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Je suis sans Susi

Archimedes EUREKA… same same but different… as I was alone strolling inside the Museum, why don’t I do a walking tour like I normally do in every city I travelled to? EUREKAAA! let’s see if they have availability for today in English. It was around 17:30 when I got my Eureka moments, 18:00 is the walking tour, walking distance from the Museum to the Meeting Point is 20 minutes, perfecto!

Saw the tour guide and two more guys plus me…hmm… will the tour keep going? or we need to have a minimum participants? Yes it does! (the first one) wohooo felt like having a private tour 🙂

We started at Monument Kleber. Eric is the name of our guide, he explains very detail about who is Kleber, what did he do in Strasbourg, why there is a monument for him, why Sphinx is behind him. From what I can recall…. he was disobeying one order so his face is turning away from the order (the paper on his hand), he has an important figure during the battle, he faced his faith due to someone disguise as a student walked to his direction then stab him to death!! Why Sphinx is there? I forget pffff

We cannot skip the amazing, number 1 attraction in Strasbourg ever, Cathedrale Notre Dame! He showed us the story from what was engraved on the outside of the Cathedral. It divided into 3 parts, Christmas – Passion of the Christ – ….judgement day? yes I think that’s the third.

The artist freely design the stone based on their own interpretation. Moving on to first door with theme Christmas:

It was only 3 of us, obviously I heard he said the lady statues represents one of parable about: “Ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish and five were wise. The foolish ones took their lamps but did not take any oil with them. The wise ones, however, took oil in jars along with their lamps”. I only see 4 on each side….. okay we are here to appreciate the detailed, not to challenge 😉 let’s move on from it.

There is one part I couldn’t forget as it blown me away so much, it’s about the story of each biblical character per se. In the Passion of the Christ parts, Eric recognized two parables: Cain and Abel + Jonah who got eaten by a fish. I think I found Saint Peter as he was crucified upside down. Speechless guaranteed!

Last gate which I thought was a judgment day? Yes, I think it is or at least somewhere in that direction…. Eric told Evil comes 3 times in this illustration, in form of a dragon like people being pushed to hell + a “Prince” who actually a disguise Evil, we can see it from snakes behind his robe + the one I forget, I believe it was on the corner of the door, the Gargoyle symbol. Disregard my forgetfulness, it’s still marvelous heiiii

Then we went to the other side of the church where… this time… I’m 100% remember what was that all about. It’s the parable of King Solomon, a story of two women who came to him with two young babies- one alive and one dead. Both claimed that the living child was their own and that the other woman was only pretending to be the mother of the surviving infant. King Solomon solved it by “let’s cut the baby half so each one got one”. To which, the fake mother agreed whilst the real mother prefer to give the baby to her as long as the baby’s alive. That’s how King Solomon know who the real mother is. #Bravo Marlyn! at least one full story you remembered #Proud of moi-self!

How about that? isn’t it breathtaking? I promise for the next walking tour, I won’t forget much things #Better be improved!

Few steps around the Cathedrale, look down, there is a capsule time which will be opened in year 3790 mwahaha who would have known?!?! maybe people couldn’t read the handwritten anymore. Or worse, they ain’t gonna be people! Hiyyy….don’t wanna know…

We walked passed La Petite Alsace again, definitely need to take pictures 🙂 at this moment we already know each other more, they are Michael, Manuel and me, the 3M tourist, just like a 3M Tape.

There is another important statue with important people + important moment engraved like Galileo, the abolished of slavery.

We closed the tour with parting up in the bridge! the same bridge I went this morning, this time with some lights.

Manuel recommended me a place to eat. However, I need to do my job of buying Susi a diaper before the store closed so we didn’t eat together. Once I secure the diaper, don’t know where to eat, went to Manuel’s recommendation: Kitsch ‘n Bar and guess who I found? it’s them!

We connected on Instagram, they told me the water in Dublin is for free, what?!?! I can’t hear the word “free”, my Asian soul is calling, I’m gonna come to take a bath every damn day! haha you two also welcome btw just one thing need to be reconsidered, I paid my water + there is no Bathub, so…. save it! haha Either way, travelling is the essence here.

Definitely book yourself a walking tour wherever it’s available, you got a bit of knowledge…. well…. at that time is a lot but less memory capacity 🙂 with a bonus you can get new friends!

My random memories keep jumping: Angelo is a good place to eat, the statue of St. Martin in front of Martin’s Church, nobody lives on a Dach, Strasbourg was a place of EU Composer like Mozart, this little corner is the best view from Cathedrale Notre Dame.

Oh here is the recommendation from Eric’s, you’re welcome!

See ya 🙂

#3M Tape, sealed by travel.

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Closing The Circle

Did I reach Adolphe Bridge? Still hasn’t reported that one didn’t I? Yes we did!

We saw the bridge, were walking on top of it but I want to be under the bridge, where is the entrance? crossed the road two times until Feli found some clue “I think the entrance is across this road as we can see the Zig Zag way” She was correct “see, see, not so hard to find, we did it” 😉

Right before we reach the other end of the bridge she said “let’s get out, I’m scared” I was surprised why? we were on the transparent glass tower before, in comparison, Adolphe Bridge is very robust #confused

I think if we keep walking this direction we will reach The Grund as we already at the bottom. We follow the road, find a skateboard ground, Feli pick a flower to what she claimed it’s a “wild flower” therefore it’s OK to pick, not a flower in front of Spuerkeess where she saw one lady grabbed it. Where is our lunch destination? Italian restaurant (again) hahaha! She was very dedicated to have Aperol Spritz although have to say the one she had wasn’t really the real Aperol.

We walked through the same route meaning passed a Cathedral, since it’s raining, I pay a visit. This Cathedral is famous for the paintings hanged in the wall. Continue our journey to city center, while looking a map, Feli remembered the road “oh here is right” she’s already a local after one day here.

We gathered with the guys in an Irish Pub down on the other side of the hill, to get to the bottom of Lukas’ stolen bag story #condolence. There we met with Tobias’ friend from “Ireland” Delia. We stayed until we finish watching Hurling final. After that we went for a billiard where we met Pedro and Delia’s friend from Taiwan, Daniel. The guys continuing their drinking activities while me and Feli went back to Ncim’s.

