Humble Brag

We’re just 2 weeks away from the end of 2016. This year has brought bunch of incidents to be upset about and memories to be kept. One of the most devastating is the fact that some precious people of mine are growing apart from each other. These two words might’ve caused that: HUMBLE + BRAG.

No one knows where the phrase came from. No one knows what it means. Well in my opinion....

Humble-Brag = You’re sort of ‘whining’ about something which deep inside you know  or it’s commonly known that the thing you’re ‘whining’ about is something that the society see as a good thing and not everyone has the chance to be in the situation.

And these humble braggers would tell you “I’m just sharing. We all do. Right? I’m not bragging. And most importantly, Im NOT HUMBLE BRAGGING”

Oh whatever. I’m not gonna tell you what’s the meaning of sharing and bragging. Even toddlers would know the difference.

But just for fun, I’m gonna share some examples on what people who are Sharing, Bragging, or Humble Bragging would post.

SHARING : “Should study now. Tomorrow’s final test.” (Said an average student studying abroad, posting a picture of hot chocolate and 3 opened books without giving details on the hot choco brands)

BRAGGING : “OMG getting a MASTER DEGREE is hard. Should study for tomorrow” (Highlighting on the fact that she’s a fancy bitch pursuing master degree, posting picture of her fancy dorm with Bentley inside the room. WHAT)

HUMBLE BRAGGING : “Oh nooo I haven’t studied at all. I’m so gonna fail.” (Said someone who asks and shares a lot in the class. Secretly wishing that someone would say “Oh you’re gonna be fine, you’re smart, you don’t need to study.”)

Sorry for the not so fun examples. But I hope you get what I mean lol.

Be Grateful

Most people working in Jakarta (Unless they choose to reside near their working place (Kosan or Apartment or something), travel for around 2 hours from their house to work, vice versa.

If you live in a smaller city, you might think you're there because you're not capable enough to fill up the position in the headquarter, you might think it will be harder to get any promotion, you might think you miss the metropolitan lifestyle.

FYI, for the third one, you might have, and it's a good thing.

You know why? Because you can have FOUR EXTRA HOURS everyday TO REST compared to those working in Jakarta.

And the luckiest ones of all are : those who work in their hometown.
CAN YOU IMAGINE HOW MUCH MONEY THEY CAN SAVE?
They get to meet their parents and their sisters and their brothers everyday.
They have so many people to help them when they are in trouble.
Still, some of these people might still be jealous of those working in a bigger city, because they don't get the chance to travel. (STOP BEING SO JEALOUS OF PEOPLE WHO CAN TRAVEL ANYWHERE ANYTIME! They have their own burden too!)

There are so many people out there who wish they were you.

And yes you can say "You've never walked in my shoes", YES because some people might not even have a working pair of legs to WALK in anyone's shoes.

Gosh, wherever you are, be grateful.

Wedding Venues in Lampung

After being in a relationship for ALMOST 8 years, my boyfriend did the most NOT romantic proposal by saying "Hey, what date should we get married next year?".

So long story short, during my semester gap, I managed to gather some information of the venues available around Bandar Lampung. No, it is not  an easy thing to do, but here goes the venues pricelist :

Note :

1. If you take wedding package from hotel, you'll still need to find Bridal, Photographer,  extra Decoration, Souvenir, and Invitation Card vendor.

2. If you take the Building only venue, you'll have to find and take care of all the vendors involved in your wedding. 

Short reviews on the Venues I've been to:

1. Hotel Emersia

This is my most favorite venue so far, it has ocean-view rooms, but not the venue. If you want  a venue with ocean-view, it shall be Novotel Hotel, it is not on the list since I knew that last year the rate was Rp.99.000.000,- for 300 Pax. Which back me down. Great thing about Hotel Emersia is that it is a luxurious hotel with reasonable price, Emersia Hotel has 3 kind of wedding package,the difference is in the variations of food stalls, Ruby has 2 variations of food stalls, Sapphire has 4, and Diamond has 6. 

The best thing is that you will have both indoor and outdoor area since the ballroom is located just next to the swimming pool, which means you and your guest will be able to have your pictures taken with natural light by the swimming pool (if your wedding is at noon).

All of those area are yours, unless of course, if some random hotel resident decides to show up with their not so muscular body to the swimming pool (?)

