Sunday, May 24, 2015
Day 3: Brooklyn + The King and I
You don’t have to be scared babeYou don’t need a plan of what you want to do
Listen To The Man - George Ezra
One of the reason I chose the dates of my travel was that I know that Brooklyn Botanical Garden has a lot of cherry blossoms and I wanted to be there when they all bloom. So after googling the period it bloomed last year, I choose early May for my travel. I was pretty anxious about it, like what if they all have bloomed when I arrive or they wouldn't bloom yet by the time I leave. Luckily the timing was pretty perfect this time for me. Brooklyn Botanical Garden has many different types of cherry blossoms. By the time I arrived, there's a few which had reached post peak bloom, so I didn't see those. However I was in perfect time to see the Kwanzan cherry which was the species that they have the most and which form this beautiful rows of pretty pink flowers.
It was a Tuesday and I made my way to Brooklyn. I think I didn't find any difficulty on getting there except for the time when I sat at the station wondering if the train I wanted was going to arrive, then realizing I should just take the one train that kept on coming after letting it pass a few times. At least I didn't make a major mistake. So I arrived and the garden was just by the exit of the subway station. Then I found a lovely surprise. It's free on a Tuesday!!! I was like, wait what?!?! It was quite early and not many people were there yet. I was so happy upon finding out it's free. I saw there's a couple taking their pre-wedding picture, I guess people were really making use of this free Tuesday. The trees with the white and red flowers below are crabapple trees. I learned new thing here :)
The musical is staged at the Vivian Beaumont Theater and an adjective I would use to describe it is that it's snug. It's not very big and it makes me wonder if all theatres in Broadway is this size. It's smaller than the theatre at Marina Bay Sands Singapore for example. By the way, ticket price is comparable to the price in Singapore. All this also makes me wonder about the economy of Broadway. So many shows, musicals and plays, I'm sure it employs a lot of people, which makes me think that there are so many artists in New York and the people are so cultured because they have access to so many great museums and all these art performances. How does the economy work, surely it's expensive to stage a musical so how much money do they actually make and how much money can a performer earn and how do they survive? I wonder if there's a documentary about this. Anyway, so my seat even though it's in the orchestra level, it's not all that nice, my view was blocked sometime. So the person sitting at the mezzanine / balcony level could actually have better views. The stage was in T form and it gets really close to the audience so that's great. Of all the musicals I have watched in Singapore, none gave a view this close or should I say this intimate to the audience. I was very excited about seeing Ken Watanabe playing the king and I guess so were the many Japanese who were there. I'm also thankful to God that I wasn't overly sleepy and didn't doze off. I love it a lot. Ken Watanabe's english pronunciation wasn't perfect and at times wasn't clear for me, but he's a good actor and he can really sing. His role was comedic at times and I can't help thinking it's his Japanese theatre training in the works. Everyone was great and the children were so cute. Again, I wonder how these kids could be doing this, are they not in normal school? A lot of Asians in the cast which most probably is great for them because of how their look I'm not sure it is easy to get roles in a Broadway shows for them. I kinda forget if the story is exactly the same as in the old movie, but I thought the conclusion was a bit to easy. There were some tragedies but I thought it's kinda glossed over. It was still really really wonderful though, seriously. Happiness, that's what I felt watching this. I felt so happy to be there, to be doing the trip. It was an awesome wonderful experience and it's also like telling me how awesomely wonderful this trip would be for me :) During intermission, I saw the 2 Japanese ladies from the Philadelphia trip the day before. I waved at them and they're so cute, one of them said she's so happy to be seeing me again. We got to talking and I am thankful God also gave me people to have conversation with.
On my way walk back to the hotel, I saw a Banksy graffiti and I literally stopped, looked to my left and right and was like, what, wait a minute is that a Banksy? It's a Banksy!!! but of course I had no one there to share the experience with. I stopped there for a while and just stared at it. It's so strange to be only noticing it then, at night in the dark, when I have walked the same street twice that day when there's daylight. It's like fate? It's also fate because I found it, someone who actually know what it is. Other people who doesn't know who Banksy ii may not realize what they're seeing. The next day when I walked the street again, I made sure to look out for it and took picture of it. There's a glass protecting it now. I think it's the building management who installed it not the city. It's interesting isn't it, if you're famous, your graffiti gets protected. If you're not famous, no matter how nice the work is, no one would take such a steps, people may actually paint over it to cover it up. I wonder if Banksy starts doing graffiti in Singapore, what the Singapore government will do about it. Anyway, that's about it, the day spent in Brooklyn. You can see the pictures here. I also put up the AMNH album here. Initially I wanted to combine all the photos from the museums all together, but then I realized it would just be too big, so there you go. I'll try to write the next day soon :)
:) eKa @ 10:35:00 PM • 0 comments
Thursday, May 21, 2015
Day 2: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Must be me that's rushing byTime just lingers on the wind
Bristlin' through my open fears
I wonder what it's going to bring
Above the clouds, what's to be found
I have to wonder, will I be around
Above The Clouds Lyrics - Paul Weller
Day 2 was spent taking a day tour to Philadelphia. I chose this because it promised visiting an Amish country and for me that is super interesting. The trip departed at 7 am and the bus has 3 guides, for the spanish speaking group, italian speaking group, and the english / german speaking group. To get out of New York, we have to go through Lincoln tunnel which connects Manhattan to New Jersey. The guide was pointing out the heavy morning traffic. I found it insane that you have to pay $14 to get through the tunnel to get from New Jersey to New York. One would ask, why drive then, which is perhaps what's on everyone's mind as well. The guide pointed out the bus only lane. These buses bring commuters from New Jersey to work. They all formed a line and that reminded me of the busway lane in Jakarta. That morning traffic was pretty heavy but I think people living in Jakarta will think of it as nothing special.
When we arrived at Philadelphia, first stop was to see Liberty Bell. If you ask me if I knew what Liberty Bell is before this trip, I would say no, even though I kinda have a recollection that it appeared in Nicholas Cage's movie, National Treasure. Well Liberty Bell is a bell with a crack on it, so it's not actually a very well made bell. It's made in England. It's called the Liberty Bell because, well I kinda forgot why, so read that wiki link. I think it's because it was rung during one important event relating to the independence of America and that's why it got its name Liberty Bell. Because of its crack, right now it's not on the tower anymore and it's being put on display. There's a picture of the Dalai Lama taking a picture with it. It's not a very big bell and the crack is very pronounced. You had to go through a security check to enter the place, with security officers checking your bag and asked to lift your coat and such. They should have just gotten the machines to do all this. Then there's the ranger who will just talk about the bell to all the people visiting. All the rangers in this historical places we visited are so passionate about this that it's so great to see them being so proud about their country history. Anyway the ranger was giving detailed explanation especially because there's a young american girl there. I think it is really important that new generations know the history of their country and it is hard considering it's getting so far away from when historical events took place. I wonder if kids in Indonesia learn the history of Indonesian heroes and wars the way I did when I was a child. If not, it's a real shame.
