Europe Trip : Departure Day

--October 19, 2011
big news: before lunch time, an offer to have
an educational trip to Holland and Belgium.
there's a chance to have extend trip for 3 days 2 nights.
deadline to decide the extend plan, after lunch time before 5:00 PM.
decision: an extend to Germany, to Cologne and Frankfurt.

not a good news: departure date 14 November 2011, less than a month!
Schengen visa, flights and trains tickets, hotels confirmations,
travel insurance, tour itinerary? let's pray!
--November 01 2011
Schengen visa applications procedure at Netherland Embassy.
with all the documents ready, arrived at the embassy at 07:15,
appointment at 08:00. tic toc tic toc, yes, i was so nervous!

--November 09 2011
got the Schengen visa! yes, Europe, i am coming!!

(yeah, i don't like my photograph either.. *sigh)

--November 14 2011
Still went to the office for half day working. :)
after lunch, went home, took all the luggages, went to the airport.
arrive at the airport at 17:10, flight departure at 20:55.




flights details :
from CGK to SIN, SIN to MUC, MUC to AMS
a long long long journey! haha!

yeah, since the flights are done by our office, looking for the suitable
arrival time for me in Amsterdam at AM time before the lunch time,
then i got 3 connecting flights from Jakarta to Amsterdam,
all by Lufthansa.

i really don't mind about it, i was still too excited for this trip.
even i didn't gave concern about the transit time for each flight. :P
so after departure from Jakarta (CGK) to Singapore (SIN) at 20:55,
arrived at 22:55 Singapore time, transit for 1 hour.

okay, before everyone ask, i will explain one thing.
what i'm doing in Europe with this educational trip? :)
based on my job that i'm doing works for Japan office
for making tour itineraries, in Europe i joined a Japanese group for a tour.
after arrived in Amsterdam Schiphol,
i met the group which came from Tokyo,
and then joined them for the next 7 days, went to Holland and Belgium.
i walk, entrance the places, eat, drink,
sit and took the same bus with them.
my job? observation. :) nice isn't it? :P

----------------------------------------------------
from Jakarta to Singapore, i was too tired for anything,
traffic jams from office to home, home to the airport, yes exhausted.
had a window seat, and just minutes after i took my seat,
a guy took the seat beside me, my first tought, a foreign college student.
then i slept!

after around 30 minutes sleep, i woke up just when
the stewardess offered snack and drink.
a chicken sandwich and orange juice.
took a light journey to the entertainment screen, but then i felt no interest.
i saw the guy beside me just had finished his snack,
and why not for a chat? :)

slap me for my first thought of him! a college student?!
yeah, such a young face, but after the introduction, my jaw dropped!
he's a Ph.D from St Gillen University, Switzerland people!
we had an interesting talk about what's he's doing (a study with ITB),
how Jakarta traffic made him stayed hours
in the airport to avoid miss the flight,
and how Indonesian people are crazy about the Facebook and Twitter.
but then, after trade our Facebook address, we landed in Changi airport,
i took the transit line, and he went to
the imigration gate for enter Singapore.
then i thought, i should have talks with the
person who will have a seat beside me
on the next flight to Munich for sure! :D
after 1 hour transit, took the same plane,
with more longer journey, to Munich.
idea: would like to have chats with the person
who will take seat beside me.
reality: empty seat. hahahaha!

12 hours flight it was, from Singapore, to India region,
then to the arabian gulf region.
i woke up at the mid night, and then saw
a military jet just passed our plane,
check the flight information on the screen, and voila!
just passed Baghdad, Irak!

dinner time! dinner on board by Lufthansa.
how it tasted? it was the first encounter for my tongue
to the 'real' European food taste!
hahaha! if i we're in Indonesia, i would called the food as taste less. :(
but it was good afterall, ate it all. especially the bread with the jams,
orange juice, and red wine for sure for a good sleep! :P

had a time to check my preparation.
checked the Cologne and Amsterdam maps,
marked the route from the stations to the hotels, etc.
still, so excited with what i'm going to face at that time!

and there goes my first day, ended with me watching
the black sky outside the window,
leaving the middle east, entering Europe.
thank you God, for a dream came true.

this afternoon

after found some blogs that really good for it's stories,
here i found myself become so gloomy again.
not a good start for a new year? you to decide.

after read some stories, this crazy minds on my head
just keep shouting, hey, that's good stories right?
but it is not yours. yeah, not mine. gloomy feeling is dangerous.

