Tuesday, April 11, 2017

The Day I Flew Home For My Friend's Wedding

Sometimes I don't believe my luck is so... Hmm OK, my best friend describes my luck like this, "when you're lucky, nobody else has ever got that struck of luck. But when you're unlucky, no-one else had ever been that unlucky". But I summarised today as quite a good day :)

This morning I took the bus to go to the station to catch a train to the airport. The bus I took was unusually the old style one. It only had 1 door, narrow aisle and no place for pram/disabled/trolley/luggage. However, the driver was so nice! He actually got off the bus and helped me to load the luggage. When we got to the station, he told me to get off first and he unloaded my luggage! How I love the bus drivers in my area ;)

I had to queue twice when checking in, coz apparently people who have checked in online should go to premium economy counter :/ how would I know? Anyway, so I went to queue again. Then when it got to my turn and I handed my passport, I saw the staff's name tag, and at the same time she saw my name on my passport, we were both surprised! We have the same name! She said it's not often she met people whose name was the same, and usually they are older generation. I personally maybe only met 1 before, and yes she was in older generation. I did meet 1 or 2 who were in the same generation as me, but they were males -_- so yeah, because of that we chatted a bit :)

My passport worked on the first time at that customs machine! First time ever it happened to me! Usually I need to do a couple or true before it worked, or got sent to an officer to process it manually.

The staffs at the duty free were super nice and quite chatty. That was nice 😊

My flight was delayed by an hour due to the aircraft was late to arrive at international airport. Apparently this aircraft is normally used for domestic flight. 1 it was late, 2nd they said something was wrong that it needed to be fixed first and painted. Hence the delay.

However, during the queue to get in to the plane, there was nobody cutting in the queue! 1 think that I'm always worried about when flying home is Indonesian, and their famous culture of cutting in. I so hate those kind of people. Not having that today, really made me relaxed 😆 I did have argument with Indo people before about this issue, that of course ended with them still thinking they did nothing wrong. Let me tell you this, they were educated people.

Oh and while queuing, I had a conversation with a quite nice auntie. So it's good.

Before the flight, one of my friend wished me to get a nice single male seat companion lol. I thought it was nice, but another friend then said, "I wished you get a big guy". I so want to slap his face. It's funny how much a person can change. This friend, I used to be able to talk about anything to him, anything, no matter what topic it is. However nowadays, it seems that almost everything that comes out of his mouth, irritates me.

I got on the plane, and guess what? Nobody was seated next to me! I have 2 seats just for myself! Thank God! This is the second best think I could get for a flight companion hahahaha xD the plane is pretty quiet. That auntie I talked to before did mention that this flight seems quiet, she thought she might be able to sleep then.

I pre-selected my meal online and chose the menu that is only available if you ordered it online. Guess what, 1I had to ask for it, and 2 they don't have it for me. They couldn't explain if it was because it wasn't ordered properly or because they gave it to someone else. See my luck?

To make it even worse, this it the second time it happens to me. Well, not exactly to me to me, I ordered it once for my mum, and she didn't get it too. The flight attendant didn't even say anything about pre-selected menu.

Honestly, I was waiting for this meal. The standard meal options really didn't appeal to me, so I was really looking forward to this grilled barrammundi with lemon herb butter or something. So, I kept questioning the flight attendant. He was SUPER nice, I actually felt sorry for him as it might not even be his fault. But I was so annoyed that I ordered online special menu twice and I've never ever seen it appeared! For people who know me well or not well, you know my face can not hide my feelings (I really think that means I have 0 acting skill).

He was really sympathetic and apologised for it. This is also why I like Australian customer service, they are more human. Yes, you can get the rude ones, any nationalities have rude customer service. And to tell you the truth, you might get more rude Australian ones. However, when they're at fault, or when you tell the story of your life or your issues, they genuinely feel sorry and sympathise with you. This is what I don't see on Indonesian customer service. Their sympathy looks fake and textbook template. And a lot of time, when they are at fault, they don't own up to it.

