It’s been years since the last time I had a “major” trip. I did New Zealand during my last year in Australia. I did it as part of my official farewell to the continent. It was one of the most memorable trips that I had ever done. New Zealand’s natural beauty was not like any other places I had ever seen (mind you, I hadn’t explored Indonesia yet!). After that amazing trip, I vowed to myself that I would doRead more
Muslims nowadays are easily threatened and enraged when others try to disgrace Islam. Crazy things have happened, from burning stuff, causing chaos and riots, death threats, to yet another bombs. These are the sort of reactions that we have in response to (among other things) the burning of the Qur’an and/or the Danish cartoon. But is that how we suppose to react? It is important to mention that these tactics of insulting our Prophet SAW and the Qur’an are notRead more
* This post was first published in my Project 365 “Love language” is the concept developed by Gary Chapman, which defines a primary way of expressing and interpreting love. Everyone has different ways to make others feel loved and appreciated. Some people prefer to use their own love language when expressing love to others and some would prefer to use other love languages than their own to do that. There are five different love languages that Chapman mentioned: Words ofRead more
Dear People, Would you please stop asking me when I will get married. Please?! I still can’t comprehend why people ask me this question over and over again. Will it make any difference if I get married? Will it affect you in any way, directly or indirectly? Will you get ANY benefits from it? NO, right?! What makes it even worst is that, when some people ask me whether or not I have a boyfriend (and I say no, forRead more
You may have heard about the floods that devastated 75% of Queensland, which is about an area the size of France and Germany combined. It’s heartbreaking to say that Brisbane was badly affected by the floods. I lived there for 4 years until 2007, so the city had put a mark in my heart, somehow. There were a lot of beautiful memories that I remember fondly. It’s a beautiful city and some of my good friends live there. That’s whyRead more
About two weeks ago, my friends and I organised a concert dedicated to those affected by the Wasior, Mentawai, and Merapi disasters. The concert, Angklung Charity Concert: “Bamboo in Harmony”, was first initiated by teh Desiree, who was a member of an angklung group years ago, and was led by our lovely conductor, teh Ida Soesanti.
* Disclaimer: This post was written in October 2010. So a lot of things, including KAUST policy, might have changed. About a week ago, I got a chance to visit the campus of King Abdullah University of Science & Technology (KAUST) in Thuwal, Saudi Arabia. I had always been wanting to visit KAUST, but as the university was closely guarded, it was impossible to go there without knowing anyone who lived in the campus. Lucky for me, during an IndonesianRead more
About two years ago, I wrote a post about the Saudi government’s plan to abolish its infamous sponsorship system (kafala), which has been constantly criticised by human rights groups. The plan to cancel the system was immediately welcomed by many people. However, two years have passed and nothing came out from it. In the beginning of this year, it was announced that the possibility of cancelling the sponsorship system had been ruled out. The government argued that it’s not easyRead more
So delighted I was to have the chance to spend this year’s Eid in Jeddah! It all seemed perfect when my whole family reunited again. It felt ages ago when we spent our Eid together as a family. As for me, this was my first time to be with them during Eid after 6 years (straight!) of absence. I just couldn’t imagine spending another Eid without my family. So when the opportunity came (i.e. I had to come back toRead more
The CouchSurfing Project (CS) is currently the world’s largest hospitality exchange network, founded by Casey Fenton in 1999. The network connects like-minded travellers for cultural exchange, friendship, and learning experience. Travellers can be hosted by the locals for free and sleep in whatever empty space available (floor, couch, or bed). The idea of CS came up when Fenton got a cheap flight ticket to Iceland. Rather than staying in a hotel, he spammed over 1,500 Icelandic students in Reykjavik toRead more
Blogging has been part of my life since 6 years ago. When I started the blog, privacy was not my biggest concern. I just didn't care about it. I was an unknown girl in a virtual world. Nobody would be interested in my crappy stories, I thought. I didn't feel hesitant to write anything I wanted on my blog. I was quite ignorant about it. That's why most of my posts (especially those published in the first 3 years) wereRead more
(Read the Part 1 first) After successfully got a good deal for the room, we dropped dead to sleep. We were just tooooo tired! I blamed the World Cup Final for this! 😀 We hadn’t had a good sleep until that afternoon. We were even woken up by a knock on a door and were asked whether we wanted to join for the snorkelling but we refused. We needed a good sleep. Come back tomorrow 😛 . We woke upRead more
(Embrace yourself, this is going to be a loooong post!) Yes, I went to Indonesia last June. It was honestly a sudden decision. Mom had been bragging me about coming back and I kept on resisting; hoping that I could plan an escape to somewhere in Europe. After days of "yes" and "no", eventually, I decided to go back. This vacation was a bit different than my previous ones. My lovely traveling buddy, Jessie, was spending her vacation too inRead more
I don’t normally post technical or IT-related stuff in this blog. But I’ll do it this time (and probably the last time 😛 ). For those who are not TU/e students, I strongly recommend not to continue reading this post as it will waste 2-5 minutes of your time that can otherwise be spent on other useful tasks 😛 When trying to access digital libraries like Springer Journals from home or off-campus, I have to login to the TU/e JanusRead more
Who have never heard of a Saudi royal by the name of Prince Alwaleed bin Talal? If you're not familiar with his name, let me give you a brief introduction about him. Prince Alwaleed is the nephew of the current King of Saudi Arabia and the grandson of the founding King of Saudi Arabia. He was born to Prince Talal bin Abdul-Aziz and his Lebanese wife. Although the father has been trying to push for reform in his country (andRead more