A Story about Japan: Mahasiswa Pulang dengan Selamat, Kantor pun Kebanjiran Oleh-Oleh

Hi readers!!!

Still remember my old story about my students who went to Japan for seminar? If you don't, please refer to this post!

Jadi ceritanya, minggu lalu mahasiswa yang pergi ke Jepang kembali pulang ke Indonesia. Salah satu mahasiswa yang aku khawatirkan karena sempat kehilangan paspor di Haneda, Tokyo, akhirnya sampai Indonesia dengan selamat. Tentunya bersama teman-teman mahasiswa yang lain juga kembali ke Indonesia dengan selamat. Lega rasanya mendapati bahwa mereka semua bisa kembali ke Indonesia tanpa kurang satu hal pun.

Banyak cerita seru yang mereka bawa ketika mengunjungi kantor tempatku bekerja. Mulai dari cerita mengenai perjalanan yang melelahkan sekaligus menantang karena semua dari mereka baru pertama kali menginjakkan kaki ke Jepang, meskipun beberapa dari mereka sudah ada yang pernah sampai ke negeri China bahkan Eropa. Jepang memberikan tantangan baru bagi mereka terlebih ketika mereka bertemu dengan penduduk lokal yang hampir tidak bisa berbahasa Inggris maupun mengeja alfabet (dan itu terjadi ketika mereka mencoba menanyakan arah dll, alhasil jurus pemecahan sandi pun digunakan, LOL). 

Cerita berlanjut ke acara dan kegiatan seminar disana. Dari cerita mereka sih acaranya sangat menyenangkan - ahh, jadi pengen - terlebih saat mereka berkunjung ke pabrik dan atau industri di sekitar lokasi seminar. Dan hal yang bikin sangat amat iri adalah mereka berhasil menjumpai 2 hal yang sangat unforgettable yet exciting, yaitu sakura dan salju. Yap, saat ini sudah mulai musim semi, yang artinya sakura sudah blooming. Tapi kok ada salju? Nah, ceritanya mereka seminar di daerah pegunungan yang mana masih berhawa dingin, dan sisa-sisa salju di tanah masih lumayan banyak, apalagi jika berada di daerah yang sedikit mendaki (dan mereka memang sengaja menuju ke lokasi bersalju tersebut demi mendokumentasikan serunya bermain bola salju).

Overall, aku sudah cukup bahagia dan terhibur sekaligus termotivasi mendengar cerita mereka. Apalagi ujung-ujungnya dibagi oleh-oleh *haha*. Yah, meskipun belum berkesempatan untuk beli tiket ke Jepang, icip snack dari Jepang dulu deh.

All about matcha: Petit24 coco chips matcha biscuits & KitKat matcha

All about chocolate

My favorite!! Enak dan imut ^^

Sebenarnya masih ada beberapa oleh-oleh makanan yang lain yang ditinggal di kantor untuk dimakan bareng, macam pocky matcha, japanese rice cracker with nori seaweed snacks (yang ini aku nyerah untuk makannya, rasanya nggak cocok di lidahku), dll.

Domo arigatou gozaimasu!

~xoxo~

Short Trip: It's Enjoyable, eh?

Short Trip. What do you think about that phrase? Relieving? Unsatisfying? or what? Well, short trip is kind of an escape for me. Yeah, I've been doing some short trips lately and I like it. Here I will share my ideas about short trip and why I like doing it.

Doing busy job currently makes me want an escape to refresh my mind and recharge my energy. This 2015, I have taken some short trips to some places. First, I went to Bogor. Honestly, it's not a kind of vacation but it is an "away duty" in which my co-worker and I should do such presentation for promoting our institution. However, I enjoyed this short trip very much since I could at least visit Bogor and spent a day in that city.

Second, I went to Bandung. It was such a nice escape since I spent my weekend by visiting some places, such as Tangkuban Parahu, Pemandian Air Panas Sari Ater, and more. Unfortunately, my trip partners and I failed to visit Ciwalk mall and Cibaduyut shopping center due to heavy traffic jam for we have to reach the train station by 5pm. But, that's not really matter for me since I could spend my weekend in Bandung and enjoy some view there.

