Europe Diary

I have been in complete shock since this morning that I couldn’t concentrate on working anymore!

Several months ago, I applied for a global volunteering program with our corporate group (DPWN) in partnership with UNICEF to do a 2 weeks volunteer work in Kenya, Africa. Only 13 people across the group were selected, and I just found out this morning that I was one of them!! WAAAAAAAAAAAA……. (Screaming with excitement).  How I could be selected was truly beyond me, and I believe that only God is able to provide me with such an honorable task and make my application outstanding from thousands of others. He is truly exceptional.

The volunteer program is a two week assignment aimed to improve utilization of basic health service, especially for women and children; and also to help reduce child mortality in Kwale District. Being involve in a UN program is something that I’ve always wanted to do in my lifetime, and my dream finally come true.

Now, I have 2 months to prepare myself mentally and spiritually. It will not be an easy task because the job also comes with responsibilities to be ambassadors and representative for the group.  Please help me pray for my health and my spiritual preparation in the next two months. That whatever I do, it will be led by the Holy Spirit, and will be blessing to others. Also, hmm… come back in one piece. =)

God Bless you all!

Hugs,

Shinta Live from Singapore

Thanks to all my friends and family for the birthday wishes!  I can’t tell you how touched and happy I am to receive your messages, although I know that I haven’t been very good in keeping in touch.  I just want to give you all a big big hug!!  =)

It has been a year since I last blogged, and I don’t even know where to start.  I am still living in Brussels, still working with DHL, so no major life changes for the past 20 months.

My experience in Brussels for the past 20 months has been mixed.  Quality of life here is actually quite good.  I enjoy being in Europe (I have to admit, I don’t love Brussels in particular),  but I like the environment I am in: my apartment, friends, travelling, and I really enjoy the fact that we don’t need a car here.

Career wise, I have really learned a lot these past 20 months, and there are opportunities to grow.  I really like my work and my team.  We have two AIESEC trainees: Onur from Turkey and Alex from Ukraine in our team since October, and working with them has been the most interesting experience I’ve had with DHL.  They both are so extremely different from each other…just like the east meets the west, but I also have the most fun with them.

However, despite of the good opportunity here, I still don’t feel attached to Brussels, and I have been thinking about moving to either the UK or Asia.  A lot of my friends have also left, and more will be leaving soon.  It makes me really sad, but this is life in Brussels, a city known as the "Transit" point, than a destination to many people.  But while I am in Europe, I am determined to make the most out of it, instead of missing it when I am not here anymore.   So you guys better come to visit me as soon as possible!!!  Last call, everyone!! 

Btw, here are some recent pictures from Brussels.  Enjoy!!

Hugs, Shinta

In the office with Alex (front) and onur (right)

WTH Dev team rocks!!! ~ Team BBQ at my house

London with parents and aunts in June.  Miss them already!!

Grand Place, Brussels with aunts and Mum

Shinta and parents at Plaza de Cataluna ~ Barcelona

My Mum and me in Amsterdam

Prague

Ice Skating ~ Christmas Day 2006

It has been a month since we returned from Turkey, and each day, I have been ‘living in memory’ of our wonderful trip.  This was really one of the best trip I’ve had with a perfect combination of sightseeing, relaxing, great food and of course great company!!

Top reasons why this trip was AMAZING:

- The people that we met along the way were so nice and helpful, and our hosts in Istanbul was awesome.

- We never had to worry about the weather (unlike Belgium), and we basically took the sun for granted.

- Food was sooo GOOD and cheap!!   This is definately my favorite activity while travelling, and Turkey has both combination of GREAT food & good price.

Beautiful sunset of Istanbul

Our trip started in Istanbul, with 11 adventerous trainees from all over the globe.  In the evening of our arrival,  Bora, our Turkish friend, had organized a very nice dinner for all of us at Taksim, which had taken him and his buddies a total of 76 e-mails exchanges to organize.  Turkish people were really the BEST host I’ve met, and they were soo nice beyond words!  After dinner, we continued to go out at Taksim Square, where it was unbelivably busy.

