Wednesday, December 31, 2014

Good Bye 2014, Welcome 2015 :)

2014 will end tonight. Time really flies! Especially this year, I really didn't feel it was that long ago we were counting down to new year 2014, but here we are, about to do another count down to 2015.

Many and many things have happened this year, especially the bad ones... I do have to squeeze my brain hard thinking what were the good things that happened this year. I really hope 2015 would be better than 2014 for everyone.

2014 was full of accidents and terrorism. Ferry accident in South Korea killing pretty much a whole year of students. 2 accidents of Malaysia Airlines just in the gap of 3 months. 1 was accidentally shot down by either Russia or Ukraine, none of them admitted yet. 298 people onboard. The other one with 239 people onboard was missing while flying between Kuala Lumpur and Beijing (I think) and still not found until now. The search team was searching for weeks but still nothing was found. Another plane accident happened in Taiwan mid 2014 due to weather. And just to end the year, Air Asia flying between Surabaya and Singapore lost contact an hour into the flight on 28 Dec. There were 162 people on board. Yesterday, Indonesian SAR team found some debris and dead bodies of the passengers floating on the sea 10 km from where the plane made their last contact. It was Air Asia's first accident.

2014 was full of terrorism too. ISIS was busy this year beheading people and broadcasting it to all over the world. A lot of fanatics both men and women flew to Syria to support Islam. Men to fight, women to be sex slaves. It's not just rumor, some people did depart to Syria from Australia to help. Early 2014, Sydney had text messages circulating about ISIS planning to grab and behead random people in Martin Place. And Sep/Oct 2014 police caught people who planned an attack. And just 2 weeks ago, Martin Place siege happened. A gunman taking hostages of 17 people for 17 hours. The siege ended when the hostages tried to escape when the gunman starting to doze off. The gunman and 2 hostages died.

There are other things too I.e. Thailand military taking control of the government, and Hongkong protests. There was Taliban school shooting in Pakistan too the day after Martin Place siege took place. 145 people died, mostly school kids.

Many crimes happened. I'm not going to list all of them, but the ones that made big news were the killing of Ade Sara by her ex and the new girlfriend and a mother killed her 7 children and another child.

And a lot of celebrities passed away this year, including Robin Williams and Phillip Seymour Hoffman. Although on the bright side, Little Prince George is growing up cutely.

The only good thing I can think of was Jokowi was inaugurated as Indonesian president. But even that didn't happen  smoothly, a lot of drama happened just to make him the President of Indonesia. But at least he was finally inaugurated and we now have a president who actually wants to work :) the second good thing I could think of was close to Jokowi too. With him taking the post as President, Ahok, the Vice Governor of Jakarta by default becomes the Governor of Jakarta. Again that didn't happen as smooth and I was again glued to Kompas and Detik to read all the news about protests and demonstrations to not let him become the number 1 guy in the capital. But finally he was inaugurated as Governor of Jakarta by his former partner in crime, the current President :) and he got a partner that he chose himself to help him lead Jakarta. That partner seems to be a good guy and seems like he wants to do work too.

2014 was also the year of ALS Ice bucket challenge. Though seriously, a LOT of people just did it for the sake of taking the challenge and not to spread awareness or donate for the cause.

Although 2014 was not all happy memories, at least people surrounding me and I are all living well. So it is still a good enough year to us :) Let's just hope for a better year for all of us in 2015 and let's begin the countdown to tonight's midnight fireworks!!!! ^^

Cheers!!! :))

Friday, December 26, 2014

Korean Food in Berry Sq

One day last week I was busy and could not get out to buy lunch. Little Missy was so nice and offered to go buy me when walking back from North Sydney. So I told Little Missy to buy me anything, and the Korean lunchbox was what I got.

Yep, luckily North Sydney has Korean food in Berry Square food court. It's called Bimbab I think. They sell bibimbab, kimbab and lunchboxes. It's reasonably priced too. I can't remember all the prices, but normal lunchbox with rice cause $7. So when I don't want to spend to much money, that is what I will get. In addition, when I feel like dieting, they have the option to change the rice for brown rice for $1 extra (though brown rice really doesn't keep me full more than an hour -.-).

They also have sashimi bibimbab which I haven't tried. I've eaten their bibimbab for so many times and I like it. You can add fried egg too to it. They have a few selection of sauces for bibimbab, I.e. miso, soy sauce, traditional spicy beef and vegetarian spicy sauce. I usually get the traditional sauce. I keep telling myself I will try their sashimi bibimbab one day, but still haven't got the chance yet. It should be nice during summer :)

Okay, back to how nice Little Missy was. These were what Little Missy bought me, Tuna Kimbab with fried chicken and prawn lunchbox and melon flavoured soy milk. I did ask him to buy me sushi and soymilk. I was thinking of sushi or onigiri, so with milk I should be full enough. But I got lunchbox instead.

That's all good, but... I don't like tuna T___T and I don't like melon T__T well not to the point I won't eat them, but I wouldn't choose them for myself. Well at least the tuna is in sushi, less tuna flavours. And the melon flavoured soymilk turned out to be okay. Lucky lol!

Monday, December 22, 2014

Martin Place Siege

Can't believe another week has gone past... Last week started off with a major terrifying event. Just at 9:44 am on Monday, a man walked into Lindt Cafe at Martin Place with a shotgun and took everyone in the cafe, both customers and staffs, as hostages. He had them stand at the window with hands pressed on the glass holding Islamic flag. Then the 17 hours siege begun.

My colleague forwarded the news to me about half hour after it started. From then on, I had my mind on it and kept checking the news every time I could. Martin Place was soon made exclusion zone. The buildings in close proximity were immediately evacuated. The other buildings within exclusion zone were soon locked down by police. No one can come in or leave the building. Martin Place station was closed and no service going between Central and Bondi Junction. The peaceful and usually busy Martin Place soon became an eerie and frightening place.

I have some relatives and close friends working around Martin Place. My cousin works just a block away from Lindt Cafe and few other friends work around the area too. Throughout the day we kept emailing or texting checking how it was, whether they were safe or whether they could go home.

Few hours after, Opera House and NSW art gallery were closed. There was also news that a suspicious object had been found in Opera House. It got even more scary.

When that happened, we didn't know much of the detais. We didn't know how many gunmen were there and how many people were being hostages. The news only said at least 1 gunman was there. Some news said there were 13 hostages while the others said 40-50 people were in the Cafe. And we didn't know why the gunman actually wanted too..

The siege carried on till afternoon. I was already running out of data, only had 45mb left to use in 3 days, but I couldn't stop myself to keep talking on whatsapp to get some updates.

Around 4 pm, 3 hostages got out. We didn't know if they escaped or were let go. An hour after another 2 got out. Police didn't tell us anything and no further information such as how many gunmen were there or how many hostages exactly.

It went on and on until night. Still no news eventhough my family was all glued in front of the tv until we went to bed around 11 pm. Even when I was in bed, I still checked on News.com.au.

Then I woke up the next day and straight away checked my mobile phone. The message on my whatsapp was from my sister's, "It's over. 2 hostages died..."
Part of me was relieved it was all over, but the other half was sad that 2 people innocently died. As the news described, it was bittersweet...

Katrina Dawson and Tori Johnson died that day. I bet they didn't think when they went to work that morning, that they wouldn't be coming back... I also bet, never in their life they thought that their deaths would be mourned by most people in Australia and a lot of people all over the world. Martin Place even until now, has been transformed into sea of flowers. Not by government, but by the people. Their colleagues, their families, workers in Martin Place, and even people who live further away from the city spare their time to come to Martin Place to place flowers or notes for them. The sea of flowers continue to grow. On Saturday, my friend on his way back from Brooklyn (about 1.5-2 hours train ride from Sydney CBD) met an elderly couple who brought flowers with notes written "To Katrina and Tori". That's the extent of efforts people do.

If I have to find 1 positive thing this siege has brought us, I would say it shows us how people still care about other people. And that people are still compassionate. And wether you are religious or not, that Monday had almost everyone in Sydney and also anywhere else in the world to pray or at least kept hoping all day for the safety of the hostages. That is something, isn't it?

It also started #iwillridewithyou campaign. It started when a woman on the train saw a Moslem woman quietly taking off her hijab after the siege began. When they got off, the woman chased the Moslem woman and then said to her, "Put it back on. I will walk you home." The Moslem woman then hugged her and cried, and then left. The next day after the siege ended, a lot of people posted #iwillridewithyou on instagram and offering company or car ride for people who are scared to go to work alone. It's true, one evil person having certain religion, doesn't mean everyone in that religion is evil too. And it is nice to know that a lot of people are open-minded and not attacking everyone in that religion. If it happened in Indo to minority race or religion, the majority people would start attacking the minority group as shown in history.