On the last day which is Monday, I had brunch with April and Leoni whereas Feli stayed in city center doing her last shopping, cafeing or caking. I spoke Mandarin to Leonie, received no reply, April said she speaks only Cantonese or Luxembourgish. Yves and his family also didn’t force Leonie to speak English, she is a real Luxembourgish in heart. April packed Leonie a lot of books, one of them is sticker books, she tear it off to stick it everywhere. This little Pizza is heavy! around 12 kg.

After brunch, it’s time for me to go back to Dortmund so we both went to Gare Centrale. April put Leonie into the stroller although Leonie can walk, she said it’s easier for her, if Yves is there then she let Leonie walk. We passed the fountain thingy, Leonie screamed 水水 we can actually stopped by to play with the water. To my suggestion, April said “I think it’s a bad idea” hahaha We saw a Boba Shop near the fountain, she missed 珍珠奶茶 so much, well… Feli is working at the Boba Tea Shop, I will get you 3* 珍珠奶茶 each day 🙂 Thank you so much April for spending the time to meet me. 珍珠奶茶 is waiting in Dortmund!

What else what else what else? Oh I also met Barbie + Ken! The marketing of this movie is so total! Hi Barbie! Hi Ken!

I’m grateful for Luxembourg weekend experience, it couldn’t have gone better if we’d planned it. Now the circle is closed 🙂

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Swarovski in a Non-existing Rose Garden – Part 2

….continuation story…..

Feli feel tired, therefore she chose to stay put, doing some Cafeing whereas I was heading towards Adolphe Bridge, only to meet with another walking tour participants (at this point I didn’t know their names) the same girls we met at the entrance of Bock Casemates. They wanted to see the Rose Garden, I already forget this option exists! I asked if I can join, they don’t mind, so here I am, one party changes to three party. Maria said: Netherlands is famous for the Tulip, Luxembourg is famous for the Rose. She also mentioned perhaps there won’t be any at this time as this is not the season. However, it didn’t reduce our spirit to check. The result was: there were no rose hahaha but one of the girl found something else 🙂

What’s next then? I’m not sure if I’m allow to follow them again as I kind of crashing their party of two hihihi I asked and they don’t mind so here we are in The Gudde Wedder. Spoiler alert, this is where the night getting excited! we grow to an even bigger + exponentially funny party. At this time I already know their names, Franzi and Sabine. Franzi is a German live in Luxembourg, Sabine is a Mauritians on the way to USA. Franzi asked “where is your friend? she can come here too other than waiting alone” OK, send picture + location + write Feli. Done from my side.

This place is always full, there is no waiter who will search a seat for you. You just have to run once a table is free, pretty Barbaric I’d say. The plan was we sat anywhere first, if we see one of the table at the side is free then moved. Our seat was the middle, next to us were 4 guys. I thought all of them are together until I realized they too separated into 2 and 2. Franzi whispered to me “they are Germans”

Mistakes happened by one of the guy’s order that caused a conversation which lead to the best unexpected night of my life. 2 Moscow Mule for free! My brain and heart already locked to Pisco Sour therefore Sabine and Franzi took it but I also had few sips #slurp 🙂

They talked, I zoned out from time to time until I saw the perfect corner table is empty! I don’t care what were their conversation is all about, it was worth to break it. Guys! Empty table on the corner, run! get it! the guys talked “should we move?” “yes yes moved!” both girls said thanks for the drink to the other guys, I didn’t even see them. Focus focus, tadammm!!! party of 3 becomes party of 5!

We have one more empty seat that could be a hot seat between Feli or Franzi’s housemate. Knowing the party will be bigger, one of the guy (at that time I didn’t know their names yet) said we wont be asking chairs from another table anymore rather asking for a table. Funnily, both of them arrived at the same time, I asked Feli to “run, run” but she ignored me, she was the last one to get the seat 🙂 How many are we now? party of 5 become party of 7! After we complete, now I know all the names, they are Lukas, Tobias, Sabine, Feli, Ivy, Franzi and moi!

Best seat – Best crew

We will treat this corner as generational, ain’t gonna move our asses. If someone needs to go to the toilet, we will guard the sits with all our hearts. Don’t be a beginner like the French guys sitting next to us pfffff. Okay, French guy asked in French if we have a paper for smoking, none of us understand so he spoke in English, we all “no, sorry we don’t smoke, we don’t have it”. The three of them try to asked the restaurant I think, they didn’t realized….they have left their table!!! In three seconds, two ladies already grabbed their spot. Me and Franzi was looking at the girl giving thumbs up or trying to say “I don’t think the guys meant to left the table” the moment the guys realized, it’s too late. Lukas said “it’s because he didn’t put the towel in the chair as a mark, the German towel really is sacred”

Lukas, Tobias and me still have a bit of drinks, meanwhile Sabine, Ivy and Franzi are ready to move on for Open Air Cinema. Lukas gave Ivy his “Towel” (read: jacket) to spot the chairs for Open Air Cinema. Once we are done, we walked to Place Guillaume II, “you guys continue, I forgot my bag” ahhh Tobias… we didn’t realized he walked without his bag #face palm Lukas said “I need to take care of my bag because many people (myself including) said I have a nice bag”

I was the one who made itinerary for the trip so I know we are passing the Corniche aka the “most beautiful balcony of Europe” When I told the guys their response was “OK, checked” me on the other hand getting a selfie “Have you see yourselves on the camera?” Lukas answered “I am right there!” We arrived at the Open Air Cinema, the movie is Singing in The Rain with French and German Subtitle. The German Towel doesn’t serve the purpose of 7 seats, we have to scatter around. I was sitting with Lukas, Feli with Tobias, Sabine with Franzi, Ivy prefer to stand.

Once the movie is finished, Franzi and Ivy already gone but we got additional member which is Tobias’ housemate, Pedro. We kept strolling around until we reached one pub only to use the toilet haha noooo we stay just a bit due to our AirBnB is quiet far, we need to catch the last bus. On the dance floor we received a good news that Lukas was accepted into a University in Mannheim, whoaaaa! Congratulations!!!!

