Dream Wedding

Girls, how many of us has been dreaming about dream wedding ever since we were kids? Plenty, I bet. Tho some girls dreaming about changing the world instead or some others dreaming bit of both.

I had my dream wedding since I was really small. It keeps changing from time to time depends on what I was into that year. I dreamt of wedding on the beach..white canopy set on a beautiful white sand beach with blue and white flower for decorations, a Santorini feels set.Then I dreamt of wedding in a small backyard garden at night with dim lights decorating the setting and creamy white canopy for the wedding stage and decoration was mostly dominant green, light and dark brown, and off white color. A rustique and antique looking set. At other time, but this is a rare occasion and my least favorite dream, a wedding in big ballroom.

Andien and Ippe's Wedding

Andien, a famous singer in Indonesia has always been famous for her classy style on her outfit. Turned out it was not for her outfit only. She also has particular yet dreamy and classy style for her wedding too. She was one of few lucky people who get to experience and make their dream wedding come true.

Some of this pictures of their wedding is coming from thebridedept.com website. You can check the website for more pictures of wedding related theme.

Setting in Pine Forest Camp, Lembang

Wedding vow

The lucky bride and groom

After Party

These pictures bellow is from alodita.com Make sure to check her blog too. She is an aspiring Indonesian beauty and lifestyle blogger.

Snacks Station

Another snacks station

Andre and Stella's Wedding

Andre is my husband cousin. He just got married to a very bright beautiful Stella. Husband and I got invited to their wedding in Uluwatu, Bali. Pictures from this wedding are my own collection. Check my instagram id: Suci_park for more pictures on the wedding.

They had their wedding in a beautiful near cliff location in Uluwatu. A perfect spot to catch some sunset too. Everyone suddenly turned into sorta professional wannabe Instragramer including me. Can't help it, everything was just so perfect and beautiful.

preparing for the ceremony

celebrating the ceremony

Congratulating the bride and the groom

watching sunset while waiting for dinner to start

Rundown and Song lyric

Wedding Ceremony

menu and gift box

Dinner Party

Unfortunately our flight was for really early in the morning, so we could not join the after party. So there is no picture for the after party. I think it was probably in our hotel's bar.

Let me know what is your favorite one and what kind of dream wedding you want?

Marriage Life: Wedding Proposal

On February 17th, boyfriend (now husband) proposed to me. It was sweet and cute in the same time. He thought that I didn't know what he is planning to do. I was nervous. Because I have been hinting so many things to him about my ideal proposal. I was hoping he could pull it off the way I want it to be. I am very perfectionist when it comes to romance. I have several scenarios in mind;

Scenario 1

I have watched a scene in Indian movie called Dostana where John Abraham cooked dinner for the Priyanka and watch Kuch-Kuch Hota Hai in a big screen while sitting in a mat then they dance the same time Shahrukh asks Kajol to dance with him under the rain. I was hoping it would be like that. That was one of my scenario.

What I had in mind, scenario number 1

Scenario 2

He would invite my close friends, have some people ready to take picture and video of him proposing to me in the fanciest restaurant while it plays my favorite song from Brian McKnight 'Rest of My Life' while wearing his best outfit.

Here is actually what happened when he proposed to me that day.

17th February, we had dinner in a restaurant in Grand Indonesia East Mall, Ninety Nine Resto,
Before dinner, husband took me to Apple store in the same floor. He knew I have been wanting to buy Macbook for a long time since my old computer is getting to old. He bought me Macbook Air and I was super happy. At this point, it is already clear he was bribing me so I would say yes. hihihi

After we finished our meal, he took my hand and asked me to look around in the restaurant. When we were inside a room, he suddenly sang 'Tujhe Dekha to yeh janaa sanam" from Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge soundtrack. The bartender stop shaking the drink and kept watching us. The other waiter has joined him. Fortunately the restaurant was empty. I could feel my cheek turned red and hot when he asked me to sing my line which i remember with my heart. But hell no, I would not sing bollywood song in front of stranger. So, he gave up forcing me to sing. He kneeled down and asked me to marry him 'Suci Fitriany, will you marry me!?' he said in his trembling voice. Never before I have seen him trembling and so nervous like this. He should know that I wanted to marry him yet he is still nervous and worried. My heart beats faster and with giggly smile I said yes. I was really really shy from all the bartender, waiter, bush boy watching us singing to bollywood song. We headed out from the restaurant and took this picture in front of the apartment instead.

Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge will remind my most favorite movie of all time. Now for another different reason, I will always remember this movie. He memorized the line from the song for weeks with the help of his work mate in India.

Fyi, this movie was played in a cinema in India for 1000 weeks since 1995 till 2014. Probably still running in cinema till now. The everlasting and one of the best romance movie ever made. I have watched this movie countless time.
If you have never watch this movie, I really recommended this one. If you ever like Kuch-Kuch Hota Hai, it is the more reason to watch this one.

Life Before 30

source: Pinterest

I will be soon 30, next year. And I am really scared. I have live for almost 3 decades now. I feel like I have mount to nothing yet.

I remember when I was younger, 17-20, I always thought that when I am 30 I would have my own apartment, my own car, my own kid (single with kid, I used to want to adopt kid while still single..was not really into marriage then). So many other things that I thought I would have achieved before 30.

And now, a year before I reach 30. I got no car, no apartment, no kid, and still not a manager of a company or something.

Have I regret everything? Should I started thinking what is gone wrong that I am still not where I should be?

But I am not. I don't regret a thing. Sure, I still want those things I mentioned above. But it was no longer my priority. I want to travel more, I want to have more adventure, I want to learn more, I might want to go back to school.

Definitely I didn't regret where I am and what I have accomplished so far. I am here after I jumped through hoops and barriers with a few scratches here and there.

I am now married to a very nice man, working in a prestigious company with decent salary, has traveled to several countries several times, have a freedom to do pretty much what I want within boundaries, constantly learning one or two new things, lose some friend and get some more friends.

When it comes the time that I reach 30. I would gracefully welcome it with a smile. Shivering with excitement and fear. But I am ready to go out of my comfort zone.

Married Life: 6 Months

I can't believe I am married for 6 months now. There are so many things already happened but there is a feeling that things is not changing as much as I expect it to be.

Family picture on our wedding day

Living arrangement

We still live in small room, we lived in tiny studio apartment before and now moving to a kosan (room renting). We paid almost 7 million rupiah per month (including utilities) for the tiny studio apartment and by moving to a kosan, we save 3 million each month.

My role has been rapidly develop in this marriage. 

Once I was a farting champion, due to melodic farting and I did fart a lot. Rest assure, my fart is loud but not smelly. However his was silent but deadly. I am also fully function tracking device. Husband often repeatedly asking where his things are (boxer, remote, black pants, chips, usb, phone, etc). Recently, I am also calendar and alarm clock.

Have we had fight during this 6 months period? 

Sure, we had some. However, the weird thing is that ever since we got married, I could never seem to be upset or mad at him for more than a day..let alone a day, I couldn't even be upset or mad for an hour. Honeymoon stage still maybe?

I remember the last time I was upset with him was last night because he keep playing with his phone when I accidentally hurt my feet (rubbing towel too hard on it). It was minor paint, but I like the attention. I did get his attention, however, when I said 'Fine, I will just amputate my leg!' obviously a little bit dramatic. He spat his gut laughing at what I said. Sigh. I got his attention alright.

We develop similar hobby or activity together. 

We joined free zumba class every Tuesday 7pm in GBK gate 12. Do join us if you have time. He looks kinda funny when he is shaking his booty. I look sexy obviously..lol

Future Planning

As some of my friends and relatives already know. Currently we are waiting for my green card as I am planning to move to the US following my husband. It has been 4 months since we sent the application. We haven't heard a thing from the embassy. Starting to get nervous. We decided it might be good to spend some time traveling in Asia or stay in other country just to experience some more adventure while waiting for green card. I have Korea in mind and has been googling the cost of living there for several months. However, I haven't really taking any decisions.

