A Home For My Thoughts

red square Nggak ada yang bikin gw 100% kaget dengan perbedaan, cuma rada syiksyaksyok aja dikit.  Beberapa bulan lalu gw ke sini buat jalan-jalan. Ada kenalan suami bilang, "Gila ya, orang Moskow tuh wangi-wangi banget. Penasaran banget pake parfum apa." Waktu itu beneran nggak ngeh karena lebih banyak bau rokok daripada parfum sih menurut gw. Orang Moskow kalo ngerokok 11-12 kayak orang Indonesia di warkop.  Tapi otak udah terpapar ide tersebut, jadi waktu gw balik lagi ke sini, eh beneran dong mereka di jalan tuh wangi banget. Wanginya nggak nusuk, malah blend-in banget sama sekitar jadi nggak yang tiba-tiba puyeng makbrengg gitu baunya. Enak banget. Iya bener juga, gw jadi penasaran mereka pake parfum apa. Gw pengen beli.  Orang bilang kalau orang Rusia tuh jarang senyum, kaku, yang mana gw rasain pas awal dateng ke sini. Tapi setelah tinggal di sini, nggak juga kok. Mereka senyum kalau kita ngobrol sama mereka. Emang sih beberapa tetep ada yang pahit tapi nggak semua...

Pulang - Leila Chudori Pengalaman gw mulai menyukai membaca karena bukunya yang bagus. Kata orang jangan judge buku dari sampulnya. Gw termasuk orang yang suka judge buku dari sampul. Tapi itu bukan hal yang utama dong tentunya. Itu hanya ekstra poin aja.  Pertama kali gw baca buku dan tiba-tiba suka adalah saat papa yang waktu itu pulang, bawain gw buku ensiklopedia yang isinya sejarah dan astronomi. Itu yang bikin gw langsung suka baca, karena materinya bikin gw berbinar. Itu juga awal mula gw suka astronomi.  Perjalanan sebagai pembaca tentu saja lama sekali. Beberapa genre gw coba baca, kadang suka, kadang nggak suka. Hingga akhirnya gw tau apa yang bikin gw akan baca buku itu.  "Halaman pertama tulisannya" Gaya menulis orang itu pasti selalu berbeda. Meskipun mirip dengan yang lain, pasti akan ada karakter pembedanya. Itu biasanya terlihat dari halaman pertama tulisannya. Bayangkan, meski materinya bagus tapi penyampainya nggak bagus juga nggak akan nyangkut di pemb...

Moscow Yes, all things I have and I do right now is all the things that I have written down on papers, during my sleeps, in my consciousness, in my visions. So let's do that again here.  I have another dream that I really think of. It's the thing I want to do when I have so much money, or enough money, or when money doesn't matter anymore, or who knows!  I wanna build a school for kids who can't afford to go to school. I want them to pay nothing, and I want them to learn the basic things like how to respect others, how to tell people their ideas/opinions, familiarize them with being kind, how to think logically, how to solve problems, etc. All the basic survival things in life.  I think my passion is always in education, but I don't always like to follow the old-school rules. There are so many important things we don't learn at school that I think should be taught there. Once we graduate from school, we usually don't know how to navigate life. Who taught you...

Amsterdam Central Station  Ini pertama kalinya pakai debit Jenius di luar negeri. Pemakaian ini menggunakan sumber dana EUR yang ada di aplikasi. Jadi uang yang keluar adalah uang EUR, bukan IDR.  Untuk buka rekening valas di Jenius, tinggal ditambahkan saja bagian buka akun valas lalu pilih kurs yang diinginkan. Di kasus ini gw punya rekening EUR di Jenius yang ditujukan untuk transaksi di Eropa.  Karena kemarin lagi di Belanda, akhirnya pengen coba pakai debit card Jenius karena EDC di Belanda belum tentu bisa untuk kartu kredit saja. Sebelum digunakan tentunya jangan lupa untuk menyambungkan kartu debit ke rekening mata uang asingnya biar sumber pengeluaran juga langsung dari tabungan valas itu. Tinggal klik klik aja kok. Tibalah saatnya menggunakan mata uang EUR yang sudah kubeli dari Jenius. Waktu itu gw pakainya di Schipol, di dua toko berbeda, dan keduanya nggak bisa tap langsung. Jadi harus insert kartu, tentu bukan masalah.  Karena terbiasa dengan transaksi...