Then went to Elfreth's Alley which is this alley with old houses which has been restored to what it was during revolutionary days. The houses were very cute and colourful. There are people actually living there. I guess they're used to people walking up and down their alley. The english guide wasn't very hardworking here, she just waited at the end of the alley. When I saw the Italian guide brought her group to an alley between 2 houses which leads to a small courtyard, I followed them and others followed too. I listened to the guide explanation for a while, like how there's a wall enclosing the courtyard, its purpose is for protection. She also mentioned it's the same thing in Wall Street New York, how it got its name was because there used to be walls there too. That's one benefit of being able to understand other languages when I travel, I can always listen in to guides of a different language :P
First stop was this buggy ride with an Amish gentleman. The Amish don't drive, so they use carriage and horses, though I did see an Amish farmer and his son on a tractor. So again, they pick and choose which technology to adopt. I guess as long as it's really necessary and not interfering with their lives and relation to God. We passed by a farm which I was told are peaches. Then we stopped by a house where an Amish girl sold us snacks. There were pretzels and cookies. I didn't plan to buy anything, but upon knowing that a bag of 3 cookies cost $2, I bought a bag. Those 3 cookies almost cost the same as the one cookie I bought for breakfast earlier that morning, though I have to admit my morning cookie did taste much better, though the Amish cookies weren't bad either and imagining that they came from the milk that they milked themselves gave a new sense of appreciation. I'm actually very curious about the Amish life, I have so many questions, but the stupid shy me didn't ask those questions to the farmer. So now so many still left unanswered :( stupid me. I did speak a bit of Italian with the Italian group who happened to be in the same buggy as us. They're from Ravenna, the same city the Italian tourists I met in Turkey. What are the odds if they know each other? This also makes me wonder if people from this city just really like to travel.
After that it was a stop in this little place where there were some shops selling interesting stuff. It was around 2 pm, so very late lunch. I had soup and strawberry rhubarb pie which again I couldn't finish. I did something kinda rude, well I don't know if it's rude. One of the Australian lady (I think she's Australian) asked if I wanted to sit at her table with some other people and I said no. I don't know, I just wanted to be alone and didn't mind it. Anyway, after that with nothing much to do, I entered each of the shop. First was this art shop that sells beautiful paintings. Some of it was of winter scene like in classic Christmas cards, the kind that make you go warm and fuzzy about winter and Christmas in America when you see them. I really like all the paintings in here.
:) eKa @ 10:43:00 PM • 0 comments
Tuesday, May 19, 2015
The city's bustle cannot, no it cannot destroy, the dreams of a girl and boy.We'll turn Manhattan into an isle of joy.
Manhattan - Dinah Washington
Hello guys, I'm back. Since in the last post before I left I started off with a quotation, I think I will start each of the post detailing the trip with some lyrics from the songs that fill the playlist for this trip. I actually wonder if I should write about this trip in details like I used to for all the previous trips. I'm thinking if it would be like me showing off and who on earth cares and reads these things right, but then I think let's just take it as an exercise in writing. I have been writing less in this blog and I didn't write in the journal everyday in this trip, because most of the time I'm too lazy and tired, and when I did write they were brief and not in detail. So I think now that I kinda have the time, I should push myself and write. I think writing skill and being able to put thoughts out coherently is very important, so let's do this, brace yourself for some very long posts, which I will try to post as soon as I can.
The trip began on a Saturday morning. I booked a taxi in advanced for 04:15 am. Arrived at Changi. There were security officers taking our details before checking in, like our passport number and residential status in Singapore, so that's something different. On checking in, the charming malay guy at the counter greeted me with, Pagi!, and I ended up speaking in Indonesian a bit. It kinda made me feel better about this trip. Then I had breakfast, the last Singaporean thing I did, 2 eggs, toasts, and tea. Is what I had for breakfast not necessary to mention?
Moving on, first flight was to Tokyo Narita. The plane went much faster and it took just over 6.5 hours. Had to go through a security check again in Narita. I found this to be odd. Tried to text mom but my phone seemed to have difficulty settling to a new country so it failed. I forget how long I had to wait for the next flight, might be more than 1 hour, but it didn't feel too long. The flight to New York JFK also arrived faster but it dashed all my hope to get to my hotel faster because the immigration queue in JFK was insane. I think it took me like 40 minutes, perhaps more, to clear immigration. There were actually quite a few counters opening up, but there were just too many people. I was thinking how to fix this situation, maybe they could try to schedule the flights coming in better? I don't know. Round and round we traversed the queue. My queue was for people with visa like mine (who went through the manual application) and for people who are using the online ESTA visa for the first time. We had to get finger printed again and that made me worried, but luckily there's no issue at all. I guess in my case, the machine just needed to check if my fingerprint matches what they have in their database. As for the people with ESTA for the first time, I guess the system may be collecting all their fingerprints. The officer at the counter had a frown in his face which I'd like to think because he's horrified to see the horde of people coming and he's thinking of his exit plan in case all these people turn into zombies. He didn't ask me for the purpose of my visit and didn't say, "Welcome to America", when he handed me back my passport. This made me wonder how on earth this Singaporean guy I know got turned back in the immigration, like seriously he got off the plane and had to figure out how to get back to Singapore immediately because he was denied entry. We were given a form to fill, in which I said my purpose of visit is for leisure / vacation. I guess if you put business there, perhaps there can be complication.
Immigration took so long that our luggages were not even in the wheel anymore. They were already taken down by the staff. Found my bag and joined the long queue for the taxi. Decided to take the taxi instead of the shuttle service because the shuttle service has very bad reviews and I just wanted to get to my hotel as soon as possible and preferably when there's still daylight. Got into the taxi and I thought the taxi was not very spacious and I wonder how bigger size Americans deal with this. I was feeling queasy at the taxi and was so happy to get to the hotel. The room wasn't as good as I wanted it to be and as usual this kinda thing easily brought my mood down. I had to take care of business however, which is the first thing I always do upon settling in a new place, find water. I already googled the nearest supermarket and proceeded to walk there. It wasn't that near, the blocks are big in New York. In retrospect, I could have just gotten water in the deli across from the hotel. Anyway I got my water and wasn't feeling so hungry, so I just showered, flipped through the tv, and easily fell asleep.