Babies vs Reality

We both love babies. We think they are cute and adorable. Of course, we would like to have our own baby someday. But not now. Not when we are unprepared. We still moving around. I am still waiting for my green card. We barely have a stable life for that. I am getting tired of people asking if I am already pregnant or when will I be pregnant or If I use any sorts of pills to postpone it. Back off!!! It is highly annoying. I wanna rip my guts every time people ask me that question. I realized Indonesian (or most of them) has no sense of personal boundary. I have try to be nice and answer nicely. But at this point, I just ignore the question or stare coldly at whoever throw the question. The worst, when some people ask question while rubbing my tummy. Today, I am not in such a good mood for a belly rub.

Silly Hubby Part 1

Learning Bahasa Indonesia is not always easy for him. Despite him being half Indonesian, he is not that fluent speaking Bahasa Indonesia.

We have been dating for 2 years and then married for 6 months now. There are a lot of funny 'accidents' when it comes to his pronunciation or understanding of Bahasa Indonesia's vocabulary. It is quite amusing sometimes. So, I would like to share some of things that he said.

Btw, I made this cartoon strip from a website called Pixton: www.pixton.com in case anyone wants to try creating their own funny or sad story.

1. Darah vs Daerah

This is our recent conversation. He thought that darah (blood) is daerah (area). He said he likes to stay in Benhil's blood. What he meant to say was that he likes to stay in Benhil area.

 2. Kedelai vs Keledai

We got soybean milk (susu kedelai) from my mother. He mistaken the word 'keledai' that means donkey as 'kedelai'.

 3. Balado vs Manado

I will be updating more stories like this later. Enjoy! ^_^

No More Bullying

I was a survivor of Bullying and I am proud that I survived it.

Unfortunately not a lot of people get a chance of redemption or live long enough to get through it. Unfortunately every day, there is always someone who died because of bullying.

Thus, I would like to share you my story and hopefully you would share me your stories too. We both can help each other and maybe help others (victim or bullies) to stop more bullying.

When I was in 3rd grade of Elementary School, I was bullied by all the girls in school. Some of them were active bullies and some other either passive bullies or passive bystanders. I was bullied for 3 years from 3rd grade to 5th grade.

There were a lot of things they did to me. Snatching my veil (I used to wear veil) and hanging it on the Flag pole) or throwing it to the well. Some other time (when teacher was not around), they would locked me up in a storage room full of cockroaches and rats. Stole my books or pens and broke it. So many other things that wasn't just physically painful but mostly emotionally painful.

Up to this day, my parents doesn't know about the tragedy. I never told them. Which I should. I just don't really see the point why I should right now. Since I am already okay. But I know I should have told my parents about what happened to me at school.

My teachers, either they genuinely didn't know or they intentionally ignored it. I know for a fact that some people thought what they saw was merely a children fight. They didn't realize that what they saw was bullying.

I made this slideshow below to share information about bullying. I used this slideshow in one of Britzone English Community class.



Hopefully this slide will help people to understand better what bullying is and then will be able to stop bullying. Naive? I can't stop hoping that there will be no more Bullying. Stop bullying!

BritZone: Free English Community in Jakarta

Do you ever wish to increase your English language skill?
Would like to join a class but no budget?
Why not join Britzone for Free English Class?

Look no further, because in Jakarta we have Britzone; English Community that gives free class 3 times a week.

Originally organized by British Embasy (or so I heard) but has separate itself and become a community owned organization.

Britzone has class every Tuesday and Wednesday at 6.30pm to 8pm and Saturday at 11am to 1pm.
Make sure to check their Twitter or Facebook page first, they usually put information on the next class's theme or whether there will be class or not especially on holiday.

Facebook Page: Britzone English Club
Twitter: @BritzoneID
Class: Tusday & Wednesday at 6.30pm-8pm
           Saturday at 11am-1pm

Everyone in the class will have a chance to speak up or conduct a class once you are ready to speak in public. Thus it will increase your English speaking skill. Every tuesday, the theme usually involves around English grammar or known as B-Academy. Wednesday and Saturday class are free sharing/conduct session. Anyone with a specific set of skill and willing to share will be given a chance to share on those days.

Last month (Wednesday class), I gave presentation on the class about Bullying. As a survivor of bullying, I wish to share stories and listen to more stories about bullying. Hopefully by sharing this stories and information, we will be able to decrease the rate of bullying in our country. Let there be no more blood or tear shed because of this.

