Getting Around Taiwan, Literally

This is actually a pretty "stale" (read : basi) story, since it's been more than three weeks from its "happening phase". Started from 5th FORMMIT's Muktamar which happened to be conducted on April 9-10, 2011, I ended up traveling around Taiwan, -in a literal manner. Still don't get it? See this map :

Original map; source : http://www.orientaltravel.com/Taiwan_map.htm

Got on the train from Chiayi, spent a night at Zhongli, headed north and took u-turn route to Yilan, stayed over in Hualien for two nights, inquisitively attached to Nat'l Prehistoric Museum in Taitung (*but completely failed to find it after almost-three-hour walking) and went back to Chiayi again, all being done in four consecutive days. Honestly, this kind of "traveling-rally" was my first experience. Well, there's always the first time for everyone...in everything :D. _to be continued_

P.S : Rinc, thanks for being an-easy-to-deal-with companion during half of the route *wink.

never intended to be narcissistic at all

Why Holding Back?

*snatched bag/luggage scene*
BP : Eh, tapi, Pak... *melongo*
HN : Sudah, ga pa pa *smiling*
ZH : Jadi, Bunga mau ke mana? *mengalihkan pembicaraan :))*
------

I recalled it was almost two years ago's occurrence. Until now, I still feel the kindness of the aforementioned men. It's not like I never being well-treated by the men. But it is just that kind of "action" is rather rare, I guessed. The questions I've been wanting to ask is why don't most of the men do the same? Is it extremely difficult to give an extra hand to the women (*girls, to be exact)? Why do men tend to hold themselves back?

OK, let's say that most of the men (*my father and brother are definitely excluded), just want to stay "in their safe zone". Simply speaking, they don't want to get involved even deeper if later something happened after they help the women/girls. You know what I mean; women/girls. being helped. flattered. fell in l*v*. Gaaah..dramatic %$#@!. But, why would they (read : men) think about the future probability if the near one is ultra-close? Why don't just simply think "hey, I would get a lot of merit if I give her a hand". See? As plain as it is. If I were a man, I would definitely felt embarrassed when there's an occupied girl/woman passed by and I couldn't do anything about it. I even felt ashamed if the girl/woman is my acquaintance. Do you understand (*berkacak pinggang pada pria2 di mana pun mereka berada)? Don't hold back!

For a little cash and a lot of glory [part 3]

The longer I'm staying here, the more vary things (read : something related to "earning money") I'm doing. Honestly, I'm enjoying doing them although this kind of thing is new for me. My parents raised me to be a responsible girl who only needs to pay attention to her study. To be exact, I just need to study, choose my favorite extracurriculars and activities, help some chores at home, and that will do. They never gave me a chance to think about finding part-time job, earning money and such. I never blamed my parents, though. They are just a perfect parents who want to give their kids happiness and put the "burden" as a parents on their own shoulders. 

But recently, I'm getting realized that those kind of things my parents done have a positive and negative effects for the kids, -me in this case. The negative one, for example is I become less responsible when it comes to money management. Not knowing about the hardship of earning money, I know that I'm growing up as an extravagant brat. Hence, I feel like now I have a chance to do the payback. To understand about something, we need to put ourselves in such a specific positions or circumstances. 

P.S : For the one who asked about how much money I earn as a TA (Teaching Assistant), you can see above :D. It's NTD1692 for a month, once a week, two-hour working time per week. That means, I earn NTD169 per hour. Not much, isn't it :)?

Kiss and Ride Zone

Hah? って、何なんだ一体? 

I found the sign at Chiayi THSR station

kiss and ride n. a passenger drop-off area near a rapid transit station; the act of using such an area as intended. Also as verb phrase. (source)


Kiss and Ride Zone's rules :

• Drivers do not leave your vehicle.  A driver must not move more than 3 metres from their vehicle, in effect a driver can get out of the car, open the boot and help children with their bags.
• Be timely. If your child does not enter of exit the vehicle with in 2 minutes you are required to travel around the block and legally re-enter the zone.
• Ensure your child leaves the vehicle via the rear kerb side door. The back seat is the safest seat for children to travel in regardless of the make of vehicle.
• Stay in sequence and drop your child as close as you can to the top of the zone allowing vehicles following you to enter the designated area.
• Do not do U turns within the school zone.  U turns in these busy school zones are dangerous and put children at risk.  So drive through the zone and around the block if you want to go back where you came from. 

(Source)

Lady Tomato

Thanks to I*3T's benchmarking, I've got my chance to be more familiar with Taiwan's horticulture. Now I know why Elle persistently chose Taiwan as her study destination :D. Taiwan is a true fruits and veggies heaven (*sudah hampir 3 tahun di sini kok ya baru sadar =p). I guess my heck-like-I-care-about-horticulture attitude is initiated with my veggies' displeasure. True. I hate eating most vegetables (I only like broccoli). My mother is the one who can handle this "disorder" of mine =p. She always secretly inserts vegetables in tiny-itsy-bitsy chops to her homemade cookings. The problem started after I came here. There is no way in the world that my mother can do that again. Hence, my friends who knew this thing have always been helping me to fight this unfavorable "disorder". Started from Eka who has successfully introduced me to eggplant, Sinta-Astri-DTT-Wahid-Eti who "forced" me to like sprouts, to Ella who has completely made me reconsidering vegetables as my daily menu :D. Xixixi, thanks, gals^^!

