Kosin Christmas Tree Festival Pictures

Here are some pictures taken from our first visit to Kosin Christmas Tree Festival. We went there twice. The second time, we went with some friends.

This is the one that I love so much.

All pictures were taken only with my old digital camera, Canon Powershot A95.

Kosin University Christmas Festival

Kosin University has a Christmas Festival during this month (Dec 1, 2009 - Jan 3, 2010). It is so beautiful at night when you can see those lights light up in every corner at Kosin University. If you read this and you live in South Korea, especially in Busan; you shall move your way to Yeong-do and find bright and wonderful Kosin University at night (The lights will be able to be seen after 7PM).

We did some photo shots a few days ago and it turned out so beautiful!

Enjoy!

Teacher, I don't like Science...

Yesterday, I went to see my students for giving English tutorial for them. I printed some pictures of the Solar System for discussion. When one of the student saw the picture, he straight away said "Teacher, I don't like Science..." and pulled himself back from the table to show that he was not interested at all in the discussion.

I was curious to know why this fouteen-year youngster doesn't enjoy learning about sun, earth, moon, galaxies, comets, etc...while I enjoyed it so much back in my school days. I was always thinking that it is amazing to learn something that you can reach, touch or step you feet onto. Something that you need a special-expensive-extraordinary equipment to see it clearly.

But this boy made me confuse :(

I raised a question to him calmly, why you don't like Science? This is very interesting to learn about planets...

Still showing his unpleasant mood in his face, he replied, "Teacher, I don't like Science because I don't like the Teacher."

He continued talking about his Science teacher at his boys middle school. The teacher always debates with him and sometimes hits his hands if he is disagree with the teacher.

On the way back home, I was thinking that when I was a student, I seldom felt that I didn't like a subject just because of the teacher. Maybe I felt that without I realized it, but as I remember, I never gave up on learning that subject even though I didn't like the teacher.

Now, I realized that in fact a teacher can be a reason for a student to like or dislike a subject. A teacher can bring a great influence on a student by his attitude and way of teaching. Being a teacher is definitely a difficult and tough job.

God gives every teacher blessings a chance to enter children lifes by nurturing and educating them.

The Power of Jajangmyon & Bokeumbab

Jajangmyeon is a very popular food for everyone in Korea. It is even called as one of Korea national food. Originally, Jajangmyeon is from China (zha jiang mian), therefore you could easily find this menu in every Chinese restaurants in South Korea.

Our attention to Jajangmyeon was grabbed by a Korean drama (I forgot the name of the movie ^^). On the movie, the actress favorite food is jajangmyeon and she eats it anytime she has chance to eat it.

Jajangmyeon is also often called 'black noodle' since the fried sauce is black in color. The sauce is thick but yummy and rich of onion. Don't forget to eat it with radish pickle and kimchi, of course!

I'm drooling right now...

My first ever Jajangmyeon was after a walk at Haeundae beach for seeing International Sand Festival on June, 2009. I longed for Jajangmyeon since I watched the Korean drama and decided to find it nearby Haeundae on the way back home.

We found that on a small restaurant and the price was reasonable even though Haeundae area is tourist district where the price of food could be higher than normal price.

We ordered another dish, bokkeumbab. It is similar to fried rice, but they add kimchi when they cook it. It was served with the same sauce of jajangmyeon. It's delicious, too.

But the most delicious and cheap jajangmyeon I could find is at Seomyeon, the city area. It is at a just-opened-Chinese Restaurant and they gave discount only for jajangmyeon.

Uh-oh...I have to stop writing...baegopayeo (hungry)...

Street Food

Busan has so many variety of food, but the most interesting to me is the street food.

I remember in my childhood, my father was very strict to me for not so often eating kind of street food such as bakso (meatball soup), gulali (kind of sugar flower ^^), bakwan (meatball soup, too, different kind with the first one), tahu tek (Javanese fried tofu), es campur (mixed fruit ice), etc. His reason is understandable because he is afraid that those food are not clean enough and we can't be sure about what are the ingredients.

He is very clear with his rules that the children shall not eat the tomato sauce which always comes together with bakso or bakwan. He said that the tomato sauce wasn't made by healthy ingredients and usually used many food coloring. So, my mother always prepares tomato sauce that we can buy at supermarket.

