Year of Change

In my family Christmas celebration almost a month ago, the preacher was asking us to count the blessings we had in the past 12 months of 2008. He asked us to close our eyes, counting one by one every single thing that was really mattered for us in that particular year. And I was astonished. Yes, it's true that I began 2008 with some complainings, from being hospitalized because of the dengue fever, to the resignation from my old job (love the job, hate the office!).

And I also tried to find my way through the year, working as a freelancer, trying this job and doing that job, sometimes feeling so insecure about my unclear employment status and my unstable bank account. But!!! To mention about all the blessings I had during that year, I felt guilty only to think that I've been complaining so much!

I have a wonderful family, who sticked with me through thick and thin, an amazing guy who's now also becoming my partner for life, and later, a great job with new people and challenges to know. Sometimes, we are too busy looking at the dark side, without realizing how lucky actually we are.

I ended 2008 with so many beautiful memories. I have a new family (and having my best friend as my sister in law!), a great wedding ceremony (and a nice party afterwards!), a new home (me and my guy were finally moving to an appartment in western Jakarta), a memorable honeymoon (I totally recommend Le Jardin, a very beautiful vila in Seminyak for those who plan to have a honeymoon), and a blasting new year with the whole Limtob family in Singapore. Woohoo!

For me every year is a year of change, but 2008 brought so many changes to my life. Not just giving a checkmark in "Married" box instead the "Single" one, but living the brand new life altogether. Sometimes I still got this weird feeling, when I woke up in the morning to see my guy lying right next to me (without those horrible feeling of, "Shit! What have I done last night???What's my mom going to say??), or how I really care about what's the cheapest brand of detergent. It's totally so un-me! (But true, that I still struggle to wake up early every morning to make tea for him, and go straight to bed after he's gone to work; or that sometimes I just spend all day watching Gossip Girl and forget to wash the piling dishes).

Sometimes, a year brings so many changes in our life, but I do believe that the most important change still comes from our inner self. So..happy 2009 to all of you, be it a healthy, wealthy, and memorable year =)

Birthday Bash

So I turned 28 last week...And how do I feel? Totally remarkable.
This has been a wonderful year for me..I've got a new job (yeah, have I told that I finally landed my Bonn-interview?), an amazing family and friends to spend time with,and a soon-to-be husband, so what else could a girl ask for?

Well, this year's birthday was quite exceptional though. While I was very eager to spend my last single birthday surrounded by my family and friends, it happened that I had to go for a workshop in Srilanka. Yep, I was a bit feeling down, imagine celebrating the birthday in a country that I never thought that I would set my foot into. But, what could I say? As a new kid in the team, I didn't have any choice but to attend the workshop.

What I never imagined is,it turned out that the birthday itself was very great! Although at first, I was very cranky because my cellphone couldn't work in Srilanka. But that sulky mood suddenly changed at the end of dinner, when the lights were turned off, and a cake was presented in front of me, along with Happy Birthday song in various languages. I was very surprised, because I've never thought that these very newcomers in my life could actually be really caring and attentive. (thanks you guys, my new friends from Thai, Vietnam, India, France...)

So, as I have experienced in the Netherlands a few years before, there will always be a new family, bunch of great people you'll find along the way...And adding that to the existing adorable friends and family I've already got so far...Hmm..I couldn't ask for a better gift.

This One's For You..

Yep, udah dari jaman smp gue ngefans banget sama Leonardo DiCaprio, sejak tampangnya yang masih imut banget itu muncul di serial TV Growing Pains..

Tapi siapa sangka dari aktor yang tampangnya qualified buat jadi anggota boyband, Leo berkembang pesat jadi aktor watak yang makin lama aktingnya makin mateng? Gue udah ngikutin perjalanannya semenjak dia beradu akting sama Robert De Niro di This Boy's Life, trus jadi anak dengan mental terbelakang di What's Eating Gilbert Grape? (dan langsung menyabet nominasi Oscarnya).