Back to this story, I mentioned to the flight attendant that this is the second time it happens and questioned the existence of this online only menu. The flight attendant saw how disappointed I was, and asked if I'd like to talk to the supervisor. I didn't even ask for it, he asked me himself. I then said yes.

Considering how busy flight attendants usually are, I expected no supervisor to come. I was thinking to just write an email to complain formally to Qantas. Then, the supervisor came. She made it so casual, just like making a chat. Long story short, she apologised, explained that this thing does happen and unfortunately I'm the unlucky one to experience twice in a row, and assured me that this menu does exist. Wow, I applaud the previous flight attendant, obviously he passed on everything I said 😲 guys don't do that! Don't mention about guys, even call centre people who are supposed to pass on information to whoever they are passing the call to, NEVER do it. I take off my head to you.

Then, she said she's going to give me $50 duty free voucher to use on international Qantas flight. Unfortunately, this flight I'm on doesn't carry duty free. So I can use it next time. She went off to get the voucher. Again I was still sceptical and had low expectation of her ever returning.

But she did return with the voucher! What's even better is, she actually asked more questions, like if I fly with Qantas often. From that conversation, we realised that duty free voucher is not really suitable for me. As my flight home might not carry duty free, and I don't fly Qantas every single time, I might not even have the chance to use it. She then offered frequent flyer points instead. I said yes and she left.

She came back and said she had options for me @_@ duty free, which is not suitable for me, 2000 frequent flyer points (from my quick thought, probably worth $20), international business lounge access - even though she said the one in Jakarta is not the nicest one, domestic business lounge, or free parking at the airport. I think there was more, but the rest wasn't relevant to me. Hearing that, the duty free was actually the best option out of all of them. Too bad there's no guarantee I can use it. So I chose international business lounge access. So she wrote me another voucher and gave it to me.

She was really nice and sympathetic. She really could just give the duty free voucher and left, but she took her time to understand my flight pattern to make sure I would be able to use it. Then gave me all options so I could pick one that I could actually use. THAT is customer service. She made me feel bad for causing her coming back and forth and having to write another voucher. At the end, I said thank you, and she said, "Thank you, for understanding". I might even write a letter to Qantas to praise them both. It was that nice.

Even though the flight was 1 hour delayed, we actually arrived in Jakarta on time! So, yayyyyy 😆 and from then on, I started a week of fun and non-stop eating xD

Monday, February 27, 2017

Sesi Temu Masyarakat Indonesia dengan Presiden Jokowi dan Ibu Negara di Sydney

I met Mr President today. Ya nggak semeter di depanku sih, tp still in the same room. And you know what? I didn't regret even one bit that I voted for him last election.

Based on the speech he gave today, I know he does work really really hard. And he really wants to build Indonesia and help as many people as he can, not just the people living in big cities. IMHO, he really wants to mewujudkan keadilan sosial bagi seluruh rakyat Indonesia, sila ke 5 kita.

Throughout the session, for the first time out of all the presidents that we ever had, I thought, sayang yah... Dia cm bisa memimpin 2 periode.... 10 years max. But then now that I think about it again, it may be a good thing for him. Being a president of Indonesia is really a hard work. It is a 24/7 job for the length of your serving. So if it's 10 years, then it is 24/7 job for the whole 10 years. Of course, he can take a rest and go holiday for a bit, but he can't really let go of all his worries and let all his guard down.

If it's other presidents, maybe they could. But this one, I don't think he could. And with all corruption, Indonesian bureaucracy, politics and power struggles, if he is a good guy, a clean guy, and a good president, he won't be able to rest during his time as President.

His speech, which really was a presentation, showed us what he has done. It is actually surprising considering he only has been in the position since October 2014. He's done a lot!

2 years, cuma dlm 2 tahun, dia sudah menyamaratakan harga bahan bakar di seluruh Indonesia. Dl 1 liter petrol di Jakarta yg cm sekitar 6000, dijual seharga 60ribu di Papua. Harga semen di Jakarta 70ribu per sak, di Papua? 2.5juta per sak. No wonder I was wondering knp mereka dr dulu sampai sekarang masih terbelakang banget 😐 harga semen ini yg dia masih usahakan.

