Recap...

Just a recap of the thoughtst that keep blasting to my head tonight...

I guess I am the kind of person who never think bad of a person until there's some genuine proof

I really hate prejudice and judging, cause who the hell we are to conclude about someone's life

But then that also my weakness, I usually start as an ignorant person, never mind other people's business or life till they convey it to me

But when my instinct permit me to start getting close with anyone, for any reason, friends or relationship.. I am just blocking out the possibility of bad stuff... but then this is hurting me when I found my expectation are not met. Or when they stabbing me on the back. Kind of naive.. (may be that's what keep me kind of being reserved sometimes..)

And it makes me furious like hell when people still having doubtful intention with me while I begin to put my trust and respect on them. (well, who doesnt Alina!) I take it as an insult more than anything..(remind me of my hell fight with a lady sometimes in the past which I still can not understand why she was doing that to me) Or may be I am furious because I feel stupid and betrayed of laying down my trust on a wrong hand?

Well dont get me wrong, I know the world is not heaven, I am ready to fight or compete with anyone who clearly state their line.. but I guess I need to learn to distinguish those who are in disguise

I think i am just mumbling here... or over reacting, may be I will write again once I can clearly define the turbulence on my head. What the hell, this is my blog, and this is how I express my self at this state of minds and emotion.

Actually as long as a person is fair and sincere, and we got the chemistry, I think we will get along fine. Regardless what this person does in his life, cause again who am I to judge.. but at least I deserve to have the comfort and trust with these people to be around.

Well, I guess I am over reacting. So be it, enjoy the moment before we start callibrating our state of mind of emotion after the turbulence. It's another documentary, good to be emotional sometimes

*this writing applies to all general thing in life, not only for particular moment although this might be triggerred by emotional state of dealing with a particular moment (which I still try to understand)

Me

Friends...

In case you have the sickness to mess up with anyone, I guess the last thing you do is to mess up with your friends, right? I don’t know… I guess kind of respect and honor your friendship?

Well, for me I will not mess up with people who I respect with. So I guess if somebody for whatever reason intentionally messed up, lying, doing tricks or whatever fishy stuff with their friends or respectable close community for a shallow purposes (yes we’re crossing the subjective area), that is just simply shows the questionable quality of that person.

I always believe that Judging is one of the lowest attitudes in this life, but may be sometimes it can protect you in a weird way. To smoothen the word, may be we can rephrase the “Judging” part into kind of the “Blink” as per your initial instinct response. Whatever … but I still hate Judging though. So let the protection come through other way.

(Hard) Lesson Learned

Siang kemaren, gue di bikin blingsatan sama telpon dari agent real estate apartment gue. Udah gue lagi kesel di gangguin orang bank buat urusan yang ga kelar-kelar , ini agent nelpon langsung mencak mencak setengah nangis ke gue!

Jadi critanya, gue yang polos ini bercerita ke para tetangga kalau sewa rumah gue lebih murah dari tempat mereka. Waktu itu kita emang lagi ngobrolin rumah, biaya sewa, etc Maksud gue, dengan cerita gue mungkin mereka bisa dapet harga yang lebih baik buat next contract di complex gue ataupun di property lain dengan harga yang sama. But surely in a way which not put me in jeopardy lah !

Nah culunnya, ada tetangga gue yang mau nyari apartment lain, bilang ke management dia kalo dia pengen apartment dan ngasih benchmark sewa tempat gue. Nah, telpon lah itu company sebelah (kebetulan competitor mampus) ke si agent, mempertanyakan bener ga dia kasih harga lebih murah ke gue secara dia ambil flat lebih banyak di compound gue. Jadilah itu gue di marah-marahin ama tu Agent! Huuuaaaaaaaaaa