He also didn't allow us to eat those food using the seller's plate/bowl/spoon/fork. We have to use our own eating utensils. That is why until nowadays, we usually try to take the food away, and eat it at home.

One of the favorite street food here is Odeng, ddeokbokki, and variety of fried food.

Odeng is flat fish cake on a stick which looks like sate (satay). It was boiled in soup and you can have the soup along with odeng. It is very comfortable to have this kind of meal in winter time because of the hot soup can warm your body.

I didn't really like ddeokbokki in my first bite, but I do like it nowadays, especially the sauce. When I saw the sauce, the memory of my father's rule about tomato sauce blasts on my mind ^^.

I think I will miss this street food if I move from South Korea someday.

August - The Month of Happiness

So here we are in the end of August!

San and I have almost passed our "Happy Month". We waited the coming of August eagerly since we would celebrate three big events in our life:

San's birthday on Aug 6
1st wedding anniversary on Aug 17
and ...
My birthday on Aug 28

What makes this month so special? It's our first wedding anniversary!

Looking back on how we choose the wedding date, both of us were extremely blessed when both part of our big families agreed with our choice.

First of all, we just want to get marry on August 2008. Then we started to choose the date: 8, 9, 10, 16, 17, 18, 20, 23, 28 etc...When we looked at the calendar, it seemed that 17 August is the best because it was Sunday, the day before is Saturday which most people have their day-off, and the next day is public holiday because of the Indonesia Independence Day was on Sunday. We thought that it would be better for our relatives and friends who live far away from Surabaya. They could come on Saturday and would not be in hurry to return to their home. I then realized that 17 August is exactly in the middle of our birthdays...!!!

Let's count!
San 6 + Dita 28 = 34 /2 = 17 !!!!
Exactly in the middle!

One of my friend made a joke to our wedding date: 17 Aug is the day when Indonesia had its independence, but both of you lose your independence on that day!

We don't lose our independece, indeed we have an independence of love.
Now, it's free to show my love to him, isn't it??? ^^

Korean & Education

I am impressed to know how Korean people love to study. Education is on their top list of priority. They will spend a lot of money to equip themselves or their children with the best education they can get.

I was surprised when I saw so many high school students walking out from the school at 9pm. My friend who was driving me to the nearest subway told me that the school hour starts from 9am to 9pm, Then into my surprise, she continued by saying that those students mostly were going to English Academy after school until 10.30pm. Some of them probably were going to library to continue study until 11pm. It is normal for Korean students to arrive home at midnight.

I remembered that yesterday night when I went to the study room in a public library, I could not find a place to sit. I needed to wait until somebody walked out from his chair. I could not give any comment anymore...it's summer vacation now! And everybody seems having their vacation in library! I only can say 'WOW'...


The way Korean value education is also showed by the way they appreciate teachers. May 14 is a national day specially for teacher. Our friends and us also celebrated it for our Korean Language teacher. He is a super nice person. I love the way he taught us. Eventhough he didn't use English while explaining to us, I could understand what he wanted to say.

Thank you for your kindness, Gyusunim. God bless you.

Off

I would be off for a while. I'm on another training stage from God and I need time to adapt. As soon as I can manage the time, I would be active writing again. I have many things in mind to write here, just I don't have enough spare time. Pray for me to be strong. God bless you all.

With love,
Dita

Indonesian Food, How I Miss You!

Even though I longed for Indonesian food, definitely I can find some of them here. Many of my friends are best cooks! Thanks God for knowing them hehe ^^

Making Kalguksu

Last Friday, I got a chance to join a Korean Culture Class managed by Busanjingu Culture Center. The activity that day was making Kalguksu. Kalguksu is a Korean noodle food, which is literally meaning "knife noodle". The name comes from the fact that the noodle is using hand made, knife cut noodle. It is commonly made in summer time.

I missed the first session when the teacher showed how to make the broth. It was made in the beginning since it takes a long time for the ingredients to be simmered in order to get the expected taste.

I was there since the noodle making lesson. It is my first time to make noddle from scratch, but trust me, it's not difficult at all! All class participants also tried to make their own noodle. Since the kitchen size is not big enough, the teacher were the one who made the kalguksu while we alternated watching and helping her cooking it.