Video of Britzone

Join Us, Britzone English Community where you can learn&practice your English for free. Check out their Fb page: Britzone English Club. There will be class every Tuesday and Wednesday at 6.30pm-8pm and Saturday at 11am-1pm in Kementerian Pendidikan Nasional's library. If you are native English and feel like sharing your thoughts and wisdoms. Do come over. #Britzone #English #Indonesia #Jakarta #FreeClass #volunteer

A video posted by Suci Brooks (@park_suci) on May 24, 2015 at 4:23am PDT

Do come to the class and get to know Britzone awesome people. Expand your horizon and increase your English Language skill. They will welcome you with love.

PS; Follow My Instagram; @park_suci

Arranging Your Own Wedding

Intimate Wedding attended by family, close friends that won't rob your bank account and leave it dry? It is indeed possible to have that. These were my list of things I did to get my own cheap intimate wedding in Jakarta on March 2015. Hopefully this list will also be useful for your future wedding plan. Beware: Bridezilla moment might appear once in a while during those arrangements.

1. Plan, Plan, Plan
2. Hire Your Bride's Maids
3. Book Venue
4. Catering
5. Invitation
6. Confirmation
7. Print Out
8. Bachelorette Night
9. Rehearsal
10. Happy Wedding!!!!

1. Plan, Plan, Plan
Nothing will work well without the proper planning. Obviously you can't skip this step. Plan where do you wanna get married or whether you only want to have the party there or the ceremony too. Plan your date of the wedding (best to pick holiday or weekend). Plan the theme for your wedding. Plan what kind of food do you want to serve on the wedding party. Plan everything ahead of time.

2. Hire Your Bride's Maids
I know as Indonesian we rarely do this western tradition. However, when you are planning your on wedding and arranging it yourself, you are gonna need a solid group of besties helping you out. I hired 3 of my besties to be my bride's maids. You can have your own unique way on hiring them. For me, I was just inviting them over for dinner and bribing them with the food. So they would have difficult time saying 'no'. hehehe

My solid Bride's Maids Team

3. Book Venue
It is wise to decided what kind of theme do you want for the party first. Then find out what kind of place that will best suite the theme. My theme was Bollywood, so I picked Indian Restaurant (Amaya Resto in Gambir) for the venue. Bear in mind having different venue and catering will cost a lot more. So, try to get a venue that serves food too. If you book your venue in the restaurant, you will only have to pay for the food (at least some awesome and nice restaurant won't let you pay for the place too). Make sure to have back up plan. I checked 3 different venues before deciding on one that able to accommodate my needs and agree on our terms.

4. Catering
Make sure you already know how many people will come to your wedding. If you are going to invite 50 people, at least double up the amount. For me, I invited 70 people and booked catering for 100 people. If the restaurant already has buffet menu, that will be easier to choose. But it could be cheaper to actually break down your own menu and discuss the price with the venue/caterer.

5. Invitation
Online invitation is a lot cheaper (could be free) compare to print out invitation. But, doesn't mean it has to be tacky. Nowadays there are a lot of online invitation available on the internet. Just google one that you like. I got my design from this website. They will let you send invitation for free for a certain amount of invitations. If your guest list is more than that, you can bought the coins (needed to send the invitation) for a cheaper price. What I love about this website is that they let you contact your guest to their email address and once they confirmed their attendance, you are gonna get informed from the guest list information.
You can also post your online invitation on your social media long before the date.

Post on Path

Post on Instagram

6. Confirmation
Urge your guest to answer your invitation. Either talk to them personally, text them or asked your bride's maids to do it for you. The website will let you share the guest list with your co-hosts (bride's maids) and it will be easier for your bride's maid to contact them for confirmation. How awesome right!?
Once you got the number of guest that will come, you can let the venue/caterer knows about it. You can change the amount of the food served if there is major change on your guest list.

7. Print Out
Just because you have your invitation online, doesn't mean you don't have to print out anything.

Print this out on smaller size and hand it over to your guest with your wedding trinkets (could be candy or any accessories)

Asked your guest to take pictures during your party and post it online with your chosen hashtag. It will save money on photographer and some friends will actually come bringing fancy DSLR camera.

