Kematian III

 Death is a mystery

I should, 

trust it!

the eyes, 

the brains, 

they talked each other, 

they see each other, 

they knew each other, 

instead, 

I ignored them!

Hate it,

Fuck it!

Disbelief, 

Why?

Especially, 

it's an angel!

the best creature! 

Painful, 

Painful, 

Sorrow, 

so deep, 

Touching my soul, 

can't bear It. 

So sorry, 

see you,

Rest in Peace, 

Abel. 

SURGA dan NERAKA

Sejak kecil aku di didik oleh orang tuaku secara Islam dan sampai detik ini pun aku masih memegang agama warisan ini.  Waktu aku masih kecil, aku belajar dan diberi buku soal Surga dan Neraka ini. Namanya jg anak kecil, aku selalu ketakutan kalo setiap mau tidor diceritain tentang Neraka ini. Selalu  kebayang gambar" di buku tersebut tentang Neraka yg panas sekale dan Surga yg indah sekali dan serba bagus!

However,  aku sangat berterima kasih sekali kepada orang tuaku karena mereka tidak mengirimku untuk bersekolah di sekolah agama kecuali waktu aku Kindergarten! Aku bahkan dimasukkan ke sekolah Katholik waktu kuliah. Walopun aku tidak belajar agama Katholik tapi aku bergaul dengan dengan bermacam" teman dari berbagai suku dan agama.

Aku tidak mempermasalahkan soal agama kamu apa, ato agamaku apa.  Aku setuju dengan quotation ini : Your Beliefs don't make you a better person, your Behavior does".

Anyway,  orang bilang hidup ini mulai usia 40 thn, sementara gua dah hampir kelewat 5 thn dari 40! Damn.  Sementara aku perhatikan orang" sepantaran denganku (di negaraku otomatis)  pada berlomba" menyiapkan "Hidup setelah mati" alias kehidupan di Akhirat ato Surga ini!!! and me .. dari jaman masih ingusan sampe sekarang masih mikirin tentang buku Surga dan Neraka dolo!!! Shit.

Entah aku di kutuk, entah aku dibukain mata ato malah dibutakan? , entah aku goblok, entah aku gak dapat hidayah (kata kawanku), entah aku apalah .. terserah penilain kalian! Yang pasti aku masih haus dengan jawaban yg ada di kepalaku saat dolo dan saat ini!!! Kebetulan aku jg punya group ibu" cantik nan Sholeha and roarrrrrr ... jadilah kita diskusi soal Surga dan Neraka versi groupku ini.

Pertanyaanku gak banyak, sementara 10 dolo yg pengen aku tanyain!

1. Ada pembantu gak ya di Surga? #maklum lah .. awak dah capek gak pake pembantu 22 tahun! boleh donk sekali" ada yg bisa gantiin gua jadi "Inem pelayan sekseeeehhh ..

2. Kalo misalnya ada, pembantunya orang apa, ya? #maklum jaman sekarang susah cin cari pembokat!!!!

3. Pake bahasa apa ya mereka ngomongnya? #maklumlah .. gua cuman bisa bahasa Jawa, bahasa Indonesia, bahasa Madura sikit sikit, bahasa Mandarin dah lupa, bahasa Jepang gua jelek banget, bahasa Ingress gua jg cuman ngomong doank .. duh! French apalagi .. Je ne parle pas Francais.

4. Makanan apa yg ada di Surga ya? Ada bakso gak, ya? ato empek"? ato Nasi Padang? #maklumlah gua dah tinggal di negara kedua gua lbh dari 2 dekade! Judulnya homesick dah gak keitung!!! Gimana kalo gua di Surga gak nemu lagi!!! semangkin lah gua homesick seumur hidup!!!

5. Dibilang kalo di Surga bakalan bisa cantik dan ganteng abadi, muda terus, kebayang kalo disana makan tidor doank, apa kita gak gemuk? Ato kita disana gak makan biar gak beol?
#maklum lahh ... bawaan orok perut suka gak bisa diajak kompromi kalo makan gak bener! jadi mikir geto.

6. Apa status kita di Surga ya? Single? Double? ato Menunggu keajaiban? Gimana kalo ketemu suami kita?

7.  Dibilang ada bidadari, kalo tidor sama bidadari cowok (eh ... bidadari untuk cewek aja ato ada untuk cowok jg, ya? #mikir dah gua!  Anyway, bisa hamil gak, ya?

