Girlfriend

Maap yak buat para pembaca (halah kaya banyak yg baca aja)... Posting gw banyak yg ber-aura negatif. Ya abis gw pikir daripada gw ngomel2 di dunia nyata trus gw ngomongin orang di belakang, atau ngehina-hina orang di depan, trus nyakitin, mending gw nulis-nulis aja deh. Enggak, bukan karena gw munafik, bener gw ga munafiiikkk. Sampe ada temen gw yang bilang kalo gw ga suka sama orang, keliatan banget dari mata gw. Cuman gw bener-bener menjaga apa yang keluar dari mulut gw. Karena ada perkataan:

"If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything"

dan

"Yang keluar dari mulut, meluap dari hati"

Makanya biarpun hati gw sebel bener, tapi ya tetep lah mulut dijaga. Mudah-mudahan lama-lama gw ga sebel-sebel lagi biar hati lebih tenang gitu loh. Plus lingkungan gw saat ini kebanyakan orang yang toleran dan menerima satu sama lain. Jadi jarang deh ngomongin orang (apa gw yang ga tau aja yah?). Saling nyela atau menjatuhkan aja ga pernah kok. Kadang gw merasa kok sok suci banget, ya tapi emang bener sih, kudu begitu. Apa jadinya kalo pertemanan dipenuhi dengan celaan (yang bukan bercanda), saling ngomongin di belakang, dan saling menjatuhkan?

Kemaren itu gw lagi galau. Gw sebel sama seseorang cuman males cerita ke suami. Karena yaaaa... nanti juga tanggepannya lempeng gitu. Either "cuekin aja" atau "ya udahlah ga usah dipikirin", dan sejenisnya. Atau malah gw jadi merasa bersalah sendiri karena gw sebel sama tuh orang.

Untungnya salah satu sohib nun jauh di sana yang suka menjadikan gw tong sampahnya, pas lagi manggil gw. Jadi setelah ngobrol-ngobrol sambil gosip-gosip update-update berita terbaru gw mulai lah cerita kalo gw sebel sama si itu karena blablabla. Tetep sih gw merasa bersalah karena sebel sama dia plus ngomongin ke orang lain. Cuman untungnya karena yang gw ceritain dan si topik utama tidak berteman (saling tau sih), jadi ya okelah ya. Dibanding gw ngomongin temen segeng sama temen segeng yg lain?

Senengnya, ternyata kesebelan gw didukung lah sama dia. Katanya, wajar kok, emang tingkah kaya begitu 'unlikable'. I feel better after that (gw ga jahat-jahat amat ternyata). Ahhhh... memang biarpun udah merid, butuh dah temen cewe buat curhat-curhat ala cewe begini.... Dan secara gw sama temen gw ini udah bertemen hampir seumur hidup kita, ya udah ngerti satu sama lain lah ya. Tau gimana cara merespon dan membuat si pencurhat jadi merasa baikan.

But still, gw masih merasa bersalah sih sebel sama orang, cuman karena menurut gw dia gengges, sok asik, dan suka pamer. HAHOOHAOHAOHOHAOHAOH.... Apakah gw sirik? Ya mungkin aja sih. Prioritas dan kondisi kita beda. Apakah karena gw berbeda kepribadian? Ya mungkin aja sih. Dia emang suka jadi center of attention, sedangkan gw? Makhluk DC gitu loh, kaga ada people-person nya.

Ya stralah... cuman mau ngoceh doank. Mungkin dengan nge-mute dia dari socmed bisa membuat hati gw lebih tentram. Tapi ada yang ga bisa di-mute bo. Group chattingan. Ya stralah....

Cantik?

Ciehhh... sekalinya ngeblog langsung aja dua postingan. Mumpung inget nih...

Gw tuh emang istri tiri banget kalo pagi. Catet ya, cuman pagi doank. Soalnya gw ga bisa bangun pagi. Jadi biasanya si suami berangkat kantor jam 7:20-7:30, gw masih tidur. Paling dia pamit trus cium gw. Gw sih kebangun dikit dan bergumam ga jelas tp ga sampe bener2 melek. Baru bangun beneran jam 7:45.