The other participants all are migrant women married to Korean men. They brought their kids or babies with them, and one woman is pregnant. You could imagine how was the situation when the babies were crying while the moms were practicing cooking. Luckily, there was an auntie volunteering herself to take care of the babies. But since she is alone, she couldn't manage to take care of those babies in the same time.

So, here they are another volunteers. Thank you so much guys!

Flower Festival 2009, Centum City

Flower festival is interesting too see, at least for me. I am still new to Busan, so that any event will be able to attract me to come. Some people said that it wouldn't be so fantastic as I have imagined, since the flowers were those on pots, and people just arrange those pots for the festival.

It was true. Those flowers pots were arranged in many geometrical shapes or animal shapes such as dolphin, fish, butterfly, penguin, etc. Some were just laid on the ground, some were hung on the street lamps.

The day when I visited the Flower Festival is in the same day with Children's Day (May 5, 2009). Thus, many parents and kids came to enjoy their holiday. It's so nice to see many people were busy taking photos, playing, eating and bicycling.

There were some kiosks offering stuffs and activities for kids. The kids could try to make it by themselves. Many were queuing waiting for their turn to try. I found that it is interesting for the children to have their own hands making it. Everywhere I saw they brought their handy crafts proudly and happily.

Flower Festival

I love flower! That's why I couldn't miss the chance to visit Flower Garden Festival at Centum City on May 5, 2009. Once again I promise to write more about it later, but let's see if I have enough time. ^^

God's Love to Me

God loves his children and He will not forget them. One clear evidence of His love is his providence into my life.

In the first time I stepped my feet in South Korea, I wondered if God is still with me? I went to a place far away from home, my wife, relatives, friends and my comfort zone. "God, are you also with me there in Korea?" I asked. I started to think that 'Is God real in this country?' I ashamed that I had such a feeling like that. Do I have faith, don't I? It is not God's responsibility to confirm me about his presence to us. Our faith and Holy Spirit in us have already given His clear confirmation.

Thanks God for His blessing and kindness. In the middle of my confused heart and worry, He still gave me (A LOT) evidences which showing me that He is life, He is real!

I had many stories about those God's love:

1. THE LUNCH BOX: I have shared this before in here.

2. CLOTHES: In two days in a row, I got clothes from different person. Firstly, I got from the head office of PMF (Pusan Missionary for Foreign Labour). He called me to his office and gave me a jacket. It is not new but still in very good condition. Secondly, I got two shirts from one of the Dean at university. I didn't know him before, that's why I was surprised. He came to me and asked "Are you Indonesian? Do you want shirts?". After confusing for a while, I agreed to follow him to his office. He gave me two 'Batik shirts' from Batik Keris. I was amazed and thanked God for it. I shared one of those shirts to my dormitory's fellow.

3. MEDICAL CHECK UP: In my first month in Korea, I experienced free medical check up, included X-Rays and teeth cleaning.

4. HANDPHONE VOUCHER: I received a free handphone voucher worthed W10,000. What a surprise!

5. HAIR TRIMMING: It is free also! Amazing! The lady usually come to the organization every month to help foreigner who want to cut their hair.

6. SOAP, SHAMPOO, TOOTHPASTE: Those things were gifted to me in my first week in Busan. Some of them I received from the International Office, and the rest were from my friends. I never buy those things until now. It is sufficient until few months later.

7. SUBWAY CARD: While preparing for my wife's coming in the end of March, I thought that I need to buy a subway card for her, but I decided to wait until one or two days before her arrival. Few days before her arrival, my friends were cleaning up the garbage in the house and found a broken subway card that a fellow thrown out before he went back to Indonesia. They gave it to me to try whether it could work. I was extremely happy to know that it worked! I glued the two pieces and top-up the amount for my wife later. It is unbelievable, isn't it?

I think, it is rare to find those 'coincidence' (I don't believe in coincidence though) in Indonesia. God taught me a lot about his providence and his love to me in Korea. I hope that we as Christians can share everything that we have and love one another, just because of His love.

I couldn't count how many blessings He gave me. Those above are the blessings before my wife's coming to Busan. I will share His blessing to me after Dita's coming in the next posting.

Thanks to God!