Jalan tol di Indonesia totalnya cm 830km long. Honestly I was never interested in all of these, so I never read about this thing, but I know Indonesia is so big. 830km for the whole archipelago?? Even I was like shit, that's so little! What did the previous government do all those years??? He's now building jalan yg menghubungkan Papua dr utara ke selatan, and even though belum diaspal, tp at least jalannya sudah terbuka dan bisa segera dipakai untuk transport. Jokowi sendiri bakal cobain jalan itu dlm bbrp bulan ke depan. Belum lagi jalan tol yg sedang dibangun di Sumatra. Seriously.. What have they all been doing all this time??
1 lagi. Pos2 perbatasan darat dengan luar negeri, contohnya Entikong (apparently itu di perbatasan Kalimantan Barat dan Malaysia). Jokowi bilang, pertama kali dia ke sana, in his own words, "Jeleknya minta ampun, kayak kantor kelurahan!". Dia langsung bilang ke mereka, "Robohin dlm 2 minggu, dan dia kasih waktu 2 tahun untuk bangun lagi yg bagus. Bikin malu! Orang2 kita aja yg keluar negeri foto2nya di perbatasan Malaysia, bukan di tempat kita". Kata orang2 di sana, sejak Indonesia merdeka tidak pernah diapa2in. OMG... Kl ikutin kata Ahok sih, kemana ajaaaaa pemerintahnya dl??? O.M.G.

Dia jg tahu watak orang Indo. The unspoken ugly truth that we all know tp kl diomongin tersinggung (kadang aku bingung deh sm org Indo. Soal ginian, tersinggung kl dibilang males ato kl dibilang kerjanya gak becus, tp kalo ngomong tuh bisa seenak jidat bilang orang makin jelek lah, makin gendut lah, makin tua lah. Jokes jg, bisa ngata2in orang and kl kita marah, dibilang sensi abis. I don't get it -_- tp kl blg dia males n gak becus padahal emang iya gak becus, gak ada sadar diri sm skl), kl org Indo tuh ya kasarnya males. Kalo gak diawasin bos, ngga kerja. Dia bilang selama 71 tahun ini, Indonesia cm ada 53ribu kw pembangkit listrik. Dia perintahkan membangun 50ribu lagi dlm wkt.. I can't remember, let say 2 years. Dia blg semua komplain, gak mungkin bisa. Dia ngotot harus coba, kalo nggak bisa di akhirnya kan jg bisa diliat kenapa gak bisa, masalahnya di mana, and even kl cm bs tercapai setengahnya pun, itu uda such a groundbreaking achievement! Asal begitu sudah turun perintah, ya harus diawasi. Seperti jalan tol di Sumatra and Papua, itu jg selama ini diawasi, kalau nggak ya bisa bisa.... (dia sering gak selesaiin kalimat dia yg kaya beginian, and we all knew what he meant) .

Now I can see why Jokowi and Ahok work so well together. Mereka ber2 emang maunya works get done and get done correctly. Maybe it is such a shock buat PNS and pemerintah ya, yg selama ini uda dimanja dengan gaji dan fasilitas just for a very minimum effort and work. Both of them know this Indonesian watak and awasin bener2 org2 di bawahnya. Buat org2 rajin kaya aku sih, it's a good thing. Secara waktu dpt bos yg demen dijilat, model org2 rajin and do real work kan biasa gak bisa jilat2 or kiss asses, jd gak diappreciate deh. Maybe malah diketawain temen2 kerja mereka kali, buat rajin kerja. Tp kl buat yg males2 sih, bos model gini mendingan cepet2 dipecat.