Next day was day 1 in New York. The plan was to go to check out the High Line in the morning and went to the American Museum of Natural History (AMNNH) which was so very near to my hotel. The OCD me had googled everything I could think of and I know which train to take and which station to take it from, so I set out to the subway. Needed to pass this little park to get to the subway, saw a gorgeous kwanzan cherry tree which was blooming beautifully. The little park has a little area where you can let dogs run lose. I thought it was quite a neat idea. Anyway, got to the station and managed to use the machine and get the metro card all by myself, I was so proud of myself :P Then off to the platform for the downtown direction. I decided to check out the meeting place for the day tours I booked first because it's along the way. Found it easy enough without much problem (surprisingly), then I went to have breakfast. Meal portion is America is so big that when they came, I always think it's not humanly possible to finish those, which of course is wrong of me because American human can finish those meals. I would have loved pancakes but seeing the portion, I decided on bagel and hot chocolate, which I had difficulty finishing. I think my body was still all weirded out because of the long journey.
After that it's back to the subway. Got to the correct stop but then I got confused about where to go. I decided to stop at the bus stop and looked at the map in my phone and decided on the direction I should go which was generally the correct direction, but since I kept on not finding the place, I turned back and this happened several times, me turning back and forth different blocks. It was very silly. At one point, I thought if I should just give up, but God damn it, I just could not give up. I was thinking all of this would be so much easier and less painful on me if I could just give up, but I just can't, I don't know why, I cannot explain it. I don't know how long this went on, maybe 30-40 mins of walking in different directions. If you think about it, that's a lot of walking. In the end, I was at this junction waiting for the light to cross when an older couple, I think Australian, asked me if I know where the high line is. I told them I was looking for exactly the same thing and I don't know where we are. The dad, thank God for him, then asked another group who just arrived at the same junction as us. The man in that group happened to be better in map and direction and brought us all there. It's amusing no, I was lost, someone asked me for direction and I couldn't help them, and we're all ended up being rescued by other travellers. Maybe there's a reason for all this. I don't know, point is we arrived. We arrived at one end of The High Line, which is this elevated park on unused railway tracks.
Anyway, I eventually made it to AMNH and I entered through the planetarium instead of the front entrance. There wasn't much of a queue here, I don't know if it's more crowded in the main entrance. I decided to get the ticket which included all the special exhibitions at $35. I don't know if I saw everything there is to see in AMNH. I think I did but maybe I didn't because I couldn't relate what I saw with what's in Night at the Museum. The museum itself is very interesting and has a wide array of things you can learn from. There's the animal dioramas, exhibitions on gems and minerals, culture and civilization artifacts, dinosaurs, many different things.
When it was done, I was still sleepy, but I still had another exhibition to go through, the Dark Universe movie at the planetarium. The walking around helped to ease the sleepiness a bit, but I was still so tired. The Dark Universe movie was pretty awesome because it's shown in a a theatre where the screen is in a dome shape above you. The room got very dark, pitch black, and you look up to see the presentation. It was very cool and beautiful. There's also a sensation of motion even though you didn't move. It made me feel somewhat uneasy. I was surprised that there was a baby and it didn't cry even though it was so dark and the movie could be pretty intense at times. I couldn't remember anything about the presentation because it's way beyond my knowledge, but one thing did stick. Towards the end, the narrator said that some scientist theorized that the universe is infinitely large. For me something like that would be beyond our comprehension and that makes me think of God. Sometime science and God doesn't mix, like if I try to rationalize God, my head literally will start to ache. So I think God is just something to be taken with faith. The universe is infinitely large, are we supposed to understand it, where it begins, where it ends. Perhaps it's just something to be accepted that there are some things we will never be able to understand, just like God. I don't know if I am making any sense.
Anyways, after that, I headed back to the hotel. Was thinking of getting Shake Shack for dinner, but it had lines exceeding its front door, so I opted to walk some blocks instead to get pizza. I only got a slice but man that slice was so big. I think it took me more than 15 mins to finish it and by the end I was really struggling to finish it that I contemplated if I should just stop. Again, I didn't quit and I finished it :) It was a good pizza actually, but again I think my body was still in a weird state and it affected my appetite. I was so tired that I was dozzing off as soon as I hit the bed that I had to set an alarm to wake me up to watch Mad Men. Mad Men in itself could be sleep inducing sometime that I decided not to watch the whole thing. I had to wake up early anyway because the next day was a day trip to Philadelphia. That story will be for the next post. As for pictures, I'm still trying to sort them out, so I'll post the links later on. So that's it, day 0 and 1, New York City :)
:) eKa @ 10:09:00 PM • 0 comments
Friday, May 01, 2015
It seems increasingly likely that I really will undertake the expedition that has been preoccupying my imagination now for some days. An expedition, I should say, which I will undertake alone, ...Hello guys, those are the first few lines from the book, The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro, which I am really enjoying so far. Before we get into it, let's backtrack a bit. I finished reading, Le Petit Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. As expected there were times when I didn't understand the french. What's sad was that those times happened more than I expected. One is the issue of there's just words I don't know, for example I didn't know the french word for thorn. Then the book also uses passe simple which is a tense like passato remoto in italian, which we (by that I mean me) didn't put much effort drilling into my head. I think I was even absent during the class when passe simple was introduced. This is a tense to describe things that happened so long ago in the past, hence the remote part of in passato remoto. The french called it passe simple, but I find there's nothing simple about it. You're already struggling to remember all the conjugations to explain things that happened yesterday and the people that be thought you need to learn more to describe things that happened years ago, sigh. So anyway, I ended up going online after reading a chapter to read the chapter again in english. This was helpful when the chapter was rather hard for me and was also helpful for me to get the meaning of certain words. The story was very meaningful and also very sad. For a children book, it's kinda very dark, but now I wonder if it's because I'm an adult I find it dark, maybe a child will see the ending as a positive one? I don't know. Looking forward to watch the french animated movie which seems to have another story weaved into it.So now I am reading The Remains of the Day which as far as I can tell right now, it's about a butler. Life with butlers and such makes me think of Downton Abbey, funnily enough I couldn't picture someone like Mr. Carson being the butler in The Remains of the Day. He just sounds different. Those lines in the beginning of this post is the thought of this butler. As I read those, I was again thinking how sometime me choosing and reading a book is like fate. Those first lines felt like it's speaking to me, like an encouragement, a sign that we'll be alright. You see, the trip this year / my birthday present for myself / my escape from real world / my what sadly now feels like more like a task to complete rather than something I am truly excited about is a trip to New York and San Francisco. Yes, high five all around. That last sentiment about this feels like a task and not something I am truly excited about sounds rather ungrateful. Well I think it stems from the fact that I am doing this alone and that bring sadness and fear and then there's the whole planning and logistic thing which never gets easier. I was packing my luggage last weekend and it took me like one hour plus and I was so tired and I wondered if it has always taken that long. I have a list, but still putting all them together took time and was tiring.
