My New Choir..

Sesudah lebih sebulan ga nyanyi di choir, akhirnya aku bergabung dengan choir di TU Delft. Namanya Krashna Musika. Latiannya tiap hari Rabu jam 19.30 sampai 22.30 di room 232, Cultural Center di Mekelweg 10.

Rasanya sayang aja ga nyanyi di choir lagi. Kalo ga latian kan lama-lama hasil latian 7 taun belakangan ini bakal ilang pelan-pelan. Sempat bingung karena ga nemu choir yang bisa dimasuki. Di gereja ISC, choirnya belum berbentuk choir beneran, karena anggotanya juga masih minim.

Akhirnya pas ngobrol2 lewat YM dengan Kak Rino dapat pencerahan kalo ada choir yang bernama Krashna Musika (KM) di Delft (hehehe, K' Rino malah lebih tau padahal ga di Delft. Thanks ya Kak). Setelah lewat 3 minggu kuliah, karena masih adaptasi dan ada Introduction Week di luar kota dari jurusanku, baru aku kirim email nanyain tentang cara masuk KM itu ke board-nya. Oh iya, sekalian nanya apa aku boleh telat ke latian karena ada kuliah malam tiap Rabu sampe jam 19.30. Ternyata ceunah open registrationnya udah tutup. Tapi aku boleh datang aja dulu Rabu, 26 September 07 ke latiannya. Di akhir latian akan ditest/audisi dan kalo lulus baru boleh ikut gabung.

Datanglah aku ke latiannya itu kmaren. Untung kuliah Economics-ku kelar lebih cepat, jadinya bisa sampe di tempat latian KM cuma telat 10 menit. Dari jauh dah kedengaran suara orang2 vocalising.. Deg-degan dikit pas ijin masuk, lalu ambil posisi di kanan belakang. Ternyata itu gerombolan Bass, lalu pindah ke bagian Tenor, hehehe..

Abis vocalising, latiannya mulai. Ternyata lagunya Brahms dengan not balok (gyaaa...). Syukurlah agak2 bisa ngikutin. Tapi oh noo, conductornya ngasi instruksi dan penjelasan make bahasa Belanda. Akhirnya orang di sebelahku (Stephen? not sure about his name) dengan baik hati menawarkan terjemahan ke Bahasa Inggris. Rata-rata suara dan tekniknya bagus. Tapi ada satu Tenor yang suaranya menarik banget. Baguus dan proyeksinya juga bagus.. Enak banget didengar. Mereka rata-rata bisa dengan mudahnya mencapai nada tinggi (yang bagiku dah tinggi dan perlu konsentrasi mengkoordinasikan organ-organ tubuh *aiyyaah* untuk mencapainya). Apa karena emang tipikal suara orang sini emang tinggi-tinggi ya? Rasanya pernah baca suatu tulisan tentang itu. Jadi rada minder, hehehe..

Abis latian, akhirnya dipanggil untuk audisi (ada 1 orang cewek juga diaudisi). Untung yang lain udah bergerak keluar ruangan karena emang ada acara pergi bareng ke suatu kafe. Audisinya biasa aja sih, nyanyiin beberapa tipe rangkain not yang dibunyiin pelatihnya pake piano dan bergerak up and down the scale. Tapi ada satu melodi yang agak2 aneh dan ga biasa (agak gagal pas awal-awal, hehe).

Trus pelatihnya nanya apa aku pernah ikut vocal training dan apa aku pernah gabung di choir sebelumnya.. Tentoenja! (ya, ga gitulah jawabnya, hehe ). Dan repertoir seperti apa yang biasanya dinyanyiin.. He said he could recognize that my vocal is built and that he liked the sound. Waaa, senangnya...

Setelah deg-degan karena udah ngedenger bagusnya anggota2 yang lain, akhirnya aku diterima di Krashna Musika. It's good to know that what you like and do a lot is appreciated by others. Not that the appreciation is the most important, but it just... feels good..
It's not that I wanna boast or something.. I know many people around me that can sing better than I do, and I love their voices..

