Me and the Rivers

Hello hello hello hello… lama tak bersua disini :)

Apa kabar semuanya?

It’s really cold here, in my point of view, as a ‘tropic child', hehehe. Yeah, winter is coming… but not yet snowing here, so happy. However, I passed my first beautiful autumn in Kyoto with not really good impression. My body is very slow in adjusting to the weather. I just hate being outside, while the other Indonesians are busy taking beautiful autumn pictures. I realized, in term of weather, I much more prefer studying in Thailand… everyday feels like summer… fufufu~

Oke, oke, that’s me, and how about you, guys? I wish, wherever you are and whatever you do, everything is fine.

So now, what am I doing in here, far from home and apart from family…? I am studying… study and dying. Hahaha… Suatu hari, salah seorang temen nanya, “Ngapain kamu di Jepang?”, dan kujawab, “Kuliah…,”.  And, yeah, as usual… reaksinya selalu, “Kamu ambil S3?? Waaah… hebat kamu,” -____-

Emm… thanks for the compliment (shy shy), but let me explain why now I’m trapped in this 4-season-country-I-ever-dreamed-to-study-in, as I wrote in my Twitter.

One day, I saw an update tweet of the eruption event of Mount Sinabung. Then it linked to another related article, and another and another. Then I realized a thing,

“Mmm... salah satu alasan saya membelot dari bidang per-disaster-an dan memutuskan untuk back on track ke urban planning adalah...

males lihat foto2 bencana yang menyayat hati, untuk dipelajari. It was truly not fun. Cukup 2 tahun aja deh >_<

Selama 2 tahun,semua kuliah,presentasi,tugas,sampai final defence pasti ada gambar rumah hancur,mayat berserakan.. yg plg bagus cuma foto yg miraculously survive,

Dan skrg sdkt bahagia liat foto2 tempat2 keren, pemandangan bagus... insyaAllah yg ginian bagus buat jiwa deh

Studying disaster was like disasteri-ing myself... but it was because I had not enough basic knowledge in it, it was totally new for me

But as time flies, bidang disaster jadi trending, seiring dengan makin seringnya terjadi bencana (yang terekspos)

Dgn segala keterbatasanku,cuma bisa miris setiap lihat berita bencana,I really can't do nothing, I'm not such kind of volunteer person...

At that point,after 2 years studied disaster,I knew something I (maybe) can do for,at least,lessen loss or suffer....

Bikin tempat bagus dan mengurangi dampak (jika terjadi) bencana is somehow more suit to me. So that, I now study more to make it...

Orang2 lain mungkin bisa berkontribusi mengurangi penderitaan waktu bencana tanpa harus kuliah tinggi2, apalagi sampe doktoral...

But I know I'm not that great, aku harus belajar untuk bisa mewujudkannya...

Some said, "you're really smart, u r now study doctoral," I said, "I'm stupid,so I have to study more to be smart and do something great" :)

Yeah,maka berbanggalah kalian yang sudah bisa bermanfaat bagi masyarakat,entah itu hal yang kecil...

Karena bbrp orang yg krg pede sperti saya masih harus belajar banyak biar jadi bermanfaat... even harus membeku di negeri otaku...

Dan membayangkan suatu hari bisa bikin sesuatu yang keren dan memberi manfaat buat orang banyak... yang menghindarkan mrk dr bencana...

Yupp, sekian curhatnya. Ah sial lagu di radio striming menye amat sih...!!!”

That’s all :p

Kalau dibilang otakku bias njeblug, yaa… gapapa lah, asal nggak njeblug ngeliatin gambar disaster, bikin stress kuadrat. Hehehe…. Walaupun untuk belajar urban design ini aku harus kembali membuka catatan-catatan lama waktu kuliah S1 dulu, plus belajar persungaian.

Yup, I’m back to the river stuffs!

Masih inget jaman TA ku yang Selokan Mataram?? You can read a bit here.

