Departure

Ini adalah kali pertama gw pergi keluar negeri dan harus bener2 mikir sendiri soal ngurus2 administrasi di airport. I'm a bit nervous, takut ada apa2 yang bikin gw gak bisa pergi aja. But actually, it's pretty easy and simple, I can give you some tips..

1. Gw naik Malaysia Airlines k Beijing, transit di KL and I really recommend this. I take the promo ticket, economy class, and it only costs me 417 USD for 2 ways ticket, mesennya sebulan sebelumnya. Sebenernya bisa 402 USD kalo mesennya online. Kantornya ada di Jl. Sunda, belakang Pasar Kosambi. Bisa tanya nomer telponnya ke 108.
2. MA departurenya di Gate 2D, depart untuk penerbangan internasional harus 2 jam sebelum keberangkatan yah... cek juga di check in board harus check in di loket berapa
3. Selalu sedia uang rupiah utk airport tax dll. I have to pay Rp.150.000,- for the airport tax
4. Maximum load bwt bawaan 20 kg. 30an kg boleh tapi utk kepentingan sekolah, exchange, dll, dan harus nunjukin surat undangan dllnya
5. I don't have to pay for the fiskal since I have NPWP. Utk dapet fiskal, tgl bawa paspor dan kartu NPWP ke loket fiskal. Udah gitu, langsuung deeh... bisa masuk ke gate bwt ke departure room.
6. Put your passport, ticket, NPWP, ID card, Invitation Letter, Contact Number, dll di satu tempat. Jadinya gampang ditemuinnya. Soalnya, di pesawat bakal sering ngeluarin passport bwt ngisi2 form dll
7. Perjalanan ke Cina makan waktu 6 jam, jadi mending bawa bacaan. Anyway, there are some cool book stores in KL Airport,, worth to check

I hope that may help,cheers!

CONFIDENTIAL

FOR NOW PICTURES ARE NOT AVAILABLE, BECAUSE BLOGGER IS BLOCKED BY THE CHINESE GOVERNMENT
I WILL FIND A WAY TO UPLOAD SOME COOL PICTURES. YES, I CERTAINLY WILL.
THANX FOR VTUNNEL FOR MAKING ME GO THIS FAR, APPRECIATE IT A LOT.

PICTURES WILL SOON AVAILABLE.

PROMISE,
MUTHIE

10 Sept 09 part II (Beijing... wo lai le)

(Gw n Putu foto2 d koridor hotel bak org Indonesia udik pada umumnya)

Putu and I arrived in Beijing International Airport at 3.05 PM which is faster than it’s scheduled. During our landing, we watched video about health-security check, that if we seem to be sick, we’ll gonna be quarantined, and if we’re not getting better, we will be sent home. Okay, I’m glad that I was feeling so fine. We had our temperature checked, because Chinese Government seems to be really afraid that we are bringing something harmful for their citizen.

We didn’t have any problem. We are being picked by an AIESECer named Stella, she brought a paper with “AIESEC” written on it. We also met Nguyet (it’s read Nguit), our first trainee friend, she came from Vietnam, and she will be working in Da Lian.

Our hotel named the B&B Inn. It was really close from the UIBE and it was pretty cool. The room is nice and clean, the officers are nice and helpful, even though they can’t speak English well. Anyway, after several hours we’re picked by Sara Chung and one other AIESECer and then we met another trainees. They are Slava from Russia, and Carey from Canada. We went to a barbeque restaurant where they sell meats, bread, vegetables, all turned into barbeque.

Sebenernya sih menurut gw gak terlalu enak nih makanannya. Gak berasa kalo dibanding makanan Indonesia. Bumbunya kayak cuma minyak wijen, garem, sama apaaa gitu. Gak jelas deh. Pokoknya gak enak rasanya, heheu. Nama restorannya gw gak tw, bis pake tulisan Cina, pokoknya deket UIBE. Tapi emang murah sih, satu tusuk Cuma 1- 3 Yuan. Ow yah… I definitely don’t eat pork. Jenis dagingnya banyak kok, ada ayam, sapi, domba, trus ada juga yg aneh2 kayak kepompong ulet sutra.

Nah, ternyata yah… Chinese people makannya banyak banget booo… qta ber Sembilan belas lah… mesennya nggak tau berapa ratus tusuk. Pokoknya perasaan gw banyaaaaaaakkk bgt dah. But I only paid for 11 Yuan, soalnya ½ nya dibayarin ma MC. Hehehuuu lumayan.

Nah, terusan… they serve really hot water. Almost boiling water. It’s actually because the weather is cold outside, so it must be comfortable for them to drink hot water. Okay, that’s an idea…

After dinner, we went to the National Stadium, it's where the last Olympic games are held. We took the subway, which is i really like the most. The system is so easy and sophisticated, that even if the officers can't speak English so we can't really ask them, we won't get lost anyway.

(Ki-ka: Gw, Dom, Putu, Fani, Slava)

The Olympic Stadium is located near Beichen East Rd, we only have to change 2 times of subway (Gw lupa, naik yang tujuannya kemana n line berapa, maklum msi cengok ngeliatin subway hahahah).

What can I say about Olympic Stadium... um... it's a really nice place to take pictures. There are so many The building construction is really great. Chinese government really put a lot of effort to build and maintain it.

We went to the National Stadium with an AIESECer named Joey, and he's so tight with schedule >.<
But anyway... we did make cool pictures and have fun. Thanx Joey...

