (several banks merged themselves into mandiri, this was the result from 1998 economic crisis), time-to-time machines to count money, save boxes, and so on. luckily we found an interesting spot to take picture.

Kota Tua

basically it's just an area which had many ancient buildings from the era when netherlands ruled batavia. when we went there, it was really crowded and the open area which was usually used by people to hang out was filled with stages. there was a performance at that time there. we didn't feel like staying there long and then we just walked to an ancient bridge nearby. actually we could rent a bicycle (with colorful and unique hats as the accessories) but we're not really sure about the route itself so we decided just to walk around. we had rujak there, the fruits was sooo nice and sweet. and there we were, on the bridge. and an ice cream became the perfect closing for our trip that evening.

happyyyy. i think he's my sanity guard in this shitty over-urbanized city.

odentectomy

2011-11-05T15:23:00.000+07:00

i just had my first surgery and stitches ever in my life

one of my wisdom teeth is down, yeah

(writing this in the car, from the hospital, under the influence of medication)

pre-show

2011-11-03T23:48:00.000+07:00

you said that you really liked this pic

the building is indeed unique

(courtesy masheru at taman ismail marzuki)

lock for love

2011-11-01T01:51:00.000+07:00

i'm about to write about one of the strangest places i've ever been to. it's namsan tower, in the heart of seoul, south korea. it's a tourism attraction with the tower itself as the main object. to get there, we had to half-hike the hill since it's on a mountainous area. there we could explore teddy bear museum which displayed korean history from time to time with teddy bears replacing people's figures.we could also see the scenery of seoul city and the glass window showed some capitals in the world and it's distance from seoul.

but what made this place so unique was a deck, rimmed with common wooden fence, at which many couples put, hanged, or threw locks full of love messages. i don't know since when they have thrown locks but there are soooo many locks that you might have the thought of stealing and selling them for money, haha.

koreans said that this place is well known for the couple to express their love to each other. they will put, hang, or throw the locks with their love messages and throw away the keys down the hill as the symbol of the wish to keep their love locked so that nothing would break it since the keys are gone. the bigger the lock, the bigger love they posses (you'll even find chain locks for bikes). this is the proof that couples in korea are a little bit too much when it comes to romance.

i heard the place now has been cleaned from those keys. too bad. though it's weird, but i think those locks have been namsan tower's trademark. luckily, in my last visit, i remembered to put my and masheru's name on the wooden fence. ridiculous i know, but hey i was just having fun.. there you go..

our first show

2011-10-30T23:56:00.000+07:00

last night i went to taman ismail marzuki with masheru to watch this..

it's like a musical show. the orchestra was played by sinten remen. oh my god, they were awesome. the vocalists sang beautifully (especially the lady, i really like her voice and green outfit). they played several songs with critical lyrics and fun music. the music arrangements was done by djaduk ferianto who was also one of the vocalists.

the story was about a bureaucrat (brilliantly played by susilo nugroho with his authentic comedy) who wanted to admit corrupting money. but the system didn't allow him to go with his confession. the story was opened with a scene of 3 police officers who later on charged a civilian for parking his bike. he actually parked it at the right place with P sign. but the policemen sneakily turned over the P sign into P-cross sign. there we could see something that happened so many times in this country. then the scene moved to the lawyer of the aforementioned bureaucrat (played by indro warkop who was bullied by the other actors). in this scene the critics was about how this corruption case was taken as gold mine by the lawyer. they also showed how the bureaucrat lived a happy life inside the prison since he got all the facilities such as couch, tv and stuff. and finally in the trial, the bureaucrat wasn't accused for doing corruption. instead he was accused to have an affair with a caddy (so much like the case of KPK official). this had made him upset and that was where the show ended.

the show was great. i laughed my ass off. aftershow we ate nasi goreng gila in frint of TIM. what's the flaw? we got last row seat in the tribune. and it was awful since there was no gap between your knees and the row on front of you. i'll remember not to take this row again if i happen to see a show there in the future.

and i was thinking to make this kind of date preserved :)

my authority

2011-10-24T23:58:00.000+07:00

sleep. study. daydream. dream. write. read. speak. listen. eat. swear. laugh. drink. cry. call. skype. browse. text. gossip. fart. roll. jump. sweat. shiver. hug. kiss. translate. save. work. munch. sip. snuggle. create. hibernate.

june 2011, last time i saw my room in jogja.

odor

2011-10-15T00:46:00.000+07:00

my hands and feet get wet easily. i guess it has nothing to do with my emotion. they can get sweaty anytime even when i had no feeling.

this has caused problems for me. if my hands are getting wet, i feel bad to the person i will have handshake with. if my feet are getting wet, they'll smell bad since i wear shoes like all the time at work.

i decided to get this one 2 days ago.. can't believe i was actually and consciously roll over a beauty shop and took this..

well, i invest a big hope in this thing to remove the odor. may it happen. amen.

not-as-bad-as-usual evening

2011-10-14T23:23:00.000+07:00

what made my evening? this..

i bought this afterwork and munched it along the way home. i bought it not on purpose. it was because of my colleague, marissa, who was craving for chips. then i felt like having it too, haha..

so far i think this chips is the best among other fast food restaurants. the big-cut and leftover skin made the taste bigger. for the medium size, it will only cost you Rp 13.000. i had the chips in KFC with exactly the same price but totally different satisfaction.

one of the best things about korea

2011-10-12T01:45:00.000+07:00

korea has this..

kimbab

people say it's korean sushi. it's made from white steamed rice stuffed with many things such as radish, crab meat, eggs, sausages, sometimes they put tuna, carrot, cucumber, and spinach. and then it's covered by 'kim' which is dried seaweed. there, in korea, they can have it anytime especially for light lunch. i preferred to have it as snack after my morning class when i was there, hahaha..

i kinda miss it so much during first months after i got back to indonesia. being desperate, i even managed to make kimbab by myself at home. i used kim i brought from korea.. here's the result..

ugly kimbab made by tiara but the taste was moderate

i finally ate kimbab in a korean restaurant in jogja, the name or the restaurant was 'silla', and the taste wasn't good. the rice was too dry. it didn't really reflect the price. the second time i had kimbab was in a cafe just across mal kelapa gading. it's called 'lime cafe'. that was really good. even i got korean plain soup appetizer, haha. the cafe was also nice. the concept was really korean. why i said so? because the cafe was really cute. painted with cute soft colors and decorated with cute things. it's a board game cafe. they provided so many (i mean it, like many) board games from monopoly to wii. and i guess the owner must be korean because they have many varieties of korean food in the menu and also they put hangeul (korean letters) decorations.

back to kimbab. everytime i think about it, i miss korea a little bit more.

mindfuck

2011-10-11T10:57:00.000+07:00

everytime i feel down, '

i always tell myself to be independent.

it's hard, it really is.

but whom we can count on if it's not ourselves?

salmon sushi

2011-10-11T00:44:00.000+07:00

last night i had dinner in sushi groove.. i ate some different kinds of sushi but my favorite will always be this..

salmon nigiri

i can never eat many slices. but you know, i feel so happy if i have one piece in my mouth. so i ate this kind of sushi in korea, and in two different sushi restaurants in jakarta, this kind is still my favorite.

i used to think that sushi is disgusting because it's raw. so i had never had it until i tried one in korea. it turned out to be a really good experience. i went to a sushi restaurant with my japanese friend. he told me many things about sushi and showed me how to enjoy sushi. and the raw fish felt really soft in my mouth, and fresh. it's also super nice to be explained about sushi by a japanese when you were eating.

for those who have never had sushi before, i think you had better not try this salmon nigiri. you should try the kind of sushi which have small piece of raw fish stuffed in the middle of them first, then you can have salmon nigiri. put tiny piece of wasabi between the rice and the salmon and there you go..

the pic is not salmon nigiri in sushi groove. i didn't take the picture there last night :(

saturday morning

2011-10-09T01:48:00.000+07:00

our latest picture. he gained weights, i lost some.

yet we still have the sanity to be together after 56 months have passed.

my life according to green day

2011-10-06T20:14:00.004+07:00

This is a report from my notes on facebook. it's like a quiz which i answered 2 years ago. green day is just awesome!!

Using only song names from ONE BAND or ARTIST, cleverly answer these questions. Pass it on to 15 people you like and include me. You can't use the band I used. Try not to repeat a song title. It's a lot harder than you think! Repost as "my life according to (artist or band name)"

1. Are you a female: extraordinary girl
2. Describe yourself: minority / best thing in town
3. How do you feel : desensitized
4. Describe where you currently live : boulevard of broken dreams
5. If you could go anywhere, where would you go: welcome to paradise
6. Your favorite form of transportation: on the wagon
7. Your best friend is: maria
8. You and your best friend are: poprocks and coke
9. What's the weather like: holiday
10. Favorite time of day: church on sunday
11. If your life was a TV show, what would it be called: i want to be on tv
12. What is life to you: good riddance (time of your life)
13. Your relationship: walking contradiction
14. Your fear: blood, sex, and booze
15. What is the best advice you have to give: warning
16. How I would like to die: give me novacaine
17. My soul's present condition: waiting
18. My Motto: nice guys finish last

good deal

2011-09-14T14:23:00.003+07:00

maybe i'm a bit late to find this out. so pepi, my colleague, introduced me to this website one day. this website offers discounts for various products such as foods, hotels, beauty treatment, gadget, etc. all we need to do is just to sign up to have an account there and we can buy the vouchers. the transactions can be made through transfer by atm or to the bank directly. after we pay, we reconfirm the payment and they will send us e-voucher that just needs to be printed. we can bring the vouchers and give it to the stall to get the discount. it's interesting, isn't it?

and the good news is, the discount is really really worth it. usually not less than 40%. 50% is the most seen one. and the products varies. so, after browsing the web, i found this offer. and it's gonna be my 1st time to try!!