Rest in peace, Tori and Katrina. I wish your family and friends strength and courage to move on...

Saturday, December 20, 2014

All is Because of Money!!

I just realised today that all issues appear because we don't have money *nodding*

I went to some houses inspection today, and while the price was quite reasonable for the location, type of house, and the house age, I kept questioning it and kept trying to find the fault of it. I said to myself, the location is really good, and the house looks quite new and it is not that old. However, I also said to myself, but the house doesn't have double bricks! It's made of gyprock! And there is only 1 bathroom and the courtyard is not big. But then I said to myself again, but you all loved it the moment you stepped into the house!! Isn't that what matters?

Then it just hit me! It all because I don't have a lot of money -_-! Imagine me having a truckload of money. I wouldn't worry about all of those. If I like it, then I would buy it straight away! I don't need to worry if the price worth it. No need of building inspection, pests inspection, etc etc.. Once I don't like it, I can always resell and find another one I like, isn't it? Also, I wouldn't be telling myself I don't want a swimming pool because it's troublesome to clean, and costs a lot to replace the water. If I have a lot of money, I can hire someone to clean it every week. And replacing the water won't be an issue anymore. Right?? Who actually doesn't want to have a swimming pool?

Now where can I find that truckload of money? Hmmm....

Saturday, December 13, 2014

Being a girl is hard!

It is definitely hard being a girl. First, you definitely have an uncomfortable, messy and moody combined week every month. The constant worry to check the back of your dress, the bad stomach pain and back pain, dizziness, and some food you shouldn't have in order not to make it worse. But if you don't get it this month, you get worried if something is wrong. Hard eh? It's like you don't wanna see someone, but you wanna see him/her too!

Second, apart from that annoying week, there is a week 2 weeks before the annoying week where you can turn into a complete BITCH, and a pig. Literally a pig. When all you can think about is food. The constant craving to eat certain thing. And when you're full, your tongue still wants to taste another flavor and you can't not give in to that. For my case, this week is worse than the previous one. My emotions go through the roof and the volcano inside me explodes in 1 second with just the simplest comment or gesture -_- that, trust me my friend, is VERY energy consuming. So when you become the target of my volcano, remember that both of us are at least equally pissed. I still think I waste more energy than you though :P

Third one, after that 1 week of that eating, you are left with extra kilos that you desperately want to get rid of. It's not as easy as getting them on!!!! After that 1 week, usually I lose all appetite. My tummy grumbles loudly but my mouth doesn't have appetite to eat. Though it's annoying, I actually feel grateful for it. This is the right time to go on a diet yay!! But unfortunately it doesn't last that long. 3 days max and you're back on your usual appetite. Damn!! -__-

Fourth is the clothes. If you are a girl, have you ever open your wardrobe and looked up to bottom, left to right and complained, "I don't have clothes!". My sweet cousin once said, "Then what the hell are all those clothes hanging in front of your eyes???". Girls need clothes for so many occasions, and then the matching shoes, accessories and bags! Last week, my female colleagues were busy thinking what dress they should wear for our office Xmas party. Even going to the extent of buying new dress or accessories to go with it. I already had something in mind, I just needed to put it on to make sure it still fits (i did put on some kilos after my holiday T___T and no it hadn't disappear >>>__<<<). So I put it on, and showed it to my parents. My dad then said, "It is indeed hard being women. So many types of clothes for every single occasion. Guys only need shirts, pants, ties and suits. For ALL occasions." See? Even he agrees!

I haven't even talked about make up, gossips, and all the comments directed to girls by unfortunately girls too. I.e. if she wears no make up, people say she can't take care of herself, or "No wonder her husband plays outside". If she is a fulltime mum, they frown and say "Fulltime mum? Why doesn't she help bring money for the house? She has a master degree and just letting it go to waste!". If she puts her children in childcare and go to work, people say she is a bad mum for not taking care of her kids herself. So??? :/

See, I told you being a girl is hard.


Greenwood Barbeque

Today I wanted to eat something warm, tasty and thick saucy kind of thing with rice. So I remembered of the tofu seafood from Chinese bbq restaurant next to Greenwood Yumcha at Greenwood Plaza.

They mainly sell bbq pork, roast pork, roast duck and soya chicken with rice or dry noodle. I've tried roast pork and roast duck with dry noodle, it was good! But my advice to you is to not get the roast duck. It was a little bit smelly. I think their roast pork and bbq pork taste better. The soup they give along with the dry noodle is good too. The price was between $9.90-$11.90 from memory. I think dry noodle with 2 choices of meat cost $11.90. Dry noodles cost 90cents more than rice too.

Apart from that, they also have 2 choices with rice or noodles. They have quite a few selections I.e. honey chicken, salt pepper pork, black pepper beef, hot chili chicken, tofu seafood, some curry, stir fried veggies, pork belly with preserved veggie etc. Last time I tried the tofu seafood and pork belly with preserved veggies. Both were very good. The only thing I didn't like was the pork belly has coriander in it. Not very strong, but enough for you to notice it.

Today I had tofu seafood and hot chili chicken with fried noodles. Told you I want something warm and thick consistency. Have a look at the picture. The tofu seafood is a bit hard to describe. However, the texture of it reminds me of steamed egg consistency. The chicken was alright. It had strong vinegar taste and had a lot of ginger. It wasn't spicy too for me. I might not order it again in the future. The fried noodles tasted pretty good, but had too much cabbage! I'm not really a veggie lover, so I spent some time taking the cabbage out lol. Next time I will stick to rice :P oh, total damage for 2 choices with rice is $9. Not too bad for Greenwood price.

I Love Pho's Pork Roll

I didn't plan to go to Berry Square today, I was actually wanted Subway for lunch. But Little Missy chose Berry Sq. So I thought I will try the pork roll.

Well... In conclusion, when you crave for pork roll in North Sydney, don't go for I Love Pho's pork roll. The bread was hard. Half way eating, my jaw was tired and started clicking -.- the bread outside was not crispy and the inside was hard. They only have 1 type of pork, rather than 3 as the other places have. And they aren't as generous with the salad as the other places. The salad looks sad too :( For people who can't stand chili but like a bit spiciness, get the chili. It wasn't spicy at all. The pate... I don't know, it tasted different. I like liver, so it was ok for me. But for people who doesn't like liver smell, their pate is quite strong smelling. It costs $5.5 for pork roll, $7 if you want soft drink too.

My suggestion is to go to Clock Tower food court if you want pork roll. Viet's Pho's pork roll is better and cheaper too from memory :)

Thursday, December 11, 2014

Vietnamese Food in North Sydney

All I could think about for these past 3 days was food and only food. Then yesterday when I was researching where I could have Pho for lunch, I realised there are 3 places at least in North Sydney. Then it suddenly clicked how lucky I have been to work in North Sydney! True, the price is more expensive than those in Hunter Connection. But I'm pretty sure I can find almost anything I want to eat in North Sydney. So starting from now on, I will try to write every lunch I have including the address, and other similar options :)

My lunch yesterday was Vietnamese Rare Beef Noodle Soup from Pho Express at North Point Food Court, Miller St, North Sydney. It costs $10.90 for rare beef noodle soup, and $10 for normal beef soup. They also have other Vietnamese dishes I.e. combination broken rice - which is ordered quite often but I haven't tried it myself, 3 choices dish (if I remember it correctly, it costs $7.9 for small size. I will try that too one day), and other kinds of Vietnamese vermicelli. Oh, also pork rolls and chicken rolls for around $6. That's a bit pricey for pork rolls, but still cheap lunch.

The noodles were alright. The soup is not as good as Pasteur in the city or the ones in Cabramatta, but if you crave for Vietnamese beef noodle soup, then this one is decent. The meat was a lot though. I kept stirring to make sure there's no meat left, and I kept finding some! So I was happy.

The other 2 places selling Vietnamese food are I Love Pho at top level of Berry Sq Food Court and Viet's Pho at Clock Tower Food Court on Miller St. I ordered spicy rice noodle soup from I Love Pho long time ago and it was ordinary. I haven't tried Viet's Pho noodles, but I love Viet's Pho's Lemon Grass Pork Roll. It's more tasty than your normal Pork Roll. My colleagues GI Jane and Miss Green loved it too. Now I miss them T__T Can't remember the price, but it was cheaper than Pho Express. Well, in general North Point is more exxy than Berry Sq and Clock Tower.

