3.28.2008

Happy Spring Holiday!!

Friday, 28 Mar 08, 8.22am at home

Hellow diary!
Today my parents-in-law are coming!! Yipeee.. my holiday will start soon finally! I'm a bit shy to say that my life is full of holiday. Honestly, what I think of after one holiday is another holiday. Life is too short so we must enjoy the life that He has given to us and see all the creation of His, especially the must-see "7 Wonders of the World", correct? *Good excuse, Abbie!* So far, from the seven, I've only seen Borobudur Temple and The Roman Colosseum, but sadly to say that the new 7 Wonders have just been revised on July 7th 2007 and Borobudur isn't one of them now. It's okay, think positive, yes, please revise it every year or you can also change it to "100 Wonders of the World" so I'll have more things to see for the rest of my life. Life never gets enough, agree?

Today me and my hubby will pick my parents-in-law up from airport by car. This will be our first experience driving a car in Tokyo! Fyi, we're renting a car, not our own car. The reason is because renting a car for 24-hours is still cheaper than taking a one-way bus/train from airport to city! Everything that needs manpower in Japan is super expensive, haizzz..! Anyway, I'm quite nervous although I'm not the one driving. *What does it mean?* We plan to go to other cities; Kawasaki and Yokohama, tomorrow, since we are renting for 1 full day. We must maximumly, I mean, properly use the car, right?

Diary, I'll be away for more than 1 week so don't miss me too much, okay? I'll come back and show you sakura picture in Kyoto, I mean, sakura picture with me in it of course.

See you again, diary. Happy spring holiday!!

-Abbie-

3.26.2008

Mission Possible

Wednesday, 26 Mar 08, 11.48am

Dear little diary,
My mood is good now. I've learned my lesson. Well, it's true that life is a learning process. It's also true that time matures me. Just one day after I wrote my last diary, something unexpected happened. Something spectacular that made me clearly understand what I should do. I hope now my mind and my heart are able to work together as a team.

Yes, I got the job! And I've started my new job now. That 'something spectacular' is not about me getting this job. I just want to write one more testi how I managed to get this job. Once again, God was helping me to get a job besides the slapping-green-tea incident. I got this job, again, from my cell-group friend, another friend. This is the story:

In front of me, my friend told my other Indonesian friend that he needed an Indonesian female who has experience in marketing and can speak Indonesian, English, and Japanese to do a marketing research job. I overheard the conversation. I know my qualifications and I heard the job requirements. I'm Indonesian, I'm female, I have marketing experiences, I can speak Indonesian, I can speak English, but my Japanese is...not so good, I mean, very bad. I was imagining myself confidently raising my hand up and say "It's me.. me.. me..!". Back to reality, I wasn't confident, I kept quiet, just passed by, and left those 2 persons who were busy exchanging phone numbers and email addresses. Around 20 minutes later, I happened to pass by these 2 persons again, they were no longer talking about the job. *You purposely walked here, walked there, and walked back, did you??* Hey, it's not that I purposely walked back! I happened to.. ermm.. get my drink, and ermm.. my drink was just very near to where they were standing! Then, suddenly that person said 'hi' and 'how are you doing?' to me and we started our conversation. He was asking about what I did, what I do, and what I wanna do. I never thought about that job anymore when I was honestly answering those questions. And suddenly he *piakk!* slapped his own head and kicked the floor 3 times and said "I was sooo stupid!!", and I was sooo shocked! Then, he asked my mobile number and.. that's how I managed to get the interview. I was telling him that "I can't speak Japanese" and easily he said "That's okay!!".

You see, sometimes we feel that we know something is gonna be this way or that way. We feel that we are able to judge something with our limited brains. We feel that we're smart enough to predict something that is actually unpredictable. We're not confident enough to start the steps although we know that God is with us. *Still you can't confidently say "It's me.. me.. me!!" lahh.* Anyway, the message of the story is: Only God can change impossible becoming possible!

-Abbie-

3.19.2008

My Heart.. My Mind..

Wednesday, 19 Mar 08, 1.41pm at home

Dearest my diary,
My mood now isn't too good. Honestly, I'm also not sure about my own feeling and my own thought.
Am I wrong?
Am I not wrong?
Am I right?
Am I not right?

