Chillin' out

I was walking around Paris for hours and hours with Asti. We started from our place to Montmarte, then to jardin du luxembourg, which was super nice, and continued to have our picnic time in ile saint louis.

It was very nice that we were walking along the riverside from île-saint-louis until the eiffel tower. I saw a lot of things that I had never know before. Around the riverside after musee d'orsay, there are places for kinds and people to play rollerblade, skate board, kids in the playing ground area, and also people who are just drinking and chilling out. There are tables there where they have the ludo, chess pattern and some other games. I didn't know this area before. Then we continued walking and found theworld map, animals painting, alphabets, numbers, and some other street art there.

Surprisingly, around the pont alexandre 3, there are a lot of cafes filled with crowds of french young businessman and women. It was around 7 pm, and yes, everybody was drinking and chilling out in the riverside, with heels on the toes and wine on the hand. I was so surprised. Because they are really young business executive, with their suits and formal working outfits. Right after pont alexandre 3, there was a very alive restaurant with music and open bartender and kitchen. They are not really eating anything. You can see the wine and champagne bottles in every table. Sow, they do enjoy their lives. It was thursday night, not even Friday night. 

It's another life of Paris that I had never known before.

Marché Bio Raspail

Un dimanche, j’ai décidé de découvrir la ville pendant le dimanche.  je n’ai pas voulu rester dans ma chambre dans un bon dimanche, donc j’ai décidé aller à un marché bio à 5eme arrondissement, qui s’appelle Marché Raspail.  J’étais vraiment surprise quand j’étais là parce que j’ai trouvé que bcp de monde aime le marché bio. Les produits coûtent plus plus plus cher que les produits normale mais il y a bcp de personnes qui les acheter.  Je connais jamais que le marché bio est vraiment un bon business ici à Paris. 

J’ai vu bcp de produits bio, le pain, l’œuf, le vin, le viande, le fromage, la pâte bu blé/farine bio, les légumes, les fruits, qui tous coûtent très cher pour moi.   On fait, je ne connais pas bcp au sujet du bio. J’ai une amie qui adore les produits bio. Peut-être je peux lui demander sur ce sujet.

p.s : J’ai acheté le pain aux raisins BIO =)

Ahhh..N’oublies pas noter la location. C’est vraiment unique car dans ce quartier là, ils habitent tous les riches de la ville. Donc il y a bcp de magasins très connus comme Hermès, LV, Bvlgari, Le Bon Marche, etc., mais dans l’autre côte de la rue, il existe ce marché 3 fois par semaine. 

a very nice weekend with an old friend

pilgrimage of trust on earth

I'm one of the luckiest in the world to have the chance to join the event with another 30,000 pilgrims. To really experience the pilgrimage of trust on earth among people.  It was something I had never experienced before, and finally I can get the chance to fulfill another dream in life. 

 

capitale de Noël

our castle

Our castle is the best place for us in this world. You find your comforst, your happiness, your accompany, your lover, your cleaning lady, your driver, your books, your comfy pillow and bed, your gadgets, your tiramisu, your home-cooked meal, your credit card, your shower bathtub, your parfum, and everything you might not even realize that those items perfect your castle.  

It's so comfortable that we can hardly leave our castle. Why should I leave if I'm on my most convenient place?  No, you don't have too, unless you wanna find out that there are amazing people out there with their amazing stories. My neighbour said there are amazing places and their daily life.  My childhood friend said there are unthinkable values you will ever find among your cleaning lady and your driver.  It is written in a book "there are thousand of ways to survive in life" that you never thought about.  Quote of the day says "There are millions of stars at night that you can see when you sleep in nature".  The bookshop keeper told me that there are titles of books I have never known before.  My twitter follower mentioned to me "There are millions of beautiful language you don't speak". And my heart says "There are numerous things I wanna try and moments I wanna enjoy as this life is too short".  There are everything in this world worth to do, hear, read, see, feel and experience before you decide that you are on your best moment.  

Go out of your castle and you'll be amazed on what you'll find! Share to those who keeps on guarding their castle, not about how amazing the outside is, they can watch it on tv though.  Share how great the feeling is to be outside and how valuable the memories you have with great people out there who you might only meet once and never again.

