– 🇹🇷 Turkey

Spring break 2019 destination was another ini-Minnie-mini-mo moment when I couldn’t decide where to go until last minute, like.. 2 weeks before going.

It’s probably not quite a last minute thing but that’s the case if you live in remote area 😜 which I do like where I live, don’t get me wrong.

And considering the weather, things I want to do, and visa.. my pointer chose Turkey 🇹🇷… yes AGAIN. 😋

Turkey 2017

I’ve been to Turkey 2 Springs ago in Pamukkale, Izmir, and Istanbul.

Pamukkale was beautiful with its Travertine hot spring. Izmir with the magnificent Ephesus, and of course with places and cultural attractions in Istanbul. I was like.. I want to move to this place!!😍😍💕😅

Turkey 2019 Goes to Kapadokya!!

This time I went solo!😃

Strolling around the city alone was nothing but Relaxing 😎

I spent the whole week in Göreme with 2 agendas: Hot air balloon and staying in a cave hotel! That’s all and other things should follow.

It was a coldest weather I’d been in. 🥴 I didn’t like to bring a lot of things when traveling, but the weather was like -8. It wouldn’t allow me to travel light. However, I packed as light as I could.

Getting to the hot air balloon ride was a bit tricky as you really counted on the weather and of course money 💰🥴

It’s as pricey as €175 but I will only do this for once so.. whatever.. I decided to do it.😅

It was super stunning views from above, amongst the valleys, surrounded by hundreds of balloons, and most of all watching the sun rise. Sharing the moment with a bunch of strangers with simply smiled to each other and nodded with wide eyes as spoken languages were not there to be understood. We had one thing to say: This planet is beautiful! And praised to Allah, the almighty who hold the world! 😇

My Conspiracy

Time of the year that I really keen on is International Week. It is time when all nations here in my community embrace (over 150 countries) to participate in a parade and share their culture. While at school where I work, we celebrate the diversity throughout the week and wrap it with the parade on the last day with their families and the rest of the community.

Check this out for the vid.

This Is the time when I plant the root for my conspiracy with the generation badge in my class ‘nation’. 😊

It is when we acknowledge more of our identities, learn about where they come from originally. To learn that we are all different for who we are. Yet, we all here share the laugh, the joy, the fun, and also the bad times together.

When there is a purpose, it makes it easy to learn. (Finding your Why)

So, today everyone got to find their flags and tell which country they are from. I have 11 nationalities from 14 kids in my class and that makes 12 nationalities including myself. Now you can see how this moment is interesting. 😋

Someone asked about why Saudi Arabia’s 🇸🇦 flag has a sword in its flag. Hmm… I was puzzled, and my assistant’s answer did not quite satisfied them. So I left it to my Arabic teacher to help me out. I did then introduce them of my flag: Indonesia 🇮🇩

I said a flag means something for its country. The same as mine. I told them red means bravery and white means purity. There’s a story behind it. Long time ago Indonesia was occupied by The Netherlands and its flag was red, white, and blue.

Then Indonesian ripped the blue part and claimed the red and white as Indonesian flag. So the color represents Indonesian’s identity.

A question arose: “but why did they fight?”

I said back then people were so greedy that they wanted to take over others’ lands. Now things are better. We are now friends: Indonesian and Dutch 😊

And you are all will even make things better in the future.😃

Bringing peace and be principled!

They might not fully understand but it doesn’t mean I can’t tell them. They don’t need to understand it now but they will eventually… 💕🤝❤️🤗

Golf Carting

An experience that I would not be able to have if I am not living in the community where I live now is Golf Carting. Yes… driving golf cart for my daily commute to work and around the compound.

I decided to get, well to rent it from the transport division was because I sold my car and summer is very HOT in Saudi. It will not as cool as driving in a car but at least I have shade and I can get anywhere faster than riding my bike.

Its top speed is 30 km/hour. I know not so much different from the bike right hahahha! But I can argue that it helps me with big loads for me to carry my shopping stuffs. 😜 The sensation of driving a golf cart with its maximum speed, yes.. that 30 km/hour, is such an experience though.. with the ziiiink sound of the machine is like I’m driving a futuristic car😅. The blow of the wind will give you also a such dramatic effect of vision if you forget to tie your hair. Gosh! One of those days when I forgot to tie my hair and found nothing in my bag to help out with it, a 10-minute driving home in the afternoon when the wind is usually at it’s crazy act was a nuisance!🤪😂 Luckily the roads here are most likely empty, so crashing chances are almost zero.

Winter is perfect time to enjoy, even though pretty chill if it’s windy. 😃

Well… I’ll enjoy my ride for another month before I hand it back. I have now a bus stop in front of my house. How cool is that! 😃 So will say goodbye to this vehicle and soon taking a bigger vehicle to commute. And…my bike.. it still is my favorite as it gets me fit!👌🏻

A Little Taste of Georgia

Awalnya saya galau menentukan bagaimana menghabiskan liburan musim gugur tahun ini. Hanya seminggu dan for my sanity sake saya harus keluar dari dunia gurun in sesaat. 🙂 Daaaan… seperti yang sudah-sudah tempat saya kunjungi harus bebas visa atau paling nggak visa on arrival. Meskipun sahabat saya mencoba membujuk dengan I’ll do all the booking and search for the itinerary and we’ll go together to the embassy.. tetap saya ogah 😛 Kalo pengennya sih pengen ke Spanyol, tapiiiii… I hate complication ato lebih tepatnya malas hahahhah…

Setelah itung kancing antara Safari ke Kenya atau Georgia, pilihan jatuh pada Georgia!! Dan saya SUKA!!!! Hasil online research menghasilkan bahwa saya tidak memerlukan visa sebagai residen GCC countries. Alhamdullillaaaah 🙂 Dan meskipun ketika orang-orang tau saya memilih trip ke Georgia, mereka agak heran… “Oh..why Georgia?” Alasan utama tentu saja visa issue :p dan alasan berikutnya karena Georgia bukan negara gurun hehehe jadi saya paling tidak berasa ada di dunia luar. Dan.. menikmati Eropa tanpa visa…tentu saja!