The level of Dopamine from that whole day was very indescribable, one of the night you don’t want to end, not in my wildest dream I would expect any of it. It is like finding a hidden gems or Swarovski in the most unexpected place like a non-existing rose garden.

Hey! I’m serious, Franzi found it and she gave it to me 🙂

Made in Germany, found by a German!

I will remember all of you, Ivy who study her PhD, Franzi who work in EU Parliament, Sabine who always manage to get into private swimming pool at any Hotel in Mauritius, Tobias who studies Data Science if only I can turn back time, I’ll tell myself to study that too, Lukas whose backpack was stolen 🙁

Sorry to deliver a sad news… I know the next day that Lukas’ great backpack has been stolen. I was very shocked when I heard it, damn! how about bank card + Personalausweis + keys etc. When we met the guys, I even more shocked because he can turn the negative into something humorous, that is the skill not everyone have. Lukas himself turn it into a joke that leads to running gag for the whole day, such as “they dropped my AirPods and I have the box back home, so now it’s complete; well, now I can’t pay anything; I need to chill, good thing is I can’t get lower than this, they took everything from me; I wear the same clothes because they took all my belongings”. Ah yes forget to mentioned Lukas literally just arrived Luxembourg when I met him so his backpack is all his stuff for the weekend. Anyway, my personal opinion, with this kind of mentality, he will be able to go very far in life.

Moral of Lukas’ incident, follow the quote from How I Met Your Mother, “when it’s 2 A.M., just go to sleep. Because nothing good happens after 2 A.M” I told him I believe in Karma, something stolen from you, it will be stolen from the thief in another way too, for example something bad happen to their family that would cause damage more than your iPad etc. He said my words are too dark he didn’t intend any bad things to the Täter, oh yes bitch I am Indonesian, we have Voodoo Master hahaha don’t mess up with my things or else……#devil’s laugh

Back to the good side of me, you guys have made my weekend unforgettable. I owe you a big thank you, I wish you all success in life. See you when I see you #you’ll never know 😉

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Swarovski in a Non-existing Rose Garden – Part 1

We started with Twentytour / walking tour guided by Maria from Russia, my initial thought was that she is a local Luxembourgish as…she speaks the language hahaha such a standard to define if someone a local or not. She mentioned, it is very normal for people to be Polyglot, your language ability will not be treated as skills but rather as a part of life.

We gathered at the Jan Pallach Square in front of Monument Dicks and Lentz who supposed to have a red lion as symbol of Lux’s flag. FYI, you saw the correct lion, it is not red. Moving on to Place Guillaume II where they have market until 17:00 in front of a building called Hotel de Ville, it’s not a hotel nor a Villa, it’s a Town Hall. We walked passed Place de Clairefontaine and Grand Duchess Charlotte Memorial.

She explains how Luxembourg become very rich due to steel and agriculture. When we arrived at Grand ducal Palace + Chamber of Deputies, she informed that the Prime Minister- Mr. Xavier Bettel is a complete regular guy, you can find him on the street, the bar etc too bad, he is on holiday. How do I know? because there is no flag hanged in front of the palace.

There is some interesting pole in front of it, on top of there is a face, everywhere you move the face is following into your direction. It has a symbolic meaning as the people who works on the palace is being watched by the Luxembourgish people.

Next is we visited Saint Michael’s Church who is the oldest shrine in the city. Right outside, adjacent to it we arrived to the most picturesque of Luxembourg, Bock Promontory = the cradle of the city of Luxembourg.

There we met our new friend from Brazil who lives in Ireland, Brunna. I like her mentality, she asked if I can take picture of her as a proof that she was there. Girl, we are the same! Picture or else it didn’t happen 😉

We walked in circular movement for about 5 Minutes tadammmm we reached The Grund.

We closed our tour by visiting Cathedral Notre-Dame de Luxembourg + Place de la Constitution, saw from distance Spuerkeess and….Adolphe Bridge, p.s not gonna lie I was shocked to hear the name of the bridge.

I felt myself not really myself, I need to eat before I turn into Hulk. What is the best options in this situation? Italian! its very hard to make it wrong. Brunna agrees too, ha! same mentality proof! #high five.

Right after I feel satisfied, we three went to the Pfaffenthal elevator, re-do what we did with Maria only with more time haha we also visited Fondation Pescatore. Brunna wants to crossed the bridge. Which bridge? the only bridge that matters, the red one. It has a name no? Yes it is, it’s Pont Grande Duchesse-Charlotte. Feli said we might only come until the middle as we have Bock Casemates at 16:45. However as what Maria said, it looks far but it ain’t. We finished crossing the bridge plus come back to the city using Bus.

Brunna didn’t join for the Casemates tour so we separated there. On the entrance we met with two other girls from the walking tour, she bought the ticket for tomorrow visit while we already have it.

Here it is the one that I have been waiting for, Bock Casemates! What is that exactly? Its a Unesco world heritage fortifications and old town Gibraltar of the North – that’s how its written on the flyer hahaha in a normal language, it used to be a fortress for underground military defense system. The view always faced the same, nevertheless it didn’t reduce the beauty. We saw the same thing on a different level.

Here is the video of the views from different angles:

We walked back to the city center, enjoying the last chance of shopping until…. who do we met randomly? Brunna!!! She somehow had a feeling she will meet us again 🙂 We have to separated for the second time as she went to a supermarket then fetch her stuff to catch her flight back to Ireland.

We seal our good thoughts deals of meeting each other again in the future which are more likely to happen, thanks to so many reasons: we live in EU, she has a German boyfriend, she knows if she’s in Köln she has to text us or we do it the other way…. we visit you in Ireland. Whatever or however it will be, we will see you again Brunna 🙂

…..story continues….

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Indonesian at Heart

Some time ago Felicia saw an advertisement of where you can take DB Bahn using your Deutschland Ticket aka it can be interpreted as for “free” as I already have it and she can upgrade her NRW Ticket to DE Ticket. Options are Salzburg, Luxembourg, Venlo, Strasbourg or Basel. She chose Luxembourg, I’m OK with that, checked the train connection, it’ll took us from 6 hours to eternity depends on element of surprises DB Bahn offers.