Bigger size, put it on the Guest Greeter Table along with the Guest Signed Book

Creative way for your Guest Signed Book, instead of signing it asked them to put their thumb print on it

 Print this papers on a thick paper. It doesn't have to be as thick as invitation card. But at least don't use a thin A4 paper. PaperOne A4 80gr or 100gr is suitable for color printing. If you can print this in the office. It will save money too..hehehe
For a better idea, You can check pinterest on Wedding hashtag. They have lots of cool ideas.
My signed book is a thumbprint pics. My bride's maid would provide the guest with 4 different colors of choice on the table and the guest could put their finger on the paint and planted the thumbprint on the printed out picture (like a balloon).
My other bride's maid would take a picture of the guest and their plus one using polaroid camera. Then they could signed the photo and it would goes to our guest album.

I want all my guests to dance to Bollywood Music

8. Bachelorette Night
Forget about the Wedding and go mad with your bride's maids. Let them plan your awesome bachelorette night.

9. Rehearsal
Let your bride's maids check out the place the night before. Enjoy your last night as a single lady. Let them takes care of it. Unless, you are like (micro managing person).

10. Happy Wedding you!
Prepared yourself for the big event. Get your hair done in hair spa salon. Wear the dress of your choice. Pampered yourself in a classic simple make up. Enjoy your party too. You earn it. Happy Wedding darling ^_^

Other tips:
1. Share your budgeting plan with your partner using Google Drive Doc. It will be easy to open anywhere even when you are not together with your partner or when he is away from you.
2. Write all your plan on Evernote or Google Doc and share it with your bride's maids.
3. Try to use Google Hangout group for a video chat with your bride's maids when you couldn't find a good time to meet to plan things out.
4. Activate your social media to post about your wedding invitation or save the date picture.
5. Don't forget to give tips to those waitress working on the venue that day.
6. Make sure to get an appointment with hairdresser or make up artist long before the D day.
7. Calm yourself because there will be times when you change into bridehulk/bridezilla when things didn't go well as you plan it.
8. Hire your friends as MC for the event. (They will want to do it for free as a gift for your wedding day ;-p )
9. Have a karaoke in the venue. You will be surprised by how many of your friends can actually sing.
10. Don't lose yourself and completely forget about your soon to be husband. Get yourself a date with him.

Petualangan Si Neng 2

Waktu berlalu cepat ya kadang kita lupa untuk sejenak bersyukur. Menyesali yg telah lalu memang tidak ada gunanya, tetapi sejenak melihat ke belakang untuk kemudian bersyukur dengan apa yang telah dicapai juga ada baiknya.

Terkadang, sy suka sejenak melihat ke belakang sambil merindukan masa-masa lulus kuliah dan mulai bekerja. Rasanya sesuatu yang baru itu nampak lebih menarik dan penuh tantangan. Namanya jg masih muda ya, kalau melihat tantangan depan mata itu malah bersemangat. Semoga sy tak akan pernah kehilangan spirit itu.

2010 bulan Agustus
Si Neng akhirnya keterima kerja di Trans TV sebagai Research and Program Development Staff. Sehari si Neng harus (paling tidak) mengerjakan 4-6 laporan untuk beberapa program yang tayang di Trans TV. Si Neng ingat waktu itu si Neng pegang acara Reportase pagi, Islam Itu Indah, Keluarga Minus, Insert, dll.

Lorong Biru penuh kenangan, penyambung antara gedung Mega ke gedung Trans

2 bulan pertama si Neng bahkan belum punya meja sendiri dan harus kerja dari meja bundar dekat ruang Pantry. Kemudian berpindah ke bagian belakang sayap kiri bangunan yg dikenal sebagai meja pembuangan. Di sebut demikian karena sebelumnya kosong dan orang sering menyimpan barang berlebihnya di situ. Meja tersebut masih belum memiliki komputer, jadi si Neng pun masih menggunakan laptop tua peninggalan masa kuliah.

