Snowman and Snowball Fight

Sunday noon 2 PM, after lunch. There is still some piles of snow in the garden and we have got a lot of childhood spirit in us. So let the fight begin!!!



Then Bernd started to roll a snowball, and at the end everybody started to roll as well. Out of those balls we made a 1.90m snowman, a huge one - but cute :) It was the very first time in my life to build a snow man. It was totally exciting.

Snow and Saman

Ok, maybe there is no direct connection between Snow and Saman, except that both start with 'S', but they connected for me. First, today was snowing, in midst of November, could you imagine?! It is actually seldom to have snow in Hamburg, and I was so happy to see the white calm environment, that was created by this beautiful light element. My day started perfectly, woke up with the snow, then the long brunch with my landlord, together with Shen, Gabita and Arturo of course. I tried new slices and liver-paste-with-apple this time.

Another highlight of the day was the cultural performance by KMKI (Indonesian Catholic Students Community) members for celebrating the 50 years jubilaeum of Franziskus-Kolleg. We sang some happy songs:
1. Yamko Rambe Yamko - a song from papua, east part of Indonesia, this one suppose to be a song for someone who goes to battle, but we sing it as if it was a happy one.
2. Ayo Mama - about a teenager and her mama of course
3. Potong Bebek Angsa - about the goose and the duck
4. Mana di Mana - about the lamb hihihi...
5. Butet - a song from Batak people, this one is also about fighting

We also danced Tari Saman, this is a traditional one from Aceh. The one thousand hands dance, some say, because it needs concentration and coordination to do it. I like it, and this was the first time for me to perform it. Joined the practice for three sessions, so two small mistakes were forgiven. I was so glad as we finished, and it was quite well, the audience liked it to - at least I got this impression, because the clapping was quite cheerful :)

Of course apart from us, there were also other musical pieces from some Koreans and Germans, presentations about different countries from multicultural students. At the end the day was closed with the snow. So the connection for Saman and Snow is that both were making my day perfect :)

PS. It was not only fun stuff today, I also learned a bit at Uni Hamburg in the course of SAP in Logistic, where I got to know the Material Management module a bit. Life has to be balance, no? Work and Fun!

Congratulation...

My little sister got her Master degree in PR today. I am so proud of her!
Cool, the little girl is cleverer now :)

Toastmaster

I begin to start a new thing every month now. On October I moved to a house with my best friend Shen - indeed, it is a house, not an appartment. This month's highlight is joining Toastmaster. It is a club to practice public speaking, where one could give a speech and be evaluated professionally by other member(s).

Although I have not had a chance to give the first speech aka. ice breaker speech, I got a good impression about the club. Some speeches are motivating and inspiring, e.g. today by Alex. He told a vivid tale from Afghanistan called:

The Lion and The Pond

There was a lion, living in a jungle. He was thirsty and would like to drink the water from the still pond. But as he peeked over the pond, he saw another lion, a big and strong one. So due to surprise, he went back and cancelled his intention. But then he decided to come back to the pond because of his thirst and he thought if he roared and showed the opponent his teeth, he could scare him and chase him away. But of course the other lion also did the same. At the end he got really thirsty and decided what ever happen, he will just drink from the pond, maybe the other lion would let him in peace. As he dodged his head into the water, there was nothing but the fresh water.

Moral of the story:
1. Often the enemy lays WITHIN oneself, in the fear, laziness, etc.
2. Often the problem that you see is an ILLUSION, there is no problem if you manage to see it from different perspective. Or if there is any, it will go away as soon as you take ACTION.

10 Years Reunion of 98ers @ Comp.Science Fac.- Univ.of Indonesia

What a nice reunion, friends... I miss you all!
PS. some people get a bit chubbier now but Qonit :)

Zugspitze in Spring

I have long wished to be able to stand on the top of Germany. And finally the chance came. Yuli (aka.Kenyo) arranged to go there on May 1-4, 2008. She asked me whether I would like to join, and of course I would. It was beginning of April.

When the time was near, I got sick so often (cold, head ache, gastritis, diarrhea), all indicators for stress becoz of the student project :P I almost cancelled the trip four days before, but luckyly nobody would like to replace me to go there, and therefore I decided to be healthy and go. (life is all about decision, right?) Becoz otherwise, I would miss Zugspitze and wandering in beautiful bavarian green pasteur. It was a right decision, the trip turned out to be sooooo good!!!

Day 0: Wed, Apr 30, 2008
Went with Germany's night train - first time in my life. Could sleep, and it is quite comfy in compare to the night bus trip.

Day 1: Thu, May 1, 2008
The trip members: Kenyo (Jakarta, Uni.Indo, Uni.Emden), Bintari (Jakarta, Uni.Indo, Antwerpen), Jibran (Aceh, Uni.Indo, TU Hamburg), Yohan (Jakarta, Uni.Emden) and David (Padang, Uni.Emden).
As we arrived in Parten Kirchen, we were so hungry, so first plan: eat indomie :D
Then plan the real plan for wandering and how to get to Zugspitze. Since it was too late to go up the mountain on that day, we decided just wandering around near Lake Riesser.
Day one was ended after a glass of wine with our nice neighbours.
Btw. the appartment we rented was really good, complete with all cooking and eating utensils, clean and cheap - 30 Euros for three nights, and... the family which lived downstairs are a mix couple, the husband came from Indonesia and the wife was a german - she could talk indonesian, awesome! So, many thanks to Yohan for finding it.