"oh simple thing where have you gone?
i am getting old and i need something to rely on..
i am getting tired and i need somewhere to begin.."

yeah i know, could not match the deadline
for my Europe trip stories posts, hahaha.
so will go home now, will make it in hours. ;)

2011 Christmas Dinner with Tim Hura Hura

people said "it takes two to tango"
and i will say "it takes 8 friends to a joy Christmas dinner in 2011"
PEPeNERO, 29 December 2011.

after 1 month announcement,
days by days, weeks by weeks thoughts,
we held our 2011 Christmas Dinner!
Lyonita, Eci, Maurin, Okta, Intan, Olive, Roy, Anton, Evy.
9 people as the members of Tim Hura Hura. :)

it was a simple thought in my head after the dinner actually that
draws me to this idea; for posting a post about this.

we are friends from high school, yes, it was 8 or 9 years a go.
dear readers, do you still meet your high school friends once every month? :)
it is a blessing, can had a dinner with you guys last night. :)
i really do love it.

even on that day we still had a little bit "fireworks" between us,
the dinner went well. still can smile by remembering it right now. :P
how one of us can forgot about the time, how we have to bring gifts,
how we had a dress code, how we wondered how to reach the restaurant
since it was raining on the afternoon.

each of us brought our Christmas gift, and trade it. :D
it might be simple things to receive for many people,
but i will be a sentimental guy who believe
it is not as simple as the simple forms of it. :P

simply, the moment i savour, i savour it much. :)

the Santa Claus game

23 Desember 2011,
dari inisiatif kedua manajer di divisi Jakarta Japan Quotation,
kami mengadakan Santa Claus game di kantor! \(^o^)/

intinya adalah acara tukar kado, dengan masing-masing dari kami
akan bertindak sebagai Santa Claus utk seseorang.
seminggu sebelumnya, undian diedarkan, tiap orang akan mendapatkan
satu nama sebagai calon utk diberi kado, dan aturannya
kita tidak boleh memberi tahu orang tersebut, and vice versa. :D

setelah tahu nama orang yang mau kita kasih kado,
kita harus coba menerka, kado seperti apa ya yang pas untuk dia,
plus, ingat, tetap ada batasan harga kadonya, minimal 50.000 rupiah
(lebih boleh juga sih, hahaha)
dan akhirnya di hari H, semua kado yang sudah dibungkus dengan
kertas kado dikumpulkan. kami kumpul di ruang rapat, sepatah-dua kata
diucapkan, dan akhirnya masing-masing mengambil kado yang
sudah tertera namanya masing-masing. :D

inti dari permainan tukar kado ini sederhana saja.
saling berbagi. dan makna tambahannya, kita bisa makin saling
mengenal anggota dari sesama tim di divisi ini.
kalau sebelumnya tidak pernah terpikir, ketika mencari kado,
jadi mulai berpikir, "si dia ini sukanya apa sih?"
plus terbatas anggaran masing-masing tentunya, harus jeli
membeli kado yang kreatif tapi juga ga kebobolan dompet. :P

everyone got their present, everyone is happy!
for next year, let's find another fun way! :)

this is the time

after 4 weeks, back to works, back to my routines here in Jakarta,
i think it is the time, time for me to post the stories.

10 days in Europe, will be 10 blog posts?
don't know, not sure. hahahaha.

but anyway, why suddenly i do want to write it?
past few days, only have will to edit the photos,
still hesitate that i don't have any time to write the stories.

today it was just finished, my friend presentation of her tour to Portugal.
yes, for this two months, there are 3 staffs from our office in Jakarta
got the change to go to Europe for educational trip.

Roy, myself, went to Holland, Belgium and Germany.
Gita, went to Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia and Austria.
Erlina, went to Portugal.
and this 3 days, we had presented our reports to the team members.

and recently, some of my friends updated their blogs with their stories,
their travel stories. Japan, Newzealand,
Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia.
i remembered a words :
"when you're going for travel, you will search for the information through
the internet. and sometimes, you're gonna be mad
if you cannot find any clue.
so, when you have traveled to places, you got the information,
write it, share it, let people know, let them get the information"

please, enjoy my upcoming posts, enjoy the photos, enjoy the stories... :)

a walk with you..

come and take a walk with me, see what I see..
come and take a walk with me, show me what you see..

I'm seeing things wrong with the way that I'm living,
so come and walk with me, I need a second opinion..

I'm paranoid so excuse me if I seem to be nervous..

-a short walk from the Kroller Muller Museum,
De Hoge Veluwe National Park, Otterlo, Holland-

stranger

a stranger in Antwerp.

went to Holland, Belgium and Germany last month.
photos coming soon.

save room

dont say bye-bye tonight, say you'll be mine..
say that you'll stay a little for me..

just a little bit of love is worth a moment of your time..
save room for my love,
save room for a moment to be with me..

save a little, save a little for me,
won't you save a little?

this just might hurt a little, love hurts sometimes when you do it right.
don't be afraid of a little bit of pain,
pleasure is on the other side..

don't let this moment slip by tonight,
you'll never know what you're missing
'till you try, i'll keep you satisfied if you stay..
if you stay, wont you save?

save a little for me, a little room for me,
until i come back, to yours..