Now I wonder what I should have for lunch today :D and I'm supposed to lose weight -_-!

PS: if one day I say Yellow building, that refers to Clock Tower food court okay? The whole building is yellow, hence the nickname.

Friday, December 5, 2014

Memorable First Times

I might have mentioned that I grew up in a big city. I was also very fortunate to be born to be into an okay family. My parents were not rich, but I didn't have to wait until I grow up to let say, go to shopping malls, or flying on an airplane. However, of course not everyone is as lucky, and I had some friends who did those for the first time when they were adults. The results were kinda funny :p

Let's name this first friend as Hiro. He grew up in a small village in India, not sure what the village name though. Anyway, he said that all his life he lived in that village, never been to the city. He then said, the first time he ever took an escalator was when he was 18. One day he visited his uncle in the city for the first time (seriously, I don't know how big this city is, Bogor is a city, Solo is a city and Sydney is also a city, but I dunno the size. Well, he said it to me as a city). Then, he went to a shopping mall, and he stopped in front of the automatic door, stunned seeing it open and close by itself hahahaha.. :p I know it's normal since it was his first time, but imagining him as an 18 years old stunned in front of the doors is really funny.

Then, he went into the mall, and he found this other weird object. Can you guess? Escalator! He stopped, looked at it up and down, down and up, confused. He said to me, he stopped and thought for a while, when is the right time for me to step into it???? LOL again, keep in mind this was an 18 years old boy :P

Another memorable first timer is the water tap, one of my colleagues. His flight to Sydney was his first time on an airplane. And he flew ALONE. Then, there was this guy named John Smith coming up to him after he got into the plane. Mr Smith asked him if he mind swapping seat with him as he wanted to sit next to his companion. Water tap being a nice guy said ok. Then he swapped seat and swapped his boarding pass too. He thought just like in a cinema, if you swap seat, then you need to swap the ticket too. Then the plane flew to Denpasar, Bali.

In Denpasar, Water Tap needed to get off the plane and transfer into flight going to Sydney. That's when the problem occurred.. he needed to produce his PREVIOUS boarding pass in order to get his connecting flight boarding pass!! Mr John Smith got off in Denpasar, so Water Tap couldn't swap the boarding pass. To make it worse, Water tap was a country boy who didn't speak much English! It was very hard for him to explain the whole situation. the officers kept asking him why did he need to swap the boarding pass just to swap seats? he told them he thought it was like in the cinema! I bet those officers were like what the.... Water Tap was very stressed. He was alone with little English. And he didn't have the phone number of his friend who will pick him up at Sydney Airport. There's no way for him to contact his friend. 

Luckily he had all his university documents with him. He gave all those documents to the officers and told them to check with his university to prove him legal. Now that I think about it, the airline should be able to get his information from the database, showing his passport should be enough. But this happened 12 years ago, so maybe it was like that back then.

The officers then called the university to check Water Tap identity. Luckily the phone call was picked up and Water Tap identity could be confirmed and he could get on to that flight. Until now he's still pissed off with Bali and what he refers to "YOUR people" LOL

Another small funny story is one of my cousin's, Ija. It wasn't her first time flying, but it was her first time flying with non-budget airlines. You know we all get earphones to use for watching movies on the plane right? She never had that with budget airlines. So when she flew the first time with Qantas, she was confused of where she should plug them in. Then she SKSD-ly asked the middle age guy sitting next to her.

Ija:  "First time flying with Qantas, Sir?"

Mister: "oh, no... I've been few times."

Ika: "oh! *excitedly* where do I plug these into???".

Lol



Thursday, November 27, 2014

My 30th Birthday :)

I turned 30 last weekend!! :) well in Indo that would not be a celebration as I'm single and a female. People would raise an eyebrow and think or say '30? Not married yet?? " that's why I chose not to be in Jakarta for my birthday even with my bestie offering to throw me bigger celebration in Jakarta :P

Anyhow, my friends threw me a surprise party last Saturday. Hmm... I was kind of expecting it though XP within our group, when someone turns 30 we always throw him/her a surprise party Indonesian style with the cone shaped tumeric rice dish. But who knows? Within the last few years, more and more of our friends go back to Indonesia, and with only few people here, the minimum number of guests attending to order that dish is getting harder to meet too. Plus, the person who usually arranges for all this supposedly already flew back to Jakarta before my bday too.

So, on Saturday morning, my friend Kazeman took me out for yumcha. He said he would treat me breakfast for my birthday. I was thinking, is the surprise gonna be yumcha?? It's easier and we can have it with any number of guests. So I was kind of hoping. But when we arrived at the restaurant, no, there wasn't anyone there.

So we started eating. Just an FYI he eats a lot lol. He kept asking me if I could still have some more and of course I said yes since it was obvious he was still hungry. Anyway when we finished, I was FULL.

What funny was, right after we were seated, he said to me, "after yumcha, lets play Just Dance, shall we??". I was like errrr... -.- I just got to City for yumcha, and have to go back home again straight after?? Oh well... All right... Maybe there is something up at home.

After yumcha we went to Daiso. I needed to buy a frame for my jigsaw puzzles. I actually wanted to look around more, but I felt bad making him following me. So after that we went back to my place.

Kazeman was VERY occupied. Typing on his mobile almost non-stop all the way home. NOBODY was chatting in our whatsapp group :l I said to him, "You're so busy, did you join Sultan Agung group??" (that's another friend's high school group whose members we believe have nothing to do coz they chat nonstop everyday). He replied, no... It's my highschool group. In my head, I was like, "since when you have a highschool group?".

Then when we arrived in front of my apartment, he looked uneasy... Like he needed to go to toilet to do number 2 lol XD I said to him, "why? U need to go to toilet?". He replied confusedly, "um... It's ok, we're already here anyway." Hmm... :l oh btw, I did keep an eye on the cars around my apartment, checking if my friend's car was parked somewhere hehe :P

When I opened my unit door, I saw streamers hanging on the ceiling, then my sister said "Surprise!!!". But err... Only her and my dad were home -.- the guests haven't even arrived!!! I didn't know if I should cry or laugh lol XD the tumpeng was on the table, and decorations were up, but no guests yet.

Apparently Kazeman's task was to get me out of the house in the morning, and bring me back home at 12. And he did exactly that, when I opened my door, it was exactly 12! What he didn't anticipate was people were late, and that kebelet face (needed to do number 2 face) was actually when he read the message saying ONLY my sis and my dad are home huahahahhahahahaha.... He couldn't come up with any reason to go somewhere else so he just let it be lol.

Few minutes after, Pipit called my sis and Kazeman for help getting the drinks up. When they didn't come up after a while, I called her asking where she was, to which she replied "i'm at my apartment carpark!". I was like yeah, right, why did you call my sister to pick up drinks then? Lol

Then people started coming, including my friend who has same birthday as me. Even my bestie's sister, brother in law and their children came too! I was so happy seeing them. They are some kind of special guests lol... Just like other young families, their attendance to gatherings depends on the children. If the children are sick, or just not well behaved, then they won't come. So it is really a special occasion lol :)

But the one who really made a surprise was my bestie!! She was "supposed" to fly back to Indo on my birthday. So she lied to me about her departure date, even to the smallest details I.e. i'm already at the train, my luggages are with my sister coz the car is full so I have to take train... I'm already at the airport, your sister don't need to come, I'm going in soon, etc. Even to "i feel bad for ur sister coming to send me off, but I could only stay with her for 10 minutes" :P she even called me before she "flew" lol

I must admit she really thought it through. During the time she was "flying", she did not show up on whatsapp. And when the landing time passed, she came on whatsapp saying "it's HOT!" Lol

She did have a mistake though. When she got home, her WiFi automatically turned on. Making her "last seen time" to be updated to the time she was still supposed to be on air. I actually noticed that, and thought isn't it a bit early? But I thought maybe whatsapp was having issue and didn't think much of it. Plus, not long after, she noticed it and frantically blocked me completely lol.

Anyway this time she really came to my place by train lol... Coz her sister's car was full with her niece, nephew and her luggages hahaha... So she really had to take train. She brought all of her luggage to my place, so on Monday she can take train to my place, grab her stuffs and then take a cab to the airport. It's only 15-20 minutes taxi ride to the airport from my place , whereas it takes 2 hours using bus and train to get to the airport from where she lives.

