Wednesday, April 25, 2012
So the story continues. The next day we went to Ephesus with a stop first at the house of the Virgin Mary. It's the house that some believe the Virgin Mary stayed in until she died. Some believe that she died in Jerusalem. I'm not so sure which one is right. Apparently Jesus asked St. John to take care of His mother when he died and when St. John went to Ephesus, some believed that Mary also went with him. The house is located on top of a hill though. It was quite a drive up. Some believe that this is to keep her safe. I was educated in a Christian school and we didn't really talk much about the Virgin Mary. She pretty much only appeared when we're talking about Jesus' birth though I do somehow recall that she was present during the wedding in Cana, in which Jesus performed his first miracle. Either way, I was just excited to be visiting Ephesus because it's one of the books in the new testament. This could be the place where the book was written. You know, I tried to sing the song of the new testament just now. It's this song that we learnt back in school which list all the books in the new testament and I cannot believe it that even though I stumbled at first, I got it right! I think I only made 1-2 mistakes. It's incredible. I guess that really shows how successful my 11 - 12 years education in a Christian school was in brainwashing me with Christian faith :P I don't mean it in a bad way actually, I cannot deny that that Christian education and Jesus do shape me a lot and my belief in God. It's just I cannot be a Christian the way many Christians perhaps want me to be but I really I do not doubt that Jesus is there for anyone who needs Him :)So anyway, arriving in the house of the Virgin Mary, I was quite surprised that it was kinda heavily guarded. There were soldiers / guards with weapons. There weren't like many or anything but seeing them and the weapons, I did get stunned a bit. In comparison, I didn't recall seeing any guard with obvious weapons in the airport or the blue mosque in Istanbul for example. Also I saw quite a few tourists from the Phillippines. I guess this is one of those places where people really want to visit for a pilgrimage. The house itself for me was just like a small box. It's small and when you go inside it, there's just a small altar. People went in to say their prayer. There's no chair at all, so people were standing. I said a little prayer but then I quickly went out. I guess in a way the place didn't have a lot of significance for me that I thought I should go to make space for other people who felt deeply about the place.
After the house, we were off to Ephesus. I hated the guide. First stop was having to sit down and listened to him giving some lectures which wasn't interesting at all. I couldn't wait for it to be over. When we started walking, of course we would stop at certain points so that he could give some explanation. I took pictures while he's explaining and he's reprimanding me, telling me to only take picture after he's done. Okay, it's perhaps not the most polite behaviour from my part but seriously that didn't mean I wasn't listening. I'm a girl, we can multitask. So that was kinda very strict teacher kind and if he's a teacher, he's not the lovable kind. I just wasn't in the mood for anything anymore. I remembered one of the first stop was this parliament place, pretty cool. Then there was a section with markers that indicate it's the doctor's place and the pharmacy across the street. Then there's also the common toilet place. Very funny. Of course the draw was the library. This ruin was very well preserved that one can really see how big the structure is. The guide was saying that of all the Roman and Greeks archeological sites in the world, 75% of it are in Turkey. So they really do have a lot of stuff to excavate and preserve. In the picture below, the library is the thing in the middle, like 2-storey high.
So anyway, after that lunch. The guide was sitting with is and I couldn't take it anymore, I told him that if he's gonna smoke, I was going to change table. So he moved to smoke but then he came back :( He then told us about his family. Apparently his grandfather is some famous muslim scholar or something, his sister is a tv personality working in Istanbul, and he himself married an architect. He seemed to be having such a classy connection all around, why does he suck? See, I am getting more judgmental. Anyways, after lunch was a visit to this carpet making place. I wasn't that interested to go because I was foreseeing that they would try to sell us things and I had no intention to bring home a carpet. It's just not something possible in my life now. We went anyway. It turned out to be a nice visit, except for when they tried to sell us things. The person who explained things to us was very nice. He was soft spoken and spoke english well and after the guide I had, I was just drawn to him being so nice. First he needed to say the disclaimer that they're not torturing any of the girls working there, that none of them are underage, and in fact they take in whoever want to learn to make carpet so that they can make a living for themselves, and the government support them for this effort and they also preserve patterns which are perhaps disappearing. It never came across in my mind that these workers are perhaps underage or underpaid which is actually a valid point when you think of it. The carpets are expensive and how much of the money actually go into the people who laboriously made them?
So the guy got a girl to demonstrate how to make a carpet. Here in Turkey, they use a double knot, a fact which doesn't really matter to me. I know nothing about carpet making, ingle knot, double knot, what have you. Basically in making a carpet, there's this vertical skeleton. Then the makers take colorful thread and make knots around the skeleton. They have a tool to push the knots down and make them tight and when they finish some centimeters, they use a special scissors to trim the knot. The guy asked me to try making knots. Even though I only had to make a knot based on the thread the girl already prepared for me, in a section of a skeleton she already chose, I was still nervous I was going to ruin it. So when I did one, I declined to do another one. It's so pretty and tedious to do. I seriously didn't want to ruin it. I understood the process but I didn't understand how the girl could translate the paper pattern into areas of the skeleton and which colored thread to use at any time and how they can stop the work today and still come back to work tomorrow and understand where to continue. I guess this is the real secret. I tried the knotting thingy on the wool one where the thread are pretty thick. We saw the silk one and man, the threads were finer and soft and truly a more daunting process. Also we were shown how they got the silk thread from the cocoons. They said they only used cocoons in which they're sure the insects inside it are dead. I'm not so sure how they check if the insects are dead. So they dropped the cocoons into warm water basin and there's this tool that the use to kinda stir the water and the silk fiber will stick to it and they just transfer it to a handle and I think maybe they spin something to get all the silk fiber and they can really get a lot from 1 cocoon. After that, I guess they do more processing to produce the silk thread and of course there's the coloring process. After that demonstration, we were taken to see some carpets. This was the uncomfortable part :( We were taken to a room, given drinks, as the custom is. Then a guy just started showing carpet after carpet. They were really pretty. I particularly liked the ones with was like a painting / story with many different items on it. I like this kind more than the ones with repeated pattern. Obviously we declined buying anything. I feel bad about declining but what I am to do with a carpet. In Singapore, I don't even own the room I sleep in. The carpets were on the expensive side but it wasn't so expensive that I go bankrupt buying it. Of course if I were to buy one that can fit a big hall, I would definitely feel the heart break :P
Then I think we went to see this remains of the Temple of Artemis. There's only a remain of 1 column left. Since there's only 1 column left, obviously I wasn't like amazed or anything. I just remembered seeing that the pond in front of us, though it wasn't pretty or anything, it was captivating for me in its own way.
After that we went to this shop which sells turkish delights and stuff. There were other tourists there and the owner particularly greeted me and YeeMaggio. He was super nice and funny and spoke english really well. I just like him straight away. We bought some stuff there. I think the products were good. They also had some promotion or something. I got a free promegranate tea because I bought a box of apple tea. They're nice. Now apparently my NUS friend, JTG, was in Turkey too around the same time I was there. From the pictures he posted in Facebook, it seemed he visited the same shop! I seriously wonder if our timeline overlapped. Were we there on the same day or was it different. If it was the same day, was it a different timing? If I had met him there, that would make my day so much better from dealing with the darn guide. Anyways, that was the last stop. It was the drive back after that, thank God! I was so relieved when we're back in the hotel. Thank you God, it's over. May I never experience a dreadful guide like that anymore, or if I should have guide like that again, please let me be in a group of fun people at the very least. Please God, amen! Anyways, to see pictures from the Ephesus trip, you can go here.