Solo traveler tapi rada malas ber-adventure extreme, saya pake jasa private tour guide untuk mengunjungi tempat-tempat di luar kota. Dan lagi cuaca cukup dingin jadi menggunakan private car lebih nyaman. Sedangkan untuk menjelajah di kota Tbilisi, saya mencari tempat menginapp di pusat kota, jadi saya cukup jalan kaki kemana-mana. Sangat menyenangkan!

Dan saya rekomendasikan sekali untuk datang ke Georgia. Ini beberapa alasan mengapa Georgia bisa menjadi alternatif terutama bagi kalian yang gak suka ribet dengan visa seperti saya menjadi alasan untuk berkunjung ke Georgia:

1. Paspor ijo aka paspor Indonesia bisa mendapatkan visa on arrival (VOA). Dan kalo kalian residen di negara GCC malah bisa bebas visa 😉
2. Banyak turis selain Georgia mereka akan pergi juga Armenia. Tapi saya tidak, soalnya libur cuma seminggu dan itu aja di Georgia masih banyak tempat yang bisa dikunjungi atau sekedar menikmati kota Tbilisi.

Pemandangan pusat kota dari atas bukit – Narikala
Cukup dengan 2.5 GEL (georgian Lari) one way naik cable car. 5GEL pp dan 2 GEL untuk kartu transport-nya bisa di top up untuk moda transport lain.

Monument St. George di Freedom Square menandai sebagai pusat kota

Saya tengah duduk ngaso sambil foto sidewalk 🙂 di freedom square

Salah satu musisi jalanan yang unik. Banyak sekali musisi dan artist yang banyak ditemui di sepanjang jalan. 

Holy trinity Cathedral, megah!

Menikmati boat ride di sepanjang sungai di pusat kota

Jembatan perdamaian tampak dari kejauhan

Gedung pemerintahan pelayanan satu atap, semacam itulah istilahnya kalo kata org kita sih. Dan menurut mereka, pelayanannya sangat cepat. Semua layanan publik dipusatkan disini. Hebat yah! Mereka baru mulai 10 tahun yang lalu membangun negara setelah lepas dari Uni Soviet. 

Ada yang berbaik hati menawarkan jasa motoin sayah 😉

3. Georgia sarat cerita sejarah. Karena kisah perjuangan mereka masih fresh, saya jadi takjub mendengarkan. Cerita tentang negara komunis yang ada di buku waktu sekolah yang rasanya jauuuuuh hanya sekedar teori, terasa hidup ketika pelaku sejarah bercerita bagaimana negara memegang penuh kendali penuh semua aspek kehidupan. 

Rumah Stalin di kota Gori

Cave house di Uplitshike

Peaceful Wall di Kazbeghi

4. Peninggalan gereja-gereja orthodoks, sebagai salah satu agama nasrani tertua.

5. Penduduknya ramah-ramah tapi sayang agak sulit untuk berkomunikasi kalo ingin berkomunikasi di daerah. Di Tbilisi sendiri cukup banyak yang bisa berbahasa Inggris, kecuali toko-toko kecil, kecil kemungkinan juga mereka bisa berbahasa Inggris.

Well…. Siap berangkat?? Yuuk!! 🙂

V.A.L.E.N.T.I.N.E….

Valentine…
Exactly what is it? When I asked my kids in the classroom, they all shouted “it’s about giving chocolate to our friends Ibu Riri..!”
Why you have to give chocolate?
“Because it’s chocolate’s day!”
I smiled. Well, can’t blame of the conclusion they’ve made as that what it seemed.
However, I will agree to it, too. 😍 agree to the fact that chocolate is sweet, means that we share the sweetness to others. And that the day reminds us the thought of giving, thinking of others-

Below is one of my favorites:

THE STARFISH POEM

Once upon a time there was a wise man

who used to go to the ocean

to do his writing.

He had a habit of walking

on the beach

before he began his work.

One day he was walking along

the shore.

As he looked down the beach,

he saw a human

figure moving like a dancer.

He smiled to himself to think

of someone who would

dance to the day.

So he began to walk faster

to catch up.

As he got closer, he saw

that it was a young man

and the young man wasn’t dancing,

but instead he was reaching

down to the shore,

picking up something

and very gently throwing it

into the ocean.

As he got closer he called out,

“Good morning! What are you doing?”

The young man paused,

looked up and replied,

“Throwing starfish in the ocean.”

“I guess I should have asked,

why are you throwing starfish in the ocean?”

“The sun is up and the tide is going out.

And if I don’t throw them in they’ll die.”

“But, young man, don’t you realize that

there are miles and miles of beach

and starfish all along it.

You can’t possibly make a difference!”

The young man listened politely.

Then bent down, picked up another starfish

and threw it into the sea,

past the breaking waves and said-

“It made a difference for that one.”

no matter how small step we’ve made, it counts!

Aku CINTA Indonesia…yang kini telah berubah warna, berubah aroma, berubah murka! Karena plastik dari makanan kita, gas buangan dari mobil-mobil kita, sampah yang mengambang di sungai dan lautan….
Sehingga cacing mengadu pada daratan. Sehingga para alga mengeluh pada lautan.. Dan burung-burung berbondong menukas bayu…

Mari sayangi bumi…cintai Ibu Pertiwi..!
🌻🌹💜*Happy Valentine* 💗🌴🌾🌻