Sidenotes of Life

It goes without saying that I am an Introvert, 100% (well, maybe 80%?). When I first know the term from Susan Cain's TED Talk, I feel a great sense of relief. That I am pretty much normal. That it is okay to be introverted with all of its strengths and weakness. But, recently I think I am playing it too safe, too comfortable. In the middle of a new environment abroad, I need more social fabric than I initially thought. I come across this book from Mba Asnin's IG Story. Curious, I search for the book sample on Kindle, and I am caught! It's sooo hilarious and relatable. At this point, I was already so skeptical about any books on introverts because it has been so cliché and boring. This book comes with a fresh kick without sounding ‘holier than thou’. I immediately order the book from Amazon and it comes right on 24th December, of what feels like a perfect Christmas gift from me to myself haha. The writer, Jessica Pan, is a Chinese-American who moved to London with her husban

The Covid-19 Catastrophe is a book by Richard Horton, Editor-in-Chief of The Lancet. It is written between April-May 2020 and is very short, only 133 pages including the reference. I found it by chance when I search for another book in the Altstadt library. My campus adopts a quite uncommon way to organize its massive collection. Rather than ordered by subject, it is stacked according to the year the book was purchased by the university library. I find the system quite strange but later found that it has its own advantage. When I see the book purchased from 2020 onwards, all the books are still so new it feels like it comes straight from the bookstore but you can have it for free, which is amazing. Reading The Covid-19 Catastrophe in 2023 surely feels different. Just one day before 2022 end, Jokowi announce that all restrictions on crowds and mobility in Indonesia have been lifted, stating that people can resume activities normally like pre-pandemic. In Germany, life pretty much has re

I have one favorite bookstore in Düsseldorf. On the corner of Königsallee, lies a four-floor bookstore called Mayersche. I like to spend time there. This may seem like a trivial thing for Germans, but as an Indonesian, I am amazed that all books here are open and unsealed. I mean… technically people can just sit there and read on the nice sofa that the bookstore provides without buying it. This business model certainly will not work in Indonesia.  Anyway, I struck on this quite provoking book with an intriguing title: “Why the Germans do it Better?”. As someone who studies in Germany, I feel I know little to nothing about this country, so this book could give me a primer in a more engaging way than typical introduction book. John Kampfner, a British journalist, argue how German can rise from such a turbulent histories in the past and come as a strong and resilient country now. I can say that this book is very interesting. Albeit sometimes I feel the need to hide the cover whenever I re

So it has been a while since I write something on this blog. I feel now the momentum is just right: it's holiday season, I am not traveling anywhere, I have time, and I am bored haha. I also got an excuse to write my Blah Blah again with #30haribercerita, an annual campaign to write 30 days straight every January. It's originally based on Instagram, but I find Instagram is not my place anymore to write long captions so I move to blog. And since I have limited time to post it, I can’t overdo and overthink it haha so let's see how this goes. I want to start my writing with a reflection about 2022: The Year it Finally Happens . Yes, 2022 for me is like a dream come true, finally. I got a scholarship to pursue my master's degree abroad. It still feels surreal up to this day that I am here, right now, in Germany. A developed country that has high GDP and good social security. When I am still in Indonesia, I always wonder what it looks like. A developed nation. Is it differen

Hai! Cukup lama gak nulis di blogspot. Terakhir cek archieve post tahun 2019. Well, another year tanpa tulisan di blog :') Jadi kali ini gw mau ceritain sedikit tentang pengalaman tes IELTS di masa pandemi.  Entah kenapa kemarin pas googling belum banyak yang nulis tentang ambil tes IELTS di tengah pandemi Covid-19 dan gw berharap semoga informasi ini bisa sedikit berguna buat future test taker.  IELTS Computer Test Room di IALF Jakarta Oke, jadi awalnya gw pengen ambil IELTS lagi karena hasil tes yang sebelumnya udah expired (udah lebih dari dua tahun). Time surely flies! Setelah tahun lalu pandemic hit hards (tahun ini juga masih sih, tapi seenggaknya udah lebih bisa beradaptasi), pelan-pelan gw mulai mengumpulkan niat lagi buat lanjut apply sekolah. Langkah pertamanya adalah tes IELTS.  Gw tes IELTS di awal Februari 2021. Awalnya, gw memilih tempat tesnya dulu. Tahun 2018 saat tes IELTS pertama, gw ambil di British Council Jakarta Pusat, lokasinya di Millenium Hotel Sirih Tanah

Why I Write is a poem by Lang Leav posted on her Instagram.  I read it because my friends repost it on her instastory, the words strike me. And why I write is the same question that motivates me to write more on my blog recently.  But first, I want to say something.  Have I told you that searching a scholarship is a tiring journey? I don't know about you, but honestly for me, constantly being checked about my past, my present and my future aspirations make me feels like I was on a brain scan procedure. I was under an assessment, whether I am the candidate they search, or not.  I don't know about you. But I don't think in a normal circumstance people will question that much about their life. The evaluation usually comes at the end of the year, trying to digest what you achieved and whatnot, to start planning for your next year's goals. But when applying to the scholarship, you might have come with some basic idea about y

This past few months has been a pleasurable reading time for me. I borrowed import books from Bookabuku, I read in the library and I slide through many eBooks in between. I read many interesting topic, mostly around personal development, career advice, personal finance and public health (or development). But, this book called "Goodbye Things" is my number one reading. It is so profound, it change the way I look upon everything around me.  I already see this book many times in Periplus or Kinokuniya (and later Gramed because the translated version already published), yet I was not interested to read this because it feels like "Ok, well, another book by another Japanese trying to spread the joy of tidying to the rest of the world." I think of it as another Marie Kondo wave. Don't get me wrong, I like Marie's idea of Spark Joy. I read her book, I watch her Netflix. But for me, it is just a method of tidying. And, as a quite messy person, I took jus