:: Oooppss!

Have I ever told you that I'm sick of shopping center in Jakarta, cuz I've always gone there almost every weekend?

But I didn't write that I'm literally sick of it, did I?

Cuz last weekend, it did turn out to be literally. What I mean is I really really did throw up in a shopping center. Very embarrassing isn't it?

So the story was began when my parents took me to a Chinese restaurant in a shopping center. After we finished, my mom told me that there was a new bread store selling a very nice mocha and caramel flavour bread. So we decided to stop by and bought some.

And suddenly when I was in the middle of the queue, I felt my body turned out uneasy. I thought I was sick and my head was hurting me so bad. I looked for toilet but I couldn't find one. I need it because I experienced quesy and I couldn't take it any longer. So I run to the waitress and asked for the plastic bag she was using to wrap the bread. Then I run to the other side of the store, squatted on the floor and finally vomit! :p.

Through this experience, you might think I should have stopped to visit anymore shopping center. NO. I went to another shopping center on the next day..and yet the next day. I almost went for the third day, but I refused. I should have started to pack things, I reckon.

* FYI, my disease wasn't exactly a new allergic named "anti-shopping-center" syndrome or what so ever, but it was simply a common flu. Really. Clinically proven :)

:: Missing You So Badly

I am one week away from going back to Melbourne and all I can feel is relief. Relief from a thought of that beloved city, achieve my independence back and the most important point is my freedom, the one I lacked of during my stay in Jakarta.

I couldn't remember how many times I went to Jakarta for holiday and yet the same feeling keeps coming in when holiday has been started. The feel of sorry, actually. Thoughts of beautiful small town in Victoria I have never been to, or do jogging early in the morning across the Botanical Garden which is located only 15 mins away from home by walk. I should have gone to different market places, take more pictures of Westgate Bridge, browse to different street not only Collins-Bourke-Lonsdale St, check out some art galleries and eat at different restaurants.

Those are the biggest reason why I miss the city so much....

I wouldn't say this holiday isn't fun at all, when you can always pampering yourself in a beauty salon for your weekend or having a full body massage only cost you no more than 10 bucks. It's heaven here compared to the minimum body pampered I've ever had in Melbourne. But isn't a pampering to your soul does much more towards your entire well being? I have a thought so.

Talk to Indonesian when you wanna discuss about shopping mall. In Indonesia, you can always go to a shopping center almost everyday. Let's say, a good restaurant is in a shopping center, cafe for chat with friends,cinema, bank for transaction and even a gym! Yes..people do workout in a shopping center. And I'm telling you that I'm not trying to be cynical, but it's not a lie if I said I'm sick of it already.

And the last thing is about freedom. I might sound selfish, but here, you have to really really consider tons of things before you go to one place. First thing, the car. Next, the person who's gonna take you there or pick you up from there. Not finish until there, please consider traffic, your father wants to use the car, your relatives coming to your home, your grandma has to do general check up, your servant is unreliable your mom can't trust a thing to her....

I miss the city, my friends, my room. I miss the weather, I miss hi-how-are-you thing, and I miss Spaghetti Carbonara heaps. The real one, the real ham, the real creammy and eat it with spoon and fork, not chopstick. Most of all, I want my freedom back.

"Ramah Tamah" = "Ramah Menjamah?"
Judul dikutip dari "Panggil Aku Miss. B" karya Fira Basuki

Ada kebiasaan orang Indonesia yg menurut saya sangatlah annoying. Dan itu adalah sikapnya yang sangat ramah. Kok di pakein attribute bold segala sih, vin? Abis, maksud saya ramah tuh bukan ramah yg selama ini saya mengerti, tp ramah yang engga penting dan malah menjurus ke yang namanya kurang ajar!

Salah satu kebiasaan yang menurut saya mengganggu itu misalnya, komentar2 orang yang ngga penting. Misalnya pas ngelewatin tukang ojek, komentarnya, "Aduh si mbak, cakep amat. Mau kemana? Sini abang anterin yukkk" Siapa juga yang mau dianterin.

Ada lagi, klo ke butik Giordano yang gaya penjualnya ngga ada beda sama penjual2 di pasar. Dari jarak 5 meter nih..udah diteriakin, "Giordanonya mbaakkk...silahkann!" Saya yang tadinya mau masuk, urung jadinya. Habis gimana ngga bete, emang saya buta sampe mesti diteriakin begitu. Exclusive dikit kek!

Soalnya jamah2an, saya sih belum pernah ngalamin yg parah. Tapi saya sering lihat di jalan, mbak2 yg mau naik bus kota ditarik aja tangannya sama si keneknya. Padahal siapa yg minta tolong juga…bisa naik sendiri kok. Atau saya pernah dengar lagi, ada perempuan yg mau masuk lift tapi pintu lift keburu mau ditutup. Dan berbaikhatilah seorang bapak di dalam lift, main tarik aja tangan si mbak. Ada juga yang lain lagi. Kalau lagi becanda, suka main pegang2 bahu atau tangan. Aahh...males ngga sih?

