Pictures of November 2009

These are some of my pictures I like from November 2009.

Solo Jogja 2009

All in white, we busily walked toward the temple of Ratu Boko and praised the cultural beauty with it simplicity and symmetrical design. It was our annual trip celebrating our friendship. Our “personnel” grew bigger this year with Jefri, Indra, Drajat and our long time dear friend Diah came along with us. I have known these wonderful people for quite a while but only in the recent time that I got to know them in a deeper way.

The hot blaring sun didn’t stop us in taking zillions of pictures of both ourselves and the temple. Not long then we separated into different locations as if the nature led our instinct to do so. In that moment, I saw Sani cried on Diah’s shoulder while Drajat wandered around the temple’s west wing alone. I witnessed Navita held tight on Jamal’s hand as if it confirmed that he is her only love. On the other side, Mega didn’t stop pestering Jefri and Indra to take her more pictures. I was sweating but my mind couldn’t stop thinking when I saw each of these characters. Each has its own story and each has its own uniqueness.

It is amazing to see how those stories and uniqueness assembled together. It’s not always smooth but definitely good. This trip reminded me that friendship is more than just having fun. The not-so-good part, the shitty part about it, is playing even more important part. Because with it, we know of whom we really are.

A friend loves at all times, and kinsfolk are born to share adversity - Prov. 17:17

Jepara 2009

As I entered the nice newly developed beach in an area called Bandengan in Jepara, the memory of my childhood started flooding my mind. The white sandy shore and the water that calmly hit my feet have helped recreate the fun times I had, playing sand with my cousins while the fishermen busily sold the ocean’s treasure to my mom and aunties. The sun shyly came out from the horizon and as I was standing, absorbed by the nature’s wonder and the sweet childhood memories, I realized that get away is the only thing I need.

Festival Mata Air 2009

Last weekend I went to the Festival Mata Air, a festival to promote the awareness of eco-friendly lifestyle. The event is organized about Komunitas TUK, an environmentally concerned community of artists and volunteers established in 2006 and based in Salatiga(www.grakkart.com/tuk). It's their 4th year organizing the festival and this was my 2nd year I came to see the event. I think they've done a great job in organizing this international festival that attracted artists and environmental communities around the world.

One of the programs of this festival is the performance from the local bands. I've known some good bands in Salatiga and it was cool to see them performed at the event. My ever talented friends Drajat and Susu showed at the festival and performed with their band, Crosstown Panic. They are cool!

The other things that I enjoyed from the festival is the art installations from various artists. I love arts and Salatiga is not known for its art galleries nor communities. So, it was a perfect chance for me to enjoy such installations (which were eco-friendly).
Salute to Rudi Ardiyanto and Vanessa Hyde for their efforts and brilliant ideas in making this wonderful event happened! Look forward to the Festival Mata Air in 2010.

Batam 2009

I got the chance to visit Batam last summer and it was a joy to see old friends again and meeting new people. Batam is a little different from the other areas in Indonesia that I’ve visited. Besides unfamiliar foreign stuff like the cars, the grocery products (which I love!), and the food, I also noticed the lifestyle of the people here is a little different. I believe the neighboring country is responsible for this foreign influence because of its location. Singapore is only 45 minutes away by ferry. Visiting friends and catching up with them about our newest latest stories was so much fun but I also had the opportunity to volunteer as an interpreter for some groups from the US who visited the sea tribes on the islands surrounding Batam. At the end of the trip, I went to Singapore and got my first stamp on my passport. Yay! My trip to this little country lasted for 5 hours only.

It was a long and rough trip but I learned a whole lot about myself and about God.

Here are some pics from the trip.

With Dina, Maria and Jekson

My travelling companion, Andrea Hirata's Maryamah Karpov.

Singapore's Skycrapers.

School kids with their pink uniforms. What a fashion statement!

Smile!

Light

I see the light, guided by a man I trust and love with all my heart, a man like my own brother. He didn't speak a lot but he spoke the truth.

What am I?

And I know that I have abandoned this blog of mine for so many months, again and again.

Life has been busy like a bee, working from one paperwork to another. Perhaps I could squeez in time to write but unfortunately have no energy left. At the end of the day, I am physically drained and bed seems to be a perfect getaway.

In the midst of all, I am searching for the truth. He said that the truth will set me free but I vaguely understand it. There are so many why's and what's, and the questions seems never end.
Yet, life is so precious.

Images

It's unbelievable that I haven't written anything on my blog for months. The end of the school year is always busy and this year was nothing different. My ability to write seems disappear when I get busy, so that is my excuse. But let me re-cap what has been going on in the past months through pictures :)

During Easter break, Peco and I went to Malang and stayed with my friends the Fairbanks. We had a great time hanging out with them, visited the grande Bromo, Batu and ate Bakso Malang.