It was a good session. I didn't regret coming :) to tell you the truth, I was contemplating if I should go when I got the tickets. But then my friend didn't get the ticket, my dad's friends couldn't get the tickets either, so I thought wow, this is precious then, I should go! XD but I still brought a book with me just incase it got boring hahaha... But nope, I didn't take it out :)

MCnya Sule dan Andre. I didn't know them hahaha... Lucu sih mereka, I might consider watching their talk show if I have time. Tp ya jokes mereka lumayan sadis sih buat oz standard. Tipe bisa ngata2in org gitu deh. But I guess once in a while it's OK, plus bukan aku jg yg jadi bahan ketawaan kan? Anaknya Sule yg nyanyi. I guess he has good voice for lower range, and he can sing, tp suara dia kalah gitu sama bandnya. I struggled to hear his voice.

It was my first time too in the last 14 years singing Indonesia Raya :P I still remember the lyrics *proud* Singing National Anthem always makes me feel something, no matter if it's Indonesia or Australia's National Anthem. I guess there are good things from both countries for me. Too bad I don't have pintu kemana saja.

I recommend you to watch the session from yesterday on YouTube. Especially if you don't follow Indonesian news, this will be a summary of the developments that have been happening in Indonesia. For me, it makes me proud voting for him :)

Monday, February 13, 2017

Calon-calon gubernur and wakil gubernur Jakarta 2017-2022

Sampe around minggu lalu, aku ngga tau kl pilkada tuh serentak di seluruh Indonesia. Secara yg diberitain di kompas and facebook semuanya cm pilgub DKI Jakarta. Kali ini aku ikutin lho semua debat cagub DKI. Plus nonton mata najwa, though cm Ahok doank sih, abisss makin dengerin anies ngomong, aku makin pengen tutup kuping. Itu nada ngomong kenapa ya, rasanya gak enak banget di kupingku 😕

Too bad my loyal blog reader gak ada niat buat ikutin ginian. Kl ngga, kita bisa ngegosip deh. 1-1nya temenku di sini yg ngikutin, uda changed 180degree (in other area, not about pilgub. Gaya ngomong dia aja udah gimanaaa gitu, jd males deh) and I can't stand to argue anymore with him, jd ya sudahlah. Cm bisa gangguin temen2 yg di Indo deh....

Aku kmrn bela2in lho spend my Saturday nonton debat cagub DKI 2.5 jam. Pulang gym, aku lgs angkut laptop ke bawah, coba connect ke TV etc with no success which I cbf to check if it's laptop issue, cable issue or TV issue. Jd ntn di laptop aja deh. Terus ambil cemilan and my planner and novel (kalo2 boring and I need more distractions), and duduk manis ntn debat.

Baru si nomer 1 sebutin visi misinya soal penanggulangan narkoba, aku uda langsung teriakin, "Woiiiii gubernur tuh bukan polisi, mana bisa dia tangkepin orang??? Ini org did his research gak sih?? Jurisdiction gubernur tuh apaan aja??".

Iye, dia blg kalo dia bakal firm menanggulangi narkoba. Pengedar akan ditangkep and dihukum tanpa ampun and tanpa pandang bulu. Ya intinya sih dia bolak balik bilang bakal firm. Bakal dihukum berat pengedarnya. Tp ya umm loe kan bukan polisi? Aku uda lama sih gak di Indo, tp aku yakin gubernur gak bisa tangkepin orang. Kl bisa sih, maybe uda banyak kali yg Ahok tangkep. Cm polisi yg bisa nangkep2in orang neng. Which is weird really, considering si nomer 1 jebolan militer, mustinya dia tau donk gini2an?

On the other hand, nomer 3 anti hukum menghukum. Semua musti direhabilitasi. Yah terserahlah. Though I wonder kalo duitnya cukup.

Tapi, kl soal gusur menggusur, si nomer 1 bolak balik bilang gak bakal gusur, cuma geser aja dikit. Umm... Mas, bukannya sungai2nya perlu dilebarin? Gimana gesernya kl sungainya dilebarin? Ada jg maybe musti gusur yg legally punya tanah. Kl misalnya gak dilebarin, bukannya bakal tetep banjir juga?

