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Culinary Hidup di Belanda Netherlands

The best ramen in town – SAPPORO SORA AMSTERDAM

13th March 2017 - 3 min read

Ahh rasanya saya harus banget ngebahas ini diblog..

Ramen ini bener-bener enakkk banget! Sebenernya saya belum pernah ke Jepang sih dan nggak paham rasa ramen harusnya gimana, tapi rasa ramen ini parah banget enaknya menurut lidah saya. Temen-temen Asia yang bermukim di Amsterdam semua punya pendapat yang sama soal tempat ini. Orang Jepang dan Korea yang lidahnya memang sudah terbiasa dengan ramen juga bilang ramen ini sangat sangat autentik. Selain itu, harganya juga cocok di kantong.

The best ramen in town Sapporo Sora Amsterdam

Ini dia link-nya, bisa cek menu juga disitu. Kalau bisa,  pilihlah menu in advance, karena pilihannya sangat banyak! Dan pas waktunya ramai banget (lunch dan dinner), orang akan antre dan kalau saya pribadi merasa nggak nyaman ditungguin orang. Jadi dengan memilih  menu sebelumnya akan mempercepat proses makan.

Di menu-nya diceritakan asal usul dari ramen dan Sapporo Ramen. Sapporo ternyata sebuah daerah di Jepang (ibukota dari Hokkaido) yang terkenal dengan ramen miso-nya.

The best ramen in town Sapporo Sora Amsterdam

Halal atau nggak?

Nggak ada sign yang menunjukkan kalau makanan di warung Sapporo Sora ini halal tapi dia menyajikan menu vegetarian juga.

Menu lain?

Ada juga dan semuanya enak. Saya menikmati sekali takoyaki dari warung ini, juga chicken donburi dan gyoza-nya. Super enak! apalagi dengan ditemani segelas teh hijau  asli Jepang.

The best ramen in town Sapporo Sora Amsterdam The best ramen in town Sapporo Sora Amsterdam

Selamat mencoba!!!

Europe Italy

Naples, Italy Trip Suggestions

28th December 2016 - 6 min read

 

As my parents were in town, Damar and I had made some plans to take them somewhere Europe. But as I could not take that many days off, we were looking for options that allow us to explore for 1 week and enough. And the choice fell to Naples, an old city in the Southern part of Italy. This was going to be my second trip to Italy, but certainly my first trip to Italy with Damar and more over my parents. My dad always has a special interest in history especially Islamic, after last year visiting the Andalusia to walk on the history trail, this time should be a somewhat a good resume to the last trip. And for me, I was so excited to eat the PIZZA NAPOLITANA in its birth place!

Find the suggestions below:

  1. FLIGHT TICKET: We purchased the ticket from a low fare airline (EASY JET) for 92 euro/person. We decided not to buy extra baggage because everything is considered cheaper in Italy (compared to the Netherlands) and we could just do our groceries over there (SUPER IMPORTANT! especially with mama coming along, she demands some home food cooking that herself will cook :p). It also allow us to feel a little bit more blended to the real Neapolitan. Plus it was super summer time thus all of our clothes were thin and light. Our ticket got us directly to International Airport Napoli Capodichino, we arrived at around 8 pm. Once landed, we took ALIBUS and head to the central railway station for 3 Euros (one way ticket)
  2. PHONE, WIFI, INTERNET: For those who want to keep WIFI, you can purchase the EU-bundle which is 5 euro/day. Or just turn the roaming on when you need  it the most. The city WIFI does exist but unreliable.
  3. PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION/RENT CAR: We have decided to walk everywhere and a little bit of metro when needed. At first I was a little worried for my mother, but she made to all of the places so well. I think one of the privileges to be in Europe is that everything is easily accessible and pedestrian friendly. I wanted to enjoy the street life and the building that we might miss by taking the subway. Also some places we wanted to target in the city is really walking distance, so I was not being mean to my mom, but because I know it is reasonable for them. The traffic is quite crazy in the city due to the lack of discipline (similar with Indonesia) and the massiveness of motorcycle. It is just not the most convenient place to drive. I understand that Damar prefers to be stress free by not bearing the responsibility to protect the car and us, plus looking for parking lot.
  4. FOOD: Italian food is all bellissimo!! However, be careful to buy in the touristic center because the price can be so different and with average taste (taste like an instant pasta sauce, which is still delicious for me but it could have been much better with the price). The must try is L’Antica Pizzeria da Michele and order the PIZZA! all is good and made in the stoned oven. It is so simple yet super delicious! The portion is HUGE so you can share with 2 people. Depends on how big your appetite and your stomach capacity is. HAHA. I could eat one by myself but mom and dad shared. There were only 2 choices there, which were NAPOLETANA (tomato and garlic) AND MARINARA (tomato, garlic, and herbs). Both are good! I don’t prefer either one. The seafood of south of Italy is fresh and tasty. I bought fishes and octopus in the local market to be processed at our airbnb, it was just amazing. Simply pressed lemon on top of it and some veggies or rucola. You should try octopus salad (insalata di polpo) if you go to a restaurant. Sooo good and fresh!!! no fishy taste at all. Things that you have to try as well is the dessert, Sfogliatella. Sfogliatella means “small, thin leaf/layer”, as the pastry’s texture resembles stacked leaves and it is filled with cream filled.
  5. ACCOMMODATION: We stayed at airbnb with the owner named Carlo, he is an old italian man who does not really speak english. The house works perfectly and the woods there are from hundreds of century ago. I feel like seeing an art gallery as there are old elements in the house interior in every corner.
  6. MUST PLACE TO VISIT: Mount Vesuvius, Pompei, Capri Island (Blue Grotto, Capri and Anacapri – a day), Amalfi Coast, Naples National Archaeological Museum, and Toledo Metro Station.

And below are the videos I made that sum up our holiday.

