Afternoon Arts

Speaking about art… to tell you the truth, I’m not an “art person”. My family is not into art so much. And I grew up in a country that does not really appreciate the existency of art and history. I’ve never heard of any art galleries that are maintained by the government existed there. Some of historical Mosques and houses (except the famous ones, of course) were brought down. It is ashamed that they don’t have any museums to preserve the existency of their Bedouin ancestors. It seems like they are ashamed of their origin, that they want to bury it as deep as possible. Anyhow, I began to appreciate the art –especially paintings– when I lived with my roommates Anne and Fau during the first year of High School. Both of them love paintings and they did it in our room — that’s why I’m used to the strong smell of paint. They opened my eyes how I viewed arts. I later ended up joining an Art class which was soooo fun; although I was quite struggled with drawing (oh, I’m totally and certainly sucked at drawing!).

I went to the Queensland Museum and Queensland Art Gallery in Southbank yesterday with Mayu, Mama, and Jenny. I really had a great time. The entry was absolutely free. It was worth it! Queensland Museum has a great collection about Australian history, identity, culture, and animals. It was not bad, except that I knew most of it already (especially history). Queensland Art Gallery is a FANTASTIC place to visit. It is a brand-new building; was just opened in December 2006. I just love the displays and paintings there.. I absolutely love it! I was just surprised that I enjoy it so much. I should definitely have to visit all museums and galleries in Jakarta later! In my opinion, TMII is a really great concept to protect our rich culture. But sadly to say that it’s BADLY maintained!! I was a bit enthusiastic of going there for the second time a few years ago, but then… my excitement was dropped to the lowest level when I saw how dirty the place was!!!

I didn’t spend much time in the Art Gallery, because it was about to close very soon. Afterwards, we walked around Southbank for few minutes and sat by the Brisbane River. We went to Milton to have dinner (fish and chips! hehe). Mama insisted to buy us dinner, so we had a deal that Jenny and I were gonna pay for Gelato in return. We didn’t get to eat in the restaurant because it was so full; so we ate at home. We didn’t buy a Gelato either, so we just paid for taxi — it was raining sooo heavily (FINALLY!). I really enjoyed my day. Today is Mama’s last day in Brisbane. It’s so sad that this could be my last chance seeing her. She is SOOOO nice and extremely POLITE! She doesn’t demand a lot of things, though she sleeps in my (and Mayu’s) room. I don’t feel that her presence has caused me any troubles. Jenny and I really enjoy her company. I don’t know when I’m going to meet her again. Visiting Japan is too costly for me and I’m not sure if I’d be able to do that. So I told her to come to my wedding party instead (hahaha! I haven’t even found the guy yet!! stupid me!!!). We were just talking about Indonesian traditional wedding party that day, and suddenly Mayu said, “Oh, I really want to attend your wedding party!!” Hahaha. Yeah, why not?

See more pictures HERE.