#miss my little heaven

Hitch-hiking

During Toussaints holiday, we went to Château de Chenonceau, not so far from Orléans. It was a very fun day. The weather was nice, and we're adventuring a little bit. So we only bought one-way ticket just to keep our plan opened. After visiting the château, we wanted to go to Tours, but the train was in 2 hours, and we missed the bus already. We asked all the private-bus drivers if they could take us with them, and they said no, as they were all private bus booked by tourists.  One of the bus driver said to us that he was going to Tours, but his passengers would not be happy to have foreigners - us - with them along the return trip.

We were thinking to return to Orléans, but the train to Orléans was also in 2 hours. So I came up with the idea of hitch-hiking. =D.. It was not easy because we're four, it means we had to find somebody who was driving alone to Tours during the weekday at working hours.   It was very funny for us. Among four of us, it was only me who had ever done it. There were a lot of cars starring at us because it's kinda impossible to get a lift for 4 persons.  We're looking at all cars which were passing by. And whenever there was a car with only one person inside, we all felt so excited and saud 'perfect target'. But, most of them were looking at us and show the '4' fingers to us. Yes, we're four, and that's a lot.  Good news, a French lady was on her way to work in Tours and she was alone! Perfect! We're so happy to finally get a lift and yes, we also explored Tours that day. =)

my little heaven

It's been a very long time since my latest post on July 12, and there are a thousand thing happen to me since then. I re-read my previous post on July 1 about my entire plan 'til end of August, and it's such an undescribale feeling to read them all. Most of the plans went as I planned, but not all of them. Well, I don't want to remind myself how annoying it was when things didn't go as it have been planned. So forget about it! 

Taizé, summer 2013

The best thing is I went to my little heaven for 5 weeks, and it was so amazing. I met a lot of amazing friends there, and yes we all agree that no words and nobody can really express the feeling of being there unless you experience it yourself. It was my second time being in my little heaven, and it's definitely not my last time.  

It was so hard to leave the little heaven.  But I know I got all the experience that I would never forget, and it will help creating the better me.  

I travelled around middle Europe, Budapest, Vienna and Prague, with a friend for about a week, and I found out that Vienna is so amazing! It is now my favorite city in all Europe so far.  Then I went home on the Aug 29 and it was the best feeling ever to arrive at Soekarno-Hatta airport, even it was midnight time, and my sister was somewhere I didn't know, and I didn't have the Indonesian mobile number, plus I thought I almost faint after 24hrs journey.

About the time I spent ome, it was so precious. It was a time of reflection for myself, and for what I am looking for my future as a woman, as a person, as a daughter, as a sister, as a friend, and as who I want to be.  *to be continued

I heart VIE

We also visited Vienna, a beautifully elegant city. I love the city so much. Everything is much more expensive that the other two cities, just like in Paris, but the city is really worth to visit. For me, it's not the old building or the orchestra that amazes me, but the environment while I was there. The city is modern and the people are mostly very elegant during the day and night. There are many cafes in small street which are all beautiful. One night, I went to a quartier, and there was a guy playing cello. he was a street musician, i guess. But he really doesn.t look like one. I would prefer to say that he is a musician who wants to practice while entertaining people.  The music he produced was really a high class one. Something you'd expect when you are in Opera house. I enjoyed it so much. I fell in love with the city since that moment. Where can you walk around and listen to amazingly beautiful play and then stop by in one of the small cafes insteadof in Vienna?

During the day, it was also amazing. The main road was very nice, and everything looks so expensive but once again, worth to visit. The buildings are all beautiful like in Paris, in addition, the systems, the transportation, the arrangement of benches in the street, etc., all are like in Germany, very well-arranged.  Imagine a mixture of Parisian old buildings, the German modern system and the elegant people of tourists and locals, that's Europe for me. I will revisit the city, with my special one, someday.