Aku juga senang bisa nyanyi di choir lagi. Emang betul-betul kerasa beda dengan kalo nyanyi sendiri ato di vocal group. So, let's see how far I could involve in this new choir..


Ini logonya Krashna Musika. Tadinya aku heran ngeliat logonya itu... Kok kayak setan gitu ya, hehehe.. Pas kutanya sama pengurusnya, ternyata itu gambar Faun, dari mitologi romawi yang suka main musik gitu deh. Di film/buku The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe-nya C. S. Lewis, ada Faun yang bernama Mr Tumnus, yang pertama kali ditemui Lucy di Narnia. Krashna itu sendiri artinya Beautiful, aku lupa dari bahasa apa.. Slovakia? Jadi kira2 arti namanya itu Beautiful Music.

NB: Sengaja nulis dalam Bahasa Indonesia, supaya orang KMnya ga bisa baca, hehehe..
NB lagi: Untuk Soprannya, aku rasa Soprannya PSM-ITB lebih bagus deh, hehehe. Tauk ya, siapa tau yang kmaren ini Sopran KMnya blom full formation.

At the begining..

Yeah... I'm at a new begining.. Starting my new life as a student again in TU Delft, Netherlands.. A new life in Delft, a small yet very nice city. A new life in learning Management of Technology.

Some friends and I left Jakarta on August 24, 2007 around 15.00 WIB using Cathay Pasific. The flight was nice. Transited in Hong Kong for about an hour and left for Heathrow, London using Cathay Pasific as well. The flight attendants were from Europe and it turned out that they're not as nice as those from Asia.

Arrived in Heathrow (btw, Heathrow is such a huge airport..) and went through a strict check up.. We could only bring one cabin baggage no bigger than 56 cm x 45 cm x 25 cm (more info). There's a dimension checker (I don't really know its name, but it's some kind of construction where you could put your bag in if the dimension fits). We had to open our shoes/sandals and socks as well.

Passed the check up crew, we need to get my boarding pass of British Airways. It took a small plane to take the passengers to Schipol Airport, in Amsterdam.

We arrived around 9 am local time on August 25. When claiming the baggage, it turned out that most of the baggages of my friends were missing.. There were about 11 people in my group and only 2 got their luggages. Fortunately they were Richo and I. The others got their luggages somehow left in Heathrow (later we learned that this was not uncommon for British Airways flight from Heathrow to Schipol. Actually I had that kind of bad experience in this trip).

Out of the baggage claim area, we were greeted by some guys from PPI Netherlands: Rizli, Andy, Chris, Baqir, Anggara, Ahmad (my fellow for taking care of Depkominfo's requirements. Arrived earlier) and some others I couldn't remember (sorry).

Anggara took some of us to our temporary staying house (because the housing from DUWO was not available yet, until August 27). I stayed at Andrew and B'Tigor's room (thanks a lot, pals ) for 2 days at Hugo de Grootplein, near Delft Central Station.

I felt really sorry for leaving Bandung and all those great activities I've joined. I couldn't finished the rehearsal for Magnificat Church Choir Studio's Nelson Mass concert until the concert itself on September (Aarrgh.. There's "Credo" song there.. hehehe). I couldn't join GII Dago's 1st Choir Festival which will involve a Choir Master from Singapore. I couldn't join ITB Choir's Brahm and Mendelssohn concert. I couldn't continue my work with Alfie for Elechant's product. Fortunately I could do the home concert with Cherubim Choir on July.

I know, I have found comfort in Bandung. I love the city and all things in it very much. I once thought that I would spend most of my life in Bandung. I know I would miss the city and the activities a lot. Especially all my beloved friends there. But there's a certain point when I knew I have to move on. I have to leave Bandung for now. But I will certainly come back.. Either for staying or for only visiting..

So, welcome my new life..!

Broken theory

Have dated his date . I can only say so far that though the idea of 'Dumbledore is not dead' is so tempting and interesting, Rowlings doesn't have the same idea.

