Belly Dance in Jakarta

courtesy of Bellydance Jakarta Facebook page

I love belly dancing. I haven't done it for a while now.

I used to join a belly dancing class in Gold Gym. Than I quit my membership because they cross off Belly Dancing from their studio class. Obviously the reason why I join the gym was for Belly Dancing. I am not sure if they have it back in the studio or not. I haven't been to a gym for years. (It could be the reason why I gained weight again....sigh)

Then I join another Belly Dancing class in Step Dance, FX Senayan. The class was being taught by Christine Yaven. If you are a belly dancer or a fan of belly dance in South East Asia, you might recognize her name. She is been in a lot of tv shows and has been performing all over the country and neighborhood countries too. I was lucky to have a chance learning from her.

If you are interested in joining her class, you can visit Step Dance academy in FX Senayan 7th Floor. It is open for public too, not just professional or dance students. Don't worry about not having a background dancing class or skill. The teacher is pretty generous on teaching you the routine. A friend of mine joins their ballet class. She seems to have tons of fun in her class.

Here is their schedule for classes;

Website: Step Dance
Adress:

Fee      : Lat time I was there, 3 or 4 months ago (early 2014) Rp.500.000/month (4 times)

If Step Dance Academy is too far from your house or dorm, you can try this dance academies. I never tried it. I heard they are as good.

1. Belly Dancing @ Anza Jakarta

NZA House | Phone:  +622171793042      

Every Thursday 12noon - 1pm
Fee:           Rp80,000 per member per lesson.

Website:    Anza

2. Belly Dancing with Sandy Ulrich

Every Tuesday. 

Fee:             Rp280,000 for 4 lessons. Contact her for more information. 

Telephone:  +6221-7193924

3. Belly Dancing with Belly Dance Jakarta

Christine Yaven also teaches Belly Dance in this studio. The teachers here already got their certification and recognition for their Belly Dancing skills.

Facebook:   Belly Dance Jakarta

Adress:       Jl. Mas Putih Blok D-48, Permata Hijau, Jakarta

 Phone:

+62 817 981 3346 or +62 21 3354 2239

Email

Schedule:    

NEW Beginner Classes to suit your schedule!

Weeknight - Tuesday 7pm
Weekday - Thursday 10.30am
Weekend - Saturday 10am

Class Schedule 2011 (Permata Hijau)
TUE 11.30 Beg II
19.00 Beg IA - NEW CLASS
20.00 Int II

THU 10.30 Beg IA - NEW CLASS
19.30 Int I

SAT 10.00 Beg IA - NEW CLASS
11.00 Beg IB
12.00 Beg II
14.00 Int I
16.00 Int II

4. Velvet Raqs

Website:   velvetRAQS at the Dancewave Center, Studio Anips Pakubuwono

Jakarta, Indonesia
Type of lessons: Weekly classes, private classes, workshops
Dance style: American Oriental
Phone:          +6232717272    

E-mail  

5. Tian Entertainment

Website:     Tian Entertainment
Jakarta, Indonesia
Type of lessons: Private / Group Belly Dance Classes
Dance style: Shakira's Belly Dance
Phone: + 62 813 11 100 448   

E-mail    

6. Sahara Dance Studio

Jakarta, Indonesia
Type of lessons: Workshops, privates, weekly classes
Dance style: Belly dance
Phone: +62217193587    

E-mail    

Bollywood Handsome Hunk 2014

There are too many of them, but I will only mention some of Bollywood stars who recently made a new movie or fall into category as handsome hunk. As much as I love Shahrukh Khan, you probably won't see him on this list. Since he is more of a drama actor and the king of romantic movies.
Despite of the numbers on this list, I was not planning to put it as a rank. Hunk no 10 could be better than hunk no 2 in my opinion and your hunk could be better than my fav hunk.

1. Randeep Hooda

He falls into category of Bad Boy. His recent movies are Jism 2 (not so recommended) and Highway (Super Recommended). In both movies, he played the anti hero role. (Spoiler) Both end tragically. I cried so much for Mahabir Batti. He really captured my heart with his role in 'Highway'. I was surprise because his first movie that I watched is 'Jism 2'. So I wasn't expecting that I would be head over heels for Mahabir, his role in 'Highway'.