DAY 1-2 (Mount Vesuvius and Pompei)

Day 3 (Naples National Archaeological Museum, and Toledo Metro Station plus the street around it)

Day 4 (CAPRI Island)

Europe Family Life Netherlands

Birthday and 2nd time at Giethoorn – with parents and husband

28th December 2016 - 7 min read

How time flew, just a few years back I visited Giethoorn with good friends that are now back in Indonesia, with my brother who is already back in Indonesia, and I was still in a long distance relationship with my ex, then.

This time, I touched the water of Giethoorn for the second time with my husband and my beloved parents. My parents were visiting me and my sister, while also babysitting my sister’s children during their Hajj time in mid of September. They stayed in the Netherlands for more than a month. I hoped it could re-pay the time we missed to spend together and paying back a little bit for everything that they have sacrificed for me and my siblings. I know that all of those efforts were priceless and could never been re-paid, but I’d do anything to make them happy and to listen to their wishes. Too bad I was not able to take too many days off, but we managed to escape during the weekend or a little bit more. This little trip to North-West of Holland was in the first weekend of their stay. We were afraid of the weather that gone back the days prior our visit, but our worry was proved to be wrong. The weather turned out so great, very beautiful and sunny. It was just us four and actually the very first quality time my parents spent together with their son-in-law. I had to say it went pretty well. There was something magical seeing Damar interacted with my parents. I shall cherish the moment… Hence the bunch of pictures..

Oh and by the way, my birthday was also that week. Damar got me a beatiful mirrorless camera that I fell in love instantly. To be fairly honest, we had this discussion about camera way before my birthday so I am quite aware for his little surprise. He said so I can take better pictures. That just motivated me to start learning about photography. I was born in a family who loves photography, my dad (and brother) used to be a photographer himself.  The camera is Canon EOSM3 with 24.29 Megapixels (as sharp as the reality). Lens 3.10xzoom 18-55mm, shutter is 1/4000-30 seconds and it is quite light as well just 350 gram. I’d ike to say this is mini version of SLR.

So below are my captures with  my new toy, no editing involved (it’s too beautiful as is but also because I took it from my lens, my perspective while considering the amount of light already). Another challenge in the new age for making my life always alive: Photography and Videography.

Cheers to more adventurous life with my forever travel buddy and good moments with loved ones..



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About the place

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Giethoorn. It is so peaceful, so different and has such simple beauty that is very gentle. The only transportation back then was through the canal/water hence the boat as the main tourist attraction. For local, this place is not considered as a place to go, and not so many Dutch know that people call this city as ‘the Venice of Netherlands’. But believe it or not, because I reckoned, a partnership of a Holland trip agency, there a lot of Asian especially Chinese tourist in the city which allows you reading chinese/mandarin menu in the restaurant ad store.

I went from Amsterdam by car and it took around 2 hours via the highway. According to Damar, it is quite convenient driving city to city by car because of the accessibility of high way and lower cost, only we did not contribute to the emission decreasing. Train goes to this city as well. You have to stop in Almere and then Steedwijk and transfer to Bus 70 to the city of Giethoorn. Because of its size, the last public transportation is quite early as well. You have to assure you leave the city no more than 7 pm especially in the winter.

It is worth visiting but it is not necessary to take more than 1 day in this city and you don’t have to stay over in the hotel locally.

Cost

Return ticket Ams-Giethoorn = € 49.17

Boat = € 17.00

Haring = € 3.00

Kibbeling (fried fish) = € 5.00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ME!

Europe France Life Thoughts

Weekend at Refugee Camp Grand Synthe, North of France

28th September 2016 - 14 min read

12 Sept 2016

I snuggled with Damar just 15 minutes before I wrote this post, I was very upset taking a closer look to the news of Calais strike today (after I received an email chain from TOMS carrier about the possibility of delayed goods due to the strike – says a person who works in a supply chain department :)). Freight drivers blockaded the main road leading to the port of Calais demanding French authorities to shut down a refugee camp or the ‘Jungle’. Drivers want to force the government to address what they say are increasingly violent roadside attacks and rising human and economic costs associated with stowaways trying to get to the U.K.

I was sad because I know I cannot do anything to make the situation any better. I cannot even picture the feeling of those cornered refugees. There might be some people who do some harms to other people, but the majority of them do not do it. All of them have nowhere to go and they certainly do not choose to be in this position. Calais has more than 2500 refugees who want to get the asylum to the UK, for the sake of having peace and to create a better life. Seems like they do not acknowledge what has been going on in the UK recently. But who can blame them, they do not want so much, they just want to live a normal life with open opportunities.

Anyway speaking of which, on the 26-28 of August, I was lucky and humbled to be able to get the chance to visit the refugee camp, not in Calais, but in Grand Synthe, also in the Northern part of France. Having witnessed it, Grand Synthe is relatively in much better condition than Calais. I was there in the occasion of TOMS’ Tomorrow’s Project. One of my TOMS colleague, Marie, who is French, and other 9 French women initiated a program called Le Recho (REfuge. CHaleur. Optimisme). This program is in the culinary area and the aim is to provide healthy food with full of nutrition. Most likely the food provided in such camp are fulfilling in terms quantity (such as rice, noodles, pasta piece of meat, small amount of veggies), but not quality.

Nutrition is actually plays a very important role to combat depression in which could trigger sickness more easily. There is a monthly budget allocation from TOMS to any project that its employees have, and by the by it does not have to be a project from the employee directly but could also be a project from friends/family in your surrounding. I personally felt very privileged to have this kind of opportunity because as I know there are a lot of people who are willing to help and/or donate but does not have an easy access to. For me, this was just simply coming to my way.