8. Dibilang kita nanti tidak ada rasa cemburu, apa berarti kita seperti robot? #jadi keinget Pinokio!

9. Gimana sih Surga itu? Seperti base camp? ato seperti rumah tahanan tapi mewah? ato seperti pavilion? Gimana cari kita berinteraksi dengan sesama warga di Surga?

10. Kenapa gak masuk Surga dolo aja kalo geto?


Jawaban dari ibu" yg ahli Surga

1. Surga tempatnya yg baik". Nikmatnya surga tidak terbayangkan oleh manusia. Ada sungai" mengalir, kita berpakaian sutra tebal, pake gelang emas, buah"an ada dimuka mata!

2. Tidak ada pembantu dari jenis manusia! Yang ada bidadari dan bidadari yg melayani kita disana!

3. Tidak ada beol! Tidak ada rasa cemburu, tidak ada rasa dengki, semua hanya nikmeeehhhh nikmehhh .. tidak pernah terbayangkan oleh manusia betapaa nikmehnyaaaaa!!!!  Mau makan apa aja tersedia!!! Muda terus, gak pernah tua!!! Itulah kenikmatan abadi.  Tak pernah pupus!! Penduduk neraka sampe ngiler" kata ustad melihat nikmehnya surgaaaaa.  Sementara itu penduduk Surga tidak akan keliatan kehidupan neraka (najissss, bo!). 

5. Mau ML dengan bidadari A, B, C, monggo ... Mau ML seharian hayooookkk .. karena tak ada rasa capek lagi, tidak ada rasa cemburu ... semangat teroossss .. nikmehnyaaaaaa

6. Status di Surga Single abadi lahhhh ... Alias perawan dan jaka terusssss.  Dijamin Tuhan gak bakalan hamil walopun ML terus dan berganti" pasangan denga bidadari A, B, C!  Tidak ada jaminan bakalan ketemu dengan suami dan anak disana!

7. Kata ustad lagi .. sesama penduduk Surga bisa saling berkunjung (pak Ustad dah pernah ke Surga soalnya). Kita langsung terbang, werrrrrrr ... dan ketemua si A secepat kilat!
#Wehhh .. kaya Harry Potter donk?

# I don't give a shit about silk clothing or gold bracelet as I can get it in the real world instead of waiting in Heaven! However, kalo di iming" bidadari seperti Jenifer Lopez ato bidadari cowo model "Captain of America" lebih dari satu yg serving kita, hmmm .. sweru juga kale ya kalo bisa 3 some or 4 some? at least bisa melipir dari satu bidadari ke bidadari laennya!

#Apalagi dibilang walopun dah ML bisa tetep perawan terussss .. Wuihhhh .. mantab banget lah yaaa!!! Tidor sama 10 cewek sehari misalnya tanpa kena cervical cancer!!  Booo abooo .. judulnya bener" HEAVENNNNN ...!!!!

"Dan sesungguhnya Kami menciptakan mereka (bidadari bidadari) dengan langsung dan Kami jadikan mereka gadis gadis perawan yg penuh cinta lagi sebaya umur mereka. Kami ciptakan mereka untuk golongan kanan" (Al-Waqi'ah : 13-38)

# Mikir sekarang gua : Jadi .. ini Surga Dunia pindah ke Surga Surga?? Ato gimana???


continue or not? depend on God! lol

SYDNEY

Finally I landed in Sydney! It takes 3,5 hours from Wellington directly. It's really nice weather! I am so excited to see this city since I've never been here before. Can't wait to walk and captured all the beautiful scenery this city had.  The domestic airport reminded me to the airport in Rome and Surabaya International airport. It's so busy busy until I get out and get in to Sydney's airport train. 

From the airport, we stopped to Central station and we transferred to platform 22 go to Redfern. It's cloudy and the sun already set. We walked about 6 blocks to our airbnb apartment in Darlington. Right on time in front of our landlord house, the rain came! 

Our apartment is behind the landlord house (actually is on top of the garage - to be precise!!).  It is a one floor studio apartment with a double bedroom on the side of bathroom. Even the washroom  (shower and toilet) is old but it's really organized and clean. On the other side,  a little cozy living room connected with the kitchen (open space). Finally we got kitchen! Everything is there include the oil, sugar, salt, pepper.  