Terasa seperti ini, Gunung Baturnya ada tapi nggak keliatan. Sistemnya ada, tapi masih berkabut. Katanya sih berlaku sejak tanggal 17 Desember 2024, bersamaan dengan semua perubahan seperti paspor dan biayanya.  Karena harus perpanjang ITAS di akhir tahun, gw sudah kontak mereka dan bilang "Oh bisa extend via website." Di websitenya agak membingungkan buat pemula karena ada beberapa bagian. Bagian yang paling mentereng adalah bagian APPLY , yang mana ini harus digunakan untuk orang yang belum pernah apply ITAS . Sejenis untuk mendapatkan TELEX visa dulu yang nantinya dikonversi ke ITAS.  Perlu dicatat ini adalah ITAS dengan pasangan Indonesia sebagai sponsor ya. Tentunya perlu penjamin yang apply VITAS dll sebelum ke ITAS. Apply sebagai penjamin bisa di website yang sama. Tapi kalau apply sendiri bisa dengan menggunakan "Personal". Setelah masuk ke website imigrasi dengan menggunakan ID Penjamin, bagian HOME akan tampil beberapa hal. Nah, bagian Extend ITAS tuh a...

It is one of the books that blown my mind. It's very well written and would probably relate with a lot of people who are in their journey to find themselves.  So many people are talking about it but I did not buy it until a few months ago where I read the preview on the first pages. Easy for me to see if I want to buy the book or not. When the first pages hook me right away, I don't need to think twice. This book is one of them.  This contains spoiler of course.  Nora, the main character, like many of us, fall into depression and decided to kill herself. But she's not dead right away. She went into a kind of limbo between life and death. In that library she met a librarian, this librarian is a kind of a guide. Our guide that probably tasked when we were born.    The librarian shows her lives that she could have had if she wants to. She is so depressed and thinks that no life will makes her happy enough to live it. I can totally understand her state. I was there....

Lembongan dan Ceningan Few days ago I picked up my husband from the airport. It was raining a lot so I had to go by taxi. We went through airport toll which I paid with my card. Then when we arrived, I gave him 20K for parking that cost actually 12k. Doesn't matter I give it with tip. So I didnt ask for change.  A few mins later I noticed a notification that said I got charged for 14K, the price for toll. I usually never notice any notification but that day was different. So I chatted him asking why am I being charged for toll that I paid myself. He said, and I quote, “oh that is automatically done by the app.” I checked on the app website it said that the app will automatically charge you toll price when the route it takes show that you’re going through a toll. Then I thought, “ah yea maybe he couldn’t change it.” So I told him, “alright sir then I will report it to the app so they can easily help me to refund the money.” You know what he said, “no please don’t mam. I will refund ...

Is it a place? Or a feeling?  Let's dive in.  I told a friend of mine that I am feeling close to home since I live in Bali. I have never felt of feeling home anywhere. Every after 2 years of living in a city, I had the itch to move. I definitely never felt home in my parents place. It's their place, not mine.  I did not know that until I left the town to study in another city. There was some sense of relieve that I was out of that town. Yea sure people thought it's weird. "It is your home, you were born there." Yes, that's the definition of having a house while growing up. I think. Not the sense of belonging.  I dared to explore that feeling.  I told myself, "Let's get out of this town and be free." I still visit my parents of course, but I never stay longer than a week. I don't belong there.  Moving cities a few times, for work, school, and ended up living in Bali. I even told myself that I would never move to Bali for living, with several l...

I am grateful with my life. Doesn't really matter how annoying some parts of it, but I am content with the life that I am living. I had a lot of anger that I couldn't explain back then. I have been trying to untangle it one by one, and coming to a conclusion that I had become an emotional punching bag of my mother. My sister felt the impact even more.  Now don't get me wrong, I was raised right by my parents. I become a person that is not criminal, not a junkie either, a fearless one I might say, ready to take whatever hard steps in front of her. I value things differently. While, like any other Asian parents, societal approval is the most important thing. Happiness is a number XX, but showing off your wealth you have is a must. You know, like choosing the "safe" job like civil servant, married a fine guy, living together, having babies as soon as you get married, buy a house, buy a car (two if you can), the more the better. All of that.  And here's what many ...