I know what's wrong and what's right.
I know what I should do and what I should not do.
I also know what I must do and what I must not do.
My mind can understand everything very clearly, clearer than what you can imagine!
But, it seems that my heart and my mind can't synchronize well.

What do you want now, Abbie??!!
I'm not sure if I know what I want and what I don't want.
I'm not sure if I know what I need and what I don't need.
If I know what I want and what I need, why do I have to be so unhappy when someone gives it to me?
If I know what I don't want and what I don't need, why do I have to expect it so much?

I guess, what I need now is just time.
Time will mature me.
Time will prove me.
Time will accompany me.
So sorry.. to you, yes, you!

Confused with my story? Not clear? Blur? Dunno what I'm talking about? Don't ask me. I also dunno.

-Sad Abbie-

3.18.2008

Only HE Knows the Perfect Time for Us!

Tuesday, 18 Mar 08, 11.05am at home

Good day, diary!
I'm cooking beef rendang now, while waiting for the meats cooked, I'm writing my diary. Suddenly I have the mood to write because I remembered the incident happened last Friday when I was buying shinkansen tickets to Kyoto.

My schedule last Friday was I needed to go to 3 different places:
1. Post Office to settle some letter issues
2. Tokyo Station to buy tickets
3. Minami Tsunamachi for weekly groceries shopping
I brought an umbrella, a big travel bag, and a fold-able trolley which I put inside my big black backpack. This is my groceries shopping 'uniform'. After finishing my issue in post office, the rain started to fall. I opened up my umbrella. I should get the money from ATM first to buy the tickets before going to Tokyo station. But, because of the rain, I was lazy to go to ATM which was actually just across the street. I went straight to the Tokyo station with a hope that I would find an ATM there. ATM should be anywhere all over the town, rite?

After I reached Tokyo station by train, I thought that I wouldn't go out from the station. So, just buy the tickets and go, therefore I wouldn't need to pay the train fare from my home to the Tokyo station. *Stingy!!* Hush! I went to Tokyo station many times before but I couldn't believe that this station was so BIGGG!! I was searching for the ATM inside the station but couldn't find any. After asking the information center, there was finally one ATM in the corner. But, my card couldn't be used to withdraw money! I don't know why, I don't know how, and I don't wanna know now.

I saw the shinkansen ticket office was just over there, in front of my eyes! I regretted so much that I didn't withdraw the money from the ATM near post office! Then, I decided to go out from the station and find ATM outside the building. I didn't care about saving the small money of the train fare anymore, I had walked for 1 hour with heavy bag on my back!

At that time, I was in the center of the building. The Marunochi central exit was just on my left, very near to where I stood. Yaesu central exit was on my right, very far. At that time I could say that 'stupid-me' chose to go out from Yaesu central exit, which was very far from my postition. *Come on, ATM is everywhere! You purposely want to walk around?* Hey, I had walked enough, okay? Anyway, I had to walk soooo long before finally finding the exit. The rain was falling very very very heavily outside at that time. I didn't know the whereabout the ATM. I just walked under the heavy rain and suddenly I saw my bank just in front of me! Not just the ATM, but the bank! Well, I just needed to withdraw quite a bit of my money, not my whole deposit. But, I started to feel that God gave me more than what I needed! First mission was accomplished!

Then, I went back to the station again. I entered any entrance door nearest from the bank (there are lotss of entrance doors) and started to walk and walk and walk till I finally saw THE SHINKANSEN TICKET OFFICE. Good, I started to queue. While queuing, my eyes saw TOKAI TOUR TICKET OFFICE right in front of where I queued. Suddenly I remembered something written in online forum when I was searching how to buy shinkansen ticket to Kyoto:
"You can buy cheap shinkansen ticket to Kyoto only at Tokai Tour Office. Normal price is Y13,750, in Tokai Tour you can buy the ticket at Y9,800 only. The office is very hard to find since it's just small office. Please find the map here"

I completely forgot about Tokai and about printing the map. But, I could find it!! I went straight to the Tokai Office and bought the tickets with cheap price! I realized something, this is His purpose to let me find the ATM outside the station. Without me going outside, I would never find the Tokai office.

Do you know what's the message of the story? Don't ever feel down, although the process is painful but everything is beautiful in His time. Just be patient, He's with us always even in sad times when we feel that He's not with us. Only He knows the perfect time for us, we never know!