Pipit's bro and his wife actually met me the day before when I went to get my free birthday Chatime :P they didn't say happy birthday to me that day, and I did say to myself, "why aren't they saying happy birthday to me??". They said they didn't know if they should pretend or not, and decided to pretend they didn't know and say it at the party. Lucky I didn't shamelessly say "it's my birthday today lho!!" I do do that sometimes lol :P

The food was good. The bad news is, I was really too full from yumcha so I couldn't eat much hahaha... I ate more of it the following day though. My bestie did say, "I scolded Kazeman, why yumcha?? She would be too full and it is too far to make up stories to come back!!". To which he replied, "but she wants yumcha". My bestie thought, she wouldn't eat much after.... Just to clarify though, Kazeman suggested yumcha and I okayed it coz I was full when he asked what I wanted to have. And. I didn't have any other idea :P For our birthday cake, we got mango and blueberry mousse cake from Ella's patisserie. It was really nice! The mango part was frozen, just like having ice cream.

About my presents, I got things I've been wanting for a while hehehe... My bestie gave me SeeByChloe perfume which I've been eyeing for a while, she always knows what I want :) I don't know how she does that :p Her sister gave me BodyShop cherry blossoms gift pack and also the perfume.  I actually laughed when I saw the perfume. It reminded me of long time ago, my bestie's sister had a BodyShop perfume that I really liked, it was moonflower, which is discontinued now. And back then I was still a stingy student. So I said to her, if I won lottery, I would buy that perfume. She laughed hard hearing that, saying "how pityful you are! This perfume only costs $30 and you have to wait till you win a lottery Huahahahahaha" XD I don't know if she still remembers it. 

Pipit and her bro and his wife gave me Big Bang Theory's Bernadette and Amy POP Vinyl =P hehehehe... Been wanting it for a while :) but when I opened the present and saw it, I straight away looked at my cousin. I told her I wanted those when she asked me what I wanted as present. And early that day she told. Me, those 2 are so hard to find, so she had to order it. I was worried she already ordered them. Luckily she hasn't. Turned out that she went to shops look for it that morning, but luckily they didn't have any hehehe...

My other best friend, Helen, who I have birthday with, received 2 Body Shop Cherry Blossoms gift pack lol! When Pipit saw the present she got from Eva's sister, she cried out "Ah?? Isn't that the same???". She offered to exchange it for Helen, but Helen was okay having 2, so she is keeping them both.

The party was great. We talked nonstop about anything. Was so much fun :) plus, Kazeman's PS4 is actually at my place now. Then the boys played Just Dance including my dad!! Lol it was sooo funny! Which reminded me I have to upload those birthday photos Hehehehe :P

Around 4-4:30 they left. But most of us met again in the city later on for Korean BBQ dinner hehehe... Afterall, Eva would really fly back to Indo on Monday, so we'd like to have maybe the last dinner before she goes back.

She went home straight away after dinner while the rest of us took a walk to Darling Harbour. It was nice. Nice weather and not too crowded. And good company of course :) To top it off, there was fireworks show too!! What a way to end the day :) Before we finally went to station, I just remembered that I had a birthday voucher from San Churros for free churros for 2! That's the last day I could get it, so I stopped by to get it. Not bad, I got 6 pieces of Churros with 2 dipping sauce. We shared between 7 of us and each of us had pretty decent bite size I think. Another icing on my already pretty cake :)

Quite a fun day I must say. Definitely making my turning 30 way easier and so much fun. I think I made the right decision to celebrate it back here in Sydney :)

Thanks guys, and love you all :)

Ps: Photos provided by Hello Kitty. Thanks for lending us your new iPhone for the day *hug hug kiss kiss* :)

Tuesday, November 11, 2014

Things I Did in Bangkok

Eat papaya salad, ticked.
Eat as much of street food as possible ticked.
Had Thai massage, ticked!
Visited Grand Palace and Wat Pho, ticked!
Being scammed by tuktuk driver, ticked!
Ride in a tuktuk, well obviously from previous point, ticked! 3 hours ride was definitely enough of tuktuk ride to last me for a very long time.
Try BTS and MRT, ticked!
Being scammed by taxi driver, ticked!
Ride on a tourist and local boat, ticked!
Watch ladyboy show, ticked!
Watch guiness book of record, Siam Niramit performance, ticked!
Visit the ancient capital of Ayutthaya, ticked!
Shop till you drop in Pratunam, ticked!
Shop at the biggest weekend market in Southeast Asia, Chatujak, ticked!
Try all fruits and juice Bangkok can offer, ticked!
Eat pad Thai, pad see euw, ticked!
Try fried chicken, ticked!
Oyster omelette, ticked!
Banana pancake, I had 2! Lol

Visit floating market, nope.
Visit wat arun, thanks to damn tuktuk driver, nope -_-""
Eat tom ga kai, nooo :( the places I went to didn't have it :( same with mango with sticky rice :(

Oh well, but I think I did quite a proudable job for 5 days trip :p

Monday, October 13, 2014

Different Kinds of Blessings

We are all blessed differently. Here are some of those blessings ;)

1. Ignorance. To not care about anything around you but yourself.
2. To be the joker and can always make other people laugh out loud with your silliness without trying too hard.
3. To eat a lot, and I mean A LOT and still the skinniest among your friends.
4. Never needed a filling all your life while you only brush your teeth once a day.
5. A morning person.
6. To be able to sleep through the night while your roommates wake up in the middle of the night to all sorts of noise I.e. party next door or helicopter flying over your roof.
7. To do "number 2" anytime per required.
8. Fall asleep anywhere anytime.
9. Winning random competitions.
10. The ability to say nice words when your friend is in trouble or upset.
11. Good in gambling.
12. Being a magnet to everyone. I.e. when meeting someone new, you are the one that always gets approached by the newbie.
13. To get boyfriend/girlfriend easily. I don't know if this is a blessing or not, depends I guess? But sure is handy.
14. Almost 30 but still looks like a uni student.
15. To bake things you never made before and almost never fails.

16. Kids love you. I don't know if you're lucky that kids always love you, or if you are actually good with kids.

17. The ability to find a bargain, and I mean ridiculously cheap bargain.

18. Having amazing skin without even bother to wash your face twice a day.

That's all I can think of at the moment. I'm sure I missed 2 at least, but can't remember. Will update when I remember it :)

So, which one are you? And which one do you think is mine? :)

Thursday, October 9, 2014

One Thing You Learn Living Overseas

I found this shared by my friend on Facebook, and it pretty much sums up the way we, who live overseas, think.

"Living abroad makes me change the way I see people
You smoke? cool. You don't smoke? okay
You drink? cool. You don't drink? Let's grab coffee.
You are not virgin? cool. You are virgin? great!
You wear short skirts, crop tee, dye your hair green? cool. You dress casually? nevermind.
You kiss your date in public? so what. You don't kiss them? not my business.
You get tattoo? well done. You hate tattoo? no probs.

Sometimes we have to mind our own business instead of judging and talking bad about people. You don't pay their living anyway, so what makes you think you can bad mouthing them?"

All those are true to us. We don't really care if you do or do not do all those. And we don't straight away decide oh, you have tattoos, so you are a bad person. Or, you drink, so you must be a drunk and use drugs.

To people living in our home country, they might think we are already ruined by western way of thinking, becoming individualists, arrogant, and simply bad. Well, to us, you are shallow, judging and don't have the ability or even maybe do not want to think. 

Take my friend as an example. She is over 30 years old and still single. If she goes home to Vietnam, everyone asks her "When are you going to get married?". Even her mum forced her to go meet this 40 years old man, to see if they have a chance to date. On that first meeting, that guy asked her "So, you live overseas, so you go to pubs and drink?". To which she replied, "That's the habit in Australia. People go out to pub with friends and have a drink or two. Nothing's wrong with that!". To tell you the truth, she is not a pub girl. True, we all here drink, but doesn't mean we do it regularly or are addicted to it. It's just a once in a while thing. And that guy, without getting to know her better, already judged her and believed that she goes out partying and who knows what else. People say the older you are, the wiser you become. Well, not in that guy's case. He's over 40 but still can't put himself in other people's shoes.