Tadi pagi:
Suami: kamu cantik deh, lagi tidur aja cantik.... Nanti pasti anak kita cakep kaya kamu...
Gw (senyum2 sambil merem): daaahhhh... ati2 ya...

Di kantor gw mikir2. Tadi itu ngimpi apa beneran yaaaa... Gw tanyalah suami gw via watsap.

Gw: tadi pagi kamu bilang aku cantik ya? Apa aku ngimpi?
Suami: iya kok...

Arghhhhhhh.... *berbunga-bunga*

Engga... belom hamilllll... lagi mencoba. Doakan ya!

My messy desk

Gw hari ini pindah ruangan. Sebenernya sih balik ke ruangan gw 2 tahun yg lalu. Entah kenapa ya diping-pong begini. Ya sudahlah, bagus juga gw jadi dipaksa untuk de-cluttered meja gw. Sementara ini sudah buangin kertas lumayan lah... Setara 5 pohon kali *lebay* Eh tapi gw ngumpulin kertas2 yang 1 sisinya masih kosong kok, buat ngeprint dokumen2 yang ga terlalu penting *pembelaan diri*

Dan bagus juga lah gw bisa meninggalkan debu2 di sudut2 yang ga kesapu selama 2 tahun sama OB (karena gw numpuk dokumen seenaknya). Haohaoahoahohoa...

Waktu gw nyoba DISC Assesment, gw dinobatkan menjadi orang D-C. D-nya sih iya gw tauk. Dari dulu gw tauk. Tapi C nya? Hmmmm... Meja gw sangat tidak menggambarkan itu sih. Oh iya, filing di komputer gw juga engga. Apalagi email. C nya gw di mana ya?

1. Gw sayang banget sama buku2 gw. Dari komik/novel/buku pelajaran pasti licin. Makanya gw paling sebel kalo orang yg pinjem buku gw ga bisa ngerawat. Temen gw yang temenan ma gw dari jaman TK, paling segan kalo minjem novel ma gw. Takut dimarahin katanya. Hhuauhauhauhahu...  Pernah guru piano gw jaman gw ngeles privat di rumah bawa anaknya (lebih muda dikit dari gw). Karena dia bengong2 nungguin gw ngeles, nyokap gw bawa dia ke rak buku gw. Milihlah dia sebiji. Muka gw dah asem aja tuh. Trus pas gw kelar ngeles, dia belom kelar baca. Jadilah dia bawa tuh buku pulang. Dibalikin sih... cuman lecek. Keseeeellll rasanya.

2. Sebel kalo berubah2 rencana. Pagi2 atau hari sebelumnya biasanya gw udah punya rencana di otak gw. Gw mau gini-gini-gini. Gw dah plan naik apa, lewat mana, bagaimanalah supaya efektif dan murah. Kalo ada orang yg mengacaukan, gw biasanya sebel. Apalagi kalo biayanya jadi lebih mahal *itu mah pelit yak...*

3. Katanya org C tunduk sama peraturan. Iya sih gw ga nyontek dulu pas sekolah. Gw juga bukan orang yang bisa ngerayu2 polisi biar ga kena tilang (pernah sih dilepasin), tapi kebanyakan ya... sutralah. Tilang saja saya pak!

Nah kombinasi D-C kan artinya task-minded, bukan people-person. Gw baru menyadari setelah dijelasin ttg DISC Assessment ini... Dulu kan gw nyangka gw cukup gaul lahhhh... Temen banyak. Ga terlalu eksklusif ngegeng, jadi gw cukup bisa berbaur dengan teman2 dari banyak kalangan. Eh semakin dewasa gw semakin individualis (pengaruh tinggal di negara barat kali yeh). Ternyata ini dia yang menjelaskan kenapa gw kaya gini. Task-minded, not people-person. Hahhahahahah...

About my readings

It's time to talk about my other hobby beside traveling (I babbled to much about traveling here): Readings.

I read since I was 4 years-old. My mom n auntie said that even before I could read by myself, I was able to memorize all the words in the book properly. So I would know if someone who's reading it for me skipped some words. Ha ha!