I have a lot of fear about this trip. When I went home this Chinese New Year, my dad said I shouldn't go anywhere far this year because this year is not very good for the dog sign. So me not doing what he says is a bit of a concern for me, if karma is gonna get me. I also have some fear about going to the United States of America:
- I'm afraid I'm gonna get mugged and something terribly bad is going to happen to me.
- I'm afraid I'm going to get shot in a random shooting by some deranged person with a gun :(
- I'm afraid I'm going to get killed for being in a place where there's a terrorist attack.
I'm not sure why I am pretty anxious right now about being over budget. Did I have an unrealistic expectation about the things that I wanted to do? I would only know the extent of the damage after the trip is over, but hopefully it'll be alright. DBS blocked my credit card one Friday evening as I was booking stuff. The booking frenzy was triggered with me finding out that the musical The King and I is staging at the Vivian Beaumont Theater in Lincoln Center and Ken Watanabe will be playing the king. I had been googling Broadway musicals for some days before and couldn't really find anything that struck my fancy, but when I found out about The King and I, I just had to. If only I had found out sooner maybe I would have gotten better seats, but I think I was lucky enough to be getting seat at all because it was selling out. So when I bought that ticket, I thought there's no point waiting anymore, let's just book everything we need and after my day tour purchases, I got the text that the card was blocked. I am grateful that DBS is protective of me, but it's such a hassle especially because the same credit card had been used many times before at the same site. The good thing though the number to call that they provide is manned by a real human 24 hours a day and they're very nice and prompt in addressing my concerns. I ended up telling the staff my travel plan in addition to activating my card for overseas use just to make sure I don't get blocked when I'm out of the country.
Everything seems to be coming together. They did fall into their places quite at the last minute, at times when I thought it's not gonna happen, but they're happening so I'm starting to feel positive and think that God is really helping me out. I hope I'll be alright there and come back in one piece. There's things that make me nervous when I think about it, but I need to stop stressing myself out so I have to stop thinking about it. By the way let's talk about visa application which ended up to be one of the easiest process ever. To apply for a US visa for the unfortunate people who have to do this like me, you have to fill an online form and upload your photo and have that photo in hard copy in a particular measurement. The online form apparently would have more questions if you are male. I was quite worried about having to answer when I entered and finished schools, like come on, I graduated university 12 years ago, damn I am so old!. I couldn't remember my exact date of graduation and entering NUS, how on earth I would remember when I entered and finished high school and junior high school. Thankfully since I'm a girl, I didn't get this question. Anyway, then you have to pay the fee at a Standard Chartered Bank which when I did it was at S$ 234. Then you schedule an interview and when I was applying the next available appointment was like more than 1 week away. Being the OCD me, I prayed and checked the website over and over and managed to get an earlier slot when I saw that it suddenly opened up. Then you go to the embassy at the appointed hour and take a number. You'll be called to a counter where they took the photo you brought and the appointment confirmation letter. I was asked about my residency status in Singapore but they didn't ask to see any proof. Then you wait to be fingerprinted. As expected it wasn't all smooth for me even though it wasn't as bad as the traumatic experience in the French embassy and wasn't as bad as that time in the Indonesian embassy. Seriously I would be so happy if someone invent a contactless fingerprinting device. Anyways then we wait for the call to another counter where the staff would ask you questions.
I happened to be sitting waiting in front of the 2 counters so I got to hear some of the questions being asked, particularly by the staff on the left counter because she was louder. The 2 counters were manned by Chinese American and the left one conducted one of the questioning all in Chinese so I think both of them can speak Chinese. Questions varied from people to people and it seemed all the people before me had reasons other than vacation. A few people were asked to show their CV which caught these people by surprise including me. I've applied visa to different places and having a CV was never the requirement. By the way, the weird and strange thing about applying a US visa is that they don't have a list of documents you must have. They have a list of recommended documents to bring to prove our strong tie to our country or the country we live in, but these are not mandatory. Hence I didn't even bother to come up with the 1 piece of paper which I loathe the most when I have to apply for visa. The main important thing for them it seems is that we fill the online form truthfully, but honestly are there anyone going to answer yes to questions like whether or not they're coming to the USA to engage in prostitution, money laundering, etc. I think that perhaps from the online submission they would have a face recognition software to see if the photo we uploaded raise some alarm or if our name is suspicious (or at least I do hope they have this check), but I feel the whole approach is like, well we'll take your word for it. The check did not seem very strong. Another example, they asked my residency status in Singapore and how long I have been here, but they didn't ask to show any identification, which makes me wonder if the Singapore government shares information of their residents to the embassy, like by running our passport number they would already have information on who we are. If that's the case that kinda sucks because I think our consent should be asked.
Anyway, so there I was eavesdropping on the lady on the left who would approve visa by saying, "I'm happy to approve your visa", which must have sounded so sweet to all the successful applicants. The people she interviewed had many different stories and she could be very specific on her questioning. To a newly married guy whose wife is currently stationed in America for work, she asked, so what's the plan, are you going to continue being separated? To the lady who apparently spent some months before living with her uncle in the US as a tourist, she asked, what did you do, just stayed at home everyday and watched tv? The most difficult one was to this Chinese researcher who didn't speak english fluently, she asked him to explain what his research what and asked some details, that was quite painful to hear. Overall I think she only denied one person, the lady that she interviewed in Chinese. As for me, I got the lady on the right. She asked me a few questions like how long I have been here, if I would be travelling alone, where I had been before. I was preparing to show my old passport at that question because my new one is practically blank, but she didn't ask for it, so again it's like, I'll take your word for it. She did ask if I was alone on those trips, in which I said yes, but then I realized it sounded so sad and so I added, on some of it, some of it was with friend, which was true. After that and the only thing she asked from me was to show my bank account statement and that was it, visa approved. So then I learn, it seems how much money you have still matters more than your extensive travel history. It seems all is very straightforward and easy if you have no family staying in the US and your purpose of travel is vacation. Before applying I have read so many blog posts of other people's experience, it seems that there are a few who were not asked to show a single document. So that and also based on my experience, applying a US visa is the easiest process I've experienced. As mentioned above, I'm just glad that I didn't have to show that one letter that I hate the most. The fee may seem rather high, but the visa is a multiple entry one for 5 years. If you compare this with schengen visa which ask you to get a travel insurance too, their visa could end up costing the most. There is a lot of anxiety about applying for US visa, I guess it's because of the interview part which makes people nervous, but I would gladly do this than getting all the different documents, but yes it is also very odd that they don't see the need to inspect all the documents to verify you are what you say you are. Okay, one last thing I find amusing is in that visa room, there's a picture of President Obama, Vice President Biden, and Secretary of State John Kerry. As an Indonesian, it's odd there's another picture up there, but I guess he's there because he's kinda the boss of the foreign offices.