2. Arunoday Singh

His Recent movie: Main Tera Hero as the bad and kinda dumb but hot cop

He has a freakishly small head compare to his body builder body. It looks kinda weird to me, but it depends on his hair cut. On this one, he looks normal and cute. But on Jism 2, aaargh, that hair cut creeps me out. I first saw him on a movie titled "Aisha'. He was charming there and his voice was so sexy. So he is in my category of handsome hunk 'occasionally', but his charming and sexy voice made him into this list.

3. Varun Dhawan

His recent movie: Main Tera Hero and Student of The Year
This hunk is the hottest item right now. The King bee and the naughty hunk. Nobody could resist his charming but naughty smile. He has the brightest character (at least on all his movies). Somehow, his role in 'Main Tera Hero' kinda reminds me of young Salman Khan. Salman used to play those naughty but hot hunk on his several movies directed by David Dhawan, like 'Chal Mere Bhai', 'Biwi No.1', 'Yeh Hai Jalwa', and etc. So, I would say he is the new Salman Khan. Both body builder, both naughty, both has cheeky smile.


4. Ranveer Singh

Recent Movie: Ram Leela, Gunday

Thanks to Sanjay Leela Bhansali for making this guy our heartthrob. He might be the hottest hunk in Bollywood right now. He is also a bad boy of Bollywood. He plays gun smuggler in Ram Leela and Gunday. Well, kinda similar role and both with romantic heart. How could you say no to a 'greek looking god' of a man who says "Jitni tu sexy hai utni tu danger(You are as dangerous as you are sexy)" My dill goes hmmmmmm when I saw him.

5. Arjun Kapoor

Recent Movie: Gunday and 2 States
He is both tall and handsome. Also has a rich facial expression. He can look pierce in 'Gunday' but look boyish in '2 States'. Completely 2 different role and he manage to play the role nicely. He managed to look melancholic as a writer and a college boy in '2 States', but you see him in 'Gunday' he screams bad boy for his role.

Okay, I am stuck now. Anyone else? Care to share? Abishek, John, Akshay are definitely sexy. But let's find someone with a younger age and just play in a new movie (2013-2014). Any idea?

Bule Only Date Brown Skin Indonesian

Yesterday I came by to a store in front of my kosan (dorm). There was a girl (might be early 20 or about to be 20). She is a housekeeper for the store's owner. The store is also 2 story house, first floor is the store and the owner's house and 2nd floor is a dorm where my friend lives. The housekeeper has seen me several times when I visited my friend. Apparently, she remember me as the girl who date bule. Now, I didn't take pride of dating bule. Besides I don't really date a bule. I am currently dating a hybrid. How cool is that? He is half Chinese-Indonesian and half American (or Irish American? He is a quarter Irish too). His skin color is a little bit pale but not as white and his face looks a bit more Asian than bule (caucasian). But apparently people in my neighborhood still consider that to be bule.

Anyway, this girl started to giggle when I came to the store and she was (clearly) so excited when she saw me. She asked me if my boyfriend is a bule. I was confuse on what to say because I don't really consider him a bule. He is a hybrid, my hybrid man. So, I just nod, I figure it was easy and quick answer. Boy, I was wrong. She started pulling my hand and giggled while excitingly telling me that she talked to her friends about my boyfriend. I was wondering why they were talking about it. She said they noticed that bule in Indonesia only dates brown skin Indonesian. They seems so sure about it that bule only likes an exotic looking girl. Usually the word 'exotic' in this context offended me. But I know she meant nothing bad. It just that when people saw bule with a brown skin Indonesian, they always assume that the girl is not that pretty and most probably has 'kampung' face. Even my own best friend said so. Seems like they judge people here also by the skin color. Fair skin is prettier than brown skin girl. A lot of ads backs up the theory. If i turn on my TV, I will see 35% of the ads are about skin whitening lotion/cream/mask/treatment.