Gue emang merasa bersalah, soale itu agent really was doing me a favor by giving me special rate. Siang itu begitu menghebohkan dan menegangkan, sampai ngancem pakai mutus rent gue segala dan gue nggak bisa berpikir jernih saat itu. Dari usaha gue melancarkan damage control dan merevise informasi harga sewa gue ke para temen gue itu, Company sebelah itu justru semakin marah ke agent gue kok dia sampai nelpon gue dan bilang kalau mereka complain etc. As this should be treated as classified business deal information. Intinya Company sebelah kesel ama tu agent karena kurang professional dalam menangani krisis dan mengancam mau narik sewa mereka di compound gue! Hehehe Ya udah abis itu masalah di anggap selesai dan tidak pernah ada

Tapi gue masih merasa ga tenang, waktu gue pulang ke rumah gue jadi berasa ga nyaman dan terintimidasi. Halah! Selama ini gue udah berasa sangat nyaman ama tempat tinggal gue, good place, good services, great ambience.. Sekarang berarti gue harus mikir tempat tinggal baru setelah kontrak abis Januari nanti karena pasti sewa di naikin dan di luar budget gue. Sumpah gue males banget buat pindah. Gue males banget buat arrange tempat baru, secara di sini all furnished, including daily cleaning services, even changing the bed sheet. Dan gue tau dengan harga yang sekarang, bakal susah banget nyaris ga mungkin gue bisa dapet tempat se cozy ini dengan all in services. Damn! Gue jadi manja dan pemalas gini yah. Ga mau susah bersihin rumah, cuci setrika, etc hehehe Believe it or not ini semua bikin gue tertekan buat mikirinnya ajah. Belom lagi tadinya gue mau minta ganti karpet … Huh! Lupakan deh .. my damn big mouth got to pay the price this time….

Lazy Afternoon..

Setelah gagal mengoperasikan Babyliss edisi keriwil, niat mau kerja tapi berhubung laper gue malah masak setelah sibuk mencari ilham buka tutup kulkas dan lemari groceries. Lumayan, mixed veggie with tikka sauce plus chicken shish tawook .. slurppp

Udah dua hari kemaren, gue merasa terteror dengan telepon di kantor. Gue rasa banyak yang udah pernah ngalamin gak enaknya kerjaan tergantung ama orang lain. Menyebalkan sekali kita di kejar kejar orang buat sesuatu yang di kerjakan orang lain tapi dalam tanggung jawab kita. Tetap bersikap manis dan menenangkan semua pihak to get the job done. That’s surely depressing! Gue heran orang sales kok tahan yah bermanis manis gituh .. hahaha


Wah ngantuk, bobok dulu ahhhh…..

*masih mikir mau bikin soto, pecel ato mie goreng buat karaoke-an ntar malem

Shattered Glass...

Sometimes people got stuck with things they want to believe in. No matter what the outcome of the continuous reality check. Despite of all the result of methodological analysis done within their conscious, they keep building false hopes without even realizing it. Like living in the fragile glass..

When it comes the time that the glass is shattered, every bit of those tiny pieces of the broken glasses launch its own rhyme of misery. A moment of out of breath, severe cramp in the stomach, hollow thought, etc. Till you faint or just lying there till the recovery process is done.

Having said that, I do respect all the process, risk and choices that being made, that’s what life is all about isn’t it.. making choices and take the consequences…

That Long Lunch

He’s now known as Arkand (http://www.arkand.com/) . This is his spiritual and commercial name at the same time. But I call him by his baptized name as I was introduced to him with this. He’s been in my life since 1999. That’s almost 8 years ago!! Time flies..