(inspired by Save Room - John Legend)

"come what may"

nothing special relation exist between the title of this post and it's content.
it's only the title of a song that i'm listening into it right now.

"come what may, come what may.. seasons may change winter to spring.. listen to my heart, can you hear it sings? storm clouds may gather and stars may collide.. come what may, come what may.."

it was my usual "me time",
visited the same place, ordered the same drink, ate the same foods.
but something different happened, a call.

come what may? yes, come what may. :)

“There's always light after the dark. You have to go through that dark place to get to it, but it's there, waiting for you. It's like riding on a train through a dark tunnel. If you get so scared you jump off in the middle of the ride, then you're there, in the tunnel, stuck in the dark. You have to ride the train all the way to the end of the ride.”

expression

recently, posted some photos on my instagram account,
which expressions become it's main focus.

they said, it's not easy to catch some moments
like captured like in that photos,
they lauded my photos, they lauded me.
i did keep in silent, cause i know what's going on here.

"you're like a zombie Roy", my ex said it.

yeah, i lost my expressions.
smiled, but feel empty inside?
laugh, just by my face muscles?

i do remember, i advised some of my friends,
"don't escape from your problems, face it"

when thinking to applied it on my side,
"what to face on? what's my problems after all?"
sadly, currently, i don't know.

jalan-jalan Jakarta

seminggu kerja, pas di akhir pekan pengen satu hari
tetep bisa punya waktu untuk menyegarkan pikiran,
cari yang murah, tapi menyenangkan?
i do it with a photo walk. :)

rencana pertama berkunjung ke Gedung Arsip Nasional.
tapi sayang, lupa kalau hari Sabtu tempat ini sering dipakai
untuk acara resepsi pernikahan, akhirnya batal untuk bisa
foto-foto di bagian dalam dan belakang gedung ini.
alhasil, ambil foto di bagian depannya aja.

Gedung Arsip Nasional ini bekas kediaman
gubernur jenderal VOC Reiner de Klerk,
dibangun di abad ke-18. hampir aja dibongkar,
tapi akhirnya dipertahankan
sama Bataviaasch Genootschap van Kunsten en Wetenschappen
("perhimpunan Batavia untuk seni dan ilmu").
lalu hampir dibongkar lagi, dan diselamatkan lagi sama
sekelompok usahawan Belanda
yang mendirikan Stichting Cadeau Indonesia
("yayasan hadiah Indonesia").

sekarang, jadi museum, yang dibuka tiap hari Selasa sampai Minggu.
dan yang banyak orang tidak tahu, tidak dipungut biaya. :)

tujuan berikutnya: Passer Baroe

yang hidup dan besar di Jakarta era tahun 90an pasti kenal Passer Baroe.
Pasar Baru, kalau mau gampang menyebutnya. :)
dulu sering kesini bareng papa-mama sekeluarga
untuk cari baju, bahan baju, keperluan-keperluan acara lainnya.
tempat belanja yang ngetren lah istilahnya.

sekarang? kemarin tepatnya.
suasananya udah jauh berubah. semakin modern memang,
tapi semakin sepi dan kurang greget. kalah, sepertinya,
bersaing dengan pusat-pusat perbelanjaan modern di Jakarta saat ini.

tujuan berikutnya :
lapangan Banteng dengan keberadaan gereja Katedral Jakarta.


nama aslinya :
"De Kerk van Onze Lieve Vrouwe ten Hemelopneming"
yang berarti :
"Santa Maria Pelindung Diangkat Ke Surga"
diresmikan pada tahun 1901, berarsitekturkan neo-gotik Eropa.

lewat mulai dari samping sampai depan bangunan gereja ini,
it was amazing! just look at the top of this building, and
you can feel like you're in some countries in Europe, not Jakarta.

karena kemarin ke sana pas Sabtu sore,
persiapan misa lagi dilakukan, akhirnya ga bisa masuk ke dalam.
tapi untuk bisa menikmatinya dari luar pun cukup menyenangkan. :)

------------------------------------
i miss you, and wondering, do you?

Daun Kering di atas Carbon

dan berakhir sudah acara pameran iPhonesianya. :)
hasil resminya belum diumumkan, tapi lebih dari seratus foto terjual,
yang artinya puluhan juta rupiah akan masuk menjadi amal kami
untuk pendidikan anak bangsa Indonesia ini. :)

"Daun Kering"
judul dari satu foto milik diri ini yang ikut dipamerkan dan dijual.
seneng banget rasanya bisa dapat kesempatan ini.
foto yang dulu diambil di daerah pasar Tanah Abang,
memakai iPhone 3GS (iPhone pertama),
lalu edit dengan nuansa monochrome.

(bersama Laila-san, yang ikut nengok pameran ini)
(^ ____ ^)/