Interview bareng dan kerja di departemen yg sama dengan tmn yg manis ini

Entah kenapa sepertinya banyak yg gak tega melihat si Neng di meja itu, karena acap kali tiap pagi si Neng nemuin oleh-oleh, aksesoris, snack, atau nasi box dr yang berulang tahun di sayap kanan di atas meja. Yah lumayan lah ya, rezeki anak soleh katanya mah.

sekali-sekali si neng pengen norak foto di lokasi syutingnya Insert

Lantai tempat si Neng kerja letaknya di Gedung Mega, bukan di gedung Trans TV sebelahnya. Jd contrary to what people believe, justru si Neng malah jarang bgt ketemu artis. Sekali-sekali aja kalau kebetulan ada urusan di Gedung Trans. Tentunya si Neng harus jual mahal jgn kelihatan norak dong. Pura-pura cuek padahal dalam hati teriak girang dan gak sabar cerita sama si emak.

Hari terakhir kerja dan kumpul sama Tim

Februari 2011
Si Neng mengambil tawaran kerja dari pembimbing Hansamo/BKC (Bandung Korea Community) yg menjadi Advisory di IKECC (Indonesia-Korea Environmental Cooperation Center). Beliau menawarkan pekerjaan dengan posisi dan gaji yang lebih menarik. Si Neng ambil pekerjaan tersebut dengan bahasa Korea yg serba minim, si Neng harus bekerja dengan bos yang hanya lancar berbahasa Korea dan minim bahasa Indonesia maupun Inggris.

Peresmian dan Pembukaan IKECC

Si Neng bangga ber-batik ria mewakili Indonesia

Awal-awalnya kerja di situ, si Neng bawannya pengen mewek mulu berasa dibentak-bentak. Kemudian si Neng sadar kalau ternyata itu hanya logat bicaranya orang Korea.

Maret 2011, IKECC mengirim si Neng ke Korea untuk training. Horeeeeee. Si Neng diharuskan membuat pasport. Si Neng kembali bersemangat untuk menjelajah Kota besar lain di luar negeri. Naik pesawat pun belum pernah. Kebayang kan girangnya si Neng yg selama ini cuman dengar cerita dr si Emak yg pernah naek pesawat Merpati dan Garuda. Agak deg-degan mau minta minum atau nerima tawaran minum dari mbak cantik pramugarinya, takut nanti si Neng disuruh bayar. Cuman berbekal 700ribu di dompet berangkat ke Korea dengan dijanjikan akan terima uang tugas begitu sampai di Korea dalam bentuk Won. Untungnya mbak yg ke Korea juga dari kantor bilang semuanya gratis asal bukan yg belanja di pesawat. Si Neng nganga bloon, agak-agak dumbfounded kalau ternyata di pesawat bisa belanja juga...woooooo orang Kota(kaya) emang lain cara mainnya.

Perjalanan ke Korea naik pesawat selama 7 jam. Si Neng nyaris gak bisa tidur padahal pesawat berangkat malam. Si Neng kelewat semangat pengen lihat negerinya cowok-cowok ganteng nan cantik jelita a.k.a abang-abang K-Pop itu. Akhrinya mainin tv kecil di depan kursi (girang nemu beginian) dan nonton beberapa film sampai ketiduran.

Girang akhirnya mendarat di Korea setelah 7 jam di pesawat, deg-degan

Si Neng gak paham cara beli tiketnya..segala tombol asal pencet ah

karaoke-an sama temen kerja

Cerita ke Korea ini pernah diposting sebelumnya. Buat lebih lengkapnya bisa cek di bawah sini;
Part 1
Part 2

Sebenernya si Neng pengen banget bulan madu sama si Aa ke Korea lagi. Apa daya budget dan waktu belum memungkinkan. Banyak urusan birokrasi buat izin tinggal si Neng di US sama izin tinggal si Aa di Indonesia yang harus diurusin. Nguras dompet, nguras waktu, tenaga, dan nguras emosi pastinya. Semoga si bulan madu yg belum kesampean ini segera bisa dilaksanakan mumpung belum ada buntut.

Petualangan Si Neng

Mau curhat sedikit nih di sini..boleh kan? Boleh dong ya..blog pribadi ini hehehe

Tiba-tiba hari ini teringat 4 tahun yang lalu waktu pertama datang ke Jakarta tahun 2010 bulan Agustus. Seneng banget soalnya keterima kerja di Trans TV yg notabene (saat itu) TV swasta paling the best lah. Setelah proses wawancara yg cukup panjang, akhirnya Agustus awal sudah mulai kerja.