He’s the one who speed up my spiritual journey in certain period of times. Two years practicing Yoga, I was overwhelmed on the high awareness of my being and start to question every single thing, value and dogma around and inside me, and I was totally unprepared. Then I took a long break, make peace with my self and my surrounding, shift focus on another thing till now…

But even then, we still stay close enough. And it is amazing and fun to see how he evolves and grow. He’s kind of person whom you can talk anything about. Today, in three hours, we start our chat by he’s activities lately, various client for his Mahakala Shakti, Kopassus trainer, Timor Leste visits with details experience of witnessing the battlefield from close, his view on various religion, Indonesia religion history, Evolution of Bible, Vatican politics, his believe against Darwin evolution theory, till his latest culinary adventures and how he think of how things work for relationships, marriage (he believes that there should be no limitation in marriage in regards that we have imbalance gender population and everyone deserve the same chance to have legal formal marriage), affairs, child trafficking and prostitution. Btw, just a little bit background, he’s born in a strict Catholic family and has gone most of the preparation to be a priest. Indeed three hours is not enough to discuss things in deep, we just love to skim things and have fun with it.

Regardless of how I stand on his believes and values, He’s been a very good friend, brother and very understanding Yoga Master. Thanks for supporting and comforting me through the most difficult cycle in my journey. Although you can be very manipulative which makes me alert at most of the time we chat, but you’re so unbelievably entertaining. Hehehehe

Before I drag my writing further on you, let me say this, “Nice to have you in my life Bang!”

And I agree with you, the Chicken Teh Chow in Pastello is quite “Mak Nyussss!”

Jogja, June 07…

Waktu boleh saja berjalan lambat dalam masa reses di Jogja kali ini, tapi malam ini kepala terasa sangat penuh. Banyak hal yang berjejal ingin tertuang, tapi hasilnya malah lompatan-lompatan acak pemikiran dan rekaman beberapa hari terakhir ini.

Di mulai dari makan malam yang menyenangkan di Kembang Goela bersama dua orang perempuan yang saya sayangi. Nikmatnya nongkrong di warung bakmi Kadin, minum bajigur di iringi langsung orkes keroncong lengkap (special request lagu Bandar Jakarta modal 5000 rupiah dari bokap), Spa di The Cangkringan (http://www.yogyes.com/id/yogyakarta-hotel/star/the-cangkringan/) yang sangat menenangkan (thanks to Inoe yang sukses menyabotase ekstase gue dengan dering berisik HP gue!!), makan siang panjang bareng mantan guru yoga gue, dan pertemuan keluarga singkat dalam rangka pindahan rumah Bude gue, cerita Faisal Basri tentang panen petani yang harus di jagain tentara karena pake padi “Saputra” and ritual kunjungan gue ke Mirota Batik. Dunno where to start, let see…

Another Trip

Here I am … in the middle of the unbelievable massive crowd in Kuwait airport, heading back to Jakarta. Kuwait, summer time + airport = complete chaos. Long queue in most of the gates, noise keep pondering your head like millions of bee buzzing around your ear and inside your brain.. (now I am exaggerating)

I feel so sleepy, barely can lift my eye lid and start losing my conscious. (Completely in Garfield mode) Sitting in the McCafe, try to have few pages more on “Blink” by Malcolm Galdwell. The book has been on my shelf for more than 4 months. I bought it during my hand over trip to Kuwait last January!!! I really need to work on my readings; unfinished books keep piling up beside my bed.

Emm.. What would I write… ( need to keep writing or I passed out). All right, let’s write about the Gender related workshop that my company held this morning. Lately, after successfully benefiting and nurturing diversity in nationality, the company that I work for
has decided to focus more on Gender issues. Along with the company objective to push the women ratio in the field and management up to 25% minimal, they launch this movement called “Women Connect”

We even have Gender and Diversity manager in HQ. At the first stage, this movement has been provided with Website for “Curhat” kind like a blog that anyone can post a comment, issues, concern, whatever related to being women in this company. Local committee, gathering, and various activities are to be held with full support from HQ or area management. Operation & Country Manager are being forced to support this activities and this including freeing their female employees from any work for the first gathering in Kuwait!