Belon lagi cawagub nomer 1 tampangnya jg nyebelin bener. Dunno why, dia nyengir aja keliatannya uda nyebelin bener :l is that because she looks licik? Plus kostum nomer 1 bikin gerah aja liatnya. 1 keliatannya panas. Tangan panjang kan soalnya, plus mereka pake bajunya dobel jg deh kayanya. 2. Warnanya gelap gitu. Somehow ngingetin aku sm SWAT. Gak masalah sih, secara itu baju mereka and aku gak usah pake, tp ya, gerah aja gitu liatnya.

Oh, soal bullying di sekolah juga. Nomer 2 kan bilang hukumannya either gak naek kelas ato dikeluarkan. And again the once upon a time mendikbud bilang, gak bisa apa2 dikeluarkan dikeluarkan, apa2 ditakut2i, harusnya dibimbing. Helloooo kl emang anaknya gak bisa dididik gmn? Apa musti korbannya yg musti keluar? Ato korbannya musti brave themselves and see their bullies every single time di sekolah? Terus terang makin lama aku makin gak heran dia dicopot dr menteri.

Itu nomer 1 and 3 bolak balik nyerang nomer 2. And pertanyaan mrk buat each other jg gak banget deh. Either gak jelas pertanyaannya apa, or ya gak penting deh.

Yg paling lucu sih soal cawagub no 1 yg ribut kl Jakarta gak ramah difabel. Dia blg buktinya gak ada PNS Jakarta yg difabel. Which Ahok replied by saying, "Aduh bu Sylvi kemana ajaaaaaaaa??? PNS Jakarta yg difabel ada 1%, dan kita target tingkatkan jd 2%. Ibu Sylvi ini tipe PNS yg gak mau bergaul sama PNS2 rendahan, jd gak tau kl ada yg difabel". Me: *ketawa berguling2 and lgs whatsapp temen ngegosip* hauhaahahahahaahahaaha xD OMG, you should watch it!

Mrk2 ini keluarin datanya kok ga beres sih? Malu tau kalo smp kaya gitu.

Aku jg musti salahin Ahok jg sih. Mustinya dia prep debatnya lengkap, what they've done so far, how is it going, what they need to improve and how they are going to do it. Kl gitu kan lgs skak mat and yg 2 itu gak bisa buka mulut tanya lagi. Though ngeliatin tipe2 mereka sih, mereka bakal tetep tanya sih, hoping gak ada yg nyadar kl itu ida dijawab sebelonnya.

Abis debat pertama, temen istrinya post di facebook or apa gitu I forgot. Basically blg kl debat itu kaya bapak sama 2 anaknya. Yg sulung idealis tp gak praktikal plus sok tau. Yg bungsu masih gak tau mau ngapain, tp sensi. Itu sih kubilang tepat banget perbandingannya. Tp bininya nomer 1 jd marah and ngelabrak temennya itu di sosmed. Rame dehhhh... Apalagi later on dia minta maaf ke seluruh rakyat Indonesia soalnya uda bikin rame. Hmm... 😕 *towel towel*, why ke rakyat Indonesia neng? mustinya kan ke temen loe itu?? Intinya dia gak ngerasa dia salah, tp kl gak Minta maaf tar image dia jelek, jd ya Uda deh, ga usah minta maaf ke org yg bersangkutan, ke rakyat Indo aja, kan at least dpt maaf Dr ribuan org, jd ga usah pusingin soal 1 org tadi deh.