During primary and junior high school, lots of time my name was listed on the bookworm lists in the school library. In the primary, we were allowed to borrow 1 fiction and 1 non-fiction. So I picked up an Enid Blyton or other teenage novels for the fiction, and folklore tales for the non-fiction (I was not interested in science book or others so both were actually stories). In junior high, we were allowed to borrow 2 fiction books at a time. So, no doubt I did not visit the non-fiction section at all unless it was for school assignment. Not happening in high school, because none of my close friend liked to go to the library. My mom was seldom upset because I read too much, she felt that I didn't study enough. Heyy! My grade were still good.

When I was in college, I didn't read too much fiction. I think at that time I was busy with internet unless someone came from Indo (or I went home) and brought Indo novels. My roomie and I can spend a day inside the apartment quietly and feeling content surrounded by the books.

Nowadays, thanks to e-books. My hubby bought me a kindle couple years ago (before we got married), and he knew if I didn't contact him that night, I was cheating with my kindle. Even till now. We were happily lying in bed, me with my kindle, him with his smartphone playing games.

I tried to put as many books I remember I have read to the apps in the left side of this blog, but it will take some times since I believe I have read thousands of books for the last let's say 20 years. The apps here showing what book I am reading now. I bet if you scroll it, you can see what I have read? Arghhh... Gaptek nih ueuhehueuhhue... However, I rated some of the books I felt recommendable (is there such word? Ha ha). But you are welcome to ask my review about the book I have read (if I still remember). Of course this only lists books in English. So I cannot put my Indonesian books in there. But I do read Indonesian novels, the non-lebay ones. :p

Anybody likes to read too? Give me some recommendation!

Traveling, where do you like to go?

Nulis pake inggris apa indo ya? -mikir- Maap yak kalau bakalan campur-campur.

Anyway.... I've been addicted to traveling these past years. During my childhood, almost every year my parents brought us (my siblings and I) traveled with travel agent. Even when we went to Medan, we were with travel agent. Ngerasa rugiiiii banget, karena waktu itu seisi tour cuman bisa makan yang halal, padahal kan Medan gitu loh!!! Akhirnya kita cuman makan babi sekali doank, nyari restoran kecil deket hotel. How sad....

Pas SMA, gw gabung sama grup pencinta awal (yg akhirnya dibubarkan olrh kepsek baru yg nyebelin dan menganggap anak2 pencinta alam pemberontak semua. Hiks). Emang sih sebelumnya juga pernah lah yg namanya camping Pramuka, atau hiking waktu retreat, tapi sejak ngerasain yg namanya camping beneran (ga ada listrik dan kamar mandi sama sekali... ) dan ngeliat sunrise di atas gunung, Wowwww... it seems like there is a different side of traveling.

Kuliah di luar, gw ga banyak jalan2... gara2 disuruh pulang terus sama bokap (yg kangen sama anaknya. *uhuk*). Pas udah kerja baru deh mulai kesana kemari, planning trips instead of ngikut tour, doing outdoor activities which is very convenient compare to here in Jakarta (ya eyalah... di Jakarta kan gersang, beton semuah). Dan semua mulai menggila waktu gw pulang for good ke Jakarta.

Di Jakarta: sumpek, pengap, macet, kerjaan yaaaa begitu2 aja. What keeps me alive is travel (and its planning). Plus, I met some people who have same preferences in traveling. I am a traveler who maximize experience rather than comfort and companion. Honestly, I choose where I wanna go, do some research and ask people around who wants to join. If not, well, plan is still on, with my dear hubby (dulunya masih pacar) (reluctantly) tagging along.

I have this circle of girlfriends, sebagian di Jakarta, sebagian di kota lain. Once we (or they? I don't remember I pledge to this) said to meet up once every year. One year we decided to go to Singapore. I didn't mind cos I haven't been to Singapore in a very long time. The next year (after long debate) we decided to go to Bali (during my birthday week because of schedule conflict with everyone), and I gotta spend a lot more money than I wanted to, due to:
1. one person demanded a private villa with pool
2. one person demanded a luxury spa (alternatif yg gw kasih dan harganya cuman sepertiga, sukses ditolak)
I even had to literally beg to spend a night in Ubud, because the others wants to just stay in Seminyak for 3 nights (2 yrs before, I went to Bali and stayed in Seminyak for 3 nights) by saying "gw udah ngalah mau ke Bali, kenapa sih ga mau stay di Ubud semalem doank?". Hahahhahaha. Baru deh yg lain iya2. Huh. The next year, I finally said "no, I'm not going". Not because I don't like being with them, but it's just too much money to spend for something I didn't really want. The plan was to go to a city in Java by plane (yg gw sering pergi krn ada sodara di situ), and do nothing except eating and spa-ing. No, thank you. Secara gw juga sering ketemu mereka... ya at least in the past 6 months masih ketemu lah. So the term of "reunion" didn't work either. Anyway, kalo ada yg baca dan merasa, well, I still love you as a good friend but maybe our travel preference are not suit to each other so just accept it. Eh tp sebenernya sebagian dari temen2 yg itu sih bisa dijadiin travel companion, ga semuanya ajah.