Ya begitulah...keramahan disini diartikan sangat jauh dari arti sebenarnya. Keramahan yang mestinya kita temukan di customer service, di rumah sakit, di sekolah itu malah sangat mengkhawatirkan disini. Para shopping assistant yang buta product, suster rumah sakit yang mengabaikan pasien,majikan yg sadis sama pembantunya sampe oknum yang lebih terima sogokan dari koruptor daripada mendengar suara tangis rakyat yang kelaparan.

Ironis ya?

:: (Almost) A Victim

Bip bip... (bunyi sms masuk)

Open...

"Pelanggan Yth, No. SIM CARD anda meraih Gebyar POIN HADIAH dari TELKOMSEL.
Harap Hb Call Center: (021)68400409 atau (021)68400407.

Option....Reply:

"BULLSH*T!!!"

:: Flash News From Jakarta:
Kondisi per sinetron an Indonesia

Klo awal tahun 2000an sinetron2 indonesia sgt marak dgn cerita2 anak muda. Judulnya pun beragam tp tak jauh beda. Misalnya, Cinta ABG, Cinta SMU, Kisah Kasih di Sekolah sampai Cinta SMP pun ada. Entah ceritanya apa, tapi yah seperti judulnya, rasanya ceritanya pun tak jauh beda.

Tapi sepertinya, era cinta sekolahan pun sudah lalu masanya. Lalu munculah genre baru, ibu tiri. Di semua tv swasta, pasti isi cerita most of the sinetron adalah kekejaman ibu tiri. Ajaibnya, dari sekian banyak ibu tiri di tv semuanya ngga ada yg baik. Sadis dan tidak berprikemanusian! Tapi tenang saja, biasanya si anak yg kurang beruntung tsb, bakal ditolong oleh sejenis entah bidadari atau ibu peri. Just FYI, cerita tradisional Bawang Merah dan Bawang Putih pun, ada Ibu Perinya. Yang rasanya waktu saya baca buku rakyat 10 thn yg lalu, kok ngga ada ibu peri yg nolongin bawang putih ya? Bukannya itu Cinderella yg ada ibu perinya?

Yg bikin saya miris klo nonton sinetron Indo (kalo ngeliat sinetron no more than 15 mins bisa disebut nonton) pasti cewek yg selalu jadi korban. Ya istri ditindas suami, cewek dikhianati sang pacar, anak cewek dibuang ibu tiri, dsb dsb. Terus, ada lagi nih, kisah sinetron yg ajaib…seorang istri for particular reason ga bisa punya anak…dan berhubung kasihan sama suami, maka sang istri pun berinisiatif untuk cari istri baru buat suaminya biar bisa punya anak. Gendeng kan? Hare genee masih kaya gitu caranyaa??? Baca koran kaleeee!!!

Sangat disedihkan ya, kok kayanya perempuan selalu dijadikan objek penderita. Dan herannya, most of the victims in those soap operas are just quite. Ngga ngelapor, ngga ngelawan, makanya kekerasan domestic di Indo jadi tinggi mungkin ini salah satu faktornya. Domestic violence seems taboo so they have to hide it away from society. Coba sinetron Indo mengajarkan apa yg si korban harus perbuat setelah dianiaya, saya rasa pretty much it would affect Indonesian women mindset. Jadi selain entertaining, education morale juga kerasa.

Di tahun 2005 walaupun most of the time saya ngga di Jakarta, tp sejak krg lebih tiga minggu lalu saya sudah mulai bisa memprediksi kemana arah sinetron Indonesia di masa2 yg akan datang. Bener2 ngga tahu apa isi ceritanya, tp sinetron berjudul Liontin ini kayanya lumayan booming. Soalnya ada kelanjutannya: Liontin 2. Menariknya, minggu ini saya lihat iklan di TV swasta klo sinetron baru bakal tayang. Judulnya,,,tak lain tak bukan adalah….Cincin. Okay, dilihat dari trend ini, maka jangan heran mungkin bulan depan akan keluar sinetron baru judulnya Gelang atau Anting? Mmmm…who knows?

:: A Fashion Term I Would Like To Explain

I am neither a fashion master nor a magazine editor. Not a foreigner and definitely not an English expert. But the fact that most of Indonesian people use this word in incorrect way, I think I have to do something about it. It might be not correct, but at least by defining it in my blog, it’ll shooth my soul. Hihi...

So…it is about vintage. Yuppp…it is a very familiar sound kind of word, especially for fashionista. Either in Australia or Jakarta, vintage seems very popular. But what annoys me is the fact that the definition of vintage in both countries is very different.

On one occasion, I went to a garage sale in South Jakarta area with some of my friends. It was quite fascinating, cuz’so many Aussie brands they got but at the end, I went home shopping-bag-less . If there was such a word…. In the garage sale, I found they sold both brand new and second hand clothing in a very reasonable price. Don't even dare to see the second hand ones, because they were really awful. The zips were not longer fixed, some buttons were missing and the worse was some holes I found in some garments. My thought was like, "It's not even close with what I called Vintage!"