The next day we were due to fly to Istanbul. I decided to fly later in the afternoon so that we would have the morning to explore Izmir a bit. Without the dreadful guide, we got sunshiny day with blue sky :) It was rather cold though. We made it to see the sea. It's beautifully blue. We saw a man fishing. I wonder if he could get a fish. I watched him awhile and he did get something pretty quick. It's squid. He noticed me looking at him and he kindly showed me his earliest catch which was a bigger squid. He gestured that he needed to release this new catch because it was too small for him. It was an okay size actually but I understand you gotta be responsible in fishing. I felt very happy that without words I understood him and he took time to tell me something. I am thankful to God for moment like this. I remembered turning to tell YeeMaggio something and when I turned back to say goodbye to him, he was already on his away to find a different spot, so I didn't get to say a proper goodbye and thank you and it was a bummer :( Anyways the water in that sea, which I think is the Aegean sea were filled with jellyfish. You could spot them easily. As we walked we found the clock tower. Sat awhile there seeing kids running after the birds or feeding them. I'm not loving the birds much because obviously they pooped all over. Then we saw there's a shopping area / market nearby but we didn't explore it much because basically we didn't like people asking us to see this and that. Then as we walked back, we stopped at Konak Pier and we had KFC. It was nice :P So that was my second junk food in this trip. I welcomed it though. Again it's the familiarity. Then a horde of french teens came. I spot who I thought to be the teacher in charge / chaperon of the group but he looked so young that I was thinking how on earth he dealt with these kids. Teens can be quite a pain. Anyway then we walked back. We were picked up by the guy who picked us up when we arrived. He sent his son to pick us up in the hotel and brought us to the car. Then his son left for class, I think. I think there's a school or university nearby. Oh, I have to say that I noted something which was also very different from the muslims' lifestyle in Indonesia. Maybe it's the Asian thing as well that we're just not expressive in showing our affection to each other. It's just in Indonesia, it's still something extremely rare when you see couples being all lovey dovey in public. People will definitely stare. While in Izmir as people were enjoying the sun and view, I saw youngsters making out. It would be something deemed scandalous in Indonesia. It would be something normal in many places of the world, it's just for a country where the majority of the population is muslims, it doesn't feel like it at all, so very different from Indonesia. Again, I think I need a special blog post to talk about what I saw, observed, and think. To see some pictures of Izmir, you can go here.
:) eKa @ 11:18:00 PM • 0 comments
Monday, April 23, 2012
Turkey - Hierapolis + Pamukkale
Hi guys, apparently I have some time this evening. So let's continue with the story. In the last post, I told you that we were leaving for Izmir the next day. Why Izmir? I'm not really sure myself how I came out with that decision. I normally book day tours from viator.com when I am in my holiday and I would choose a city in which there are day trips going from those cities. For some reason, I chose Izmir. I think because I saw there's a trip going to Hierapolis and Pamukkale and the picture looks nice. So in Izmir, I decided to take 2 day trips, one to Hierapolis and Pamukkale and the other to Ephesus.Now to go to Izmir, there are several ways. I chose to take planes. This time I chose a budget airline provided by Pegasus Airline. There's also another budget airline that fly direct from Kayseri to Izmir but they do not fly everyday and it so happened on the day that I wanted to leave, they weren't flying :( So Pegasus, it was. Budget airline is not the cheapest mode of transportation available. I'm sure there are buses. Like the Japanese, I think they left for Istanbul the same evening we did the green tour by using an overnight bus. I'm just not that hardcore. I guess I'm a spoilt brat. My flight wasn't a direct one. In fact it's rather hard to find a direct flight from Kayseri to Izmir with a nice timing. I just didn't want to arrive in Izmir too late, like in the evening for example. So my flight was first to Istanbul's Sabiha airport, which is the airport in the Asian side of Istanbul and then it went to Izmir. It was a long journey. That day was mostly spent being on the road from Göreme to Kayseri and then airborne. On the drive to Kayseri, I remember thinking that I'll miss Cappadocia, that there was a lot of wide open space, and I was thinking about my life a lot, what I should do with my life, if I could continue living the life I have now. Let's just say there were a lot of life changing decision appearing in my head and it's telling me that I should and could do it. We'll see, you'll never know. So anyway, arrived in the airport. Waited for the plane and got into the plane. I have to comment and show you this very cute safety video that Pegasus have. It's very cute. I really watched the whole thing the 3 times I was in their plane.Unfortunately this one doesn't have an english subtitle. I found the english version but that wasn't what I watched and anyway the girl in the Turkish version is so much cuter :) As I was looking for the video, I realized they're not the only airline who are using kids in the video. I think it's a good idea that airlines are making their safety video cuter or funnier, at least it really made us watch it.
When we arrived in Sabiha airport, I have to admit that it felt like going back to civilization. As much as I love Cappadocia but I realized that a small town lifestyle did kinda make me feel rather disoriented or confused about what to do with time if we're actually living there. Yes, the place is not like totally remote. There's wireless internet in my hotel as I am sure in other hotels too but I remember asking dumb questions to my hotel guy like, is there a cinema? Is there McDonalds? What do people do here for fun? Do they hang out? Yes, there is a cinema and McDonalds, it's around 15 minutes drive to a slightly bigger town. I'm not counting on the existence of Starbucks. Why this topic came out was because I saw an advertisement on tv about Burger King promoting its kids meal with toys. I remember telling YeeMaggio, how sad for the kids here that they saw that ad, but they cannot get it because there's no Burger King here. I guess because of that, suddenly I got reminded of the things that a city has which are missing there. So arriving in Sabiha, with its concrete and steel structure and one of the first thing that we saw was Arby's, and then going to the toilet which was like similar to the ones you can find in the city (motion sensor tap and soap dispenser), it's like realizing what we had kinda forgotten and realizing this is what we knew and what was familiar for us and it's really that true sentiment of going from a village to a city. I realized how at the core, I am just a city person. As I said, I love Cappadocia. I guess, I just didn't realize how I really love the familiarity of a city, no matter if those familiarity makes cities so general and less unique than a place like Cappadocia :P I have to be true, no? As dumb and arrogant those sentiments are, those were really what I felt :P We had lunch at Arby's (I broke the not eating junk food and only eating local in this trip twice) and waited again for our next flight. It was quite some time that I had time to write in my journal. Interesting thing happened. As we were queueing to board, a young boy (maybe 10 to 12 years old) suddenly came nearer to me and said something to me, but it was in Turkish which of course I didn't understand. I just said, I didn't understand. He still looked at me, like he was hopeful that we'll be able to speak. Then an older man in front of me talked to him, in what I assume that he's asking the boy if he learnt English in school, which the boy said yes, so the man was encouraging him to talk to me in English. This conversation happened in Turkish, so I could be so wrong in guessing it. Anyways, the boy then just looked at me, still with a hopeful look. In the end perhaps he got embarrassed that he went back to his mom. I totally regret not asking anyone what just happened, what the boy wanted. It's just I think noone around me could speak english well, including the older man. So I don't know, this will remain a mystery :(
Arrived in Izmir and darn, there's a hole in my luggage :( It didn't survive. I had to get a new one. First thing first, driving to our hotel. Managed to find the person who picked us up. The city reminded me on some parts of Jakarta, if Jakarta can be clean. I realize that my point of reference are always things in Indonesia. Then we saw the hills filled with houses or appartment buildings and that's so not like Jakarta :P There's this huge head sculpture of who I think is Kemal Ataturk in one of the hill (think Mount Rushmore). It was pretty cool. I don't know if I want my big head on a hill or a mountain but I cannot deny the coolness. Got to our hotel, which is pretty good, big bathroom which I think might be just slightly smaller than my bedroom now. It's your standard hotel which again gave us mix feeling. It lacks the family feel of mama Imran but it's also something which was familiar. The hotel staff was nice, one of them helped us the next day in figuring out how to use the TV. They made it so complicated that as he was explaining it to us, another guest was asking him to teach him as well :P So anyway, we settled our things and YeeMaggio was gung ho about getting me a new luggage. Now, Izmir is the 3rd most populous city in Turkey and our hotel is surrounded by buildings but there is no mall nearby! Seriously, we walked and walked but no luck. There were areas where there's one shop after another but we just found it weird that there's no mall. Being that it was Sunday (it was easter sunday actually), some of the shops were actually closed. Seriously, living in Asia with malls which open everyday of the year, the concept of closing a shop on Sundays is hard to digest for me. I remembered being shocked when I experienced it last year in Barcelona. I guess it's an Asian thing. I once read this American wrote that malls in Asia are like malls on steroid, they're super big and always buzzing, which is true true true. I guess that's what we need if we're living in a city?