The attendee is being divided into two groups, women office based and field based. After 2 hours brainstorming here are the points of concern that we highlighted to Management,

Office Based Women
· Long Working Hours, Casual Leave ( i.e period leave)
· Transportation arrangement for working late
· Special parking for women in order for us not to walk far away from the office entrance cause sometimes we have worker around
· No blur glass on the Rest room door
· Formal Channel for women concern
· Re arrange the floor plan and office lay out to avoid unnecessary crowd around the cubicle and increase privacy
· Culture briefing for new comer and mentoring

Field Based Women
Separate accommodation and bathroom for women in the rig. ( now they have to share room with males, and no designated bathroom for them)
Locker and Changing room for women
Ask Manager for not mistakenly interpret ‘Cry’ as a sign of weakness instead it is merely a different way of expressing emotion for women (interesting one! specially that manager’s reply is that this point is acceptable and actually men does cry too!! Hahaha)
There’s no way that women can compete the physical capacity of men. It is to be understood that we do want equality, but bare in mind that there are differences and it is the understanding that needed. So it has to be accepted if they can’t lift that pump alone Man!
Mentoring for women related issues
That these women felt underestimated, by having commented by people that they’re making progress in their career and having grade because they’re women. That they don’t need to do extra effort to earn the chance to move up the ladder because company gives them bigger chance. Although personally I don’t see nothing wrong with it though! hahaha it’s a competitive life folks, if we can benefit from a fair privilege then why not??? Management will not give you a chance of you’re not capable. It’s just that if there are two people equally capable and it happens that you’re a woman, then you might have bigger chance. Fair enough.. hehehe

It’s interesting to compare what are the concern of office based and field based as per the above. I couldn’t help giggling when I read through office based concern which sounds less fundamental compare to the field based. And I am the one who presents the office based concern to the management and I guess I succeed to make our points sounds serious though … a little bit act and drama might help your case sometimes. hahaha



*this writing is finalized in Cengkareng aiport, early morning with nice cool breeze air from the garden (good thing you live in a dessert, you are able to appreciate more on the simple thing of South East Asia countries, i.e morning breeze). So relax… just hope that my cell won’t ring from the office

(Another ) B’Day …

This year, my B’day is spent most of it in the plane. Another year has passed, another wrinkles, another challenge to come, and most of all, friendly reminder of how I should be grateful on my life.. all the laughter, joy and tears. I know that we shouldn’t wait till a certain dates to have contemplating moment, but we tend to allow our self to be dragged away in routine and schedule our private reflective moment later on.

So I guess there’s nothing special in a Birthday, It’s just fell different cause it’s another schedule for annual contemplation (short one unfortunately). It is also special because it’s just nice to have friends wish you all the good things. To have your sisters brought you a cake and home made cooking, and to blow the candles with your nephews. That’s it…

I guess enough for now.. let me go back on my “Blink” pages …

……

Pulang....

I'm going home......
Will be in Jakarta for my birthday...so glad...
Senangnya!!!

thanks buat Kukiee for beautiful Photo Upload!!!

A Sip of Cofee by the sea…

Ada sedikit pertanyaan yang mengusik di penghujung week end ini. Lebih baik update blog atau update Tax Compliance Check list??? Well, I guess the answer is easy and clear hehehe and here I am ..

Gue pengen cerita sesuatu, tapi agak khawatir kalau memberikan kesan bahwa hidup di Kuwait buat gue sucks banget! hahaha Tapi sepertinya tetap cukup menarik buat di ketengahkan (&^&(*$#@*(*())(&%$#@#).

Beberapa hari lalu, Rabu malam (sejenis Jumat malam buat kalender normal), setelah gagal mengunjungi mall dan di paksa buat masak ama temen gue. (Damn! u’re so manipulative!hehehe), gue pergi hang out di Starbuck di samping Al Kout mall. Yang gue suka dari tempat ini adalah lokasinya yang persis di tepi pantai, jadi ngopi dengan ‘sea view’. Halah !

