Lost

I'm famous for always being lost. From Dipati Ukur to Ganesha: lost; from Taman Setiabudi to Karbela: lost. If I have to write down all the time I've been lost, then I guess it will be a damn long list.

My family, especially my father, always worry about me getting lost, especially whenever I went abroad or out of town. But that does not keep me from going to new places alone. Alhamdulillah, so far I still can find the right way. Yes, I was lost... many times... but at the end of the day, I can find the way. Maybe not the best, the straight, the shortest way... But I managed to arrive to the place that I wanted to reach, safe and sound.

But when it comes to life... Who can tell me which way I should go from here? Who can walk me to the place I want to be? I have no map to guide me... My father can't walk me to the place that I want to be. Because I don't even know for real, where I want to be.

So help me God... Cause I'm lost. And I'm lonely.

p.s I don't mean to imitate Angie's subject. But in some part, I guess we share the same feeling.

Sial...

Wee.. sial.. Yolla naro link ke blog saya di bawah kategori:

R.I.P. Blogs

Hehehehe... emang udah lama neh nggak ngisi... (and yes indeed, my blog can be considered dead)
Apakah ini bisa jadi bahan cambukan untuk saya supaya lebih rajin ngisi blog?
Hmmm... sayangnya saya berkulit badak... dicambuk kayak gimana juga nggak kerasa ;)

p.s makasih buat wira yang nggak bosen-bosennya ngasih semangat untuk ngisi blog :)

Holiday is coming! A backpacking tips for dummies :)

For those of you who are still student like me or for those of you who feel quite boring with your work, maybe you can't wait to have your vacation. Do you have a plan already? Well... backpacking is an interesting way to spend your holiday. It's fun, exciting and relatively cheap.

But before going on backpacking, we have to consider several things to prevent our holiday for being a disaster.

Here is some backpacking tips that I can share. But since, using Angie's expression, I'm just a rookie myself, these tips are quite basic... some of you might be able to add some more useful tips. But nevertheless... here are they

Where to go?
This question is very personal. I mean, it really depends on how much time and money do you have, and which places that you want to visit.

If you have decided which place you want to visit, then the next step is to get as much information as possible about that place. The most basic way is to look on internet. Most of the tourism places have their own website that can give you information about all the things that you can see and do there.

But I prefer to check on website that offers travel advice like www.lonelyplanet.com first. A site owned by the official tourism bureau sometimes exaggerate things. I mean, ok it's good to see the oldest church in Venice. But if you have quite limited time, you might want to see other places instead. And also lonely planet offers you some travel itineration according how much time that you have. In that way, you will not miss the most attractive object (except, of course, you already have your own preference)

Also a good idea is to bring a travel guide book. In that case, you can make your trip more flexible. You can always alter your plan at every time instances.



Last but most useful is to ask people who've been there or still there. They usually have a lot of tips and information that are really applicable for you.

So ... that's all for the early preparation. Now I should go back to my crazy Gruendlage Kuenstliche Intelligenz. Huaaahmmm... Booooriiiiing.... :)

Weinachtsmarkt!

Karena masih nggak sempet bikin tulisan baru, jadi saya masukin cerita saya yang pernah di post di blog lain tanggal 12 Desember 2004

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Minggu lalu gue ama temen-temen jalan-jalan di Weihnachtsmarkt-nya Kaiserslautern.

Malem minggu nggak ada gawe :D

Jadi setiap akhir bulan November sampai Natal, di hampir semua kota di Jerman ada yang namanya Weihnachtsmarkt atau Christkindlmarkt atau bahasa Indonesianya sih Pasar Natal (sounds rather funny in Indonesian, isn't it?).

Weihnachtsmarkt ini pada dasarnya mirip bazaar di Indonesia... Ada banyak stand-stand yang ngejual handycrafts dan makanan minuman khas Winter. Karena namanya juga Weihnachtsmarkt - pasar Natal - jadi stand-stand itu pada dihiasin ama lampu-lampu kecil layaknya pohon Natal.

Yang gue seneng dari konsep Weihnachtsmarkt itu adalah selain lampu-lampu hiasan yang bikin suasana winter yang gelap (sometimes even can be depressing) jadi meriah, Weihnachtsmarkt itu juga jadi tempat orang-orang ngumpul ama temen atau keluarga sambil makan-makan dan minum-minum. Believe me or not, hanging with friends or families can make the winter less chilly (and of course, while gathering together they drink Gluhwein, a kind of drink made from wine boiled with some spices like cloves, cinnamon and lemonade... That drink does make them feel warmer... Too bad, that can't be applied for me :(( )