For me, short trip is satisfying and relieving (even though it may last only 2 days) since I can escape from my daily routines. I can enjoy new things and new atmosphere from the places I visit during my short trip. And what I enjoy the most from doing short trip is the journey. I mean, I like spending my time on the road. I like using various kinds of transportation, such as car, bus, plane, train, ship, and even motorcycle. I can see many things even various kinds of people during the trip. As the bonus, I may find awesome yet gorgeous scenery in which I rarely find in my hometown.

Next trip, I plan to go abroad. I wanna visit some countries and I will begin with Asia. I have bought two round trip tickets. One for this year and the other one for next year. I am so excited with my upcoming short trips.

So, what do you think about short trip? Are you motivated to pick one?

~xoxo~

"Zonk" Moments This Week

Hi readers!!

Today is Friday. It means that this is the last day of the week I'm going to work and do my duty, then I will enjoy weekend. What happens in my office on Friday is that most of the workers are wearing Batik. You know, Batik is one of world's heritages which originally come from Indonesia. I love wearing Batik too because I feel wearing Batik does not only show our culture but it also makes us exotic :)

Poor prologue. Back to the topic! Do I refer to a topic yet? Blah! I haven't even stated what my topic for this post is. Pardon me. Well, what I'm gonna say on this post is what has been going on in my life lately. I must confess that I just made a passport. It's kinda late but it is better than never having it, right? I made my passport manually, I mean, I didn't use online method to apply for it. I just want to experience the process of making passport manually. So, here we go!

First of all, I went to the Immigration Office (Kantor Imigrasi Kelas 1 Yogyakarta). Honestly, I planned to apply for e-passport but the Immigration Office in Yogyakarta doesn't provide this option yet. So, I applied for regular passport (which they call it "ordinary passport"). O ya, for your information, I arrived at Immigration Office at almost 7am, and there were a lot of people queuing for the same reason, applying for passport. I got number 40, by the way.

When it came my turn, I had to prepare all the documents including the form I had filled before. There, the officer checked all the documents, including the original ones, then asked my several questions. The questions were very basic and I thought it was very easy to answer them. The officer was very friendly.

Afterwards, I had to wait outside until the officer called out my name. It took more than an hour to wait outside before I took picture and finger-print scan for my passport. Then, here come the "zonk" moment! I came inside and got my picture taken. I checked the whole data of my-self to make sure that everything is correct. After that, the officer said to me that he could not issue the, what should I call it, "proof of application"? (yah, whatever!), to pay the expense at a bank. I had to wait for another day.

The next day, I came to the same office for getting the proof of application so that I could pay the expense at the bank. I got it, finally. But, another "zonk" moment came once again. The line for entering the payment code at the bank was offline. It means that I had to go to the bank the other day. What a waste!!!

Finally, yesterday I paid all the expenses required to proceed my passport. Then, what I should do next is visiting the Immigration Office next week to get my passport. I wish that there will be no more "zonk" moment I should go through. ^^

*Sorry for this unnecessary post. It's just my attempt to kill the time before attending a meeting. So, enjoy your day guys!!*

~xoxo~

Short Trip to Salatiga

Hari Jum'at tanggal 10 Mei 2013 yang lalu aku diajak ibuk untuk ikut rombongan guru-guru TK satu yayasan ziarah rohani ke Salatiga. Destinasi utama kami adalah Gua Maria Pereng, Getasan, Salatiga, Jawa Tengah. FYI, Gua Maria Pereng adalah salah satu gua Maria baru di kawasan Keuskupan Agung Semarang. Gua Maria ini baru diresmikan sekitar 2 atau 1,5 tahun yang lalu, CMIIW (correct me if I'm wrong). Perjalanan dilakukan dengan bus pariwisata AC yang nyaman melalui jalan Magelang kemudian tembus ke Salatiga. Sesampainya di Magelang, di sekitar pertigaan (aduh lupa namanya), bus berbelok ke kanan dan mengambil jalur yang sedikit sempit. Katanya sih itu jalur alternatif yang cepat dan anti macet. Emang bener sih, soalnya sepanjang perjalanan yang bisa dilihat hanyalah pemandangan pedesaan lengkap dengan kebun sayuran dan pegunungan. 