It was me on 2011, in Selokan Mataram

Dan entah jodoh atau terbiasa, waktu bikin research plan doctoral, lagi-lagi aku membahas soal sungai, tapi yaaa nggak Selokan Mataram lagi lah, sudah tanek saya ^^

I don’t know, I just enjoy when I did my research on riverside topic, I repeat, riverside… kawasan sempadan sungai/tepi sungai, bukan sungainya… kadang ada yang nanya soal sungainya, dan I have no knowledge at all about the river or any structural stuffs about it. Orang jaman kuliah “floods and droughts” aja aku sering ketiduran lantaran sang ajarn (guru dalam bahasa Thai) sudah tua dan menjelaskan segalanya dengan lambat… hihihi.

Kembali ke riverside… musim panas 2012 lalu (for DRC/disaster resilient countries program), pertama kalinya aku ke Kyoto, hari pertama, sengaja menyasarkan diri dengan jalan-jalan di sekeliling kawasan hotel, yang ternyata… tembus di sebuah sungai besar… sungai Kamo. Dan, it was… asik banget… jalan-jalan di tepi sungai, orang-orang jogging, sepedaan, piknik, pacaran (sigh, waktu itu si Kamen Rider nggak ikutan sih). Dan saya terpana. Selain itu, sering juga diajakin sama temen-temen buat nongkrong di tepi sungai itu, sambil minum-minum setelah seharian kuliah… but they drank beer, I drank Calpis, the we both drunk… haha, mereka mabuk, aku kewaregen… hoig. Moreover, there was a lecture in the program, explaining about Kamo river design… I also presented about this topic in AIT after came back from Japan. And the professor who taught this is now become my professor…

Kamo River

Seorang temen pernah nulis di status Facebooknya, yang intinya, kenapa setiap yang belajar ke luar negeri selalu melebih-lebihkan apa yang ada di negara tersebut dibandingkan negeri kita tercinta Indonesia. Wajar sih, karena mereka nggak melihat itu di Indonesia, maybe.

Personally, buatku Indonesia adalah rumah yang paling nyaman, apalagi cuacanya yang cuma gitu-gitu aja… enak banget deh. Tapi… rumah kita yang nyaman itu sekelilingnya nggak nyaman dan nggak livable, in case dalam bidangku, ketidaknyamanan itu nampak terlihat secara fisik. Membandingkan kawasan sempadan sungai Kamo sama sempadan kali Code? Come ‘on… Aku nggak pengen juga membandingkannya cuma dari sudut pandangku, yang pernah melihat tempat lain… apa yang terlihat bagus dan nyaman, belum tentu bagus dan nyaman di tempat lain kan…

In my opinion, sekarang sempadan sungai di kawasan perkotaan kok malah kebanyakan sudah diprivatisasi sama urban slums. Nggak bisa dinikmati sama sekali sama masyarakat banyak. Giliran ditata, they act like victimized, kehilangan tempat tinggal dan (sebagian) tempat bekerja juga. Hello… dengan adanya slums di sempadan sungai, sungainya sendiri udah tersiksa… ekosistem alaminya rusak, dan dalam jangka waktu yang panjang, sungainya sendiri juga rusak. Nanti waktunya banjir… rumahnya hanyut, atau kena longsor, bilangnya nasib… hedehhh… Ibarat manusia, si sungai juga butuh space yang cukup untuk dia beraktivitas kan. Sungainya sudah direkayasa sedemikian rupa, dibendung buat ngatur airnya, ditalud biar nggak erosi, dll… tapi nggak dikasih space buat overflow, diajak desak-desakan sama rumah-rumah.

Aku sendiri membayangkan suatu hari nanti, di suatu kota di Indonesia, di kota tempat tinggalku… (now I have two hometown :D hehehe) aku bisa menikmati tepian sungai, jalan-jalan, sepedaan, piknik sama keluarga… dan pacaran sama si Kamen Rider (khekekekekkk) dengan aman dan nyaman. Sungainya bersih… tepi sungainya bagus… kan enak to…

Dan masih omong-omong soal sungai, waktu di Thailand aku sempat nyobain naik Chao Praya Express, itu adalah bis air nya Bangkok. Hahahaha, aku nyebutnya bis air karena itu sebenernya boat yang beroperasi layaknya bis kota. Naik boat, mustinya duduk, biar aman, tapi ini bener-bener kayak bis, kalau tempat duduk penuh, ya berdiri, dan berdesak-desakan. Nggak peduli airnya nyiprat-nyiprat ke muka juga >_< it was really fun.