50% discount to get this..

carl's jr.'s western bacon cheeseburger

makes me drooling already.

i bought 2 vouchers and will try it with masheru. happy!!! (and the restaurant is just several feet away from my workplace)

so in my view, this kind of business is beneficial for all the stakeholders. deal keren, the owner of this website, put the description of this company as a living social company. well i don't know exactly the meaning of the sentence but i guess it wants people to try new things, go to places, by rising people's appetite to explore the places with the discounts (though it will make people become more consumptive, lol). they can get discount easily but at the same time, it also becomes the media for companies to promote themselves and market their products. cool, rite?

you can go to dealkeren to find out this offer. i will be expired within several more hours, i guess.

crosswords

2011-09-06T00:30:00.000+07:00

masheru came to my house one day and said he got a little present for me. aaaand there you go..

i was so happy to get this book. it's a compilation of crosswords from one of famous newspapers in indonesia called 'kompas'. so this newspaper's crossword is well-known for its complexity but at the same time it also enlightens and broaden our knowledge because the crossword usually is really update to current issues. since many people like the crosswords, including me (i still vaguely remember how i and my boarding house mate had to quarrel to get this crossword occasionally on sunday mornings), they finally decided to compile them and make the book!

in this book, before the crosswords part, they share stories about history of crosswords, how kompas manages this section up till now, the crosswords' writers (or journalists, i'm not sure), how kompas chooses the winners, and so on.

this book has 80 crosswords, with the answer key at the back (thank god), and each crossword contains around 160 problems.

sooooo, buying this book is a long-term investment to survive if you feel as if your brain hated your life's routines and therefore was reluctant to function.

*btw i think they've published the sequel already..

beware, it might be you

2011-09-03T23:29:00.002+07:00

another attempt of mine to be a useful human being.. i read this after had had a date with masheru. it took about less than 30minutes to finish this book but the fun was really worth it.

what surprised me the most about this book was how exact the author could illustrate 100 things that might happen to you. i guess 90% of it might really really happen to me and at least 50% of it happened to me already, hahaha.. some pages in this book are full color so, you won't get bored seeing black and white comic.

and, among the 100 stories, my favorite was 'dicuekkin SPG'.. i don't know what's the proper translation in english, maybe 'neglected by sales promotion girl', hahaha.. it really happened to me though, soooo many times.. you know it's when you walked into a store, either to window shop or actually intend to buy something, the shop attendant ignores you just because you're wearing flip-flop or any other form of outfit which they define as proletarian or can-not-afford. i really hate it. but also sometimes i enjoy it since i can choose the stuff freely without being interrupted with questions or offers, haha.. but still, no matter how much money is there in one's pocket, ignoring a customer is very impolite. i understand now why they can't get rich.

back to the book, my last words: buy it so that you know that you're not alone.

temporary increased brainieness

2011-09-02T23:35:00.001+07:00

strolling over the mall, afterwork, late at night, destinationless, half-vertigo, and found this book..

this book contains explanations about questions, your most hilarious one, the weirdest, grossest, most interesting, hardly ever thought about one, or never even crossed in your mind. some of the answered questions are (and these are my fave ones):

how long is a light year?
can a cockroach really live for a week without its head?
can you sneeze with your eyes open?
what makes farts so smelly?
how do you survive falling over a waterfall?

see, the questions are stupid right? hahaha..

this book is very handy in size, has a very good flow in the explanations (so it's can be easily understood), has very attractive layout, and also is very interactive with some quizzes provided at the end of each explanation. highly recommended to read this on a bus to kill boredom during traffic jam.

at the back cover, you will see it's warning (which is my favorite sentence): increased braininess may only be temporary. genius one!

encyclopedia (?)

2011-09-01T21:34:00.001+07:00

lately been busy with this book..

Science Comic Survival: Mountain edition

It's an encyclopedia for kids in the form of comic. completely ridiculous since the illustration is very funny, light, yet informative. the story is about a family stranded on a mountain due to plane crash. therefore, they need to do everything to survive there. it's not a fully loaded-with-picture comic because after each chapter, you'll see a page of explanation on certain things. worth to buy but you might be confused with some (only some, trust me) of the sentences since originally it's a korean comic. korean is hard to be translated so, yeah you know.

definitely gonna complete the series, hahaha..

by the way, i and masheru plan to have a joint private bibliotheque. i guess it's gonna be full of unimportant books like the aforeattached (it's not an english word though, i created it by myself, haha)..

modellish

2011-08-31T13:15:00.005+07:00

i've written somewhere here that i love to have a fake photo session with kiki. this is another pic of our latest fake photo session. it was taken when we gathered together in jogja to attend kimow's wedding. i really like the colors in this pic.

nice shot by kiki.

nice earrings by mas wiwit.

nice camera. btw, it's masheru's brand new DSLR. we named it 'ken'.

bukit bintang

2011-06-29T21:05:00.003+07:00

last weekend, i went to jogja to attent kimow's wedding (omg still can't believe he's married). though it's a bit disappointing because we couldn't manage to go to the beach, at night we managed to go to a closer place. it's called bukit bintang (err 'starry hill' in english?). this place was located in wonosari, near gunung kidul. so we had dinner in a restaurant with this view!!!

courtesy: sidik heru prasongko

it's beautiful right?? mba nindy even said it's a perfect place to pop up the 'question', hahaha. so from this spot, you can see jogja's city lights. at that time, i went to a quite nice restaurant (not based on food judgement, but merely the seats and building) but along the line it also had several smaller restaurants in which you can have simple and cheap food like instant noodle and a glass of hot tea. if you visit jogja, you can try to visit this place and feel the slow pace of life while sipping a glass of hot tea with crystal sugar! and congrats, you're a human being!

heavy rail transit: jakarta's future?

2011-06-19T21:42:00.006+07:00

a couple days ago i went to jakarta fair 2011. it's a big annual event held to celebrate the city's anniversary. most jakarta citizen attend this fair every year. i vaguely remember the last time i attended this fair, it was when i was very very little. well that brought me to jakarta fair this year. there was i...

so apparently it was a bunch of exhibitions. one hell of companies gathered together in an artificial downtown. you could find electronic devices, cellphones, vehicles, bikes, food, even furniture (and mostly sales promotion girls)! people sold everything in there! but there was a hall, the first hall i visited, that caught my attention. i didn't remember what that hall was called but it exhibited the culture of some provinces in indonesia. and there was a booth with a mini train in it. that booth was about MRT in jakarta.

this is what i called dummy-train. (and err dummy-boyfriend?)

so this MRT project is Fauzi Bowo's (incumbent governor of jakarta) long term project in order to solve heavy traffic in jakarta. here are some hints about MRT (some of them are taken from the brochure i got there).

MRT stands for mass rapid transit, commuter to commute (ok i know it sounds weird) a huge amount of people in an efficient way. it can be in some forms such as bus (like transjakarta), light rail transit, or heavy rail transit. just want to make it clear, i'm gonna talk about this heavy rail transit.
jakarta desperately needs MRT because the congestion of vehicles is getting worse. the number of vehicles keeps increasing while the same thing doesn't happen to the road in the city. imagine, 1000 vehicles a day while the growth of the road is less than 1% . we know that traffic jam leads to many disadvantages. name it economic loss, fuel waste, time waste, and those problems may also cause other sub-problems.
what are the advantages of having MRT in jakarta? just think about the opposite of things mentioned above.

and yes, jakarta will have MRT in 2016 (first stage). the construction of stations and stuff will begin next year. this booth aimed to inform citizens about this project. it even had a mini dummy-train but big enough to be visited by around 10 people. perhaps it wanted to show people who have never seen MRT how it looked like. it had boards showing some particular parts of the MRT which imitate's other countries' MRT. it also had the (i don't know what it's called) interactive video showing brief description about this MRT project. other info?

this pilot project will be constructed from lebak bulus to bundaran HI (first stage). it has 15.2 length of rail, 13 stations, underground rail from bundaran senayan to bundaran HI, 30 mins of travel time, and target of around 400.000 passengers per day.
government needs 144 billion yen to fund this project. the money comes from JICA (Japan Int'l Cooperation Agency) with below 1% interest (the 120 billion has been given. hopefully it's not corrupted *fingerscrossed).
who runs it? ministry of transportation will be the executing agency while city government of DKI Jakarta will be the implementing agency and PT. MRT jakarta will be the sub-implementing agency. fyi, PT. MRT jakarta was established in 2008 and completely owned by city government of DKI Jakarta.

after had visited that booth, i knew that this project definitely will be real. and it's a good thing though. jakarta has been a place that suck for all this time with the traffic jam, flood, and everything. this project will absolutely be a breakthrough.

however, in my opinion, the route of this first stage MRT is (errr what's the word yah?) a bit useless? the rail will lie from lebak bulus to bundaran HI which already has transjakarta from blok m. it's a bit no use though, unless the government is going to replace transjakarta in that corridor with MRT. if in the reality the government will keep MRT and transjakarta in that route, that will just be a waste. perhaps transjakarta in that corridor is somehow considered to be insufficient compare to the number of passengers but still, i believe that it happens only at certain rush hours.

to me, such MRT project will be much more beneficial if it's constructed as feeder transportation to jakarta's hearts of business from so-called suburban areas such as tangerang, bekasi, bogor, etc. we could not deny the fact that there are soooo many people who live in those areas but work in jakarta. such proposed routes may facilitate those people and therefore live up the economic pace and stuff. besides, if there is MRT in the city, i still doubt that the citizens (could refer to rich ignorant less-educated people) will even ride this thingy because they dumbhead will still think that they aren't cool if they don't ride their own car. ok stop the cursing, regarding this matter, based on the little research i did, actually the government already has this thought but the route plan is still under research. well i just wonder if it could be prioritized. oh and about feeder transportation i mentioned before, i was thinking about the integration of this MRT and transjakarta. so it doesn't really have to be 'feeder' in literal.

i do hope that MRT will be more complementary rather than substitute.

if you'd like to find out more about this MRT project, you could just click this. increasing mobility, improving life quality (their tagline).

overseas gitfs

2011-06-06T22:05:00.003+07:00

on my birthday this year, i got presents from mai kimura in japan and heidi chung in taiwan. i was sooo happy. they are my bestfriends eversince we spent last spring together in korea. they were roomates and i visited their room as often as i was in my own room.