When morning come, I can hear the bird singing from outside and pretty quite in the neighbourhood. 

From the outside (the back of the house) the alley is remind me of the house in Indonesia! Even the house building is totally different than a house in North America!! I was like .. hmm .. is it Sydney? or is it Indonesia??? totally remind me of my grandma neighbourhood!!! The smells of Frangipani  (kamboja) flower is fragrant and mysterious at the same time, especially after raining. 

One thing that I don't like it about this apartment, they didn't provide us with wifi as wherever we travelled usually wifi is standard. Even though we're not in the apartment the whole day but if we got home we need to catch up with the news and so on.  Luckily, we can rely on Starbucks! As long as I got my cup of tea, I got an hour free wifi! 

The next morning, we woke up in the morning and ready to scroll down town. We left apartment @ 8 in the morning and still quite on the street. Totally different than in North America, people go to work as early as 7 so they can go home early as well. Not in here, street busy after 8 a.m! I did not see "coffee culture" in the morning as well in here. However, I love to see a lot of people walking!!  The ambiance in Sydney as one of the biggest city in Australia, is similar as Toronto and Vancouver.  They're really conscious with their style! Totally different than New Zealand that is very laid back! 

I love the weather in here, it's just perfect. It's not too hot, it's not cold, it's not dry and it's not humid also! Damn. The second things that I love in here, the food! Yessss .. since it's too close to Asia, so the food is unbelievable!! There are Indonesian cuisine, Thai cuisine, Malay cuisine, Korean, Japanese, Chinese and all of them are all over the block!! Even in their mall, the food are so damn good!!! Nothing to compare to Calgary or Vancouver even. It's just amazing!!!!  They had Thai town, Korean town, China town, exempt Vietnamese - it's not a lot!  They even had a Japanese bookstore : Kinokuniya!! I love this bookstore!! Can't describe it how awesome it's inside this store the whole day!!!  

One more thing that I love about Sydney ... Bondi beachhhhhh, Bitch!!!! Not too crowded. The golden sand is so soft and clean. Love to see the water and the sky! It's not too hot for suntan also. It's a lovely!!! 

Everything is perfect in Sydney, except the transportation! The train is quite expensive, damn expensive! In here, I paid the c-train $3 for one way, over there I paid $6!!! except if you're senior (60 yrs old) you got half price! Dang. The food is about the same or a little bit more compare to Calgary, not bad compare to New Zealand with too many choices!!!  That makes the minimum wages in here a bit here $20 per hour - that's what I heard from my friend. Don't ask about the property in here! It's so damn expensive compare to Calgary!! Yup. 

Sydney is one of the biggest tourist destinations, especially from Asia and Middle east! Every time I am walking, I heard people is talking in my language, lol! Even one time I went to Malay restaurant, all the worker are Indonesian! hahahaha. It was nice as they are really helpful and friendly as they know am from the same country with them.  They let me know which dishes is the good one or not! hahahaha.

Time flies, 4 nights gone like a second!! Going out in morning and back to apartment when the sun set come. I do really enjoy walking daily in Sydney since I did not have time to go swimming this holiday. Even I am so damn tired after walking 8-10km daily but walking is one of my fave after swimming! Especially in this kinda weather!!!  I always wish to live in the city that I can just walk every where. I used to it when I lived in Toronto. I love the rhythm of walking. It's healthy and it's cheap at the same time. Felt so good also when you're walking at the same time with people from all over the world without seeing you are poor or rich! basically we're all a human being and we're walking in the same path!

My last journey in 2014. See you in different journey in 2015!

NEW YEAR 2015

Finally the year of 2014 is ended gracefully, lol.  Time flies at the same time with my age.  I am trying to think out loud about  one year that already passed! What did I do? Where did I go? am I the same O same O?? Do I wanna be like that? or Should I change it? What's my project for 2015?

One thing that I know about myself : I want to be different, and I am. I don't like to follow someone else path! Especially right now am getting old with my age. If God is still nice to me, I probably still am gonna walk through another quarter or half or all the way to the end.

I believe that Life is one time thing. I want to make sure that  my one time is worth it, either  for me, my kids, my family or for others with no regrets. Even though am aware that I wasn't born to be a winner nor the loser, but was born a chooser!