on the boat of Chao Praya Express

Dan waktu googling kapan hari, ternyata di Kali Mas Surabaya juga udah diterapkan system serupa (yang sayangnya belum pernah kucobain), cuma jalurnya nggak sepanjang Chao Praya Express, dan penggunaannya masih sebatas wisata, bukan sebagai transportasi umum sehari-hari. Tapi, kalo yang begini, kayaknya nggak cocok diterapkan di Kali Code, yang secara topografinya hilly, nggak flat kayak di Chao Praya atau Kali Mas. Hehehe… tapi mungkin sebenernya yang kayak ginian udah biasa di Banjarmasin ya??

Anyway… belajar soal riverside design, sebenernya aku harus belajar lagi dari awal. Tentang struktur sungainya, tentang gimana membuat design-nya (secara aku bukan arsitek)… semua dari awal. Semoga bisa bikin karya yang bagus melalui studiku disini, bisa berkontribusi buat negeri kita tercinta. Dan diatas semua itu, aku cuma berharap semoga suatu hari nanti aku bisa bermanfaat untuk orang banyak. Bukan buat dikenang, cuma untuk bekal ketika nanti aku menghadap Allah, aku bisa bilang, “Semoga apa yang kubuat sudah sesuai dengan planning-Mu memberi aku hidup :)”

FOR THE FUTURE

将来 の ため に

FOR LIFE!!!

生活 の ため に!!!

  

Miracle Happens!

こんばんはみんあ！

いまわたしはきょうとにいます。

へへへ。。。

Hello all!

Now I am in Kyoto, hehehe...

And anyway, I feel cold these days. I come from the tropical country that doesn't have such an extreme weather like here. So, I never been exposed to this cold... Actually, I had, when I visited my father in Boston when I was a child, but it was loooooooong time ago. I already forget the feel.

Okay, so, I apologize for very very long time not post anything... hahaha, feels like I have a lot of readers (but honestly, I thanked everyone for still reading my blog, eventhough it's already moved to here). I planned to post regularly, but then... this little devil called laziness came... and it's always around me. So sorry...

After several months enjoying life after marriage... the D-day came, I had to leave my beloved comfortable-but-hot country Indonesia to Japan. In purpose to continue my study (again?? I will write about this later, is it ok?), I have to leave my comfort zone, lazy life, good to hot weather, my beloved husband, sisters, and parents... all the things I love in Indonesia.

Here I come, JAPAN!

Actually, (some of you may already know) I love Japan and stuffs... but, as I experienced in Thailand... I made my own theory... A NICE COUNTRY WON'T BE NICE ANYMORE WHEN YOU STUDY THERE. Hahaha!!! So, I'm not really enjoy so far...

Maybe it is because my husband is not here yet. Because, he's the one who always be with me for this last 4 months and I had so much fun with him. Being far from him is somehow not fun. I have nobody to make fun... or to talk to... Chotto sabishii nee, koko ni T^T

Okay, stop being melancholic.

In one gloomy day, I was about to apply for mobile phone contract (in Japan, u have to sign contract to have mobile phone service, unlike in Indonesia or Thailand, it was soooooo UNEASY!!!). For several first days after I landed in Japan, I try to fill all requirements to apply the phone. But then, after I thought it is completed, I went to phone shop, then... one of the letter is left in the dorm... which is very far from the phone shop. Okay, I told the shopkeeper I will be back in evening with the letter. 

Then, I went to campus, do campus stuffs, back to dorm, take a shower, dududuuddu... take the letter... and back to the phone shop.

THEN THE WORST PART HAPPENED!

The shopkeeper said that my residence letter (not the card) is wrong! WHAT THE HELL IS HAPPENING IN HERE? Honestly, because I can't read kanji, I don't know what letter is it, because the shopkeeper said it is green, so I thought it is the right one. Later, I know that the officer in ward office is just registered me and giving the registration code (that letter), but not giving the residence letter. Haiiiiiizzzz!!!