So anyway, walked around trying to find a shop which we could be comfortable about going in and in the end we settled with this shop because there's a boy there helping his dad. The boy is 15 and he's chubby :D So I guess, we just felt at ease with a kid there. I admire him for helping his dad. He should be able to speak a little english but maybe he's shy. He showed me price using a calculator. When I called him, boy boy, his father got a giggle and he laughed when I told the boy, your eyes are so beautiful :D They were indeed. It was this light brown, maybe it's hazel? I wonder if he'll remember that day forever, the day a strange lady told him his eyes were beautiful. Maybe he's forgotten it by dinner. Anyway thinking of the boy, I got reminded of Max who's just 1 year older and how different they are. This chubby boy was still shorter than me. He's helping his dad on a Sunday and he seemed like a decent nice boy and it made me feel like Max is this empty brainless immature shell. I mean we both are already agreeing that he's narcissistic. He loves that word now. Since the day I taught him the word, he's been using it especially when I comment that he takes a real long time getting ready and has to look at the mirror countless times before going out. Anyway, when we were buying water at a 711 kinda store, we also saw 2 boys working there. I wonder if it's a Sunday thing, do all the kids like to go out to work on Sunday for extra money? They're very young. I guess perhaps it's better than playing computer games or watching tv.
Nothing much else to say about that day. It was good to be getting a new luggage. It was bigger than my original one, so that made packing for the rest of my trip was rather nice :P I was feeling rather sickly actually, maybe because of the travelling around, we actually ate at the hotel that day. The next day was the day we went to Hierapolis and Pamukkale and the day I met the dreadful guide *sigh* For the trip to Hierapolis and Pamukkale, there were only us and a girl from England, Sima. She was travelling alone (girls are braver!). Then we had a driver and the guide. I seriously do not like the guide. Maybe he's not a bad guide. I actually read good reviews about him. However I am totally not comfortable being with him. He smokes and he likes to stand near you when he speaks. One time he was hovering around me while smoking. The more I tried to move away, the more he tried to stand nearer. Damn it! I regret to admitting I'm not a muslim. If I had told him I was a muslim, perhaps I could have gotten him to keep a distance. The only good side is that there's Sima too there. It was her third trip with him and I don't know how she could make it the last 2 days. Perhaps it's a cultural thing, this guy just made an Indonesian and a Singaporean girl felt totally uncomfortable :( That plus the long drive to Hierapolis (around 3 hours) made me dread the trip a lot and it made me miss Cappadocia :(
The long drive showed a scene totally different than that in Cappadocia. The drive actually reminded me of the drive from Jakarta to Puncak and also from Barcelona to Montserrat. While it's brown in Cappadocia, it was totally green here with green mountains. It really showed the different climates in the regions and how their springs really start at different times. Crops were growing strong here. Many orange trees with many oranges on them. While there's no life yet showing in the vineyards of Cappadocia, the grape vines in the vineyards in this region were already reaching 0.5 to 1 meter. I was thinking how perhaps those wines would be the first to be produced and drunk in the country and the one from Cappadocia would come later. It feels fun to be associating the different produce from different regions with different periods of the year. Poppies were blooming too. I love them! Somehow I had a feeling that their colors were more bloody red than the ones in Italy for example. After the very long drive, we arrived at this tiny lake or big pond in which we can see the white Pamukkale. I thought that place was beautiful and a nice relaxing existence. There were cute ducks, the water was green, and the white mountain or hill felt awesome. We stayed there for awhile. Look at this bench, isn't it nice to be sitting there for some time and just breathe.
Hierapolis and Pamukkale are actually located in the same area. I think you just need to use 1 ticket to enter it. Oh yeah, one more thing. He kept the entrance tickets. Okay, I may not be like my cousin who does nice scrap books but I do like to keep all these tickets. He's just so uncomfortable to be around with that I refrained from asking any questions and initiating any interaction. Moving on, Hierapolis is an ancient Roman city, so there are many ruins and the area was very big. The hills were green and pretty with many yellow flowers. As we walked throughout the area, I heard some Indonesians speaking and it made me smile. Being that it's a city, there are things like the theatre which we only saw from afar. I think it's because my stupid guide was too lazy to walk the distance there, promising us that the one in Ephesus is nicer, aarrghh! So we saw ruins, didn't recall his historical lessons. I remember he said that Fiat is sponsoring the archeological work there.
After that it was lunch, then to a lame Burberry factory outlet shop. Suffice to say we were not amused and then it was the long drive home. I was just glad to be separated from the dreadful guide but I knew that the next day I'd see him again. I could only pray that there would be other people for the trip. I think because we were tired and it was quite late, we decided to have dinner at the restaurant behind (or is it in front of) our hotel. I think Izmir has great seafood produce since it's by the sea. Why I chose to write this uneventful dinner in which I ate a pretty big seabass (which was good because I think it's fresh) is because as we were sitting in the restaurant, I realized we're surrounded by men. Seriously, there were only us 2 girls in the restaurant with all men. I believe in our entire block there, the number of female were perhaps only 10 while the rest were all guys. It's so noticeable that you couldn't help notice it. It's rather intimidating actually. I don't know what they're thinking seeing these 2 girls. Noone stared at us actually. Everybody were doing their things, eating with their friends, but as I said, it was rather intimidating. I was thinking, if girls don't really go out? They just stay at home or after work they quickly go home? It's nice that our hotel was just 1 m away because I think I would have been pretty scared if I had to walk a distance with only guys all around. Again, I do have to emphasize that it was actually not dangerous or anything. Noone stared or maybe they did and we just didn't check if they did. It really seemed that everyone was genuinely minding their business and everyone seemed really nice. The restaurant gave us free apple tea, perhaps they realized we were looking rather cold. Also when we left, one of the man, who was perhaps one of the owner, smiled and nodded at me. So that was nice. So aside from the self-imaginary intimidating situation, there's perhaps nothing intimidating about the situation at all. It was just odd for me because as I said it just became so noticeable that you wondered about it more and more. Okay, I guess I'm done with this blog post. It's been pretty long also. Next one will be about the trip to Ephesus with the dreadful guide again, aarrrghhh!!! He made me not want to stay in Izmir anymore :(
:) eKa @ 11:01:00 PM • 2 comments
Sunday, April 22, 2012
I just finished uploading, tagging, titling, and writing some descriptions on 67 pictures in flickr. That's pretty exhausting. Anyways, hello people. I'm back in Singapore. I was back exactly last Saturday. Where did I go? Did you guess correctly based on my last post? Well I went to Turkey and it was awesome. Why Turkey? Well it wasn't the first plan for this year. However my travelling mate, YeeMaggio, wasn't able to leave work to go to our first destination so Turkey it is. Still doesn't answer why Turkey and what's the first destination? Well I'm not gonna tell you what the first destination is because I felt I jinxed it when I told many people about it. So I'm gonna keep it quiet. The why Turkey, is because this year I just want to go to a country which will accept an Indonesian like me without the difficult process of applying visa beforehand. Granted, I've never been rejected of schengen visa the 2 times I applied for it. However I dislike the fact that I had to prepare many paper works which include things like disclosing my personal information like statement from the last 3 months of my saving account and also getting permission here and there which involved telling people in charge of where I am going to go. Turkey allows Indonesian to get in with visa on arrival and it was so painless. I guess that's why I've seen and heard many Indonesians out there. Most felt in Istanbul, the invasion of Indonesians is just beginning! But that's another story when we reach the Istanbul leg. Today we're gonna start with my first leg, in the lovable Cappadocia.This time around, I'm gonna give some information which is hopefully useful for people who want to go to Turkey or Cappadocia. I didn't have a lot of time to plan this trip. We only finished settling everything like 1 week before departure. From Singapore, there's a direct flight to Istanbul (everyday I think) from Turkish Airline. I chose Turkish