*San*

Many, O LORD my God, are the wonders you have done.

The things you planned for us no one can recount to you;

were I to speak and tell of them, they would be too many to declare.
Psalm 40:5

Mayo Diet - the end

I should post this writing before my departure to South Korea. Since there's not enough time, I almost forgot to inform you how was the ending.

So...none of us (Dad, bro,& me) finished the whole list of Mayo Diet. It's probably because I re-scheduled the flight (which was supposed to be on mid-April) to end-March. I quickly decided not to continue the diet because I wanted to taste Indonesian food as long as I could. The two men were tempted to stop because of me ^^.

We lost 3-4kg, but it was temporary only. It was the impact of not finishing the diet list and quit in the middle instead.

So for you who really want to start diet, here are some tips for you:

1. Having family or friends doing diet together is more fun, you can support one another.
2. Your target and motivation shall be clear! It's not merely only for weight loss but also for the sake of healthiness.
3. Stick the diet list in front of your refrigerator. It eases your meal preparation without spending time looking for the list.
4. Have good rest and enough sleeping time, it helps balancing the metabolism.
5. Follow the diet list carefully, don't increase or reduce your meal portion. Increasing it would ruin your diet, while reducing it would make you hungry before the next meal time comes.
6. Cheer up and smile!

Have a happy and healthy diet!

Just face it!

I was grumbling this morning when remembering and thinking about the problems I have. The burden is so heavy till I decided to escape from it. My face could be smiling, but my heart is crying inside. I felt that I have done whatever I should do. I have done whatever I could, but there seem no other way to go.

But amazingly I came across my uncle's blog and got encouraging words from what he has written: Just face it!

God will never leave me alone. He will always by my side. Every problems that I face in my life will make me stronger and stronger. The only way to finish it is to face it. No mountains too high if I walk with God.

I will stick to what God wants me to do. I will face it again from today.

Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial,

because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life

that God has promised to those who love him.

James 1:12

Planting the True Seeds

San has another website since many of his thoughts seem not suitable for our blog "Everyday Miracle" which more into our daily life stories. His blog is to share whatever in his mind and whatever he learns recently.

I put a quick link on the right column of this blog for your easy click ^^

Please do visit and give your comments on his posts! If you're blessed by his posts, don't be hesitate to share the link to others, so that they'll be blessed as you were.

With love,
San & Dita

Gamjatang!

San with our gamjatang dinner!
I'll write more about it next time. Meanwhile, if you're curious about it, please check with Mr. Google at the moment...hehe^^

Things we hardly did before

I am seldom standing alone on stage to sing since High School. I only remember that I once sang at my friend's wedding and solo singer for Easter Service at Church. That's all. I got a chance to sing at my first week in Busan, and it was for PIF's 7th birthday (Pusan Indonesia Fellowship). I felt a bit nervous.

I think my Dad would smile knowing that I sang again.

The same thing happened to San. He never ever joined a choir before. He was always not confident with his voice and worried if his voice will ruin the sacred choir melody. I'm happy that he decided to join Kosin Global Choir in the university. He is now enjoying singing as a way to praise God.

Some pictures of his performances on Monday-Tuesday, April 26-27, 2009.

Enjoy!

Yummy!

Hymn-Singing Celebration

When I joined a Sunday Evening English Language Fellowship, the leader raised up a question that tickling me. He asked whether we usually read a book or novel from chapter 1, chapter 2 and straight away to the final chapter. Of course not, I whispered. Then he continued with the next issue, "...so did you ever found the song leader asked you: let's sing the hymn verse 1, 2 and 5?"

Hymn, according to dictionary.com, is explained as a song or ode in praise or honor of God or something resembling this, as a speech, essay, or book in praise of someone. So, hymn is a story. The whole lyrics is purposely written as an essay telling about our God.

When I choose hymns and the verses to be sung, sometimes I do feel that those all verses are too long. That's why usually I choose two or three verses among five, or one or two verses among three. And what the leader told me on the fellowship was actually what I usually did. First verse is definitely familiar and always chosen, while final verse is the closing of the hymns so it also a best choice. I felt slapped when I realize that a hymns is indeed a story,and not to be meant singing only some verses of it.

