Category: indonesia

  • All Boys Trip

    All Boys Trip

    I am a proud alumnus of SMA Kanisius, a boys-only high school. Every year the alumni association held a reunion. I rarely participated in such event, but this year somehow I had a chance to do that. The idea was to bring my son D with me, also as a chance to introduce him to…

  • Visiting The Dead

    Visiting The Dead

    In 2020, COVID-19 hit the world. It was deadly mostly to people with comorbidity or senior citizens, including my grandfather of 100 years old. Due to safety reasons, he was quickly cremated and his remain was kept in a columbarium. Fast forward to 2023, COVID-19 was largely under control and there was plan to take…

  • Long Weekends Part 5: Pocari Sweat Run

    Long Weekends Part 5: Pocari Sweat Run

    I woke up probably 4AM in the morning. Having prepared everything the day before, it didn’t much of hassle for me before A picked me up at 4.45. A and his wife D drove a car, picked me up in front of my housing complex, and drove us to the Pocari Sweat Run venue. This…

  • Long Weekends Part 4: Pesantren

    Long Weekends Part 4: Pesantren

    My wife drove me to UNPAR that morning. We stopped at McD for me to buy a quick and easy breakfast, and I arrived at UNPAR at 6.30. Some students and other lecturers from International Relations department arrived one by one. This was a Program Pengabdian Kepada Masyarakat (some kind of corporate social responsibility) headed…

  • Long Weekends part 3: FLS2N, Family, and Diocese Time

    Long Weekends part 3: FLS2N, Family, and Diocese Time

    Next event was the FLS2N SMK (Festival dan Lomba Seni Siswa Nasional Sekolah Menengah Kejuruan, Art Competition and Festival for Vocational Students). I spent morning time still in Harris Hotel, since I had to participate in student’s defence online. Had a team meeting on lunchtime, then headed to Bogor station for Jakarta-bound commuter line, followed…

  • Long Weekends part 2: NSDC

    Long Weekends part 2: NSDC

    Read part 1 here. A few days before, I made appointment with my former students, W, to meet. He worked in BSD so it was a good chance to meet. Since I had to travel again to Bogor later that week, I asked W to visit us for breakfast in the hotel. We had a…

  • Long Weekends part 1: LDBI

    Long Weekends part 1: LDBI

    It all started on end of June. I and team were responsible for the submission system for national high school students debating championship, which required us to stay in a hotel with the other committees. We were responsible both for the LDBI (Lomba Debat Bahasa Indonesia) and NSDC (National School Debating Championship) competition. The submission…

  • Off-The-Grid Wedding

    Off-The-Grid Wedding

    Saturday morning, I with my family drove to Jakarta. I was about to attend an on-site wedding of a cousin that day. The wedding involves the Tea Pai, a ceremony where the newly wed present cup of tea for their elders. Since my dad decided not to attend the ceremony due to COVID-19 precautions, I…

  • Vocational Schools Art Festival

    Vocational Schools Art Festival

    The Indonesian education ministry has this department called Pusat Prestasi Nasional (Puspresnas, National Achievement Center) that holds various competitions for students in Indonesia. One of their program is the FLS2N SMK (Festival dan Lomba Seni Siswa Nasional untuk Sekolah Menengah Kejuruan). It roughly translates to Art Competition and Festival for Vocational High Schools, though during…

  • In Search for Kopitiam Aroma

    In Search for Kopitiam Aroma

    As you may have known from this blog, I spent a fairly amount of time in Singapore, and its culture has a special place in my heart. One of the many things I miss is the Singapore kopi (coffee) and kopitiam (coffee shop). In Singapore (and Malaysia), kopi is actually not a plain coffee. It…