29 December 2006

FESTIVAL MINANG







Minggu lalu, temennya Mama ngajakin aku ke Festival Minang di Taman Mini Indonesia Indah. Tentu saja aku gak bisa nolak, ini festival makanan loh, dan yang ngajak juga wanita yang baik hati dan tidak sombong. He he he.
TMII waktu itu penuh sesak, apalagi itu hari Minggu, dan long weekend pula karena besoknya umat Kristiani merayakan Hari Natal. (Selamat Natal ya).
Keluarga besar, pasangan yang lagi jatuh cinta, sekumpulan anak muda…semuanya pada kumpul di sana.
Festivalnya sendiri diadakan di areal Sumatra Barat dengan mengumpulkan hampir semua restauran Padang di Jakarta. Aku kok kurang puas ya dengan festivalnya. Para pesertanya kok cuma memamerkan makanannya tanpa menjual makanan tersebut, padahal aku udah ngiler-ngiler tuh pengen nyobain makanannya he he he. Temennya Mamaku juga sudah menyarankan ke para peserta agar mereka menjual makanannya juga kalau ada festival semacam ini diadakan lagi di TMII. Yah, aku sih cuma berharap agar festival selanjutnya akan lebih baik dari yang ini.
Di festival ini, tentu saja aku foto-foto apa aja yang aku anggap menarik perhatian mataku, mulai dari makanannya, bangunannya, dan segala sesuatu yang lucu-lucu.
Selamat menikmati miniaturnya Kota Padang !!



MINANG FESTIVAL







Last week, a friend of my Mom asked me to go out with her to the Minang Festival in Indonesian Miniature Park (Taman Mini Indonesia Indah). How could I say no to a food festival, especially from a nice woman like her?
The park was crowded as usual; especially the day was the Sunday before the Christmas Day. (Merry Christmas to you all). Big families, two people in romance, and group of teenager…they gathered in the park.
The festival was held in West Sumatra area. It gathered almost all Padang Restaurants in Jakarta. Minang or Padang is the ethnic group from West Sumatra. I was not satisfied enough with the festival itself. The participants only showed off the food without selling them, while I was drooling and hoping to taste the food he he he. A friend of my Mom had suggested them to sell the food too the next time the park holds the festival again. Well, I just hope that the next festival will be so much better than this one.
At the festival, I took some pictures that attracted my eyes, from the food to the premises, and other funny things.
Enjoy Minang !!


28 November 2006

Bakoel Koffie in Bintaro







I was at the grand opening of Bakoel Koffie in Bintaro, South Jakarta. Nice place to have a cup of coffee and to work. Yeah, the cafe provides free internet through wi-fi. Just grab your laptop and browse, baby.

And as usual, nice hospitality of Syeni, Hendra, and the crews. But what attracted me more were the details at the store. So old, so unique, and feels like home. It seems like I sat in an old house back in 1960 something.


10 November 2006

My Movie Lover Friend




Some weeks ago, I got a call from a long time friend of mine who would be transferred to the Big Apple. I had known that as we discussed that through our conversation by phone. That day, when he arrived in Jakarta before his flight to the Big Apple, he asked me to come to a place for a farewell meeting.

And what happened next? He inherited me with tons of stuffs. Some of them are his DVDs.

Hmmm, will I have the chance to watch all of these DVDs? Yeah, you movie freak!

Dear my movie lover friend, thanks for the gifts. I wonder why we never discuss the movies during our friendship? Why we always talk about things that I do not like? Well, I never tell you this, but that is the real feeling of me. Hmm, it is already late, is it?


09 January 2006

Sleeping under the sky

A : Why don’t you sleep? You said that you were sleepy.

B : Yes, already. All I need to do is to close my laptop, lie down and close my eyes. Sleeping under the sky and the stars.

A : What? Sleeping under the sky? Are you sure?

B : Yes, it is true.

It was a conversation between me and a friend who works in Aceh, a place where Tsunami landed.