Belum genap setengah jam duduk, tiba-tiba ada anak ABG local (lengkap dengan gamis putih panjang) datang ke meja kita dan nanya, “Are you two married?”. Secara kita orangnya jujur dan naïf, yah kita senyum aja dan bilang nggak. Waktu kita tanya ngapain dia ke kita, fiktif banget dia bilang dia mau minta maaf karena tadi dia merasa menyinggung kita sebelumnya. Lah, ngeliatin dia juga kaga! Beberapa menit kemudian, dia balik ke groupnya dan kita ngelanjutin obrolan.

Tiba-tiba ABG fiktif itu balik ke meja kita, dan nunjukin gambar-gambar cewek ke temen gue (cowok) dan nanya mana yang lebih cantik. It is indeed very stupid question and rude act, but the thing is that we can’t mess up with the local or we can end up in jail or something. His come and going to our table is repeated every 15th minutes till three times. Knowing something fishy going on, I didn’t even bother to speak to them. My friend is doing all the respond and swallows the anger. But yet, when finally we feel that we can get rid of this bunch of local jerk, the same person came directly to me and give this napkin with a number on it with sweet question, “Can we be friend? Call me at bla bla bla” Gosh!! He's not even looking at muy oor friend. How could they! I didn’t even sit alone or something, I have my male friend accompany me and yet those jerk still got the nerve to bug a lady and treat her like whore looking for a customer!! (just for the record: costume was pretty descent that night) Well i know that somewhere else it will not necessary mean treating a lady like a prostitute when somebody is giving their number, but for sure thats what it meant if that happen in this country.

We were so pissed and amused at the same time… amazed how could a strict Moslem country like this has developed completely jerk young generation like this. I am not expecting them to be a saint, but at least there should be a code of ethic on how to treat other human being. (Now I am being naïve hahaha) Actually this kind of story is not something new, several other Indonesian ladies have experienced it. All Asian ladies is either maid or a prostitute to them. Even there was a time when a colleague of mine took a walk with his wife, a local approach them and bargain the price for this wife!!! Pathetic! And this is happening in a country where we can’t even shake hand with the opposite sex. (may be that's the root cause, dont u think?) Although it's nothing new, it is still a sad sad reality..

Well, that’s I guess the bitter part of living in Kuwait as a female. But if you have your friends around, built your community, having your family or jobs to do, then you shall be fine. A lot of malls, fine dining and nice beach. Hehehe

Life is always about challenge and for sure not always nice. And that’s everywhere. So I guess this all right. Just another spot of time to grin and move on.

*another barbecue party this sunday, that would be lovely...

Single and Workin…

Several times attended social function outside Office, gathering, and parties, there’s a common greeting for me from the other people. Not pretty sure how things spread out, usually when I introduce my self, the respond would be, “Ahh you’re the new lady .. single and u;re working right…?” or if the lady doesn’t know me, in the next second the other lady who happen to know me start explaining my special status, “Single and working” Gosh.. I was kind of speechless first time, but I got used to it now hahaha

There’s nothing wrong with that, but it’s just that I feel like I’m some kind of alien for being single and working around the family’s ladies. And the second respond usually is that they will worry about me, how I decide to take the risk of being away from the family, coming all the way to Middle East, how do I go to the market, how I can survive living alone, etc. It is a nice concern, but somehow I fee like a cow stamped with a red mark which differentiate me from the other. So here I am, the new single and working Indonesian lady live in Mahboula. That’s how I am defined lately .. hehehe

Well actually I am a bit wondering, why they make it sounds like this is unusual in this country, while we have millions of other ladies who take the huge risk, even their live, with limited facilities, tight package, leaving their kids, husbands, and being “TKW” who earn the bread for the family.

In the End of Season....

Evening my dear Blog,

It’s been quite some time…

Akhirnya masa-masa itu selesai juga. Selesai sudah malam-malam panjang, week end yang kehilangan eksistensinya dengan melototin angka dan berantem ama auditor. Setidaknya untuk saat ini, boleh lah menarik napas dan bersantai.