I disappointed to the max. My roaming service would be end on the next day, and I just can contact my husband and my family through PC, only when I'm in the dorm. I was soooo soooo sad... and deeply disappointed. Then I cried. Okay, this part is very embarrassing. Hehehe... I don't know why it happened again... problems with mobile phone, like the first time I came to Thailand and got frustrated with Thai mobile phone provider because of the service was set in THAI LANGUANGE... -__- And this time, because of those complicated procedure.... no wayyyyy!!!!

On the way home, still a bit tears shed (hihihi), I was thinking that something is going wrong with me. I stopped in the drug store, bought stuff, then went home by train.

I reached home with feeling bladder so bad!!!

I went to the toilet and... voila!

This is the answer of why my period doesn't come, why I feel so sleepy and easily get tired, and why my mood is unstable... Yeaaah... this is because there is a miracle happens in my body. And you know how it feels? Surprised, cannot believe, excited and super happy, yet worried. After several months trying, finally my baby come in unpredictable time. I rushed my husband for video call, and he was very surprise and happy. Aaaah, God always have the right timing for our fate...

3 days later, I went again to the ward office and asked for the correct letter. Then, finally I got the phone!!! Fyuuuh... I don't know why it's always going not easy for me, but it's ok, finally I got it.

As I read in many postings about having pregnancy in Japan, there are also complicated procedures I have to pass. So, when I went to the ward office, I also asked about the procedures (trust me, it is not easy to communicate here, unless you can speak Japanese, or unless you find somebody can speak Japanese to accompany you... or if you go alone, pray hard that one of hundreds people in the office other than you can speak English clearly, hehe). Then, firstly, before I start the procedure in the ward office (it's related to medical insurance/hokken service), they asked me to go to the doctor first and get my pregnancy check up.

I asked my dorm-mate (friend in the same dorm, but different room) to accompany me to the hospital. And after a bit confusion in the hospital registration (for, once again, language problem), I met the obstetrician that, fortunately, can speak English CLEARLY. Thank God, for this vital part, I got somebody I can talk easily... Fufufu...

And for the first time... I saw my baby through ultrasound... he/she is now 6 weeks, and already has its own heartbeat... I was so touched... Yeay, hello baby... let's face this autumn, winter and spring together happily and healthy... and waiting your papa patiently, because he must be trying his best to meet us before you come to world...

Thank Allah for the miracle, I know it won't be always easy, but I will try my best to enjoy any circumstances You give to me... because being alive is a miracle....

Again, I thank You for keeping me alive and let me experience life...

Kimchi. Kimchi. Kimchiii!!!

Ok guys, yeah, I know, yesterday I broke my own challenge. For my excuse, I skipped yesterday because I got a really bad mood due to the heat, and it caused everything went not smooth that day…, one of it, I lost a lot of photos from my Blackberry because of the broken SD card. DAMN! It ruined my day a lot :(

But today is Friday… yeaaa, a day closer to weekend, so I will talk about… FOOD. Sounds ‘gluk’ right? (I am fasting now, and writing this post makes my stomach a little bit noisy, hehehe).

A while ago, I posted in Facebook the video of my sister making “kimchi”, yes, that famous Korean dish. I was really excited. Why? Because, the video was made by me, as editor, and my husband, as cameraman. And the video is made for video competition (ok, my sister know more about this than me). And…, actually my sister can not cook a dish (she can only bake), except this. And it is the yummiest kimchi I ever taste, even than those in Korean restaurants.

So, when we (me and my husband) visited my hometown (I come back hometown for once every two-three weeks), my husband taped my sister doing the cook. Really, it was not as simple as it seems, cooking kimchi needs almost a day!! And I, honestly, am not a very patient cooker. I don’t really like to cook such very slow food like that :p

Oke, here is the video!

Then, when I tasted it… As I mentioned, it still the yummiest kimchi I ever taste!!! It taste fresh, a bit spicy and sour, and doesn’t taste weird at all. Above all, I love the crunchy texture of nappa cabbage, carrots and radish inside. Kraus Kraus…

Okay, if you interested for the detailed recipe, let me know, I will ask my sister and send it to you or post again in this blog.

See you tomorrow, and keep excited on writing (this part I talked to myself, hohoho!)

Begin Again.

Hello all!

Since it is Ramadhan, how is your fasting? I already broke three days because of fever :( hiks. But now, I do it happily and healthy. Wish can do it well till the last. OSH!