and about the gifts:

mai sent me her skirt which i fancy. i had tried to find a similar one before left korea but i failed. she also wrote a card for me and the unique thing was that she gave a brief explanation about nuclear radiation in japan. perhaps she thought that i wouldn't touch her package since it was sent from japan, hahahah. that thing never even crossed my mind!!!
heidi sent me cookies!!! so, her father works in a cookie company and often brings cookies home. the cookie that he brought was kinda rejected products ONLY because the shape was not perfect. but the taste is soooo delicious. and heidi brought big packages of cookies to korea since she likes it so much. we spent many nights in her room and ate the cookies until those packages were finally gone, hahaha. she also wrote a card for me. the card was so funny because on the cover there was a sentence: "you're the best thing that ever happened to me" and on her christmas card she sent to me last year, she wrote the very same sentence in it, hahahahah.

i love the gifts they gave me. why? because they're not just gifts, they bring memories. sweet and happy ones :)

if only i could

2011-05-29T21:36:00.002+07:00

i want to go back to the moment when we sat down on the beach, staring blankly at white sand and ocean wave and eating our sandwiches in silence. i assume there were 5 suns above us cos it was hellish hot but we were happy, we had no worries, we hit the wave and ran along the coastline, we kissed, we didn't really care about the day after. that was a decent life. the one i'm (or perhaps also you're) having now...not even close to decent.

best of the bestest friend

2011-05-25T21:48:00.003+07:00

her name is fatia. we've been bestfriends since high school. we have moon and earth different life but somehow we have the click. yesterday she came to my house and brought me birthday cake. it was bluberry cheese cake and oh-my-god-it's-too-delicious-to-be-true!

i looooove her!!!

commencement

2011-05-24T14:59:00.003+07:00

suddenly i feel like posting a picture of mine taken on my commencement. once i wanted to post it here but i was so busy with the whole moving-back-to-jakarta thingies until i finally got no private internet connection and just forgot it. there you go, it was on February 23, 2011.

that day was awesome and flawless. the make up was pretty (thanks to kiki for that), the hairdo was appropriate, the outfit was great, the heels were comfy, the event ran smoothly, my parents were incredibly supportive, the food were good, and other things were just great.

my boyfriend was not able to attend it though. however, back in the days, i thought that would be better coz he might just ruin it, hahaha.

ahhh the waiting was finally worth it.

nobody likes you when you're 23

2011-05-24T12:29:00.003+07:00

it's been..well..a while since the last time i blogged. kinda miss it.

well actually i've been dying to share my thought or just grumble about how shitty and awesome my days were because lots of things have happened (coz i suck at writing a diary. blog is waaaay more interesting) buttttt got no private internet connection so far. bitch!

i post this after reading a wallpost of my friend named sofia on facebook, here's her post:

"Tiara Kuncir Satu, gua adalah pembaca blog elu yang entah kenape belum diposting lagi sejak 21 Februari 2011. Posting terakhir dengan jumawa menampilkan gambar bakso uleg dari temanggung. And do you know that "salt of the earth" originally came from Jesus words in St. Matthews Gospel? It means 'a person or persons of great kindness, reliability or honesty'. You picked the right name for your blog, because that name describes who you are. Selamat hari jadi, neng! Makin menjadi 'garam' ya! :D"

i have no idea that someone literally reads my blog, ahahahahah. thx sof! i personally think that i need to write because this blog has been one of medias to soothe my unstable emotion, hahaha.

anyway, this is my birthday! i'm 23 now, and blink 182 said "nobody likes you when you're 23".

odd satisfaction

2011-02-21T22:52:00.004+07:00

bakso lombok uleg, which in my opinion is better not to be translated to bahasa.

besides, can you find the appropriate translation if any?

i hope it's not a kind of disease, but honestly i ALWAYS feel the odd satisfaction when i eat the food in their own origins. you know, for example when you're able to eat tahu sumedang in sumedang, sate padang in padang, gudeg jogja in jogja, or serabi solo in solo. the taste might be the same but you can't trick the feeling.

last weekend, i finally feel it!!! i ate bakso lombok uleg temanggung IN TEMANGGUNG!!! sooo happy. it's officially one of my favorite food now!! i and kiki went to temanggung to visit pipit's house to give her mom a birthday surprise.

it was a perfect weather, with a bowl of bakso lombok uleg temanggung, a glass of ice tea, lovely companies, and a nicely smiling city (fyi, temanggung has it's tagline which is "temanggung bersenyum" a.k.a smiling temanggung)

overknee

2011-02-16T20:21:00.004+07:00

i.love.overknee.socks

especially with mini skirt, just like in this pic

but i have zero guts to wear them in indonesia :(

thinking of tomyam

2011-02-15T23:04:00.005+07:00

most people have their special restaurant to dine in, so do i. this time i'd like to share my favorite spot to eat in jogja. it's a thailand restaurant called "phuket". i ate my first thai food ever in this restaurant and the first impression was so good that i keep coming back there. they provide various kinds of tomyam and i think as the most popular thai food, tomyam is their best trademark in the restaurant. the spicy and sour taste of it are just perfectly combined. ohmygod i am drooling now for just thinking of it.

to my best knowledge, they only open the restaurant in jogja. they have 3 branches which are located in hos cokroaminoto, somewhere near lempuyangan flyover, and northern part of ringroad near jakal. i personally prefer the one in hos cokroaminoto because the place is very cozy with it's open-air sytle. on the menu, of course you have to taste the tomyam. seafood is the best, i guess. since my boyfie also loves this place so much, we have our usual orders which are: seafood tomyam, black pepper beef, naan bread, and orange juice. other recommended menus are beef inside a coconut, bangkok fried chicken, grilled chicken, and thai coffee. about the price, it's quite average in my opinion. it is a bit expensive for daily meal, especially if you are a common middleclass student like me, haha. however, i assure you that your every rupiah is worth it. i usually spend around Rp. 60.000 to have dinner with my boyfie.

above is the picture of our dinner date at phuket with our usual menu. everytime, EVERYTIME, my boyfie visits me in jogja, we never, NEVER, miss the chance to have dinner at phuket.

i always said to him that if i'm pregnant (of course because of him) one day, the possibility of me (and of course our baby) craving for phuket is absolutely sooo big that he has to fly me to jogja to get that tomyam!!

you should know

2011-02-14T23:22:00.003+07:00

"my ratio and feeling are not ready for such sudden changes of what i have planned. kindly understand me."

laws of economic can't touch this place

2011-02-14T14:12:00.006+07:00

yesterday i and my friends (wulan, andrew, and heru) went to a place called "bakmi mbah mo". yes it sells bakmi a.k.a noodle. it's a very traditional food stall in bantul. i entitle it traditional because: (1) the location is in bantul, quite remote and hard-to-find because in the middle of local housing area, (2) it's actually not a stall, it is a house, a common indonesian proletarian house, (3) it sells jogja authentic traditional noodle.

though it's really traditional, many people love it. the place is really really famous. if you come there, you could see many luxurious cars parking in the upfront yard. and many people is voluntarily willing to wait for HOURS for the noodle to be served. i myself had to wait for 1.5 hour yesterday, yet many people were still coming.

you might wonder what the noodles look like? here is the pic. it tasted good. that's all i can say because i can't express the taste in english, my bad. i had bakmi nyemek and hot tea with crystal sugar. the tea became cold when my bakmi was ready, hahaha.

so, you might wonder why i put such title for this post. it's because no matter how much the demand is, the supply will always be the same. it's the opposite of the most famous law of economic where supply will increase if the demand is increasing, i guess.

they don't provide ice and rice (like the usual stalls do). they don't open a branch (which i take as the representation of one of javanese traditional values on the need to avoid greed). they cook the noodle ONE BY ONE no matter how many people are waiting. they don't use gas stove, instead they use a traditional charcoal stove.

i think they are pretty strict in assuring the quality control :) and it's a good thing, though.

so if you want to go out for a while from the hustle bustle of the city and push your patience to the maximum limit to feel the slow pace of life (which is in scarcity for most people), this place is worth to try!

prambanan temple

2011-02-13T00:59:00.005+07:00

i want to get married at this very place

it's called prambanan resto, located in prambanan temple area. you can have the magnificent scenery of prambanan temple from this restaurant and also the ambiance of outdoor dining because they offer the concept of garden restaurant. the picture above shows the view of prambanan temple from the restaurant. fyi, this temple has an unpleasing myth for love story actually. it is said that a couple who go to this temple will break up their relationship after. well, it doesn't matter. i still want to get married at this place anyway :)

the view is goddamn awesome, especially at night. effortlessly beautiful.

conquering comfort zone

2011-02-09T22:31:00.003+07:00

everyone might know what comfort zone is. yes, it's a behavioral state within which someone feels the feeling of comfortable, accustomed to, or familiar with. it could be the house you live in, the neighborhood you stay in, the school you go to, the food you always eat, or simply the radio frequency you tune on.

one of my comfort zones is: the people i hang out with.

to be honest, really honest, i'm not picky in making friends. they are ranging from the nationality, skin color, intelligence, belief, social status, sexual orientation, you name it.

but when i was in korea, i clearly found out that i might have some sort of phobia to caucasians. i'm sorry but i don't mean to be racist or what, i just realized that i met so many caucasians before but none of them i befriend with. i just feel not comfortable having a long chat with them. i don't know why, maybe due to different culture or way of thinking. so back then in korea, i was so happy to finally made friends with fellows from european countries.

so i took the challenge to beat the feeling of awkwardness when interacting with them by going on a 3-days-2-nights trip to seoul with helene (from germany) and enya (from france). it turned out to be an amazing trip! i really really enjoy it. one thing that made me feel weird was just when they speak english over and over again and i had to listen to it for 3 days non-stop. it was kinda tiring to hear them because they were so fluent, haha.

we had a blast! watched world cup match in seoul world cup stadium, shopped till drop, stayed in a cozy backpacker guesthouse, went to bars and club, attended art exhibition, visited museum, and had a nice walk on a riverside.

we are good friends now. and i'm really happy that finally i could prove that i am able to go out of my comfort zone and enjoy it without having any significant troubles. this experience taught me a lot!

we won! korea won!

helene was the one wearing black blazer while enya with grey shirt

lovely creature

2011-02-09T11:01:00.005+07:00

here is the picture of the creature i miss the most right now!!

her name is Davina Ayunanditya, 3 months old.

she is my niece. her only ability is crying.

last month i bought her a newborn size shirt. too bad, i should have bought her 1 size larger. but the shirt is cute and made of comfortable material, i bought it in kidz station. the brand is carter. they got a lot of shirt with funny sentence on it.

i wanna go to see and squeeze her now!!

happy 4th anniversary, dear!