Alright so that's the story. Leaving Saturday morning, whih means I have to leave for Changi before sunrise, arrrghh!. Will be back late night on the 14th, so it could also be on the 15th if there's a delay. Since everything is falling into their places, I'm not so nervous about it if I don't think about it and I think I kinda manage to not think about it so much. I hope everything will be alright. I thank God for making everything work up so well to this point, hope He'll be with me too (as He always did on previous travels and everyday in my life) and everything will be alright :) I'm still off Facebook, the count is 1 month plus now since I logged in after my birthday to see the messages put on my wall. I reckon I will tweet a lot instead which doesn't help the fact that I would still be like showing off all the nice things I see, but I have so few followers and I don't think they go to twitter much. We'll see how it goes.
:) eKa @ 9:00:00 PM • 0 comments
Saturday, April 04, 2015
In Singapore These Past Few Weeks
Hello guys, how has your Easter holiday been? On Good Friday I went to Gardens by the bay with La Gioia. We went to see Tulipmania. I didn't go last year and so I thought to give it a go this year. My mind wasn't blown. I think I took better pictures when I went for the first one. It was perhaps better the first time though the art and craft souvenir was better this year and they also gave free paper crown and tiara, it was very cute when people wore them. We didn't though :P Tulipmania this year is of a longer period, so perhaps they will replace the tulips. When we were there, many of the tulips were like at the late stage of their bloom, they were like opening big. La Gioia remarked that the dome was very cold and that made me think if they made it even cooler because of the tulips. Anyway, here are some pictures, you can see more here.
So last week, there's what I think is the biggest queue in Singapore and Singaporeans can really queue, like today I saw a long queue in a yoghurt place, I even wondered if they were for free, but they weren't. Anyway it's really heartening to see the many Singaporeans spent like 6-10 hours to be in a queue last week to give their last respect to Lee Kuan Yew. I don't know any Singaporean who is particularly nationalistic, but to see all of them and also the people lining the streets during his funeral procession, it's really good to see them on their own willingness came together and showed that they actually cared for someone who was really influential for their country.
On other news, believe it or not, I still have cough. So it's like 1 month now. I'm thinking if I should go to the doctor again tomorrow, a different one. The doctor whom I saw last time, twice, I think is perplexed on why it's not totally gone. So perhaps, I should try a different doctor. I am also thinking if I should just muster up the courage to see a specialist :( Moving on, I finished my first book this year, Moby Dick by Herman Melville. It takes a long time and it's not a particularly easy thing to read, in fact there were many moments when the words I read just rolled off me, they didn't register at all and I didn't even bother to try. All those difficult passages just made me think about the this line I read in the first page of the book describing Herman Melville, "However, his masterpiece Moby-Dick was met with incomprehension, ...". That kinda gave me permission to not understand everything. In a nutshell the story is about Captain Ahab who's chasing this albino whale, Moby Dick, who caused him to lose his leg. At the end, I still wasn't sure if Moby Dick died that I had to go to Wikipedia to read about the book and it wasn't clear too if Moby Dick died as well. The wikipedia entry really helped me to understand the book better, because everything was simplified. It clarified my picture of one of the crew member, Starbuck (who I think inspired the name for the Starbucks cafe), whom I thought of as being kinda old, but turned out he was only 30. The difficult thing about this book was because I don't understand the measurement in feet and inches so I cannot picture how big things are, then I also don't know the terms they use in a ship though there was a glossary at the end of the book which I didn't look and this added to me being unable to really picture things. There were also many chapters describing in details about the different whales and the different processes happening in a whale hunting ship. All information which are perhaps rather invalid in this day and age. That being said, the details were really amazing and though I don't understand it much, I think Herman Melville wrote an amazing book. It's like being able to be in awe of something because you don't understand the intricacy. You don't understand it, but you know it's complex and hence you admire it. I don't know if it makes sense :) So for my next book, it's a lighter one though perhaps it can be really difficult for me. I'm reading Le Petit Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry in french. C'est une grand possibilité que je ne comprends rien mais au moins il y a des dessins. Finger crossed that I can understand this book which is in the reading level of your average kid.
Alright what else to say. I'm putting something in motion. There's ups and downs. The usual me is always discouraged and scared, but there are moments when I feel that things are falling into their rightful places and it'll be alright. I had been scared I know and things still went alright then. I'm just thinking if I had been this scared which I'm sure I had. You know, when you don't have people to comfort you, you just have to dig back to your own life and remember those moments when you were scared and yet you still got through it. I need to remember that God was there and He's always there, but I do have a really weak faith. I get stressed up a lot because I can't let go. I know that I have to be brave. Things could end up really bad, but not doing something because you're scared is just an attitude that I can't allow to happen in me.
:) eKa @ 9:47:00 PM • 0 comments
Saturday, March 14, 2015
The Tale of Lady Rose and Robb Stark
For those who watch Downton Abbey and Game of Thrones, they will know that the title of this post will lead to the movie Cinderella, which I watched today. The actress who played Lady Rose in Downton Abbey played Cinderella and I always find her to be really beautiful, so I think she's just perfect to play Cinderella. The Robb Stark of Game of Thrones played Prince Charming. When I was watching the trailer, I thought he didn't look as good being clean shaven, but then it kinda grew me in this movie, his beautiful stunning eyes helped and he does have a gorgeous smile. It was surprising for me to see Downton Abbey's Daisy in the movie too. The actress played one of the step sisters who obviously doesn't have a very good character, but it's good seeing her all fancy and dolled up albeit distastefully as compared to her plain look as a cook's assistant in Downton Abbey. There's also another actor who was in Game of Thrones playing the captain by the side of Prince Charming, so for me it's kinda really a union of Downton Abbey and Game of Thrones :P The movie itself follows exactly what the fairy tale is about, so there's no twist, no new reinterpretation, and it's alright for me. I kinda enjoyed it a lot :)So I turn 33 today, didn't feel any change whatsoever, except perhaps for my cough. Finally saw a doctor on Thursday and finally I can feel that her meds help. My mom was like, I told you so, when I told her I finally went to see the doctor because she's been telling me that since last week. My last few days of being 32 were not so good suffering this cough, but then I thought as long as all these bad things would make a good 33, then I'll take it. I'm still not doing so good and I so desperately want to eat some junk food, some fried chicken, and ice cream, but I couldn't. I did do something bad today by having an avocado milkshake. The good thing about my family is, we celebrate our chinese birthday, even more than our actual birthday when no one really cares. So on my chinese birthday come April, I am envisioning a pint of ice cream. Hope it'll happen.