Airline but they have code sharing with Singapore Airline. So when booking from Turkish airline's site, do check which airline serves the flight. Basically Singapore airline offers same day arrival, it leaves after midnight as opposed to Turkish airline who leaves before midnight, so that's why it can arrive on the same day. However the price difference can be 500 euro more expensive. If you are one of those people who are in love with Singapore Airline (= rich), go ahead. Let me just tell you that 500 euro can get you a nice hotel accomodation for almost a week or a really nice handmade Turkish carpet :) So anyways, got into Turkish airline. When I chose the seat, the seating plan seemed to still be rather empty so I was hopeful in having a quiet flight. Lucky for the airline, unlucky for me, it wasn't so. There were many Indonesians actually. I talked to one of the Indonesian tante (lady / auntie) while we were waiting for the lavatory. She's from Bandung and she's in a group which were on an umroh package tour. They would have a small tour in Turkey after their umroh. I was thinking it's been a long journey for this lady. Bandung to Jakarta, then transitting in Singapore, then Istanbul, then around 4-5 hours more to Saudi Arabia. That's like around 2 days of travelling. Anyway, having that many Indonesians in the plane made me feel good. I chose an aisle seat at the side block. The plane was rather small, there were only 2 seats at the side block instead of 3. That made me rather uneasy because I don't know, I don't know how plane works. I just wonder if this small plane will fare as well as bigger planes on a long journey (it takes more than 10.5 hours). I just thought bigger planes will not get easily blown by the wind but they do have more surface area to be struck by lightning I suppose. Anyways, unfortunate me was seated next to a big inconsiderate guy. I cannot blame him from being big and you know how guys just cannot sit with their legs closed, but bottomline is he's invading my space a lot that I basically only used like 75% of my space :( I was pretty pissed. Suffice to say, I couldn't sleep and I ended up watching 3 movies, Moneyball (very very good), The Big Year (very good, I found myself be more curious about birds), and A Dolphin's Tale (so-so, borderline boring).
So then we arrived in Istanbul Ataturk airport which is the airport located in the European side. Istanbul is a city located both in Europe and Asia. It is separated by the Bosphorus strait. We haven't actually arrived yet at our destination because our first leg was Cappadocia and so we have to fly to Kayseri or Nevşehir. I chose Kayseri. It's a domestic flight, so in Istanbul, I had to do my visa and go through immigration first. We left before midnight in Singapore and arrived just after 6 am so the airport was pretty quiet. After some walking and asking for direction, we found the counter for visa processing. Since YeeMaggio is a Singaporean, she doesn't have to do this. When I was there, there was this group of Indonesian ladies in front of me. So they went first but they didn't give the exact change. It's 25 USD for one Indonesian. I had the exact change so I gave my money and passport. Since I had the correct amount, the guy quickly put the visa sticker and returned my passport first with a smile :) Easy peasy and so painless! I was super happy :) :) :) By the way, one of the lady in that group was maybe an Indonesian celebrity. She looked like the lady who played the teacher in Laskar Pelangi. She was all smile to me, so nice. I'm not sure though because she didn't look so pretty but we did just go through a long flight and I am just bad at recognizing people.
Anyways, after that we walked to the domestic terminal. The flight was leaving at 9 something. I think there might be an earlier flight but I chose this flight because I wasn't sure if the visa thing would take some time. So we just waited at the airport. Now, Turkish Airline is by no mean the cheapest way to travel domestically. There are budget airlines like Pegasus and Sun Express. I forget why I chose this. Perhaps because the other timings were not so good or I just didn't want to risk missing flight doing visa or waiting for the luggage and doing check in again for another plane. I have to say that Turkish Airline domestic flight is SO MUCH BETTER than its international one. The plane is smaller but the seats were bigger. There were more legs space and we were wishing if only our international flight was like this. 1 hour something later we arrived in Kayseri. Here I noticed part of my luggage was torn. Darn it! I'm not sure if it's because my luggage was too full or it was bad handling. I was pretty down and I wasn't sure if it's gonna survive all the way back to Singapore. Anyways, we found the driver that supposed to pick us up. I was so worried he left us because we left the airport later than the rest of the passengers because we had to pick our luggages last from a different place since they were international luggages. Thank God the driver was there. The drive took 1 hour plus and it was through this area which was pretty barren. Maybe because it's not really spring yet, all were still brown. There were wide open spaces and it felt like in a middle of nowhere and there's this beautiful snowy mountain in the distance, I think it's called Mount Erciyes. Then I saw remains of what I think were grape vines but I couldn't be sure because that would mean it's a vineyard. Vineyard in Turkey? A country with a majority muslim population? Seriously? Apparently they were vineyards as I found out later and man so it began my many shocking cultural experience in Turkey. I have to be honest, I knew nothing about this country before I came. My cousin asked me where it was and I told her I seriously didn't know. That time I wouldn't be able to point it in a blank map. I just knew like Indonesia, the population are mostly muslims and the capital city is
Cappadocia is a region. By the way, I've been pronouncing it the Italian way and I don't know if it's the right way to pronounce it though I did hear some Turkish pronouncing it that way. But people like my guide pronounced it Kapadokya which is another spelling of the region and Indonesians will definitely pronounce this correctly like how my guide did it. Moving on, I decided to stay in small town Göreme which people wrote that it's a good place to stay and also because the hotel I wanted to stay in is in Göreme. But you can also stay in other city like Urgup just like this other Indonesian lady who stayed there and kindly answered my query when I asked her about getting visa on arrival. The hotel that I wanted happens to be the first in Trip Advisor list and so it's fully booked and so did the second, third, and so on. So I settled with Nature Park Cave Hotel after going through the list. Partly because you can book the activities as you did your booking which is actually what all hotels can do for you. In fact even though I have specified it through my online booking, the guy only did it when we reached there. Another website that you can try is this. They handled my airport transfer in Göreme and Izmir (at a cheaper rate than all I could find) and they were very prompt, efficient, and helpful in answering my mail - love Ms. Seda. So anyway, my hotel is run by a mother-son team. I didn't find the room and facility to be amazing. I think it's adequate. YeeMaggio found it to be interesting. Well it is different. The location is not bad. It's a bit away from the town center but the town is rather small that you basically just walk 5-10 minutes to find food. The town is filled with hotels but there are still people's houses around our hotel. In fact from my room's window I can see the neighbour's house. I just called the people around us as our neighbours there. The older ladies like to spend the day gathering, chatting, and drinking tea. They sat on the old sofa being put outside this neighbour's house and one time laid a carpet in front of the sofa, drank tea, while the kids played. There's a small playground nearby. Nice existence. As I was spying them, the mother of the hotel waved at me :) and Mama Imran is the reason why Nature Park Cave Hotel with all its imperfection is pretty awesome. She doesn't speak english except for a few phrases but she's no nice. The next day when we finished dinner, we saw her just finishing buying vegetables from the seller at the street, so we gestured that we helped her carry the load. As we arrived, she insisted that we had kiwis then cucumbers. Kiwi is fine with me but I had a hard time accepting the cucumber (I don't eat vegetable). Since I couldn't gesture it to her without sounding rude, I ate it (well done Eka!). Then she cut another cucumber since she thought we like it. Luckily YeeMaggio does like vegetable :) At one point she pointed at me and said teacher. I don't know if she's throwing her limited vocabulary or she sensed that I am a teacher. At that time I said no, because I am not a teacher but then I thought well I was once in that position. Maybe I am meant to be a teacher for real? Anyways, as I said I love Mama Imran. She would blow us kisses whenever we go. I didn't feel good calling her only by her name. I wanted to call her Umi which I believe is Arabic for mother, at least that's what I learnt from Indonesian tv, but I don't think they got it. I love her and would really want to see her again but I think I would love to try other hotels, especially the first one I wanted when I have the chance to return.