Bahkan film-filmnya yang sedikit indie juga ikut gue tonton, seperti Total Eclipse, di mana dia berperan jadi cowok gay yang pacaran sama pelukis tua,atau Basketball Diaries, yang menceritakan tentang kehidupan seorang junkie.

Yang paling komersil tentu aja perannya di Romeo & Juliet versi Baz Luhrmann, dan adu aktingnya sama Kate Winslet di Titanic...Tapi seiring film-film itu, akhirnya Leo semakin selektif memilih peran-perannya, yang menghasilkan dua lagi nominasi di ajang Academy Awards, yaitu dari film The Aviator dan Blood Diamond.

Dan kemarin, mengobati kekangenan gue, akhirnya Leo muncul lagi di Body of Lies, arahan sutradara Ridley Scott.Dan ternyata, Leo emang nggak pernah bikin kecewa, karena aktingnya sebagai agen CIA yang terjebak di tengah situasi Timur Tengah, plus tekanan dari bosnya yang manipulatif plus kepala intelijen Yordania yang suspicious, bener-bener masih pol.

And all the sinister critics about my huge crush for him, since, hmm..10 years ago? - just don't really matter anymore =)

Bahasa Indonesia

Baru beberapa hari lalu peringatan Sumpah Pemuda, dan ketika seorang teman bertanya, apa sih isi Sumpah Pemuda itu, gue benar-benar merasa blank. Rasanya semenjak lulus dari SMA, nggak pernah sekalipun gue tertarik untuk menyimak upacara maupun acara-acara peringatan Sumpah Pemuda, baik yang disiarkan di TV ataupun yang langsung di depan mata.

Akhirnya, setelah kasak kusuk dan berdebat, kita sepakat bahwa salah satu poin Sumpah Pemuda adalah : bangga berbahasa satu, Bahasa Indonesia. Dan topik itu jadi memicu kesadaran gue tentang bahasa yang sudah hampir 28 tahun gue gunakan setiap harinya. Kadang gue amaze sama bahasa ini, dengan segala perkembangannya dari masa ke masa. Karena besar di akhir era 80an dan awal 90an, gue masih ingat jelas trend-trend yang ada saat itu, seperti slank-slank yang mengubah beberapa kata (masih ingat kata pembokat yang berarti pembantu, sepokat yang berarti sepatu, atau boil yang artinya mobil?). Norak kalau dipikir-pikir, tapi toh saat itu mereka begitu berjaya. Lalu di awal 90-an, inget nggak dengan kalimat-kalimat seperti ini : Dia keren sekaleeeee....
Dan bahkan kadang si kata "sekaleeee" tadi bisa berubah menjadi "cekaleee..." Hehehe...

Tahun 2000-an menghasilkan lebih banyak lagi istilah baru, seperti Bete (yang sampai sekarang masih diperdebatkan asal-usulnya), kesian deh looo (lengkap dengan gerakan jari yang membentuk gelombang dari atas ke bawah), capek dehhh (kali ini dengan gerakan tangan mengusap jidat), dan yang paling baru: ya iyalah, masa ya iya donk... (diikuti embel-embel garing seperti: namanya juga cafe oh lala, bukan oh donk donk...). Gosh. Entah siapa yang menciptakan istilah-istilah itu, tapi yang jelas, sekali menjadi trend, istilah itu bakal ngelotok dengan suksesnya.

Mengingat pembicaraan dengan beberapa teman lainnya, gue juga jadi sadar, meski sudah berpuluh-puluh tahun bergelut dengan bahasa Indonesia, masih sering banget gue melakukan kesalahan-kesalahan tolol yang akhirnya dibenarkan karena sudah menjadi kebiasaan. Berikut beberapa yang mungkin juga sering dialami oleh orang-orang lain:
- Pulangnya mampir ke BCA dulu ya, mau AMBIL ATM. (hmm..kalo tiap orang ambil ATM, lama-lama mesinnya abis, ya ngga sihhhh)
- Itu, di pinggir jalan tadi banyak yang JUALAN WARTEG kok... (warteg di-franchise-in ??? hehehe)
- Tadi udah minta tolong Mama supaya BIKININ AIR... (hebat amat si mama, meskipun yang dimaksud di sini adalah masakin air panas...)
- BIKININ TEMPAT TIDUR nya ya, tadi masih berantakan..(Bukan, ini bukan ngomong ke tukang kayu, tapi simply minta tolong orang buat ngerapiin tempat tidur)