I went with 5 other people consist with 2 Indonesian Women, 1 French Man, 1 French Woman, and 1 Dutch Man. We rented the car ourselves at Sixt in Amsterdam. We took half day from the office off (paid and not counted as a day off due to the voluntary activity – such a blessing!). It was Friday thus my manager did not mind at all for me to leave after lunch. We gathered at the rental car place and started driving from there. We were all a little bit anxious because of the safety that other colleagues, who was there a week before, have warned us prior the departure. I could have been bailed but I decided not to, I guess because as said earlier, this is such an opportunity to experience. I re-winded why I ended up where I am now. I wanted to do something more meaningful and close to feel more fulfilling by what I do everyday even though the impact might be small. And when what I do everyday gets me nearly to the extra philanthropist activity, I would not say No.

It took around 4-5 hours from point A to B. We arrived at 19.00 in Grand Synthe and went straight to the camp just to check in and have a quick look around. I was nervous because I did not know what or who I would encounter. When I entered the camp, I remember what they all said to not look at people’s face/eyes especially another gender for too long, do not take pictures, do not make that much noises, do not wear over exposed clothes. I did everything except looking at people’s eyes/face. I guess I would feel respected when people greet and look me in the face/eye. I believe, in this situation, smile does not do any harm but warming, the eyes tell that there are other people care about their beings.

There were a lot of guys, wait, to be honest, I only saw Men. Most women were asked by their spouse or family to stay inside the house. Some households can be very lucky to have stoves inside to cook. Those are sold around there, and only people with money can buy that kind of luxury. After the entrance, there was a power charge station where the guys used for charging, hangout, simply chat with others, or just to be alone, there was a small table where some refugees sold several items (food, tissues, snacks, etc), there was a small barbershop in the corner, and there is also a hotdog/snack place nearby. Grand Synthe refugee camp depends on the food 100% to the donations. Any food there is free expect the one that is run by refugees.

That 1st day went by so quickly. We were warned to be out from the camp before it got dark, because the darkness brings all the insecurity within. Those are the times when the smugglers do their job. By smugglers, I mean people who get refugees from the war countries in to France. These people also come from war countries, but they slightly are more lucky in terms of financial and sly in terms of using that privilege. They demand those refugees to pay a fortune to get them out of the country. Back in the past couple of months, they have to have 5000-8000 euro per person to get in to the boat with no guarantee they will arrive safe and sound. Nowadays, it is around 10000 euro. Those refugees are rather educated and rich in their home country, I cannot image what about other unfortunate people who do not have that amount of money in their saving.

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Our stay 🙂 More than perfect. We felt very safe.

It was a hard day….. I could not loosen up thinking how fortunate and how grateful I am born in a safe country with a family who love me whole-heartedly and now live in so much developed country where thousand of opportunities open. I just have sooooo much uncountable options.

The 2nd day started at 08.00. We stopped for a quick breakfast in the Brasserie nearby our stay and we drove straight to the kitchen. The kitchen was not inside the refugee camp as there was already people who run the kitchen there, who is the refugee themselves. We wanted to avoid any conflict possible, hence the rented kitchen. The kitchen was at the back of a theatre. I am not sure whether it was rented or donated, but surely the mayor is there everyday and help preparing the food. He is very warm-hearted and earned so much respect. He was the one who fought the government to create a proper neighborhood for refugees. It looked horrible, muddy, vulnerable back then, now much better (shown in the above pictures).

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Sarita, the other Indonesian from TOMS 😉

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Giom- the French guy, is ‘cooking’ 🙂

img_5999The food is all vegetarian – so much respect for the organizer! I was worried with the fact that most refugees are from Muslim country, that they would refuse non-halal food. But the doubt was answered clearly. We cooked until lunch time, the quality was undoubtedly high class. Especially because it was cooked with heart. Hopefully the love could be delivered through food. That day, the food was bulgur salad, sponge cake and banana. The hit was in the cake, it was finished in a split second, I guess because it was a luxury that they could not always get. They eat something to get through the day. We served the food and then ate together with all of them. And for the dinner, we cooked together with the refugees over there to involve them in the activity to avoid any power struggle. Because we did not want to dominate anyone, we were there to help.

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Left to right: Laurens (Dutch) – Nadia (fellow Indonesian) – Giom (French)

In between the time, we went to check out the women Centre. We brought some old kids clothes given by my colleagues’ friends to be donated to the women centre inside the camp. I checked on the wish list board, it filled with normal woman stuff, they need make up, tights, hair dye, literally, they do not want so much. I wish I had all the money in the world to bring all they want/need.

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What I have learnt from the trip:

  • You have to experience something yourself in order give judgement and put things into perspective
  • There are so many hatred out there, including the local themselves towards refugees. Do not hate things you do not know!
  • Those refugees are not bad people, they were once a normal people with normal life and opened opportunities like all of us, but their country happened to be in a war
  • The people that are in the refugees are not all victims from wars, there are also people from other countries who would like to get into the UK. I personally think, these kind of people need to be filtered and less prioritized
  • Language of love always works!
  • Most of the people there are Kurdish, some from Turkey, and Afghanistan. These different cultures could possibly spark a conflict between them
  • I learnt from those people that there is always HOPE. To have the privilege to not to be in a war country, to have  a lot options should NEVER be taken for granted. We should make the best out of our privileges. 

I am very glad to always be reminded again and again…. There is a reason for each human to be born in this world, one of those is to help one another.

Dreams Europe Hidup di Belanda Netherlands

Skydiving in Texel Netherlands

14th August 2016 - 14 min read

The day had finally come!! Skydiving has always been in my bucket list for so long and this year I promised myself to get it over with!

It surely is a scary thing, yet exciting just come to think about it. Damar and I were already dating when I saw this discount offer in Groupon.nl. I had been eyeing Groupon for discount in this particular thing and one day I came across “Paracentrum Texel 100eur korting”. The deal was buying the voucher for 20eur, and we got 100eur discount in the original price. The original price for Experience Package (including documentary) was 344eur. Thus total amount would be 264eur for this whole package.