Terus ada lg yg dipromoin cagub nomer 3. Beli rumah tanpa DP katanya. Honestly aku gak gitu dengerin sih, soalnya my first reaction was, emangnya dia bisa bikin bank2 mau pinjemin tanpa DP apa? Anyway berdasarkan info2 dr sosmed yg gak jelas jg bener apa ngga, kayanya yg mau pinjem disuru nabung dl selama 6 bulan. Kl setelah 6 bulan dievaluasi mrk bisa konsisten bayar, nah duit itu dijadiin DP buat beli rumah. Org2 di sosmed ribut, kl itu bukannya sama aja bayar DP? Terus ada yg hitung2, kl rumah 500juta, musti nabung 6 bulan buat dp which is 10%, kan jd 50 juta, cicil 6 bulan jd 8jutaan sebulan, makan apa 6 bulan itu? Terus ada another group yg nangkepnya 6 bulan itu bayar cicilan harga rumah itu sendiri buat 30 taon, dia itungnya for example 800ribu per bulan, which menurut Dia tetep aja mahal and org gak bisa bayar. Tp kl aku sih mikirnya, balik lg ke bank mana yg mau pinjemin duit 30 taon cm dgn 4.8 juta DP? Plus knowing Indo, yg gampang bener pinjem duit ke temen kerja, ipar, adik kakak or sepupunya ipar, temennya temen dll, kubilang sih bakalan banyak yg pinjem kanan kiri buat 6 bulan itu. And once uda dpt pinjemannya, bakalan mandek deh bayar cicilannya.

Anyway it is really interesting and entertaining. Sayang aku gak bisa ikutan milih dr sini 😞

Wednesday, February 8, 2017

Easy Resignations

Lately I don't have much appetite to write something, which is a shame because I like writing. But there's no topic I'm so passionate to write about. Superexcited is still playing up, but I don't really care about him anymore much, so it doesn't give me that much kick to write. But this post is still about him haha!

2 people have resigned from my company. Last Friday was Dudul's last day, THANK GOD! I admit I am not a nice person and doesn't like a lot of people, Dudul so far is 1 out of 3 people I truly hate for all my years in this company. I can't really rank if dudul was the most annoying one, but dudul was certainly the dumbest/rockheaded one IMO. But even then, I still put money in to buy dudul's farewell gift and also still showed up to the farewell lunch. I sat at the other end of the table though haha! Even on dudul's last week there, he still managed to get scolded by me *sigh

After all those stories about resignation in our company, you probably are eager to listen and are prepared for an awesome story. But, tell you what, this resignation was pretty easy. Last year the Spice Girls actually laughed about dudul's resignation plan. Dudul said dudul wanted to quit in January this year, and would hand in the resignation in Jan and go for holiday for a month, so it's 2 months notice but 1 month is actually dudul's holiday. We laughed back then and thought you-know-who won't ever let dudul go easily. But fast forward to now, dudul gave his resignation 2 weeks before the planned holiday, giving 2 months notice, but the last day was actually a day before dudul's holiday started! So dudul really only gave 2 weeks notice! I can't believe his luck!

It was easy, but dudul did get a scolding from you-know-who too. Superexcited said dudul wasn't professional by just giving out resignation letter. In superexcited's opinion, professional means by the time dudul had the idea or thought of leaving the company, Dudul should have come to superexcited and discussed.... Really? Dudul wasn't going to marry your daughter mannnnnnn! Dudul was resigning! What dudul did was professional, what superexcited wanted was not professional, that's family thingy! Weird -_- of course I told my friends this story and as usual they all had a speechless and flabbergasted look on them @__@

The other one who resigned was Winnie the Pooh. That one was real easy. Pooh actually got a new job, but because Pooh was so scared of telling superexcited for a reason all of us here know about, Pooh said to him it's due to personal reasons. Superexcited asked her point blank, "Did you get a new job? ". Pooh didn't give away anything, whatever superexcited asked, Pooh said, "Sorry, personal reasons". As the results, superexcited couldn't get anything out. I kinda had a feeling he didn't dare to press on, maybe he's worried that someone is dying or something. He had some family issues, too, few months back, so maybe? Either way, it's good for Pooh 🐻

Pooh gave 1 month notice, but since Pooh had 2 weeks leave not used yet, Pooh really only gave 2 weeks notice. I am still speechless to this day, how could it be that easy @_@ but I'm happy for Pooh. I'm just sad coz I won't have anyone who actually stands up to superexcited instead of just saying yes to everything he says :(