Dan mungkin, masih banyak lagi contoh-contoh konyol hasil "latihan" bertahun-tahun dengan bahasa Indonesia. Tapi apa pun yang terjadi, inilah bahasa Ibu kita...yang semoga saja, masih akan menjadi bahasa anak-anak kita juga nantinya... (mengingat anak sekarang lebih jago berbahasa Inggris atau Mandarin, rasanya wajar aja kalo kita berharap-harap cemas)....

Treasures

What makes me love Bandung so much is the ability of this city to give me endless surprises. This city has many hidden treasures, ready to be discovered in any time.

You'll be surprised that at the back of St Aloysius school building, in a crowded-small place with only a tent covered it from rain or shine, there's a very delicious Batakuah (means: Baso Tahu Kuah). Very original taste, in a very cheap price.

And in Jalan Bungsu, in a small alley across Atoy Salon, you could try a great mie ceker. Yummy.

Or, how bout this store at the second floor of a small building in Dipatiukur, where you could find choices of old records, including the first album of NKOTB and Pink Floyd?

Or, for me, who love books more than anything...There is this little attic shop in front of Unpar, called Omunium, that sells lots and lots of second hand books, books that are very hard to be found in other stores, with a magnificently reasonable price. I've just found this Newbery Winner book, that is quite rare around here, in only Rp 24.000,00. I always love to smell the pages of a second hand book, while imagined where that book came from, who had flipped its pages before me...

Those little treasures are the reason why I love this city so much. And to think that I would have to leave again soon (this time, for good)...Uhmmm...it's heartbreaking.

A Short Trip to Bonn

When my boss in the NGO where I've worked part time in this last couple of years told me, that they were opening a full time position in Indonesia as a Liaison Officer, I didn't think too serious about it. The details of my big day (which, answering some people's question, will be held in December) was quite giving me a constant headache. That's why, I thought a full time job was the last thing I need (although, come to think about it, the money part does make it sound a bit more interesting, hehe)...

But, since I've been working for quite some time with them, I thought this job would perfectly fit me. There will be no office (only working from home, huray!), lots of traveling to eastern part of Indonesia (which has too many places that I haven't explored before), and having a boss in a thousands miles distance...Quite tempting, hmm?

So I decided to just go for it, sending my resume, and suddenly, they asked me to come to the headquarter (which is located in Bonn, Germany) to have a final interview with some of the managers. So the next think I know, I have packed my small suitcase (without really knowing what were exactly I put inside it), and said goodbye to my family and my guy.

I was more nervous about the interview, so the fact that I will go to Europe for only 5 days (including the journey) didn't really fascinate me. Actually I didn't really care where the interview took place, as long as I wouldn't do anything stupid in front of my future employers.

So, I sat in Lufthansa for more than 12 hours, cursing the European plane with their lack of entertainment (but what could I say? my ticket is paid by the organisation, so I didn't have much choices, did I?), and spending most of my journey by sleeping. And finally, still in jet lag and didn't have any clue how to get to Bonn from Frankfurt Airport (I was given the direction to my hotel, of course, but my sense of direction itself was very dangerous to be relied on), so imagined how happy I was when accidentally met Indonesian students who just got back from their holiday in Indonesia, and on their way to Bonn!!(Gabriel and Sisco, I owe you guys one!).

So, I arrived in my hotel safely. A nice hotel, actually. But the very next question was: What should I do now? The interview was scheduled for the next day,so I had to spend one day in the city, alone. The thought of it suddenly hit me. I was alone in this freaking city, without knowing what to do. I didn't prepare my mood to become a tourist, so it took me quite some time to switched my mode into "exploring the city" mode.