Berangkatlah jauh-jauh dari Majalengka, and point to note ya, itu pertama kalinya si Neng melanglang buana jauh-jauh ke Ibu Kota sendirian. Untungnya temen-temen kosan zaman kuliah pd gak tega ngeliat si Neng luntang-lantung gak jelas kesasar-sasar di Jakarta. Mereka yg ngajarin naik busway, ngenalin ke Pelangi (Plaza Semanggi) yg kemudian jd rumah kedua, ngajakin makan mewah di Pizza Hut(buat mahasiswa/anak kosan zaman itu Pizza Hut udah makan mewah yg cuman setaun sekali klo ada yg ultah)

saking culunnya, si Neng minta difotoin di halte busway Semanggi dengan latar belakang gedung tinggi

2 orang pelaku yang menemani si Neng berkenalan dengan Jakarta

Inget dulu culunnya si Neng yg gak pernah naik lift pun dan agak panik waktu harus naik lift sendirian ke lantai tempat interview atau waktu naik busway celingak-celinguk mesem-mesem kyk menang lotre. Si Neng juga pelahak-pelohok liat gedung-gedung tinggi, maklum waktu itu cuman sanggup liat di TV si abah+emak.

Sempet nyasar di sini, mau ke Pelangi malah keluar di halte Benhil akhirnya ngesot lagi deh ke arah Semanggi

Si Neng dengan logat sunda-nya yg cukup kental bersemangat menjelajahi sepetak area di Ibu Kota yg dihiasi gedung-gedung pencakar langit. 

Pindah ke Jakarta hanya dengan membawa 1 koper kecil punya si emak. Dibantu temennya temen kuliah yg kerja di Trans TV juga buat nyari kosan. Akhirnya nemu kosan kecil seharga Rp.600.000/bulan dan kamar mandi kecil yang terletak di belakang pemakaman. Tiap malam pulang kantor, harus lewat pemakaman. Jam pulang kerja 8 malam, paling cepet 7 malam dan melalui pemakaman. Life was not easy that time.

Tak terasa sudah nyaris 5 tahun di Jakarta. Sudah banyak yg terjadi dan terlewatkan. Pelan-pelan Jakarta menjadi rumah. Majalengka menjadi tempat untuk pulang kampung tapi sudah bukan rumah lagi. Walaupun sampai sekarang belum sempat mengganti alamat rumah (mostly karena malas berurusan dengan tektek bengek urusan pindahan secara resmi).

Maret lalu, akhirnya saya dipinang kekasih yg sudah sy pacari selama 2 tahunan. Tahun ketiga kami memutuskan menikah dengan pertimbangan sy akan mengikuti suami ke negaranya. Kebetulan suami berasal dari negeri Paman Sam. Setelah berdialog dan berdiskusi, kami memutuskan pindah ke negeri Paman Sam. Bukan karena kurang cinta dengan Jakarta atau negeri sendiri. Buktinya ini si Neng mendadak mellow mengingat awal-awal perjuangan datang ke Jakarta.

Wefie di acara nikahan

Minggu depan rencananya kami akan mendaftarkan nama saya untuk penerima Green Card dengan sponsor dari suami dan keluarganya. Ada kemungkinan kami harus menanti sekitar kurang lebih setahun sebelum mendapat izin tersebut.

Mohon doanya ya teman-teman. Semoga prosesnya bisa lebih cepat dan semoga si Neng bersemangat menjelajahi Paman Sam..eh negerinya ya..bukan orangnya.

Sorry ya agak nyampah..maklum agak2 mellow mikirin ninggalin zona nyaman padahal masih lama hehe.

Weekend Trip to Bandung with Best Friend

2 months ago on New Year, me and my best friend decided to go on a trip to Bandung. We are usually more of a suitcase traveler, but this time we wanted to try backpack travel style. I organized the hotel and my friend organized the transportation.


Transportation;

We decided to go to Bandung with Baraya Travel from Slipi Petamburan, Jakarta. It only cost us Rp.85.000/person/one way

Accomodation;

First I looked for the place on AirBnB website. We found one that we like. Chez Bon Backpacker Hostel in Braga owned by Pak Bondan, the famous 'maknyus' guy from TV. Then I check pegipegi.com as it turned out the price is cheaper to book using pegipegi.com

Also I found out that we can use a voucher code (that I found from a nice Kaskus agan-agan) and get more discount.

