WORLD OF NADA

So.. where do I start. Guess my travel stories alternate to life reflections. Sorry, been busy that I have no time for travel blogging. Another two years passed since my last post. Of course, lots of things did happen.

What was going on in 2018? Still happily working and dancing, plus becoming healthier by attending workout classes, joining running events, and guess what: I got my Zumba teaching license and had my first regular class in a studio :D. Never, ever, thought of this.

Then what happens in 2019? Hmm, it gets MUCH MORE interesting. First of all, I turn 25 --> 'WHAAATT, even I couldn't believe it. No, I don't feel old or something but.. wait, what, 25?!' People say 'welcome to quarter-life crisis'. What is that anyway, because I feel like I'm just starting my life.
Take me back to five years ago, my older cousins got married at the age of 25. I had this future wedding plan on my head and imagined myself as a bride. But as the year approached, 'Hello, prince charming, where are you?'.

Life doesn't stop, of course. As I said before, I'm just starting it. Thanks to my Zumba license, it brought me to great opportunities. I got something new that I'm looking forward to every single day. After finishing my main office work, I departed to the place I had to teach. I just couldn't imagine I could meet new people in every class, make new friends and connections, help people to be healthy, and earn extra cash as a bonus (ka-ching!).

Been enjoying my new routine, another 'I-couldn't-believe-it' opportunity came: I will be studying abroad and leaving in a few months. Studying abroad, especially in the UK, is one of my biggest dreams. And when it's finally in front of my eyes, it's exciting yet scary. I had to leave all the great things behind for a while: my happy daily routine, my family and friends, and all the convenience my city could offer. Having to let go of things you love is hard.

Here now I am in the UK. All of sudden, my life completely changed. I had to start all over again. For the first time, I have to live alone far away from my family. Becoming a student again is not easy. My responsibility doesn't stop after attending lectures. The long day still continues by having self-study, doing assignments, and preparing for exams. I have to manage my time wisely. Not only do I study the module, but I also learn how to organize my life more as well. As simple as cooking (I never cook before, but now I enjoy it so much and love to try making new dishes), doing the laundry, buying groceries, housing stuff, etc.
To help me survive and stay sane, I couldn't be more thankful of my pleasant surroundings: fellow Indonesian friends (instantly clicked since our first meeting, they are all like my family here), my new friends from different nationalities (pleasure to meet them, I feel at least five years younger when I'm around them :D), my housemates (I'm happy that we all get along well and thank you for making the house a nice place to live :)), nice and friendly random people, safe neighbourhood, and many other things I haven't listed. On top of that, I have the chance to experience things that I won't have if I weren't studying here. So, just live the moment.

Go for your dreams, as scary and challenging as they can be.

Life is a book, turn the page for another chapter.

Sometimes, you have to be out of your comfort zone. You don't know what life could bring. Be prepared and do not be afraid, it's just another phase you have to pass.

As quoted from Oprah Winfrey, "You can have it all, just not all at once."

Thank you, 2019 and welcome, 2020!

These past two years have been the greatest years I've ever had. I had been wanting to write this last year, but I just got the chance now.

It is all started when I enter working life as an intern in January 2016. I began to see life in a wider perspective. At first, based on what most people said, working in a 8 to 5 office seems boring and flat. I thought I would never be able to make it to stay for a 3-month internship. Turns out, I requested to extend my contract. Office feels like my second home. I was in my last semester of college, having one class left to attend, and working on my final report. But I loved to be in the office more. I didn't expect to be in a pleasant working environment. I got to meet these amazing friends, attend many fun office events, eat lots of food (I was even appointed as 'snack manager', haha), and of course develop my professional skills. Every day is fun day and full of laughter.

In the middle of the year, I was finally graduated and got my bachelor degree. Yeay! Finally I was free and could focus on work. I was hoping I then got promoted to be permanent employee, but I happily continued to stay as an intern until the end of the year. Well, great thing about it is I didn't have to worry about attendance. I could only just tell my manager if I wasn't going to the office and still could go on holiday easily. Approaching year-end, I got mixed feelings. I hadn't known whether I would get employed or not and I would be very sad to leave the company and its people. A day before my last day, thinking that it would be the last time I meet most of my friends before they took leave, I decided to read a letter to them. I almost cried and felt so emotional knowing I have to leave all the good things behind.