Day 2: Fri, May 2, 2008
Start wandering from Olympia Skistadion direction Partnachklamm, a preety gorge with many small waterfalls. So glad that I could visit it! This is a must-see if you go to Zugspitze area.
Then continue walking along Partnach river, very beatiful view and the path was also quite flat. With lots of food supply in our bags, good companies to talk to and to laugh with (or sometimes laugh about), it was a perfect wandering for me! Our achievement: Bockhuette @ Reintal (unfortunately, I am not successful in looking for the elevation and the distance).

After wandering for 7 hours (maybe just 4 hours walking and the rest 3 hours were non-distance-adding activities, such as eating, taking hundreds of pictures, or studying the map with the help of our compass - which were very needed too), we then continue to other best part: BBQ with the Kang Asep and Andrea. The meal was good, I guess it is because Kang Asep worked as a cook in a hotel. He was also funny and Andrea was friendly.

Day 3: Sat, May 3, 2008
Finally went up the mountain with a train that ran on two different rails. On the flat ground it ran on normal rail, and on steep slope on the cog railway (Zahnradbahn). Then we took the cable car to go to the top. First we went to the top, but it was foggy, or should I say cloudy, because we were really standing inside the cloud as if we were angels - well, Zugspitze was quite high, 2962 m. Then we had a sip of coffee a the top, before continuing to Zugspitzplatt, which lais 300 m below the summit.
Zugspitzplatt was very full that day, because it was the ski season's last day. But we didn't care, we took pics like crazy, acted as if we never saw snow. So childish, but felt so good!



After that we went down to Lake Eib, took some pics and then bring Bintari to the train station because she departed earlier. On the way back home, we saw a local celebration in Garmisch and got a dinner treat from Jibran at a chinese food restaurant, called Jade. Day three was ended with lots of laughter, I guess I was 'drunk' due to too much tea and "lap pel in javanese".

Day 4: Sun, May 4, 2008
Went home after a delicious breakfast - fried rice with tuna, the house-cleaning procedure, and saying good bye to the nice neighbours, as well as the Emdeners at Munich main train station.

For more pictures:

http://ajibrans.multiply.com/photos/album/4/Garmisch-Partenkirchen_-_Road_to_Riessersee_-_01.05.08

http://ajibrans.multiply.com/photos/album/5/Garmisch-Partenkirchen_-_Road_to_Partnachklamm_-_02.05.08

http://ajibrans.multiply.com/photos/album/6/Garmisch-Partenkirchen_-_Road_to_Zugspitze_-_03.05.08

Special thanks to:
Kenyo - for being such a good organizer for this trip and snack supplier
Yohan - for the hiking routes, the fried rice, findind the cool apartment and becoming our photographer
Bintari - for the indomie and becoming our health counselor. Success for your thesis!
David - for washing the dishes, throwing the garbage and for the 'crispy' jokes.
Jibran - for being a very kind train-trip-chatting-partner and for treating us in the Jade.

Half Day of Bad Luck, Half Day of Good Luck

If you ever think, that it is not your day, for whatever reason, don't stop there. Keep a bit of positive thinking, because you definitely still have the rest of the day to make something out of it. It could bring you good luck if you take the right action. And of course, in that kind of day, maybe it is better to come to your friends, to help you to laugh, to cheer yourself up and see positive side of your problems, and to give you spirit-boost to face the next day happily.

This is my experience on it: yesterday was a weird day, I was sick and in the brink of canceling the weekend-trip to Zugspitze which was arranged two months ago. Lately I was easily getting cold, flu, stomach ache, head ache - it must have came from my stress during the project work, because I don't see any progress after working for a month on it and I missed all the deadline that I scheduled for this project.

Then I checked the transcript for Information & Media Tech. MSc program, and I realized that I missed 0.5 ECTS of the minimum requirement of the class course. And then I checked the other transcript for MBA program, as I saw it, I knew that my current average grade will be lower once the new exam results were printed out.

Then my best friend, Shen, came to have lunch together. She told me her average grade was higher after the new results were printed out. I was happy for her but how come I was at the unlucky side - before we had the very same average, that gave us both the achievement of runner-up for NIT Study Award. "My bad luck is complete today", I thought.

But Shen told me, "Don't worry, just cheer up. You have now half day of bad luck, but you still have another half day for good luck."

OK, then... as I was not successful on concentrating to my project work, I decide to visit my brother, Christian. Actually he is one of my best friends whom I knew from the master program. He twisted his ankle last week and I wanted to visit him. Then we talked about his project work, then about mine. He was the first one, whom I talked to about my topic so deep, about my confusion after reading so many papers that led me nowhere because I thought the knowledge that I had so far was more like islands and I did not know how to bridge those island, I was more or less drown in the middle. But after talking with, I felt more convinced that I could finish the work. It was soo helpful talking with him. He understood my topic generally and regarding my confusion, he suggested some of simple thought:
1. Stop reading now, you have to write down all the things that you told me on paper.
2. Make a mind-map of your current knowledge. Note: I had one but really abandoned currently becuase too many things had not been clear for me.
3. You were not asked to come up with a perfect result on the work, the uni just needed to see whether you could do scientific thinking and writing.

Besides that he also made some suggestion on the work itself. Well, talking with Christian really helped me to move on with the work after some stressful day thinking I would never be able to write 35 pages on the topic. Thank you bro, for making the half of my day! And thank you Shen, for cheering me up.