Total Wreck!

I just received an email from my future mum-in-law. Quote "I don't know how you keep so calm with all these Wedding arrangements. If it were me I think I would be a wreck!"

Calm? ME? CALM???

I'm like this close to scream on top of the building. It's getting more and more difficult to focus on what should I do next. I'M A TOTAL WRECK!!!

Maybe it's my own fault anting to do this by myself without EO. But we're in tight budget since we're paying the wedding by ourself. So spending 5 mill RP for EO seems like such a luxury :( So here I am with my zero wedding knowledge, trying to juggle everything at the same time.

Try to combine western and traditional wedding together. Try to convince your Australian boyfriend that he won't look silly wearing 'kopiah' in his head and that he will need to shake hands to 300 total strangers. Try to convince your parents that the 'normal' way to do wedding may not be 'normal' in the eyes of others and that they shouldn't feel guilty of not inviting Mrs B that they talked like once a year and one time asked to be invited if I'm married.

I can't wait to have the wedding done and over with...

Austria & Paris

When I landed in Soekarno Hatta airport and heard the Indonesian language being spoken left and right, it felt like music to my ears. You know, the old saying is right... there's no place like home. And 5 weeks is a long time to leave home.


AUSTRIA

What can I say about that country. I just love the nature soooo much. The mountains and the rivers and the lakes. All it just so breathtaking. The beautiful architectures, the wonderful people, all just making me fall in love with the place even more. The only problem I have there is only the language. I speak very very little German. And turns out that people don't speak English very well in the place where I'm staying. So it's a lot of hand sign and body language during the whole stay. Which is quite fun and frustrating in the same time :)

I spent most of my 2 weeks time in a small town by the mountain called Leoben with only about 25000 populations. Foods there are mostly influenced by German food and taste sooo good I'm having a problem in restraining myself. Right now my mouth is watering for those Schnitzels. The picture below is taken from a hill about 20 minutes hiking from the hotel where I'm staying. I was out of shape and my lung felt like it could explode :) The two guys I hike with were not in a better condition also (btw, they're American and Pakistani... we sure made one weird group :). But the view you get from up there... it's definitely worth the pain. Oh ya, and to the rest of the group, we claim that we have conquer a 'mountain' :)


[Leoben, taken from 'mountain']

In the first weekend, I went to Salzburg alone. The three hours train ride passed the Alps Mountain and Salzach River. All the way, it just like those pictures you see in postcards. Whenever I passed the houses, I couldn't stop thinking... those lucky people, they could enjoy this view every day... Salzburg itself is a lot bigger than Leoben. Famous as the place where they shoot the legendary movie "The Sound of Music", birthplace of Mozart and rich with favourite skiing spots, the city earn most of its revenue from tourism. It's quite easy to find people that speak good English. But the TV in the hotel still only had CNN as the only English speaking channel. My favourite spot is definitely the old part of the city. It's just wonderful to walk on those small alleys full with little shops. And than the beautiful architectures, mostly done in Baroque style, are simply beautiful.

[Salzburg downtown]

I also took the tour to the mountain and the lake outside of the city. I was so lucky that the weather was so good (sunshine - 19degC in end of Oct was kind of like miracle there :) that they still have the boat ride on the Wolfgang lake (the last ride of the year). And you know what... those famous line from The Sound of Music... "The hills are aliiiiiveeee.... with the sound of musiiiic", I could definitely imagine Maria running through the hill, throw her arm up and yell that line. Cos I feel the exact same way.

[Lake Wolfgang - River Tour]

The last weekend in Austria, before I flew to Paris, I spent it in Vienna. Or Wien, as the Austrian call it. Too bad the weather was not friendly anymore. It started snowing that weekend when I leave Leoben. And tho Vienna is warmer than Leoben, it was still cloudy and raining pretty much the whole time I was there. I guess because of that I couldn't enjoy Vienna as much as the other two cities. I spent most of my time inside the hop-on-hop-off bus that taking me all around the cities. My fave is definitely the St. Stephen cathedral and the area between the cathedral and the opera house. Oh ya... and I have to evacuate the hotel cos the bulding next to my hotel was on fire. But everything was ok at the end.

PARIS

The city of light... the city of romance. Too bad the reason I'm staying in Paris is not really to enjoy the light and definitely no romance involve. We actually not even staying in the center of Paris, but rather in one of the suburb. About 25 min with direct train from Gare de Lyon. It's a very small area and we're not living in a very nice place. Transportation was expensive and we were busy with the class. So me and my classmate spend most of our weeknights stuck in the hotel bar. One thing that I have to admit tho, the French definitely have good wine, even in the cheap range. I don't know how many bottles our little group manage to drink on those 3 weeks we stayed there. I even earn a new nick name... purple lips :)

I spent all my weekends touring around Paris. It's my second time coming to the city, but because my first visit was such a short trip, I really spend this second time to leisurely browse the city. I spent one of the day in Louvre museum and fell in love with Panini. And I definitely not claiming myself as a cultural person, because looking at Monalisa, I just could not see why all the big huhahh about that painting.

I found my new fave spot in Paris that I didn't even know existed on my first visit. It's highly recommended as a not to missed spot if you visit Paris. It's called Montmartre. A beautiful small area, very french, full off small restaurant and shops, with an open art market, and also home for the beautiful Basilica of the Sacre Coeur. If I could visit Paris again, I wouldn't mind skipping the rest of the other touris attraction and just go to that one place again.