Then suddenly all the sadness changed. Since my manager is on leave, I got called by CFO in her room. She told me I could start working as permanent employee by new year. What?! Did I just mishear? I was shocked, I couldn't think clearly. I was just saying goodbye and then I got this announcement? I didn't even realise I was dancing joyfully in front of her. I was extremely happy! Yes, baby, I landed my first job!

I couldn't believe all this magic just happened. I started the new year with a whole new spirit. More responsibilities and new opportunities to come. While happily working, through my encounter with people, whether they are people I know or strangers, my eyes and mind are more opened that I get to feel more grateful on small things I didn't realise I have it already.

Outside, people see me as a cheerful, loud, and always-energized young lady. But when I'm at home and locked up in my room, it's time for me to chill and reflect on what I have been through that day.

Sometimes, we, as employees have to work over time to catch deadlines, either it's working late than usual or coming to office on holiday. I don't have any problem with that since I'm still single and haven't had any dependents yet. But how about the others? Most of them are fathers and mothers, they have families. They sacrifice their precious time with their loved ones. And what if their house is far away from the office? Every morning and night most of them need to find transportation and spend quite long time to reach their desired destination.
Nowadays, it is easier to find transportation, thanks to online taxis and ojek (=motorcycles). Even though the distance between my house and office is not that far, the traffic could be very bad. I do sometimes take online ojek since it is more efficient. I could save so much time! I usually give tips to the drivers and learn how Rp5,000,- could mean so much. Every time I give the tips, I just smile and look away because I could immediately cry in front of them. I'm such a drama queen, I know. They genuinely say thank you and I could really feel their happiness. With their smile, I become happy too. I learn that you could be happy by giving.

Life is not easy. I do often cry unnecessarily, just because I'm too thankful, or seeing others' happiness and even their struggles. When I couldn't help them directly, I pray for them to make me calm. As I get older, I learn not to judge people on first impression. Every people has their own story.

People sometimes wonder how I could look happy all the time. It's simply because I choose to be happy. Of course there are times when I trapped in unpleasant situation where I want to scream loudly and smash everything around me, but I try to find positive sides behind every bad situations I encounter. For example, I was riding this online taxi where I was awaited for practice and it was raining. The driver took me to routes where the traffic was veeery bad and I couldn't do anything about it. Oh gosh, I feel like I wanted to punch the front seat. I couldn't yell at the driver because it won't solve anything, I would definitely be late after all. Instead, I tried to calm myself down and pray, think about good things. Thank God that the driver was still nice and took me safely to my destination. How come if he was a bad man and kidnapped me? *knock on woods*. We never know.

Some of my friends also ask, 'Hey Nada, are you still dancing now? How come you manage to still dance while you are already working now?' I am happy my working life still allows me to do what I love to do which is dancing. I didn't realise my hobby could be useful to others, give me extra earnings, and lead me to new opportunities. Besides in the place I work, I'm also asked to teach in other offices for their performance. I get the chance visit new places and meet new people.

Surely, I have dreams and bucket list from the past. But as I live, I am beyond grateful that God has given me valuable opportunities and experiences I've never thought of and expected to have. I may not have everything and still wishing on some things, but on the other side, sometimes I couldn't believe of what God has given me, they are too beautiful. God knows best and He gives what you need more than what you want.

With social media now, I couldn't deny sometimes I get jealous when I see those famous bloggers/influencers' posts. The grass is always greener on the other side, right? But hey, nobody's life is perfect. Every person has their own struggle. Do not compare your life with others', you will never feel enough. By being thankful on small things and what you have now, you will have more.

You are the one who decide to be happy or not.

Be flexible. Life doesn't always go as you wish.

Love the life you live.

Be grateful, appreciate on little things, and share what you have more with others.