(ini si Joey)

10 Sept 09 part I (I haven't even depart, but my adventure is already begin)

Gw punya habit yang jelek belakangan ini, habit yang bikin stress doang sebenernya, but I cant really help to have it anyway. Habit itu adalah… iri. Dan gak sabar juga sebenernya. Kenapa gw sampe bisa punya bad feelings kayak gitu… I have a good reason.

I have big passion about my future. I really think seriously, maybe a bit obsessed, about two things, which are:
1. Live financially independent
2. Make my parents proud

Saat ini, gw ngerasa susah banget mewujudkan 2 hal itu and it stress me a lot. Gw iri sama siapapun yang udah bisa ngelakuin itu sekarang. Iri banget! Belakangan gw mikir kalau iri berarti gak bersyukur, karena everyone’s got their own luck, dan sebenernya gw gak boleh iri sama apa yg didapetin sama orang lain, karena gw punya rejeki sendiri. Okay, then I started to feel a bit relax.

Tapiiii… di Bandara Soekarno- Hatta, menjelang berancut ke Beijing gw ketemu cobaan pertama yang bikin gw goyah bwt gak iri sama orang lain. Ceritanya gini…

Gw ketemu tmen SMA gw, Mr. Tunggul Bhirawa yang berasal dari Kudus dan juga baru lulus, dy dari ITB tapinya. Tunggul is one of my smartest friends, dan waktu kelas 1 SMA dy lah yang banyak ngajarin gw Fisika n Matematika (it’s not working, though, I’m an exact dummy). Oke, kira- kira udah 4 taunlah gw gak ktemu Tunggul, sejak lulus SMA. Nah, Tunggul ternyata mau ke Taiwan karena dapet beasiswa S2 di Chang Gong University. Kita ternyata naik flight yang sama bwt transit di KL. After 4 years… qta ketemu lagi waktu mw bareng- bareng ke luar negeri, what a coincidence kan?
No, I believe there’s no such thing as coincidence. God is telling me something.

Tunggul dianter sama keluarga, tmen- tmen, n surprise… his fiancée, Lina. Jadi mereka baru aja tunangan gitu minggu kemaren, setelah 4 taun pacaran. Ah yes, they do have their real engagement rings, so cute… Ngerti kan kenapa gw iri?
Graduate + Scholarship + Engagement = WHAT A LIFE, KAAAAANNN??
Tunggul officially has everything that I want to have right now.

Congrats yhaaa Tunggul n Linaa!! Semoga diberkahi Allah dan bisa lanjut jadi keluarga yang sakinah, mawahdah dan warahmah, amin!
I really envy you guys
Oh, I mean I really really really envy you guys
Well, I mean I really really really really really envy you guys
*mulai lebay heheheu…

Pernah denger teori kalau hidup manusia itu dibagi jadi 3 aspek? Education, Career, Love. Katanya, gak mungkin seseorang bisa sukses di ketiganya dalam satu waktu. Nah, Tunggul mematahkan hukum itu. He’s successful in every aspect of his life… salut banget! Nah, ngerti kan kenapa gw iri? Hahahah…

But well, I believe that if Tunggul can do it, then I can do it too.
Jadi… kesimpulan dari cerita ini adalah…
1. Gw tetep gak boleh iri, seheboh apapun keadaan orang yg gw temuin
2. Good things happen to good people

Jadi sekarang… Gw akan lakukan yang terbaik yang bisa gw lakukan detik ini, bwt dapetin karir yang baik; yang gw mau, dan dapet pasangan yang baik juga. Hahahah… yeah dude, that life-partner matter is a really serious matter for me.

Well ok… that’s only a little muse, I’ll write again later
Cheers!
Next Destination: Erasmus Mundus
Insya Allah… 

China… one of my dreamlands

I have many dreams, one of them is being in places that I want to be. I don’t have any specific reason why I want to visit those places, but to state them as my dreamlands gives me energy to find any way possible to reach them. I mean, in my own way, with my own occasion, not a family trip, vacation, etc.

My first dreamland is Singapore. Haha… so close actually, but Singapore became my dreamland because I really wanted to see the Merlion. I went there in 2006, in AIESEC National Leadership Development Seminar (NLDS).

Ok, Singapore done. Then I dreamed bigger. I wanna go to China. The reason is I really want to visit The Great Wall. That’s a random reason actually. The specific reason is that China is the most developing country in the world, at the moment, and I adore Chinese’s working culture really much. I want to learn from them, including their language.

Again, AIESEC gave me opportunity. This time through AIESEC Global Internship Program (GIP). A program that will help you become an intern in some companies/ NGO abroad so that you can have experience working in a real international environment.

If you wanna know more about AIESEC and AIESEC GIP, you can visit www.aiesec.org or www.aiesecbandung.blogspot.com

For me it’s clear that AIESEC help me quite much to reach my dreams. At least, to give me the self confidence that I can actually dream it, and accomplish it somehow. I think, that’s the most important thing.

Finally, I want to thank AIESEC, and especially AIESEC Bandung, EB team 08/09, Dessy and Yuni- the OGX VPs, Jennilie Orlanda, my family- for unlimited support they always give me, and all my friends- also for their support.

Oh yeah, also for Andrea Hirata, who has noted this powerful quote:

“Bermimpilah, karena Tuhan akan memeluk mimpi- mimpi itu” – Arai

Life is an adventure, enjoy it