Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Solafide Xmas Party '08

It's that time of the year again, the time of celebration of the coming of the Savior! It's always a blessing to be able to celebrate Christmas with family and friends. This week I started the Christmas celebration with friends from Solafide. It was simple, warm and fun. 

Monday, December 15, 2008

Pictures of December 2008

It's been raining constantly these past two weeks. It's exciting cause it changes the color of the trees, grass, and even mountains to look even greener. I have some pictures that Sid sent me from his bike trip one morning. Looking at those pictures, I am just thankful that I live in Salatiga.




I guess these pictures would the closing of the Picture of the Month this year. Gosh, can't believe that it's already the end of December!

Thursday, December 4, 2008

I’ve been struggling to keep up with my job lately. Tired and burnt out, I feel like I have no goal and can hardly focus on what I am doing. Things a bit different this morning when I called some mother and letting her know that her daughter just got accepted at our school. She was excited, happy and couldn't stop laughing while praising the Lord. Somehow, her response refreshes and helps me to move forward. I believe this is His way to show me that this job is worth doing.  

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

11th Heaven

So, I am not sure exactly when is the date of our anniversary or remember exactly when the five of us began the journey of our friendship. But I remember that it was in 1997 at Satya Wacana when we first met. Of course back then, we were younger, in different styles and shapes. We took different directions after the college. Two of us got married to each other while the rest remain single. Some of us got jobs in different cities and the other fought to finish the study. Despite our distance, we stayed in touch. But not until two years ago we re-assembled and started building again our long and winding friendship.

Last night we were able to meet up, supposedly to celebrate the 11th anniversary of our friendship. There was some miscommunication at the beginning, as always, but it was sorted out. We went out to dinner at a small restaurant and talked about random things in life. As we talked to each other, I saw how time and life has shaped us into our present states. Troubles are always come and go, arguments are there to spices up, laughter brings joyous wrinkles in our faces, and happiness touches and changes the color of our souls.

We do have different ideas about how to live our lives, we do have things we dislike toward each other, and of course we do have different personalities that many times hit each other’s nerves. But at the end, we do have one thing in common that stick our butts together. People call it love.

Monday, October 27, 2008

Kemana Hatimu Melangkah ...

Pernahkah kamu berpikir tentang dimanakah rumahmu sebenarnya? Disini aku berbicara tentang tempat dimana hatimu berada, tempat dimana hidupmu berjalan dan tempat dimana kamu merasa you belong to. 

Bagiku saat ini, rumah itu adalah di Salatiga. Aku memang belum mempunyai rumah sendiri, tetapi disinilah aku merasa I belong to. Disinilah tempat dimana aku menjalani kehidupanku, menghadapi masalahku, bertemu dengan orang-orang yang memberi inspirasi, membangun hubungan dengan teman yang sudah menjadi seperti keluarga sendiri. 

Salatiga sudah menjadi comfort zone untukku. Sesekali terlintas di pikiranku untuk pindah ke tempat yang lain tetapi berpikri bahwa itu akan menjadi kenyataan adalah hal yang sulit. Beberapa tahun yang lalu aku bergumul tentang apakah aku akan tinggal di Salatiga lebih lama atau tidak. Aku selalu mengatakan pada diriku sendiri bahwa aku tidak ingin tinggal lebih lama disini. Aku selalu berpikir untuk punya pekerjaan yang membuka kesempatan buatku untuk berkeliling dunia dan melihat tempat-tempat yang belum pernah aku kunjungi dan tinggal di salah satu tempat itu. 

Teman-temanku mendorong aku untuk berdoa tentang hal itu. Aku mulai berdoa dan mencari tahu, meminta dan bahkan memohon kepada Tuhan supaya membuka kesempatan untuk hal itu. Doa-doa yang selalu aku sampaikan sepertinya tidak membawa perubahan apapun, atau bahkan kesempatan sekalipun. Malahan, keadaan seperti berbalik arah dari apa yang aku doakan. Sepertinya aku malah ditanam jauh lebih dalam sehingga aku tidak bisa keluar dari kota ini. 