I proposed this idea to Damar and he immediately agreed. All we needed to do was making the reservation. As much as I was excited, I kept on postponing it until at the moment I realized that I just had got to call, reserve and wait to the day. Honestly, we bought the ticket on March and made the reservation last week LOL. We thought to make the reservation for week after so we did not have to wait that long and did not have time to get nervous. WRONG! I was still nervous!

In fact, I was already nervous on Friday on my way from work to the office, my head was dizzy and my stomach was tickled. It was a mixed feeling between excitement and anxiety, predominantly the anxiety. That Friday night we spent resting and chilling at home, as the next day we had to go to Texel very early in the morning to assure that we would get our initial time slot (09.00-11.30). The next day, of course, we overslept for an hour 😛 but we knew we would still be on time. That’s the perks of giving buffer time!

We woke up at 6.30, got ready, had some leftover Rendang fried rice from last night and left the house at 7.10 to catch the bus at 7.23. First, going to Zaandam (25 mins), then take the train to Den Helder from Zaandam (60 minutes). Apparently, Damar and I arrived earlier so we had times to buy ourselves lunch and drinks for on the way. As the Texel Airport was in the middle of nowhere, we anticipated that it would be rather difficult to find what we want, even if there is, it would be pricey. We took  bus number 33 and arrived in the harbor. The ferry is called TESO and it had everything inside i.e proper cafeteria and toilet.

The journey took 20 mins, it allowed us to enjoy ourselves in the ferry. That morning was very beautiful and the sky looked blue. Seemed like a good sign! We were hoping that it’d stay that way the whole day..

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This is how the Ferry looks from the inside, quite spacious huh

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Could be an idea to feed the seagul with some breads, they will come over around you. Look at that blue sky!

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Still fresh and full of energy! Who know what was inside my head.

Once we arrived in Texel harbor, we were already being waited by Texel Hopper bus, the only bus that would take us the the airport. It was 3 euro/person and the reservation needed to be made online at least an hour before the schedule of departure. The list of which can be checked online. It was a mini bus and it could accommodate like only 8-10 people. I started getting anxious and could not stop holding Damar’s hand. Actually a moment before that I realized my gum, where the stitch made after wisdom removal surgery 2 weeks ago, felt weird, apparently it got bigger. But hell, the nerve was dominating my feeling.

We went directly to the reception and told them we made the reservation. Unfortunately there was one thing we did not consider that they might ask for the Groupon voucher. And yes they did. Actually it should have not been a problem but it was because at that very moment, Groupon website decided to be down! The timing could not be more right *eyeroll* I could not connect and find my voucher anywhere in my mail. We struggled for one hour, called people at home, until Damar’s lil bro at home could find the voucher in my laptop somehow. Fuhhhh!

But by the time we were ready, the skydivers were on standby due to the low cloud and we had to wait until 3 pm. We killed the time by having coffee in the Hotel Texel Restaurant next to the airport or what divers call ‘dropzone’. We sipped the drinks, read, moved here, talked superficially, moved there, talk deeply, ate, took a nap, then we got so boreeeeeeeed and needed to move so we went outside.

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Still okay.. Reading is good

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The look of my ‘getting bigger’ cheek. It started getting a bit hurt.

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Coffee and reading. GOOD! for the first 2 hours.

It was such a good idea to (buy) bring some snacks for the wait. At 15.30, the sky looked not so gloomy anymore and the crew started to call out people’s name meaning they started to send skydivers up again. Oh my God, after the rest, my heart was jumping again. The first plane went up and 20 minutes later, we saw black dots came down from the sky, 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9, people with parachute getting closer to the ground and eventually arrived safely. My head was full with excitement!!!

After 5 rounds, they put on standby again as the cloud was not as clear, but forecasted the condition would be better at 18.00. So we waited again. By then, I was laying my back down the bean bag, no energy and plus my gum was painful. I laid down in the big hangar where the divers practiced and folded their used parachute. I was watching them and trying to investigate what they did 😛 One thing I learnt, those people seems very free-spirited and happy. Looks like they enjoyed what they are doing and they get paid for their hobby.

The clock turned to 19.00, Damar came back from checking our name in the board and he said it got closer to our turn. Okay, I was a bit shaky but EXCITED!!!! 5 minutes 10 minutes, I heard my somebody called my anme and asked to put our stuff in the locker. Here it is…. (could not feel the pain of my gum anymore, as my mind was distracted).

We put on our astronaut’s clothes with the gears and was explained what we could expect up there. We had to wait until the plane picked us up while in the mean time we met our tandem. My tandem was Alexandre, we did not have so much chances to chat. I was so worried because I did not know the guy so well, who knows what could happen righttt?. I think it’s a good thing to get to know your tandem to build the trust. Obviously, I did not get it in the beginning. All I did was surrender.

However at the end, I discovered that he’s nice and quite cynically funny whom the joke I could get. We went on the plane and was videographed the entire time, guessing my fear face could not be covered anymore lol. Damar and I had our own videographer, we were practically followed by them.

On the airplaine, we were instructed by our own tandem what to do. The good thing about doing the jump with tandem is that we do not have to worry about opening the parachute and so on. We are supposed to just relax and enjoy the view. Alexandre started getting ready, he made sure I saw that he hooked the locks which connected both of us. I was apparently the first one that would be jumping. Basically, all I had to do was getting on Alexandre’s lap, leaned on him and when jumping turn my head to the left as well as pulled the legs to the back. Before we noticed, the airplane reached 9000 feet (3 km), the plane door was opened and we had to jump!

WOWWWW.. I still remember the feeling of adrenaline! Alexandre tapped my back twice and it means that it’s the time to spread my wings 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

The feeling up there was incredible, I could not really put it into words. It was very quiet, heart full of gratitude.

The freefall took about half minutes and I posed to the camera trying to make heart shape, but FAILED big time. My weight is too light to force the pressure of the wind lol. It was cold up there, and I could not see anything as we went through the white cloud. 30 seconds later, I could see the lands, and Alexandre opened his parachute. It pulled us up gently and let us hang there for minutes. Worst thing is before landing, he had to make the turn (going round) to stir and avoid all of us arrived in the drop zone at the same time. That made me dizzy badly, I promised I could vomit. So one tip: close your eyes when it happened, it reduced the feeling of vomitting. Anddd we landedd!!!!!