Then this friend of mine suddenly screamed at what she found, "Look at this! A vintage skirt. Heaven, it's really beutiful, isn't it?" Then I came to her and have a look at the skirt. "It is beuatiful", I said. "How much is it?" Then we tried to look for the price tag and surprised when I found that the 'real price tag' was still there. "It's not a vintage", I thought. "It's brand new, for god's sake!" And again, this vintage thing was repeated once again. When my friend told me that she bought a "new vintage skirt". I was like...."mmm...okay".

What I had concluded about vintage in Indonesian term, finally, is a kind of clothing or skirts that do look peasant, rumpled, flowery, soft colours, with ribbon or lace. Very distinct with what I have understood for a long time, that if you talked about vintage clothing, it must be second hand ones with a good quality. Usually found in a second hand shop or Salavation Army kinda stores. Sometimes in Melbourne we could find some stores dedicated for real vintage stuffs, and they sell things in high quality ones without obvious damage unless signs of wearing.

According to Miriam Webster Online Dictionary, vintage is always related to age. Vintage means length of existence, which must be related with old made or antiques. And vintage is not always for clothing. We also say vintage for old manufactured things such as old piano, antique book shelves, 1950s Gucci collections or even your grandma's old tea cups! And I think Vintage is not always expensive, even I suspect we can get it cheaper if you could find a real vintage in a right store.

What's suck is that most sellers are not actually selling a real vintage. They put vintage label on whatever they want to sell. Sometimes I found fake ones, which do look like vintage but not one. To buy a good quality vintage needs your very own self experience. And the luckiest person is she or he who could find a real vintage in a bargain price for a very precious old made stuff. Can you imagine how much the price of historical arts would be? Fortune, I think.

Well..well..well...what I've explained here might be not correct. Let's just have you to judge it :)

::It is Not My Thing!

Suatu hari di salon, lagi luluran. Si mbak yang lagi mijitin telapak tangan saya tiba2 bilang gini, "Wah…mbak ini, orangnya pinter ya". Saya sih cuma senyum2 aja, soalnya bukannya apa2, masalah jari2 saya yg pendek2 ditambah lagi kuku yg sedikit itu katanya menandakan klo orgnya suka bekerja keras dan belajar. Hahaha…I wish…

Pertama2nya sih saya cuekin saja, "pendapat umum”", begitu pikir saya. Dan saya pun tetap leyeh2an tidur2an sambil menutup mata. Dan si mbak ternyata masih melanjutkan. "Mbak ini, nanti bakal jadi business woman lho. Ahlinya di bagian wholesale. Jadi pemborong gitu lho mbak, bukan bisnis yg kecil2an." Alahh…kepo bgt sih nih mbak

And the next thing she said bikin gua lbh terperanjat lagi. "Mbak, temen rumahnya mbak yg di Australia itu orang Batak ya." Trus saya cm bilang, "Medan tuh". "Yah…Batak itu ya Medan mbak" *Dziigg…kenyataan bahwa gua itu dulu anak IPS sangatlah diragukan"* "Iya sih…", jawab saya lirih.

Lalu berlajutlah sih mbak ini, ngomongin karakter saya, masa lalu, relationship, sampe orang tua pun dibahas sama si mbak. Ternyata si mbak ini memang punya kemampuan special dari ngeliat karakter org sampe ngeliat sesuatu. Interesting? Well, not for me!

Jujur aja, semakin dia ngomong dan membuka semua ttg saya, saya kok malah jadi parno. Gimana engga, menurut saya rasanya aneh bgt yak klo something inside us diketahui org luar padahal kita ngga pernah kasih tau apa2 ke mereka. Bukannya malah penasaran, atau malah makin nanya2 mumpung ada fortune teller gratis. Rasanya kok malah seperti habis ditelanjangi!

Jadi yah…klo anda2 yg punya kemampuan kaya si mbak salon dan suatu hari ketemu saya, mending diem2 aja yaahh. Mau jadi wholesaler atau ibu rumah tangga, saya lebih suka menikmati kemana alur2 hidup dan kejutan2nya membawa saya pergi. Lagian, hidup ini siapa lagi yg tahu klo bukan si Penciptanya sendiri???

:: Lost in Translation

When I visited my relative's house in Bangka, my cousin showed me an English textbook for high school level and wondered if I could translate a short essay consisted of four pharaghaps about a particular topic.

I did it and it was crap.

It turned out my Indonesian was crap. Really. I couldn't speak Indonesian translation in a right structure. I surely knew what the essay was trying to say, but I couldn't put the words correctly. I couldn't make a proper sentence in Indonesian so people could understand what I was tryin' to say...oh really, it was ugly.

But still, I can't be bothered to polish my Indonesian skills but instead, I do my TOEFL book I got when I took a course 5 years a go. Why? No particular reason actually but definetely to kill my time here since I have nothing to do.