2011-02-08T22:41:00.004+07:00

These are 48 reasons why I think you're cool:

You're smart.
You’re a vocalist of a band despite the fact that the band is a fiasco.
You do push-ups with me-sitting-on-your-back.
You don't ask me questions.
You kiss me well.
You smell good without perfume.
You still smell good when you're sweaty.
You don't wear glasses.
You walk me home though you know you will miss the bus.
Once you had that really nice pony.
You're sad if I don't eat properly.
You're a rational entity.
You countdown the hours before meeting me.
You're funny.
You live with no laptop until you're 25.
You sing for me.
You never complained on how I look and walk.
You speak very clearly.
You don't care what people think of you.
You always let me choose the place to dine in.
You know how to make me sure of myself.
You separate grape from it's seeds for me to eat.
You don't like shopping.
You don't shave when I told you to do so.
You're always right when you're wrong or wronged.
You're honest.
You do martial arts instead of football.
You never try to please me but somehow you always do.
You never mind giving me piggyback ride.
You protect me without being protective.
You comb my hair.
You're shameless.
You gave me breakfast as a birthday gift.
You're not cheezy.
You set the bed sheet neatly.
You eat my granny's cooking.
You tell me that I'm wrong if I am.
You always have a topic to share or discuss about.
You're loud.
You consider my suggestion on everything.
You're meticulous.
You're flexible.
You're just being you.
You're an outspoken Javanese.
You read a lot.
You simplify things.
You're not in mainstream.
You love me and I love you back.

resolution

2011-01-11T00:28:00.002+07:00

This post was written in new year’s eve.

Well, it’s been nearly a week since I arrived at my parent’s house. I take 2-week on leave from the office after my thesis defense exam. It’s for the sake of my sanity after struggling with my laptop and papers for 24/7 within these 5 months. In this 2-week on leave, I tried to be in touch with internet, computer, and papers as little as I can. I want my quality time, reading Pramoedya Ananta Toer’s epic tetralogy while snuggling under the blanket and sipping chocolate milk. Isn’t it a perfect life? And I’m also taking care of my newborn niece. She is super cute!

People usually make a resolution to welcome new year. So do I. Last year my 2010 resolution was simply to graduate. Thank God, I fulfilled it somehow last week. I am still thinking about my 2011 resolution. What should it be? I actually don’t agree when a person mentions absurd and rhetoric wish or resolution such as ‘to be a better person than last year’ or ‘to bring benefit for one’s surrounding’. Well, it’s not wrong anyway. But in my own opinion, a resolution needs to be something real and concrete. For me, I prefer to put a target so that I could feel the urge to achieve it. Without a target, we won’t feel the pace to do things in order to achieve it or even just to get closer to it.

I think my 2011 resolution will be getting a job as fast as I could in the beginning of the year and then getting a more settled job in the end of the year. I wish I could be a civil servant in the ministry of education or state secretariat; or be in management training program in a particular multinational corporation. Oh, I need to put one more resolution which is being able to put on make up properly J

Good luck for us all in fulfilling our 2011 resolutions. Happy new year, everyone!

random photoshoot

2010-12-16T23:00:00.005+07:00

for no reason, i enjoy random photoshoot sessions with my girlfriends. we will do makeup and dress up then just take pictures. a few days ago, kiki and pipit took my picture. without glasses, i usually look strange but this picture is quite cute i guess :). i posted it in facebook and never thought that so many people will give comments on that, lol.

so here's the pic. it was 2 days before my thesis defense exam. (such an unreasonable way to get the nervousness away). what would you entitle it? seductive saint? lol.

the thing is i'm coming to an end

2010-12-14T19:48:00.005+07:00

hello world!!

after months of indefinite hiatus, i'm ready to start blogging again!!

my hibernation due to writing-thesis-period ends today. i just had my thesis defense exam this afternoon and it means that i've done all the exams!!! all i need to do is just revising my thesis and then i will be having my graduation day in february!!! oh how i feel so relieved.

the thing is i'm being in an end now. an end of one chapter in my life. after this, another chapter awaits already. after this i have to think about the upcoming options available. still a bit confused though whether i want to pursue a scholarship for a master degree or should i just start looking for a job and get settled soon. the latter seems more inviting for me. well, i still have time to think about it while waiting for the graduation day.

this moment is quite remarkable for me. i finished writing my thesis during one of the worst moments in my life. i'm having my personal problem these days (it's still ongoing actually). besides, the surrounding condition was not really supportive to finish a thesis, i.e. mt. merapi eruptions several weeks ago, tons of workload at the office, problems with friends, etc. but then it feels really good to finally go through it all and get your thesis done. i still remember how i finished my 3rd, 4th, and 5th chapter while i was crying at the same time. i was sooo ugly that time, haha..

i will revise my thesis soon and then devote my spare time to do things i love and haven't done because of this thesis period. i want to read novels, learn french and korean again, and share stories again in this blog.

oh, btw here's my pic just before i entered the exam room!

"gosh, all the lecturers are coming already!"

singapore 2010

2010-08-02T20:59:00.004+07:00

ok, since august has come, perhaps i should better just stop the mourning period due to the failure in meeting my supervising professor. i and my forced-to-be-big heart are starting to accept the fact that november graduation is just delusional.

i randomly opened my photos album and found pictures of my trip to singapore, just a few weeks before my departure to korea. and i just remember that i haven't written about that trip yet. it was remarkably insane!!

so, the story began when the invitation letter came from Chungnam National University stating the things i should prepare for my departure to korea and that including presenting a certificate of H1N1 vaccination before entering university dormitory (korea was one of the countries that was badly hit by the endemic disease of swine flu). for your further info, they bold and underlined that particular sentence. after checking several hospitals and found that none of them provide such service, i became a bit panic. i tried to negotiate to CNU but they said that i had to live outside the dorm for a couple weeks if i don't bring a certificate upon my arrival. and they would not cover my living cost during my stay outside of the dorm.

after considering several options, i and gagah (the other awardee) decided to plan a trip to singapore because they sold the vaccination freely and rather cheaper (and we traveled at the same time). we were so fortunate because we found a very cheap direct flight from jogja to spore. there we went, singapore in mid january 2010.

after we arrived, we directly went to a small hospital and got the vaccination shortly for only 32 dollars. ow soo fast and easy, we didnt even feel numb, fever, or any other post-vaccination syndrome. we still got 2 more days to spend.

first day: arrival-vaccination-afternoon rest in gagah's cousin's house in bukit timah-then spent the whole evening on orchard road and meet andrew (one of my besties, he was an exchange student in Nat'l Uni of Spore) and ian (gagah's friend, in the same program with andrew). we just went back and forth along the orchard road until midnight. and the night ended with confusion in the bus when i and gagah didn't really remember where we should alight, lol.

second day: we met andrew who took us to esplanade in the morning. we were honestly not familiar with esplanade, so andrew was a bit disappointed seeing no enthusiastic faces, haha. anyway the day was great. we visited the famous merlion statue, saw a remarkable building of assembly court (if i wasn't mistaken), sneaked in the campus of National University of Singapore, shopped in queenstown, went to sentosa island to watch song of the sea, and ended the night with late dinner at KFC, haha (couldn't believe that we went far away to spore just to eat junk food).

me and andrew, what a lovely pic

third day: we didn't go anywhere because we had our flight around 10. so we headed to airport, right after breakfast. mba mia (gagah's cousin) was a really nice host that she even bought us chocolates to bring home.

now i'd like to give my comments on singapore. i was amazed by the cleanliness of the city. and how convenient the public transportations were. how the subway system was user friendly. how the life pace was really fast (i can still clearly remember how people rushed on the already-freakin-fast escalator in subway station). and how they could brilliantly managed the existing limited potential source to be interesting tourism attractions. oh and i think singapore is the heaven to shop and shopping tourism is just their best trademark. you will understand why if you happened to stumble on orchard road once.

very special thanks to mba mia, her husband, and her very beautiful daughter (cinta), who provided us a luxurious shelter and hospitality during our stay. andrew and ian for being superb free-of-charge tour guide. and gagah for the company, as always.

up till now i still couldn't believe that i did go to singapore only for a vaccination!! crapp.. but i don't regret it though, ahaha.

when shit happens

2010-07-18T20:38:00.008+07:00

fiuhhhhh, i better take a deep breath before i start to talk about this..

so, as many of you might have known, in my university, you need at least 144 credits in order to graduate and get bachelor degree. however, not only that (unfortunately), u also have to do a community service for 2 months in a remote areas, and last one is.....write a graduation paper/thesis (aka "skripsi" in indonesian). this is considered to be the hardest part because u dont really have the time limit to do that. u have to make your own target to finish it because it ain't like assignment which has to be done on due date otherwise ur mark will not be released by the lecturer.

here i am, trapped in the period of writing a graduation paper. i actually have done all the credits i need since i passed my 6th semester satisfactorily. but i was too lazy to finish it and i was enjoying my part time job too much, so i passed my 7th semester with nothing but a fix title of my graduation paper (and this laziness was also enormously caused by my disappointment - i wrote about that in my first posts in this blog i guess). i passed my 8th semester as an exchange student in Korea where i had such a beautiful artificial sinful life, hahaha. and now i'm about to share the point of this post...