We spent the fellowship time singing many hymns - and all in full verses! Even we prayed by singing hymns. While you sing a hymn and deeply speak the lyrics, the meaning will wonderfully explode in your heart.

Let's sing today!

Happy Birthday, Yas!

Hi dear brother,

Happy birthday to you!
You know how much I love you!
You're the one who always smile in every situation,
You're the one who always cheer up others,
even you're sick and in pain.

Wish your dream come true!
Do your best and God will do the rest.
Be good...

Hugs,
*Dita

Susan Boyle

I was touched when I saw the performance of Susan Boyle in the British Got Talents on a you tube video. I was crying when I saw her singing a song "I dreamed a dream". The lyrics of the song seemed telling us her story of life.

She has a dream to be a professional singer since she was young, but she got many rejections from the producers and even the choir leader. She is a Christian who spent her life taking care of her mom and serving at Church in a village. She joined British Got Talent to reach her dream that she always had in mind.

When the first time she walked out the stage, I could see how the audiences reacted to her. The 47-year old lady wearing out fashioned dress with an untouched hairstyling was judged harshly by her cover. Suddenly, all of this was gone when the voice of an angel took them over.

It's such an amazing lesson to us not to judge a book by its cover. Everyone was laughed at her, but she gave an extraordinary performance. Her beautiful voice and the orchestra melody made me couldn't stop my tears...It's was sung from the heart, the heart which was dreaming, that's why it's was totally wonderful. Imagine a village lady living alone suddenly become so famous around the world. Susan Boyle, you inspired me with your dream!

Here is the lyrics of I dreamed a dream from Les Miserables:

I dreamed a dream in time gone by
When hope was high
And life worth living
I dreamed that love would never die
I dreamed that God would be forgiving
Then I was young and unafraid
And dreams were made and used and wasted
There was no ransom to be paid
No song unsung, no wine untasted

But the tigers come at night
With their voices soft as thunder
As they tear your hope apart
And they turn your dream to shame

And still I dream he'll come to me
That we will live the years together
But there are dreams that cannot be
And there are storms we cannot weather

I had a dream my life would be
So different from this hell I'm living
So different now from what it seemed
Now life has killed the dream I dreamed.

"The LORD does not look at the things man looks at.
Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.
1 Samuel 16:7b"

Cherry Blossom

When I came to Busan, it was when the spring arrived in South Korea. Spring flowers are in bloom. One of most famous flower in the spring time is Cherry Blossom, also known as Sakura in Japan. The color is mostly white and pink near to the stem. They only bloom for a week or so before it fall and the green leaves grow. Therefore, the Cherry Blossom Festival is expected and celebrated by lots of people and tourists. In this case, I was lucky to see the Cherry Blossom just in time.

I was invited to visit a famous festival in Jinhae, about two hours from Busan; but sadly I chose not to go. Another invitation coming to visit Dongnae Park on the same day, but I can't get rid of the headache, so I decided to stay at home.

Fortunately, there were lot's of Cherry Blossom trees on the way to San's campus. I said to myself that I couldn't miss the opportunity to take pictures with the lovely flowers before they're gone. And I promise to myself not to miss the next year spring festival in Jinhae.
I must go! Hehe...

Lunch Box

We have experienced lots of God's blessings and care in our first few months in Busan. One of them that I would like to share about is the Lunch Box.

As an international master student, San is eligible to apply for lunch box which is provided by the International Office on Monday to Friday. It's indeed a surprise for him, and even for me! When I was studying in Singapore, none of this kind of lunch box was provided for international student. It flashed my mind to how God provided manna to Israel. It is really a blessing!

Every lunch box consists of rice, meat (varies of chicken, pork, beef, or sausage), vegetable or egg. Sometimes apples, yakult, seaweed are also given. Don't ask about the size of the meal! Normally, two person can have it in one go. That's why San keeps half of it for dinner. It's nice, isn't it?


In our situation where no one of us is working at the moment and is financially limited, God never leaves us alone. We do have our worries when we think about the future, but we want to trust Him the most. He fantastically and wonderfully takes care of our life. Thanks Lord!