Well, this is just very simple testimonial of mine. Nothing to show off. But.. I guess.. you know.. what I mean is.. yes.. that's it! Blessing is blessing, nothing big, nothing small!

-Abbie-

3.17.2008

Spring is coming soon!!

Monday, 17 Mar 08, 10.41am at home

Dear Little Diary,
Today is Monday, the day that all the people in the world hate most. 'Mondai' in Japanese means 'problem'. Easy to remember, rite? Yes, that's how I managed to remember this word.

Anyway, spring is coming soon. Cherry blossom season (Sakura) is also coming soon. Some of the trees near my home have already had sakura. Oh I can't believe I can enjoy the sakura here in Japan. It's been my dream since I was so young to see sakura with my own eyes *Of course! How can you see it not with your own eyes?* This Thursday is Japan public holiday since we are celebrating the official first day of Spring season declared by Japan government.

I just realised how wonderful God's creature is. Read carefully:
- When I first came to my current neighborhood in summer, I never paid attention about the trees near my home. All the trees looked green, full of leaves, no flower, and normal.
- When autumn came, the leaves of the same trees turned to yellow/orange/red. I still thought that's normal.
- When winter came, the leaves all fell, only the dark brown branches left. This makes sense.
- Now spring is coming soon, the same trees have started to bloom but still leaves-less! How can a tree without leaves have flowers?? Somemore, it's not just the normal flower, it's sakura!! I never expected that the green dull normal trees that I saw during summer turn out to be sakura trees in spring! How can the same trees change to 4 different types of trees during 4 different seasons?

Ok, enough about the tree. Enough about sakura. Enough about the spring. Now about me. My current mood are shopping mood and holiday mood. *How about cooking mood? No more?* My parents-in-law are coming in 2 weeks time and I'm now preparing for the trip to Kyoto/Osaka/Kobe/Nara. *Other update?* I just got the job, yes, that 'green-tea-incident' job. *More update?* Ermm.. my right arm was a bit strained since 2 days ago. I'm still fine doing the houseworks as long as the things are in front of me. I mean, I can't stretch my right hand to the back. It's better than if I can't stretch my arm to the front, rite? In that case, I'll need to do the dish-washing, cooking, doing make-up, and writing diary from the back of mine?? That's why, I'm still thankful even though my arm was painfully strained. I don't know how it happened. It didn't happen in the morning after I woke up, so I can't blame my sleeping pose which was not right. It happened suddenly in the afternoon after cooking and showering, it has become like that. *Anymore update?* Eh? What? Me? What?

-Abbie-

3.15.2008

Animal-Sausages

Saturday, 15 Mar 08, 12.42pm at home

Happy Saturday, my diary..
Can you see the picture of my sausages? Cute, aren't they? Honestly, they are not the real animal-sausages. They are fridge magnets, imitation of the real animal-sausages. We can actually make ourselves from real sausages if we want.

This morning I woke up, suddenly I got the mood of taking picture of my 'piaraan'. So, here the picture is. They look sleepy coz I woke them up early in the morning, so sorry..

-Abbie-

3.14.2008

"Love in Heaven"

Friday, 14 Mar 08, 10.33am at home

Hi my lil diary,
It's a cloudy day this morning. Cloudy. Cloudy is also my current feeling. My both eyes are swollen now. My pillow is wet. It's because I was crying wholeheartedly this whole morning for about 2 hours. Yes, it's exactly 2 hours, I had been crying while watching the last 2 episodes of my Korean drama "Love in Heaven". Phew, I'm so tired.

This drama has been my life and my family for the last 3 months. It's a 85 episodes series. I just finished the whole 85 episodes. I always watched this drama especially during my lunch time, after I get up from bed, and before going to bed. I feel like having a family gathering (satu paket komplit with mother, father, brother, sister, and grandmas). The feeling is like eating together with "Love in Heaven" family members, saying 'good morning' to them in the morning, and saying 'good nite' when the bed time comes.

Now you know why I cried this morning, rite?
1. Firstly, because I was watching the last episode this morning and I knew that it's the time to say 'sayonara' to them.
2. Secondly, the last episode is the climax of the story. This is the most crucial time when every producer of the drama expects us to cry with all the power we have. So, just cry lah, it's the correct time to cry, everybody cries at this moment, why shy?
3. Thirdly, in the drama, there're moments when the mother and daughter reunited after having separated for almost 30 years. *Well well, typical korean story, you're still crying for this kind of old story?* There are touching moments between man and woman, there are touching moments between parents and the children. Last time, I used to cry when there's story when a man and a woman who love each other are separated. Now, I only cry when the parents are being separated from the kids. Age does change my mindset! Or my loneliness without family here has changed my heart? I don't know, bu zhidao, wakaranai, mbulayo, mbohh lahh...