I was so happy! Apparently Damar was already there. Glad to see each other again! We promised to meet again on the ground, and there we were! Alhamdulillahhhh!!!!

It was totally worth the wait!!

So, what to prepare before skydiving? It is no big deal, big deal, but I did some of these before skydiving, and it helped

  • Before scheduling the day, check the weather forecast and how to go there
  • Healthy fitted body! It will certainly be unenjoyable when you are ill, and the pressure might worsen the sickness. (Dont jump with swollen cheek or stitches in your body!)
  • Tell all the family, especially parents. Their motivation and admirance will be very positive to have approaching to the day of skydiving
  • For me, prayer is one of those things that can make me calm, thus do whatever it is that makes your nerve a bit more loosen up, e.g meditation
  • Bring some snacks/food and a bottle of water (that you can refill), drinking water can help to freshen the mind. Also, like in my case, you’ll never know with the cloud condition, all those will be useful when you have to wait for the entire day
  • Documents that you will need for registration in the front desk (in my case, Groupon print out/email)
  • Wear the most comfortable clothes that you own in your wardrobe, wear sneakers that are very tights to avoid it getting lose and fall from the sky
  • Tie up your hair!! It will be very hardly windy up there, and last thing you want to do is to annoy your instructur with your long flying hair
  • Take off whatever is valuable and detachable (I removed my wedding ring for example)
  • Feed your mind with positivity
  • And last but not least, happy mind, face and SMILEEEE! After all, you will be able to scratch off your bucket list! For me, that is very motivating

 

 

 

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Asia Culinary Hongkong

Hongkong Transit 8hours part 2 (day to night)

12th August 2016 - 7 min read

This is going to be a very late post about our transit in Hongkong for 8 hours. This time will be the continuity after previously explained about Part 1 a few months back. I still believe in the saying, “better late than never” 😛

So on our way back to Amsterdam, we had to stop over in Hongkong again as part of the ticket deal that was long awaited. This time, we landed in the late afternoon, around 14.20 pm which actually allowed us to do something we could not experience in our first visit. This time we wanted to have the different ambience in the city of Hongkong, saw the big buildings which I found much similar with Jakarta, and went to the harbour to stare the city from another point of view.

The following will show more or less our itinerary in the short time in Hongkong. Our priority was to try the culinary, take ferry and enjoy the sunset/night view of Hongkong. First thing first, we set our alarm to leave wherever we are at 21.00 to be at the airport at 22.00. Our flight was at 00.15 am, it was a quite long buffer as it was actually an easy access to go back to the airport. We needed to assure we did not let the time fly by like that haha so we had to enjoy every second, but also limited ourselves without forgetting the time (thanks to alarm!).

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Just like explained in the other post about transiting in Hongkong, first thing to do was queuing the immigration and drop off the luggage in the ‘locker’. After finishing the drop off, we went to toilet, freshened up, and changed. Felt like a new person with a new spirit once cleaned. It is a must do before start exploring the city. This time we withdrew HK$700 for 2 person, which at the end, remained a lot. I still have more than HK$100 in my purse until now :/

In this second trip, we did not take the bus, but the metro instead. I must say, it’s more convenient, smooth, and faster than the bus. We headed to the city (Kowloon). The price was around HK$180 and it took 21 minutes to get into the city.

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We went through a building to another building and another building trying to search for the very famous dimsum restaurant called Tim Ho Wan Dim Sum Specialist, it’s a Michelin Restaurant. We expected, it was supposed to be good and very authentic. But we got lost at some point and could not find the place any more. At some point, in our disorientation, we passed through the Stanley Street where a lot of restaurants located and we also saw a restaurant that was recommended everywhere in the internet, also Michelin star. It is specialized in the roasted goose. The name is Yat Lok Roast Goose. It was pure satisfaction tasting the delicate crispness with meat and fat sinking into the juicy roast goose drum stick. YUMMY! But the turnover of the customers was so quick, thus we were there just to eat then we had to leave immediately otherwise the waitresses would look at us with an expelling eyes. Anyway, in spite of the un-coziness, the food was absolutely 5 stars.

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After fuelling our stomach, we continued walking, this time to the direction of the harbour to take Ferry. We wanted to go to the other side to catch the view on my featured image. They said, this wonderful panorama is best experienced from the water on board a Hong Kong evening harbour cruise. And they are right!

One tip: check the weather forecast. We somewhat know that it would be raining but we had no umbrella with us. Lesson learn: always bring small umbrella with you in your bag. 

We took the ferry (forgot the price!) to go to the other side. We got to see the view from TST (Tsim Sha Tsui). Every night at 8pm, we can see the Symphony of Light, where light and laser features more than 40 buildings and skyscrapers on both sides of the harbour. A lot of articles advises that this should be taking our breath away, but we did not feel it at all to be honestly saying, we barely were able to spot the lights :/ Anyway, it’s nice to get the chance experiencing it. The rain poured a little bit, so we decided to leave during the show and stopped in the small street ice cream vendors before heading back to Airport. Nice to see the kind of Asian ice cream like green tea, black bean, red bean, as I always like them. In Netherlands, those kind can only be bought in Oriental supermarket or Asian restaurants. Not common at all.

It was a nice short trip which actually was considered as our mini honeymoon 😛

I recommended if you have the chance to do the stop over to enjoy the city a little bit.