I experienced it myself when I went back to Indo. Once I went with my dad to his music club (It's a traditional Chinese music group, they play erhu, mandolin, flute, zither, yangqing, and other musical instruments). My mum was not feeling well, and she was worried my dad would be sleepy if nobody keeps him company when driving, so I went instead. Then, this old woman, my dad's music club mate, looked at me from head to toe, back to head again, and said to my dad in Mandarin, "Your daughter? Still not married?? She's past 25-26 already, isn't it???". Excuse me????? It's NONE of YOUR effing business!! If it wasn't for my dad, I would have scolded her back. 

That's the thing with Asian country, so much of the so called manner I.e. don't fight with elders, don't talk back to elders bla bla -_- which clearly gives the upper hand to the so called "elders". If we get upset, or annoyed bcoz of what they say, they say we have bad temper. If we talk back or increase our voice just a bit, they say we have no manners. If we defend ourselves, they say "No wonder, she's been living overseas for too long".

Seems like she likes judging people, so let me judge her then! That old lady, if you ask me, is no better than me anyway. She is OLD and already has grandchildren, let me repeat, GRANDCHILDREN! But she comes to the music club in obsessive make up and dressed like she is going to the Melbourne Cup Racing, also with 10 cm high heels. Lady, aren't you suppose to take care of your feet at that age? Also, she is a Chinese descendant living in Indo for all her life, yet, she can't speak a single word in Indo! Now talk about ignorance!

When I saw that post on Facebook, it reminded me of a conversation I had with my friend here. And she just told me that it reminded her of that too. That time her sister had just gave birth to a baby girl, and posted the photos on Facebook. Then this friend, who hasn't contacted her since they were in high school, started chatting to her on Facebook. She asked her all those questions about ANYTHING! About her baby and her sister's baby, I.e. are they or have they been baptized, where will they be baptized, what kind of mobile phones they have and then... What kind of contraceptive does she use -.- talking about kaypoh to the max -.- and please remember that they haven't talked to each other since like.. 10++ years ago.

So yep, back to the post I shared of Facebook, living overseas teaches us to be more considerate towards others. To know our place. To try to understand the other side of the story. To care, but not being busybodies. To ask a question, and know to stop pressing when the other party does not want to answer. To be close, but still giving people their space. When we see someone is upset, we learn to give them time when they are not ready to talk, but still watching over them and letting them know we will always be there when they are finally ready to talk. That to me, definitely is a good thing.

Tuesday, September 30, 2014

Woolworths' Ads Drive Me Crazy

The new 85 cents Woolworths' bread ad is DRIVING me INSANE!!! Imagine listening to a radio station, and everytime the song stops, that bloody catchy highpitched long ad plays, then few ads later, that ad is on again!!! It was played TWICE on EVERY single ad slot arghhhhhhh -____- I had headache by 12 o'clock -_-"

The radio station was Kiis.FM btw. This station has reputation of playing same song like a million times a day, so my colleagues are really against me putting this station on. So when yday Miss Green said to me, "you can change the radio station if you want..." I ran straight to change to Kiis.fm. but within 1.5 hours I so wanted to change it back -_-"

Lunch time I lodged a complaint to the radio station. I just needed to yell at someone for giving me headaches -_-! What surprised me was that I got a reply within 2 hours! I guess they do monitor the complain inbox hmm... I guess that's what people would do after experiencing some radio scandals, good job but. Anyhow, the guy apologized and said that it was not their intention to annoy the listeners, it's just that Woolworths had put a huge advertising campaign for yesterday only.

They must have put a lot of money to do that :l and I mean a HUGE amount of money, because by 4.30 I couldn't take it anymore and changed it back to the other station, and guess what? They played the bloody ad too!!! *banging my head on the wall* in exact same manner! Twice on EVERY ad slot *banging my head again* that's it, I plugged my earphones on and listen to my own mp3 -_-"'"

Moral of the story, business is really business. Woolworths aim is definitely to get people remembering their 85cent bread, doesn't matter what the method is, including brainwashing your head using radio ad being played a million times a day. I don't usually use millions, trillions etc.. but I damn sure it was played pretty close to that figure yesterday. Might try to get the exact number of it from Kiis guy. Well they succeeded, my head still hurts from that ads and that stupid annoying song keeps repeating inside my head ughhh -__- as for kiis.fm, what a wise decision. I wonder who made it. You guys successfully make me stay away from you, and hopefully not just me. I'm changing to smooth.fm, fingers crossed Woolworths didn't buy this one too -__-""

Tuesday, September 9, 2014

What People Think of You After You Live Overseas

After I live overseas, I realised that some stuffs that people in Indo think would happen to people living abroad, are not true. Some are even ridiculous lol I tried to think and remember of all those things, and here are what I can think of:

1. Your English is definitely absolutely fluent perfect. Or as my friend puts it, "uda cas cis cus" XD

2. You forget your mother's tongue and even pick up western accent when speaking Indo. This is very common to see in Indonesian sinetron. The most memorable one was the one portrayed by Feby Febiola I think, in Tersanjung as Tante America. 

Her performance was so ridiculous that it was memorable! Not only picking up western accent when speaking Indo is practically not going to happen if you don't learn to speak Indo overseas, her English in that sinetron was TERRIBLE as well. I can understand if you have that western accent, but that means your English must be perfect too!! If ur English is THAT bad, then there is no way your Indo has western accent! Gees... Do your research madam!

3. You can't find Indonesian food overseas. The fact is, prior to leaving Indo, I didn't eat much of Indonesian food. I.e. krecek, gudeg, Ayam penyet etc etc. I actually tried a lot of Indo food for the first time here in Sydney. As for the taste, of course some are really bad (I still remember that mi tek tek that cost me $10 a plate and tasted NOTHING like mi tek tek -_-"), but some of them are really good. So when my auntie in Jakarta offers me food, saying "you cant find this in Sydney right?', though I still eagerly accept it, :p most of the time I say "I can, but the taste might not be that authentic."

4. You like western food better than Indo now. Hmmmm... Not really... I don't know about everyone, but between me and my friends, we all still prefer Indo/Chinese food. We do like western food more than the first time we landed in the land of Oz, but we won't say our favourite is western food. We can crave, but we can't imagine eating it every day :l

5. You speak English all the time and meet more Caucasians than Asians. Well... Not in Sydney lol This city is SO multicultural, just name a nationality you want to meet and there will be one. Actually, if I go to Sydney CBD, I see more Asians than Caucasians. Of course this includes Australian Born Asians too, but you get the picture :) as for speaking English all the time, that really depends on your friends . I do speak 100% English at work, but my friends used to work for companies that have a lot of Indo people, so they spoke Indo at work and at home. And most of our friends are Indo too. So, really.. depends...

6. You must be filthy rich. Maybe the sound of living abroad is so cool? So some people who heard that I live abroad usually say, "Oh? How good, you have a lot of money. Must be very nice ya?". But in truth, I worked while I was a fulltime student in uni. In my last year in uni I even had 3 different casual jobs! It was pretty hard to juggle on my last semester. I was lucky to have a very understanding manager back then. Then after I graduated, I didn't get a full time job. Instead, I worked on 4 different jobs. A 3 days office junior job, 2 days of handing free magazines and 3-4 days a week in a supermarket. It's not as sparkly as people think it is.

So that's my list of things people think will happen to people living abroad. If you have other thought, let me know and I'll say if it's true or not :)

Monday, September 8, 2014

What A Hell of Two Days!!

Honestly, I feel like I have experienced a LOT of things these past 2 days. Let's start with yesterday, Sunday 7 Sep 2014, shall we?

Yesterday was the day before the Moon Cake Festival, and my friends, my sisters and I rented a car and went to Cabramatta for the Moon Cake Festival. Firstly, few days before that, there was a drama too between our group about our plan for yesterday, but let's not go there. Long story short, just say it wasn't that smooth just to get to yesterday. Anyway, it was DAMN crowded in Cabramatta. Lucky we started early, so it was still okay when we got there.

Once we got there and looking at the stalls, suddenly my friends started queuing in front of some random stall. I then asked them, "What are you guys queuing for???" They said, "Don't know. But the queue is long! Must be great stuff!!". Honestly, Wah Banana's video on "Signs That You Are A Singaporean" flashed back on me lol I really felt like I was a Singaporean, as I started queuing too without knowing what it was for.