after i got back to yogya, i struggled with my part time job (since my office held an international summer program) and my graduation thesis at the same time. finally i managed to finish the proposal and when i happily brought the draft to my department and looked for my supervising professor, i got a terrible news: HE JUST WENT TO ACEH THE PREVIOUS DAY.. and i also got another additional important yet much more terrible info than the first one: HE WILL BE BACK AROUND JULY 27 AND MIGHT BE DIFFICULT TO BE REACHED BY ANY MEANS OF COMMUNICATION BECAUSE HE WENT TO REMOTE AREAS. m***rf****r!!

if i want to graduate in november, I HAVE TO, in any way, get the approval on my proposal by the end of this month, at the latest. i tried to text him but he didnt reply, i emailed him but he didnt reply as well until saturdayyyy.. i was so happy to get his email asking me to send my proposal and give my phone number. but until today, i still havent got any answer regarding my proposal draft from him.

good god, pleaseeee send me the miracle so that i can have my graduation day in november..

here's the pic of my lovely BIO who's been very patient in accompanying me during those silent sleepy unproductive moments in the making of the proposal. bio looks tortured, haha.

bio on top of my super messy little table

my spring-2010-in-korea was easier with them around

2010-07-04T17:18:00.010+07:00

i started to write a wall photos series on my facebook 2 weeks before i left korea. it contains stories about people with whom i spent my days in korea. i wrote that as a little appreciation for them for making my 4-month korean life unforgettable, wonderful, dynamic, joyful, yet insane!! this post is the recap of the wall photos series, but i decide to put some additions here and there. here we go..

i'll start with..

the awardees of Chungnam National University - Global Scholarship Program

59 people from i supposed around 20 countries gathered in mid february 2010 to spend a semester in chungnam national university. a public university somewhere in daejeon, the 5th largest city in south korea. although i didn't know all of them so well, i found most of them are bright students with different interesting personalities. it was my privilege to be part of this program and given chance to meet all of them. here's the picture of us on our trip to independence hall, in our first week in korea. we almost burned the hotel down with the crazy korean drinking games, lol.

CNU-GSP fellows

next is Gagah Aji Prambudi, he is from (of course) indonesia.

i never thought he is THAT crazy, insane, silly, hilarious, funny, intersting, u name it.. if u asked me about my one of my most precious and important memories i have in korea, i will say "seeing gagah sings in karaoke".. i feel so blessed that i have him as my partner here coz he can boost my mood in any situation, ahahahah.. and he speaks javanese, it's good to feel a little bit of jogja in here.. this is our pic when we were on our flight to incheon int'l airport, he looked nicer before got poisoned by too much soju, ahahah..

me and lady gagah, haha

next is Heidi Chung, she is from taiwan.

she is my best b*atch here, ahahah.. a good friend, good listener, and good partner in experiencing many unbelievable things.. we have quite similar way of thinking, but i think she is more mature than me.. and i really love having chat with her after we go out together, discussing about things that happened and then laughing at ourselves.. i will miss it if i go back to indonesia.. and we have exactly the same opinion: we cant live without gagah after this program ends!! ahahahah..

me and heidi, before having a fine diner

next is Dave Gardner, he is from new zealand.

this is because yesterday i had a fun time with him cycling around city hall. at first, me-heidi-mai-amanda thought that "he's the man" when he successfully got bikes for all of us but it changed when he led us to cross an underpass which made us have to push the bike along the steep long stairs, ahahah.. anyhow, he's having such warm and unique personality.. and the most memorable thing about him is when he ran after a delivery man (when we had a picnic at the yard) because the man put some brochures randomly at the yard and made the yard dirty.. and what he did? took the brochures and gave them back to that man.. such a cool attitude!!

me and dave, after midnite picnic in front of library

next is Wen Hua, she is from china.

she is my roomie.. yesterday we ditched the class together and went to gungdong to have waffle and 팥빙수 instead, haha, dont blame us, if u know the reason, u'll understand why.. she never complained my messy bed+desk though hers are tidy.. she's been a nice roomie.. she helped me a lot in my korean lesson and is a perfect partner in doing online shopping, ahahah.. and she arranged everything on my birthday, booked the restaurant and stuffs, which is very lovely i think ;)

me and wen hua in o-world

next is Takuya Tokimasa, he is from japan.

yesterday he was so nice because eventhough he didn't really want to go out, but he still accompanied me to go out to have foods and drinks just to let me burst into some unhappy stories. we had much fun sharing times together in korea: odeng times, 팥빙수 times, lunch times, sunrise, movies and sushi times, or just walk and talk times. i'll miss the moment when i mock him everytime he has to pronounce words with 'th' like nothing, thirty, or thousand, ahahaha.. i admire him for his strong willingness in learning new things.. he is a fast learner, always has a small book with him to jot down new words he knows and tries to use new phrase or grammar he just learned.. and one more memorable story about him is that how he easily got drunk and lost in the game with numbers, ahahah..

me and toki, in a picnic at the lawn yard

next is Mai Kimura, she is from japan.

she is really a lovable person. i love to see her expression whenever she is shocked or confused, because she looks sooo funny (like what happened just a few minutes ago when we had chat in my room). in the early days i met her, i was amazed because she can pronounce R in my name in the perfect indonesian way. she is so polite too. i will definitely remember how she tries to open the dorm door for us (me, heidi, and wen hua) most of the time, ahahahah.. and i will feel her excitement when she tells me stories, she has that expressive tone.. i really2 wish the best for her next semester stay in korea!!

me and mai, we were so happy to see the cherry blossom that nite

next is Shayne Antony Holmes, he is from new zealand.

yesterday i pissed him off again coz i gave him the 'confused' look when he tried to tell me something (in his kiwi accent) in the class, he even threatened to throw me to the p** pool, haha.. yeah non-(english)native people, i recommend u to have much chat with him if u want to improve ur english listening ability, eheheh (no offense shayne, i will miss it for sure!!).. he is a really nice person, never mind to explain rule of the games to us slowly and more than once of course :P and i think he masters all korean drinking games, haha..

me and shayne in michelle's bday party

next Pattharasuda Yuri Buddhson, she is from thailand.

she was my first roomie in korea. first time i met her, i was amazed by her fluency in speaking korean. the most unforgettable memory with her was when i had to take care of her when she had terrible hangover in our program trip to seoul, i still cant forgive her for yelling at me and making the bathroom smelly, ahahaha.. however, whenever she's sober, i can guarantee that u'll find her as a friendly and open-minded person. i can talk about many things to her. and she's one of the reasons why i gain weight so much coz she often gives me cookies!!! but i love her for doing that anyway, ahaha..

me and yuri, we were in hanok homestay program from KTO

next is Yuka Ozaki, she is from japan.

yesterday nite she went to my room and tell me a super good news, she's going to indonesia!! she will join summer program held by my uni. i'm sooo happy that i will meet her again next month!! she is my breakfast partner, especially when i had my korean intensive class, she accompanied me having breakfast with that just-woke-up face at 8, ahahahah.. she even gave me surprise on my bday by recording bday wishes from our friends in the program and put it in a video. she is such a sweet friend. can't wait to meet her again!!

me and yuka at amanda's bday party

next is Liyen Huang, he is from taiwan.

(ok this isn't gonna be short) i think i spent most of my time here with him. this is because we took the same 200 hours korean intensive class plus one more class. he helped me a loooott in the class, i couldn't even imagine how could i survive having deskmate like me if i were him coz i asked him questions over and over again!! i even unconsciously used indonesian language to him many times in the class because i talked to him too often. i have to say that he is such an ideal type of a boyfriend, ahahah.. to be honest, i think he can be everygirl's sweetheart.. he is smart, caring, funny, polite, kind, neat, warm, organized, and many other things i can't mention one by one.. and he sings very well too.. one nite he sang for me and toki on our way back to dorm, it was such a lovely nite.. but the most unforgettable thing about him is still his patience in teaching me korean, answering my questions in the class, and helping me to catch the teacher's explanation up. in short, i really appreciate everything he did for me in our korean class.. it's been inspiring days with him, sharing stories from stupidity in daily life to heavier topic like political issues.. today's his birthday, i'd like to wish him the best of luck in the years ahead.. i wish to see him one day becoming a diplomat, hehe.. happy birthday, liyen!!!

me and liyen at amanda's bday party

next is Enya Vermuë, she is from france.

i just spent weekend with her and helene in seoul. i just found out many interesting things about her in the trip. we shared a really nice chat in the bus on the way to seoul and it was really good to know that she has such a thoughtful point of view. everytime i look at her, the only word crossing my mind is 'classy', hahaha.. yap she is soooo french (indeed, she is) i mean it will be easy to guess that she comes from france.. she even still looks classy eventhough she drops soo many things easily including her own a** and has a drunk face (just like in this pic), ahaha.. and it's better not to let her unite with gagah and heidi in any chance, esp. drinking times, they'll have the force to crash the restaurant.

me and enya at shayne's bday party

next is Helene Pawlitzki, she is from germany.

i had a great, fun, and safe (i don't know why that last word popped up in my mind) trip with her to seoul. and the trip proved my assumption about her all this time. she has that kind of initiator characteristic. and this, i believe, comes from the thing i always obsessed to (and she got it already in her age which i take as impressive): assertion. she knows what she wants and just go for it. i think that kind of personality will determine your own future!! and eventhough she's often mean to me, i have to convey my compliments this time about her, ahahah. she is a smart, straightforward, and dangerously persuasive girl, ahahah. i think i can easily believe what she said though she says craps to me..

me and helene having lunch at namdaemun

next is Koh Kudoh, he is from japan.

he is my partner in doing the final paper for the weird politic class, haha. i always see him as a sweet, warm, and sensitive person. we've been through many interesting conversations, usually along the way to or from the class. i remember one nite we had chat on facebook, he said he just went back from drinking and i was shocked because sometimes he talked a little bit in a harsh way to me, maybe he was a bit drunk that nite, ahahaha (coz he didnt remember about it the next day). ah ya, he has the very same camera like mine but his is green, which is my fave color!! i tried to convince him to exchange our camera but i failed until the last day, so sad, haha. Koh, thanks for the farewell card!!

me and koh in our last meeting for class of understanding of north korea

next is Micha Zimmermann, he is from germany.