  

Budapest et Praha

The road trip to middle Europe was quite surprising. First, I was surprised about the city of Budapest. The city was beautiful and nice, but I was surprised that It was pretty small and not crowded at all. Okay maybe I get used to live in Jakarta, with more than 17millions of people for years. But in my mind, the cities in Europe, without exception, are all crowded, modern and alive. That's why I was so surprised to find that some cities, eventhought they are capital cities, are pretty small and quiet, such as Budapest and Prague.

I like Budapest, it doesn't feel like it is part of Europe. It is very different, from the number of people, the buildings, the transportation, the speed of people during rush hour, etc. I had never could really understand what does it mean 'under Soviet Union regime' until I see it there. I saw so many remarks of how the SU had been very powerful in the past.  From the type of people, the old transportation vehicles, etc.  I went to the traditional market and expect nothing than paprika. Yes, they eat paprika a lot, even on their dessert. The food was more tasty and the goulash was very delicious.

I like the area of the castle, a bit at the top of the city. It was very nice there, and the area are just great. One remark about Budapest is the guys are averagely handsome. I even ask Sarolta, how could she have a French boyfriend instead of those good-looking Hungarian? Ahh and one more, one of their popular souvenirs is the fat policeman. The story is that the city is very safe that their policemen were all becoming very fat. =D

Prague was another small but nice cit to visit. The main spots are the Charles bridge and the palace. Don't expect the big palace like in the movie, it was pretty small in fact. The area is big but it consists of churches, restaurant, etc. But walking down from the palace to the main street was another experience to enjoy the city. The astronomical clock was not as special as I thought, but the area was the main tourism spot, so we found lots of local foods there.  The jewish area was interesting for me. Honestly, I never really know what is Jewish, because in Indonesia, It's not legally recognized so I never learn about it in school. I don't remember exactly, but there was a place where our tour guide told us about how the kids were kidnapped to be part of them at that time and they expressed their feeling at that time by drawing.  

Ahh there was also a statue of 'dementor', exactly like in the harry potter movie. Maybe J.K. Rowling got the inspiration from that statue. There was also a quartier, in which one side is the hotel owned by the american, and the other side is the cubiczl building used to belong to the jewish. They said that Hitler loves Prague so much that he allows the Jewish area not to be demolished there, not like in other area. Good job! That's how the history should be learned by the young generations. 

Another story is the St. Anne church. In the past, everything in the church were made from gold, and the church was also open for anyone, without being guarded. Then one day, a guy came to steal the crown of St. Anne, but his hand was being hold by the statue of St. Anne and he couldn't move his hand at all. Then the next day, the priest saw what happened and nobody could help him. They were planning to bring a big saw to cut the hand. The thief was thinking that it was the hand of the statue that would be cut off. But the priest said 'no, it's you who come to this place and intend to take what is not yours. It has nothing to do with the statue.' So at the end, his hand was being cut off, and it was still hanging there, as a lesson for other people. And the guy was working in the church as a mean of apology.  I saw the very small hand there near the statue. I don't know whether the story was true or not, but for me, the lesson is more important.

what's in mind for July

I am super excited to welcome July. I remembered the last time when I was so bored, I made one of the password of my accounts 'wishing for July to come'. haha..and Voilà! now I am in July.

So far here is my plan:
July 1: farewell lunch of the director

July 3: discuss with Rian for August trip

July 5: RDV for stay permit for another year in France (hope things go well with this) *fingers crossed

July 6: go to Sanja and Levce's apartment

July 7: send all my stuff to all around the city

July 11: send my big luggage to somewhere I don't know yet

July 12: presentation day for the internship report + walk out from my lovely room at 310, I have been so close with this lovely yellowish room. =(

July 13: stay at somebody's house (don't know yet who's gonna host me) and state "half way to go" in my FB account --> as I will officially finish my first year that day =)

July 14 - 16: off to Paris and see my 2 lovely ex-bosses

July 16 - 18: off to Lyon

July 19: accomplish another dream.  Can't tell you now, cos I am so afraid that as people say, better not to talk before it happens to avoid any unwanted obstacles to appear on the way.  I've been waiting for this for 5 years. have faith and yes dreams do come true.

July 19...

welcome another month

...- August 21: gonna be so sad to leave my dream place

Aug 21: off to Budapest

Aug 24: hello Vienna!