So anyway, nothing special today. No class because sensei went to Japan. I have some kanji homework though and I really need to get it done and memorized. Darn, there's a lot of them :( Went to the temple to pray and saw that the temple starts to monetize themself, first with the souvenirs counter which I didn't mind at all, I even hope they'll sell more substantial stuff, but when I saw the wishing well, I was just like noooo!!! So it turns out, there used to be a well in the temple in its early days and devotees would drink the water for blessing and good luck. Now there's no more well, so they just made one up, it's not even an actual well, it has water flowing from a pipe. People can ring the bell, make a wish, and throw a coin. Yes, it's degrading, I don't know why and how on earth the board of this temple could agree to this. However as I read the explanation and see people doing it, I was like of course I should do it too and yes I do feel embarrassed with how weak I am in my principle. Fortunately I only found 5 cents in my wallet, so in the end I didn't do it. I hope this "well" wouldn't stay. Anyways, so after that I went to watch Cinderella. Gonna eat my one slice of cake soon and start watching season 3 of House of Cards. Yeah, that's pretty much how I start being 33. God gives me this chance to reach today, may He helps me to do well in whatever plan He has for me.
:) eKa @ 8:40:00 PM • 0 comments
Saturday, March 07, 2015
Hello guys, so I am back here in Singapore after 2 weeks at home. It wasn't all good time at home, in fact some parts of it were just plain lousy and the negativity still lingers up until now. I also got sick back home and came back here not fully healthy. Right now I am plagued with a cough which is pretty annoying. This week has been going very slowly for me :( I guess suffice to say I didn't get back here with a renewed spirit.Anyways, story worth telling from my trip home was the trip to East Java the weekend after Chinese New Year. It was me, mom, and my aunt who went to Toraja with us. This aunt is an Indonesian Chinese from Java, so perhaps she's like Chinese Javanese? There's so many different Indonesian Chinese in Indonesia, depending on where we grow up and live and we can be so different from each other, so diverse, just like Indonesia is. Our trip was to be joined by my aunt's older brother and his wife. When I heard them talking in Javanese, which I don't understand, it just hit me how different we are. Also make me think how weird it was for my aunt the early period when she's joining my family where the family is Indonesian Chinese from Bangka, that being said I feel more like a Jakartan than a Bangkanese because this is where I was born and grow up. I could understand the Bangka language a bit, not enough to reply in it.
My mom and aunt being the fans of the early flight decided on the early flight to Surabaya. It's Garuda again, but they only gave us bread. The plane was flying pretty low that at some point we saw a beautiful range of mountains and it's awesome to see the mountain tops. Stupid me said maybe it's Bromo. It's not. My geography sucks. I'm not sure what mountains they are. I didn't get the window seat so I didn't manage to take any picture. Arriving at Surabaya's Juanda Airport, I thought it was pretty nice. I forget which terminal it was. The terminal we used later on to depart wasn't that good. My aunt's family was already waiting and with the rental car, we went straight to Batu. I've been told that the air is cooler. That was false. It's like everywhere else in Indonesia which used to have cooler weather I guess, they're not that cold anymore. Global warming is real!
First meal was soto madura with some beef parts that I didn't understand so I didn't eat those and my aunt happily ate them. It wasn't all bad but I thought it lacked acidity a bit. Onward we went and the first place we ended up in was Jawa Timur Park 2, Jatim Park 2 for short. This is the newer one. Jatim Park 1, it seems is more like an amusement park and perhaps water park and the driver said this new one was nicer. Turned out, there's an animal museum and zoo. We ended up choosing the first package to visit those 2 places. Adding a bit more will also gain us admission to the bird park or the body museum. I was just not interested in all those. I live in Singapore which has what some say the best zoo in the world which I have visited many times and I've also been to the bird park in Singapore a few times, so I'm just not that interested to visit zoo anymore, not just in Indonesia but the world in general. However since everyone agreed we should visit these places, I just went along. It turned to be a surprisingly nice experience.
I decided we should go to the animal museum (Museum Satwa) first. Entering its spacious front area with nothing much, I was thinking this would just be so small and not interesting at all. I was wrong. There were dinosaurs skeletons in the next hall and when we turned to the insect gallery and realized we got out not the same way we entered, we began to feel that this place just grew and grew.
Next stop was the zoo. My aunt's brother tore off the paper bracelet we had to wear not realizing that we got admission to 2 places and the bracelet is needed to enter both. So that meant we shouldn't take too long a time exploring the zoo because he had to wait outside. First things we saw were different kind of monkeys, one of them was chewing on plastic and that annoyed me greatly :( As with the museum, we thought there weren't many things in this zoo. As we walked, I thought we have seen pretty much all of it and I even made a remark too bad they didn't have lion and stuff. Mom was like let's find the exit. Then as we walked and walked towards the exit sign we saw more things and the exit which we thought was just around the corner wasn't really just around the corner. We saw more animals and more interesting things like this clowns fountain which leads to an adequate water park for the kids to play happily.
The plan for the next day is to do agrowisata (agricultural tourism) and visit Museum Angkut. I was most interested about going to do agrowisata because we will be visiting orchards and picking up fruits and I was like thinking it's nature, trees, fun! Not so much. For one because it's hot and two because there weren't many fruits which look appetizing. Paying the admission ticket, we get to pick 2 guavas, 2 oranges, and 2 apples. We also got some snack, a yoghurt drink which I didn't like and some toast and juice which were just okay. First stop was to the guava orchard. They all looked very green and small and not ripe. We just tried to pick the lightest green we can find. We actually picked more than we should, but no one was watching and mom ate maybe 1 of 2 of them in the process. The guavas were green but the inside were really pink and it's edible. The orchard was quite big, but I didn't explore every single corner of it because it's kinda hard walking on uneven land and one time there was a big bug flying near me.
After that we're all tired, somehow though it's decided we're going to go Coban Rondo waterfall. I'm quite excited about this because I actually have read about this. Reaching the places, we had to pass a small forested areas with tall trees where the air was actually cool. It's not a very long drive. It's also not a long walk from where the car park is to the waterfall, unlike the walk to the waterfall in Puncak some years back. It was an awesome waterfall. The thing about Indonesian waterfall which I have visited 3 so far is that you can go as near as you want to. You can stand under it if you like and dare. However it's quite cold that day that no one was in the waterfall pool. There's a story about the waterfall, a tragic love story which I am sure is the story in many waterfalls everywhere. Somehow after reading the story, I felt that the waterfall has this very beautiful sound about it. I like it a lot and it was just awesome to be standing there, although I was feeling cold.