I bought "the Lady" once at Chiayi Market. It's NTD150 per box (*mahilll sekali Y-Y)

After the benchmarking, I have a new "paramour". It's 玉女番茄 (yùnǚ fānqié; lady tomato). All I know about tomato is it's sour-umami, which basically a flavor combo that I never like. Cherry tomatoes that I found here earlier are mostly sour-to-savory too. But then, I found lady tomato. Whuahhh! I LOVE IT ^^! Sweet taste is completely dominating its flavor. It's so me, errr...except for its expensive price Y-Y. It costs NTD300 per 1 kg. Hauuuu...太貴了. Too expensive for a poor student like me. *ya sudah, lihat videonya saja karena ga sanggup beli regularly. Hahaha....*

Stupidly Stupid

The midterm exam has begun. Today, it's time to do the invigilation* for the English Class I've been assisting. "Oh, it's such a piece of cake stuff", I said to myself carelessly. As a result, I did something beyond stupid Y-Y. Although I could pull it through, I still feel silly.

I remember Nisha only told me to take the exam sheets bundle in the office before the exam started. I thought she has prepared the sheets precisely to the number of the students. 

After I passed out all the sheets to the students, a boy came. I frowned, peeped the envelope and found extra paper. "Wait a sec, we're running out of exam sheet. I'll copy some additional sheets. Just in case another students will come", I told him. After a while, I came back and handed him a copied sheet. Somehow, I felt uneasy. I guess something must have happened. Then, I rechecked the sheet I've copied and found this :

WHATTTT??? I gave him a KEY? All answer of the exam? Oh my...I'M SO DEAD %$#@! "Calm down, Bunga...ochitsuite. There must be a way out", I tried to cool myself off. Luckily, among three parts of questions, only part one that has been answered (on the key sheet). The second and third parts should be personally answered and written. Hence, I just need to make a different passage for that boy to be answered.

I managed to stop him from leaving the class. "Errr, you must answer this sheet"

No wonder jawaban dia benar semua. Hahaha...dapat kunci jawaban gitu :))

Whew, alhamdulillah...I could handle the mess, or-I-thought-so-until-I-found-this :

Heck, there are two students who answered their questions in CHINESE

What class they think it is? It's an ENGLISH CLASS ^%$$#@! Before they "escaped", I managed to "force" them to rewrite their answers in English. Aigooo.....

finally...

Whew, what a day !

*invigilation : keeping watch over examination candidates to prevent cheating

Knitting Craze

Ha! I still couldn't believe with this brand new hobby of mine, k.n.i.t.t.i.n.g. Oh yeah...you heard me right =p. My mother will (definitely) be so proud of me. I imagine she'll say "Finally you're interested in something other than martial arts and sports, Nak". Xixixi. Well, Mom...time has come for me to be a real woman ;)). 


So, when did my knitting craze start? Just yesterday, when I saw Astri's knits, I murmured "Hmmm...kapan ya aku bisa bikin yang beginian ?". Without even realizing it, a while later, I bought a knitting kit and sat at Musholla Al-Iman to learn the basic of knitting with Wahid (*thanks for your patience, Ni' ^^). As if "a devil" possessed me, I kept doing it here and there with my pathetic-amateur way of knitting. Even today, when Laskar Chiayi went to Puzih for computer training, I kept working on my soon-to-be-a-cellphone-case knit. Hahaha! Hmmm...now I understand why Wahid said "Hati2, Nge', merajut bisa bikin ketagihan". 

brand new companions

anytime...anywhere =p (I guess I'll send this picture to my mother :)))

Prima Aprilis

Hey, you supposed to upload this post eight days ago, Bung ! Heck, never mind. I ain't this world wide pranks' day fan, though. The most important thing is not the tradition, but the video itself. I just MUST put that video on my blog. It's too awesome to be elapsed =p. My favorite? From the food science student's point of view, allow me to choose the too good to be true's chocolate milk produced directly by cow after some Hershey's fortifications. How I wish it's not a mere hoax. Alas, it's a true prank. Aside from that, I think Mr. Sarkozy's armor-plated umbrella is beyond cool. Well, he's a president, though. He should be prepared for any kinds of attack that might struck him. Mr. President, better watch your feet ! And btw, I completely fooled by Gmail Motion prank =)). D**n.

A Boy! A Girl! [BOTH!]

Conv. 1

B : Hey hey hey....gimana kabar Ivo, De'?

G : She's doing great, Nge'. Keponakanmu bakal brindhil kaya'nya.

B : =))...semoga ga kribo kaya' kamu dan Papa. Jadi, gimana hasil USG terakhir?

G : Hmmm...60 % cewek.

B : Kok 60 % sih? Istrimu kan sudah hamil 7 bulan. Harusnya jenis kelamin calon anakmu sudah jelas dong. Milly aja yang baru hamil 6 bulan sudah yakin bakal melahirkan bayi laki-laki kok.

G : Iye. Pasti Milly USGnya yang 4 dimensi, yang sekali USG sejeti-something. I can only afford 2 dimensional ultrasonography for my wife. Jadi ya hasilnya yang 60 % itu. USG 50 ribu kok minta hasil akurat.

B : NYAHHAHHAA =)) =)) =))

Conv. 2

B : Mil, how's ya doin'?

M : Bun'ka, I miss you ! I'm DOIN' GREAT. It's good to be pregnant again. When will you go home? It's already April. You promised to go home on February. My Mom is HERE. She's been staying at our new home since last year. She missed you too.

B : Ha-ha-ha *meringis pilu*. Send my hi to тетка Elena, Mil.

M : Errr, my Mom's name is Lenora, Bun'ka.

B : Oh...sorry, Mil Y-Y. [D**n, I even forgot Milly's mother's name].

Look how wonderful everything has turned out. Not only one, I will have TWO NIECE/NEPHEW! Subhanallah...life couldn't get better. Going home soon? Positive.


*foto dihapus karena tiba2 parno setelah diingatkan "fans" :))*