The girl's friend asked her to go to a skin doctor and get skin whitening injection serum. At this point, she noticed my expression. I must have shown a horrible looking expression because she finally slow down on her excitement. I told her what is wrong with your skin? It looks healthy and young looking. Don't tarnish it just because some false ads. Not sure if she actually listened tho. She started getting all fired up talking about something else. She was telling me that they went to Grand Indonesia to see bule (some sort of entertainment?) and they saw most of them coming with their brown skin 'exotic' looking girlfriend or wife. She started to look at me, my skin, and my body.

I was getting uncomfortable. So, I paid for the water (I came there to buy mineral water) and left just in time when her boss came.

Problematika Pemilihan Presiden dan Cawapres Indonesia 2014

Ada beberapa artikel yg saya baca berkaitan dengan Jokowi yg katanya kafir karena pola kepemimpinannya yg cenderung kurang 'Islam-i", ada pula video Om Ical sama kakak-adik bohay dalam perjalanan ke Maldives, ada berita soal 'Kampung Janda', dan banyak lagi berita 'black campaign' lainnya. Politik itu bikin mumet kepala ya. Buat kita yg dijejali banyak informasi dan baligo-baligo indah di sepanjang jalan. Mumet dan butek, dr pikiran sampai ke mata. Klo apa-apa boleh menurut sy, sy pilih bapak sy aja deh jd presiden. Orangnya gak neko-neko, dikasih singkong rebus sama kopi juga udah bahagia beliau. Mobil Carry 'bueuk' tahun 1986 aja belum pernah diganti. Alasannya sentimental (bueuk seumuran sama sy, si anak paling cantik) sama gak ada modal. Tp toh beliau gak pernah ngeluh. Ibu sy kalau jd Ibu presiden juga gak yg gampang marah (gampang pundung sih iya, klo anak sama suaminya gak inget ulang tahunnya). Tp si ibu sy ini, dia mah dikasih mesin jahit juga udah bahagia, yg penting bisa jahitin batik atau koko sama gamis. Sekali-sekali si Ibu presiden (ibu sy ya klo jd presiden) mungkin mau ditemenin ajudannya ke Mangga Dua sama Pasar Baru nyari kain, tas baru, mukena, sama tasbih.

Well, balik lagi ke rumitnya pemilihan Presiden kali ini (karena sepertinya bapak dan ibu sy tidak akan terpilih di Pemilu kali ini)

Okay, jd katanya klo cara kepemimpinan yg tidak 'Islam-i' itu tidak cocok dengan Indonesia? Nah lho, Soekarno, Soeharto, dll juga dulu gak pakai kepemimpinan ala 'Islam-i', mungkin yg paling mendekati kepemimpinan 'Islam-i' itu adalah Gusdur. Tp pada saat beliau memimpin pun, beliau menegaskan kerukunan antar umat beragama di Indonesia itu penting dijaga dan dipraktekan. Bahkan beliau pun yg menyetujui bahwa Kong Hu Chu menjadi aliran kepercayaan yg disahkan bagi rakyat Indonesia.

Oke lah, banyak yg kesal dengan Jokowi krn belum lunas hutangnya menyelesaikan dan memperbaiki Jakarta.

Tapi kita lihat juga pilihan2 yg lainnya. Apakah mrk 'the lesser evil' (yup the lesser evil, krn belum ada calon yg benar2 bagus, sepertinya).

1. Jokowi yg masih hutang sama DKI dan katanya kafir (krn kurang Islam-i cara kepemimpinannya) Sangkalan
2. Prabowo, pahlawan Kampung Janda alias penjahat perang?
3. Wakilnya Prabowo, Hatta Rajasa, yg anaknya nabrak Luxio sampai 2 korban mati tp bisa lenggang kangkung dan balik kuliah ke London. Money is talking here.
4. Wiranto, jagoan dan tangan kanan Soeharto selama orde baru dan ikut andil pada menghilangnya beberapa aktivis yg konon tidak disukai Soeharto?
5. Aburizal bakrie a.k.a Ical, jagoan Lumpur Lapindo yg doyannya jalan2 ke Maldives sama kakak-adik bohay?
6. Gita Wiryawan, yg pake cara PR curang (nempelin link iklan/website dia ke berita lain atau masang iklan di 21/Blitz yg jelas bukan ranah untuk memasarkan diri di jalur pemilu). Ganteng sih, tp kok maksa bener ya iklan2nya. Headline-nya berita apa, pas diklik eh malah masuk website Gita Wiryawan lg maen piano. Mau nonton film eh malah nontonin dy yg katanya doyan maen sepak bola sama anak kampung sekitaran. Yeah right! Meh!
7. Farhat Abbas yg selingkuh sama Jubir cantiknya dan klo ngomong ngalor-ngidul bikin 'guyonan'. Semacam Twitter junkie ya.
8. Rhoma Irama yg poligami (tp gak apa2 krn sesuai Islam?). Yang penting dy petuahnya banyak "Jangan Begadang, Jangan Berjudi, Berpoligami aja!"