The next day, it was off to go back to Surabaya as we're leaving for Jakarta in the evening. First stop in Surabaya was to pick up my aunt's grandnephew from playgroup. Since grandma and grandpa were free that day and my aunt was around, it's decided that this grandnephew was going to spend the day with us instead of going to daycare. When I first met him, he was shy and I thought he was a girl. When I was told his name, I heard it as Clé (french word for key which would make an interesting and rather meaningful name) and I thought it's short for Chlea. I was on the fence somewhat if he's a boy or a girl even after he pointed out he was wearing a t-shirt with robot in it. After some time I was leaning to he was a boy when he was excited about the Transformers coloring book that my aunt brought for him. It was finally confirmed that he's a boy when he became more chatty and told me his name was Clayton. By this time he wasn't shy anymore and we're all friends and I could confess that initially I thought he's a girl. I actually heard his name wrongly, it turned out his name is Clay Ethan, found this out after I saw the name in his playgroup's report book. I got to thinking that Clay itself is a very meaningful name. He comes from a strong Christian family and I think his name can be seen as hope that he could be moulded into a vessel for God's blessing.
We spent the morning visiting my aunt's relatives and the boy took an interest at me, which I thought to be rather strange because I didn't do anything special, but somehow he wanted to hang out with me. He's a very bright bright boy. I'm not sure what kind of things a 3-year old could do, but he's very bright. He could remember where his dad hid keys (3 different places), he could wear his own clothes including socks! He's witty, eats well, could just be creative and imaginative and plays with clothes pegs, speaks clearly, and basically just be very articulate in conveying his thoughts and his observations. He attempted to write his own name, an attempt which my mother tried to stop in fear his head was gonna explode, but he did it correctly except for adding an extra y at the end. I think it's because his first y wasn't looking so great. Anyways, the second place we visited was this train station which I couldn't remember the name and it was quite old. We didn't know it's a train station until we came out a door and saw there's a train, that made me and Clay to be quite amused, but he thought the noise was too loud. Why were we here? Because my aunt's other older brother works for the train station so we visited him at work. Here Clay asked me for the first time which church I went to. Without thinking, I honestly answered I didn't go to church. That got him pretty stunned and speechless, at which I could only laugh. My aunt told him to ask me to go to church. I thought of my answer and when this story was told to my dad, he said just say you go to the Cathedral. Lying would make it easy, but I feel I should tell the truth because if it's my kid, I would want him to be told the truth. Of course this may lead to some complication if he decides to ask his parents about this. I wonder if they're gonna say I'm going to hell. I don't think it will lead to him bailing from going to church though because he's such an obedient boy too. He asked me again about this when we're at his grandparent's house and I said I don't go to church, I sembahyang, an Indonesian word to pray. Well there are 2 Indonesian word to say to pray: berdoa and sembahyang. The root of the word sembahyang is sembah which simplistically can be translated to worship. This word is used to indicate the praying activity of religions other than Christianity and Catholic in Indonesia because I guess there's a physical or a ritual thing we do when we pray for example in the chinese tradition. Anyway, I then wondered if he thought I'm a muslim because I used the word "sembahyang" so I said like the Chinese do and asked him if he had ever seen the Chinese prayer. He said no. Well as I said, he comes from a strong Christian family.
Before we went to his grandparent's house, we went to Taman Bungkul because for some reason my mom really wanted to see it. It's this public park in Surabaya. It's not very big, but Surabaya is just awesome for having this and also for having a lot of trees and a clean river compared to Jakarta. Jakarta is so far behind. There are some playing area for the kids and Clay wanted to play on them but when his grandma said no, he listened. There's also this small fountain which I thought was ordinary but Clay thought it's cool, because it shoots water up and the water goes down and it'll shoot up again. Here he started to want to hold my hand. Something which strangely made me feel rather weirded out. I know I want to have kids (though I gotta admit the whole pregnancy and giving birth thing freaks me out) and when Clay wanted to be near me, it's a good nice feeling, but somehow I feel like I would be tied to this kid and be responsible for him, and I don't know if I want all that. It's still very sweet though that he wanted to hold my hand and be near me. Then he also wanted to sit at the back with me in the car which had space for me only since we had a lot of bags at the back. At one point, he had to sit in my lap to be more comfortable. That wasn't the most comfortable thing I've ever done and that made me think of all the parents who have had to have their kids sitting on their laps. It made me think of all the responsibility of being a parent and as much as I want kids, I begin to think there are so many things that I am not prepared about. Really the whole having a human being tied to you, you have to care for, you just can't be individualistic anymore. They'll say you'll just know what to do when the kids actually come, but perhaps God is really right seeing how mentally I am just a soloist right now. Anyways, for that day, it's just so great to have someone to just like me and want to be near me, basically I felt loved as silly as that sounds. Seriously people who get me and like me are either really old people or young kids. I don't fare well in my own age group :(
Okay that's the story from the trip, now on some thoughts I have being in Indonesia.
- It's interesting hearing my aunt speaking Javanese and hearing Javanese a lot all over. One morning, one of the grounds keeper of the villa, an old man was speaking to me in Javanese about direction. I didn't understand anything at all and just said okay and followed him :P The strange me somehow feel that the word "sampeyan" which means you and "ngawur" which means wrong to be quite rude to use. It's not at all actually. When I think about it, I think it's because in Indonesian in a formal setting or to show respect you wouldn't use the word "you" to address someone you're talking to. You'll address the person with the equivalent of Mr, Ms, or Ma'am in Indonesian. For example, I never use the Indonesian word for you to address my mom and dad. In Javanese it seems to be alright to use the word "sampeyan". A quick google just now told me that the word "sampeyan" is just the universal word to replace all the Mr, Ms, and Ma'am. What's also kinda funny was realizing that Clay has a slight Javanese accent in the way he speaks. Really, where you grow will influence you a lot.