If you are still wondering what kind of a traveler I am, I'm just gonna list the trip I did these past years with brief explanation (in not chronological order). Kalo ada pembaca yang mau gw bikinin posting terpisah, let me know (Halah! kayak ada yg baca ajah).

1. Karimun Jawa. 4D/3N, flight to Semarang, car to Jepara,  ferry (plus a sick fisherman boat) to Karimun Jawa, decent hotel with AC, and cost only around 1,7mil per person all inclusive.

2. Pulau Tidung n Pramuka, 3D/2N, public boat from Muara Angke, homestay, and other usual activities there, cost me only around 400-500k.

3. Lombok, 5D/4N. City tour on the first day then hike up Mt Rinjani to its crater and lake (not summit) and camp for 2N (it is hard core OMG. but worth it). And back to nice hotel in Senggigi for the last night cos we missed the boat to Gili Trawangan. Ya maap dehhhh... dengkul gw sakit banget pas turun gunung hiks. And at that time I found out I had iliotibial band syndrome a.k.a knee pain for hikers. Ah, sudah tua. I forgot the cost, may be around 3-4mil. Dan sekarang pas gw lihat harganya, buseeeetttt... naik jauh loh dari 2 tahun lalu hueueuheuhe. Gara2 pindah airport dan BBM naik.

4. Tanjung Puting, 4D/3N. 2N stay on the boat (klotok), and 1N in the hotel in town. It was an life-changing experience seeing the palm oil - forest destruction - orang utan in there plus relaxing journey by sleeping on the deck with mosquito net and mattress and watching bekantan and monkeys jumping all around you. Ahhh, and went to Pasar Malem di kotanya. Cost: 3mil ++.

5. Kepulauan Derawan, 4D/3N. I think it turned out quite affordable, like around 3 mil. We did one day of diving, 1 day of snorkel plus swimming with Manta Rays which were awesomeeeee!!!! Not to forget the most important point-of-interest: Kakaban Lake with non-stinging jellyfish.

6. Belitung, 4D/3N. Went with my cousins and their parents, so I don't know how much it cost. Hahahahha... And my aunt even said it was more beautiful than Hawaii.

7. Citarik rafting + 1N camping. About 500k. Biasalah ya yg ini....

8. Buniayu cave, 2D/1N. Caving + rappelling in waterfall nearby. It was awesomeee! But not to repeat though ahahhaha... It was 5 hours hike in the cave, lots of weird and beautiful rocks plus bugs with no eyes. Cost: 350rb.

9. Gn Gede. 2D/1N. Reliving my high school memory though the hike trail is not as natural as it used to be (the stones hurt my knees), but well... I can still manage to climb up to the top! Cost: 350rb.

10. Gn Papandayan. 2D/1N. Asli deh ga kebayang ada gunung sebagus ini di deket Jakarta. Gampang pula naiknya... those of you unexperienced hiker, go check this out. So worth it! Cost: 600rb.

That's all I guess. There were few other expensive trips sponsored by my parents. I won't be paying for myself any expensive trips because I prefer save the money for other stuff (like renovating the house) and other trips! Tapi sekarang lagi planning buat Flores-Komodo trip, yang kaga bisa murah! Hiks.