So that's been a long story. Let's continue. I wanted to go to Cappadocia because I knew you could take hot air balloon ride there and it's one of the best places on earth to do it. Seriously, google it. The list will also normally include Maasai Mara in Kenya which seems to also allow visa on arrival for Indonesians - why, hello :) By the way, apparently India now also allows visa on arrival for Indonesians. Maybe my europe days are over and I should focus on these countries which welcome Indonesians (a bit) openly. I used "a bit" because you still need a visa. I'm digressing. So the plan was to take the hot air balloon ride as an awesome 30th birthday present for myself and then the red tour and a green tour the next day. It was listed by the hotel, so I just took them. For the balloon ride I chose the deluxe one which cost 225 euro / person which is by the way pretty cheap if you compare it with the price in Australia for example. The deluxe ride means you are in a basket with less people and the flight is around half an hour longer. There's a however to that which I will explain below. The green and red tour each cost 30 euro / person which I think is pretty cheap - admission ticket + transport + lunch + guide included. Now the hotel guy kinda dampen my spirit because he said, about the balloon ride, let's hope for the best, let's hope the wind would be okay. I was like what?!?? I knew there's a possibility the weather is not making it possible to fly hence you should always aim to do it on your first morning there. There were some people writing in blogs that they couldn't do it because of the weather, so it's a real REAL possibility. I just thought, I have 3 mornings there and don't tell me I still couldn't fly. Suffice to say that with my luggage situation and the fact that there's a possibility we couldn't fly, I was feeling pretty sad that evening. After dinner, we asked the guy about the confirmation and he said it's okay, they'd pick you up at 05.30 am. Halelujah! THANK YOU GOD!!! I was so happy and grinning and HAPPY!!! You cannot believe! So it's off to bed, I slept nicely I think partly because of the flu medicine I took since I sneezed a few times since I left. I did get awoken by YeeMaggio who claimed to be hearing strange noises. I was so sleepy that I didn't really address her issue much and went back to sleep.
So 05.30 am came and they were early actually, the hotel guy had to knock at our door and he thought we couldn't wake up. So the pick up people picked other people first and then came back to us. Then we were driven to the meeting point. We were gathered in the meeting building where they went through the list of names and gave us a card with pictures about the inflation of balloon and landing instruction and our pilot's name. By the way, to go through how the balloon is being prepared please look at this step and go to the next picture to see the second and third step. Once you got this card, you can go have breakfast. It was pretty cold that morning, pretty much because it's still a bit cold in Cappadocia in early April. We did this on Good Friday, April 6 (thank you God, it was an awesome Friday for me). After breakfast, we went to the van which had our pilot's name. The van would take us to our departing point. Some balloons departed at the same place, but there are many different places located all around. We drove pretty far to our place and we were the only balloon there, perhaps it's part of the special deluxe treatment. In our group there are 2 american couples, 1 young, 1 older. A malaysian family (mom, dad, daughter) whom I initially thought to be Indonesian. Then there's a venezuelan family, I forget how many they were, perhaps 4. Anyway, I made friend with the older american couple, Andy and Robyn, who's from New York. Andy was pretty nice, he started talking to me and they're awesome, they had ridden a hot air balloon before in Egypt. I saw a balloon moving rather fast and that kinda freaked me a bit but Andy reassured me it's gonna be smooth and awesome. I think he's excited that I was excited. I made them laugh when I told them that I was thinking it's funny that he doesn't sound like Raymond, from Everybody Loves Raymond. Well, I was once in Cinque Terre with a group of New Yorkers and they sounded like Raymond so that's the first thing that came to my mind and I thought it's funny. They thought it was funny as well :D Making people laugh, especially strangers is super priceless. Andy then proceeded with a lecture on the different sections of New York which unfortunately I cannot relate with.
Moving on, in the basket, there are 5 sections / compartments. 1 middle one for the pilot and his 3 gas tanks and 2 each at the side for the people. Me, YeeMaggio, Andy, and Robyn shared a compartment. When we were inside the basket before they untied the rope which tied the balloon to the van so that it wouldn't float straight away, we were given instruction on what to do during landing. Then we were off. It was amazing. The basket was high enough to prevent you from falling but it was still scary enough for me. I sure didn't want to get knocked down accidentally and fall or get my camera or phone fall as I was taking pictures. I tried not to make big movements. It was awesome, I will never stop saying this. Apparently the pilot cannot control where to go, the wind does that. The fire for the balloon is not on all the time. The pilot fired it up to go up. So he can only control going up and down and rotating the basket. His skill is in reading the wind so that we can ride it. Obviously I don't know how to do that, I was absorbing the view that I didn't pay attention if reading the wind is actually something that is visual. Anyways, there were ballons all over the sky. It's one amazing view, not only seeing the land below with the weird formation and the rocks but also seeing balloons all over with different colors. It's amazing!!! Now apparently I think every balloon carries 3 gas tanks during flight. Overall they use 4 tanks, 1 is used during preparation. We were in a deluxe trip which apparently means our basket had to be smaller so that with 3 tanks we could technically fly longer than the ones with bigger baskets. We were actually pretty squeezy in there :( However all are controlled by the wind and that day the wind was pretty strong that we moved pretty fast and so in the end our flight was also around 1 hour. The pilot said he only used 2 tanks not 3 and we would get a refund. Since I paid my hotel guy, I should have taken it back from him but because none of us made an effort to ask our hotel guy about this, in the end we didn't get some of our money back. So I guess if you want to take the flight, perhaps the normal standard package will be sufficient but I know one will be tempted to be up there longer. Look! It was a really awesome 30th birthday present for me.
The red tour group was pretty small which is great. There's us. 2 Japanese ladies which we ended up hanging out with, Miyako and Setsuko. An american girl with a japanese heritage and fish tattoo down her neck, Keiko. She seemed to be travelling alone *awesome*. 3 chinese tourists, all girls. Seriously girls are more adventurous in exploring the world than guys, you'll always see more girls than guys. 2 brazilian, Rafael and Beatrice, which are now living in Lyon, France. I think they are students, I'm not sure if they are boyfriend and girlfriend. An Indian couple who seemed to be living in the USA. Then there's our guide who in the middle of the way I realized to be handsome. His name is Mehmet. I love handsome guys and he is one :P He's very young though. I found out he's 25 the next day. I was lucky enough to have him again the next day (the please please please God perhaps helped). I am in the age where everyone is younger, so finding his age made me look at him as a boy boy, little brother kind :( Anywaaaays, first stop was to look at Uçhisar Castle. Can't go in, could only see it from a distance. Here we met Andy and Robyn again. The nice Andy was calling out to me. They also were doing the version of what I think was pretty much the same tour. We were sure we'd be seeing each other throughout the day but we never did again :( and I'm pretty bummed out about that.