My own theory was: Professor Dumbledore faked his dead by letting Snape do a secret curse or by taking a secret potion made by Snape beforehand. So that, he was not actually dead by Snape's attack, just seemed to be so. And I assumed that Dumbledore trusted Snape very much because Snape had made an Unbreakable Vow to him. Maybe vowing to stay faithful to Dumbledore. If Snape had broken the vow, he himself would be dead. Since he was still alive, then he must have been keeping his vow and hence still trustworthy. I had that assumption because that kind of vow was introduced in the sixth book. My theory was wrong though, hehehe.

My favorite quote so far is:

"NOT MY DAUGHTER, YOU BITCH!"
-Molly Weasley to Bellatrix Lestrange-

Hehehe, I love it!

Deja Vu?

Haaa, aku jadi teringat satu hal. Aku pernah mimpi aku berada di suatu ruangan yang ga aku kenal. Dan di dalam ruangan itu ada banyak orang berpakaian rapi. Lebih seperti ruang rapat. Aku ada di sana, dan aku terbantai. Pokoknya aku ngerasa aku bukan dalam situasi yang menyenangkan. Karena cuma mimpi, ya aku biarin aja.

Sepulang dari Hanoi untuk misi eBdesk terakhirku, aku sadar. ITU DIA!! Situasiku di ruang presentasi HTMobile itu yang kulihat dalam mimpiku. Aku merasa ruangannya, orang-orangnya, dan situasinya persis sama. Some people would say that it maybe just my imagination.. or it was deja vu. But no, I'm kinda sure that I saw it in a dream.

Dan aku jadi teringat juga, setelah mimpi itu, aku pernah mimpi aku berada di suatu tempat yang luas. Melihat pemandangan gunung-gunung dan hutan-hutan. Aku duduk di sebuah rumah dengan teras berpalang kayu. Bersama anak-anak SEF (Student English Forum) ITB. Dari percakapan di mimpi itu, aku sedang ada di Papua. Hanya aja ga jelas aku sedang apa di Papua itu, sama anak2 SEF pula. Yang mana tampaknya hampir tak mungkin.

Terkait pengalaman di Hanoi, jadi kepikiran, apa ini juga bakal terjadi ya? Hehehehe.. Jadi, kalau sampai suatu saat itu terjadi, aku bisa bilang ke orang lain bahwa aku dah pernah mimpi tentang hal itu sebelumnya. Bukan deja vu pula. Buktinya adalah tulisan di blog ini, hohohoo. Let's see whether it will really happen in my life.. although not likely, as I said before..

Trip to Hanoi

Trip to Hanoi - eBdesk Mission 6 May 2007

I wrote down the details of my journey to Hanoi in my notebook. More to my use later if I ever visit Hanoi again, or for those who want to go Hanoi.

In Indonesia:
1. Went to Soekarno-Hatta airport in Cengkareng, using XTrans at 02.00 (yes, in the morning) at the cost of Rp.100.000,-. It was the price at that time, but it's already Rp.80.000,- for the same route now. Lucky this service was available. The one with Cipaganti, reserved by the office, came too early to my area while I was still on my way home (at 1 o'clock in the morning, from the office, if I'm not very much mistaken).

2. Arrived at 04.00 (amazing 2 hours from Bandung) at terminal D & E in Cengkareng. I've got my Economy Class ticket of Singapore Airlines in hand.

3. Checked in at Desk 4, delivering my passport, printed-online ticket, and my luggage. Paid Rp.100.000,- for the airport tax and received 2 boarding-passes: Cengkareng to Changi, and Changi to Hanoi (forget what its airport name is).

4. Paid the fiscal of Rp.1.000.000,- on behalf of eBdesk Technology and delivered my passport & boarding pass. Got a payment receipt in return. Kept it for Teh Enung later

5. Caught glimpse of a noticement, all LAG (Liquid And Gas? I forgot ) going to be brought in cabin must be in containers containing not more than 100ml and they should be placed in a transparent plastic bag(got it from the security officer). More than that amount is prohibited to be brought into the cabin.