She did snack shopping on Thursday, übernachtet at my place so we can go together on Friday morning. Originally we planned to take the 10:45 train, due to my excitement for the trip, I wasn’t able to sleep well, meaning I woke up earlier than planned….hmmm.. what to do? started with the preparation for our food on the train then. After few minutes, Feli also woke up, only then, we realized we could take the 09:45 train. It will be knapp but if we Gas geben to every activity we are currently doing, we might catch it.

We turned to our express mode. She packed her stuff, I watched the food, while I took shower, she was in charge for the food, put my last stuff into our luggage, placed food into the container, clean my apartment, took rubbish out, done and gone! I know… from all activity possible why do I still need to squeeze cleaning the apartment zzzzzzzz #face palm

We walk as fast as we can to the point we sweat when we reached Dortmund Hbf. 50% of the way DB was on time until we had our second Umsteigen, element of surprise take parts, there was 40-50 minutes delay due to something which I didn’t even try to listen to. Boahhh our effort to be 1 hour earlier is just gerade ausgeglichen! On the bright side, since we missed our bus, we were able to visit Trier center for a quick glance.

Took the next bus, arrived Luxembourg city center, took another train to Ncim’s accommodation in Esch-sur-Alzette. Haha we called our AirBnB Landlord Ncim 🙂 #very unpolite heyyyy

Ncim’s place is really near the border of France. I saw on the Map there is an abandon train station, we could go there by walking for only 17 Minutes haha. After we freshened ourselves, the sun is still exist, that’s why at first I want to visit this Port just to put my legs on both countries. However, Feli decided it’s not a wise idea, let’s just have dinner. Need to say, we couldn’t get any receptions, she pinned some restaurants around the area yet we just can’t reach it, we need to rely on our direction sense on where the hell to turn? We decided on one restaurant simply because we heard they are speaking Germans.

I told her I saw Carefour near our AirBnB, she responded “ha? you think we are back home in Indonesia? seit wann haben wir Carefour?” yes I’m dead serious, I saw it on the map. Remember, we can’t rely on our internet so we stroll around until we found it! here it is! although the color is different back home at least we saw this brand again!

We had important day ahead of us, full with sightseeing activities as Sunday is a Ghost Town in Lux so shopping etc must be done on Saturday hahaha. Before reaching our walking tour meeting point’s she saw a “Superindo” Logo, said “are we really back home?” we miss Indonesian super or minimarket so much.

Among any beautiful view Luxemburg’s offers, nothing compare to our “home” brand view 🙂

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Lost Cause

On the last weekend of June I suppose to have some kind of eating weekend #too good to be true. There are two food festivals, the German one aka Gevelsberger Kirmes and the Indonesian one aka Festival Soto dan Sate. Like always, there was not the case.

I didn’t know about Kirmes in Gevelsberg until Claudia and Julia was talking about it, decided to join either one of them. On the D day, obstacles arrived one by one. Claudia had a Wasserschaden, Julia wasn’t sure what time she will be there because she will gather in Dodo’s apartment together with other people then go to Kirmes. I adjust my plan, instead of meeting them there, I’ll go to Schwelm to be with them first.

On the way to Dortmund Hbf, checked which Gleis is the train boarding to Schwelm, got another news instead: it got cancelled!. I could took their alternative way by taking RE + Bus + RE Bahn meh! too much trouble. Texted Julia, skip Kirmes this year, took Straßenbahn back home #failed.

Few minutes later got a WA from Andrea asking what am I up to. Well, since Kirmes is falling off, I’m free again. Both of us went to Phoenix See, had Sushi in Bestfriends Sushi #We are Best Friend yoooooo hihi. Your visit to Phoenix See is not complete without ice cream at Kuhbar, for sure we’ve done that too #yummy!

Only to know later on Monday that Rene was also in the BestFriend Sushi, didn’t notice him, he merged well in the German surroundings. Anyway he didn’t shout or wave or whatever #German! told him by next time he should’ve scream #Asian

DB Bahn please works on Saturday! I want to attend the Soto and Sate Festival in Sankt Augustine. During the whole 2,5 hours journey I texted with Pascal, the German guy from Frankfurt event last month, unfortunately his train got severely delayed whilst mine wasn’t #surprise, for once DB Bahn does it’s job.

It was an outdoor event with 3 tents, before I got the sit inside the tent, I stand under the shadow of a tree #what a Baum! Look around what could I have, there it is, Soto Bandung! the portion was rather small, asked if I can get more she said no as it was instructed that way with the purpose to still have space to try another food pffffff, I ain’t tourist yo. Ashley brought me pinky drink, contains nothing but sugar + chemical stuff hahaha it’s good though! definitely needed under that kind of weather. I forgot to take picture of it, saw another girl having it too, approach her to take pictures using her still full drinks. And that’s kids how to make friends 😉

Her name is Heba from Syria, she was sitting on the front line where the consulate should sat… at that moment, there are still free seats, why don’t we took it? sat our asses #I ain’t moving. There is a box of bread in front my eyes, according to her “oh it’s belong to the consulate as well but I saw other people taking it too”. Girl, I am one of the other people!

Ashley started her Angklung Performance, we ate the bread then Pascal arrived! He knew I would be on the front because of my friend’s performance, yeap good guess! Later on, Heba didn’t want to take it anymore and I said “we already took one, its not ours so we already steal one what’s the difference between stealing 1 and more than 1? it’s either don’t steal or keep going” #logic.

Instead of coming back to Dortmund, I went to Frankfurt with Ashley and Ongky plus two additional passengers Vivi and Anira 😉 it wasn’t planned until Ashley asked if I want to join them running the next day? They registered for Staffelmarathon…. gave few seconds to thought, I was wearing my new on schuhe, let’s go, I’m ready!

When Ongky was on the dentist, we went to have Boba Tee from The Alley! Boba Boba Bobaaaa! #Boba Queen. Went back home, had Sate Ayam. Perfect!

On Sunday I called my birthday Sister, her first birthday as a mother!

Right after, we met the other 2 runners, Bunga, Rubi and their little daughter. Little daughter sitting on the stroller being pushed by Rubi #thumbs up! We did start pretty late, it was already 10:30 the sun was crazyyyy I could only ran for 2 km, the crew go further.