Nyobain Reibekuchen. Hehehehe... Gimana nggak gendut :">

Walaupun nggak bisa minum minuman beralkohol yang bikin badan hangat (can't hardly get coffee or tea, here), kita bisa nyobain makanan-makanan yang dijual disini. Selain Bratwurst - sosis khas Jerman, biasanya terbuat dari daging babi atau daging sapi + babi - yang buat orang sini udah jadi sebagian dari iman (pokoknya kemana pun dan kapan pun kita pergi di Jerman, pasti nemu orang yang jual Bratwurst ini) makanan lain yang dijual di Weihnachtsmarkt ini adalah crepes (standar, sih... tapi lumayan, lah), trus Flammkuchen (makanan khas Jerman yang physically kayak Pizza. Gue nggak pernah nyoba juga... Pake bacon, sih :( ), trus ada juga yang namanya Reibekuchen, 'gorengan' khas Pfalz (daerahnya Kaiserslautern) yang dibuat dari kentang parut trus ditambah tepung dan telur, trus digoreng dan dimakan ama Apfelmus (something like apple jam). Waktu itu gue pertama kalinya nyobain makanan ini... Aneh juga... asin nyampur manis.. :-& Tapi not bad lah.. At least I've ever tried ;)

Tapi sebenernya makanan yang harumnya paling menggoda iman (and luckily, it's halal) kalo kita ke Weihnachtsmarkt adalah Almond panggang (gue lupa bahasa Jermannya apaan... :">). Almond-almond ini nggak cuma dipanggang gitu aja.. Tapi sebelumnya ada yang dilapisin ama campuran butter dan gula, coklat, kayu manis, dll. Can you imagine the smell of roasted nut, combine with the smell of melted butter and caramel and cinnamon? Mmmm... yummy...

Sayang karena keterbatasan dana (makanannya mahal-mahal bo'!) dan mengingat bentuk muka yang semakin bulet aja kayak babi (karena semakin gendut :">) gue nggak bisa nyoba semua makanan-makanan yang ada. But I'm surely will tell you if I get another new experience :)

Merry Christmas!

(Hehehehe... gue lagi ama 'my brother' Akoto)

Pengantar Blog Edisi Bahasa Indonesia

Sebenernya tujuan saya ngebuat blog ini adalah untuk nyeritain pengalaman-pengalaman saya ketika jauh dari keluarga dan temen-temen deket. Ya lumayan kan... jadi nggak usah nyeritain pengalaman yang sama berulang-ulang. Tapi selain dari itu, tujuan saya bikin blog ini adalah untuk belajar menulis dengan baik...

Selama ini saya selalu menulis dengan bahasa campur aduk... bahasa Indonesia dan bahasa Inggris. Tapi terus saya berpikir untuk menjadikan menulis sebagai hobi serius... Siapa tau nanti bisa kerja di majalah wisata, dikirim ke manca negara untuk nulis tentang wisata dan budaya di sana (lupakan tentang Girsanov's Theorem atau semua hal yang berhubungan dengan martingale!). Dan karena mungkin membuat majalah wisata di Indonesia adalah hal yang kurang berprospek cerah, kemungkinan besar saya harus menulis dalam bahasa Inggris. Maka jadilah misi blog saya sebagai tempat untuk latihan menulis dalam bahasa Inggris yang baik dan benar...

Tapi berhubung saya tinggal di negara yang bukan berbahasa Inggris dan teman-teman saya kebanyakan bukan berasal dari negara yang berbahasa Inggris, maka dengan sangat sedih saya mengakui kalau bahasa Inggris saya sekarang ancur-ancuran... (meskipun masih jauh lebih mending dari bahasa Jerman saya). Seringkali susah juga untuk mencari kata-kata yang benar-benar mengekspresikan perasaan saya. Karena itu setiap kali saya punya pengalaman baru, saya malas menuliskannya di blog ini karena ... saya males mikir bahasa Inggris...

Masalah datang ketika teman-teman saya Angie dan Wira, para blogger sejati, menaruh link ke blog saya dari blog mereka. Waduh la ya saya malu toh... Bisa dibayangin kalau orang-orang iseng liat blog saya... Kosong :)

Parahnya lagi, Angie ogah mencabut link ke blog saya.
Alasannya?
"Biar Lulu rajin nulis"... :(

Jadi ya sekarang saya mencoba untuk mulai mengisi blog saya lagi. Belum dengan bahasa Inggris, melainkan dengan bahasa Indonesia.. Murni bahasa Indonesia. Tapi harap maklum jika gaya tulisan saya berubah-ubah... saya memang lagi dalam masa mencari gaya menulis yang paling enak nih...

Astaghfirullah...

Remember my story about the Mathematics International Party?

Today I heard from my friend Faisal, that one of the food that I ate on that party was made of pork! Oh my God... I really didn't know that... Because my friend said that it was chicken meat!!!

Astaghfirullah.... Please forgive my carelessness, ya Allah...

