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