Caught this line in one of big shopping mall in Jakarta:
"Whoever said money can't by happiness, simply didn't know where to go shopping"
(Bo Derek)
Quote of the Day
Sastra Pranikah
"Berikanlah yang terbaik dari diri kita untuk anak, daripada untuk perusahaan orang lain. Jiwa anak yang stabil akan memberi keuntungan untuk kita dan dirinya sendiri nanti. Anak yang labil akan selamanya bergantung kepada kita, tidak peduli berapa pun usianya." (Nyi Vinon, "Sastra Pranikah")
This book is an autobiography of Vinondini Indriati a.k.a Nyi Vinon. The story is about Nyi Vinon's life. I have never heard of her story either, until I read her book and I get to admit that this book is unique. It is different in many ways, the square shape of the book, the difficulties in getting this book in bookshops, yep..you have to order it, and last but not least is the content of the book.
Just like other autobiography, this book also tells about the author's life in detail. Her childhood, her school, her friends, her thoughts, her opinion and many more. But...I just love the way she tells her story, the way she conveys her opinion about something, very honest, naive and hilarious at the same time. Sometimes makes me thinking, other time, makes me laughing.
I am going to put this book as one of my favorite autobiography, simple but touchy, absolutely not 'an ordinary' book.
Departures
Departures (Okuribito) is a Japanese movie. Winner of the Best Foreign Language Movie of Oscar 2009.
A story about a guy, Daigo Kobayashi, who used to be a cellist in an orchestra. One day the orchestra is dissolved. Daigo gets confused and finally decides to move back to his hometown together with his wife. He plans to start a new life and find a job.
Out of the blue, he reads a vacancy in a newspaper. At first he thinks the job will be in a travel agency since the job code is 'Departures'. But it turns out that he is wrong. It's not a common job, it relates to the funeral. Preparing all the corpse arrangement before it's put in the coffin and ready for the funeral.
A very interesting movie. I love it a lot.
Tales From the Road
Another travelling book written by local author, Suluh Pratitasari also known as matatita. This book is a journal of the author journey from Jogjakarta to Nepal. It reminds me of other travelling book written by Trinity "The Naked Traveler".
Both books are interesting with their own way, one of the differences is the way they tell the stories, if Trinity tells more about her journey in many countries, matatita describes more about culture and local people, perhaps because her background is an anthropologist, therefore we find a lot of info on Dayak people, Asmat culture, and even Jogja with its people and culture as the author hometown.
Reading traveling book always make me adding my wishlist with a new destination to visit for next holiday.
Anne of the Island
The 3rd book of Anne of Green Gables series. Telling about Anne's experience as a college student. As a young and pretty lady, Anne is busy not only for studying, but also for rejecting love proposal from some young guys.
The story is still amazing as usual. But since Anne is getting more mature, she is not as naive as she used to be. She's still cheerful, lovable and funny...but I lose her basic character as a child. Well...time flies, people change.
Nevertheless this serial is really enjoyable. The detail description on a peaceful, green and flowery place really calm me down. This book makes me dream, imagine, and suddenly feel that I need a holiday again *as always*....
Intermezzo
Najla (4,5 yrs old) asked me the other night:
Najla: "Ma, kenapa burung bisa terbang?"
Me : "Karena burung punya sayap."
Najla: "Trus kenapa BALON bisa terbang????"
Lovely Things
Ramadhan month is getting closer, in fact it is one week away, as usual I have my Ramadhan wishlist, this time I plan to buy new prayer wear (mukena) for my girls. Yeah...they're getting bigger so fast and it seems that their prayer wears do not fit them anymore.
After browsing here and there, visiting shopping mall and some people blogs, at the end I arrive at this blog, find their lovely products and suddenly get confused which one will be the best praying wear for my girls? Check their products, it's soooo...cute!!!
Happy Birthday, Ayah
Dear Ayah,
Happy 36th birthday
Wish Ayah good health, long and prosperous life
Wish Ayah to lead a happy, peaceful and fruitful life
Wish Ayah all the best things in life
Wish Ayah to stay the same
Nothing to be changed
'cause you're already the greatest Ayah ever
Love, hugs & kisses,
Mama, Najla & Nayzea
How The World Makes Love
This book is the sequel of Franz Wisner's Honeymoon with My Brother. This time these two siblings go on the road again to get love lesson around the globe. They want to learn more about dating, romance and marriage. They go to 7 countries, including Brazil,India, Nicaragua, Czech Republic, Egypt, New Zealand and Botswana.
If you love the 1st book, I am sure you will enjoy this book even more. Still the same touching and funny story. In this sequel, Franz, the author also tells about his own love story on how he finally finds his true love.
Already translated in Bahasa by PT Serambi Ilmu Semesta on June 2009.
Banda Aceh, Meulaboh & Its Surrounding
After leaving my place of birth, Banda Aceh, for ages, I finally had the opportunity to visit it for a week, yay... I was so excited, one of my wishlist came true. Thank God.
It took almost 3 hours in the plane from Jakarta to Banda Aceh, thank God, my 2 girls stayed calm and enjoyed their time very much. We landed in Banda Aceh, the capital city of Nangroe Aceh Darussalam at 11.25 am and my relatives were already ready to pick us up and continue our trip to my hometown, West Aceh, Meulaboh. Never thought that the journey was so hard, due to tsunami back in 2004, the overland road from Banda Aceh to Meulaboh was partly broke down. Still, we enjoyed the trip since we dropped by several time for having lunch, dinner, and caught beautiful panorama along the road. No wonder we finally arrived in Meulaboh at 11 pm and surprisingly, there were a lot of relatives there who still waited patiently just to welcome us, I was deeply touched and felt like a celeb for a moment..:)
There's always a blessing in disguise for everything, even the most traumatic and frightening disaster like tsunami could have positive side. Aceh now is full of make over, new houses, mosques, school, hospitals and roads are being built. Since Aceh received a lot of fund from NGO all over the world, therefore I notice that the buildings are designed beautifully and inspired by many different culture.
If on the way to Meulaboh, we passed the road along the beach, while on our way back to Banda Aceh, we chosed other route, we passed Seulawah mountain, Pidie, Sigli and all the conflict areas once controlled by GAM, fortunately, now it's a safe area, even if we passed it during midnight.
It's really a very great holidays. Can't wait to go back there. I love the beach, the mountain, the famous Aceh food, the 'Ulee Kareng coffee, the people with their hospitality, and all...I am gonna miss you a lot, my dear gampong...