But turned out, Bonn is quite beautiful. This city is actually the birthplace of Beethoven, so I decided to start my journey from the Beethoven Haus.
The nice thing about the city was its public transportation. The system was exactly like the one in Netherlands, so it's not really complicated for me. I took the tram to the Main Station, and from there walking to the museum. Beethoven Haus was a nice place, with lots of stories, archives, and bits and pieces about Beethoven.

Then I went to the market, (or centrum, like we called in the Netherlands), browsing some shops and taking pictures of beautiful buildings, having lunch in one of the squares, and going back to the hotel. It's easy to get homesick when you're traveling alone, but somehow Bonn reminded me a lot with Den Haag, from the old buildings, the pigeons in the squares, people with bicycles, even the way they say thank you.

On the second day, I had my interview, but to tell you the truth, all the images from that interview was just a blur, mostly because I was too nervous to remember anything, haha...Well, my presentation was not that bad, but those questions they asked!!! Huhuhu....

Anyway, on my last day, I decided to walk around the city for the last time. I stopped for a short time in Museum of The History of Federal Republic of Germany , buying some German sausages (yep, the pork ones! hahaha)for my mom in one of the supermarkets, and sat on the side of Rhein River, which divided the city into two beautiful parts.

And, despite my desire to really get the job, I felt very grateful to have this short yet wonderful trip experience. It's a great feeling when you think, hey, I'm a citizen of this beautiful place called Earth, and there are so many great places ready to welcome me...=)

PS: Several things about the Bonn-ers:

Like most of European people, they like to chase the sun...even when the sun doesn't feel like showing in the city. Don't worry...there'll always be the Sunpoint...where you can get the tan even though the sun feels like hiding forever =)




Don't feel bad about your English when you're in Germany. They also struggle with the language. And believe it or not, Wall Street Institute is definitely a good choice to start! (Well, now you don't have to be ashamed when walking to your class in Wall Street Institute in Ratu Plaza or Kelapa Gading Mall).

Using QWERTZ

Baru gue sadar kalo selama ini gue udah sangat terbiasa dengan keyboard QWERTY, dan mendapatkan kesulitan luar biasa menggunakan kezboard QWERTZ....

untuk nulis alamat emailpun misalnza, hasilnza adalah seperti iniÄ astridfelicia"hotmail.com....tombol @ harus diakses sedemikian rupa karena terletak di tombol huruf Q, dan harus ditekan bersamaan dengan tombol AltGr....

gak bermutu zah postingannza kali ini...hahaha-.-(Gue kok jadi serasa ngobrol sama Mr Punk...tau kan, guru fisika galaknya Lupus di novelnya Hilman..hehehe)

Yaaa..ini hanya catatan singkat dari sebuah warnet di tengah kota Bönn...will continue the story later----

Gosh

I would never thought that there is an important difference between imported and local flowers, red roses and white lily, wedding cake and champagne,or white, off white, and broken white gown (why on earth there's so many whites anyway?).

And I've never realized that we had to take so much time to choose the color for family's uniforms (and why, again, there has to be uniform after all?), and to arrange all the forms and official documents. Ow, and the never ending questions: who's going to take the ring to the aisle, what's the theme of your wedding, and how many invitations you would like to print?

And, it's going tougher when the guy you think you've known so well, started to act quite annoying: What if we add about 100 people to our guest list? (Yea, as if we still have lots of savings in our bank account!!!) Can I change the color of my suit? (yep, after I bought a songket which has perfectly matched the previous color he chose). OR, how bout this type of conversation:

Him: I don't like the design of our invitation card
Me: Then, how's the one you like?
Him: Well...it's not quite like that...I have it in my head, but somehow I can't describe it...
Me: So draw it
Him: I can't draw
Me: Just try it
Him: ...
Me: So?
Him: Let's use the one we had..

(BUT, this conversation had been repeated on and on again, say, like every single day!!!!)

I would never have thought that it needs so much effort, patience, and compromise, to prepare for something, that at the end, only means one thing: my commitment to love him for every single day of my life. (But as everybody says, this is only the beginning...so hell yeah, i will enjoy it till the very big day arrive!!)