1st Day, tired but happy and excited 

almost empty room

Cost: Rp. 100.000/person/night

It was a bunk bed style and separate room for boys and girls. Our room was pretty big with 8 bunk beds. There were 2 other people when we came in and later on the 2nd day, one bule girl joined us, the rest of the other 2 girls left. It almost feel like we stayed there only the 2 of us most of the time. We stayed there for 3 days 2 nights.

Destinations:

Didn't have a chance to try this Bandros Bus 

FO in Riau

Secret Garden FO in Riau

OTW to Alun-Alun

Alun-Alun, that boy photobombing us

Braga Huiz, a cafe right next to our hostel, took this one on the last day

Outside view from Braga Huiz using Camera 360

Culinary;

I am pretty sure this is what you have been waiting for.

 We were on our way to Ceker Setan Restaurant. We came way too early and they were not open yet. So, we decided to walk around the area and we found this small stall of Seblak. It is as if the Seblak tried calling us to drop by and try it. So, we did and it was sshhhh spicy. Too bad it was way too soupy for me and weak taste of garlic, too spicy, and less salty. So, this one despite how nice looking it was, was a let down.

Ceker Setan Restaurant, a must visit!!!!

Crunchy Ceker Rujak, Crunchy Chicken Feet with Sweet Soury Dip

This was really really good. Love how crunchy it was and yet the spices soaked in nicely in the ceker and the crunchy part. Dip it or not, it was still yummy!!

 We got lost so many times trying to find this Qoedavan store. Their address on the website is slightly misleading. If you wanna look for it, make sure you look for it from Dipati Ukur area, close by UNPAD and look for a sign that says "Tahu Yun Yi", they haven't change the old sign.

In Qoedavan store, you can find a lot of variety of Bandung snacks; mochi ice cream (The best..seriously the best mochi ice cream I have ever tried for only 5k rupiah/each), macaroni, chips or keripik setan, etc

I bought 2 of the macaronies and soon it was all gone. I ordered 2 bigger portions from their BBM and had it deliver to Jakarta also soon it was all gone. Imagine how good it was!!

Instant Seblak

Mie Lidi, childhood favorite snacks

Braga Permai's famous Nasi Goreng Rendang

 Okay! I am a big fan of Nasi Goreng. I love it so much. This is one is like, I met my crush. Seriously good blend of spices and bits of rendang meat inside. Couldn't finished the big portion, took it to the hostel and warm it up for the next morning and it was still delicious. Recommended!!!

I bought this nasi goreng for dinner in Braga Permai. Braga Permai is a historical restaurant that has been there for a very long time. A lot of go there whether they are simply local people spending night out or tourist with a high curiosity for Braga's Colonial Looking Buildings.

Check out their website for more information on their delicious menu.

Braga Huiz's Spagheti Cheese something

We went to Braga Huiz located next door to our hostel on the 2nd night and the morning before we are leaving for Jakarta. They have a unique Colonial interior with a cozy seating arrangement. Most of their foods are probably something that you will find easily in Jakarta with slightly cheaper price.

Location: Jalan Braga No.47, Bandung, Jawa Barat 40111, Indonesia
+62 22 4260791

I ordered this Soft Omelette with Crispy Potato from Braga Huiz

Dessert; Ice Cream Chocolate

I forgot where did I get this picture.

Oleh-oleh for a friend.

The highlight of our trip to Bandung was the food culinary. Everything is super duper cheap in Bandung. Mochi Ice Cream that will cost us 15k rupiah in Jakarta only cost us 5k rupiah/each. We ate like almost 5 of these delicious yummy cold mochi ice cream. The plate full of ceker cost only 35k rupiah, I think. Even in a nice looking restaurant like Braga Permai and Braga Huiz, everything is slightly cheaper than the price in Jakarta.

I forgot how much we spent for shopping and food, but I remember it was all worth it. Definitely going back for more of the mochi, ceker, macaroni, nasi goreng, FO(s), etc.