if you ever heard me saying 'of course', that is the exact intonation of him and i can't get rid of it until now. eversince i spent mornings with him on the way to our intensive korean class, not only i got used to hear his unique intonations, but also enjoyed every sarcasm in his every sentence, haha, omg i miss that! one of the funniest moments was when he told me the 냉면 tragedy, it was super funny!! and i found out that he's kind of person who's full of determination, not give up easily. that was proven when we, together with anbang and toki, got lost in the behind-dormitory forest to reach the observatory one nite, ahaha..

me and micha in one snowy afternoon from the korean class

next is Amanda Wong Yoke Pui, she is from malaysia.

you should spend time with her if you want to know the definition of 'eat a lot', lol. seriously, i dropped my jaw off one nite seeing her eating (take it as compliment, though, coz i love seeing her enjoyed her meal). i enjoyed my time with her in our evening korean class, speaking melayu times, and esp. 라면 times, haha.. and the most unforgettable thing about her was that how she was damn mean in giving punishments in drinking games, everyone might agree that revenge on her was badly urgent. that's why it was so good to yell at her "lick it, amanda!!!"..

me and amanda in the closing ceremony of GSP

next is Michelle Undan, she is from malaysia.

i just realize that i only have 1 pic of me together with her after 4 months, hahaha, how come?? she is sooo funny. she could cheer people up in a minute. she sings and plays guitar so well too. she often meant to tell us funny stories but then it turned out that we couldn't laugh because we didn't get it, that's the moment when she would feel miserable, lol.. and i'll never forget the look in her face when she showed me a pic of her and (ehem..) a guy in her cellphone one afternoon, and annoyed me and heidi in the next 10 mins with the pic. wondering how's the thing going now?haha..

me and michelle in our last meeting for evening korean class

next is 胡安邦 Hu Anbang. everytime i went out with him and had a tired look in my face (which, i don't know why, happened quite often), he would kindly offer me to bring my bag. first time he did that, he regretted it afterwards and told me that the offer was for the sake of politeness and gentleness, he didn't expect me to accept the offer especially right away, hahaha.. he said that a girl should better reject that kind of offer for at least 3 times, for the sake of manner, before finally accept it, and that's the time i laughed so hard. however, he still kept bringing my bag the other days.. he is soo nice.. this is a pic of me with him, one of my fave pics ever in korea, so damn silly!!

me and an bang were stressed because of the class

next is Poon Jun Boon J, he is from singapore.

i actually really appreciate his eagerness in learning korean language. he is sooo passionate. but, sometimes he is sooo annoying because he will practice his korean to other people (read: strangers on the street) and keep repeating the words over and over again until ur ears burned. this happened when i told him how to say "where is the bathroom" in korean, haha. and i love to see his dance, so funny. until now, everytime i hear black eyed peas' song 'boom boom pow', i will clearly remember him dancing. oh, and i love to see him laugh as well, because his eyes will be gone, haha..

me and jun boon at the farewell party

next is my classmates in intensive korean class.

this is the most diverse and unique class i've ever been. 15 people from 9 countries: indonesia, taiwan, czech, afghanistan, china, usa, ghana, vietnam, japan. i'll always remember how we were so worried whenever we had exams, how happy we were when one of us brought snacks, how i had to use basic korean to talk to my chinese fellows because they can't speak english and i cant speak chinese, and how lovely they were when they gave me and liyen farewell gift at our last coffee gethering.

this is the picture of us when we had a field trip to 대청

last but not least is MY FREAKIN INDONESIAN FAMILY IN CHUNGNAM (Gagah Aji Prambudi,Angga Saftira, Edvan Anando Muslimy 에드반, Huda Bachtiar, and Arief Rullyanto).

oh how i miss our saturday invasions to edvan's studio, stupid dirty talks, mocking-edvan&huda-behind-their-back times, mocking-arief-right-under-his-nose times, alienating-gagah-due-to-his-arrogance times, worshiping-angga-for-his-money times, homeplus sessions, seoul trip, football matches, and of course cursing-in-indonesian times, haha!! gagah even created a name for us which is 왜국 사람 겡 (겡 my a**, haha)!! they are the ones who kept my sanity in korea by performing their insanities. you know, sometimes the hardest part of being abroad is that u can't always express yourselves in english which is not your native tongue. so you need people who can understand what you really want to say both in happy or f*cked up times and i was damn happy to have them in korea. i think we should reunite in indonesia one day!!

this is me and them when we set up a booth in CNU int'l food festival

i'm f*cking happy to know all of you, guys!!!

i wish to see you all again someday, somewhere..

what a flower can do?

2010-07-01T00:39:00.005+07:00

having a freakin-far-from-romantic boyfriend for almost 3.5 years seems to construct my mindset about romantic things. to be honest, sometimes i feel so jealous to other girls having boyfriend who gave them surprise on their anniversary or gave them chocolate or teddy bear just to apologize, or the most (many-people-would-describe-it-as) romantic thing, gave them a flower.

once i convey this thoughts to my boyfriend. i told him that i want a flower from him, but as i predicted before, he said no. it will take a really long time to explain his arguments about that here, so i better don't write that, hehe.. but, i dont know why, i never felt so upset about that. i was disappointed that time, but it wasn't enough to make me angry or cry or other stuffs that might happened to other girls when they experienced such thing.

there were times when i had thought that indeed, flower means nothing. it's useless. it's better to give your girlfriend/boyfriend other more useful things other than a flower. u can't wipe your tears with a flower when you're sad (like a handkerchief), u can't eat a flower when you're hungry (like a burger), you can't hug a flower when you can't hardly sleep (like a teddy bear), and you can't make yourself warm with a flower when you feel cold (like a jacket), and so on.

may 15, a japanese goodfriend of mine, showed me what a flower can do. he suddenly gave me a flower one nite after we had dinner with our friends in daejeon. after that he said to me that the reason why he gave me flower was because i'm kind and friendly and he likes to spend time with me. that was one of the best memories i had in korea. moreover, he said that it was his first time in giving a flower to a girl. i thanked him for that, haha.. and one thing for sure, from that moment on, everytime i see flowers, i will definitely remember him..

my face was glowing that nite, haha

and the answer is so simple, a flower can make you feel flattered!!!

a sweet welcoming party

2010-06-27T16:25:00.004+07:00

since my arrival in indonesia on june 19, this is the sweetest thing happened to me.

my crazy lovely friends threw a surprise welcoming party for me!!!

so, i got back to jogja on monday june 22 and was given tons of workload to do at OIA already. in the evening ella asked me to go for dinner and waited for me at my dorm. after i reached the dorm ella was already there and wanted to go upstairs to my room to put her stuffs. and when i opened my room, i didn't notice that they put foods, drinks, and cards written 'WELCOME HOME'.. what i noticed was a pile of plastic glass on my desk, ahahahaha.. and suddenly anggia, kiki, pipit, shiela, nindya, osha, sasa popped their heads from the opposite room!!!!

look at kiki's (girl in blue shirt) problematic face!! hahahah

and you know, they have a F*CKIN SHOCKING NEWS for me: KIKI MOVED TO THE OPPOSITE ROOM OF MINE!!! omg omg, it felt like there is no air to breathe when i heard that. i felt like drowning and swallowed by the holy mother earth.. i couldn't imagine what my life and days would be if kiki becomes my neighbor!! that must be really hard for me, hahahahahha..

after that, i cancelled my appointment with my dentist because i wanted to have dinner with them!!! soooo, we went to xtra hot, the restaurant i miss the most while i was in korea, hehe..

i had a perfect dinner with perfect grilled chicken, nasi uduk, ice tea, nice restaurant, crazy people, and laughter.. i went back home and slept over in pipit's room with anggia, had a late nite girl's chat..

xtra hot!!!

when i'm writing this, i suddenly remember the moment when those people also threw a farewell party for me before i left for korea. they cooked and we had a super delicious dinner.. oh how i feel so loved!!

such a lovely way to be welcomed back.. i love them!!!

my first performance

2010-06-27T14:35:00.003+07:00

i didn't write too much about my experience while i'm in daejeon, maybe because i went out of my room too often, ahahaha. now i kinda regret it and decide to share it one by one from now on, hehe..

luckily i write a simple daily record in a small book when i was in korea so that i can mention those important things and dates ;x

this time i want to recall the memory of my very first performance in dancing.. yes, i danced!!!

it was may 22, i and 10 other students from solbridge university and daejeon university performed saman dance in daejeon convention center in an international festival.

we only got the chance to practice for about 5 times in a week before the performance date. this is because it was so hard to match ev'one's busy schedule. it was unbelievable because i still had my evening class that time, so i had to go to my friend's dorm in woosong uni which took me around 45 mins to get there after my evening class and got back around 11 pm.

however, it was super fun.. i got the chance to know the other indonesian people better plus the chance to learn saman dance. it was not so difficult because we chose the easiest part of saman, not the complicated ones, ahahah..

we were so happy because that day, many indonesian fellows living in daejeon came and watched our performance..

thanks to angga, oca, mega, mima, versia, ian, ariek, ais, iril, mba yanti, and mba maggie for the exhausting hours and memorable performance!!

and one more funny thing, the nite before the performance day, we had a rehearsal and last practice and finished around 11 pm. oca told me and angga to go back and have some rest and what we eventually did??? went to gungdong having drinks and came back at 3am.. and performed at 12 in the same day, ahahahaha.. i just jotted down my sin confession to oca a few minutes ago through facebook, hihihi..

here is the video of our performance..

north korea refugee

2010-06-11T12:02:00.004+07:00

apart from the fact that i have a super duper boring politic class titled 'understanding of north korea', there was one meeting that i think was the best meeting ever this semester. it was when our professor invited a north korean refugee, she is also the wife of one of north korea diplomats for a country in europe. i took picture with her actually but unfortunately she didnt allow us to put any of her picture on the internet because it will be dangerous for her and her family life. She shared her story of life in a 3-hour seminar (so sorry i forgot the exact date, but as far as i remember, around middle of may).. and, to make it not as boring as my class, i'll share the stories from her with pointers.. it's not the whole things for sure because of the language boundary (she spoke in korean).. please enjoy..