Yea, I know I didn’t post anything for quite long time, as always. Since I got busy with thesis, wedding, and such stuffs.  And now, I am totally jobless, just doing nothing everyday. Then my husband told me to start writing again to fill my time than wasting it. Hehehe. So that, inspired by the photo or blog challenges in Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and blog, now I challenged myself to write. To fight against this laziness, and to make my brain work again :D

I admit it, after Multiply closed the socmed features, I become desperately disappointed. I had been there for around 4 years and felt so comfortable with it and mainly with the community. I gained friendship in it with many good and great people, and aaaah… WHY I BECOME SO MELANCHOLIC AGAIN??!! Stop it, I have to move on and… here, I begin again.

I really want to gather my passion in writing again. Actually it is one of my favorite activities. But I don’t know how I become this lazy to write again, even updating Facebook status, event tweeting!! Hoooossh…, this is not good.

Ok, first, I wrote a plan for my own weekly writing challenge. Here we go!

MON – book 

TUE – photo 

WED – what’s new 

THU – live in Thai 

FRI – food 

SAT – movie 

SUN - travel

Yeah! Seems nice. Let’s see how will I do with this challenge. But I feel excited about this. I wish you guys also ;)

Since today is Wednesday, so the topic is… WHAT’S NEW.

What is the ‘what’s new’ today? Many stuffs!

Because I just start writing again, I wanna briefly summarized what was happened in me lately.

One – Got Married

This is the most wonderful thing I ever experience, with the most wonderful love of my life. Hyehehe… and really, married life is amazing. Somehow, it is not that easy to get used with this new life, since I get used to live alone within these two years. Got used to make decision by myself somehow made me feel uneasy to negotiate for deciding many stuff. But this is the beauty of marriage, sharing, and I have to learn more. So far, my husband is very patient in comforting me adjusting the new life *kiss kiss

my father kissed me on forehead

bride shower

groom shower

I wish they'll be the next, my sister and her boyfriend

my husband-to-be :*

with my sister in bachelorette party

with my beloved cousins

my besties... not complete though

after the vow

my family... *hugs

my new family... *hugs

to be a beautiful Javanese bride, hehehe

we are now married

Ve is coming across the sea to attend my wedding *hugs (thanks also to mba Dipta...)

and this is the whole new family... *double hugs and kisses

Aaa, if you wanna know how was my wedding, here is my wedding video made by my best friends in FIAGRA. Check this out!

Two – I am now MSc

After those gloomy times, full of tears and headache, I finally finished my master study in AIT. And yeah, studied disaster management was a disaster for me… I got a lot of hard times during the study, such difficulties somehow turned me into stress.  However, beside those hardship, like a disaster, there always good things behind. I got good friends, not only in class but also in entire institute, they’re really good and helped me a lot in releasing stress and even encourage me to do something great for my study. And well, the study also gave me chances to many unpredictable things that I only dreamed before. One of it was going to Japan :)

with papa and mama

with my little sister ^3^

with my husband

with Mill, one of my best friend in AIT

with my girls classmate

with Indonesian girls, we entered together, graduated together!

Three – Go again to Japan

Yay! Finally officially got scholarship for my doctoral study in Kyoto University, Japan. Seems great, but I kinda feel worry about myself. Sometimes I thought that I’m not such a diligent student that can glue my head to books and works. I love to be on the outdoor, enjoy traveling while doing my research. Really, I love doing research since I did it for my bachelor, it was fun (but my master research was really not fun, hehehe). Japan may be tougher than I ever experienced before. In this point, I have to force myself to be better, to be ready for the tougher study. But I pray to Allah to give me such a fun study in there… Amiin. Plus, my husband is planning to accompany me and also study for his master (and also doctoral, amiin) in Kyoto. Wish our plan going well as planned *praying

Four – Running a blog again

Hehehe, as I mentioned in the beginning, I will write again! Please kindly follow my blog and leave responds, this will be so much fun to interact with you guys. I know I should move on from Multiply, and gaining friends again in other media.

Okay, this is for a new beginning.

Yoroshiku nee ^_^

PS: thanks to my brother Nadira Amal for the header, finally you made it ;p