A Sweet Escape

Out of the blue the idea of escape from Jakarta for awhile hit my head and I just popped it up to my three friends and to my surprise, they all had positive response. Haaa..I though they will reject it since they have to work and Wednesday is absolutely not an option for a sudden break. I guess we all just have something in common.  Ladies, love you all !!!

We went to Dusun Bambu in Lembang. This place is quite happening now. I though it's going to be not so crowded in the middle of the week but I was wrong. We arrived there at 12 pm and planned to have lunch at their Cafe Burangrang and you know what they said it's already fully booked. Oh my gosh, I can't imagine the crowd on weekend.  

We finally went to its market and bought some other food while enjoying the fresh air, the cloudy atmosphere, ah…it's just too good to be true. Extremely peaceful. I always amaze to see how Bandung and Bali people create lots of different awesome places to stay and to eat. They just never run out of new ideas and creativity. Just like this Dusun Bambu, every corner, every inch is crafted well. Love it all. Perfect recharge before we go back to our daily routine. 

Adultery

Title: Adultery

Author: Paulo Coelho

Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 2014

261 pages

"If married people, for whatever reason, decide to look for another partner, this does not necessarily mean that the couple's relationship is not doing well. Nor do I believe that sex is the primary motive. It has more to do with boredom, with a lack of passion for life, with shortage of challenges. It's a combination of factors."

--Adultery by Paulo Coelho

Being greateful is not always easy. People keep comparing their life with others. Easily envy others while they actually never been in those people's shoes. Let's meet up Linda, the lead character in Paulo Coelho's latest book. Linda is a 31-year-old woman who has a perfect life, a solid and stable marriage, a loving husband, sweet and behaved children and a good job as a journalist.

But one day, a routine interview with a famous writer changes everything. The writer tells her about the meaning of happiness. This discussion turns Linda's world upside down. She starts to question the routine and predictability of her days.

Her life is even getting more complicated when she encounters Jacob, her ex-boy friend from her adolescence. Jacob is a succesfull politician now and during the interview something happens. He ends up arousing something in her she hadn't felt for a long time; passion. 

I think this time Coelho delivers his idea in a simple way. Easy to absorb yet it still comes out with new insights. And if you love beautiful quotes especially about husband and wife relationship, you will easily find it at almost every chapter.

One of a very touching statements from Linda's husband on page 213 of Adultery:

I controlled the jealousy I feel because of you, and I am happy with that. You know why? Because I always have to show I am worthy of your love. I have to fight for our marriage, for our union, in ways that have nothing to do with our children. I love you. I would endure anything, absolutely anything, to always have you by my side. But I can't stop you from leaving me one day. So if that day comes, you are free to leave and seek your happiness. My love for you is stronger than anything, and I would never stop you from being happy. 

Yay…Ikea is Here

Just arrived home and met a courier who delivered me a catalog. Not just an ordinary catalog but this one is Ikea 2015 Catalog. It's hard not to fall in love with this Scandinavian furniture and stuff. Their products are just awesome. Only looking at the catalog already inspiring me a lot. 

If in the old days, we had to fly to Singapore to visit their store (even some of my friends went to Singapore only to check Ikea's latest product). But no worry, Ikea finally arrive in Indonesia. As of October 15, they were officially open at Alam Sutera, Tangerang. Can't hardly wait to browse around the place.

Dee Lestari: Gelombang

Actually I am in the middle of finishing Robert Galbraith aka J.K. Rowling's latest book The SilkWorm until today I got the book I have been waiting for Gelombang by Dee Lestari. I remembered I finished Dee's previous book Partikel within one day. No wonder if my excitement and expectation towards Gelombang is so high. Moreover I am truly addicted to her writing. Hope this one  won't disappoint me as well. I guess I have to put aside Cormoran Strike's murder case for awhile  and drown myself into Supernova's series.   

Amy Tan's Book: E-book Version

As a conventional person, I still think that the best way to read a book is by having a real book phisically. I adore the smell of a new book paper. Therefore I never have any interest to read an e-book. But lately it's getting hard to find time for reading. When I read at one of my friend blogs, Alaya, that she could read faster using the e-book, I think it's time for me to try it on.

To make it even better, Alaya generously sent the e-book version of Amy Tan's latest book. Couldn't thank you enough. It's time to set up a relax athmosphere before I try reading the e-book. Happy Sunday all...!!!

The Book of Life (2014)

It's been quite sometime I didn't take my girls, Najla and Zea, to a movie theatre. Not because I am too busy or something but I just couldn't find a suitable movie for them. So far there's no movie that interesting enough for the girls. Until I found out about The Book of Life. First, the title has successfully captured my heart then the story is also really impressive.

The story took place in Mexico. If American celebrate Halloween, Mexican also have their special day called Day of Dead. Let's follow the adventure of three best friends, Maria, Manolo and Joaquin. Beside its awesome story with Mexican culture here and there, the movie is enriched with lots of good songs, some are quite popular as well.