Aku bertanya kepada Tuhan, kenapa malah aku sepertinya tidak bisa keluar dari tempat ini. Bukannya aku tidak bersyukur tentang apa yang sudah aku miliki di tempat ini tetapi sebagai manusia aku juga ingin spread my wings and fly. Pada satu titik aku berhenti dan menyadari bahwa akan lebih baik kalau aku “sumeleh” kepada Gusti. Aku berpikir kalau Gusti ingin aku tinggal di Salatiga untuk selamanya, maka jadilah kehendak-Nya. 

Di titik inilah saat ini aku berada. Titik kenyamanan dimana aku merasa segala sesuatunya berjalan dengan baik dan sepertinya Yohanes dan Salatiga sudah menyatu erat. 

Pagi ini aku ke gereja dan pembicaranya berbagi tentang bagaimana dia dan keluarganya merasa bahwa Salatiga sudah menjadi rumah bagi mereka dan berencana untuk tinggal selamanya disini. Sepertinya tidak ada satu halpun yang dapat mengubah hal itu. Tetapi, satu hari Tuhan meminta mereka untuk melihat satu tempat lain. Tempat dimana Tuhan meminta mereka untuk tinggal dan melayani disana. 

Aku tidak tahu kenapa cerita yang dibagikan oleh pembicara itu menggangu pikiranku. Well, memang dulu aku ingin pindah dari kota ini dan memulai sesuatu yang lain. Tetapi saat ini aku sudah merasa disinilah tempatku, rumahku. Dan untuk pindah ke tempat lain adalah sesuatu yang betul-betul harus aku pertimbangkan. Aku tidak mengatakan bahwa aku seperti pembicara itu yang mendapat visi dari Tuhan dan hal-hal semacam itu. Hanya saja aku merasa khawatir kalau hal itu terjadi dan Tuhan membuka kesempatan ditempat lain dan aku harus pindah. 

Mungkin ini adalah saat yang tepat untuk “sumeleh” kepada Tuhan dengan mengatakan bahwa kalau Tuhan berkehendak aku pindah ke tempat lain, maka jadilah kehendak Tuhan. 

Hidup ini menarik sekali, dan penuh misteri. Kita tidak tahu apa yang akan terjadi pada bab selanjutnya dalam kehidupan kita. Aku suka kata “sumeleh”, kata dalam bahasa Jawa yang berarti total surrender. Ego manusiaku sering berlawanan dengan ke-sumelehan-ku ini karena aku ingin tahu dan ingin punya kekuatan untuk mengendalikan kehidupan. Tapi seperti yang kita ketahui bukan itu cara kerja Tuhan. 

Di salah satu novelnya yang penuh inspirasi, Susanna Tamaro, melalui tokoh fiktifnya berkata “dan kelak, di saat begitu banyak jalan terbentang di hadapanmu dan kau tak tahu jalan mana yang haru kauambil, janganlah memilihnya dengan asal saja. Tetapi duduklah dan tunggulah sesaat. Tariklah nafas dalam-dalam, dengan penuh kepercayaan, seperti saat kau bernafas di hari pertamu di dunia ini. Jangan biarkan apapun mengalihkan perhatianmu, tunggulah dan tunggulah lebih lama lagi. Berdiam dirilah, tetapi hening, dan dengarkanlah hatimu. Lalu ketika hati itu bicara, beranjaklah, dan pergilah kemana hati membawamu...” 

Aku tahu bahwa Susanna Tamaro bukanlah orang percaya. Tetapi kalimat itu begitu menyentuh karena pada beberapa hal seperti itulah cara kerja Tuhan dalam hidupku. Seringkali Dia berbicara melalui hati kecil. 

Suatu saat, jika aku harus pindah ke tempat lain dan aku bimbang, mungkin aku perlu duduk dan menunggu. Aku mungkin akan menarik nafas dalam-dalam, dengan rasa “sumeleh”. Jika aku harus menunggu lebih lama lagi, maka aku akan menunggu. Aku mungkin perlu berdoa sehingga aku tahu apa kata Tuhan. Dan jika Tuhan berbicara melalui hati kecilku dan meminta aku untuk pergi, aku akan beranjak, dan pergi kemana Tuhan membawaku. 