Tiba-tiba keheningan itu berubah nada jadi dentingan cepat yang bikin sesak. Ohh, ternyata aku agak limbung. Persis seperti kalo kelamaan lari di treadmill, pas selesai kaki berasa kebas dan melayang.

Tema minggu ini, “Bagaimana meniti waktu di Kuwait setelah masa audit kelar?????!!” hehehe

Satu hal yang kritikal,
Harus tetep sok sibuk, dan semaksimal mungkin membangun kesan sibuk pula pada anak buah. Ini penting agar kita gak di tambahin kerjaan ama Bos dan meminimalisasi resiko anak buah kita di share ke bagian lain karena di pandang dah under load

Selanjutnya,
Terus memotivasi diri buat coba hal baru. Seperti biasa, banyak hal yang terangkum sebagai wacana. Dari obsesi traveling, gym, les bahasa sampai ambil CMA…(banyak mau = penyakit ga ilang-ilang)
Mulai liat-liat lagi koleksi no telp para kenalan di sini, secara dua bulan kemaren banyak acara dan janji yang terlewati



Dinner with Citizen of the world family

Sejalan dengan rencana gue di atas, semalam gue maen ke rumah salah satu kenalan. Mbak ini udah tujuh tahun tinggal di sini, nikah dengan Chef Prancis yang kerja di salah satu chain hotel ngetop. Anak dua cakep-cakep sesuai ama kodrat blasteran pada umumnya.

Ada dua keluarga lain yang di undang makan malam. Dan semua punya persamaan, Suami Prancis, istri Asia. Sesuai ama kebiasaan mereka yang banyakan ngobrol waktu makan, acara dimulai dengan ‘baguette’ panggang di atasnya di kasih hati bebek, uenakk tapi beracun secara lemak dan kolesterolnya parah. Di selingin dengan Red Wine and whisky cola buat yang minum, fresh lobster salad menyusul. Mak nyusss!! Kata Bondan, hehehe. Ngobrol lagi 30 menit, akhirnya keluarlah main course, yang berupa huge T-Bone steak with yummy mushroom sauce all over dengan tumis buncis as side dishes. Sumpah, susah payah bahagia gitu gue ngabisin! Napas bentar, pada ngerokok di teras, another 30 minutes and here it comes genuine Javanese Tea, “Teh Tjatut” yang di bikin “Nasgitel” (panas, legi/manis, kenthel/kental). Nggak cukup di situ, si mbak bawa keluar mocha cake yang masih lengkap dengan boxnya plus fromage, semoga bener nulisnya. (keju bau yang suka jadi cemilan para bule prancis ini)

Well, sebenernya gue nggak cuma tertarik ngebahas mealnya yang nendang itu, tapi gue sangat enjoy dan terhibur menikmati bauran bahasa Jawa medhok, Prancis, Vietnam, dan bahasa Indonesia di meja makan. Belom ngeliat tingkah para Bule yang frustasi ngeliat para istri ngerumpi pake bahasa Jawa dan akhirnya ngomel pake Prancis.

Mbak-mbak para istri bule ini cukup menarik. Mereka punya karakter yang cukup kuat sebenernya, tapi tetep sebagai wanita Asia, mereka ngeladenin banget para suaminya. Konon, hal ini yang bikin para bule seneng punya istri Asia. Mereka lebih penurut, lebih care ama suami, gitu katanya.

Emm gue benernya pengen nulis lebih banyak tentang kehidupan para istri ekspat ini. Lengkap dengan acara coffee morning, arisan, garage sale, etc Tapi mungkin lebih baik gue tulis setelah gue ikutan lebih banyak acara dengan mereka. Sure it’s going to be interesting. Mixed Culture selalu jadi bahan menarik untuk di bahas.