Sat on a bench for a some time, walked around 1km, in the end we meet again to eat Japanese food.

Feel so ashamed as they finished 6km whereas I only 2km #fufufu -_- The conclusion is I can’t do sport under heat, this is the 3rd time I felt bad because of it, can’t do it anymore #lost cause.

P.S: I’ll choose another sport 😉

Birthday icons created by BankSeeNgern – Flaticon

Love icons created by Vectors Market – Flaticon

Girl icons created by Paul J. – Flaticon

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ABCDEF (not you)

Although I didn’t mean to sing Gayle’s song, I can’t help myself 🙂 I wrote a series of Vitamin ABCD without slightest knowledge it’ll continue to the next alphabet, yet here we are!

What would be the representation of letter E?!

Eschborn!

Never heard about it? #me too. It all started at the end of April when I met Ashley and Ongky for the first time in Dortmund. We “knew” each other because my father and Ongky’s father are friends. Ongky had a Seminar in Düsseldorf then they drove to my favorite Italian restaurant 🙂

Prior to our dinner, I always texted with Ongky’s wife, Ashley. Thinking back, it was kind of our blind date as we didn’t have any video call before, I mean…. we are Asians in Dortmund, it won’t be that hard to recognize 😉

During dinner, she told me there will be an Indonesian Festival in Eschborn. The Indonesian Consulate General asked her if she’s interested to participate on selling foods. She hasn’t really confirmed at that time, however as the times goes by, I know they will have a stand, so I’ll definitely go! I already realized right there and then that she is a good cook as no one would offer her a stand if she can’t cook and it’s true! She brought me her signature PemPek TOP TOP TOP! I couldn’t sleep that night, woke up at 23:30, fried the PemPek, proceed to ate it! I slept happily after that heavenly snack!

Times get closer, let’s dig into more serious matter, where is Eschborn? its about half an hour from Frankfurt using S-Bahn. What a coincidence is my Archery photographer, Daniel Cuesta also in Frankfurt on that weekend, I told him, he’d better be free on Saturday to go with me to the Indonesian Festival 😉

We found the place! we were a bit confused with their disguise entrace. I thought it should be an outdoor event therefore I kept looking on tent or something that could represents as an event going on, na ja! it’s inside the building. OK. First mission, found them!

The building was OK, many people already sit on the chair… which not belong to them yet they treat it as if it’s generational, they won’t leave it for a seconds! We had to stand in kind of sharing table thingy. Good things we stood there though, we met another guy, precisely he was standing with us eating, I heard him saying “the sound system could be better” directly whispered to Daniel “he’s 100% German” “why?” “German stereotpye, always complaining” 😉 he was indeed completely right! the sound system, the mic, the loud Indonesian customers on behind, everything was horrible. I can’t hear anything what the speaker said. Poor man!

We started to talk to him to some point he asked “why are you speaking in English?” because this Mister right here is from Mexicooooo haha he’s not Indonesian, come on, dude, it’s written in all of his face. We asked the basic stuff until we know he came a long 2 hours S-Bahn journey only for this Indonesian fest! what an honor! thank you! what is more surprising about him is he was everywhere in Indonesia! from the most touristic place to less touristic place, he already plan for his next holiday to Indonesia, on top of everything, he had a Spotify playlist for Indonesian songs, boah! respect! Finally I know a foreigner who comes to Asia often other than the other way around #once in a blue moon!

At 18:00 there were some culture performance on the second floor. Me, Daniel and Pascal were confused (again! nope we are not dumb! the building floor plans confused us) where the damn stairs? I saw a kind of back stairs with an A4 paper stick to the door written “hausmeister” “treppe zur Bühne” guys lets go here!

We arrived, they haven’t open the official stairs yet but we were already inside. Few minutes later more crowds are filling the so-called auditorium. Opening speech, memorable ‘plakat’ were given, yeap, skip skip skip, performance please 😉

Dancers, singer, angklung performance were all out. Guess what? Ashley played Angklung! She didn’t tell me before, what a nice surprise 🙂

In the middle of the event, I was a bit worried if Daniel got bored… on the other side, he cant do nothing anyway hahaha suck it up!

A rather “old guy” (he refers himself like that) sit next to Daniel, he got some questions… so I, being an Indonesian, answered him. He came with his Philipine’s wife, he knew Bandung, from all the place?!?! turns out his ex-girlfriend was from Bandung haha. They stayed until the end, for the whole event I was sitting next to him. Until we were about to be separated, his wife wanted to take a selfie then he said “let’s ask her (read: me) to be in the camera too” I took it as if they won’t mind to have their picture here 😉

A saxophone + band act as our closing performance, they were amazing! all photos and videos about the performance comes from Pascal’s phone.

Here is the recap of Indonesian Performance

Hey! its a culture exchange thingy, they do have some performance by the Germans 🙂 The choir did sing one song from Mexican folks, La Cucaracha. Daniel was “whaaaaaatttt”

That’s our experience in Eschborn 🙂

Daniel comes with me to Dortmund, one step back on the Alphabet 🙂 we didn’t really do much… due to the reason, there is not much to do here haha here are some activities we did when he was here, the rest off to Düsseldorf + Köln by himself.

Jump to alphabet F, I had a seminar in Frankfurt from Facebook regarding finance thingy. Since the seminar is in Frankfurt meaning I went to Ashley and Ongky again yeayyy!!!! their apartment is amazing! the one you wish you could have #Genie, that’s one of my 3 wishes!

On Saturday morning we had a video call with my family so my father could see Ongky again after some decades aparts. I had PemPek as breakfast! best best best! Sister said “for sure Ashley is a good cook, otherwise Marlyn won’t come to Frankfurt” #Im sold easily by food 🙂

They drop me to my Seminar hotel, Ongky said “make sure the Seminar is really there” I was afraid it turns out as a scam or MLM that’s why I prefer to go alone. Long story short, it was actually a nice one, I might join again as a paying customer if they hold it next year 🙂 Afterwards, we went for a Korean food.

We also did some sport heyyy! run 5km! we gained calories while not burning so much haha #this is life!