Aug 25: blink to Czech!

Aug 27: Paris - Orléans

Aug 28: watching movies while waiting for my flight plus smiling all the way there

Aug 29: Shopping at HK

Aug 29: Senang berjumpa kembali, Jakarta!

People may plan but let God do the rest. I do believe He always supports me and He accompanies me wherever I am going.

ps: I was so nervous to tell my mom that I'll be moving around by myself for around 7 weeks.  I don't want to tell her the entire plan because it's kinda crazy and make her worried about me is the last thing I want at the moment. BUT, it was so surprising that she didn't even ask where I'm going to stay, what will I do there, etc. She accepts all my plan without any 'wejangan'. Haha suddenly I feel that it's weird and I'm afraid.

There was a time when I really want to be able to decide everything by myself. I remembered asking my father 'Why should it be different between being your daughter and being your son?' My brother could went out 'til midnight while for me, at 11, he would definitely called and asked where I was and when I would be home. He has never been mad eventhough I was home at midnight, and I didn't lie too about what I was doing.  But at that time I was thinking, why should it be different? I am 5 years older than my brother but why did he call me instead of my brother?
I've never thought about that question anymore until yesterday. Now I am free to do whatever I want and they do trust me. Unfortunately, as I grow older, I understand better what it means to take the decision myself without discussing it with them. It simply means no back up anymore. =l

à côté d'azur

Après l'allemagne, J'ai visité marseille avec Sanya, Levce et Ebru.  Malheureusement, la météo était mal pendant 2 jours donc c'était froid spécialement quand  on a visité les calanques.  Les étaient jolies et extraordinaires.  Toutes les prix à marseille sont moins cher que d'autres villes en france. Peut-être parce que il y a bcp de immigres d’afrique là qui envoient la nourriture d'Afrique.   Mais, la ville est plus sale et plus dangereuse car des immigres.  

On a visité toutes les objets touristiques, et pour moi, le vacance était bon parce que on était ensemble avec mesdemoiselles. Le 27 avril était le joyeux anniversaire du Sanya et on a célébré ensemble, le vin, le tarte, le pizza et la sourire. =) 



Pendant la troisième jour, on est allés à nice, une petite ville au sud du france.  C'était plus petite que orléans, mais il y a la plage et la montagne donc plus des gens y visitent. En plus, nice est a cote du monaco donc si tu as la chance de visiter nice, tu dois visiter monaco aussi. 

Monaco était amusent pour nous. Un petit pays qui est très bien organisé, les personnes sont gentils, les rues construisent bien mais toutes les prix sont chers. On a passé une rue là et dans la rue, il y a d'oranger et des fleurs et il n'y a pas des gens qui prennent des fleurs ou d'oranges.  C'est impossible! Honnêtement, je ne peux pas croire s'il y a un pays comme monaco existe dans cette terre.  Un pays trop petit, à côté du mer, mais tout le monde est riche et vraiment gentil. 

un pays riche

26-30 avril 2013 à la prochaine voyage!

the values of G

By the end of April, I went to Germany for around 7 days.  Honestly, I had no idea what I should expect from germany.  Seems like now I am not really interested to see buildings or beautiful places in every spots in the world. I'd prefer to see the way the local people think and how they live their life.

As a country, Germany is not that interesting for me. I can say it's like a big version of Singapore, with a few touch of historical and old school building from the past.  The Berlin Mauer (Berlin wall) being mentioned in every travelling guide book, it was not as great as has been written in any books I've read. So do the other tourism spots in Germany.

BUT, I love the values I learnt there. I am not a big fan of historical studies, not at all. Ask my friend, and everybody knows I couldn't understand what the professor was saying in the European Economic History class.  For me, it's a less-interesting subject to learn about the past.  So what's so special about G country?  I joined the 4-hour free walking tour in Berlin. Starting from the Brandenburger Tor (Brandenburg Gate) 'til drop and I learnt a lot. I also visited Kassel, Frankfurt, and Witzenhausen. All cities are unique and very well-established.