Sometimes we tend to choose what we like and not what we need
It will be a luxury when we like the thing we need

Should we settle for the thing we like or thing we need?

Kamu …pernah jadi begitu istimewa
Dan tetap menjadi istimewa
Tapi aku trauma pada maya
Dan Dunia tak pernah lagi jadi sama
Ternyata…

Kenapa susah sekali menjadi sederhana….
Kenapa Cinta…?

Kuwait , Between Dust and the Sand…

Musim panas di Kuwait tahun ini di prediksikan untuk lebih kering, lebih panas dan lebih lama. Accepted, fine, nothing I can do anyway. Looking forward to the upcoming 55-56 Celsius degrees

But the thing that missed in the preliminary forecast is that, they didn’t mention how bad is the sand storm and the Dust!

One night, I was just roaming around my flat accompanying my friend who is looking for a used car. And it was so happened, that there’s a park space near my apartment which people are used to park their car for sale. It is usually cheaper to get a car that way. So we went for a check. It was nice and the weather was not that hot. Then suddenly, the wind just got stronger, a small rain start to drops, and in the next minute we couldn’t see a thing!!! The sand was all over mixed with the rain drops and the wind which got stronger every second. And to make it worst, I was wearing my big “Gypsy’ skirt!! I almost say, “I’m flying …I ‘m flying” in the Titanic node if I don’t have sands all over my lips!hahaha. I guess it was kind of cute scene, having two Asians got trapped in the sand storm during the night and helplessly trying to escape.

And this turns out to be the beginning only. The following day, I already got suspicious when I wake up early morning (well, apparently not that early lah …). Sun usually already high and shining bright as if the mid afternoon around 7 am. But when I looked at the window, it’s kind of cloudy….wait … the color doesn’t seem right….it’s kind of grey..nope.. a bit orange… a light brown… and voila… the air just cover by the finest dust… all you can see is a brown greyest fog…dust fog.. !! Buildings were went missing till you’re in 10 m distance. That bad…, and it’s just make you sick, the air was so thick and hard to breathe. The next morning, I heard on radio that hospitals were full of people with breathing problem, i.e. asthma, bronchitis. It was unfortunate that I didn’t document the cars covered in the dust and sand as if abandoned in the dessert for months.

Anyway, we’ve managed to live with it. And yet, a nice French dinner and one multinational birthday party has cheer me up during the week end. Not to mention the cooking session in the afternoon which was just nice! May be I’ll write about it later. I have one desperate guy who wants to be published as a nice handsome, smart and a good cooker in this blog as a free advertisement. Hahaha ( u wish !!)

Jangan Kerja Terlalu Keras...

Folks,

Gue barusan agak panik pas pesen taksi mau pulang abis lembur (again?? plis deh) , ternyata taksi close dong jam 11 malem. So bakal susah pesen taksi di atas jam 10 malem. Ya ampunn... Gue jadi kangen Indo!!

Heran, dua kemungkinan, emang ga ada night life atau emang semua orang berkatifitas malam punya mobil.. (ga berkualitas deh kesimpulan gue)

Lesson learnt:

• In Kuwait, jangan kerja terlalu keras... susah pulangnya!!
• Harus cepet bisa nyetir dan dapetin SIM !!

Kesian soto gue nungguin di rumah dari pagi....

The Days...

Hari ini akhirnya gue ke minimarket Asia. Namanya Al Bahaa, berlokasi di Fahaheel . Daerah ini adalah pusat para imigran Asia tinggal. Dari India, Srilanka,Bangladesh, etc. Gue ada dua cerita sih mengenai satu jam setengah di Al Bahaa.