Thanks for all the lesson in  2014. Whatever happen in the past, stays there!
I am ready for the future ahead of me, no matter what.


HAPPY NEW YEAR  2015.

NEW ZEALAND

It takes about 14 hours from Vancouver to Auckland and still another hour to reach Wellington, the capital city of New Zealand. It's very long flight! As if I am going home to my country, Indonesia even further!

Arrived in Wellington at eight on Sunday morning.  We take our time as the check in time around 1 p.m.  Stretching our feet after very long flight and having a butter chicken pie is really good in the cloudy morning. Never had Indian pie before. Quite interesting! I should try to make it next time.  We took shuttle bus to the air bnb apartment in Oriental Bay, $25 for two persons, stop exactly in front of our building.

We're very lucky to find this apartment @ air bnb.  It's very neat for the price of  $145/nite.  Quite surprise as it's on the top of the building and it's a small studio apartment - I like a small space compare to a big place as I'm more minimalist compare to maximalist so this apartment is just enough for us. There is a 1m x 4m washroom, no kitchen unfortunately. But there is a small fridge,  a microwave and kettle are available. Also, dinning table, arm chair and kitchen utilities (everything is prepare for two persons) beside  TV and radio. The owner is also preparing organic : fruit,  bread with homemade jam, juice, tea, yogurt, milk and cereal enough for 5 days. That is very nice of them! We didn't get this kinda deal for that price previously on the other place. It's quite generous.

I was quite surprise when my husband said we have to go from the back, darling! I was like : what?
Then he told me that we've to go up with that cable car! Me: What? Seriously? Really? He assured me one more time: Yes, we're take that cable car.  Honestly, am very afraid with height and see this thing up there coming down. Okayy ... I've to go up then! That's very high and it's scary when I look down!! Damn.

After settling down, we went out for walk. We just take stairs to go down. It's not bad at all when you're going down compare to go up, I guess .. lol.

I think I fall in love with New Zealand! This view is so beautiful and I see it in front of my bed before sleep and when I woke up the first thing in the morning! Love to see sunshine and water when you wake up! and see all the beautiful light in the night time before to sleep! It's so romantic! Besides, it's very quite and so peaceful. I only hear the sounds of waves. It's amazing! I never seen this view before. I see this kinda view but it's not right in front of me, if you know what I mean. This is totally awesome.  It's perfect country to life if it's not very expensive, lol.

The food and beverages is quite expensive in this city! Especially when you buy it in convenience store! That is totally wrong to buy a drink in there as the price is gonna be 2 time more expensive compare when you buy it in the grocery store! Just for a bottle of drink you'll pay $4.90 instead of $1.99.  The food is also very expensive, except if you're going to Asian cuisine, you're still can get a big noodle bowl for the price of $10.50 instead of paying $18 for 4 slices of quesadillas.

Well .. usually I am cooking when I stayed in apartment but this time I can't cook much as there is no stove. However, I'm not too worry too much as long as there is microwave and kettle to boil water! As I don't want to eat outside all the time!  For example : I still can cook egg using microwave.  I can make soft boil egg and egg benedict for breakfast to accompany my toast. I also can make a noodle and make a steam rice by Uncle Ben. This smart Uncle Ben rice is really helpful as I love eating rice on dinner time. I just buy chicken BBQ and salad or noodle to accompany the rice. Voila. I am good now!

Love my vacation!

Some of Padang Dishes

This is Sambal Ijo (Green chillies sauce).  I love this samba ijo, you can eat with steamed rice and whatever food that accompany it,  either chicken curry, grilled fish, steam vegetable or tempe or just with fried egg! Basically this sambal ijo is really a good complement for everything, as sambal ulek.  

I know this sambal Ijo from my relatives who is originally from West Sumatra. One time they prepared "Teri sambal ijo - Sambal Ijo with a little anchovy. That's so damn good!!!! I just love eating this menu with steamed rice only.  I can eat more than one plate if I don't remember that I can't eat too much carb! This little anchovy is really something to me! Very powerful and tasty. 

I am originally from East Java and my mom is cooking a lot of Javanese cuisine. I have no clue either about how to make this kinda of food at the beginning. As I like it so much  so am trying to nail it.  I am very lucky to have relatives from West Sumatra and one of my best friends also from West Sumatra so they share the recipe with me. 