When we got closer to the front of the line, we realised that it was a queue for a lucky draw. You pay $2, and then take a folded paper inside a plastic barrel for your prize. The prize were either a bottle of water, a pack of rice (probably 1 kg), or a box of mooncakes. My friends were first, and they got bottles of water. Then my turn came, and I took one of the folded paper and gave it to the stall girl. She opened it, her eyes WIDENED, and she excitedly showed me the writing on the paper (which I had no clue about as my Chinese really is at kindergarten level). She then said, "You've got the Mooncake!!!!!". Honestly, what went through my mind was "Is it 1 mooncake or 1 box of mooncakes?" LOL A greedy girl, aren't I? XD

They gave me a box of mooncakes and then asked me if I mind if they took my photo and it would be published on tomorrow's paper (which is today, and I've been checking if my photo is on their website =P but I couldn't find any *sob* I would check on the paper in library tomorrow). How lucky hohohoho ^^ The unlucky part was, my friend's mobile phone froze when he tried to take photo of me with the prize, and after it was fixed, he took a photo of the prize WITHOUT ME -_-" I ended up getting him to take photo of ME with the prize later on at my friend's place, but it's not the same!!! >>>____<<< I want the stall's background hix..... T___T

Then afterwards, everything was normal. We went eating, shopping, had DIY rice paper rolls, oh, we also got to see Adrian Nakadoo performing at the mooncake festival which is pretty cool! He sounded exactly like in XFactor! So I guess all of them must be really good then. After all those, we visited our friends who just had a new baby girl. Though after I think about it again, something funny did happen there.... My friend, let's name him Sunny, bought some nappy sealer machine as a gift for the new baby. He likes those gadgets kind of thing. He did say that this machine only includes 6 bags, and the bags cassettes cost like $40 for 3 or 6, I can't remember, anyway exxy. When he showed it to his flatmate earlier, she said to him "When I give birth, don't give me this, alright?" LOL So he said well at least she gets to play with it. When my friend (the one who just gave birth) received it, she opened it straight away and had a look. And then she said, "I think I picked the cassettes the other day!!" (This friend of mine is just like me, cheapskates and likes to pick things up from the recycle room lol... As a matter of fact, I actually learned this from her hahaha....). She then went and took the cassettes she found, and they look similar!! She didn't try them on, but they really look similar. So she actually picked the cassettes before she got the machine XD What a talent lol

Then, another not so strange thing was, remember the mooncakes I won? My bestie wanted to buy some mooncakes in the festival, but all was sold per box, she won't be able to finish them, so she didn't end up buying. So, I gave her 1 of my prize. When my friend came to my place for dinner that night, he gave me 1 mooncake. Seems to me like it was to replace the one I gave away :)

Another thing was, yesterday in the car on our way home, my sister was looking for her mobile phone. She couldn't find it and asked me to ring it. It rang inside the car, really faint, muffled sound, but we clearly heard it, so we thought that it must have been in the bag and not to worry about it. However, later that night she tried to find it, she couldn't! She lost her phone!! We rang her mobile but we couldn't hear the ringtone! The phone was still on though. Unfortunately, the friend who hired the car was already sleeping so he couldn't check the car. I left him a message to check the car if he still could access it.

Then this morning he checked it out, however he couldn't find it. He checked the seat, the floor, tried ringing it, but couldn't find anything. I pretty much lost half of my hope. Unfortunately Sydney is not as great as Japan in terms of lost property, so if someone finds your phone, you pretty much have higher chance that you won't ever get it back. But saying that, I still return wallets that I found on the street or on the bus.

I tried locating the phone using Android's Device Manager, however my stupid sister couldn't even remember her gmail username and password!!!! Grrrrrrrr -_____-""" So while trying to crack her account, I sent an SMS to her phone hoping someone would reply. And they did!!!! I rang her phone and a girl answered it. She said she found it in the car last night and so she took it with her, coz she thought somebody else might take it if she left it in the car. She also said sorry that she didn't pick up the calls last night because she was already sleeping. How nice!!! I was SO SO SO SO relieved!! Really thank God for it :))

And you know what, last night's dinner was for my friend's birthday, which is today. And this morning he dropped his iPhone and had the glass cracked XD Oh man, so many things!

This afternoon, I was looking at the time on my PC and I just realised that today last year, my sisters and I were in Tokyo. Gosh!! How quickly time flies!!! I miss that time so much. Today last year we were eating and shopping in Sensouji, went to Shinjuku to see Tokyo view and met my friend for lunch. Eventhough towards the end of the day we were drenched at Harajuku, didn't get to see the cosplay and had to get back to the station straight after arriving at Harajuku because it was raining SO hard, it was the best time we ever had. So I wrote a little email to the ryokan owners we stayed at in Tokyo, just to say hello. Simply because I miss that time. To my surprise, they replied to me straight away with a really long email and are as warm and friendly as before :)

That's not all. This arvo water tap announced in our VIP group that Blondie had resigned. Blondie didn't give months of heads up just like what superexcited expects everyone to do and was very shitty about it and pretty much told Blondie to piss off. So the last day would be this Friday :(( I don't get it really, according to the colleagues, Blondie hasn't got much to do these past few weeks and has been pretty bored. Plus, si bawel always says that we don't have a lot of things to do, we're pretty much free and rah rah rah... so, isn't it good if someone leaves voluntarily? He won't have to pay for the next 3 months :/ Plus, Blondie is not exactly si bawel's preference anyway, so I don't really get what's the problem :/

After I left work tonight, Ms Green was looking for me on Whatsapp, asking if I already left. Sensing something is up, I sent multiple messages asking why. She then said, she wanted to tell me before they announce it tomorrow, she's officially resigned >>>>>>_______<<<<<< Her last day would be a month from now >>>>>>>>_______<<<<<<<< Everybody's leaving me TT_______________TT

See? What a hell of 2 days... I don't think I've had 2 days as full on as these 2 days.

Now, off to the Cotton Island!

Sleep tight :)

Thursday, August 28, 2014

No!! You CAN'T Take Them All to Lunch!!! *nangis meraung_raung*

Have you guys missed him already?? It's about time!

Superexcited strikes again. This time it's about lunch.

Do you still remember ante meridiem? I mentioned her once when I wrote about our company casts of The Big Bang Theory. Penny? Anyway long story short, she already left the company but all of us have become friends with her throughout the years. So.... That day she came to visit us and had lunch with us.

I don't know if I have mentioned it before, but our company does not allow all employees to take lunch together. There are 2 lunch time slots, either you have lunch at 12 or at 1. If you need to have different lunch time today, you have to swap with someone else to make sure you are covered.

That day she went on lunch with the 1 o'clock lunch team. But before that, she popped in and said hello to all of us. She looked happy and fresh and great. Honestly, everyone thought they should get out too to be happy lol. Then come 1 o'clock and they all went out for lunch. (I didn't go since I was told too late and couldn't arrange for lunch swap) . Straight after everyone left, you-know-who went to the receptionist and asked who went out with her. He also asked, if there was anyone from 12 o'clock who came along. Then from there, he went straight to Lao Er and started bitching in low voice @_@ Honestly I couldn't hear the whole thing, but from a lot of 'her' that he said, and looking at his hand gestures which kept pointing to reception, water tap and I came to the same conclusion, he was whinging about ante meridiem going out lunch with them -____-

To tell you the truth, I really can't see the wrong part of ante meridiem going out to lunch with those guys :l 1. She came on their lunch time. 2. She didn't take everyone with her, office wasn't left unattended. And 3 she didn't take them out for longer than their own lunch time :l tell me what I'm missing please, I really can't see it .____.