"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink;
or about your body, what you will wear.
Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes?
Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns,
and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.
Are you not much more valuable than they?
Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?"
Matthew 6:25-27

I'm in Korea

Finally, after dealing with an uncomfortable experience pertaining my flight ticket at Ngurah Rai airport, I had arrived in Incheon smoothly without facing any problem with the immigration. San was there waiting for me with a rose in his hand...^^

This reunion is special for us since we had some difficulties in getting my visa. God gives a miracle to us.

Being together with him doesn't stop our struggle. I need to cope with the culture and language quickly, otherwise I could not communicate and get used with the life in here. The most important task to do for us at the moment is to extend the visa.

San told me that this is the time for me to understand and experience how to really trust the Lord. In many times, I often use my own thought and strength. I trust my self more than I trust the Lord. Here in Korea, I am limited. Visa, language, job, study, financial problem are the words that I often think about at the moment. I am so weak...but having read a verse in the bible quoted below sthrengthen me to look up for tomorrow.

Always pray for both of us.

With love,
Dita

But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties.

For when I am weak, then I am strong.

2 Corinthians 12:9-10

Incheon, I'm in Love

Diet Mayo - update 1

Hey, a quick update for the Diet Mayo.

It's day-4 in our Diet Mayo...so far we're fine and healthy because we never skipped breakfast, lunch and dinner. The diet list gives us the list of food that we have to eat, such as potato, tomato, non-fat milk, meat, chicken, tea+sugar, etc. In the end of diet, we will lost 6-8 kgs with a healthy body, since it has measure everything that we need to consume for a day.

Sometimes we felt hungry in the middle of meal times, but we could eat fruits and drink. Not to left any food on your plate is a very important tip for this diet. Consume all and you won't feel too hungry until the next meal time.

Dad lost 2 kgs.
Dion lost 2.2 kgs.
I lost 2.5 kgs.

Diet is still going on...

HIS time is not my time

Hello again....Now I want to share about Dita's visa :)

More than a month ago I finally got the visa to Korea. On the same day after getting my visa, I asked the Korean Embassy in Jakarta about the possibilities for Dita's visa. I was a little bit surprised on that day because they could accept our request for my wife's visa. For your information, the rules is that for accompanying person (wife/husband), the applicant must wait until six months after their husband/wife landed in Korea. So, it's quite weird when they could process our request. Two days later, they informed us that what they need is just a copy of my alien card which I should fax it from Korea.(Alien card is a card for foreigner who stay in Korea for a period of time. I'm still feel ridiculous that I'm an "alien" now....hehe.)

I went early to Korea and hoped that I can get alien card as soon as possible. After two weeks, I got the card and sent it by fax immediately. One day later, Dita called and informed that the Embassy needed one more thing: a notarized calling visa letter from me. What?? What is it again?? They had requested more than a copy of alien card, why? At that moment, the news I wanted to hear was about getting Dita's visa, but it wasn't. What should I do????? God please help us. Show us your way and will. I want to stay together with my wife. As You promised "Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate". It will happen to me, right? I'm so tiny and dumb, hard to understand Your wisdom and way. Please help us.

I was looking information about how to deal with notary matter, etc, and thank's God who showed me the way. I am glad to know some friends God gave me here : Bernardo, Mery, Ev.Bahagia and Roban who always support and help me. They gives me attention, prayer, and also efforts. They're completely my angels that God sent to me :) He also gave Gansanim Ran (PMF's staff - PMF is Pusan Mission for Foreigner which is an organization to help foreigner) who helped and accompanied me to the Notary (also with Ev.Bahagia). It only took 30 minutes (the last minute of office hour on friday...fiuh..) to finish that document, four pages long. What a fast pace compared with my own country to do such things like this. The precious 30 minutes was for translating my letter from English to Korean, waiting for the Notary to make his document completed, and the final stage was signing it then. Thank's to God for this elegant finishing time.


On saturday afternoon, I went to PMF office again to meet Moksanim (our Church's pastor) and discussed about this. One week before he already said to me that he could help by giving recommendation letter for Dita. After seeing the notarized letter, he said that he would do everything he can do on Monday (16/3/2009).