- The execution of members of the Bali 9. Well this just gets out of hand. I'm not all for capital punishment, because to make a decision on someone's life is a very big cross to bear. However if that's the way the law is, people should just shut up and respect it. I think the Australian is making too much noise about this and I am annoyed. If their ground for protest is humanity, why weren't they loud when the Bali terrorists were sentenced to death. I'm not defending terrorism, but seriously all these people and organizations protesting the death penalty, what say you when the Bali terrorists were executed? Following what our president said, these drug criminals cause a lot of victims, in the millions, which is definitely more than what the terrorists did. Also if this had been America doing this, would the Australian have been as vocal? One of the Indonesian TV station pointed out that Singapore had also executed an Australian before and there was no boycott Singapore at that time, unlike #boycottBali which they've been doing this month. Seriously the more the Australians say silly things, the more annoyed we get. This week they took offence with the photo of the police chief smiling as the convicts were being transported. Seriously, I don't think he's happy at their plight, I think it's more like he's saying his good bye, smiling and wishing them well. Indonesians have this tendency to want to leave things on a good terms. Also when you're about to die, would you rather be in a stressful situation or be in a situation where people around you smile to make you feel better and feel like everything is going to be alright? Knowing Indonesians, I'm sure people around them will be trying to comfort them and be all smiles trying to lessen the stressful situation. Indonesian news also reported that as they were transported, they were calm and nicely said good bye and than you to fellow inmates. Much has been said about they being reformed and finding God. I'd like to think that in this situation they would have accepted their faith and believe that God will be with them and everything will be alright. When this topic came up when my uncle came to the house, he had a more practical solution. Australia should just offer money to get his people back and we could get rid off these people and get money to do good things, like we can have more rehabilitation centres and such.
- The big news in Jakarta these days is the fight between our Chinese governor and the house of representative. To which I can only sigh. My mom asked what happened. Well it's like this. The governor has the right to make the budget for the city. The house of representative can give input and monitor this budget. Then this budget should be submitted to the ministry. The fight happens because the budget submitted by the governor is different from the budget that the house of representative has. The fact that the house of representative has their own version of the budget is already wrong and then their budget asks for much much more money with questionable items in it. Our governor is crying foul and saying this is their corruption methods. Seriously some of the things mentioned in the house of representative budget, I feel like throwing stuff, for example billions of rupiah for questionable electricity equipment for a school. Hello, with that billions of rupiah, they can build a whole new building and you're only giving them an equipment which many have said is of no use or incompatible to be used for the school?!?! There are really many bad people in Indonesian government, it's so so disheartening. Are there really not enough good people in this country? Can politic really corrupt the morality of these people? What's more tragic is that because of this budget drama, many Jakartans civil servants haven't gotten paid. In America this would mean government shut down, but in Jakarta there's no such thing. So I really salute all these people who still work and they don't even demonstrate in protests. One time the tv was showing this poor lady who's making very little money as a road sweeper and she hasn't been paid for 2 months and yet she's still working. All those people in the house of representative who are screaming saying the governor has no etiquette, trying to save their asses and get the money they think they're entitled with, are so heartless. They should be representing these poor people and make their lives better and yet they only care about winning in politic. One of these people being interviewed in tv said that if in the end they could get rid off the governor, then it will be a bonus. It's very obvious in they way he spoke, he doesn't care about the truth, the right thing. For them it's all a game in which they fight hard to be the winner. They are really demoralizing me, crushing hope that our country can be better :(
- On a lighter note. I slept more back at home. I really love my bed. I usually went to bed by 9 something and I think I got like more than 9 hours of sleep except for nights when I couldn't sleep like during the trip. Yes, this sleeping issue still haunted me even back at home. However when I did get that really long sleep, I felt really good. It's like paying back for the lack of sleep here. Too bad being back here, I'm back to not being able to sleep well.
Okay that's about it peeps. This has been a really long post, even so there are so many things that I think I miss out. Next week I'm gonna turn 33, love the number but dreading dreading dreading as usual.
:) eKa @ 4:19:00 PM • 0 comments
Saturday, February 14, 2015
It's actually wrong french there at the title, the correct one should be un beau garçon. Here's the story. Sometime on my bus ride to class every Saturday, I see this beautiful guy. Beautiful, not handsome. He's slender, has a full lip, great skin, and used to have long hair which he stylishly made into a bun. He's also very graceful, most probably more graceful than me as a girl. He has a feminine stride and he could definitely be a high-end model. One time I saw he wore this very cute shoes with watermelon print, it made me wanna ask, "Dude where did you get those?". I was always so fascinated by him. There can be people who would be harsh on him because the way he is, but I thought he's so beautiful and he's so perfect the way he is and I feel sad thinking that there are people who would hate and change this boy. Today I saw him again, but he has cut his hair short and he's wearing Doc Martens boots. Today it felt like more handsome than beautiful, like a garçon. Somehow the feminine streak kinda diminished a tone or two. I even wondered if there'll be girls who're having crushes at him seeing him this way.From boy to gentlemen. Yesterday I watched Kingsman: The Secret Service. It's a really really cool movie. It has elements that reminded me of crazy zombie killings and then it goes pretty psychedelic when showing the many blown heads. I don't have the fact but somehow I'm pretty sure that one time people were considering Colin Firth for the role of James Bond. He looked awesomely dashing in this movie, especially in the church scene. With many movies targeted to young adults these days and even though there's still a young man at the center of this movie, it's still good to see the older guys looking much cooler and kicking some ass.
...
So it's been a month now since I last logged in to Facebook. Yes, that whole quitting thing is still happening. I missed birthdays because I don't really remember many birthdays in my head. Then one week la Gioia texted me asking if I had been to Facebook and saw so and so's posting which was pretty scandalous. I didn't of course and when we met for dinner that evening, la Gioia showed the postings to me. Is that considered cheating? :D Anyways, I was disappointed at the so and so and was more disappointed at our "common friends" who think that's all perfectly alright by liking the post. Of course it's wrong of me to be so judgy without knowing the whole situation, but you know I expect more in adults. Anyways, I just found it funny how gossipy I was with la Gioia that day, all thanks to Facebook, bringing you unimportant stories that perhaps should be kept in the down low.
...
Going home tomorrow. As usual, dreading the day I have to come back here, especially since yesterday was harder for me than usual. I seriously felt it was unfair :( Anyways, gonna be taking Garuda. It might be my first time taking this airline, so I'm quite excited about it. Chose not to take the usual budget airlines because of what happened to AirAsia. Could have taken Jetstar, but with Garuda being slightly cheaper than AirAsia, I thought why not. I gotta admit, I get quite anxious when I think about the fallen AirAsia flight. I have fear of a violent death and I don't want to be in a plane crash and going down into the sea and drown. I get really scared when I think of that :( Hopefully tomorrow I'll be alright. Jakarta itself is having flood issue so hopefully tomorrow I will also not get stuck somewhere :( It's been unexpectedly bad in some areas, but it's been okay in my area, aside from Monday when the street was flooded. My mom seemed to think that's fine though because the house was not flooded and she said it receded pretty fast. Hope it's gonna be just fine at home. Chinese New Year makes me nervous sometime. I guess many things make me nervous, darn, I just have a lot of things in my head. Hope your holidays is a good one, peeps!
:) eKa @ 9:45:00 PM • 0 comments
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