This is Telur balado - Egg Balado. This is sambal balado is the second thing after sambal ijo, when I am preparing a Nasi Padang. It's like sambal Ijo, this balado is one of the base ingredients to make all kinda of dishes : Dendeng balado, Teri Balado etc.

Teri Balado

Padang cuisine is very addictive as it is very rich on taste of spicy and savoury.  In my country, this is one of the famous cuisine. It's not only in a restaurant you can find Padang cuisine, so many warung "street food vendor" also served this cuisine. They even make it so good as they served it with banana leaves as a plate on the go. It called "Nasi bungkus Padang".

Now .. I really do wanna go to Padang to eat the originally cuisine, lol.

NOODLE

Noodle is one of my fave food.  It's because I am Asian or it's because I am one of noodle people, you name it.   Noodle is one of our food culture since we're kids.  In my country, since I was a kid, my mom is always cooking noodle as one of the second course after rice.  There is a rice and also noodle at the same time at one plate. I know it's too much carbohydrate at one plate.

I got train eating noodle by my mom as she is a true culinary gal.  I remember, when I was in elementary school,  she took me to one of the biggest department store SIOLA (that day) in Jl. Tunjungan.  These noodle shop is one of the famous. The chef is a chinese. That is the first time I know how to eat using a chopstick.  My mom is always order me "Pangsit mie ayam bakso and bakso goreng.  Damnnn .. it was so good. Too bad right now that place is gone. However, my memory of this noodle is still in my head!

When I was teenager, I got train to eat so many noodle from different kind. I remember in Jakarta, my fave noodle is bakmie gang kelinci, then bakmie GM,  bakmie toko 3 etc etc.  Then I live in Toronto, and got to know "Thai noodle", Korean noodle,  "Vietnamese noodle soup or Pho" beside "Malaysian noodle soup" or Laksa and "Japanese noodle soup "Udon", Yakisoba and Ramen.

However, noodle soup is still one of my fave food all the time especially when I was under weather.  One time, I went travelling to Vancouver, BC  and I tried this ramen that according to urban spoon is one of the best ramen in town. It was a long line up when I was there but it was worth waiting. Love the ambiance of this place. It's remind me of 'warung" in my country. Warung is a small or casual or modest cafe in my country, we're all have to seat together with other customer. It doesn't matter you have money or you don't, you seat together without seing the title or label as human being. That's the ambiance that I love.

I've tried all the ramen in this town you name it : Shikiji, Muku, Menyatai, etc. but my taste bud still name : Marutama Ra-men is the best!!!!  This chicken broth ramen with vegetarian topping accompany with 'ajitsuke tamago or "flavored egg" is nothing to compare with the ramen in this town!!  This noodle is remind me of the noodle soup in my country when I was young!!! The chicken broth is so rich, tasty and hot enough until the end of last spoon! The marinated egg is perfect. The portion is also enough if you are hungry.  I thought it's only me who has this opinion, before I finished my last spoon, there are bunch of people who's order the same noodle that I ordered and they keep talking about this ramen and one of the lady is actually Indonesian also!! and she had the same opinion like I did. She said this ramen is remind her of Indonesian ramen! hahahaha

This ramen is remind me of Indonesian fried noodle by Indomie, but this is non soup ramen is better than Indomie. I never think that lettuce is good with fried noodle! even the egg is not too flavour full as the Marutama Ra-men but the chicken still good.

However, Shikiji is still one of the best in this town if you are pork lover.   I don't eat pork but my husband did and he said that Shikiji is the only one that has the best ramen compare to Muku or Menyatai. The best thing at Shikiji is the appetizer, Takoyaki - as am a Takoyaki lover. Damnn .. it's so good.

It's kinda funny when we are talking and discuss about this ramen as my son is also culinary addict and he said that Menyatai is the best compare to Shikiji. Well .. it's okay darling, you don't have to go with us to Shikiji, hohoho.

I am cooking a lot so I got train well on my tastebud. However, the presentation is always important. I  even can  see it right away if that ramen is no soul on it! If you don't know how to cook very well or you're not train well eating noodle like asian, whatever the food that you ate is always good, hahahahaha.

It's not just me who said that! Even ramen master also say that! Now .. make me wanna go to Ramen museum in Japan, hohoho

Arigato Gozaimasu.