Monday, 16 March 2009............
16.10 Korean time, an SMS came to my handphone....Mery said that she had already sent all my eight pages document by fax. Not to wait another time, I called the Embassy in Jakarta to ask whether they had already accepted my document or not. They said, "Wait, I will take a look........a moment later.....not yet, we didn't accept anything from fax.....how about try to call us 15 minutes later"

Then I was waiting..................15 minutes felt like 15 hours :)
15 minutes later I called them back, and she said, "Ok, you can take your wife's visa on wednesday 2pm".
I was surprised, "What? Are you sure? How about the documents? Do I need to send it to you by mail?".
She replied, "Not necessary, you just can take it on wednesday, no need other documents".

Thank's God for this good news from you. After that, I told everyone (sort in sequence) that have to know about this : Dita, Her mom, Moksanim, Bernardo, Merry, Ev.Bahagia, Roban.
I'm so happy.....................!!!!

It's a very long journey and it made me tired waiting (sometimes) for a long time. Especially from my wife that seemed desperate and sent a "white flag" to surrender...hehe.... (me too sometimes)
I learn a lot from this moment. HIS time is not my time. Even though we have our schedule to force our hope and prayer, HE is still the one, God of time. Trust, depend and enjoy HIM forever, start from today.

(Now I'm waiting for my wife to come to Busan, Korea. Hey honey...come here soon!)

Spring is coming

This week is a nice week for me along in Busan. Actually today is completely a month passed by since my arrival in Korea. My feeling is so great today because of two things : Dita's visa is approved by the Embassy and spring season is coming. The two things come up together and make me feel "WONDERFUL" :) Since I want to tell you the story about Dita's visa in a separated posting, now I want to share about how I enjoy this spring season.

As you know, Korea has sub tropical climate with four different season.
- Spring (Mar - Jun),
- Summer (Jul - Aug),
- Autumn (Sep - Nov), and
- Winter (Dec-Feb).
When I came in the middle of February, I felt freezing....brrrrrr. It was because I come from a tropical country that only has two season : Dry (Apr-Sept) and Wet (Oct-Mar).

Now, I realize that through my country Indonesia, God has given me so many blessing. The temperature throughout the year is very good, although sometimes there was natural disaster happened.

So, this is the first time when I can wear short pants and t-shirt only (in my bedroom...hehe). I mean when I go outside, I no need to wear until four or five clothes together anymore. Two is enough. The temperature is around 15-20 degrees centigrade now. It's great, isn't it?

Then I tried to think and compare between climate condition in a country and how a country developed themselves. I assume that a country in a "good" condition doesn't mean that the country also a developed country. For example, countries in the equator which have "good" nature condition such as : Indonesia, Gabon, Kongo, Maldives, Somalia, Kenya, Uganda, Kiribati, Brazil, Colombia and Ecuador; have they already been highly developed country? But then you will ask me and think reversely : Not every countries in another part of the world have been already highly developed! Yeah, I know it either. I just want to share and dream (and try to make it happen).... When will my beloved country Indonesia become a fully developed nation....

Well, back to study and work hard then -as many as prayer to God of course-....
Phaiting!!!
Jia you!!!
Semangat!!!

Mayo Diet

Today is our 2nd day of Mayo Diet. It was introduced by my auntie when she knew that my dad went through unhealthy diet. Dad consumed mostly fruits, small portion of rice and no meat. He felt dizzy and sleepy throughout the day and night.

Auntie suggested me to accompany him using Mayo Diet. She has gone through the diet and lose 3 kgs in a week. In this 13-days of diet, we must follow the diet list which prohibit us to consume salt and cold water. The last dinner must be at 6 pm. If you forget to follow the rules, you have to start from day-1 again.
So, three of us -Dad, brother and me- has been on diet since yesterday!

So far, Dad and I can deal with it. Dion can't stand with the vegetables, since he seldom eat greenish ^^. But he prefers this kind of diet rather than detox juice diet that we ever tried a month ago.

Will keep update you with the progress. If you are interested, let me know! I'll post the list next time.

Good news!

Yesterday I got a very good news from San. I was sleeping on the way back to hometown from Surabaya -which is two hours from Surabaya- when the phone rang and I heard his voice.

I was in Surabaya since Friday. My brother, Diyas was hospitalized suspected dengue fever, but it's not. The nurse told us that that's because of a virus. I'm not so sure about the detail, since the doctor didn't explain to much.