From here, then I remember that I ever tasted sleeping under the sky for just one night. This happened when I joined the outbound training in a place near a mountain outside of Jakarta. I was a bad girl as I did not want to sleep in a provided tent. I choose to sleep outside of the tent and enjoyed the coldness of the night, the beauty of the moonlight that surrounded by the light of the stars, and the melody of natural orchestra that was played by the choir of crickets and frogs. That night was beautiful. At least, that time I realize that God always creates something beautiful which we sometimes never realize that. In the middle of Jakarta, which I always stuck in the traffic jam and the crowd of people, would I realize the beauty of the night from my home? Well, I do too much of activities that I forget to make love with Mother Nature.

From here too, I then thought more about this activity of sleeping under the sky. What I did was just for one night only. My brain said that if it happened for just one night only, it is cool as sometimes we need to find different situation, but if sleeping under the sky is a part of the situation and condition just like what happened to my friend, how should I face it? From there, my mind then travels to other unlucky humans that have such situation and condition where they should sleep under the sky, such as the beggars, those who do not have house, etc. Well, my heart cries to think about how much pain they need to suffer, how they should fight the coldness of the night, the heavy rain and the hotness of the sunlight.

Finally, I can only thank God that I still have a place to live where it protects me from bad things. I also need to thank God that my condition is not that bad. At least, my condition is better than those who live on the street and it is all because God has provided things enough for me. Thanks, God, for everything. Amen.
Cheers,
Astrid

Tidur di bawah langit

A : Udah sana, tidur gih. Katanya ngantuk.

B : Iya, udah nih. Tinggal nutup laptop, berbaring dan memejamkan mata. Tidur di bawah langit dan bintang.

A : Hah, tidur di bawah langit? Yang bener?

B : Iya, beneran.



Itulah sekilas percakapan antara saya dan seorang teman yang sekarang sedang ditugaskan di salah satu tempat bencana Tsunami berlabuh, yaitu Aceh.

Dari sini saya kok jadi teringat bahwa saya pun pernah mencicipi tidur di bawah langit semalam saja. Ini terjadi ketika ada acara outbound di salah satu tempat pegunungan di luar kota Jakarta. Saya memang bandel banget waktu itu karena tidak mau tidur di salah satu tenda yang telah disediakan. Saya lebih memilih untuk tidur di luar tenda dan menikmati dinginnya malam, indahnya sinar cahaya bulan yang dikelilingi oleh cahaya bintang yang jumlahnya puluhan dan merdunya orkestra alami yang dimainkan oleh paduan suara jangkrik dan kodok. Indah sekali malam itu. Paling tidak, saya waktu itu menyadari bahwa Tuhan selalu menciptakan yang indah yang kadang terlewatkan oleh manusia. Kalau di tengah kota Jakarta yang macet dan hiruk pikuk itu, apakah saya menyadari akan indahnya malam dari dalam rumah saya? Ah, saya ternyata kebanyakan beraktifitas dan lupa bercinta dengan alam.
Dari situ juga, saya kemudian berpikir lebih lanjut tentang aktifitas tidur di bawah langit ini. Apa yang saya kerjakan waktu itu hanya terjadi semalam saja. Pemikiran saya, kalau cuma semalam sih memang enak karena sesekali memang kita harus mencari suasana yang berbeda, tapi kalau tidur di bawah kaki langit itu ternyata dilakukan sebagai bagian dari keadaan dan situasi seperti apa yang terjadi pada teman saya itu, bagaimana ya? Dari situ, pemikiran saya pun mengembara ke para manusia kurang beruntung lainnya yang karena situasi dan kondisi mereka akhirnya harus tidur di bawah langit, seperti para pengemis, orang yang tidak punya rumah, dll. Ah, hati saya pun langsung trenyuh memikirkan itu. Betapa menderitanya mereka yang harus hidup di luar tanpa rumah, bagaimana mereka harus melawan dinginnya malam, derasnya hujan dan teriknya matahari.
Akhirnya saya cuman bisa bersyukur bahwa saya masih mempunyai tempat berlindung dimana saya bisa terhindar dari hal-hal yang tidak baik. Saya pun harus bersyukur bahwa keadaan saya tidak jelek-jelek amat. Paling tidak, keadaan saya lebih baik dari mereka-mereka yang ada di jalanan sana dan ini semuanya karena telah dicukupkan oleh Tuhan. Terima kasih, Tuhan, atas segala-galanya. Amin.
Salam,
Astrid