Bapak... ampun, Pakkk... Nggak sengaja...

Party - Part 1, The Food

Today Mathematics International (MI) held a party to celebrate the end of Sommer Deutsch Kurs.

Despite my exam on Monday, I still went to this party. It's not that I'm a party animal or something (in fact, I only went to parties held by MI), but the most important is, I want to try the food! :D

You see, every year when new students come, MI will hold a welcome party. But after the new students finished their Deutsch Kurs, then it's their turn to make a party for the management of MI, Deutsch Kurs teachers, and also other old students. Since the students of MI come from different countries, in this party, each of them presents their traditional food. So for me, this party is very interesting because I can get to know the food from quite a lot of countries (and also, a very important remark: they are free!!! :D) For example, today I ate food from Ethiopia, China, Turkey and also Pakistan.

From Ethiopia, I ate something like a pancake (but I think the best word to describe this food is dadar) with an egg curry (again.. this curry is more like gule) and quark. I expected the pancake to feel sweet, or at least salty, like a normal omelet. But it was totally different! The pancake taste sour! I was quite surprised when I tasted it. And the curry tasted something new. I mean I don't think that I've ever tasted any food with spices like that. It's not the same with the spices used in Indian food or even the spices used in Akoto's food (which come from Ghana).

Well, since this Ethiopian food tasted something new, I'm sorry to say that I didn't really enjoy to eat it. But I really enjoy the fact that I can taste Ethiopian's Food. Maybe I will ask Tadesse, whose lovely wife has kindly cooked for us and who live just one room away from my appartement, what the ingredients and how to cook it. Perhaps he will even give me some of his food ;)

Next... from China. Today they cooked one dishes, but with many variants. I think they applied the same spices for eggs, chicken, beef and pork :D Unfortunately I must say that I prefer the spring roll that Chinesse student presented last year. Again, I felt that the taste of the food is quite new for me. It's not the tipical Chinesse food that I used to eat in Chinesse Restaurant. Aber na ja... Ich probiere noch mal wenn ich eine Chance haette.

Then from Turkey... They presented many kind of salad. I tried one of salad that use Joghurt. Not bad... But the food that I like better is the Couscous. According to Sema, my Turkish friend, Couscous is another kind of wheat. The shape reminds me of the egg of Gold Fish, but it taste quite like rice... I mean I can feel the amylum :D Another food that I tried is rice, covered with the leaves of grape (?) Sorry... I forget what Sema told me. But Sema also told me that usually, they use Spinach. The taste is quite ok... I suspect that they use olive as ingredient.

The last is from Pakistan. For me, this food from Pakistan is the most acceptable food. Maybe because the spices are quite 'familiar' for me and also because the taste is very strong. They cooked something like Nasi Kuning, rice with curry spices and curcuma. But unlike Nasi Kuning, this food use also chilli or ginger. So the taste is quite hot and spicy. And if usually Nasi Kuning use chicken meat, this food from Pakistan use Lamb. Hmmm... tasty... :)

So, those are the new food that I tasted tonight... Quite ruin my diet, though... Aber es ist mir egal... the chance to taste new food from all over the world (and free!) is not happen every day. So I'm happy and full now! :)

Party - Part 2, The Dance

Still from the End of Summer Course Party, Abschluss Feier.

Like always, another important part from this party for most of people is the dance time. Just like any other party.

But damn... I don't like dancing. Especially not when there are many people around. I like to move my body when listening to good music, sometimes do stupid dance (dancing with stupid movement ;p) But I just can't dance together with another people. Even when I was younger, when my sisters dance together, despite I wanted to dance with them, I just can't move my body. My body felt like numb.

Last year I managed not to dance. I dance for only a while, just before went home (because the song was quite good, YMCA).

But this year, Bic told me, "Come on Lulu... You've been here for one year! You should try to dance!"

Actually, my resistance was already weak... so I tried to follow her to the dance floor. Yuhuu!

From what I've seen, I thought dance is easy. I used to think that if I want, I can dance easily. But that's not the case... In fact, eventhough I want, it's quite hard for me to dance... To adjust my dance style with the music and to move my body freely.

The problem is, I know only one dance style... dangdut style. The style where right hand and left hand move forward and backward in turn >:D That style suitable only when the beat is not to fast. But other than that, I have to think for another style... Pfuih... it's not an easy work after all...

But after about half an hour, I decided to go home... I have an exam on Monday... and when I saw Professor Korn attended the party (although only a while), I got quite nervous. So here I am... back in my room... with my notes, sipping a cup of fake Capuccinno and listening to Joni Mitchell singing Both Sides Now and Sarah McLachlan singing about how the World is on Fire.What a contradiction with the party thing. But you know what... I enjoy both party and staying in my room just the same :)