If Seattle can be "sleepless", I wouldn’t know what to call Istanbul.  Never in my life saw so many people on the street, plus a bad traffic jam at 2:00 am.

The Istanbul Group - L-R: (top): Leon, Erik, Julian, Nicole & (bottom): Ewa, Vladan, Maria, Olivier, Julie, Dy, and me.

The second and third day we stayed in Istanbul, with visits to Hagia Sofia, Blue Masque, Boat Trip, Topkapi Palace,  Harem, Grand Bazzar.  Istanbul is indeed a beautiful place, with mixture of fun, and fascinating culture.

Day 4 - Istanbul - Izmir - Kusadasi

On the forth day, we had to wave Istanbul good-bye, and flied down to Izmir, the third largest city in Turkey to continue our our road trip to the Aagean and Mediteranean Coast of Turkey.  We rented a 9 seater "Mini-Bus", and Julian from Colombia was the closest candidate in our group to be eligible to share the road with the Turkish Drivers.  Gracias, Julian!! =)

Our road trip for the day ended in Kusadasi, a beautiful resort town in the West coast of Turkey.  Here we stayed in a cute litle hostel run by an Australian lady and her Turkish husband.  That night, we had one of the best dinner in a local restaurant called "Holiday Inn" (Highly recommended), and followed by my favorite and funniest memories of the trip….the "Turkish wanna-be" moments.

Introducting the 7 survivors : From L-R: Erik (Canada), Leon (HK/Aussie), Julian (Colombia), Nicole (Canada), me (Indonesia), Julie (Brazil), and Ewa (Poland).  Seeing everyone dressed up was super hillarious and we can’t stop laughing.  Definately a nice and cheap entertainment.

Day 5 - Ephesus - Bodrum

We left Kusadasi in the morning, and visited Ephesus, the best preserved classical city in the Mediteraneean, and possibly in the world.

It was an amazing place, and I felt like I was brougth back to the Roman time.

I highly recommend you to hire a tour guide who can tell you the history behind the ruins of Ephesus.  It was much more interesting than walking through big ruins/rocks.

Virgin Mary’s House - Virgin Mary was believed to have spent the last days off her lives in Ephesus.

 

Day 6 - Bodrum Boat Trip

Perfect day for a boat trip!!  We spent a day in a boat where we sailed away the Bodrum Peninsula…The water was clear blue, and the sun was perfect for sun-bathing.

 

We ended our evening by going to the Turkish Bath, where they exfoliate your body.  It was a super interesting experience, and we all came out feeling like a new polished coins (as it claimed in the guide book).

Day 7 - Bodrum - Daylan - Olu Deniz - Antalya

On Day 7, we had to say good bye to Julie as she had to go back to Barcelona.  The six of us continued our road trip to reach end destination - Antalya.

On the way, we stopped at a couple places:

Daylan, where we took at a boat trip to visit the Ancient tomb.  It was prohibitted to hike up to the tomb as there was people who felt down the clift…pretty creepy

2nd stop: Olu Deniz, an amazingly beautiful beach with clear blue water.  The beach was very rocky, but we managed to swim and played freesbie for a couple hours.

We arrived in Antalya quite late in the evening, and I didn’t have a very good first impression.  We were welcome by a big thunderstrom (so big that it caused power outage for the shops next to the highway).   When we arrived at the hotel, we then have a reservation problem, and we had to argue with clueless receiptionist/night manager for total of about 5 hours. 

Day 8 - Antalya

The next morning, the problem was solved, and they gave us the internet rate €25 per person per night as agreed.   Since this was a 5 stars resort, it was indeed a pretty good price.  Customer Service wasn’t that great, but we managed to spent the day enjoying the nice facilities the hotel offes:

Free Waterpark from the Hotel

Private Beach at Dedeman Resort 

GET….SET…GO!!

Last evening in Turkey… :(  Considering this was our last evening, we insisted to went out and experienced the night life in Antalya.  We first had a very delicious meal for dinner and at around midnight, we went out to this open beach club by our hotel.  It was really the best club I’ve been to, with big flatscreen, open air, and the moonlight reflecting down the sea was picture-perfect.