The funny part was, once he knew that one of staff who usually goes at 12 actually JOINED the lunch, he flipped and asked one of the colleagues to CALL that staff to come back ASAP and do something for him. -.- I'm speechless... Well if you're wondering, that colleague of mine just ignored the call and came back 10 minutes late lol XD

"He's such a baby...", said one of my colleagues XP

Saturday, August 23, 2014

Signs You Have Left Indo for Far Too Long

  1. You stepped right into pedestrian crossing without looking left and right first.
  2. You queue for toilet at the toilet entry way, NOT in front of the cubicle.
  3. You and your friends stand on one side of the escalator, not on both sides to let other people pass.
  4. You find it weird when people don't eat fish and vegie raw and eat their steaks well done.
  5. You flush your toilet paper.
  6. You can't squat in the toilet anymore.
  7. You hold the elevator door, restaurant door and other doors open for the next person.
  8. It's normal not to have rice with KFC
  9. You accept the fact that KFC doesn't provide chili sauce.
  10. You queue. And get annoyed being cut by everyone else.
  11. You go crazy when going to asian country coz everything is so cheap.
  12. You assume you can buy things using your credit card everywhere and assume buying movie ticket online is normal.
  13. You forgot that pickpockets exist and you should really zip your bag.
  14. Going to the beach means taking off your shoes, walk on the sand, jump into the water or at least dip your feet in it. Not just taking photos.
  15. Using umbrella when it's sunny is embarrassing to you, and you will give other people doing that a dirty look.
  16. You sometimes/always look for non-whitening skin care products as you know the chemical stuff in skin whitening products is really not good.
  17. You expect your change when shopping and get angry when you get your change in candy currency.
  18. You drink water straight from the tap.
  19. You dress for the occassion. i.e. wearing sneakers, pants and backpack when bushwalking, not dress with high heels.
  20. Asian food portion doesn't fill you up anymore.
  21. You don't comment about strangers' appearance as much as before.
  22. Seeing people kissing in public, or same gender couples date in public is not so special anymore.
  23. You can't cross the street by yourself anymore.
  24. You can't write formal letter in Indonesian anymore.
  25. You're suprised at how many staff Carrefour has in every single aisle.
  26. You wonder how come Carrefour needs 2-3 people at each register, 1 to scan and 2 to pack while you can do all those yourself when you work at a supermarket overseas. And quicker than them.
  27. You don't feel wrong going to shopping centre wearing shorts and thongs XD
  28. You expect water is given for free at restaurants and serviette is provided at food courts (serviette is really singaporean thing though).
  29. You question why we need to tip every single person dealing with you at the hair dresser. Haven't we paid at the cashier already???
There you are!! The signs that show people that you have lived overseas (Australia in my case) for a bit too long according to ME :P Of course everyone is different, but those are what I found. Let me know if there is anything else, I'm sure I missed something :)

Sunday, August 10, 2014

The Effects of K-Drama to the World, and to Me

South Korean government should really thank their K-drama industry for promoting South Korea to the world, introducing Korean culture, and also doing their part to the economy. Prior to Autumn Story (a.k.a Endless Love) and Winter Sonata, less people traveled to South Korea. Of course it was still a pretty place to visit, but it wasn't as exposed as after those 2 dramas came out. Thinking about it, autumn season should really thank this drama too. I'm certain that more people appreciate the beauty of autumn after watching Autumn Story. Moreover, the place where they shot Winter Sonata is now one of the top places to go when visiting South Korea. Jeju Island was also featured heavily in Spring Waltz.

(Left: Autumn Story, right: Winter Sonata - http://www.dramabeans.com)

With more historical Korean dramas going out, they promote their traditional outfit, Hanbok, more and more. Honestly, before all those dramas were out, I had very limited general idea on how hanbok looked like. And let me tell you, it wasn't pretty XP Then Dae Jang Geum came out. Oh man, it confirmed my initial impression, especially with the elaborate hairdo and stuffs. I'll be honest with you, I only watched bits and pieces of it, so I don't know if there was any pretty hanbok in later episodes, but just based on what I saw, it was ugly :/

Dae Jang Geum
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Dae Jang Geum - lens-views.com



Princess Hours 
http://english.visitkorea.or.kr

After that I so not wanted to watch Korean period drama. But, Goong a.k.a Princess Hours came. It was a modern story, while still featuring quite a few of traditional clothings. My opinion started to change. Eventhough there wasn't much of it, but there were pretty enough to catch my attention and started to look forward to seeing them even more.







The one that really changed my opinion towards hanbok was actually The Princess' Man. The costumes were beautiful!! Some were grand and beautiful, while the others were simple but sweet. Just simply pretty :) Plus the casts were great, full of pretty girls and sweet guys :P It's one of my favourite dramas. Eventhough if I think about it, I still can't figure out why the main characters loved each other so much :S It was really a Romeo and Juliet story. Nonetheless, it was a great show, great story, full of eyes-pleasing aspects and made me have to force myself to turn off my laptop because it was already 3 AM XD Oh, Jang Ok Jung also showcased the beauty of hanbok heavily.

Princess' Man's Hanbok

amalia-aira-malichi.blogspot.com

zafirahoney.blogspot.com

amalia-aira-malichi.blogspot.com

zafirahoney.blogspot.com

           koreanvibe





























Fried Chicken and Beer - Wikipedia
Gejang - Wikipedia
But what I really want to mention is the way K-Drama promotes Korean food. The latest craze in Korean food is fried chicken and beer, which is the main character of My Love From The Star's favourite food. I must admit I got into this too, especially because the time I watched the show coincided with the opening of a new Korean restaurant in the city - Incredible Chicken Sparrow's Mill - specialising in Fried Chicken XD How lucky I was! Their Snow Cheese Fried Chicken is really good! XD

Anyway back to the topic, according to the articles I read, and from my Hongkong and Chinese friends, the sales of Fried Chicken there increased A LOT after the show aired in China. In addition, it also made me so wanted to try gejang XD In the drama, the main character ordered these raw crabs marinated in soy sauce from a TV shopping channel. I even asked my friend if I could get it anywhere in Sydney, she told me I can't, and even if I found one in Korean groceries, not to try it as the crabs have to be very fresh :(( 


A few years ago, Princess Hours made people crazy for Shin Ramyun. I don't know about anyone else, but that show made me crave for Korean barbequed meat wrapped in lettuce with kimchi and all those condiments as well. Fantasy Couple made my friends and I crave for Jjajangmyun, both instant noodle version and restaurant version. Still, Marry Me made me want to try Makgeolli and now always want it every time I go to a Korean Restaurant =P and Prosecutor Princess again reminded me of how good ramyun can be ^^ I can't remember what drama, but Tteokbokki and Korean cheap beer were also introduced to me through Korean drama. Cass beer was definitely the result of Sandara Park's MV with Lee Min Ho lol


yujinishuge.files.wordpress

Wikipedia

mykoreandiet.com

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All in all, you might all think I watched too much drama. However, you can't deny that K-drama has a big part in introducing and promoting South Korea to the world, giving both economic and image benefits to their country. And for me, thanks to them I got some historical, cultural, and geographical knowledge, and get to try all those yummy things I might not even think to try if I didn't watch them ;)


Wednesday, July 23, 2014

The End of the Most Interesting Presidential Election of Indonesia

Last night the Indonesian General Election Committee finally announced the winning presidential candidate. The good guy won :) he got 53% while the bad guy got 47%. So glad he won :)

Not only this election was the tightest one we've ever had, this election period was also the most interesting one. Only this time, I spent my lunch breaks checking kompas.com and detik.com. Only this time I googled both candidates trying to find how the world viewed both of them. Usually not interested in news, especially politics, this presidential election surely changed me.

Since last time I blogged, which was the day of the election, so many things have happened. Ridiculous, funny and embarrassing thing I have to say. Straight after the quick count started, both parties claimed victory. My reaction was "What the.... ". Where else in the world in could happen? Nowhere else but Indonesia :) the bad guy knelt down to the ground to praise the lord for winning the election. The good guy simply announced he won the election. Honestly I didn't get why the good guy did it. He's been reasonable so far. While the bad guy has always been weird, so it's no wonder. A friend told me that the good guy had to declare winning too in order to force the General Election Committee to do their job and not be biased towards the other party. But anyway it was an embarrassing moment for Indonesia and it made it to the Australian news soon after.

Then after that, the bad guy kept saying he was winning (eventhough around 10 of quick count institutions results showed otherwise). When people pointed out that the quick count showed the good guy was winning, he said not to believe in quick count results and just be patient to wait for the real count.

Not only that, he even had BBC News interview... *sigh.. now that is real embarrassment -_-" If you watch it, you can see how his real characters are. He was impolite, rude and emotional. I can only thank god he didn't win, and that the anchor lady was very professional to handle the interview. Else, it would be the most watched video on YouTube.

In the interview, he was asked questions in regards to the election. Many institutions show results that you are losing, what do you say? He claimed that he could bring forward more than 10 quick count results that show he was leading, and that those who show the good guy winning were commercial institutions and paid to report those results by the good guy. Now now.... If I were one of those institutions, I would sue him for spreading false rumor and defamation. Imagine 10 institutions suing him, he would have to pay out so much money to them.

He also said that the good guy was not a real good, humble, down to earth or people person. He claimed that the good guy was just made, a part of grand design to win the election. Well helloooo even if it was a grand design, he did more work than you. He's been working in Jakarta for around 2years only, but how come I saw more results than you who's supposed to be working since like maybe 20-30 years ago? If it was a grand design, I still want to applaud the good guy for what he did.