I hope everybody have a great year and see you all in 2018.
Happy new year!

So here comes the very last day of the whole trip. I felt a bit sad but more excited because we were going to Universal Studios Osaka! My family and I couldn't wait to visit the famous Wizarding World of Harry Potter.

The park opened at 9 am that day. We arrived just in time and many people were already gathered around the gate. While we were waiting, we saw information about Universal Express Pass to shorten our waiting time for some attractions. At first, we were thinking of buying it. However, the attractions are already designated so we cannot choose by ourselves and we decided not to buy it.

The park consists of these areas: Universal Wonderland, Wizarding World of Harry Potter, Waterworld, Amity Village, Jurassic Park, San Fransisco, New York, and Hollywood.







First thing first, we directly made our way to Wizarding World of Harry Potter. The first attraction we would like to experience is Harry Potter and The Forbidden Journey in 4K3D. Because of its popularity, the queue was quite long. Inside, we must put our belongings into the lockers provided since the ride involves turning. And before riding, I already feel like I was in the movie scene! There were these talking paintings and they were talking in Japanese. My heart beat so fast when I hopped on the ride. I really couldn't wait how this ride would take me. Oh. My. God. Now I really feel like I was in the movie scene. I feel like I was flying when it was Quidditch game part and by the time the Dementors came, I could say I was scared because they looked so real and they were around me. I was crying because of my excitement. This is the best ride ever!!


Our second ride is Flight Of The Hippogriff. We regret spending about 1.5 hour for just a regular roller-coaster. There are many more interesting and challenging roller-coaster ride you could find in the park. I could say that this is really not worth the long queue and you could just skip this to save your time.


We visited Ollivanders wand shop to see the Wand Magic attraction then we walked around the area visiting the shops. The last thing we couldn't miss is trying the Butterbeer. I was afraid at first it would taste too sweet but turns out it taste very good! The beer has perfect sweetness with buttery cream on top.







We moved to Hollywood area because my brother wanted to experience Hollywood Dream - The Ride. I don't mind riding a roller-coaster but I avoid the steep ones because I don't like how the 'drop' feeling gives to my stomach. I was nearly going to give up at first since I had seen the ride flow from outside but finally I gave it a go. Challenge accepted.


Since this is our last day and we didn't mind to splurge a bit, we had lunch in Mel's Drive-In in Hollywood area trying the burgers and fries with cola for drinks. Having American food in a diner made us feel like we were not in Japan.

Trying the Turkey Leg from the food stall

We moved to New York area to queue for The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man - The Ride 4K3D. I didn't expect much but turns out I found it an exciting ride. We got on to the car and were taken to a journey with Spider-Man.



I had to go for another challenging roller-coaster, this time is The Flying Dinosaur. What makes it different is we are positioned as if we are gripped by a flying dinosaur, so after we sit, the seat will tilt until we are facing down. I immediately wanted to scream after the seat was tilted. During the ride, I think I was screaming all the time and I even had to close my eyes. This is very thrilling!

Minion Bun and Choco Banana Churros. So damn good!

We watched Godzilla: The Real 4D at the theater show for the last attraction. This becomes our second 'most-regreful' attraction. We queued for about 2 hours for this and all we could get is a Godzilla movie with average effect. Very not worth the queue and again, you could skip this. We were so pissed that we were looking for another attraction to console ourselves. Most of the attractions were already closed and we saw that the Spider-Man attraction we had experienced earlier were still open, we went for another ride to make us feel better.


And that's a wrap for our Universal Studios Osaka adventure and also that's how we spent our last night in Japan. Getting out from the park, my eyes were mesmerized by the view of Universal City Walk. The lights looked very pretty! And we found a decent karage stall to have dinner at.

Excited, yet also sad knowing we were going to the last city, Osaka. Had to go to Kyoto Station by bus. I wish the bus trip was longer so that I could see more of Kyoto's street life. Arriving at the station, we decided to find breakfast first since we hadn't eaten anything. The station is connected to some malls and there is Isetan at the basement. Turns out it was the food section. My father took care of our luggages outside while my and my brother came inside and looked around. We were very overwhelmed by the variety of food because they all looked so good! We bought some inari, fried cutlets, and yakitori. When we had the inari, we all agreed that it was the best inari we've ever had! Both the skin and filling were super tasty. I will definitely come to Isetan only to buy its inari if I come to Japan again.

