Why So Sad?

Why so sad?
Look at the beauty of life



That pinkish 'beauty of life' was taken 8 minutes ago from my window.

Well... it's simplifying the complex problems of the world by simply saying: "look at the beauty of life" But... it's nice for everyone to have the ability to cheer his/herself and be happy in this life!

What makes you happy?

Menulis (Writing)

Jika ada satu jatah permintaan ajaib, kamu mau minta apa?
Saya akan minta "fasih dan senang menulis"

Semoga itu dianggap satu permintaan ...

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If you had a chance to ask for one magic wish, what would you ask? I would ask "to have the skills and the joy of writing"

Well, I hope that can be considered as one wish ...

Bliss

I've always wanted to write down about this.

When we are introduced to new ideas/knowledge, people like to say: "take your time and let it sink"

I vaguely remember, but I think some lecturers in my MAKS classes also said it. In MAKS program lots of the social science theories and/or concepts are a whole new ball game for the students or at least for me who did my Bachelor in a field of natural science.

So, "take your time and let it sink"
I often do that when I'm experiencing a bliss as well.


What is a bliss?
According to the Oxford dictionary, being in a bliss is to be in a state of perfect happiness, oblivious (not aware) to everything else.



To me, some bliss moments were:
watching the sunrise in Mount Bromo,
experiencing the underwater world,
reading impressive sentences in Paulo Coelho's work;

and also some simple moments like:
sitting, walking, chatting with my sister (almost) at anytime anywhere,
reading friends' comments and pictures in facebook;

and like tonight,
when Mariana and Miguel (my 2 maravilloso friends here in Wageningen) cycled along with me to my home--Asserpark


At those moments I took the time and let the bliss sink...
I smiled ... and really grateful of being alive!

Keys

Living in Wageningen has lots to do with KEYS!

It took me some times to re-configure my body coordination in dealing with the technological objects (doors and bicycle lock) via the KEYS. Here's a real illustration of finding my way inside/outside my student room.


the door to my lovely room



the door to my room corridor



the door to my bicycle-park (not car park unfortunately .. haha..)



the lock of my hero: 'Arturo-my bicycle'



and finally, the last door of my student house building



so... where can I find a key to someone's heart?? :)

Topeng

Kadang dia jenuh
dan ingin ganti topeng itu

Kadang dia letih
dan ingin buka topeng itu




Namun kadang dia takut
Akan kesendiriannya dalam topeng barunya
Akan kesendiriannya tanpa topengnya

Karena dia tak mengada tanpa topengnya
Atau… dia tak berani mengada tanpa topengnya


*Gambar Topeng Bali dari sini.

Antri

Budaya antri atau menunggu giliran sangat mendarah daging di negeri kincir angin ini.







Siang itu saya hendak menikmati es krim Cicuto Ijssalon di Schuijlensteeg, Wageningen.

Saya melakukan kesalahan karena tanpa menunggu orang di depan saya selesai melakukan pembayaran, saya sudah berkata pada pemuda di belakang konter es krim: “chocolate please.” Setelah selesai melakukan sesuatu (lupa tepatnya apa), sang pemuda di belakang konter menghampiri saya dan berkata: “you have to wait for your turn! it’s rude to just call out like that!” sambil memberikan es krim coklat kepada saya.

Saya memberikan kepingan 1 euro kepadanya sambil berkata maaf. Saya terima kepingan 10 sen dari tangannya dengan mengucap terima kasih dan menatap mata pemuda itu dengan rasa hormat.

Es krim coklat hari itu sungguh memberikan pelajaran berharga!

What a Wonderful World!

A single (still.. haha..) autumn color shot during a trip to Edam, famous for its cheese market





i see trees of green, red roses too
i see them bloom for me and you
and i think to myself, what a wonderful world!

i see skies of blue, and clouds of white
the bright blessed day, dark sacred night
and i think to myself, what a wonderful world!

the colors of the rainbow, so pretty in the sky
are also on the faces of people going by
i see friends shaking hand, saying ‘how do you do?’
they’re really saying, i love you…

i hear babies crying, i watch them grow
they’ll learn much more than i’ll ever know
and i think to myself, what a wonderful world…
yes, i think to myself

it’s a wonderful world!!

*yes indeed, it’s a wonderful world … que mundo maravilloso!
i am enjoying my stay in the Netherlands in a non-urban setting, in Wageningen and i am learning Spanish with my maravilloso Bolivian and Columbian classmates--Mariana and Miguel!

I'm Back!

Readers, I'm back!

For the next year or two, I'll be writing it down from outside Indonesia.









I am currently in the Netherlands.
Gathering the past, struggling the present, and crafting the future through a Master course in Wageningen University.

I am enrolling in a SUPER interesting program named: MAKS... Management of Agro-Ecological Knowledge and Social Change! I promise you I'll write more about the program and my studies.

I'll write down my observations and (clumsy, happy-unhappy, success-failures) experiences of living in the other side of the planet. I am planning to do some of the writing in Bahasa Indonesia as well, with a special intention to share 'my two cents' about living abroad with my internet-savvy cousins and sister (Steva, Tama, Tiwi, Franz, Satria, Heri, Michael, Haga, Echie, Olie, Shinta, Shintya, Elen, Katy, Lona, Agi, and may be more readers...). Then, maybe they'll also routinely visit this webpage as often as they visit facebook or myspace or other educational sites (*wink* hahaha...).

So, enjoy your visit!