Then it was to Göreme Open Air Museum, which were basically the remains of churches, chapels, living quarters for christians, made in the caves and inside the rocks formation. It was pretty cool. There were christian paintings inside the walls but don't expect elaborate frescoes like the major churches in Italy. It was pretty simple but there were also chapels with more details and it was pretty awesome. We couldn't take pictures though. Mehmet was very particular about this. I think the museum is very very interesting, obviously because physically it's so different. Just look at this.
Then it was to this ceramic pottery place where the guide there brought us through all the rooms, except the burning oven. We saw the artists painting the ceramics and they are amazing people. Then a master showed us how he formed a vase and then of course we were guided to the shop which was filled with many beautiful things. The nice thing is the guide pretty much allowed us to see, take pictures, without pressing us at all or hovering around us to "explain" about the items. I was just admiring all the beautiful pieces and be in awe with all the artistry.
Like the red tour, the green tour started at 09:30 but I was awoken earlier than that. From my window, I could see balloons bobbing up, so I went to the hotel's terrace and took some pictures of balloons which were visible.
After that we went to Ihlara Valley. It was quite a drive and we stopped for lunch nearby. We sat with the Japanese again and the Chinese group on my left. The chinese got more annoying. They complained that they had to pay for drinks, the rice was too little, and then they asked the waiter why they got the same portion of oranges as the table where there were 2 people instead of them 4. I felt very uncomfortable that they demanded more. We decided that we gave our oranges which we couldn't finish but I think they rejected it. I felt sorry for the waiter but I also think it's just oranges, give it to them and shut them up. Oh well ... I'm not trying to be racist. I am stating observation and I am sure the same sentiment would be felt by Indonesians as well, like by my family. But I think Indonesians lack the gut to demand it especially if they don't speak proper english but these chinese don't let it stop them. In a way that's what make them so ahead of other people, because they fight more? I don't know. Anyways, Ihlara Valley. First stop was to see a church with paintings inside its walls. There's a depiction of Daniel in the lion's den. Then it's a 4 km hike / walk which was easy and fun enough. I think the valley would be nicer when it's green and really I've seen pictures when Cappadocia was green, it's pretty. Seeing the view I had, I often thought why I came at that time. Things would be much more beautiful when it's green maybe a month later but then I thought about the people I met and that's the reason why I should be there at that exact time.
After Ihlara Valley, we went to this place I think called Yaprakhisar. Another interesting place to explore but at this time I was already rather tired.
The hotel guy was driving us and another 2 ladies who also stayed in the hotel, apparently from the Czech Republic. We arrived just on time. I don't know if they were waiting for us. Again I think everyone know everyone, maybe our hotel guy told them to wait. The place was full and so we couldn't sit in the front. It was really something. It was in Arabic and I don't speak Arabic but nonetheless since I grew up in Indonesia, it felt very familiar. It did get repetitive at one point but it was still something which is kinda hard to explain. You just had much respect for it though I have to shamefully admit that I took pictures during the performance (but it was without flash). I didn't know you couldn't. They did spin again after the performance without the song so that people could take pictures. Anyways, they ended it with a prayer which I don't know from which part of Al Quran but it's a prayer that I'm sure all Indonesians have heard before. It sounded so comforting for me. In fact things like hearing azan (the islamic call of prayer) was strangely comforting for me and I looked forward to it though I don't when I am in Indonesia. I guess it's because it reminds me of home and it made me feel warm and fuzzy inside to feel that bit of home.
We left the next day for Izmir. Mama Imran blew me kisses when I said my goodbye. I had a super good time in Cappadocia. A nice place, awesome experience, a handsome guide, nice strangers who crossed my path. I could only hope they also had a nice experience meeting me though only for a little bit. This is a super long post! Phew. I guess I covered pretty much all. Next leg is Izmir which I will try to write soon. To see more pictures, please go here :)
* April 26, 2012: I'm an idiot!!! The capital city of Turkey is Ankara not Istanbul. Istanbul is the largest city though. Still, I'm an idiot!!!
:) eKa @ 1:23:00 AM • 0 comments
Wednesday, April 04, 2012
It's That Time of My Life ... Again :)
Hello peeps. Leaving the country today. Not really gonna say where, though the people who read this blog most probably know where I'm going. I am instead going to give hints.1. This country is located both in Europe and Asia. If you ask me this, only 1 country comes in mind but I googled it out today and apparently there are around 5 countries fitting this description.
2. This country is bordering Syria, Iran, and Iraq. When I found out, I have to say it's exhilarating :P Though, I have to say that I hope politically this country and its neighbours will be safe when I'm there.
3. You can eat this country. Easy peasy right. I'm sure you got it right.
It's pretty rush to reach this state or today. It wasn't the plan for this year but it's what's been given to me so I'll take it. I am thankful to God for the opportunity. I am thankful that mom's supportive towards the end. I am thankful that I have a friend on this journey (going with YeeMaggio). I am thankful that as much as I am worried about things not gonna happen, not gonna get done, God has made it work out on time.
So some minutes ago, I just hung my laundry and locked my luggage. Today has been spent doing last minute errands which included praying, exchanging money, eating Indonesian food (molto importante!), and getting flu vaccine. My doctor didn't seem well today but she's nice. Sometime I feel like my mother is channeling her spirit to people around me. So doc was showing concern, saying things that she doesn't feel it's safe there and told me to be very careful, to watch my bags, wallet, and asked me if I have medicine for tummy ache. Hearing her saying all that felt like that's my mom's speaking. Her assistant apparently went there long time ago, maybe around 20 years? Without thinking, I said, "you must be so young then" :P Anyway she also told me to be very careful. She said her group got so many unwanted attention. Well my reasoning is that maybe it was so long ago and they haven't seen many tourists there so it was something curious for them. Hopefully it's all different now.
Today when I wanted to do my laundry, Max was outside getting dressed. He said something like, "oops, luckily I have my pants on". Yeah, that's what I am dealing with, people! Anyway, I saw there's a vaccination mark on his arm and I said, "you got your flu vaccine today?". I was right and I said, "we are telepathic already". Another telepathic coincidence is that apparently her granny is travelling to India tonight, but it seems her flight is later than mine. She will also be back on the same date as mine, which is April 14. It's a short trip, I am already dreading the life I have to come back to. Anyways, so Max is gonna stay at grandma's empty house by himself which allows him to go back home late without anyone noticing. He's even already planning a night out today. I am surprised that Jenny just said okay. Seriously?!?! I wonder if she's gonna do a spot check.
Anyways, I want to call mom but I'm not sure where mom is now. Mom went to Bangka to do the grave praying thingy. I thought she's only going this morning but apparently she left Monday and I'm not sure if she's already back today. By the way, Jakarta is in flood alert *sigh* I hope all will be okay or at least my house will not be flooded. Even if it's not, it's pretty hard to move around. While my parents can just close the shops, I think my brother still has to go to work and he rides motorcycle. I can imagine it's totally a pain when it rains heavily. I wonder how he does it. By the way, it's also gonna be a pain with a car because the traffic jam will just be crazy. Add flood to that, miserable is pretty apt to describe the situation. So let's pray so that it will not be so bad in Jakarta and let's pray that I'll be okay in this journey. May we have blue sky and sunshine. Take care peeps!