Thank you beautiful people! Something as regular as eating, watching, sightseeing, even fucking running is more fun when you have friends around. Happy to be able to do it with you 🙂

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The Difference Concept of Time – Part 2

I have a Gutscheinbuch, Schlemmer block version, inside this small booklet there are variety of restaurant deals, BOGO (buy one get one free), family deal etc. To my surprise, they also put some kind of activities deal, such as bouldering, sauna etc, one of them is Legoland BOGO Ticket. Who wants to join me? Since the people who lives in Stuttgart like Binbin, Bea and Nora wasn’t available then it goes to Radite aka QQ Dite. He’s not living in Stuttgart but he doesn’t have a class so he can join me!

It took me 2 hours 45 minutes to go with RE Bahn plus Shuttle bus, one more hour for him. Distance doesn’t matter, I’m already in south of Germany, let’s do it!

It’s not DB Bahn if delay didn’t occur. The journey that supposedly took less than 3 hours became somewhere like 4 hours, denk bitte daran, it’s one more hour for him. We arrived at almost 11:30! The attractions will closed at 17:00, Legoland itself closed at 18:00.

Once we entered the park, we were welcomed with a Miniland version of everything, Berlin, Frankfurt, ICE Train etc. Imo its way better than the Atomium in Brussels or Madurodam in Netherlands. The only difference is in Madurodam you are allow to step in, therefore you’ll appear like a Giant next to the building. Here, only the workers are allowed.

What impressed me were the kids being kids, it’s really their place heyy, Radite wants to press the button so the bicycle go to the other directions. Once the kids know about it, they just surrounded him, really no boundaries yo! it looks like he was the bully who didn’t let smaller kids press the button haha

There are many interesting figures such as Einstein or giraffe hahaha! to put Einstein and giraffe in one sentence! #face palm. No, I meant like a football players 🙂

We both tried the first roller coaster next to where we are called The Great Lego Race, looks manageable, WRONG! Optic illusion is real, once we were up there, it is quiet something. Tried to find a reason why such a small roller coaster were able to shocked us, hhmmm… perhaps…we haven’t been in a roller coaster recently, consequently we need some time to adjust our mental on where we actually are in this very moment.

Warm up is done, wanted to watch The Ninjago. Since the 4D shows are not yet started, we tried another ride its kind of a Jetski that attached to the pole so we can’t go anywhere besides turning the wheel left and right, named Wave Racers. It doesn’t looks so fun, believe me, it is! The 4D shows is OK, not different than any other amusement park’s 4D. Looked on the map of what we’ll do next, read about an attraction called Ninjago…hmmm… Radite said “the 4D we watched coincidently also called Ninjago however we are not in the Ninjago area” aahhh ok, problemchen solved.

Next, we visited Legoland Atlantis by Sea Life, they put Lego inside the fish tank together with all the fishes! Ofc a hungry Marlyn eating chips 😉 Radite brought Chitato from Indonesia! AAAAA

There was a Magic show by Tobias Campoverde, he’s obviously funny for kids and a really great showman for adult, able to loosen us up. QQ wants to ride the Niagara Falls, I said “there is no one in the line, lets go, lets go, hurry” yeah there wasn’t anyone because the ride was closed pffffff I wasn’t plan to be wet yet I have to say their Niagara Falls looks so pretty.

Their new ride, Lego Mythica! We ride Maximus-The Guardian’s Flight. This point we realized we have about 1 hour 40 minutes before all the rides closed, ok! planning planning planning! I was too busy mapping out our next ride while we were on the line, caused me to not watch how this Fire and Ice Tower moved, I wasn’t prepare for it. In this less safety equipment I got really scared haha Radite was confused as the previous one were scarier along with we were on the 1st row yet I didn’t scream so much like this one.

Right next to Mythiga is Egypt, Pharaohs’ Land. We flew with the balloon Desert X-cursion, unfortunately we weren’t allowed to take a video. From up there we can see a “ride”, it’s a firefighter car which put out the fire, called Pyramide Rallye. The one who wins will got one brick of Lego haha. I said to Radite, “Q, let’s do it seriously, we can’t be the damn last”. Next to us was a family with small child, on the other side was fully adult. 3, 2, 1 we were pumping like crazy, I think my hand almost fell off. Radite really really done his best, we were on the second position, only 1,5 seconds behind the family guy. Good job!

Took a rest after the crazy unplanned gym by taking an observation tower where our job were just sitting. Muskelkater guaranteed!

Last area is Knight Kingdom, a roller coaster called Fire Dragon. There were 2 rides on this Knight Kingdom, we need to make sure we didn’t go to the children ones. This is the only ride which we waited more than 45 minutes while the others are always within 30 minutes.

I thought that were our last ride, nope! we still have little time, ran to Flying Ninjago. If I move the wings hard enough I can turn 360 degree, one guy did it, I can’t, well… have to be honest I was a bit scared too. I don’t want to keep turning around uncontrollably.

Then…. all attractions are closed. I really think we achieved quiet a lot! Had DB Bahn didn’t delay, we could tried all the roller coasters. We wanted to go originally on a Saturday as there is a parade but the weather was forecasted to be raining so we changed it to Thursday. I’m glad though! Imagine if on Saturday, it will be more full + DB Bahn delay = we will never be able to take any ride.

There are many rides for kids too, obviously we are not qualified to ride it

The Lego is really all arounds, duh! that’s why it got the name Legoland. They have interesting shape and figures 🙂

My favorite Lego figure was the “Paparazzi paparazzi paparazzi no no no!”

We really need to come back to find him 🙂

All pictures are from Radite, he also made a short clip with main star, ME! 🙂

What do I need to do?

just walk #Lalyn Gaga

Legoland is double TOP!

Thank you QQ for accompanying me against all Umsteigen and Delay 🙂

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Vitamin D

May in Deutschland, what can you offer? hmmm…

There are indeed more public holiday in May compare to other months, let me take you to a city called Stuttgart 🙂 For this trip I took 2 days off + weekend + 2 days mobile work + 1 national holiday = perfekt!

Texted Binbin’s, he welcomed me to stay at their apartment, very well received! Yes I’ll stay in your big place again! Happy to be back!