My feeling is better now. I'm now chatting with my sistah, and I know that I won't be lonely even my "Love in Heaven" family members all left me. Now, I'm back to reality. Unni (sister), I miss youuu!!! *After Unni Ja kyung in "Love in Heaven" left you, now you're looking for your real Unni?*

-Abbie-

3.11.2008

Woman's Walking Style Determines Her Characteristics?

Tuesday, 11 Mar 08, 11.06am at home

Morning Diary,
Today is a sunny day, the outside temperature is already 19 degree Celcius! It's a perfect time to traveling actually. But, today I prefer to enjoy the weather at home. I just got an email from my friend, it's about how we can determine a woman's personality from how she walks. Unfortunately, the explanation is in Indonesian. Sometimes, the meaning is funnier if written in Indonesian :)

Tips dari Kanjeng Pengeran Candu, Menurutnya setiap gerakan wanita ketika berjalan melambangkan keperibadiannya.

1. Bila berjalan, dari belakang kelihatan seperti tidak memijak tanah.
Golongan wanita yang jalannya berginjat, konon wanita ini adalah wanita yang tidak jujur, bila berbohong, mulutnya laser dan menyinggung perasaan orang lain. Wanita yang berjalan seperti ini juga terkenal dengan sikap egonya. Lebih parah, wanita ini biasanya pemboros atau suka membazir uang tanpa berpikir sebelum berbelanja. Padahal, uangnya itu masih banyak kegunaannya. Tapi jangan berkecil hati, kerana wanita seperti ini biasanya menjadi pujaan lelaki.

2. Bila berjalan, sering menoleh ke kanan and kiri.
Wanita seperti ini biasanya pandai menyimpan rahsia. Walaupun ramai yang menganggap wanita seperti ini tidak jujur, suka menipu teman sendiri, dan merugikan temannya, namun, byk lelaki yang berusaha untuk menaklukan hatinya. Konon wanita seperti ini senang diatur.

3. Bila berjalan, suka menunduk.
Cara berjalan melambangkan wanita seperti ini memiliki sifat yang tertutup. Ia hanya akan berbicara dengan orang-orang yang dekat dengannya dan dpt dipercaya untuk menyimpan rahasianya. Wanita seperti ini biasanya sukar untuk ditakluk hatinya. Disamping sikapnya yang dingin, wanita seperti ini tidak peduli dengan kehidupan cinta. Namun, jika ada lelaki yang berhasil menawan hatinya, dijamin akan mendapat kebahagiaan. Sebab, wanita jenis ini sangat setia, dan dia tidak akan mengkhianati lelaki yang dicintainya.

4. Bila berjalan, menatap lurus ke depan.
Wanita seperti ini biasanya memiliki pendirian yang teguh. Jangan sekali-sekali menentang apa yang pernah dikatakannya, jika anda tidak mau mendengar dia bicara panjang lebar. Meski pendiriannya teguh,tapi selalu berselisih pendapat. Jangan heran jika wanita seperti ini hanya mau bicara dengan orang yang berpengetahuan luas.

5. Bila berjalan, badan tampak tegak.
Wanita ini tegas menentukan sikapnya sendiri. Dia tidak mau urusan pribadinya dicampuri orang lain. Gaya bicaranya serius, menunjukkan dia memiliki pendirian teguh. Yang menarik dari wanita ini, ia bertanggungjawap terhadap apa yang pernah dilakukannya. Dia menyenangi lelaki yang mandiri tanpa meninggalkan sifat-sifat romantisnya.