Then we took the JR Special Rapid Service train to Osaka which takes around 30 minutes ride. Somehow, I feel this train speed is faster than shinkansen.

So here we are in Osaka. We immediately looked for our apartment in Daikokucho area to put our luggage so that we could explore the city. The apartment in Osaka turns out become our best stay while in Japan. Again, we booked it via airbnb. Check out for more details here:
https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/14311260


Our first destination is Osaka Castle. As we got out from Tanimachi Yonchome station, we still had long way to go to reach the castle. In contrary to snowy weather back in Kyoto, it was bright and sunny here, though the wind was still cold.

NHK Osaka Hall

Osaka Castle

What attracted me from the castle was the food around it, haha. I don't know if it was only that day or not, but there were many food trucks. The matcha corner from the permanent food stall however caught my eyes most. It was just a perfect combination from the cold float and hot matcha bun.

Duo Matcha: Float and Bun

We then made our way to Kura Sushi near Tenjinbashi-suji Shopping Arcade to have our super late lunch. It is located on the second floor of a Lawson store. What made us wanted to try this sushi chain is because it only costs 100 yen per plate! How couldn't we miss this? It is usually crowded during peak hours and we were lucky that we came after lunch time, around 3pm, that we found many empty seats.




For those who live in Jakarta, Kura Sushi reminds you of Genki Sushi. We ordered the menu with iPad and the food will come from the train machine. The difference is the pad is already attached on the side of each table. In terms of taste, well, they are not that special. Even for the inari, the one from Isetan was much tastier.

We had 16 plates that costs only 1,720 yen!

Cigarrete vending machine

Tenjinbashi-suji Shopping Arcade

Spot ourselves on the big screen

After that, we moved to our last destination, Dotonbori, a popular lively neigborhood among tourists. We had arranged a meet-up with our cousin-in-law who is a pilot and he was currently flying here. He was waiting for us near the Glico Man sign.

With our cousin-in-law, Co-Capt. Dismas Yoga Untoro

Striking a Glico Man pose!

We walked around the area with him. I was just so in love with the ambience. Bright lights coming from the signs, the crowd, I love everything!

I really wanted to try takoyaki that many sold here. There are plenty of recommendations but rather than wasting time looking for a specific one, I just looked for the one who had long lines near me. I ended up buying takoyaki from Kukuru. The seller was keep talking loudly while making the takoyaki, it was very entertaining to watch. For the taste, it was quite decent but I found it not very special. But at least I'm happy I could finally taste a takoyaki that is originally made in Japan.

Our cousin took us to Bic Camera, a large electronic retailer chain in Japan. For photography enthusiast, I believe this place is heaven. Even I was overwhelmed by the items displayed. My brother was excited to see the cameras and he ended up buying new Canon lense. Most price are cheaper than in Indonesia.





We had proper dinner at Sanuki Udon Hanamaru, an udon chain. Again, for those who live in Jakarta, this reminds you of Marugame Udon. Almost everything is the same. First, you take the tray and order the udon. The difference is they offer three sizes of serving (S, M, L). Then you can take additional side dishes. I tried the small pork udon and this giant fried octopus which both are very tasty and made me very full.

Free refillable ocha and water

Before we went back to the apartment, while I was here, I bought a Pablo cheese tart. It was recently just opened in Jakarta but I hadn't tried it. Based on what people said who had tried both in Japan and Jakarta, they feel the original one is much better. I was very curious so I decided to buy one. I didn't know before that they had two options: full-baked and half-baked (melted inside). I chose the melted one.

Since I was full, I tried the tart at the apartment. It was sooo good! It's very different from any other cheese cake I've ever tried. The mango sauce spread on the top was on point. I love how Japanese cakes look 'heavy' but actually taste super light.