Wedding Prep 101: Persiapan Awal dan To-Do List

Jadi, apa yang terjadi di antara periode pengangguran dan sebelum keberangkatan saya ke Australia? Well, saya menikah! Syukur Alhamdulillah, semuanya berjalan dengan lancar dan sesuai harapan.

Perencanaan pernikahan ini bisa dibilang sekejap, karena hanya dilakukan 6 bulan sebelum  acara berlangsung.

Saat selesai berdiskusi dengan keluarga, saya dan calon suami melakukan brainstorm untuk menentukan konsep serta detail eksekusi.

The Initial Post

Hiya there! What’s up? 

This year life is running even faster than before! Lots of things happened since the last time I posted an entry on this space, and for the sake of giving a background, I'm going to disclose some information before posting other contents.

First and foremost, I’m now unemployed. I ended my 3.5 tenure at the World Agroforestry Centre on October 30^th. Approximately I’ve been without job for 3 months and so far, I’m [still] enjoying it. I’ve been pretty much busy during my recess, specifically because I got a wedding to prepare! Yes, I got married last November, and I intentionally resigned from my post a month before the big day so I can take care of it. 

The Mayo Experience

Mayo diet is perhaps one of the most happening subject since last year. Thanks to social media, the exposure on the issue has been very intense that everybody’s trying it. Everyone’s also buzzing about how it can help you to lose weight in only 13 days. At the same time, people praise it as an effective way to do detoxification, as the diet minimizes carbo and salt intake, whereas requires the person who does it to drink lots of water.

In the past months I’ve seen friends posted their healthy lunch and dinner menu on social media and put #mayodiet hashtag on it. I’ve also noticed specially that there’s been exponential growth of caterers that specialized in healthy meals, including serving the mayo diet. Being a curious person, I have to admit that all those things got me. Besides, I’ve got one fundamental thing that eventually made me give the diet a go: my snacking habit.

First Day in the Netherlands

One grey morning

 So last year I applied for an NFP scholarship to attend a course at RNTC, Hilversum, The Netherlands.

Long story short, my scholarship application was accepted, and here I am, just went through the first week of my stay.

I arrived in Amsterdam on Saturday, May 8th. My flight was set on the previous day with a transit to Kuala Lumpur, before heading to the capital of the Netherlands. 

It was the longest flight I’ve had and it was my first journey to Europe.  I feel ecstatic despite the fact that I know it’s going to be exhausting.

Tentang Kembali ke Sekolah (Bagian 3 - Selesai)

Wawancara (lagi)

Sebulan setelahnya, sebuah email dari Australia Award meniupkan nafas baru untuk kantung harapan saya. Saya, bersama 911 kandidat lainnya, diundang untuk menghadiri wawancara guna memperebutkan 440 beasiswa dari pemerintah Australia. Tidak hanya itu saja, kami juga diundang untuk…. tes IELTS.

Ya Tuhan, not again pleaseeee. Jujur saya agak keder untuk tes IELTS lagi, karena susahnya itu lho T_T.  Anyway, wawancara dan tes IELTS akan dilakukan di awal Januari 2015, dan saya mendapat jatah interview di Makassar.

Tentang Kembali ke Sekolah (Bagian 2)

Akhirnya setelah berpikir sana dan sini, di awal 2013 saya memutuskan: bahwa saya mau sekolah lagi dan ambil jurusan komunikasi atau development practice, di luar negeri, dan harus dengan beasiswa. Harus dengan beasiswa. Sekali lagi, harus dengan beasiswa. Because I can’t afford it if I have to pay it myself and neither my parents.

Ok. langkah pertama adalah punya sertifikasi kemampuan bahasa Inggris. Jujur, saya ngga pernah tes TOEFL atau IELTS sebelumnya, jadi saya bener-bener ngga ngerti prosesnya. However, setelah cari-cari info, akhirnya saya memutuskan untuk ambil tes IELTS, karena diterima di mana saja, walaupun harganya mahal. Selain itu, sedari SMA dulu, saya sudah lebih familiar dengan sistem English kiblat Inggris daripada Amerika.

Sebelum tes, walau sudah punya buku IELTS,  saya tetap memutuskan untuk les intensif di IDP dulu. Ngga pede nih ceritanya, soalnya denger-denger, tesnya tuh susye bener. Juga, investasi biaya tes 2.2 juta akan terasa sia-sia jika hasilnya jelek. Rugi bandar dong.

Tentang Kembali ke Sekolah (Bagian 1)

Dari jaman saya masih kerja di advertising, bapak saya selalu mendorong saya untuk sekolah lagi. Kalau dia kepengennya saya sekolah bisnis, lalu kerja di client side, supaya ilmunya terpakai

 dengan baik. Akan tetapi saya selalu berkeras dan menolak ide tersebut. Bukannya apa-apa, saya ngga merasa fit di bidang advertising, terlebih bisnis. Entah kenapa feeling saya menolaknya, walau memang secara logis, kuliah bisnis akan bermanfaat kalau saya mau berkarir di bidang advertising dan marketing.

Tapi masa sih saya kuliah ambil program yang ngga diapproved oleh hati saya? Itu mah mengkhianati diri dong. Di saat itu, saya lagi santer-santernya bertanya ke diri sendiri tentang karir: Apakah bidang yang saya pilih sudah benar? Apakah advertising memang jalan hidup saya? Apakah saya mau kerja di advertising sampai tua nanti? Semakin saya bertanya, semakin saya galau.

Clean Eating Diet

I'm committing myself to a ten-day clean eating program starting a week from now.

Currently, I'm reading an email about the menu details my purveyor just sent me and I gotta  tell ya that I'm drooling already! I'm feeling very excited too, that I really cannot wait to start the diet!

Frankly speaking, I don't expect to lose weight. However, I hope the diet will help me to better manage my meal consumption in the future.

I will keep you posted on how my body and mood react to the dramatic change :)

All for now.

Chapter Thirty One

Ola! I turned 31 today.
Spent my day mostly in the village where phone signal is non-existent that I only received abundant of wonderful wishes as soon I reached the city this afternoon. Those wishes and prayers made me feel so special and I am blessed to have you guys in my life. Thank you :)

Last night I got an early wish from my nephew who congratulated me for having a birthday the next day. I smiled ear to ear reading the text because it is cute yet so kind.

Earlier today I also received a birthday wish from Mas Jujur Prananto, whom I only met once but ended up communicate pretty constantly until now. It amazes me still, how an instant encounter would lead to years of friendship.

If I may say, being 31 is a blessing, that the Almighty is kind enough to allow me to breathe the air. Yet it is also an alert, to take a better care of myself, to be more focus, and to live more responsibly, as my lifespan is now has shortened a year.

There is no candle blowing ritual, nor festive celebration, nor birthday dinner tonight, just a simple frozen yoghurt and a cup of latte treat for myself. 

Just me and myself. Thinking and thanking.

Happy birthday to me.

A Rough Start

It's a challenging start for 2015 for me, as I am now lying in my bed with a giant-hammer-being-smashed-onto-my-head-like headache. I have also been experiencing fluctuating fever for 3 days in a row. Last night it got worse because I woke up with a severe headache and muscle pain. Before things get even worse, I rushed myself to the ER this morning and got my blood tested.