After reading the 5 woman's walking style above, I spent 5 seconds to analyse how I walk. These are what I found out:
- Aku berjalan berjingkat-jingkat seperti tidak menginjak tanah pada saat memakai sepatu hak tinggi karena memang sangat susah menginjak tanah dengan menggunakan seluruh telapak kaki dengan sepatu hak tinggi kecuali pada saat berjalan di atas pasir atau salju.
- Aku berjalan sambil menoleh kanan kiri pada saat windows shopping, pada saat tersesat, dan pada saat menyeberang.
- Aku berjalan menunduk akhir2 ini terutama pada saat turun tangga karena trauma jatuh dan retak kaki lagi.
- Aku berjalan dengan menatap lurus ke depan (dengan pandangan kosong) tanpa mempedulikan kanan kiri pada saat melamun atau ngantuk.
- Aku berjalan dengan badan tegak pada pagi hari (jika cukup tidurnya) dan pada saat abis belanja menggendong ransel berisi beras 5kg.

In conclusion, I don't have any specific walking style. Does it mean that my characteristic is also undetermined? Hmm, I also think so, I'm quite flexible person, I can adjust myself to fit to anything around me.. like a tokek that turns green near green leaves, like a kepompong that changes its house easily whenever it finds bigger house, and like me who can finish the whatever food provided on my plate! Do you think that my 3 illustrations are not related to the topic? Got you! I'm just testing you if you notice that hahahaha *alahhhh.. bilang aja gak bisa cari yg nyambung* Hush!

Ok, gotta go now.. I mean, I'm going to go to my kitchen to practice my new recipes! ^_^ *Alamak, do you realise that at least the last 5 posts are all about cooking? Can you say something else rather than cooking and cooking and cooking??* I didn't say 'cooking' this time, I said 'practicing my new recipes'. Is that fine now, diary?

-Abbie-

3.07.2008

Another Silly Clumsy Stupid Me

Friday, 7 Mar 08, 7.41pm at home

Dear Diary,
Today I just got a job interview. When I was focusing on my cooking skill and wasn't thinking about the job and career, it came just like that. Things that we never predicted and thought will be provided by Him! Well, at least He gave me a chance but it's up to me if I will grab it or not. I'm saying this because I don't think I performed good today.

It was running smoothly in the beginning, I could answer all the questions confidently and 'I-believe'-correctly, till a silly stupid clumsy small incident happened! My hand accidentally slapped a glass on the table! My interviewer quickly took some tissues on the table to dry the table while saying "It's okay.. it's okay". Of course I also took some tissues and helped him drying the table while saying "I'm sorry.. I'm sorry". What else can I say? At the next seconds, we were busy drying the table together. If I watch this kind of incident in the Korean drama episode 1, I will just make a short-sengek-smile and easily can guess that it must be the beginning of the special relationship between the boss and the employee. Unfortunately, it happened in a real life, it happened to my life, and I felt soooooo embarrassed!!! After that, he poured another glass of green tea for me AGAIN and gave me his name card AGAIN since I've wet his first name card that he gave me! I hoped that I was daydreaming, you know, sometimes I'm imagining something very funny and smiling by myself and saying 'Thanks God it's not happening to me' by myself. But, this time is not my imagination! It was too REAL till I could feel my hand was wet of green tea!

You know what, I'll surely choose "Truth" and tell this story if I have chance to play "Truth or Dare" in the future. I kept saying sorry and really wanted to hide inside my blanket at that time. But, as a responsible adult, I faced this embarrassing reality calmly because I know that I've put thick-enough make-up today. For me, wearing make-up is like wearing a mask. So, people don't know my real face. If you don't agree with me, let me ask you; if you happen to go to an open bathroom and you're only given one piece of 30x30cm towel, which part of your body will you cover? If I'm in this situation, my answer is: I'll just use the towel to cover my face! End of the story.

Anyway, now I'm still waiting for the result. Only God can help me in this kind of situation. Whatever it is, I'll gladly receive it! Really..

-Abbie-

3.06.2008

Cooking.. cooking! *Again?*

Thursday, 6 Mar 08, 10.31am at home

Hi My Little Diary,

Cooking..cooking..cooking!! Cooking has become my life now. Wow, today is already in the month of March! I still can remember how we passed the New Year 2008 and now is already more than 2 months after new year! How I passed my time since New Year? Well, now I've been busy with my cooking course and practicing the recipes at home. Below are the menu that I've learned since last week :)

Crab Croquette + Shrimp Pilaf + Salad with Tuna Sauce + Onion Soup + Orange Pudding

Ham Spaghetti + Chicken Tomato + Salad with Carrots Wine Sauce + Ice Cream Wrapped

Strawberry Tart

-Abbie-