Selain itu, bus juga melewati semacam jalan ditengah hutan pinus gitu lah *hutan pinusnya bagus banget*. Kurang tau ya itu di daerah mana. Sepertinya sih daerah sekitar Kopeng gitu. Sayangnya aku cuma bisa foto-foto dibalik jendela bus, itu aja banyakan ngeblur karena bus dalam posisi berjalan (meskipun nggak kenceng-kenceng amat sih). Setelah sekitar 2,5 jam perjalanan, kami sampai di Gua Maria Pereng, Salatiga.

Kesan pertama melihat tempatnya adalah beautiful. Ya, tempatnya memang indah karena di sekelilingnya banyak pepohonan dan ada taman kecilnya. Sebelum sampai ke lokasi utama yang ada gua dan patung Bunda Maria-nya, kami harus melewati jalan menurun dengan beberapa anak tangga. Tapi tenang, buat yang mau kesana nggak usah takut capek jalan. Soalnya jalan menurunnya nggak curam dan udah dipasangi con block. Kalau mau melakukan ziarah Jalan Salib dulu bisa melewati jalan sebelah atas. Anyway, berbeda dari gua Maria pada umumnya, patung Bunda Maria yang ada di Gua Maria Pereng tidak dicat berwarna. Jadi pure warna abu-abu. Sangat unik dan ikonik!

Di sekeliling gua memang adem karena banyak pepohonan begitu juga rute Jalan Salibnya, tapi sayangnya kalau di depan gua persis nggak rindang sama sekali. Soalnya beberapa pohon perindang yang ditanam di area depan gua (kalau nggak salah pohon ketepeng/ketapang) masih setinggi 1,5 meteran. Namanya juga masih baru ya. Eitsss, tapi jangan khawatir dulu. Disana sudah disediakan papan berdoa tepat di depan gua yang terlindung dari panas karena dipasangi semacam kanopi dan digelari tikar plastik. Kalau yang mau duduk memakai kursi plastik juga sudah tersedia. Selain itu, suasana pedesaan, perbukitan, dan kondisi alam yang masih alami di sekitar lokasi dijamin semakin bikin khusyuk deh.

Altar di Gua Maria Pereng

Setelah selesai ziarah Jalan Salib yang dilanjut dengan Doa Rosario bersama di depan patung Bunda Maria, kami serombongan harus segera pulang (jadi nggak sempet foto-foto di sekitaran lokasi, hikss). Nggak tahu sih ya, tapi kalau ikut rombongan bapak-bapak dan ibu-ibu biasanya selalu terkesan terburu-buru. Enakan emang bareng sama yang seumuran, lebih fleksibel aja. *ketahuan kalau nggak ada kerjaan, xixixi* Destinasi selanjutnya adalah ke Kopeng. Tapi sayangnya ditengah jalan malah hujan deras, jadilah kami batal kesana *hiksss*.

Mendung udah mulai bergelayut saat perjalanan meninggalkan Gua Maria Pereng 

Setelah beberapa kilometer perjalanan, hujan turun dengan derasnya

Ya sudahlah, berhubung udah nggak mood lagi, aku akhirnya milih untuk tidur aja di bus. LOL. Pas bangun, udah sampai kabupaten Magelang. Hahaha. Terus sempetin buat foto muka sendiri *jangan ketawa*.

FOTD *kelihatan banget kalau abis bangun tidur*

Bonus Pict:

Ibu Guru Cantik *gak tau namanya*, Buk Min, and My Wonderful Mom

~HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY~

xoxoxo