I am still traumatized with my first experience taking ICE from Dortmund to Stuttgart due to more than 2 hours delay and the end result was the train not stopping at Stuttgart Hbf. Opt to take a Flixbus, it took me 7,5 hours including 3x stops at the gas station, not so bad I’d say.

Arrived their apartments on 1st of May, Binbin was still in Amsterdam only Andreas was at home. No special things planned as it was already evening. Day number 2, I do home office while Andreas went to the real office. Binbin will be back late in the evening. I had a dinner plan with Beaaaaa! Last time I saw her was in year 2017, first time I met her was in Shanghai back in year 2013 whoaaaaa so excited to meet her again!

First dinner in Stuttgart with Beatrice!

We met in front of the Stiftskirche, since I was there earlier, I took myself to visit Markethalle. Although there are many interesting food there, I didn’t buy anything as we plan to eat Korean food! my oh my, how I miss Asian food!

We doubted between two Korean places, Soban or Mandu. We both visited the places yet decided to go to Soban as it has broader variety of menu. At first we felt like we couldn’t finish it but after sitting for more than 2 hours plus kept talking, you could guess right? yep! it’s all gone! we finished it! We or let’s say correctly, our intestines just need some times to digest the food before we deliver a new one.

There is always funny story you entdeckt when you meet your friends. One example is Bea wasn’t exactly sure how to pronounce my name! ha! caught her! I said some Germans are not pronouncing my R in Marlyn, to that she commented “no, its not that they are not pronouncing the R, they are swallowing the R” hmmm… okay? using this chance, I asked her “What’s my name Bea?” she’s like “eeehhh I’m not so sure” haha!

After all of those foods and laugh, we were strolling around the city. She used to work in Stuttgart so she more or less knows the place.

Then she drove me to Binbin’s apartment, thank you lovely Bea for the evening! Good food, good conversation, what else can I ask more? Blessing to have a friend like you.

Who else lives in this city? Nora!

My food nerds friend! Told her I want to have a Chinese food, later she suggested to have a Hotpot, yaissss! it has been sooooo long since I have a Hotpot! Basically because it’s always contain lots of dishes, for me, I’m living alone so eating all at once would be impossible, doesn’t matter how long you spend the time sitting on the chair eating.

We were 3 people, meaning without at doubt we could handle it! While Nora was preparing she asked me if I know one of the dishes, I said “potato noodles” she was totally begeistert I knew it 😉 Okay Nora, it’s a revelation time, Binbin made Potato Noodles at home for lunch, that’s the only reason why I knew it haha, not so begeistert now… right?

They live in a very cozy apartment, I hope someday I can buy an apartment too, for sure it will be smaller than theirs, on top of that, I need their luck to get the one that already has floor, kitchen, bathroom and lamps! Perhaps many more apartments so I could qualified to be a 包租婆 haha if Nora can’t realize her dreams, who knows? maybe I can 🙂 Thank you Jacob and Nora the 王木木! 😀

My brother Thorben! What a pleasant surprise to know you were in Stuttgart while I was there!

How can I miss not to see you? No way in hell! Binbin, let’s gooooo! Since Thorben only have a limited amount of time, we met in the Stadtmitte SBahn to have a drink in the Cafe nearby (P.S: it didn’t make us less happy!)

Then we went to Lululemon where Thorben always says “you don’t need to wait for me, I feel bad” Oh brother, don’t worry, we do have time, this is what happen when you really have no agenda haha

Afterwards, we separated in the SBahn, Binbin got an appointment, Thorben went to the hospital and I went to Porsche Museum #Tourist!

Last day already! #schoked! I do have more time on this visit but still not enough!

After I visited Mercedes Benz Museum, I go pick up Binbin while he was walking Emil. Then he went to Edeka and I’m waiting outside with Emil. Andreas was busy with Billy.

On the evening, let’s have Paella! Me and Andreas already calculated when should we change clothes, when should we leave the apartment so we can catch the bus on time to be there at 19:30 as our RSVP.

Seconds before we left the elevator, last check, Andreas asked Binbin “do you have the DE Ticket?” dadammm! Binbin forgot where is his ticket and he said “there’s no one will check” being a German, Andreas insist him to look for it, if he is Asian for sure we will just schwarzgefahren! hihi #adrenaline high!

We three almost starve to death while waiting for our Paella, yes we knew it will takes around 45 minutes but it was more than that! The waiter, he gave us some more bread, good enough to wait until our main food arrived. At the end, we couldn’t finish it so I took it home for my lunch on the train #no food waste!

Oh Shanghai, what an amazing people you kept introduced me, thank you for all the time guys! I think I will see you soon….as Andreas said I should come more often to put some rational thinking to Binbin, exhibit a. not buying 45 kg of stone from China haha 😉

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Verbal Illusion

  • She’s On The Money book for Irina – checked and checked 1000 times or else she would reject my arrival! #I have no doubt #It’s foreseeable
  • Food during my at least 4,5 hours DB Journey to Amsterdam – checked. Why at least? Because DB Bahn ist genau bekannt für die Pünktlichkeit.

Was my train delayed? certainly! there was some Chemical thingy happening in Venlo (btw Venlo is already Amsterdam) while I had to take another train from Venlo to Amsterdam. A glimpse of hope appears when ICE train on the next platform also stopped there. That ICE bound for Amsterdam from Frankfurt, perfekt! Hop on to that train thinking they could have taken another track, hoping I could have arrived earlier #innocence

That exact ICE has no clue when it will continue the journey, had to wait inside for about 1,5 hours before everyone started to panic. The guy sitting next to me called a Taxi from Amsterdam asked if they will be able to pick him up in the train station. There was a couple, she is a German while he….somewhere from EU, Spain or Italy or so, she was very active in searching a way out. She thought to take Uber to Roermond as it’s a bigger station then took any train to Amsterdam. I, on the other hand, stand by…. well, honestly not really stand by, I was more eavesdropping 😉 30 minutes later, the girl said according to Twitter, the firefighter already cleaned Venlo’s track hence all trains are able to departs again. Yeay!! Without further due, the machinist only blew the whistle once dann los geht’s! #no warning #no waiting time

I was so hungry when I finally reached Amsterdam Central. Irina was still working anyway, I got to eat yo! Indonesian food it is! What else other than Warung Made 🙂 back to Sarah!