The point of writing about this is, I feel bad for people who don't want to travel to some beautiful place because of their lack of facilities. Especially in Indonesia, lots of beautiful places still don't have a good transportation and infrastructure, tourist management, or star hotels. Like Rinjani, it's a hardwork to go there, and I said to hubby at that time "if it is in some developed country, I bet there are already cable cars here. I hope I can take my kids with cable cars in the future". Tapi jangan salah, makanan yg dimasak oleh porter2 di sana sekelas sama masakan restoran loh. Cobain deh kalo ga percaya.

Buat kamu2 yg ga mau pergi cuman karena takut ini dan itu, hotelnya jelek, pesawat kecil, kapalnya kayu lah... percaya deh, rasa petualangan itu akan mengalahkan ketidaknyamanan. Gw aja yg suka insomnia kalo tidur di tempat baru bisa survive, why don't you? :) And it's lucky for us who can experience both worlds :)

Get these out of my chest!

I know I shouldn't post negative thoughts or complaints but I need to vent it away:

1. You know you really are married when your travel peeps no longer ask you to join them. When I asked, they made excuses such as it's not them who arrange it and I might be have something else important because I'm freaking married. Thanks.

2. This landlady who almost got us in trouble because she was late in paying the maintenance fee asked for a raise in rent. Blegh.

3. It seems my waist-to-hip ration increases quite a bit and tonight I got a fitting for my dress for my cousin's wedding. Let's see. -cubit2 pinggang-

Visiting Chicago for Indonesians

My friend and her hubby are going to Chicago. Not only it's her first time to Chicago but also to US. So I emailed her this guide to use up her 4 days in Chicago wisely. I copied it from my email, I haven't edited anything due to my laziness *ha ha* But I bet it will be helpful to some people. I left Chicago 4 yrs ago, hopefully this is still okay. And please note, some of the attractions are only suitable for summer (temen gw pergi pas summer soalnya)

_________________________________________________________________________________
Yay! You're going to Chicago!!

Essentials:

- public transport: http://www.transitchicago.com/maps/

kalau dari airport bisa naik blue line ke Downtown. Kalo hotel elo di magnificent mile, my best guess is it's near red line. 

- ada jg yg namanya Metra. Commuter train buat ke suburbs. Dulu gw kerja naek ini.

Sight Seeing, Picture Spot:

- Magnificent mile. Di peta sepanjang jln 41: N Lake Shore Drive. Itu bisa sambil jalan kaki/jogging, nyusurin pantai aja ke south, nanti ketemu:

- N Michigan Ave. Kanan kirinya toko2... bs lanjut ke: 

- S Michigan Ave/Millenium Park n Grant Park. Ada Buckingham Fountain, the Bean, ada semacem teater outdoor, kalo wiken biasanya ada show. Atau hari biasa siang2 ada rehearsal. Lanjut lg ke

- Navy pier. Kaya Port gitu, bisa duduk2 n foto2 makan es krim. Ada Children Museum, Glass Museum n Bianglala gitu. Terus ikut:

- Boat tour: waktu itu gw ambil yg ini http://www.wendellaboats.com/ yg lake n river tour. Tp kalo bisa mending ambil yg Chicago Sunset. Make sure book first.

- Museum Campus. Nah kalo sini waktu sunset/malem yak. Bisa foto2 dengan latar belakang Chicago Skyline. Best spot is the road between Shedd Aquarium and Adler Planetarium. Kalo ke sininya siang jg bagus foto2 di depan Field Museum.

Total di atas ini bisa diselesaiin sehari asal ga lelet2 jalannya ya hehehehe... Kalau naik mobil, sedia 25sen yg banyak buat parkir di pinggir jalan. belum tentu ada gedung parkir dan kalaupun ada pasti mahal bgt.

Museum:

- Museum campus: Field museum, Shedd aquarium, Adler Planetarium. Kalo ada wkatu ke Field boleh, lainnya membosankan ehuuhehuehue... Kalo cuman sebentar di Chicago sih foto2 ajalah di sini...

- Chicago Art Institute, nah ini di Millenium park. Bagus juga kalau suka lukisan2.

- Museum Science and Industry. Nah ini seruuu... http://www.msichicago.org/ lagi ada special exhibit: The Animal Kingdom. Sayangnya bukan Body World... kalo iya pasti Andi suka :p

Shopping

- N Michigan Ave for branded items (ada sih yg standard mall gitu). Cari parkir susah n super mahal (up to $30 per hour). Naik train/bus aja. 

