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So it is. I am turning 38. During my master degree back in 2002-2004, I saw people at this age as somewhat old and mature. Sure I can accept to be a 38. Thou in many cases, people sees me as 20 something *cough*. Being mature is another thing. You can be 20s and mature. Maturity, for me, is a moment where you know your limitation and strength and can make the best out of it. You are solid enough to stand and face the good, the bad and the ugly in life. Past year has been a wake up call for me to learn accepting my new condition. As a mother of a toddler, a wife and business partner and a daughter with responsibility for family business, I need to measure my energy and time very well. Yes, I always want to be part of any positive social movement, as what I used to do. And yes, I still have troubled feeling toward extensive greed of my hometown development. My 37 can be seen as a failure. Failing to finalize many social works and commercial projects. It is a big slap on my

Walk the City, then you will get the soul… ...and you may find more hidden beneath... Filled with otak-otak and es kacang, we continued our walk around Old Muntok. Few houses from Petak 15, there is a weird signboard : " Lorong Babi" . We laugh at the funny words in the beginning and follow the direction it shows. We found a newly built kiosk in a dead-end narrow alley. In there, 3 men are selling pork. They were smiling and told us to come in. I asked them if this place is new and they approve. "We are moved here when they (the government) move the old market to the new one across the river" I could see the new market from their stall…across the river. All of you are not joining the others to the new market? "No, this is the location for us" I didn't ask further. It is clear to me. Johannes Widodo, our Keynote Speaker, coined "Meeting Pot" for Muntok. According to him, differences for centuries manage to live side by side in

My trip to Muntok is made possible by mAAN. This year the design workshop subject is Mentok (or Muntok) a Tin Mining City. Some background of the workshop can be found in mAAN Mentok Tin Mining City Design Workshop official website . Muntok's golden moment was back in 18th century until the day of New Order, where national development was centralized in Java. Similar to other places outside Jawa, Muntok losing its importance, despite its richness as on of Tin mines in Bangka Island. Yesterday I didn't manage to walk around the city much. Yet, thru stories from Brain Team we can quickly assume the city loses it's main energy: Youth. *it will be really nice to have more facts from detailed demography statistic data...I will post it as soon as we get the data. Before discuss further on this assumption, I should underline that Muntok has important role in Indonesia Tin Mining Industry. Tin Mining sector considers as the largest contributor for this city income. With t

Yep... itu yang sempat saya rasakan waktu berjalan-jalan di NYC awal tahun 2004. Rasanya berbunga-bunga sekali bisa menjalani kota yang hanya sempat saya lihat di film-film dan serial TV macam Sex and the City... Saking seringnya melihat detektif membeli 'hotdog dan kopi' di pinggir jalan, itu jadi hal pertama yang harus saya lakukan...Nonton di Broadway dan berteriak (untungnya saya masih waras :D ) di Times Square juga diagendakan. Kemasan film itu sangat berhasil membangkitkan antusiasme saya dengan NYC. Saat membeli Hotdog dan Kopi rasanya saya menjadi bagian dari NYC, sekalipun kemudian kopinya saya buang setelah seteguk (rasanya gak jelas!). Keberhasilan mengemas kota ini tanpa oleh TV dan film merupakan bentuk branding yang sangat mudah dimengerti semua orang, namun sering tidak disadari oleh para manajer kota. Berapa banyak dari kita yang mau mengenal Bangka Belitung sebelum munculnya Laskar Pelangi? Serial novel Andrea Hirata tentang pengalaman masa

Tepatnya 5 tahun 2 bulan yang lalu waktu saya backpacking ke Itali dengan 2 wanita Asia lainnya, satunya Taiwan dan satunya RRC. Rute kami 12 hari melalui Treviso, Roma, Siena, berputar-putar di Tuscany selama 2 hari, lalu ke Firenze, Verona dan berakhir di Venice. [ bagian yang tidak bisa lepas dari ingatan ini adalah rute berkeliling Tuscany. bayangkan...melewati padang yang penuh dengan gulungan jerami keemasan, berendan di sumber air panas yang berumur ribuan tahun...dengan badan masih berbau belerang, menonton resital piano di attic rumah tua di sebuat kota kecil... makan es krim di Grosetto, menikmati real italian pizza di entah bukit sebelah mana di Tuscany... dan yang terindah adalah termenung mendengarkan bunyi lonceng-lonceng gereja di ladang Tuscany sambil duduk di atap gereja tua...memandangi padang keemasan itu. penggalan perjalanan di Tuscany ini bagian yang tidak akan pernah hilang dari ingatanku. "Tuscany is where time stands still" begitu kata teman Jerman s

....saya memberi tahu diriku bahwa saya akan mulai menulis lagi writer block kata mereka, tapi mana ada writer block sampai hampir setahun? banyak yang bisa saya ceritakan, sebenarnya... butuh konsistensi dan komitmen tentunya... yuk mari