And lastly, when asked what would he do if he lost? He replied "what? i'm confident I'm winning. But if Indonesian people don't want me, I can go back to my old life. I have a good life! It's actually a quiet life away from politics. But I'm confident I'm winning." 

That point has been said by him a numerous times. He also made a point that he indeed had made similar statement so many times, while the good guy only said it ONCE. He said he would accept whatever result Election Committee gives. He would respect it. 

You know what? A day or 2 before the announcement, he asked the Election Committee to withhold the counting because there are so many frauds and abnormalities surrounding the election process. That he's been cheated. Man... It is getting interesting...

The general election committee ignored his request lol Well that's the right thing to do, they didn't give any evidence. Only saying they would provide the evidences soon. Now keep that so called "evidence" in your mind. I will get back to you on that one.

On the official announcement day, all the results showed the good guy was winning. The good thing about Indonesian quick count it, it's usually accurate. There is only 1% chance of difference with the real count. Hours before the announcement, he declared that he's not going to accept the results as they feel like they've been cheated. And decided to walk out of the election. What the....

Now now let's recap. Who declared himself winning even when all results showed otherwise? The bad guy. Who said he was winning when most quick count institutions said he wasn't? Who said he was still leading when real count showed he was losing when 90%+ of the votes had been counted? Who said he was confident even until 2 days before the announcement? The bad guy. Who said on BBC he was confident of winning and even if losing, he would accept it? The bad guy. Then who is that guy saying he's been cheated and would not accept the results??? He even had the face to walk out of it -_-

After he declared he was leaving the election and would not accept the results, there were confusions on whether he meant withdrawing himself as one of the candidates or just leaving that place. However, short after that he said that he would not appeal to Consitutional Court as he already withdrew, but instead would try other legal way. Then yesterday, 2 days after the announcement, he stated that he was going to appeal to Consitutional Court. How inconsistent! And his campaign team stated that he didn't withdraw from the election, but simply withdrew from the counting process -.- Yeah right. I think that's what they decided to say after they realised that there is a point in constitution that stated that presidential candidates cannot withdraw between the time they were officially confirmed as candidates until the end of the voting process. Withdrawal means jail for 2-5 years and a fine of 25-50 billion rupiah (AUD25-50 million).

And to make it even more funnier, yesterday they claimed that South Korean and Chinese hackers were involved in making the good guy win -_- the counting was done manually, and the results were scanned. Which part of it can hackers manipulate?? 

Then later yesterday, he or his team appeared on the news saying to world to hold congratulatory greetings to the good guy as there were so many discrepancies and frauds, and that all has not finished yet -_- duh malu dehhhhhh -.-

And the latest news is...... *drumroll* the bad guy had lodged a report to the police that ALL the evidence that proves the frauds, manipulation, and whatever he's been claiming all this time HAD BEEN STOLEN!!!

It can't get any better... *gelenk2* I think I would still be following indo news for many months to come -.- ugh... My data >_<

Wednesday, July 9, 2014

Today is Indonesian Presidential Election Day!!

This time's election is really interesting. A lot of people take it seriously. Most of them know exactly who they want to vote for and for what reason. Well it's not surprising, considering we have 2 exact opposite candidates.

To summarize is quickly, the first one is the bad guy with track record of human rights violations. Just like most thinga related to Indonesian politics, there's no solid proof that he was really involved, but he's the main suspect and USA even banned him into coming to USA.

The 2nd guy is the good guy. To the people who hate him, this guy is ugly looking village guy who doesn't have a president charisma. To those who hate him, they believe if he becomes president, he would be a disgrace to Indonesia in front the world. However, to his believers, he's the only hope to Indonesia. They believe only with him, Indonesia can move forward. He's the people person who doesn't mind to sit within commoners, doesn't care who's at the top and who's at the bottom and still serves anyone below him. To them, he's the only leader who actually does some work instead of just saying bullshits.

IMO, Indonesian are not nationalists. We don't usually care about voting for election. If it's convenient, we would vote. If it's troublesome, don't bother. That's the spirit usually. However, it's different this time. During the campaign, people actively shared articles both to make their choice looks good, and to smash the opponent, and they also bravely shared their own opinions (which of course got a lot of comments and sometimes caused them fighting on their facebook wall). I myself had to unfollow some friends due to them spamming my newsfeed.

Last Saturday was the time for us who live overseas to cast our vote. I personally haven't yet since I registered to cast my vote via post, but until today haven't received my paper. I called and texted the overseas election committee, they said I would get it this week, but what caught me was, they said they received 200 calls asking about it! I'm pretty sure handling election was an easy-peasy to them in the past, well not this time :)

But at the election places, wow man... The queue at Masonic Center Sydney was like queueing for the new iPhone @_@ my friend and his wife queued had to come back due to the line was so long, and even after they came back, they still had to queue for an hour to cast their vote. My auntie and cuz queued twice, and still didn't qualified, but they didn't mind coming back and queue again. A few of my friends casted their votes for the very first time this year, eventhough they were already eligible to do so since 12 years ago. Food vendors at Melbourne election area sold out all their food. And Hong Kong couldn't finish their election due to the high number of voters and the voters were very upset and disappointed for not being able to vote after hours and hours of queuing under scorching Hong Kong sun. They even suggested to move and continue the election at the embassy though it wasn't agreed by the committee who wanted to go home -_-

Indonesia is really making history this year. Thanks to those 2 candidates, a lot of people now want to have their votes counted and make sure the the other candidate doesn't become the President of Indonesia. I googled yesterday, and found all about Indonesian election at news.com.au, britainnews, and so on.

Well today is the time for people living in Indonesia to cast their vote. Hopefully all goes well, and may the best candidate win. Our overseas votes only count towards 2% of the whole Indonesian citizens, but see how we have tried :)

 So help us God.

Friday, June 27, 2014

Super excited VS Hot Chips!

My special boss is in the mood lately. Seriously if he's a woman, I would think he is on his period or even maybe pregnant!! Honestly I've never seen this kind of behavior apart from pregnant women. He came to our area last week (kalo indo, kita bilang tergopoh-gopoh dateng :p), saying "What smell is THAT??? It's terrrrrrrible!!". No, it's not my durian lollies or snacks, it's.... HOT CHIPS!! -_- then he found out it was hot chips, and he said "It stinks! Don't you think?? I think we have to ban strong smelling food! What if client walks in and smell it?" Man... Seriously everyone in the office was looking like this @___@ everyone was thinking in their mind, hot chips smell AWESOME!! Wait till I bring real durians in, you can then define stink -_-

Tap water bought the chips for lunch, he didn't finish it and left them on the kitchen table. You might think it's in the office area, but nope, it's in the KITCHEN!! I can understand if we have our lunches at the desk, but no, we can't have lunches at our desk which btw, most companies allow staff to have lunch while working except ours. And no, no, not for our health and wellbeing sake, but for the sake of the desks, keyboards, and carpet.

He asked whose chips were those, and said to finish them or chuck them because THEY STINK!! So I went to the kitchen to check, and there were still quite a lot left. Slitherin came too, and had some. Then I called Little Missy, and together we ate them. They were still warm and tasty. Superexcited appeared in the kitchen, when he saw us eating, he said "Yes, finish them Little Missy, and once you're finished, make sure you chuck the box and bury it at the bottom of the bin. Okay???". Little Missy said "Yea...", I ignored him.

After that, of course our group bitched about it. And we found out that he's been complaining about Little Missy's homecooked food too, saying Little Missy always bring smelly lunch! But you know what, when superexcited pops in to kitchen, he NEVER says bad things about it. He ALWAYS says "Whose lunch is that?? Smells fantastic!! You always have great lunches!!". But behind you? It's completely different story.

Anyway, we were saying, knowing his character, he might actually ban food with strong odor. And guess what? We got an email yesterday from ante meridiem. However, after reading it, I was 99% sure it was written by the special guy ;) The email said that we're going to have important meeting tomorrow and next week, so please everyone refrain from bringing food with strong odor I.e. hot chips and curry -__- I understand if it's curry, eventhough I don't agree in banning it, it's everyone's right to eat the food that they usually eat. However HOT CHIPS?? Where in this earth do hot chips considered smelly?? Everyone apart from him loves the smell of it :/

Luckily today the whole office apart from the boss are going out for lunch -_-

Just some background information to consider:

1. Superexcited doesn't come to kitchen unless for coffee.

2. Our kitchen is an enclosed kitchen area, not open area. So whatever smell of food only lasts until door area.

3. You can't smell anything from the kitchen in the meeting room.

I think you get my point -.-