north korea diplomats are not funded by the country. instead, they are told to feed the embassy themselves and moreover send some money for the country.
that's why many diplomats or their wifes have several side jobs such as selling foods or vegetables which is considered to be inappropriate for diplomats.
the education for people who wants to be diplomat takes 6 years.
if a diplomat sent abroad, one of their families (for example child) will be arrested as a guarantee that he/she will come back after completing diplomatic duty and of course do the duty satisfactorily.
when a diplomat comes back after completing the duty (especially from western countries), he/she will be interrogated for 2 years and stalked for 3 years to make sure that he/she is 'clean' . if no problem found, there's a big possibility that he/she will be sent back to continue the duty abroad. so, regeneration is somehow rare.
diplomats were chosen directly by kim jong il

ok, thats all..

in this occasion i really want to convey my heartfelt condolences to those freakin smart but unlucky people who were, are, and will be chosen as north korea diplomats..

me and the assertive me in this 22th year of me

2010-06-02T12:12:00.011+07:00

i actually have many stories to share coz i've been experiencing MANY THINGS this month. unfortunately i was busy doing my assignment for the weird "understanding north korea" class. but now i already finished it (err, not really finished it yet actually, i still have to arrange the citations and references, ahahaha).. so, i'll try to write about them all starting from today..

and i'll start to post about my birthday..

yeah people, i had my birthday here, in korea!! it was on may 24.. it's actually not a big thing but what makes me happy is that eventhough i'm miles away from home, i still can feel that i'm surrounded by such lovely people here.. i've never expected that i will have 3 lovely-warm-celebrations this year..

the early celebration, may 18, on the last day of korean intensive class.. i have the celebration together with several students having birthday in may.. had the cakes and cookies with some of my classmates.. the event was after the closing ceremony of our korean intensive class..

this is the pic taken in the early celebration

the D day celebration, may 24-25, (this was because me and my friends started to have dinner at 7 and go back at 3 am in the next day, ahahahh). i had dinner with my friends from the same program. after that we went to have drink. after that we went to karaoke. after that drink again until 3 am, hahahah.. it was soo fun and crazy. i had a perfect celebration with the cake, food, drink, karaoke, presents, and even a birthday hat.. but the most important thing was THE PEOPLE..

this was the pic taken in the D day celebration

and the other special thing came from one of my friends in the program named yuka ozaki from japan. she made a video for me recording birthday wishes from my friends in the program. it was sooo lovely, i wanted to cry but i couldn't because i was too happy at that time.. i couldn't thank her enough for the time she spent to make the video.. here's the sneak peak of the video..

and the other sweet thing came from my friends in jogja, they uploaded pictures in facebook saying happy birthday to me!!! i was soooo thrilled to see those faces i miss in the picture!!! they even succeeded to threaten my favorite junior to be in the pic, hahaha.. it was f*cking silly.. it's a privilege to be friends with all of you, guys.. i'm amazed by the love u showed me though we're far away, ahahahah.. i love u!! here's the pic..

oh how i miss them all

the late celebration, may 30. this was an accidental celebration. so on that day, mbak ai - one if indonesian students in kaist invite us (indonesian students in daejeon) to have lunch together in kaist because she brought rendang from indonesia.. so i went there and after having heaven lunch, we found out that mbak meggie and pak ony from solbridge school of business brought a cake for us with candles and lighter.. so to make the candles usefull, we pretended to celebrate a birthday and among us it was me and mbak ai who had birthday in may.. so they sang happy birthday for us.. it was a fun day, perfect lunch, and cool people..

this pic was taken in the late celebration

so that's the story about my birthday.. you may wonder why i put all the pics of me and the cakes.. that is because it's been a long time since i celebrate my birthday with a cake.. that's why i was soo delighted having those cakes, ehehehe.. i had a blast that day.. i woke up with a memorable laughing time with gagah, angga, and arief (fellow indonesians in chungnam nat'l uni) because they gave me a super silly presents that i better not describe what it is, ahahahah.. and read texts from my mom, dad, and brother.. and read the wishes on facebook.. and had a nice lunch+chat with heidi.. and ended the day happily..

however, still there is nothing perfect in this world.. my boyfie forgot my birthday and texted me 2 days after.. what a pity, i thought 3.5 years is long enough to make him remember it but i was wrong.. but i still take the day as perfect.. its a frame of gaining, not of losing..

and about my wishes.. i wish i can finish my graduation paper soon and take master degree next year.. and related to the title of this post, i'm obsessed to be an assertive person, i'm in the making now, i hope i will be, soon.. above all, i want to be happy and be free!!!

happiest girl is the prettiest

2010-05-22T18:23:00.004+07:00

i still got one more month left to enjoy korea..

i miss my mom, my family, my boyfriend, my closest friends back home..

but i will never let the feeling ruins my time here..

i'll make the most of it, every second of it!!

i'm happy with my life here, i can never thank enough..

so grateful, so blessed, so blissful..

as one of my bestfriends said, "happiest girl is the prettiest",

it describes me perfectly these days..

harmony in hanok

2010-05-15T07:21:00.004+07:00

Foreigners may know a little about Seoul, the capital of South Korea where you can find everything ranging from entertainment, tourist attractions and symbols representing modernity such as hectic yet sophisticated transportation to skyscrapers and shopping malls.

However, this city still offers something unique for foreigners who wish to escape from the city madness and learn about Korean culture at the same time in a traditional village full of traditional houses. I am talking about ``hanok,'' Korean traditional house.

Last weekend, I was given a chance by the Korean Tourism Organization to join the Jongno-gu Hanok Homestay Experience Team. It was a program offered to international students in Korea to feel the warmth and charm of hanok by staying there for one night.

There are three main Hanok Villages in Korea in Andong, Jeonju and Jong-no. This time 40 foreign students from various countries stayed at several hanok in Bukchon Hanok Village in Jong-no. Not only did the program provide stays at hanok, it also gave us the opportunity to visit several tourist attractions around the Jong-no area such as Gwanghwamun Art Hall, Buam-dong area and Tteok Museum, allowing us to experience cultural activities, such as learning a Korean mask dance, cooking Korean food, wearing ``hanbok" (traditional Korean clothes) and folk painting.

Hanok are traditional Korean houses that have their own philosophic values. They were built with special considerations to harmony with the surrounding nature. They are not only about setting up a structure, but about building a dwelling place that is nature-friendly, and not just about materials, but also positioning.

The house has to adjust to the land's height, the site's position in relation with surrounding mountains and water sources. Hanok have several characteristics that distinguish the house from other structures.

Hanok's deep eaves shield direct sunlight and can pull down the room temperature in the summer. The foundations block humidity from the floor underneath. Hanok owners used to carve designs into latticework or flower walls in a prayer to wish for blessings or to cast evil off. Hanok have a special traditional heating and cooling system called ``ondol" (under-floor heating system) and ``maru" (wooden floors).

The heat is distributed easily by the wooden floor covering the entire hall. This heating system is even adopted in modern houses. We don't need a bed to sleep on in a hanok. The ``bed'' is more likely a thick yet convenient blanket which makes it easier to feel the warmth of the floor. It makes our body fresh after a night sleeping on it.

Indeed, I felt fresh and recharged after sleeping at the warm hanok. When I came into the house, I was a little surprised because though it looked traditional, the rooms inside was really convenient and quite serene. I was warmly welcomed by the host whose own home was next to the hanok.

The hanok where I stayed was a big guesthouse with rooms that can accommodate 12 people. It was new and well-maintained with antique cabinets and furniture. The most important thing was the fact that the bathroom was really convenient. In the morning, the host prepared homemade Korean traditional food such as ``bulgogi" (beef barbecue) and "japchae" (chop suey). We were so fortunate to enjoy such hospitality.

This experience has widened my knowledge that hanok are another alternative accommodation for tourists who want to experience the Korean cultural atmosphere. By staying in a hanok, visitors can feel the harmony of the hanok and get the bonus of interacting with the Korean host family, which in my opinion is one of the best ways to learn a country's culture ― through its people.

for more pics of this program, click here

this is the fellows who stayed in the same hanok with me

(this article was published in The Korea Times on April 20, 2010)

39th month

2010-05-07T21:17:00.003+07:00

creating an international society is one of the most utopian yet insane wishes of english scholars.. i do really hope that both of us can make our 'international society' though we are often in such an anarchy situation considering that we are having our own and different interests. even sometimes there were inequalities..

all we probably need are common understanding and adjusment on shared values. those are things that will determine interactions between us..

all i can say now is that i'm glad we have the pragmatism to pursue the what so called as concept of good life, together..

at least until now, the 39th month we've been together. all that matter is the fact that i'm happy, u're happy, we're happy..

* this is supposed to be posted on May 8, but since I will not be able to have internet connection that day (having 1 day trip), i decided to post it now..

what is a club?

2010-05-06T22:15:00.004+07:00

what is a club in any case?

not the buildings or the directors,

or the people who are paid to represent it.

it's not the television contracts, get-out clauses,

marketing departments, or executive boxes.

it's the noise, the passion, the feeling of belonging, the pride in your city

(Sir Bobby Robson)

last weekend i went to Daejeon World Cup Stadium to watch a football match between Daejeon Citizen FC vs. Incheon United FC. that was my second live match after PSS Sleman vs. Semen Padang in Jogja a couple years ago. and yes, i felt the same feeling, the passion of the crowd and their devotion to support their team. the mexican wave, standing ovation, and continuous chants were filling up the stadium air. the cursing, shouting, and clapping sound were about to blow ur ears away. Sir Bobby Robson's quote was absolutely true.

if only Indonesian football league was not attended by some retarded anarchy fanatical-blind supporters, i might have watched more games..

independence hall

2010-05-04T13:26:00.000+07:00

The thought ``I will come back again one day" never crossed my mind on the day I left Korea one year ago. It came true as I arrived at Incheon International Airport in mid-February. Having been awarded a chance to join Chungnam National University's Global Scholarship Program (CNU-GSP), I am really excited yet curious to live and study in Korea for four months.