:) eKa @ 8:14:00 PM • 0 comments
Sunday, April 01, 2012
Movie of the week was, Salmon Fishing in the Yemen which I really like. It's witty in a British sense of humour sort of way (I guess). As much as I love the movie, I wonder if it's very strong in the story. It has this feel good vibe into it. Ewan McGregor played a scientist with an asperger syndrome. His character reminded me of Sheldon Cooper if he was to be more normal. Emily Blunt was very likable. I think I start to warm up to her. It was a nice little movie and I think I'm in the mood of something nice and relaxing.Yesterday in French class, I finally talked to one of the newer classmate. It came up in discussion some weeks back that he speaks Italian and finally I got to confirm it. I started the conversation in Italian and it was pretty good to be able to speak it and hear it. I may be lost in translation but it seemed this philippino even taught Italian at one point in the Phillipines. He also speaks fluent french. That made me feel very disappointed at myself. I know there are people who are just talented and maybe this guy is one of those people who learns languages easily. However, learning and studying are still paramount and I wonder if I really haven't done more to improve my fluency in the languages :( Darn! Anyways, I'll be missing the next 2 classes and when I come back it's test time. I'm actually not sure if I should come for the test even though Mr. N was telling me to try it. It's just, it's not gonna be easy and at this point I cannot aim at 90 and above with the skill I have. I think I'll be very lucky if I can reach 80 :( If I don't come, it'll be 5 weeks without french exposure because after the test, it's a one-week break and a public holiday coming. Missing that many classes is not a good idea. All the french knowledge I know will just disappear. Alright, let's just see what's gonna happen.
Last night as I was sitting in my chair feeling very tired, I started to feel rather anxious. I guess when I'm tired, my mind just go to many different places and I'll have such difficulty to focus and relax and deal with one thing at a time. It wasn't a good feeling last night. Too much anxiety :( I'm still stressed out about things, things that I have yet to do, things that I still have to endure, things that I promised people and now I'm not so sure if I'll be able to deliver, things that will await me. It was just horrible. I woke up today feeling slightly better but the stress is still there. Right now, I am just trying to push them away. I'm tired and this whole worry and stress are definitely not gonna be good for my health. So even though stopping may not be a good idea now since time is of the essence, I'm gonna stop for awhile and at least enjoy what very little of my Sunday has left.
:) eKa @ 7:50:00 PM • 0 comments
Sunday, March 25, 2012
Movie Updates - March 25, 2012
Hello guys, how are you doing? You know it's March and it's ending and I haven't found myself playing Águas de Março much. I guess I kinda forget the fact that it's March. Oh well, anyways, watched 2 movies this week.I finally got to watch Laskar Pelangi. It's this pretty famous Indonesian movie which are loved by many people back home, including my parents. It was out some years ago but I only found it recently in youtube. I thought it was not a bad movie. I had already a bit of tears even at the beginning of the movie and then on some other parts. I also laughed. Overall the story was meaningful that I'm gonna force my kids to watch this movie when they don't feel like studying. Yeah, that's conviction right there, that I'll have kids and they're gonna be able to speak Indonesian. The language in the movie was kinda weird for me. I'm doubting the authenticity of it. It's set in Belitung which is the sister island of where my parents come from, Bangka, and yet the language the people spoke in the movie was more like a combination of the Malay language and the Indonesian language and less like the Belitung language which I immagine should be more similar to how my parents speak. Maybe they just wanted people to still be understand it easily and not having to put subtitle in it. As much as I love the movie, I do feel the movie is rather disjointed and slow moving at times. I love all the kids, but it strangely felt that none of the character was invested deeply that I felt I still don't know much about them until the end of the movie. I still think it's a great movie and I'm gonna try to find the sequel. I hope it's somewhere in youtube world.
Another movie that I watched this week was The Hunger Games. I didn't read the book but I feel that the movie may suffer the same problem as some of Harry Potter's movies - the books are more interesting than the films. I like the movie but I wasn't blown away from it. I felt the movie ran really long and yet I know that there are many things not being shown in it. Even though I felt it was long, I did feel that it's lacking on more action during the game and lacking in some character development. It would be great to see more of the characters like Rue and Gale and of course Lenny Kravitz. Love him!!! :P It is kinda tricky, I found that those characters didn't get a lot of screen time and yet I found the movie to be running long. I think that's the thing about books being made to movies. You need to see all and yet you can't possibly do it.
So with the lack of action, I wonder if some people in the US would think that watching the Indonesian movie, The Raid, is so much better. The US title is actually The Raid: Redemption and it was released on the same date as The Hunger Games. I'm excited about The Raid and I really hope that it'll be shown in Singapore commercially. The thing is, the first Indonesian movie which I actually paid to watch in the cinema is Merantau which came from the team who did The Raid. I thought it was very nice of them to continue collaborating and make movies which are totally in a different genre than the kind of movies being produced in Indonesia currently. Also the reviews that I've been reading said this movie totally kicks ass. It's gonna be super violent which I'm not sure I'm gonna love, but I really really want to watch this movie. Let me show you guys the trailer. On other news, I'm preparing my 30th birthday present for myself. It feels pretty last minute in the preparation. I had a super hard time to confirm the possibility of it and since the last bigger plan fell apart, I kinda keep this quiet and under wrap because I didn't want to jinx it. So far I've only told Ms. J, aside for my mom. I have to say that we kinda completed the bigger tasks today and there are a few more to complete and the more I think of it, the more I think there are many things to cross in the task list. It's been quite a burden in my head that I couldn't really sleep this week. We don't have much time left and right now, I am most worried that I'm gonna get sick so I have a lot of prayers to do. I feel really really good though that mom has been pretty supportive in this. It feels so much better and so comforting when your mom gives you blessing in something that you want. So I am truly thankful to God for that. I'm gonna stop now. Hope you guys have a great week ahead :)
:) eKa @ 6:59:00 PM • 0 comments
Saturday, March 17, 2012
Hello peeps. It's been awhile since I last wrote. Well, I've kinda been sick both physically and mentally. I had another bad flu attack. It was really bad and it took sometime for me to be okay. I had so many drugs that at one point I was calculating the timing of taking them wrongly so I got the dosage wrong. I'm not sure if I'm fully well now. After somewhat surviving the flu, around a week later which was last week, I had a day when I suddenly just had a fever. I went through the entire day feeling really cold while my body was rising in temperature. It was really really bad that I was totally thankful that I could make it back to my room in 1 piece. At that time, I could feel that even my balance was off and it was like my soul and body were not aligned. I was really worried that I would just collapse and faint on the road. So I'm truly thankful to God for bringing me back to my room safely. I had the usual dose of panadol and it did get a bit better, then it got worse again, I found myself waking up at 2.45 am with rising temperature and ache all over my body that I had to force myself to get up and take some panadol again. What followed in the days after was headaches and all. Suffice to say, I was not having the best of time and that truly brought me down mentally. I began to wonder if anything is wrong with me, what's with all this sickness. I'm just tired and I just want to stop and that is something that I didn't do, stopping.So anyway, I think mom got worried and perhaps that caused her to have such an uneasy dream about me. When she told me, I did think, okay what now? what else? what other misfortune to befall upon me?!?! But I suppose such things are better to be let off in their own realm and we shouldn't think too much about it or make any sense about something which is nothing. With all my sickness, mom still asked me today if I'm okay. Well, I'm alright. That's all I can say.