Ada lagi calon lain?

Nah, siapa ya the lesser evil di sini? Cari yg kira2 gak pernah mencoba atau terlibat dalam pembunuhan, penculikan, dan poligami sih klo gw. Apa cari yg ganteng tapi strategi PR-nya nyebelin dan ngaco (Gita Wiryawan atau Farhat Abbas?) Apa cari yg suaranya bagus, biar klo bensin mau naik diumuminnya pake lagu dangdut?

Tuh kan, makanya mending pilih bapak sama ibu sy aja. Klo dipilih, nanti dimasakin indomie telor deh.

Bikram Yoga: Hot Stuff to do in Jakarta

26 positions for Bikram Yoga

First time I heard Bikram Yoga, I thought it was some kind of kinky sex combine with Yoga. I was so curious. So I started a small research on YouTube (Yes, I search for 'what i think as' porn in YouTube). I was surprise it was a different kind of porn. It was porn for sport maniac. I mean in a good way. All the moves seems pretty easy and fun to do. I widen my search through Jakarta/Indonesia Bikram Yoga, turned out Jakartan seems to think Bikram Yoga is pretty cool or hot (suit yourself).

A couple hours after starting my research on Bikram Yoga, at this point, I am already hooked and baited by Bikram Yoga. I decided to find a class with reasonable price. Then I found a link on voucher selling website that they were selling Bikram Yoga voucher for really really cheap price. My boyfriend encouraged me to buy the voucher. Well, actually he bought the voucher for us. 35$ for 10 visits per person. Not so bad, compare to 150$ per month.

We started doing Bikram Yoga on weekend. Unfortunately the place was pretty far from our place, so we only managed to visit the place 3 times. We were both too lazy.

During the visits, we learned to breath properly during the practice and respecting other's exercise is highly important. There are rules inside the hot studio; like you are not suppose to leave the room, if you are tired you may sit down, you are not suppose to talk or disturb other people, make sure to drink plenty of water before-during-after, and all other rules. Tho some of Jakartans seem to think less of the rules; some of them comes late to the hot studio, talk to their friends, or drinking water when it is not the time. Ah well, what do you expect.

But the practice of Bikram Yoga was wonderful. Too bad we didn't come the day after our first day to get use to the practice. We also gave up on the 7 more visits. The place where way too far, taxi fee cost a lot and we are way too lazy to take public transportation.

If only, I had a chance of getting another voucher for Bikram Yoga for a closer place. I would gladly buy it. The exercise was fun and relaxing in the same time. I would like to do it again someday.

Anyway, if you are Jakartan and currently wanting or planning to join Bikram Yoga exercise, these will be my recommendation for the studios.

1. Bikram Yoga Jakarta
Website: http://www.bikramyogajakarta.com/
Address:
 

Price:

2. Bikram Yoga Kuningan

Website: http://www.bikramkuningansouthjakarta.com/

Address:

EPICENTRUMWALK - 2ND FLOOR | KOMPLEKS RASUNA EPICENTRUM | JL. HR. RASUNA SAID, JAKARTA 12960 | T/F : (+62 21) 2991 2128

Price:

Maybe I will come across your schedule someday. Don't hesitate to wave your hand and say 'hi!' as long as we are not inside studio or during exercise. See you there, Chicas.

Love,

Suci Park