Pertama, gue tadinya cukup pesimis ngeliat tempatnya yang kecil dan sumpek. Lantai pertama, isinya macem-macem barang kelontong dan personal care. Yang bikin gue senyum, ada macem-macem balsam dan minyak angina di situ. Ada tuh cap kampak yang di alih bahasakan jadi “Axe” brand. Dan satu yang paling nendang adalah balsam Cap Betet, asli bikinan Sidoarjo! Gue aja ga pernah liat tuh di Indo hahaha Nggak ketinggalan kosmetik yang dari jaman nyokap gue udah ada, “Kelly Cream”, ini juga di mayestik dah susah nyarinya.

Tepat ketika gue dah mulai disorientasi dan kecewa, gue liat ada tangga ke basement dan langsung keliatan bagian sayur-mayur. Dengan harapan yang tersisa gue buru-buru ke bawah. Whaaaa, gue nemu tahu, tempe, daun sawi, mie basah, pare, kedondong, singkong, taoge, pare (paria), daun pandan, etc ! tambah seneng lagi pas ngambil sawi ijo, waitressnya bilang, “We also have the Bakso right over there”. Wahh cocok! Macem-macem bumbu jadi Asia and seasoning ada di situ. Yah pasti ga selengkap di Indo, tapi cukup menghibur. Satu catetan: Kenapa Bakso gue ama Sop ga beda yah rasanya, there's must be something very wrong!hahaha

Okay, there you go the fun parts! Nah ada bagian yang sangat menyebalkan di sepanjang pagi belanja itu. Karena pagi itu driver gue sibuk bener, dia cuma ngedrop gue doang and jemput gue lagi after (should be!) satu jam. Nah satu setengah jam berlalu, dan gue dah keliling-keliling nggak jelas. Jadi itu area crowded banget, tapi agak nggak terlalu ramah lingkungan buat cewek jalan sendirian. In Brief, nggak terlalu comfort juga lah. Akhirnya gue putusin tuh nunggu di depan minimarket. Dan gue abis di ‘harras’ sama segenap lelaki yang banyak bener nongkrong di situ. Ga jelas mereka ngapain, ada yang taksi non meter, ada yang pengunjung toko sebelah, dll. Dimulai dari staring (they simply eating me alive), manggil-manggil, suit-suit, wah gile ..trauma deh gue!! Hampir aja gue datengin satu trus gue tampar, waktu ada satu arab suit-suitin gue. Emang susah jadi orang Indo, sering banget di samain ama Filipino yang notabene punya reputasi agak jelek buat ceweknya. The same thing happened the night before when I was waiting my friend to pick me up to the mall. A man just walk approaching me with that kind of look, shit! Lucky there was a pharmacy that I could run into. Well, they might not attempt something physically abusive or anything, but that verbal harassment is too much for me!!

Lesson learned,
1.I should be able to drive my own very soon here….!!! Avoid standing alone by the side of the road for whatever reason
2.No shopping alone in the imigran area

Those kind of Talks..

Reaching one week, coincidentally the big big big Chief of my company is coming over. Invited to a dinner, I was feeling a bit nervous and excited at the same time. Nervous that I will be spending few hours with people that I barely know, office mode, always a bit political and it’s never been my favorite time being a stranger in such a crowd. See, I am a kind of introvert person J . But at the same time quite excited to meet in person Mr. Andrew Gould, the one and only CEO of Slb.

Lucky at that dinner I was saved by a few people that I met and have nice chat through the night. At this time, I learn that when you’re in the new crowd in a company event, it is always save to talk about the work related issues or what do the people handle on their job, insert some standard personal questions like where do they live, weather, history at the company, and their family . Pathetic thing! But those ones keep people talking and what you need to do is commenting once in a while, few nods, and smiles. In a word, boooorriinggg….

When I saw Andrew tonight, I just thinking how bored he is of all the dinner, formalities, those talks of crabs, internal and outside the company environment, while doing all the traveling, meetings, etc Pfiuuuhhhh… that’s why we give him private jet and the highest pay out! Hahaha

But at least I thought I was look nice tonight (a new experiment of eye shadows), weather was perfect and the food was all right. Hates politics and those kind of talks though…..