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Always on My Mind

What happened this week has humbled me down. It’s funny how He uses things in life to change me and sometimes to break me and many times to open my eyes. I guess I’ve ignored him that He needs to shake me a little bit just to let me know He is still there and be with me. Now I know why He laughed at me when we had conversation in the jungle. He finally got my attention!

I’ve been listening to Michael Buble in the past few days. One of the songs in the album is a rendition from an Elvis Presley’s Always on My Mind. It’s a song about a man who thought that the woman he loved felt left out because he didn’t do enough to express his love. I feel like that man, that I didn’t do enough to express my love towards God. He is definitely always on my mind but I don’t think that’s enough.  

Yet despite my insufficient acts of love towards God, He gave me clouds this morning. For me, cloudy morning has always been a good start of the day. I love it and I am thankful for it. 

Monday, October 20, 2008

Break

Sunday night
I ordered a hot chocolate, sat on a pretty comfy couch and listened to a live indie music band performance. Both the chocolate and the music got me relaxed. I was there with friends who threw good conversations. In the middle of listening to music, talking to friends while sipping a cup of chocolate, I thought about God. It was weird.

Monday morning
I flashed my way out of the building in need of a fresh air. I walked toward the jungle and started mumbling and thinking. I was shocked, felt like there were bullets shot right on my head. I exploded but I couldn’t cry. I was mad. I finally stopped walking and talked to God. In the conversation, He laughed at me. I was even more shocked. I asked why He would do that. Then He showed me this picture. 

Sunday night

There were only some of us when the band began to play. I felt like we were in the VIP room entertained by a live music performance. It wasn’t long though that more people came in filled this little cafĂ© with their existence and their cigarettes. I was talking to friends about random stuff when suddenly a silly, inappropriate thought slipped into my mind. I think it was because of the chocolate. I was excited but some other thought came in to my mind.  

Monday morning

The door closed and they started talking about it. They explained about what happened and that they knew who it might be. They showed me the thing and told me to calm down. I was numb to know that it happened again and it even worse. I shared and we prayed. 


Sunday night
Life is fragile, that’s what God said. I knew it, I said as I listened to the band playing some slow songs. I took another sip before I sat quietly. 

Tuesday afternoon
“Look at that little beautiful blue planet,” He said. I am above it, I am watching over it. Then, right there, there was a sudden peace filling in my heart. The God above the little blue planet comes up in my mind as I try to recollect the scenes from yesterday. I am thinking through over and over again, to see if there is anything I can do or if there is anything I need to worry about. Yet that peace has brought me to a haven. 

Thursday, October 9, 2008

Pictures of October 2008

This month's pictures feature the work of the photographer that I like best after Annie Leibovitz. His job is not really a professional photographer, he is actually my boss. But Sid Thornton is a very talented one. He loves nature and his sense of adventure has enabled him to travel to different parts of Salatiga, inside out. When adventuring, he never forgot to take pictures of any kinds of sceneries. I've put his works in my office and my room, and some pictures that I put on this blog were his. 

When checking out of this blog, some colleagues who lived in Salatiga and now live off Java expressed that these pictures have been the remedy for their hearts. “Tombo Ati”, as we Javanese people said. 

I’ve selected some of his works which I think are the best. I also hope that these pictures will serve as the tombo ati for my dear friends around the world who misses Salatiga. 





Thank you Sid!

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Watching the Sunset from Andong

On the first day of the break I was able to join a small group of people from the school to hike Mount Andong. Though it wasn't the first time to hike in the afternoon but it definitely was the first for me to hike this mountain to watch the sunset. This was my third hiked to Mount Andong. As always, the first 10 minutes was the most painful one because of the elevation. But after this part, the hiking was quite easy with clear trail all the way up to the top. It took less than 2 hours to hike up.

When I got there, the cloud came all around the mountaintop that I couldn't even see a thing. But when everybody got there, the cloud suddenly walked off and the view was clear and stunning as ever. We were able to watch the sunset, it was beautiful but I never thought the sun would went down very quickly. 

Right after the sun dissapeared from the blue sky, the temperature went down drastically. I could adjust this drastic change but it wasn't long that I had to run around to keep my body warm. A few minutes later I decided to hike down in order to keep my sanity from the deep freezing temperature. Sid told me later that after I hiked down, the sky was beautiful.