I turned 30 this week. Well the birthday week started last Sunday. My family celebrate more of our Chinese birthday than our actual birth date. My chinese birthday was last Sunday and I turned 31 based on the Chinese calendar. Mom had her bad dream about me the night before my birthday, so it was a rather awkward timing. It made for such a strangely delightful Sunday morning. I woke up with a text from my brother telling me happy birthday on behalf of my dad and told me to have an egg as it was the tradition in our family. I totally forgot about the egg deal. Then after, I got a text from mom telling me that she dreamt about me. It's kinda nice to be getting those texts.
My actual birthday was of course on pi day (3.14). Decided to do something which I hadn't done before ever, which was to make the day all about me. It didn't work out so well. Well the evening before, I decided to start doing things that I like. I like watching movies, so off I went to watch The Lorax. I wanted something light. I don't think it was a really good movie. I agreed with the message but it came across as a bit preachy. It's not really that funny and it's not really that touching. However, I was in such a weird mental state so maybe it's just me. Coming back to my room that day, I just lost it. I had a total melt down. I started crying pretty intensely. The like of which reminded me of my darkest days and those were some really shitty period in my life which I'm not sure I've bounced back fully. Perhaps I didn't hence all the traces still creep back up and hit me with lots of despair. There was just this huge wave of sadness and hopelessness and I just reached a point of not knowing how to do my life. Wow, that's some pretty private part there for you all to read. I seriously contemplated if I should write it but without the illustration, you may not get what I'm saying and that's the thing. People around me don't get it. I tried telling them and many came off as these wise ass people that I'm just so tired of talking anymore. They started saying you should this and that and I know that they are perhaps right but at this point in time, I would just rather have someone telling me, please don't cry Eka, you're an awesome person, and things will be alright, there there, please don't be sad. God, I'm crying again now writing that. I did feel that at a point, perhaps God understood my need to be comforted, that I got a text from il Gatto, wishing me a happy birthday. He's never done that for the past few years and getting that message seemed like to show that God will always give me someone to help me when I really really need someone. I need to keep that faith in God. Still, I broke down really badly. I couldn't see that possibility in the future that this will all pass and I'll have some genuine peace and happiness. It took some time to push the thoughts away and stopped crying. That's really the thing, I pushed the thoughts. I haven't really revisited them and addressed them and for that reasons, I think they will still come back to haunt me because I truly believe, issues will always be there if you don't try to resolve them. However I'm just too tired. It's a really dark place to be in and right now I just want to be numb rather than facing it. I'm tired and I'm tired of crying. So I did break down nearing to when I turned 30 but surprisingly it's not because of me turning 30. As usual my life issue is always more complicated than just one place or one situation. I did think it was overly dramatic to feel this bad about my life when it can be said as good, especially after learning not long ago someone I knew had a really devastating situation, also if you compare it to actual bad problems in this world. Those thoughts made me cry harder for feeling sucky about my life. I cannot deny the sadness and unhappiness that I felt. At the same time, I felt sad at myself for feeling that way. It's so messed up.
I did stop crying at one point. It was more because I was telling myself that it's getting scary, I was hyperventilating, my chest started to hurt that I told myself I needed to calm down. I woke up the next morning rather earlier than I wanted to because I stupidly thought that a package that my best friends sent me would still arrive on the agreed morning time. There was some miscommunication and basically I was looking at the prospect of spending the day waiting for that package to arrive. Yeah, that's fun! *rolling eyes* Then, I wanted to get my flu vaccination but since I was still having a sore throat, the doctor refused to give it to me. So I had wasted time waiting for her for nothing. Then it was raining as well, so I was just, yeah of course it had to happen to me. Everything should go wrong for me, even on the one day, the one day that I decided to do something for me!!! Seriously, there were blue sky the day before and after my birthday and I got crappy weather!!! I'm one who refrain from blaming God for things being sucky, however at that time, I seriously was like, yeah of course, shitty things happen to me. I tried to go through with my plan but let's just say I wasn't having a really good day. All and all, considering the effort that I tried to put and the result, it made for a kinda bad birthday. Oh well ... just my luck.
There were some nice birthday wishes. I got my first birthday present this year from Ms. J and I haven't even given her a present. She got me a book which is a good choice. I like getting books. I also got a book from my best buddies. The package finally arrived, not on my birthday though. The delivery people decided to reschedule even though I kinda already asked Max to help me with it. He looked rather sorry when he told me that he waited but it didn't come. Anyway, my cousin, Marlisa, which I am sure was behind the whole birthday present package, made me this really cool scrap birthday card. I like it a lot. She also got this cool box to hold the card and the book, which by the way is Ronggeng Dukuh Paruk, which is the book for the movie, Sang Penari which I mentioned before. I guess she read my blog. Anyway, the box, today I realized that I think the box was specially made for me because there's my name on it! I think she got someone to do it. On the box, there's only another word. It's smile. I take it as another sign from the universe or God, to smile.
It's something which is changing in me. I can feel it that I had turned into when I was in those period when I always looked sad. It's back again. My energy is draining away. Strangely I think I feel this change more in my french class. We have more people in class now and their french are really awesome. That coupled with the fact that I'm just losing interest in everything in my life, found myself not fighting or trying much to be better. I think Mr. N even can sense it that there's something different in me. He tried to get something out of me but today I think he's started to relent. I know I'm losing it. I need to pull myself together and pull myself up. I am better than all this but right now, I'm just not there. I don't know when I'll be.
On other news. Max went to Hong Kong today for a week or so to spend time with his mom. I was thinking that I'm living with a breathing living half french boy and I should use him to help me with my french. The other day I told him that and he spoke 1 line really fast and I didn't get it and I thought, that's why we don't speak in french to each other. At least perhaps his english will get better with me. The other day, we were talking about The Walking Dead and he said something like, "do you think he's enough strong for ...". Now, bad english grammar hurt my brain. I can feel my brain cells dying when I read or hear wrong sentences. I corrected him, "strong enough". I know where he came from, it's the same as the Italians and the Indonesians actually, the way we form that sentence in our languages. A few days later I was thinking that some racist people would think that the Indonesians are so dumb when they make a mistake like that because we come from a less developed country and when a french like Max makes the mistake, they would see the mistake as cute. Well, that's the state of my brain now, it goes to many random places. Anyway, I'm starting to get used having Max around and sometime talking to him can be pretty nice when he's not throwing his teenager-I'm-too-cool-and-busy-to-talk attitude. So in a way, I'm gonna miss him but I think I will also welcome the space without him. I was already not liking the fact that he invaded my spot and I have to sit in another chair during dinner. So getting the space back will be nice.
There's something that I'm planning that I hope will work out. However, considering all the plans that have gone wrong, I begin to doubt it will happen. It's stupid really when I can sense it's not gonna work and yet when it was really declared to be a failure, I was still broken hearted. So anyway, this thing I'm planning may not happen as well and so I was thinking, darn you're 30. It should empower you with the knowledge that you are old and so you know stuff and you've lived pretty long to be braver in the face of things and so come on, let's do this on our own. We'll see how it goes. I wonder what mom will say. Again, her dream kinda makes her worried about me but I guess she wants me to be happy and if this is what it'll take perhaps all she can do is just let go and pray for me.
Before I go, let me add this one bit which I also took as a sign. I finally finished reading Più Felice Del Mondo by Umberto Pasti. It's a book that I got when I was in Rome. So it took almost a year for me to finish it. I didn't use a dictionary in reading this so I am lost in many of the short stories inside it but I like to think I get the gist of the stories. So in the last short story in the book, in some of the last few lines was this line, Capii che finché si è vivi gli anni felici finiranno mai, perché l'avventura che ci unisce è di per se stessa misteriosamente felice. God is speaking to me in many different form. Keeping the faith is the hard one.
:) eKa @ 7:43:00 PM • 0 comments
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