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Life in Amsterdam

7th August 2016 - 10 min read

Ever since I moved my luggage of life to the Netherlands in 2009, I had always been living in The Hague, the third biggest city in the Netherlands. It truly witnessed my struggle during college life. I adapted-adopted with things about being ‘Dutch’ since day one in that friendly city. I call it friendly because it had everything I could ever asked for as an Indonesia foreigner. As pathetic as it sounds, I still wanted to have a piece of Indonesia in where I live, and The Hague has the largest population of Indonesian (mixed blood, half blood, veteran, pure, etc). No wonder, it is practically very easy to find things that can eliminate longing feeling of my beloved home country, such as food, spices, cultures, as well as the people. In every meter I walked, I could find one or 2 Indonesians, to be roughly calculating. And I found it astonishing.. I felt like I was not alone, even though I clearly did not know all of them. Though, I made friends who then become family, I made a place who then become a home (one, two, three, four moving around, with and without my sister). I made myself an independent young woman in this very city, I watched myself grew from a spoiled little girl to be a responsible adult woman. This city was also a place that beheld the sparks between Damar and I…. whom at the end I ended up marrying to and whom the reason I had to move from this old city…..

Never had I thought, I would move to the only city I never wanted to live in, the city of tourists, Amsterdam. By only being a guest for a couple of times, I concluded that I would never live there. Oh well, I jinxed it. I started daily working and commuting The Hague-Amsterdam from 2014, hence the intensity spend in the city. I started falling in love with its beauty; the flow of its canals, its modern people, it’s old yet modern architecture, its expats life, its culinary, its parks, its easiness to access whatever. Most importantly, it allows people to have the balance life, where people could have fun and relax at the same time. Oh yes, and ultimately the fact that it is a shorter distance to work. 

Well, here I am… since I got back from Indonesia after the wedding, I moved and started living together with Damar. He has been living here from 2012. We are living in the North of Amsterdam which is likely underrated even by myself, earlier. But actually, it has a big potential, and it is exactly when I describe ‘have fun and relax at the same time’ because the neighbourhood is calm but it is still Amsterdam and I can get to the city to find madness if I’d like.

I wanted to share a sample day living in this beautiful city…

Yesterday was marked as the Gay Pride Festival. The city was all of the sudden fully packed with tourists, local people, and people from throughout the Netherlands to celebrate the freedom of choosing gender preference. Damar and I did not really want to be part of the crowd, but already planned to go the city with our bikes (YES I GOT A BIKE, TRYING TO BE A PROPER AMSTERDAMER! :P) to get ourselves to a glasses showroom of a brand called polette.nl. I am in the need of a new pair of glasses as I am getting blinder and blinder everyday. This is again what I like about Amsterdam, this kind of hippie brand, you will not find in any other cities. Amsterdam is always the first place to open something cool haha. I heard about the brand from my colleague, she said it’s very affordable with a high range of trendy, classy, cool options. I thought we could buy it right away in the store but apparently, I could only check my eyes (for free! and according to the shopkeeper the machine is one of the most expensive and accurate). I ended up finding out that my eyes are sooooo bad. Anyway, the concept of the store is to only try on and fit the glasses, to be subsequently order online. Not a problem at all! I found the winner!

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With my so not amused husband :p

We cycled through Amsterdam North, getting ourselves to the Ferry (because the connecting tunnel between the central and North is closed due to maintenance). FYI, Amsterdam North is a separate island, hence the need of connection/water transportation, and hence the underrate (haha). It was a hot sunny beautiful day, everybody was just simply smiling and happy. I almost forgot why it was more crowded than usual until I saw the rainbow flags fluttered in every corners. Here we go again, the sign of freedom 🙂 I am constantly reminded of differences between people, than we have to stay open-minded and being non-judgmental. Every body really have their own stories and people here just simply mind their own business. Let’s say, it is easy to have a true colour here, to differentiate between you and other people. 

Bicycle is the first transportation in Amsterdam, just because Amsterdam is not big, and people like to save their money. Actually it was trended because at one point, the Netherlands were full of traffic jam and the government promoted the use of bike. Anyway, it has become part of the culture for so long, and as the infrastructures support bikers, every body just gotta own it. We went through the small streets, seeing little houses and bars, and the crowd of gay pride. We stopped at a traditional market in the Old West of Amsterdam to buy some fruits. Note: if you want to buy fruit in Holland or in this case Amsterdam, buy it in the traditional market, sooo much cheaper and fresher. What I like about being in the traditional market was not only because of the price, but also the whole experiences, the life that comes with it. I liked seeing the vendors who were shouting loudly about the price their offer competing with the other vendors next to them, seeing the different people walking through the market alleys for the sake of walking, window shopping or groceries (dutch word: ‘bodschappendoen’). We ended up buying 3 different kind of fruits in a big bowl; blueberries, strawberries, and nectarines. Those are my favourite fruits that are now currently the season. We only paid less than 5 euros!!!! In Albert Heijn or Jumbo (the name of popular supermarkets), it would be like 8 euros I guess.

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After fruits (and flowers) shopping (and strike posing), we cycled back to the city towards the crowd and found a very very very nice organic salad bars (again: only in Amsterdam, this kind of lots of place options are possible :)). The place is called SLA (in English, it means ‘lettuce or salad’). We fuelled ourselves there with a powerful meal! It was super good.

 

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There goes our Saturday and we will keep on exploring the nice new places every time we could… Seems like, the size of the city does not define the richness inside it 🙂

I am glad I have got the chance to move to Amsterdam and live as an Amsterdamer.

 

XXX

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Marriage life

5th August 2016 - 4 min read

Most people ask about how does it feel to be married. It just sounds to me like a very excessive step to do in life by how people perceive and by the kind of inquiries asked in regards of handling marriage. I was worried in the beginning as when people ask the very first question after getting married, I thought there was something wrong with my answer that was always as flat as a pancake. My answer was around ‘it’s okay, it’s good, it’s  nice‘. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I still consider getting hitched, especially with Damar, as the best decision I have ever made by far. But, seems like the word ‘marry‘ is by nature a burden for a lot of people. And to be honest, I don’t think it should be seen that way. No doubt that getting married meaning you will spend the rest of your life with this one (supposedly special) person, but the process of selection has passed, decision is made, so being married is about walking the dreams, giving effort in loving each other, being our true self with at the same time, respecting one another. I don’t think getting married should stop doing what you like or start doing something you don’t like, unless we are willing to do it , noted: not only for our spouse but for ourselves. Nothing should be a strain when we do it sincerely with the aim of making the marriage work, again, not for anybody but yourself. Hence, I do not sense any force to abandon something.