That was a bummer! I had to blame my grown-up years in the freakin' hot Semarang for missing the experience.

F.A.I.T.H.

Just this morning, I received an e-mail from a friend who shared her story about faith. I don't know where she came up with it but FAITH according to her is Fantastic Adventures In Trusting Him. That's cool. 

It is indeed an adventures when it comes to trusting God. Who can really know for sure to believe something that we can't see?? The essence of faith in God is so thin that sometimes I can't see the difference between trusting Him or trusting me. This can be frustrated.

But the great thing is, He never given up on me or somebody else who is learning to take a leap of faith in Him. I don't think there's ever a word FAIL in His dictionary. Even if there is, it might just mean Fantastic Adventures In Learning. 

Thursday, September 25, 2008

Pictures of September 2008

These pictures are taken from Abbie's website. I found out that she is a talented photographer. I asked her if it's okay to put her works in my blog and she said yes. So, her pictures are the pictures of September 2008. 

The girrafe and the grass. It's not a groundbreaking picture but i like how simple it turned out. 

I was on the picture but that's not the reason why I picked it. :) I like the mixture of the colors and the lights. In real, that pink flowery tree on the background looked so cheap and lame. But I was surprised that it looks great on the picture. The picture was taken when Peco and I sang a song for the girl who celebrated her 19th birthday. 

Thanks Abbie, and great job!

Random Stuff

The electricity was off earlier. Most of my current tasks are dealing with computer. I could always file and clean my desk but I’ve done that last week. During the non-tasks period which I was happy about, the slight thought of writing came to my mind. Not sure what to write but I’d like to write something. 

I remembered my conversation with Shane few nights ago about random things of life like future, fears, etc. It was a good conversation and I learnt a lot out of it. 

I checked out Abbie’s Flickr website yesterday and found that she is a talented photographer. I like her works and decided to put some of her works as the picture of this month. 

Two days ago was Peco’s birthday. He didn’t want anybody to sing him birthday song, I thought it was weird. It wasn’t a real birthday without birthday song. Though it’s a day late, we finally sang him the song. He said he didn’t like it but I knew from his face that he loved it. 

I haven’t been talking to Mega this week. I think there was some point where I just fed up talking to her. We’ve been friends for 11 years and this isn’t the first time. So, I guess we’re okay with it. It made my life so much easier and peaceful. But I made a truce this morning so we’ll see how it goes. 

Oh, me and some other friends from work went to a cello and piano recital. It was great though there was no air con and the power went off for 5 minutes. We really enjoyed the performance. At one point, the cellist played solo and performed a piece composed by an Indonesian artist. It was refreshing to hear something new, something modern which I really like. The piece was very unusual and made some people giggled. 

Monday, September 15, 2008

Counting the countless blessings

To work constantly with computer and paperwork can be frustrating. I have piles of paper lying on my desk waiting for me to work on and I need to keep up with a good reason of why in the world am I doing this job. I am out of focus and not sure how to find the excitement out of my job. I finally have the gut to talk to Bill about how I feel. I was nervous at the beginning, unlike the other conversations we have had before, I felt like this time’s conversation was me being a whiner. But I am glad I did it. Not only that I felt my burden was lifted, it helped me put my focus back. 

I remember one time when a dear friend of mine reminded to treasure every blessing that I receive. I’d like to do it again this time to remind me how blessed I am for:

God’s faithfulness

Having a job

Having a boss like Bill who is the man of God, wise and full of compassion

Remembering that today is my sister’s birthday

Constantly arguing with Mega and Sani, I feel like it’s the way to release my frustrations

Discussing with Peco whether we should name his motorbike Tommy. I am glad we did!

Talking about some weird stuff with Abbie at school 

Talking to Mona about how wonderful her artwork is and how her life reminds me a lot of Carrie Bradshaw

Talking to Jay about life in the other side of the world

Always having a free donnut at Donutboyz, thanks to Yudha

Being part of Solafide

Writing crazy wall-to-wall with Eln

Having Sharon & Casey constantly disturbing my peaceful life

Not worrying about what I should eat, drink or wear every day

Knowing that God is in control

The excitement of the future and not to worry about it 

Being able to grow through the hardship

Knowing that there are people out there praying for me!!!! 