I really felt like home in this Warung, chilled for a long while until the rain is somewhat bearable to continue my journey. Truth: it’s never bearable, welcome to Amsterdam 🙂

She got cat sitting job right after her normal job therefore I had to be at home alone, decided to take shower, put all my equipment at her bathroom. I brought my own shampoo, conditioner, face wash, basically everything except soap. I saw her soap was put upside down, lift it, felt empty…hmmm… doesn’t matter, shampoo works perfectly fine as a soap too.

Finished, made myself comfy at her armchair with Fatty, wrote her via WA “btw you soap is dead” she asked if I finished it up. No, it’s already dead that’s why I had to use my shampoo.

Long story short, it was only an illusion, there was still some left had I tried open it. Not forget to mentioned, Irina is the type who always have a back up after another back up, there is still a hidden soap behind the closed cabinet. I took shower with a soap for the rest of me staying at her place 😉 #just so everyone conscious.

Perhaps Salem had to do revenge during my soap drama, he throwed up while I was sleeping, not literally on me, rather on the blanket. It was around 3AM, for some reason I felt Salem on my thigh (100% it was him, if it was Fatty I would got up as he is very very heavy) then I heard some choking noise. I’m not a light sleeper, I was only half aware by the time I knew some food already out of his mouth. “Irina, Irina” she woke up immediately and told me, you take the other side of the bed, I directly went asleep again zzzzz

On the weekend, we were fully book with brunch! Saturday we met with her friend, Diana at brunch Cocotei. Our agenda is to go to Amsterdam Dungeon even though I’m not a fan of horror. I went to the one in London when I was 16 or 17 yo boy oh boy! it was amazing! I still remember it so well, that scared the shit out of me, except now I’m older I wanted to see if that shit still scares me or not, thus I agreed on it.

We arrived earlier than our admission ticket, we were waiting in the supposedly creepy room. The waiting is the one that kills Diana and I. Long story short, we went in with 20 other people, it wasn’t so scary, the act were more screaming in a way that supposedly shocked us, sometimes they succeed, most of the time they weren’t. Hate to say, it wasn’t really successful #imo I think the one in London was much better, less communication.

Diana need to go but our next bitch come, Terezaaaa! with her, what did we do? cake-ing! #sweet tooth gang! Live from Amsterdam.

I bought 2 cakes to go, guys, I have no idea what went wrong in the whole conversation:

  • “I want to have 2 cupcakes please, 1 red velvet, 1 carrot cake”
  • somehow she took out a big box with 4 holes on it, she put 2 red velvet in the hole…..
  • caught her in that action, I said “No, I meant 1 and 1”
  • Her action after it was even weirder, she took 1 box for 1 cupcake so it will be 2 boxes.
  • before it went too far, I need to say another “No, No”
  • out of the blue, she put 2 red velvet in one box and 1 carrot cake in one box to me.
  • I clearly have no idea where her logic coming from, what kind of illusion it is. I…. had to say…. again….”I meant, 1 red velvet and 1 carrot cake in one box”
  • she changed the box unhappily.

Girl…seriously… you coming from another planet? Tereza and Irina waited in H&M next door. I told them the story, they said “don’t worry Marlyn, it’s a Dutch service”

Although we were not too hungry, we went to Warung Made again hahaha! I want to introduce them the new Indonesian restaurant I discovered 😉 I know Sara would be there however when I get in there was a white blonde lady….oh! Where is Sara? haha very polite ehhh!

Irina went for cat sitting right after dinner while I went to her place to feed Salem and Fatty, they must be sooooo hungry! They lead me to the kitchen as I opened the door. Yes Salem I know! We’re sorry, Fatty you’re always hungry anyway 😉

On an Easter Sunday we decided to go to Utrecht. In my opinion it’s a mini Amsterdam. Sadly it wasn’t so alive due to it was on an Easter Sunday. We still can see something, it was enough for the grasp that Utrecht is beautiful.

Our destination is to reach the famous Gelato ice cream, did we take a straight way? No way in hell #got distracted. One of them is by getting in to Kelly Expat Store #We are an expat yo! It sounds fancy but basically it’s a shop selling American food brands hahaha. What other shops that opened on the holiday? Souvenirs shop! Magnet for mother – checked.

Reached the famous Gelato Roberto, I had a Broodjes with 2 scoop of Ice Cream. The place is small, there isn’t a proper place to sit outside of this shop, there was only a “bank” (auf Deutsch) attached to the wall so we sat there having a view of other people waiting in line to get the ice cream. Fuck no I ain’t leaving the bank, my ass need some rest haha

Utrecht is the origin of Miffy, there are many of this statue around city center. In one specific red lights they have Miffy as their icon. Just like Ampelmann in Berlin, here is Miffy in Utrecht.

On the way back the train didn’t stop at Tereza’s station so she need to get out from another station. Yeay! more time with you!

On my last day, we finished Jeffrey Epstein Series. There were still some time before my train, clueless what to do? While I tried to re-heat the bagel, Irina screamed with joy “Marlyn, Netflix understand us! there is a movie about Ghislaine Maxwell ! let’s watch it!”

Wait, back to the bagel story. I was informed there is a bagel in the kitchen, I can cut it half, put on the air fryer facing up then spread the Frischkase. I’m so lost in life, I spread the Frischkase first so I can’t put it again into the air fryer otherwise I’ll messed it up more than I already am….pfffff what can I do without her.

Once the movie ended, my gut told me to go to the train station. It was too early, more than 2 hours from my real ticket. When I just arrived the Dam, I got notification that my middle train, the one that is from Venlo to Germany got cancelled hahaha! Am I surprise? honestly no however it didn’t meant that I’m calm. I’m still panic #not at the disco. Since I was there earlier I just took whatever train available, most important it will take me to Dortmund. I reached home one hour later than I suppose to be, bottom line, made it!

Although it’s not a Lake Como holiday like our bitches Anu and Louise, I still had my fun! Looking forward pho next time bitcheeessss!