It should be each other’s responsibility to put efforts in the process of understanding and actually, I do think discovering something new in the blastoff married phase is very much intriguing. As intriguing as finding out Damar does not like to close something he opens (drawer, tooth paste tube, etc) *eyeroll*. But I told him my dislike for the habit, and he has tried to correct it, no nagging involved! Because I trust him that he is trying. It is absolutely something that needs to be cherished, as the moment of such kind will not necessarily re-occur in the future.

Ok, so I think I know what to answer for the next person who asks me how does it feel to get married, “nothing much change, only everything becomes nicer. Feels good to know I have someone worth going home to” .  And plus, I wake up in every morning willing to be a better person, for me, for Damar, for us.

 

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*the above post-wedding pictures were taken during our first Ramadhan together (June, 2016). Our goal is to take capture good moments of two of use and dismiss the opinion that ‘pre-wedding’ picture should only be taken prior to the wedding.

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Idul Fitri 1437 – Lebaran di Belanda

18th July 2016 - 3 min read

Alhamdulillahhh akhirnya melewati hari kemenangan juga. Puasa selama 1 bulan penuh terbayar dengan makanan yang berlimpah di hari raya 😀

Damar, saya, dan mas Argo (kakak Damar) memang sengaja ngambil cuti tanggal 6 Juli kemarin karena kami pengen merayakan hari Idul Fitri dengan proper. Apalagi kan tahun ini adalah lebaran pertama sebagai istri, jadi pengen banget masak masakan Lebaran yang serius. Dan tahun ini ceritanya mau bikin menu Lebaran yang beda, karena keluarga suami yang berdarah Medan. Menu yang biasanya lontong opor, berubah jadi lontong gule nangka dan rendang. Untuuuuunggg banget mamanya Damar super baik bawan bumbu gilingan gule dan rendang, jadi gak perlu terlalu repot bikin semua dari scratch. Dan pastinya terbebas dari potential error hhaha. Jadi cuma tinggal nambah-nambahin sedikit spices dan santan, bikin lontong, bikin sambal balado, dan nggak ketinggalan opor (pengen banget!).

“Lebaran sebagai minoritas hanya bisa dirasakan lewat suasana yang diciptakan sendiri”

Jadi di hari H-nya, kami bangun pagi-pagi, sarapan, pake baju muslim yang akhirnya sukses bikin orang-orang dijalan ngeliatin kami haha padahal belum lengkap sama jilbab dan kopyah lho. Sepi banget rasanya hari itu, nggak ada kumandang takbir atau apapun, sama sekali nggak kerasa suasana lebarannya. Tapi ini lebaran ke-7 saya di Belanda, jadi sudah lumrah. Kami pergi ke masjid komunitas indonesia di Amsterdam yang namanya Al Ikhlas. Sholat ied disini dimulai jam 09.00 pagi. Setelah selesai, kami dibagikan goreng-gorengan dan lontong opor. Alhamdulillah rejekiii! selama ini saya selalu sholat ied di Den Haag dan setelah sholat nggak ada dibagikan lontong opor karena pukul 13.00 ada makan siang dengan sajian lengkap menu lebaran di wisma duta (rumah duta besar).

Hari itu penuh dengan makan, makan, dan makan. Makanan yang full dengan santan *elus-elus perut* dan akhirnya bisa menikmati kue kering yang sengaja disiapkan jauh-jauh hari hihi. Sorenya saya beli kue spekkoek di toko Oriental untuk dibawa ke kantor, ceritanya berbagi dan merayakan idul fitri bersama-sama, supaya mereka aware soal kultur islam yang suka bersyukur dengan cara berbagi. Besoknya orang-orang senang sekaliiii dibawakan kue indonesia, dan banyak yang mengucapkan selamat idul fitri ke saya. Indahnyaaaa!!

Foto-foto di bawah ini adalah foto-foto yang diambil di akhir pekan, saat kami berkumpul di rumah kerabat dan akhirnya bertemu dengan mbak Vicka (kakak perempuan saya) sekeluarga. Suddenly feeling like home. Itu ada foto saya sedang skype dengan bapak mama di rumah 🙂

Taqabbalallahu Minna Wa Minkum – Taqabal ya Kareem

Lebaran

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Ramadhan di Belanda

4th July 2016 - 7 min read

Nggak kerasa sudah memasuki hari ke-29 di bulan Ramadhan. Kalau dilihat ke belakang rasanya cepet juga dan sedih mau ninggalin bulan yang baik ini. Begitu banyak janji-janji yang belum bisa terselesaikan, seperti contohnya baca terjemahan hingga khatam. Tapi insha Allah masih punya waktu untuk nyelesein sampe tahun ini habis. Paling engga janjinya untuk nyelesaiin di tahun 2016. Bismillah, semoga masih diberikan kesempatan.