Yes, the year of 2009 marked my 30th birthday. Can't believe I am that old but I don't feel old and I don't think I am acting like 30 which is worrying me cause I have to be aware that I am no longer 'young'. Anyway, it was a special day because instead the regular me arranging my own birthday party, my dear friends did it for me. They cooked a delicious Italian food with salad and sparkling grape juice, and a strawberry cake for dessert. It was funtastic!

Pictures of March 2009

When I looked through some pictures that we took from our recent trip to Purbalingga, I found some that are interesting. I choose some of those pictures and then picked three that I think are worthy to be the Pictures of March 2009.

This picture was taken by Pita one early morning in Purbalingga. The object was Ibu Esti's bike (who is Dina's mom). It was foggy and the temperature was cool, I wish I could woke up early that morning and enjoyed the wonderful misty morning in that town.

We were in the town square, blended in with the people in Purbalingga enjoying the saturday night life. The square was packed with people, motorbikes and food vendors. The picture was taken by either Abbie or Peco, I am not sure, but I like the way all the motorbikes parked in a long row.

Purbalingga

Purbalingga is a town approximately 5 hours away from Salatiga. We had the privilege to visit Dina’s family in this town last weekend. We had a blast and we were glad we made the trip before saying goodbye to her. We left Salatiga at 4:30PM and we got there at around 9:30PM. Though it was tiring, the long ride in the bus didn’t stop from having fun on our way there.

Tired, feeling dirty and hungry, Dina’s mom became our savior when she served us the delicious Soto Purbalingga for dinner and tempe mendoan on the side. It was yummy! The first night at the house was great but in the morning we woke up pretty grumpy, especially Abbie, because there were some noisy children screaming around. We found out that there is a Kindergarten school right exactly across from the house.

Pita made the morning a bit different. She woke up earlier than most of us and took a bike ride around the market and rice field. She took some pictures of it. The misty morning of Purbalingga is beautiful.

The adventure began when Dina took us to the water park 30 minutes away from the house. We took an angkot and then a bus to get there. It was interesting because there is a pretty big water park in such a town like this. We’re happy that not many people went there. We really enjoyed the park, swimming in the pools, sliding, did some crazy stuff and got hurt, and flying fox. That was fun.
Pita found a guy who do sketching for living. It wasn't bad at all.The lunch was reserved for the infamous Soto Sokaraja and Durian Ice. Soto Sokaraja was excellent but for some of us, the Durian Ice was a struggle. I love the Durian Ice and for once I must agree to Dina and Maria that perhaps it was the best Durian Ice in Indonesia.

Saturday night is a fiesta time for the people in Purbalingga. The center of it all is the town square. We walked for 30 minutes to the square and it was packed with people, motorbikes and food vendors all over the place. We hang out in there for a couple of hours, talked to people, took some pictures and ate dinner.
On our way back, we stopped by at Maria’s parents’ house. It was exciting to meet with them and listened to their stories about life and their children.
The next morning we woke pretty early for church. We all felt sore from the swimming but it didn’t stop us from wanting to praise the Lord. Anyhow, we struggled to stay awake throughout the church service. Many of us had to fall asleep during prayer time. Forgive us, God. Back in the house, Dina’s mom served us a hearty breakfast that we enjoyed so much. We then hang out and talked about random things.
It was a long and short trip but we all enjoyed it. It was good to getting to know Dina from the other side and listened to her mom’s story about being a single parent raising three children. I thank the Lord to have this opportunity to getaway during the weekend and experiencing Purbalingga. It was cool to see His work in providing us with protection and blessings.
Thanks Dina for being such a wonderful HOSTESS! ;)

Skate & Bowl

Two weekends ago we went to Jogja for Ice Skating and Bowling. The trip was part of Dina’s “dream” to do those things before she leaves to Batam for good. At first, we weren’t sure if we could do it because it looked so difficult but with little courage from our white friends who have more experienced in it, we then proceeded. Peco and Tiffany didn’t have any problem sliding the ice, for me and Andre we had to re-learn it from when we did roller-skate a while ago.

But for Dina and Pita, it was a tough world!

It didn’t take too long for them though to learn the art of ice-skating thanks to Peco and Tiff. They could finally slide the ice with their skates. For Andre though, he could skate with speed but the problem was he didn’t know how to stop!

After 2.5 hours of experiencing the ice world that mostly occupied by children, we finally rested and moved on to a different play world.
I’ve played once so did the rest of us, except for Pita. After a short briefing from our coach Peco, we came into the battle of bowling.
I found that bowling is more than just throwing a ball into the pins. It took some skills.
There was a machine that counted how many it was interesting to see how we strived to win this game.
Finally the game was over and our coach won the game, the second position was Pita who we thought was her beginner's luck winning. Hehe.