After the orientation day, our university kindly arranged a trip for all the awardees. We had a two-day trip to Seoul. On the first day, we visited Changdeok Palace and watched the incredible ``Nanta." I still didn't know that I would be amazed by the place we visited on the second day. It was The Independence Hall, which was opened to the public in 1987.

My first impression when I entered the main gate was not so good since I thought it was only an ordinary monument with a garden surrounding it. My opinion suddenly changed as I entered one of the exhibition halls. It was the second exhibition hall namely The Hall of The Nationalist Movement. I saw a lot of statues, pictures, miniatures and many other things representing the struggle of Korea to regain its sovereignty from Japan.

In any other museums or exhibition halls, we usually see dusty statues with a boring layout. This time around, however, I thought it would be different, as I did in my first experience of visiting Hanyang University Museum as one of the awardees of the 2009 Korean Government Invitation Program for BRICs and Latin American Countries.

I'm stunned every time I visit a museum in Korea. The exhibition hall was also totally amazing, not even close to the word ``boring." I regretted that we only had under an hour to explore The Independence Hall. Besides displaying historical relics brilliantly, the exhibition hall also informed the visitors well with interactive media such as videos and convenient booths in which to see movies.

We could enjoy the museum without ignoring the story behind every display. Furthermore, there were plenty of booths selling souvenirs with the Korean flag on them and books on the history of the independence movement.

In my opinion, that is what every independence hall or monument should be. This is the only way to remember and respect all the efforts of national heroes, remembering one old idiom: ``A great nation is the one who can honor its national heroes."

I deeply appreciate the way the government here preserves Korean history through displaying the documentations in museums, especially in this historical museum. The Independence Hall is not only the symbol showing Korea's struggle to regain independence, it is also a great yet lovely learning media to explore Korean history, predominantly in the colonial era.

I had a blast on the visit and my friends in the CNU-GSP did, too, including one of my best friends named Kimura Mai. She had so much fun exploring the hall, though as a Japanese citizen she felt very sad to see what Japan did in the early 20th century as illustrated in the displays. At the end of the visit, all of the participants took a group photo in front of the main hall and we returned to Daejeon full of memories.

Although I am a bit late, I would like to wish a happy Independence Movement Day to Korea.

this is the monument in the entrance gate of Independece Hall, Korean Independence Movement Day is celebrated on March 1.

(this article was published in The Korea Times on March 3, 2010)

if i were the leader of north korea

2010-05-03T17:41:00.000+07:00

One thing for sure, I will not give up my nuclear assets. This is because of my frame of thinking that when I lose the nuclear asset that means North Korea is powerless. Thus, the condition may lead to a bigger probability that there will be a country invading and occupying North Korea in the name of peace or, the most common one, democracy.

As a North Korea leader, I will try to put aside my irrationality. This is due to the awareness that how big the nuclear weapon I have, there is no way I can beat US and their allies. This is also with the consideration that China, although they are considered as North Korea’s allies, will prevent war in any possible way. China has already claimed its’ ‘Peaceful Rise’ policy. This policy reflects China’s wish to significantly develop and maintain its’ economic sector in a peaceful way. Therefore, I will not depend on China singlehandedly.

I will try to be more pragmatic in adjusting my position regarding this matter. The most problematic thing is the world’s perspective on North Korea. This is due to North Korea domestic situation which is not as successful as their missile launches. World’s heart is something important to win. I’ll use my nuclear threat to fix the whole domestic aspects starting from people’s welfare and regime structure. In my opinion, changing the behavior towards international society might be the most possible exit strategy, in order to keep my regime alive, if it’s not to frankly say to keep my power over the state remain. .

After having trust from international society, I will seek the way to make a fruitful relationship with South Korea. If the possibility of reunification remains out of reach, it will be good if North Korea and South Korea could have a normal relationship as neighbors. As ‘brothers’, it is really important to build such relationship with South Korea because the separation is only an inheritance of Cold War, originally two Koreans are one. More over, each one has its’ own strength; North has the capability in military while South has massive developed economy. Both will make a perfect combination to do cooperation.

(i know this sounds cheezy and for sure Kim Jong Il would never think this way, never.. thank god i'm not him..)

education for perfection

2010-05-02T21:17:00.000+07:00

Governments, schools, universities, are working together to facilitate students in order to create a better world, just like Ki Hajar Dewantara said in his famous quotation “ing ngarso sung tulodo, ing madyo mangun karso, tut wuri handayani”.

This May 2 is Indonesia’s National Education Day, dated after Ki Hajar Dewantara’s birthday. I truly wish everyone will cherish this day and always remember his effort, not to forget to continue his struggle as well.

Happy birthday, Ki Hajar Dewantara. Happy National Education Day, Indonesia!

lost my appetite in writing

2010-05-01T22:54:00.000+07:00

yes, i'm a lousy writer, definitely!!!

it's been almost 6 months since i wrote my last post. see, for me writing is really a hard thing. okay, maybe i should make some corrections - updating blog is. there a re sooo many things happened during those almost-6-months and i haven't shared them here.

i keep remembering what Christopher McCandless said in Into the Wild, happiness is only real when shared. that's f**king true!! i'll give myself chance, once again, to let myself feel the whirlwind after i let all the things inside, out..

and now, i'm living a happy and fulfilling life here, in korea

surprise

2010-01-14T19:42:00.000+07:00

last week was my boyfriend's 24th birthday. actually i really want to give him a present but considering the fact that it is so hard to find a present which he would like and remembering that there was a traumatic event when i gave him a romantic present but apparently he didn't like it in his previous birthday back then, from that time i try not to buy something that he doesn't need. last week, i didn't gave him anything because when i asked him what he wants for his birthday, he still did't know. since he is now in jakarta and i'm still in jogja, i just made a picture of me and papers written on them "happy birthday masheru" and put it as a profile picture in my facebook account (and predictably, he didn't like it, but who cares, it's my account, hahahaha)..

but that isn't the real story. what i want to share is that unpredictably, he made a surprise for me. on january 9, he popped up in my dorm. he called me, saying happy 35 months (january 8 was our 35 months celebration), and told me to look out the window. there he was, he came all the way from jakarta.

i was soooo shocked and happy because you know, he is not kind of guy who often make surprise for me or do romantic things. after that we went to the beach the next day and spent the weekend happily.

he's just one of the coolest things in my life.

updates of my oh-so-hectic-yet-not-really-productive life

2009-11-12T22:35:00.000+07:00

here are the things:

my brother has officially entered the last legal form of slavery. yap, he is married now. the celebration was soo lovely, my bestfriends came along, my boyfriend did too. the food was awesome, i had the best soup ever. the bride and groom were so cute. and i saw my mom in her most beautiful appearance i've ever seen, wearing konde and red kebaya. but the worst part is the post party situation. my house was like wrecked ship. we were all tired and my body was just like burned. plus, the thing that was freaking me out was the fact that my brother and his wife will stay in my parents' house. and you know, they acted just like newly wed (indeed, they are). the point i'm talking is that it was soooo weird to see a couple in your own house and they were like genit to each other (esp. when it was your brother who did that, your ugly, fat, lazy, introvert brother).

i'm drowning in my duties at the office. the point is that i enjoy the job too much. so far i have made contact with fukuoka women's uni, kyung hee uni, shibaura, chuo, chubu, seoul national uni, chungnam, doshisha, kyungnam, and more.
my boyfriend was accepted at Department of Defence. oh my god, it was oh so wow, beyond words. happy to see him getting a path towards his future, hopefully it is a bright one.
finally, after being a lazy girl this past 3 months and also throwing away this semester tuition fee, i can finish my thesis title for god's sake. i'm so happy and wishing this will be a good beginning.

now, i just want to focus on how to get a balance life. wish me luck.

tale of a thesis

2009-10-22T21:01:00.000+07:00

i'm writing this in the middle of a so called hurting stalemate between me and the topic of my thesis which has actually not officially become my thesis yet because i haven't submitted the title or furthermore had a supervising lecturer..

allow me start the tale.. so, as some people may know, i have big curiousity on security privatizing issue.. i started to write about this since i was in third semester.. i wrote "private security company in africa" for the class of politics and governance in africa, i got an a for this.. i also wrote "bush's policy in using private military company in iraq as a tactic to win two level game" for the class of politics of international cooperation, i got a b for this.. and it wasn't ended there yet, i wrote "the rise of private military companies in usa" for the class of politics and military, i got a b also for this..

all i can say is that i'm obesessed with this topic, i want to explore it as deep as i could.. and the only thing that crosses my mind when it comes to start a thesis is this topic.. then i came up with a topic about "private military company's role in un's peacekeeping operation".. one of my lecturers once said, when i had a discussion with him, that it's a good topic.. all i need to do was to find ONE CASE, just ONE, ONE F**KIN CASE.. and i couldn't find it for god's sake.. i found one, but when i tried to search the data, i faced a deadend..

then, i went to a lecturer, i want him to be my supervising lecturer for my thesis, he is a professor and not to mention also minister of national education in gus dur era, i worship him in a nutshell.. so then, i met him and gently asked him to be my supervising lecturer..
the disaster came when he asked me about my topic, and after i told him my topic, he cuntinued saying "read my books young lady, and find new inspiration because your topic is very difficult to elaborate and is not relevant with our study.."

there you go, i was like mother f**ker, damn.. it gave me sign that there is no way i can write this topic with him as my supervising lecturer, and if i continued the very same topic under different supervising lecturer, it's just the same as suicidal because he will definitely be one of the examining lecturers in my final presentation because my topic is related to the military and he's the best lecturer in military study in my department.. so the option left is that i have to change my topic, give up my obsession..

and curently i hooked on reading materials regarding united nations peacekeeping operation... yap, that's my new topic, but still, i haven't found a case and a title.. hopefully i can get along well with my thesis.. i'll pray for myself..

hi everyone

2009-10-21T21:51:00.000+07:00

well, actually i'm not good in writing.. but i hope it is easier to type than write, so welcome to my blog.. enjoy it and don't even bother to have a look at the title of my blog..