2. Hotel Amalia

I once went to a wedding here. Its venue is a full grass garden, Soka Garden the name is. I loved loved loved it until I realize that January (Spoiler alert) is rainy season, and I remember that when I went to the said wedding, my sister was wearing some sort of WHITE maxi gown and she had dirt on her gown tail, oh PLUS I remember my stilettos was always stuck on the not-so-solid ground.

Outdoor venue wouldn't need too much decorations, because it's naturally beautiful, but your guests might get cranky because the temperature might get super hot and sweaty at noon while if you hold your wedding is at night, you'll lose the beautiful greengrass view and natural light snaps. 

They have a permanent Pelaminan spot with roof, so no need to worry if your wedding is at noon, you'll be the one with the least sweat. But still, you're gonna need lots and lots of portable air-con and/or misty fan,  and of course the black magic to postpone the rain. BUT since you can go easy on the decoration, and they won't charge any of your vendor, you can try to find the cheapest catering, decoration (including flooring for your entrance (30.000/m2 if Im not mistaken)) and air-cooling systems, so that you can  have a beautiful no-stilettos-garden-party there :)

3. Hotel Sahid

It actually has indoor venues too but since the building of the hotel is rustic (I meant OLD), I decided to just check out the outdoor venue a.ka. Garden Cafe + Swimming Pool. It has big trees everywhere so it won't feel as hot as Hotel Amalia. BUT the Cafe Gardeen is not a full grass garden, and I'm afraid that the rooms might not be comfortable enough for us.

4. Hotel Sheraton

Mommy keeps on saying the indoor venue is not big enough, and I keep saying that the outdoor venue might be too hot for a wedding. (I celebrated my 17 birthday at the outdoor area a..k.a swimming pool, but I didn't care abt my make up back then lol). But the outdoor venue is great actually, they have palms and rattan chairs around,and for your Pelaminan, they have a special spot which is a Joglo so you'll be protected from the sun,but not most of your guests.

5. Hotel Horison

Went there for a wedding exhibition, the venue is pretty, but for that price,you might as well have your wedding at Novotel Hotel.

6. 7th Hotel

I went to a friend's wedding here. Torture for the women in high heels since it has only like 10 parking lots inside the hotel (hyperbolic but it felt like it), so the guests have to walk to get to their car outside the hotel, and since the path was meant for car (not for women in heels) and it was slippery, it took me 3 years to get to the car. Oh the hotel has like 4-5 cars to take the guests to the venue and out, but yeah there were maybe like 1000 people on the line.

7. Graha Patimura

The hall was pretty, the ceiling was high, it has beautiful big pillars, and also you can be sure that the food is delicious. Plus their not-so-expensive wedding package is an all in package (inclusive of souvenir and invitation cards as well!), so the bride and the groom shall only just plan for their honeymoon.

8. Graha Wangsa

Charge too much.

9. Lembah Hijau

Pretty but the parking spots might be messy. Also, I believe the indoor venue is meant for small number of guest (200-250), unless if you utilize the outdoor area as well.

For "Building Only"-Venue, I think the most worth it shall be :

1. Graha Mandala : New Building with high ceiling, but it is not on the main road and mommy said the parking lot was hell (?)

2. Yayasan Metta Sarana : It is also a new building with high ceiling and it is also very spacey, BUT its gate is like a vihara since it belongs to a funeral foundation for the tiongkok-descendants if Im not mistaken (?) but the building is so pretty and well-maintained.

3. Graha Purnabakti Pramuka :  I've only seen the venue on the internet since it was too far from my house so I didn't even consider it. But my bf's mom said it is too a great venue and the price is not too high.

4. Masjid Al Furqon.

5. Citra Laguna : This venue is located inside Villa Citra resident, which I just realized DOES NOT HAVE ANY SIGN ON THE ENTRANCE OF THE RESIDENT, and since most of my friends are not from Lampung and might get lost, I take out this venue from my list. But, yea, the swimming pool area is pretty awesome (and super hot since I went there at 1 pm), but the indoor area next to the swimming pool has a low ceiling. While as beautiful as it can be, the other indoor area is an uphill battle (literally and figuratively). My parents went to a wedding there and it rained, so the women (and maybe some men) were forced to stab each others' toe with their stilettos to get inside the uphill-battle-indoor-area. So...Nope.