The next day, sadly, we had to return to Brussels.  I want to thank you for all of our host in Istanbul, Sai, Ozler, Bora and friends, and of course Julian for driving all the way solo (while most of us are falling asleep… :).

Finally!!  The trip that we have been waiting for….9 days in Turkey!! 

12 AIESEC Trainees from 10 nations will be heading south to Turkey in 5 hours!! After waiting for 2 months, and stuck in this Belgian weather who seems to be heading back to winter instead of spring, I am Soo00 ready for some sun, great food, and amazing cultural adventure to Turkey.

There will be 8 of us from Belgium, and we will be meeting others (Erik, Julie, Bora, Cezara) in Istanbul.  After spending 4 days in Istanbul, only 7 of us (Julian, Ewa, Erik, Leon, Julie, Nicole and I) will continue a road trip down the Aagean Coast and the Mediteranean Coast.

With the limited Turkish that I speak, it is bound to be a challenging trip…although, at least I won’t starve as the only words that I know is actually Kebab and Durum.

Ok…better get a couple hours of sleep now.  More to come in one week…

Hugs,

Shinta

On labor day weekend, I went back to visit my European ‘hometown’, Cadiz, Spain.  I lived in Cádiz 4 years ago for a year, and had one of my favorite chapters of my life.

Cádiz, the oldest town in Europe, is located in the southest tip of Spain, which made the trip….LONG.  To make it even worse, my plane from Brussels to Madrid was delayed, which caused me to miss my 8 hours bus ride to Cádiz, and have to wait for another 6 hours in Madrid.  Since I only have 2 days to spend in Cádiz, I was running around half of Madrid…desperately trying to find some alternate transportation to Cádiz, which was none.  I ended up taking the night bus, and Ana, my best Gaditana friend picked me up at 6:00 am at the bus stop.

It was a great feeling to be back in Cádiz….surreal, but nice.  If there was one thing about Cádiz that could not be found anywhere else, it was…the people and the food.  I just loved how warm and happy the people were here!!  Life is indeed much easier and enjoyable here.  As for the food, all I can say was that they worth the 36 hours trip I spent to get in and out of there (especially Mari’s homecooked meal and the churros con chocolate) yummm yumm….

My dear familia española: Manolo, Mari, and the sisters: Vanessa, Almu, and Laura are still the same…only that I somehow forget the fact that Laura is no longer 9, but 13!!  She’s grown sooo much taller (or maybe I am shriking?…).  The house is slightly renovated, and they now have new TV and internet!!!  Technology did get to Cádiz at some point because when I was there, there was nothing except for TV.  They now have Bree from Seattle (in blue) staying with them for a year.  And of course meeting the abuela is always a pleasure….She’s such a sweet and talktative grandma, who always calls me "mi chinita" (My little Chinese girl)

Yo con las amigos Gaditanos. 

My Spanish friends who have made my life in Cádiz so much more fun.

Yo con las niñas

Something about Cádiz will never change…the people, the lifestyle, including their horrible accent.  :)   but more than anything I am so0o greateful to be able to make them a part of my life.

A mi familia española y mis amigos gaditanos, gracias por darme la memoría tan maravillosa de Cái.  Os quiero muchisimo y siempre vaís a tener un lugar muy especial en mi corazon.  Que sigues divertandote la vida y que nunca cambias.   Muchiiiiiiisimoss besitos.

On the Easter weekend, I spent an amazing weekend in Paris, million thanks to our host, Lily and Stephanie from IFGF Paris!!!  They are just simply wonderful!!

That is a lot more to Paris than just beautiful.  It is a very lively city filled with culture, art, and everything here is created to be big and ellegant.  The minute we arrive in Paris; Ewa, Antigoni and I are ready to pack our back out of Brussels to move here. 

On Sunday, I joined the IFGF Sunday service with Lily and Steph, and I met this 2 amazingly cute old couple.  They are Indonesians who have lived in Paris for a long time.  I love old people, but I haven’t seen many old couples, who are still much in love as they are.  I want to be like them when I get old, ugly, and wringkly. 