Friday, August 29, 2008

Picture of August 2008

Looking at this picture somehow brought my memory of a children book that I often read with my parents when I was a kid. I couldn’t exactly remember what it was but I could remember the pictures that illustrated the book. One of the pictures was similar to the one that a dear friend of mine James took. He took a road trip across America with his lovely wife Mona recently and stopped by at this deserted barn. I can clearly see that the picture looks so remote, so out in the middle of nowhere. Yet at the same time I captured how tranquil the place is, how peaceful this deserted barn is. I think I am being a little dramatic here. But I like the picture and I need to say something about how I like it. :)

This picture is so surreal. It’s like one of those Thomas Kinkade’s painting. This picture is again taken by James on his road trip across America. My love towards American nature and landscape grew this summer when some friends sent me a bunch of pictures from their adventures around America. I like it a lot! 

Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Le Voyage avec Ellen part troix: The Dessert

We haven’t met our dear couple friends, Shane and Lindsay for a while. They just got back from Singapore for Shane’s medical check-up. It was great that when they came back, they invited us for to come over to their house for the dessert!

As always, Shane and Lindsay served the best that American desserts can offer. A tasty dark chewy brownies, a strawberry cake with cream cheese icing that melts in your mouth and since Ellen is a big fan of coffee it is appropriate not to forget the famous frapuccino a la Shane.



The night was a little chill but soon the conversation, the games, the just hang-out there warmed the air. It was just like Ellen. The first impression about her is that she is cold and unfriendly. But once you get to know her, you will soon find out about her warmth, care and love that surrounds you whenever you are around her.







It was a delight to spend time with Ellen in such a fun rollercoaster weekend. I believe in our human nature, it was our way to stay in her warmth, care and love that we could remember and feel as long as we could.



Sunday, May 25, 2008

Le Voyage avec Ellen part deux: Sing!

As we felt that we still have so much energy even after Jogja trip, we decided to book a karaoke room at Quality the next day. Some of us would like to show off their singing talents in front of the public.



We have Peco, whose voice could make a woman flies into the seventh heaven.



Mega, with a powerful voice of Emilia Contessa.



Pita, the Siti Nurhaliza wanabe.



Fidel, the rock n’ roll diva.



Yohanes, who failed to woo the karaoke machine.



Andre, the King of Pop.



Hoho, Roma Irama of the day.



James, who I believe was a former Green Day member.



Cori, the singer and dancer of the day.



Dina, a fan of the eighties.



Naomi, the back up singer who actually can sing.



Diaz, the Gita Gutawa of the Nineties.



Jefri, who was so late.

And of course, Ellen, the queen of the Karaoke.



From pop to dangdut, slow to stinking rock, from mellow to hoompa toompa. We sang and danced till we got tired.



Actually, not really. We sang and danced till the time’s up and the karaoke machine stopped us.



We had fun!

Le Voyage au Jogja avec Ellen

Considering the limited time we have with Ellen, some of us decided to dedicate our weekend to be with her. The first thing we did was a trip to Jogja. Some of us, ten to be exact woke up early in Saturday morning so that we could catch a 7AM bus to Solo. From Solo, we headed to Jogja by a different bus. It was non AC economic bus which was interesting because we were entertained by some of the street musician along the way. Most of them sang with quite interesting voice, but there was one who had a really good voice.





Since Indiana Jones is on theater, some of us could not resist of buying tickets to watch the movie. But for some others, shopping and starbucking were more alluring than watching some guy running around in the jungle.



After shopping, window shopping, eating lunch, walking around Malioboro, talking to the strangers, and shopping again we finally met up at the train station to go back to Solo.



For most of us, it was the first time we took the train to Solo from Jogja. It turned out to be fun although some of us had to stand and sat on the floor because all seats were taken.





We arrived Solo right on time before the last fast bus to Salatiga left. But on our way to the bus station, we experienced a little bit of Solo city tour by becak. It was a lot fun!





The Saturday night is always busy even in the bus that took us back to Salatiga. Even after all seats were taken, the driver kept taking people in until it was so tight that people could not move. We thought the trip to Jogja was short but we felt so tired of the travel. One of us tookthe opportunity to sleep in the bus.