Alhamdulillah, kali ini Ramadhan-nya sedikit berbeda. YES I AM A MARRIED WOMAN NOW! hihi dan juga lokasi tempat tinggal yang berpindah ke Amsterdam (artinya lebih dekat dengan kantor dan bisa bangun sedikit lebih siang dari biasanya). Menjalani bulan Ramadhan sebagai istri itu sangat menyenangkan. Rasanya semangat setiap hari mikirin dan diskusi bareng mau buka pake apa. Seneng mau masak apa aja, ada yang dengan senang hati dan tulus ikhlas habisin. Sesederhana itu… 🙂 Di kantor bawaannya juga semangat, semangat buat pulang 😛 nggak sabar rasanya cepet-cepet sampai rumah dan cuddle sebentar. Biasanya Damar selalu tidur setelah jam kantor dan baru bangun jam 21.00 untuk bantuin saya masak. Sedangkan saya cuma tidur-tiduran sebentar terus bangkit dan “ngapa-ngapain”. Ya ngerjain projek, baca buku/berita, liat vlog terbaru dari vlogger yang menginspirasi atau dengerin podcast. Ohya dan pastinya, google untuk cari ide untuk berbuka. Biasanya saya cari di cookpad, tasty, masaktv, atau kokikutv, atau sebenernya simply google aja. Nggak bisa diem banget deh pokoknya walau agak lemas.

Kebetulan karena bulan Ramadhan terjadi di musim panas, puasa di Belanda jadi jauh lebih panjang dari puasa di Indonesia. Totalnya sekitar 19 jam, dari pukul 03.00-22.00. Setelah sebelumnya research, saya memutuskan untuk mengikuti puasa dari terbenam hingga tenggelamnya matahari. Dari hadist yang saya baca, kita baru boleh menjalankan puasa lebih pendek jika tidak ada waktu terbenam matahari, contoh seperti di negara-negara Scandinavia. Di kondisi seperti itu, kita boleh mengikuti jam buka di negara islam terdekat (Turki atau Arab). Tapi itu semua tergantung preferensi dan kepercayaan masing-masing ya, yang berpuasa mengikuti jam Indonesia juga adadan sah-sah aja. Tapi itulah indahnya perbedaan, kita cuma perlu toleransi dan menghormati. Karena bukannya itu poin penting bulan Ramadhan? Anyway, saya jadi sadar gimana powerful-nya the power of mind karena sebenernya semuanya itu bermula dari niat dan mindset. Saat kita yakin kita bisa, kita akan bener-bener bisa dan cari cara untuk menyempurnakan niat kita. Saya percaya bahwa segala sesuatu yang terjadi di hidup kita itu adalah hasil dari manifestasi proses kita meng-attract sesuatu yang baik untuk datang ke diri kita. Saat kita menjalankan sesuatu setengah-setengah, maka begitu pun juga hasil yang akan dituai.  Life has so many things to offerlet it offer you good things by thinking good. Saat kita bersyukur dan punya niat yang baik akan sesuatu, maka kita pun akan diberi lebih-lebih oleh hidup. Rasanya akan bahagia terus, karena kita jadi terbiasa melihat sesuatu dari perspektif yang baik.

Bagi saya, ajang puasa nggak cuma jadi ajang untuk beribadah tapi juga untuk mempromosikan agama islam. Bahwa islam nggak melulu hanya soal terorisme. Banyak teman-teman bule yang nanya tentang puasa, Ramadhan, dan alasan kenapa saya harus melakukannya. Ini kesempatan yang tepat banget untuk menjelaskan ke mereka tentang agama saya, gimana islam sangat mengedepankan kasih dan toleransi. Walaupun mereka selalu melihat saya dengan pandangan iba, sudah kering kurus kecil gini, tapi harus nggak makan dan minum selama 19 jam haha Saya berusaha ngejelasin dengan bahasa yang sesimpel dan nyampe ke pikiran mereka yang nggak percaya dengan Tuhan. Saya ngejelasin bahwa ini adalah  sarana untuk belajar ngekontrol pikiran kita, dan karena niat yang kuat saya jadi nggak ngerasa kesulitan (padahal kadang haus juga hahah). Saya bilang ke mereka bahwa saya juga jadi jauh lebih bersyukur dan nggak take things for granted karena saya menahan lapar dan haus seharian with knowing kalau malamnya saya bisa masak dan makan enak. Sedangkan orang-orang di negara bagian lain harus menahan rasa haus dan lapar endlessly karena mereka nggak tahu kapan bisa makan/ minum. Kolega-kolega saya di kantor sih mengangguk-angguku terkesima. Semoga itu membuka sedikit pikiran mereka bahwa ada contoh muslim yang menjalankan kewajibannya dan tetap open minded dengan segala perbedaan. Karena gimana-gimana saya adalah agen yang bisa membagikan hal-hal baik terhadap sesama.

Perbedaan puasa di Belanda di Indonesia

1. Panjang durasi- 19 jam

2. Ta’jil dn makanan buka yang harus disipakan dan bikin sendiri

3. Nggak ada kue kering! kecuali buat sendiri

4. Azan nggak akan kedengeran (karena disini dilarang) kecuali denger dari Youtube atau dari islamic Finder. Biasanya kita melototin jam kalau udah deket-deket waktu buka

5. Dulu di Indonesia, saat Ramadhan kita semua berlomba-lomba untuk tarawih di masjd. Kalau disini, kecuali mau begadang dan nggak tidur, baru bisa. Karena tarawihnya pukul 12 malam

6. Jarak antara berbuka dan sahur hanya 4 jam

7. Suasana kosong melompong, biasa aja kaya nggak ada apa-apa kecuali tinggal di neighborhood orang Turki atau Maroko

By the way, kemarin saya seneng deh akhirnya tercapai untuk bikin kue kering. Kemarin bikin Nastar dan Putri Salju (dari Resep NCC dan dari resep sahabat saya, Tania). Enakkkkk, tapi cuma bikin setoples dan nggak boleh dimakan sampai Hari Raya. Di sini, ambience Ramadhan dan hari Raya cuma bisa diciptkan sendiri, dan saya bersuka cita sekali melakukannya. Rencananya pengen bawa manis-manis ke kantor hari Kamis nanti untuk berbagi ke mereka dan untuk cerita bahwa saya sukses berpuasa sebulan penuh (minus seminggu). Di Belanda itu sebutan hari Raya adalah Suiker Feest (english: Sugar Festival), so it’s always associated to a day full with sweets, hence the plan. Ah we’ll see!

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