During the night, Lily and Steph took us to ride the boat around the Seine river, and we saw a different version of Paris.  Paris by night is just as beautiful, but different.  I highly recommend you to take the tour if you are visiting Paris…The tour cost €8 for 1 hour.

We finished the trip with a nice French dinner on Monday evening, and came back to Brussels Tuesday morning, and straight to work.. :sss

All right, everyone.  I finally have the chance to update my blog!

This past 2 weeks had been very hectic, but in a good way.  Last weekend I spent 5 days in Prague, Czech Republic for a 2 days company meeting, plus a long weekend to enjoy this beautiful city.  I stayed at the AIESEC house in Andel, and met some of the nicest, fun and welcoming people, Jenny, Geri, Erik, Felix, Michaela and Rafael.

Praha, February 17-22, 2006

When I first arrived in Prague on Friday evening, I was surprised to see that the mall was still open at 8:30 pm!  I know you must think: "Oh, what’s the big deal?" but this was a little luxury I haven’t been able to experience for the past 3 months…people in Belgium know what I am talking about here.  I was excited just to see people on the street.  Life indeed was more lively and lay back here than Western Europe.

On Saturday, I explored the city on my own and it was surprisingly relaxing.  People were really nice and friendly there. 

At some point, I thought was a bit too friendly when a souvernir shop owner wanted to take me out to dinner to a Czech restaurante and some kind of disco after.  Good thing he asked me after giving me a good discount discount on the stuff I bought, so it wasn’t hard to come up with a couple of good excuses, paid and left politely.

In exchange, I had an excellent dinner with the Andel crew.  We went to this really good and cheap Czech Restaurant, stolled down the old town for a bit and hung out at a Dutch pub afterwards.

On Sunday, one of my best friends, Elke visited me from Vienna.  We met when we were both high school exchange students in Oregon 7.5 years ago.  As you can see from the pictures, the weather in Prague that weekend was perfect, which makes the city even more beautiful.  Ellie and I are both so different from each other that whenever I saw our pictures, I couldn’t help smiling and wondering how we ended up being friend.  To start of, she’s about 180 cm when I am only 150.  We lived in a total opposite side of the world, raised in a completely different culture, but we’ve proved that the value of friendship is far beyond cultural differences and distance.

  Monday was another sight-seeing day, and after I dropped off Ellie at the bus station, I did an Asian supermarket hunt around Prague, desperately trying to find some Asian stuff so that I can fulfill my promise to make dinner for my Andel friends.  When I found this Korean supermarket, no words could express how happy I was at that time. 

I seriuosly felt like a little child in a candyland….until I realized they didn’t take bank card and I only had about 150 krone in cash, which is around €5.  I felt soo0o poor as there were many stuff I wanted to get.  At the end, I only got a curry paste and okonomiyaki powder to make my favorite Japanese pancake.

Tuesday was my company meeting day.  After dinner that evening, I sneaked out to meet my friend Jason, DHL trainee from the US, to join the Andel crew at an Erasmus party called Nation to Nation.  I haven’t been out for quite some time, and that was what I would call a GOOD party.  People here really know how to have fun.

On Wednesday late afternoon, after my company meeting, I had to wave Prague goodbye to go back to Brussels.  It was hard to leave, but this definately won’t be my last visit to what is now one of my favorite cities in Europe.  And to all my new friends at the Andel house who hosted me for the weekend, Thank you for the good time! 

Another year has passed, and it seems as if it was yesterday when I was in Seattle, (after dinner at Jade Garden, Chinatown…to be precise) contemplating whether I should go to a house party, or join my dear friend Marini, Putri and Steven to celebrate New Year at church with the IFGF family.

Oh jeez, I can still see myself standing in the crossroad between King St and 7th Ave, being as indecisive as ever, confusing everyone. At the end, I decided to go to the party, but for some reason, found myself driving towards Northgate Church instead. This probably sounds silly to a lot of people, but deep in my heart, I know that this simple decision had leaded me to change my life forever.