It's not only a movie for children yet it has a lot of life lesson for all of us, children and parents. The story is definitely inspiring. There are a lot to ponder. Just like the closing of the movie says, we all have our Book of Life and it's time for us to write our own story . A must see !!!

Find more about the The Book of Life the movie here.

Sunday Morning at the Pool

We went to Bogor last weekend. No, there is nothing special though. We just wanted to take the girls, Najla and Zea, swimming at  the Jungle. Najla as a swimming freak was on heaven. Her favorite was trying the pool with a high slide. She kept sliding all day long. While Zea, as a not-so-crazy about water sport, enjoyed the indoor pool hot water.  The girls really had a good time since they were able to choose the kind of pool they like according to their personality:) 

Yes, that's Najla up there!!!

We left the pool in the afternoon since it's already hot and crowded. Never ending visitors kept coming to the pool area. We had lunch at a nearby restaurant Rumah Air. They serve  Sundanese food. The place is nice surrounded by several bamboo hut, a lake full of fish under and a playground for the kids. The girls loved eating here because they could share their leftover food to all fish down there. All in all we're happy  for having a full tummy and an awesome weekend. 

      

Trinity: 1 Year Round-the-World Trip

pic from Trinity's blog

Currently travel writer becoming one of people favourite professions. Travel blogs are getting more and more and if you go to Gramedia bookshop, you will find travel books are scattering with lots of different choices either for the destination or the writing style.

But I only enjoy several travel writers, one of them is Trinity with her popular blog: http://naked-traveler.com.  The way she wrote is always entertaining. It's not easy to write a witty yet informative writing at the same time but she did. I always enjoy her writing since some parts of her story will definitely make me laugh. I just bought her two latest books. A perfect companion for this coming weekend. Happy Friday, everyone!!!

School Fun Days

School days are one of the most memorable moments. I remember when I started writing my memoir #BukuSelfie, my friend and I discussed and shared lots of awesome moments that we spent together for the past 34 years. Tell you what our favorite parts turned out to be our days at elementary school. Spending time together at the same school for six years are really something.

It happens to my girl, Najla. She is 9 and at the 4th grade now. Currently her teacher asks her and her classmates to do some group projects. The project varies from different kind of subject. A few days ago Najla just finished her latest group presentation about healthy food. Each group had to deliver their presentation and brought the example of the food. After all groups finished the presentation coming the best part of the project which was enjoying and eating all the food together. Look at their happy faces, the smile is definitely contagious, isn't it???

Najla's teacher sent some pictures on the presentation to parents' Whatsapp group (yes, there are many ways to contact our kid's teacher now). Never thought that they could be really creative in preparing and delivering the presentation. Love to see the pictures and very proud of all of them. Way to go, kids!! 

Thank God It's Friday

One of the best things about becoming a part-timer lecturer is the ability to choose our teaching schedule based on our own preferences. While most lecturer choose Friday as their day-off, not for me, I prefer to have a day-off on Wednesday since I think having a break in the middle of a busy week is quite a luxury. I also choose all morning classes thus I can finish my teaching in the afternoon before Jakarta's traffic kills me moreover I will still be able  to pick up my girls and drop by at a bookshop or a nearby cafe for one hour or two or even do grocery shopping.

Today I have a 5,5-hour-nonstop teaching. Class will be started at 8 and finished at 1.30 pm. Well...I think it's time for me to get a proper breakfast that will survive me until the end of the day. I just dropped by at a nearby Starbucks (since it's the only coffee shop which already open at 7 am) and ordered a smoked beef quiche and a hot green tea. Hope this brekkie will help me with the teaching and stuff. After all it's a lovely sunny Friday and what is better than Friday? Almost nothing, right? Let's enjoy our day, everyone!!!

Wedding, Weekend, etc

Last weekend we had a one-day trip to Bandung for a friend's wedding invitation. We left Jakarta on Sunday morning and arrived in Bandung in time. The traffic was quite friendly. We didn't spend much time at the wedding reception since we're afraid that the traffic would be getting worst in the evening. After congratulating the bride and the groom, we decided to leave the place.

On our way back to Jakarta, we passed this beautiful housing complex, Kota Baru Parahyangan.   I read lots of their housing advertisement in the media. Curious about the place then we just turned left and entered the area. It's such a huge area with complete facilities. After browsing around the complex, we dropped by at Bale Pare. It's a place provided by the developer to hang out with family and friends, listen to the home band while sipping a cup of coffee. The place is very cozy with several restaurants, shady trees and a wide field with green grass everywhere. Najla and Zea enjoyed it a lot. They run here and there. So happy to breathe a fresh air. We left the area around 3 pm and arrived home at 5 pm. Wow...such a lucky day, back and forth to Bandung with a very smooth weekend traffic.