Menerima

Salah satu unsur paling penting - sekaligus paling sulit - dalam proses mencintai seseorang, adalah menerima. Yaa...menerima semua perbedaan yang ada, menerima hal-hal konyol dan menyebalkan yang sudah melekat erat dengan karakternya, bahkan menerima segala sesuatu yang sudah menjadi satu paket dengannya, seperti keluarga dan masa lalunya.

Well, buat gue, proses "menerima" tadi butuh waktu yang cukup panjang, apalagi saat menyangkut suatu hal yang sudah sejak lama merupakan "a big no-no" dalam hidup gue. Satu hal, yang sejak dulu....sudah membuat gue antipati. Mungkin namanya karma, gue malah bertemu, jatuh cinta, dan memutuskan untuk menghabiskan sisa hidup gue, dengan seseorang yang justru merasa hal tersebut adalah jalan hidupnya.

Yep, lupakan yang namanya menerima, karena yang ada, awalnya kita berantem dan berdebat nggak ada habisnya. Sampai di satu titik, karena sudah terlalu capek, kita hampir memutuskan untuk menyudahi saja semuanya.

Tapi, jauhhhh dari dalam hati, ada suara yang mengusik gue. Kenapa sulit banget buat menerima, padahal nggak ada alesan bagi gue, selain karena gue sudah telanjur antipati dengan hal tersebut? Padahal lagi, hal itu justru bisa membuat dia menjadi orang yang lebih baik? Jadi, gue mencoba. Dan syukurlah, gue nggak pernah menyesal.

Well...it's not easy to love someone, just the way he is. But hey, I've tried, and it felt damn good to accept him with every flaw and every greatness he has.

dedicated for my guy, i'm glad we've tried!

Pengangguran Terselubung

Seorang teman yang bekerja freelance pernah bilang, sebenarnya istilah "freelancer" hanyalah suatu euphimisme berlebihan dari kondisi sesungguhnya, "pengangguran terselubung"..

Waktu itu gue hanya ketawa, tapi setelah menjalani sendiri status freelancer selama hampir 6 bulan belakangan ini, gue baru mengerti kalau omongan teman gue nggak sepenuhnya lucu.

Seringkali ada rasa deg-degan kalo kerjaan udah mendekati kata selesai, sementara di depan mata kok sepertinya belum ada tanda-tanda munculnya tawaran baru yaaa?? Atau di saat orang-orang excited udah mau gajian di akhir bulan, gue yang memang dibayar per project hanya bisa gigit jari karna belum waktunya dapet jatah...Saat-saat kaya gitu, kayanya emang status sebagai freelancer lebih tepat digantikan dengan pengangguran yang terselubung...

Belum lagi kalau ditanya orang-orang, hmm..kerja di mana sekarang? Kantornya di daerah apa? Kelimpungan deh jawabnya. Mending kalo yang nanya adalah orang-orang yang ngerti apa itu kerjaan freelancer. Tapi kalo orang-orang dari generasi jaman jebot yang nggak mudeng sama istilah itu, hmm..salah-salah dianggap pengangguran beneran, alias udah nggak terselubung lagi...hehehe...

Tapi untungnya dalam kasus gue, adaaa....aja tawaran-tawaran dari mulai yang cere sampe yang lumayan gemuk, untuk mengisi "waktu luang" gue...Dan yang membuat gue masih betah menjalani status ini adalah serunya bekerja dengan berbagai tipe kantor dan orang-orang di dalamnya...Gue jadi tahu gimana harus menghadapi orang-orang dari design agency, yang super kreatif tapi bingung kalau udah harus ngasih timeline, atau orang-orang majalah tempat segala macem gosip bisa dikonfirmasi, atau bule-bule NGO yang serba idealis tapi kadang mengawang-awang...

Dan satu hal lain yang masih bikin gue betah jadi "pengangguran terselubung"? Hmm..nggak perlu bangun pagi buat ngantor...=)