2005: A great year that has certainly stood up to the challenge. The year began with a new apartment in Bellevue with a new roommate, Marini (who eventually became my ‘Godmother’ :D), got baptized, and endless fun games and summer BBQs. As I was having the time of my life in Seattle, I was in a crossroad and had to say goodbye to Seattle in August to pursue something different.

As a treat for sad goodbyes (not to mention no more thai tom, buble tea, or sichuan), I got to be spend some preciuos time with my family in Indonesia for 3 months. Indeed, there was no place like home.

And now, here I am in Belgium,with new job, new flat mates, new language to learn, and new challenge.

This year’s Christmas, I had a nice dinner party with some other AIESEC trainees. Thinking that it would be a great opportunity to impress my new friends, and being as *kepo* as usual, I volunteered to cook the entire Christmas dinner right after my roommate proposed the dinner idea. It was only for 5 anyways, no big deal, right?… 10 people confirmed in the last minute, and I ended up spending 5 crazy hours running around in my kitchen, trying to invent some decent Indonesian food for dinner. Oh gosh, my Mom would be so proud if she saw me looking like an iron chef, and bossed around the other Indonesian guy, who looked as if it was his first day holding a kitchen knife ever!!

Anyway, apart from the tiredness, we had a great party with great people. It was probably the most international dinner I’ve ever had with people from Brazil, Rumania, Serbia, USA, Poland, Russia, Canada, and of course Indonesia, with probably about 15 languages floating around in the dinner table.

Sigh….what an amazing year, this 2005. It is a year full of surprise, friends who come and go, but one thing for sure is that God is with me along the way, and that is why I feel happy and grateful no matter what happen to me in the future. I wish you all a great 2006 filled with love, joy, challenging project, and above all a healthy year.

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year 2006

Hugs from Brussels

I can’t believe it’s been almost a month since my plane landed in Brussels.  It seems like yesterday when I was offered this surreal opportunity, and everyone raised their brow and asked “Belgium? Why? You are moving AGAIN?” Well, I must say that I ask myself the same questions once in a while…

Now that I’ve been here for about 3 weeks, things are finally starting to come together.  I admit that I didn’t fall in love with Brussels from the first sight, but then I didn’t make much effort to get to know it as well.   I guess the quote saying “You don’t know, therefore you don’t love” is true in this case.

As I get to know my surroundings and get use to the idea of being here, I start to relax and enjoy myself.  The 20 minutes hike to the DHL shuttle stop every morning somehow doesn’t feel as painful as it was in the beginning… (Ok, I take it back, as I still hate the cold and walking on those @#&$* killer heals, which doesn’t seem to cooperate very well with the old European stoned streets…but, at least now I know perfectly where the bus stops).

Now…what are some of the cool things I can share about Brussels?  The truth is I haven’t had the chance to explore the city because I have been out of town, and the city is practically dead on Sunday and everyday from 6:00 pm onwards as all the shops are closed (A fact that I am still struggling to tolerate).  They love to eat and have the BEST, but unhealthiest food you can ever imagine – fries, ice cream, chocolate, waffles, mussels, pastries…and I am still investigating why have I not seen any overweight people here.  Like other big cities, Brussels is also very international, and the people are quite friendly… especially those friendly taxi drivers who likes to chat and turn their head to look at you instead of the road in front of them…

Through this past 3 weeks, I have come to appreciate many things that I have always taken for granted, and things that I have given the opportunity to experience. Despite the fact that I still speak French like a Tarzan, and 9-10 things that can possibly go wrong indeed went wrong, which makes me feel like a complete moron….I am enjoying the whole new cultural experience…meeting different people, going to new places, trying different foods, etc.  I am also very lucky to have 2 very nice flat mates, Alma from Iceland, and Ewa from Poland.  They both love to cook, so I figured I can never go wrong living in a house known as the ‘House of Good Foods’

Well, I guess this is it, for my first salut from Brussels.  It’s been a long day and I deeply miss my family and friends!! Well, wherever you are, I hope things are going well with you. I hope to be able to share some cool pictures of Brussels to lure you into visiting me here. J   Take care, my friends and GBU!

Au revoir,

Shinta  J