6. Got my boarding pass checked for fiscal payment before entering the immigration area.

7. Checking of passport, departure & arrival card, and boarding pass
8. Went on toward the boarding gate.
9. Checking of hand carry bag for LAG before entering the boarding room.
10. Boarding.

In Singapore:
1. Continued to the transit gate
2. Check In
3. Waiting in the boarding room and filling in the forms
4. Boarding

In Vietnam:
1. Headed to Immigration Area
2. Gathered my luggage

3. Met some people from Indonesia who are coming to Hanoi for official meetings. From IPB, if I'm not mistaken.

4. Bought local currency at the money changer in the airport. There were some of them, compared their rate. Conversed my $30 with the rate $1= VND 16.051 (VND=Vietnam Dong). It's suggested that we keep sufficient amount of Dong and more amount of dollar in hand. It is not easy to convert Dong to Dollar.

5. Ordered a taxi to the hotel. They charged $12. Don't mistake locals pronunciation of 'twelve' to 'ten'. That's what I did I paid $10 + VND30.000, as the driver did not have change for another $10.

6. Arrived at the hotel:
ASEAN International Hotel
Address: 6-8 Chua Boc St., Dong Da Dist., Hanoi
Telp: +84-4-8529110, +84-4-8529108
Fax: +84-4-8529111

The rate was $60 nett/day.

I'm getting tired of writing details, hehehe

So, I stayed at this ASEAN Hotel. It was near the HTMobile office, the client I had to visit. I bought a local SIM Card. I thought it would be much cheaper to communicate to Indonesia based on the experience once I was assigned to a client in Malaysia. It turned out to be not so much cheaper. Around VND4000 or Rp.2300 per sms. Well, at least I could receive a call (not able to get a call using ProXL internationally).

I was once wondering what day that day was. As I was entering the lift, I suddenly realize it was on the floormat. The name of the day I mean. There was 'Wednesday' written on the floormat. Neat!

Using taxi in Hanoi is somewhat affordable. The fare is comparable to a Blue Bird in Indonesia, I guess. The prices of daily goods are also pretty much like those in Indonesia, if not cheaper.

If you see outside the hotel, you wouldn't miss a great deal of motorcycles and bikes on the road. Yea, it seems that their main transportation are those vehicles. You might also see many motorcycles carry not only 2, but 3 people. I could say the Hanoi people are pretty reckless on driving. See them on a crossroad and you'll understand what I'm saying. I also once saw this person on a bike took his time indifferently on the road. It would not be so interesting to me if a bus was not behind it, couldn't go faster than the bike. On my last day, on the way to the airport, my taxi was terserempet-serempet and kejeduk-kejeduk by several motorcycle, but the driver seemed to be OK with it, surprisingly. Even more shocking, there were these two car, one after another. I didn't know why, but the last car bumped into the one in front of it. Both drivers stopped and got out. In Jakarta, or Pekanbaru, or Bandung, you would see both checking their own car, arguing, or even instantly start a fight. But these two only checked their own car, shook hand, and left

I noticed that the people were still clinging to old tradition. While I was strolling along the street, I saw families who own a restaurant, or a shop attached to their house (like ruko, that's how I could see them) were circling their tables for a dinner together. Aww, that's a sweet sight. Or maybe it was because I was strolling alone far away from home? Hehehe..

The appearance of the city is like an old area in Pekanbaru, my home town, or let's say most of the older area in developing city in Indonesia. I couldn't hold my laugh when I saw an advertisement neonbox showing "Salonpas Gel"! There, in Hanoi.. Now, that made me feel like home, really. Heahahaha...

Owh, one more thing. I think people's recklesness in driving are also supported by a non condusive driving environtment. See the following figure.

It is a two way street with a blockade along the center of the street. With such long blockade along the street, people will find it easier to reach a place by taking a cross they are not allowed to. I don't know why they build such long blockade and not some shorter ones to allow more sensible U turns.

Unfortunately, I could not visit some lakes that is well known for their beauty. No time for shopping too. This one's a tough mission . Well, maybe next time (when precisely, Andy? )