Some of my highlights:

Reichstag

1. Reichstag or the Parliament building, people can visit the building in the top level and the floors are made from glass, means that visitor can see the parliament members when they're debating about law, etc. Why? The idea is to remind the parliament members that the people (standing above them) are the people who had choosen them to sit in the parliament, and those are who the parliament members should work for.

2. The ex bunker of Nazi, place where Adolf Hitler used to hide.  Don't expect to see this ex bunker as a museum or very historical place.  It's now a parking area, in front of a very normal appartment for common people.  Why? They blown up the bunker in the past, and then made it as a parking area. It was a dark moment for Germany and now they want to show people that Nazi was nothing any longer, even the very secret place of its leader is now being used as a parking area where people can walk through it as they want.

3. As I learnt from the history, during Nazi period, G has killed millions of people. Nowadays, many people still 'dislike' G due to their past. How the G should tell their children and grandchildren that they'd done something so bad in the past? Do they hide it? NO.  They teach children at school the real history, they allow books about it being published. For them, they don't want to hide anything. Tell people what's happening in the past, let children understand the history and how bad it was so none of G people would like to repeat the same situation. That by knowing the real history, they learn to not repeating the same mistake in the future.
4.  All the historical sites are in open area, that everybody is free to see, read and feel the condition, as history is for everyone to learn and remember.  and the stoty about how the east and west were reunited is very surprising, a misunderstanding statement.
5.  They DO care about organic products and separating the garbage, the most I've ever seen so far.
6.  You can refund your plastic bottle to the supermaket.
7.  Their salads in the supermarket are great!
8.  Trains are very punctual. Never try to go without tickets, they check all the time.
9.  Everybody speaks perfect English.
10. Lift is 'only' for elderly.
11. The typical houses.
12. You can only find very good and great cars.

the typical house

auguri di buona pasqua 2013!

I had my best easter ever this year.  One day, two months ago, I spontaneously bought the ticket to Sicily, a very beautiful island in the south of Italy.  One of my very best friends is living her happiest life there with her new Italian family.

Many things had happened since the last time I met her in Jakarta, July last year. She had decided her own life, her own future and her own happiness. I sincerely am very happy for her, as I knew how time and situation have been so hard for her last year.

So, I went to visit her, and I was sooooo happy!  It's not a touristic holiday nor an all-must-see holiday.  It's simply spending time with my best friend and her new family. We cooked italian food together, had a nice walking most of the afternoons, had our 'best friend and I' conversation, did picnic, enjoyed the su
nny and windy weather, had dinner with friends, watched movies - in italian subtitle, talked a lot, laughed often.  I met some italian friends there and, eventhough I couldn't understand what they said, I felt very welcomed.  I ate most of the food they can showed me the whole days, and none of them are not my favorites (arancini, pistachio ice cream, spinach arancini, lots of Sicilian desserts, pasta, pizza, artichoke, chocolates, granita, and so on).

My highlight of this holiday is the Easter day.  That day the world starts another daylight saving time, so we're late to the church as we forgot it's the daylight saving time because we started the spring.  I had my very first Italian mass there, with people starred at me, wondered if I understood the mass or not.  Indeed, I understood just a little part of it, but I got the meaning of the Easter. I had lunch with her families, who were all so nice!  I felt really in an Italian family. Waiting the mother making the lasagna while the grandmother was grilling sausages, I ate lots of oranges there as it is one of Sicilian best harvest.  and what's surprising, I got my very first egg easter chocolate from the mother. =D I was so happy! It's just something I've never expected. they're too nice to be true. We broke the egg chocolates and I brought it back to france with me.
I felt that it was very comfortable for me being in the middle of them.  I enjoyed every moments there, I loved being in the middle of the Sicilian family, I loved the way they welcomed me and the way they treated me.  It was my very first time but I didn't feel like stranger at all.

Other hidden highlight, I loved the way the guys treated me there, the father, the grandfather, her friends, her husband and her brother-in-law.  I started to wonder, is it only me being lucky meeting that family, or it is all the italian guys are that nice? haha... I knew I was lucky to find that nice family to stay with and celebrated the easter with them.

it's not about how well-decorated the party was, but it's about how nice the people were in the party and it stays in your memory.