[Basilica of the Sacre Coeur]

JAKARTA

It is polluted. It is packed with non-stop traffic jam. But it is home. Home of satay and rendang and ayam taliwang. Home of cheap shopping. Home where my parents and my sis live. No other place could replace. And it feels so good to be home :)

Away...

Imagine this scenario...

Moving place, for the sixth time in 3-1/2 years span, with all the craps a girl can accumulated in 1 year (which is a lot!).

Trying to secure a place in Jakarta for a wedding in March(don't be surprise, places in Jakarta get booked FAST and 5 months preparation is considered as LATE)

Preparing for five weeks courses with an idiot administrator that keep sending the wrong supporting document to apply visa (how hard is it to check if the name in document is rightly spelled?)

Roughly in that order... All within 2 weeks time. It's amazing that I don't go to mental house. I am just glad everything's done.

And now I'm just taking a deep breath... enjoying my relax time (well as relax as training allow) ... in AUSTRIA :)

The City of Thousand Memories

It will only going to be less than two hours transit. Hardly enough time to do anything. But it's been three years now since the last time she stepped her foot in that city.

It's late already. The sun had set. As the plane land, she crane her neck to have a better view of the city. She couldn't help but remember. Flood of memories rushing in.

Her first place on her own, the curry puff she usually bought for breakfast, the crazy people she became friend with, the club hoping, her fave irish pub (Finnigan, see... she still remember the name after all that time), her routine morning trip to the tower (sometime half running, cursing why the meeting set at such an early time), her first time having a mobile, the first time she realize how much she hate her mobile averytime it rang (cos more often than not it brought problems that need to be solve, it felt like the mobile imprison her), her first time wearing a dress (a long black sleeveless backless dress that made her felt sexy for the first time in her life), her first time having people reporting to her, her first time having a real responsibility with real impact if she screw up, the first time she try to cook for someone else (and accepting the fact that she may never become a good cooker).

Her first love, her first kiss, her first time making love.

All the laughs. All the tears.

She didn't know what expression her face wore that moment but it made the woman sitting next to her asking what's wrong? are you okay?. She try to smile and look at the kind woman. Nothing, she said, it just the ghost of my past.

Another Trip

My France visa is finally done (pheuh...).

Racing with time, I was afraid I won't make it. I only got the notification to go to Paris one day before I'm leaving for my vacation. And if I wait till my vacation end before I apply the visa, considering it'll take 3 weeks to process, there's no way I'll get it in time.

So there I was, sending back my passport as soon as I arrived to my destination, being 'illegal' almost my whole vacation period, travel domestic flight in Australia without any acceptable form of identification (a miserable excuse of smiling and point to my KTP: "hope you can read Indonesian, Sir. Please don't throw me away from your plane!"), and get my passport the day before I have to travel back to Jakarta (part of me kind of wish that the passport won't come back in time so I have valid excuse to extend my vacation - but somehow I have the feeling that my boss won't appreciate it much).

All the risk of being stranded in foreign country without passport, just so I can go to this workshop for two days. Think I'll spend more time travelling than actually being in Paris. Was seriously considering of staying there for an extra day, but somehow didn't really feel like going around in one of the most romantic city alone. Man... I'm definitely getting more boring each day. The old me will jump around in excitement for that.

But I really do exciting about this workshop. THAT, and not Paris, is why I choosed all that troubles. Does that qualify me as pathetic corporate bitch? :) But on my defense, It's not everyday someone get the opportunity to be involve in setting the 'vision' in his/her workplace.

Back Again

Hi Baby,

So here I am, here again. Far away from you. Again.

Sorry if I seemed to rush trying to go boarding yesterday. It just felt like I couldn't contain the tears anymore. And your 'five more minutes please' make my eyes more watery. Of course I still cried like a fool in the gate, wetten your shirt (guess all those times, still didn't train me to reserve myself). There's too much pain in goodbye.

I went to autopilot after that. Block my feeling, refuse to let me sense anything. In those hours of travelling, I just give focus on one thing. Finishing my Grisham's "The Broker" book. I guess the book is not too bad, but to be honest, I couldn't really enjoy it. I just read it as flow of informations. Fact after fact leading to another fact. I didn't try to savour how the character buing built, tha flow of the story, the beauty of the words choice, or anything. It just a tool to occupy my mind. Distract me from the fact that I was flying, further and further away from you. Do you know that I manage to finish that fat book in less than six hours?

The first few days are always the hardest, hon. Especially at night since I couldn't find my escape in work which keep my mind away from you on day time. I miss having your warm body next to me. Your arms cradling me. I miss waking up in the morning with you. Your morning hugs with your morning breath. And yes, I even miss your farts.

Thank you for our wonderful two weeks together, darling. And also for the trip to meet your dad. Him and his wife and the two cats and the dog and the two horses, they are all just so wonderful. Make me feel welcome to your family. And make me feel more guilty that it couldn't be that way from my side.

I miss you so much already, baby. And it's only just one day passing by. My only consolation is that I don't have to wait that long to see you again. Two or three months might seems like ages to other couples, but comparing to our normal six months rotation, what a gift it is for us.

I love you.

B

Runaway

So here I am. A runaway. Torn between pleasure and guilt. How come something feels so right and so wrong in the same time.

But, every single minute with my love one is precious. A very very rare moment indeed. They said, good girls go to heaven, naughty girls go everywhere. So hell, let me forget my guilt for a while. It's time for fun!


Title: King's Park.
For some reason Blogger (Hello) won't show the full size of this picture :(