So, there goes my not-so-short reviews! I hope this post provides great help for Lampung future-bride and groom!

P.S : I have some contact persons of the above venues and I also took pictures of the venues but I only have some left (bummer) but just try to ask me, maybe the ones you're asking for are the ones survived.

Reconnecting In Lampung #1

Last tuesday, one of my closest friends' father passed away. He was one of my most favorite people in Senior High School, we were really close on the first grade, but things just get weird in my class so there was an unnecessary distance between us. We both went to a different state universities in West Java, yet the distance was even wider and wider. By the end of my study, I realized I knew nothing about what he'd been through all those 4 years.

As a girl raised in a not-so-crowded city, I barely arrange any meeting with friends in such crowded cities like Jakarta or Bandung. Sometimes the only free time that they had was an hour or two, and in a crowded cities like Jakarta or Bandung, those free time might just be spent on the bad traffic. If you're in Lampung, and you have an hour or two of free time, you could just drive to your friends' house or to the nearest cafe and just talk.

On the night that his father just passed away, I drove to his house, without knowing whether he had arrived from Bandung or not, I don't care if I'd be able to meet him or not. In fact, that night, I almost went home if only I hadn't heard someone told my mother that he already arrived at Bakauheni around 6 PM, so I thought he might be arriving soon (It was 8 PM when I heard the news). I was glad I waited because he arrived at around 8.30 PM. Me and Uti just shake his hand, letting him went inside his house. It was the briefest meeting I have ever had in my entire life, yet I felt relieved that I could see his face in one of the worst nights of his life.

6 days after, I went to his house again. That day, I realized that the distance between his house and mine is not so short, though it was lunch time when I went there (and working people be like : LUNCH TIIIMEEE!), it was only a half-hour drive, of course because this is Lampung, not Jakarta.

Lots of memories of us and my senior high school  played back in my mind, on that night I met him so briefly, on the day I drove to and from his house, and at night after we talked for almost 2 hours.

For these last couple of years, I haven't missed my senior high school era as much as I do this week, and I have never realized how easy it is to reconnect when you're in Lampung. There's no such thing as #MissingLink here.

ISC Deux, don't be a stranger.Stay connected.

Driving In Lampung

I have lived in 3 cities in Indonesia so far. The first one is the city where I was born and raised at, Bandar Lampung, Lampung. The second one is Bandung, West Java, it’s the place where I study for my bachelor degree. The third one is Jakarta, the capital city of Indonesia, I currently live here because I am currently studying for my master degree, I have also spent 1 year working in the city before I get into the master degree program.

The city where I was born and raised at shall not be compared with the other two, according to some people, whether they’re Lampung residents or visitors, #ThisCity has so little to offer. Well yes if you’re the kind of person who thinks happiness and fun can only be found in shopping malls.

But I beg to differ, one of the small reasons why I love #ThisCity is because in Lampung, I can drive my car with more warmth in my mind than anger. You see, Lampung has a lot of hill, unlike Bandung and Jakarta. It has a lot of beach within half to one hour driving range. It means, when you’re driving your car in Lampung, there’s always a chance that you will get to see the beach. The best time to drive your car in Lampung is around 5.45 pm, because the sun is about to set, well you can of course choose another hour because when the sun above your head, the scenery is Santorini-like, and my most favorite spots are : Turunan Damri and Tanjakan Hotel Emersia.

See? Beauty can be found even in the most ordinary.

a view from Turunan Damri from my car. Easy, my mom took this picture, not me.

The Grass Is Always Greener On The Other Side

One morning, I was standing on one of Jakarta’s sidewalks, waiting for my friend to pick me up with her motorbike. The traffic was crowded, the sun was shining brightly, but fortunately the breezy wind was around. I looked up at the trees, the sun light was bursting through the trees. As always, it reminds me of a friend who once said, “Do you know that you have a beautiful country?”, we were on the toll road, and he said that as he saw the mountains we were passing.

This friend of mine came from a beautiful country too, I’ve never been there, but I do know that it also has a wonderful scenery.

Everytime I remember him, I remind myself that  I should always be able to see the beauty of simply anything, to see the good in every bad.