- My fave mall: Westfield Old Orchard in Skokie, North of Chicago. Jauh sih kalo ga punya mobil...

- The 2nd biggest mall in the US: Woodfield Mall in Schaumburg, West of Chicago. Ga penting sih... kalo kelebihan waktu banget baru ke sini :p

- Gurnee Mills Outlet. Sejam ke North

- Chicago Premium Outlet kalo mo belanja di sini enak nih... http://www.premiumoutlets.com/outlets/outlet.asp?id=63 Nun jauh di west tapi ya.

- Pleasant Prairie outlet. Nah ini lebih jauh lagi dr Gurnee, jd kalo mo ke sini cuman kalo lo mau ke Renaissance Faire (see below) http://www.premiumoutlets.com/outlets/outlet.asp?id=90

Other attractions outside the city

- Six Flags Gurnee Mills, very recommended kalo demen sama jetcoaster. Ini extreme. bukan kaya Disneyland atau dufan. Isinya jetcoster doank plus bbrp yg serem2 lainnya. 

- Milwaukee. 2 hrs driving north. 

- Bristol Renaissance Faire http://www.renfair.com/bristol/. Nah ini jg jauh di north di perbatasan Wisconsin. Seru sih kalo ada waktu yg bisa di-spare. Kalo mau ke sini, bisa sekalian ke premium outlet Pleasant Prairie, tp lebih kecil dr yg Aurora

Culinary Chicago/American-Style:

- Deep Dish Pizza. This is the signature of Chicago. Gw sukanya yg di restoran Lou Malnati's cuman kayanya di downtown agak jarang. Giordano's or Gino's will do too.

- Chicago-style Hot Dog. restoran: Portillo. 

- kalo Garrett belom buka di Singapur, I will direct you to Garrett. Tp since udah ada yaaa... kalo ketemu aja ya. Ada di downtown. Jangan ke yg Mich Ave karena pasti ngantre, ke yg State St aja. 

- Cobain Jamba Juice deh. smoothies, seger n sehat banget.

- Cheesecake Factory (it's a restaurant) in N Mich Ave. Entah kenapa ngantrenya gila2an... gw sih biasa aja ehuuehhuehu...

- Original Pancake House, for breakfast

- The Bongo Room, for breakfast also, gw sih biasa aja sama ini cuman entah kenapa terkenal bener :p

Culinary- Others:

- Brazillian: Fogo de Chao. Ini All u can eat daging2an. 

- Spanish Tapas: Cafe Iberico. Lumayan murah dibanding resto lain. The paella and white sangria are great 

- Peruvian: Machu Piccu, Ashland Ave. Steak2an jg sih. Cuman gw demen bgt sama stuffed mushroomnya (ga nyambung yak auhhuauha)

- Greek... nah ini gw lupa yg pernah gw makan apa. Cuman ada GreekTown di Chicago.

Culinary-Asian: 

- Ken-Kee, New ChinaTown. the best fish in special sake sauce, u can't find it anywhere else (sambil ngiler deh gw nulisnya)

- Lao Sze Chuan, Old China Town. Tony's Chicken, again u can't find it anywhere else. Kalo pada demen pedes bisa ke sini

- BBQ King, New China Town. Barbeque pork, roast pork, roast duck

- Green Tea Japanese Restaurant, Lincoln Park. Entah kenapa Salmon suhinya enak bener

- Joy-Yee bubble drink, New China Town. You gotta try! Ini pake juice asli semua. Durian, avocado, mango, dan yg lain2 enak :p 

- Seven Treasures, Old China Town. Braised noodlenya enak... biasanya gw pesen sama roast duck dan roast pork (gembul bener...)

(Old n New China Town tuh sebelahan. Naek aja red line, turun di Cermak)

- San Soo Gab San, Korean Town (a bit north of downtown). Korean BBQ gitu lah

- Tang Noodle, Vietnam Town (a bit north of downtown). favorite gw jauh di west... yg ini lumayan :p

- Star of Siam (Thai), Downtown. Favorite gw jauh di North sih, yg ini lumayan juga lah.

Itu aja kali yaaa... Moga2 bermanfaat. Have fun!!