On Saturday, a friend called and informed me a vacancy, an urgent one! I was tempted to give myself a try. Why not, I thought. I didn't apply for the job and it came to me. I have been waiting for visa for almost two months, three months plus the documents preparation yet still didn't get it. I was worried a lot since the Embassy requested another documents after San had faxed the Alien Card which they requested before. It seemed tiring, I believe it's not only for me but also for San.

So, I went for interview and told the interviewer frankly my situation. Shortly, he wanted to wait for me. If I didn't get my visa, then we would continue to discuss about the job.

But, the afternoon news changed it all! I got my visa!

Thanks God for the visa. Thanks to San who never gives up. And thanks for everyone who took part in helping San preparing all documents for visa. It was a miracle. Promise that San will write the story behind the application, indeed it's a miracle!

I will leave Indonesia in 3 weeks time!

Chicken Lemonade (sour...!!!)

Hehe...My mom saw me doing nothing yesterday and suggested me to cook since she had chicken on the fridge. I rarely cook after San went to Korea. Usually, I will wake up early every morning and prepare breakfast for us before going to the office. At night, I would cook again for dinner and he would happily help me to cut vegetables, fry meats and wash cooking utensils.

So, today I was flipping cooking recipes and found some good recipes to do with the chicken; unfortunately the ingredients were incomplete. Then I saw the Chicken Lemonade photo on the book. It looks nice and yummy! So why not I tried to cook this one since it is so easy to make.

My 'mbak' (mom's assistant) helped me to cook. She never tried to make this food and I needed to read the recipe to her. So it was our first Chicken Lemonade.

The taste is sour...! Haha, but it's nice to me. Since Mbak thought that the sauce's too sour, I chose not to pour the sauce on top of the roasted chicken. You can dip the chicken to the sauce if you want.

Well, not really bad for a junior cook. Will try again next time!

*I can't upload the picture right now...will do it later*

I miss you!

It's been more than two weeks and I'm still here, still missing him. He told me that many people feel surprise when they know that we just married for six months and have to be separated by distance. Theories say that a new couple shall be together since they need to build a strong relationship and communication. It is definitely true!

This two weeks were not as smooth as what we expected. We've realized it before his departure that tears, smiles and loneliness will come and go. Since I'm alone, I learn to give my burden to Jesus as He would hear what I pray and say. But...I'm still missing him, ...deeply.

I miss you.

Welcome to Kosin University

I arrived at Kosin University, Busan-Korea for the first time on February, 19th, 2009. It was a long journey to get there. It needed almost 24 hours from Surabaya to the gate of the university. First I met the security staffs asking the location of International Office (IO). They requested me to wait a moment, as the IO staff will see me as soon as possible in the security's room. It was drizzle when I came to Kosin University. Ten minutes later, a young lady named Sunny met me and asked me to follow her to the IO.


I went to the IO and met Mr. Kim Sung Joon. Finally, I met the person who was the one in charge for my departure to Korea. He and I continually contacted each other to update my visa's status before I came to Korea. He helped me a lot by giving advices on how to prepare and get my visa.

I was amazed when I realized that there is a warmer in the room (in Indonesia usually we need cooler Air Conditioner, because the weather is very hot), that is why I feel so comfortable there. We were discussing about several things about how to get to Kosin and why I only got 3 months permission for visa.

Then he said, "Welcome to Kosin University"and gave me a map and a book of Busan, also a map of Kosin University. After we talked to each other, He asked me to continue my journey to go to the dormitory area. He helped me bringing my luggage (quite big...hehe). We were walking (or climbing ...) up to the high place of dormitory. It was really hard to get there. I have almost exhausted when I brought a big luggage up there. Sometimes we stopped for a while to take a fresh air. Fiuhhhh, finally we arrived in the dormitory.


My room number is 417-a. The room is occupied for 4 person, and I was the first student who attended to that room. It is a cozy place for students to study. The dormitory is also equipped with many facilities such as vending machine, hot water for shower, warmer room, automatic electronic door locked us a password, laundry machine, fitness centre, etc.
















I hope I will enjoy all of this, and the most important thing is I will understand more about God's will and will do my best for studying here.

Post published note:
Since many friends seem wanted to know about Kosin University, please check out this link here if you have any further question. God bless you!