7 Quick Takes Friday - Vol. 46

- 1 -

These two days I have been spending my time at a preschool to conduct experiment. Yesterday I broke my record doing experiment on 10 kids non-stop!

- 2 -

I've been browsing about Advent Calendar on pinterest. I have not really made Advent Calendar, but I love to make Advent resolutions. This year my new year resolutions were not really written black and white. Even though every day I make some 'small' resolutions, I feel that Advent is a golden chance to really get rid of my bad habits and struggle harder against the grain.

- 3 -

I think one good thing about 2014 is I exercise more =P As the preparation to walk the Way of St James, my friends and I walked with 5kg load for 5km once a month. I also tried to run regularly. Well, I haven't run again since September, but I finally managed to go climbing on Sundays =) Last Sunday my boyfriend asked to try an inclined 6a route. He helped me along the way by pulling the rope tighter because I am not that strong yet. However, I really enjoyed that particular route because I felt like doing acrobatic.Hahaha. I must twist my body a lot. I'm also very short (152cm), so even if my boyfriend can reach a tile by extending his hand, I need to move my body higher through other way before I can reach the same tile. Hahaha

- 4 -

I think it's very important to have one or two hobbies, to know what we like and what we dislike. I recently meet a few university students who are still confused in choosing what they want to major in. It also seems that many high school graduates that I know choose a major in what they like or what they are good at in high school only, without knowing what kind of work they'd actually like to do. At the end, when they realize that in university there are much more people who do better than them in the subjects that they are good at, when things get very tough and the nature of the project/future work are not the types of work that they'd like to do, they do not enjoy university life anymore.

I guess, if I could suggest to high school graduates on what to choose for their major, I think it's good to see what kind of jobs we'd like to have (we may not get it though!). Are you people-oriented? Or do you want to work in labs? Or are you like my boyfriend who likes animals a lot (and like to eat them a lot too)? Do you enjoy reading or do you prefer project works? --> I still have bias about reading. I don't really like the fact that some universities do not push the students to read basic theories in their field now. Or..encourage 'holistic' education that makes students have a lot of co-curricular activities that they do not have time to read cultural books (like me!)

Anyway, out of topic a bit, reading is a choice. =)

- 5 -

Yesterday as I took a taxi to the preschool, the taxi driver talked a lot about Indonesian politics (the new president was appointed two months ago). I felt embarrassed because I didn't know about the recent controversial appointment of Prasetyo as attorney-general. Question: so attorney-general shouldn't be appointed from political party?

The recent increase of fuel price has also caused some protests. When I was in high school, I was one of those who were against it. I really don't know how the people with lower income can survive with the rise of price of necessities. I guess we really need to cut the subsidy, but I hope the system is ready soon to make sure that those who urgently need the assistance gets one.

- 6 -

After two months, I just managed to write about the first three days of the Way of St James.

- 7 -

Some thoughts after a conversation with my friend about life and children.

This week quick takes is hosted here!

when my friends are confused..

It's quite interesting to see how our topics of conversation has changed throughout the years. Remember the moments when you talked about your crush to your girl friends? Or perhaps talked about whether you think the guy that you like also likes you in the same manner? hahaha. Now our conversation has changed to how to save for future house, how to know if he's Mr Right or not, what kind of values you want to impart to your kids, and so on and so forth.

Recently my 'normal' catchup with my friends stumbled upon the topic of abortion. I don't know how my friend suddenly shared how she knew a couple who told her that they actually had a third child, but they aborted the baby because the baby was diagnosed with Down Syndrome. She said that the couple thought it would be better for the baby not to be born, rather than having born with Down Syndrome. I was a bit shocked at the beginning, but I tried to stay calm and reminded myself how normal it is to think like that now (even though we claimed to be Christians or Catholics).

I looked at my friend and asked, "Do you really think it's okay?" And she looked reluctant for awhile.

I remember my other friend turned to me and said, "What would you do in such situation?"

So here's my answer. I'm writing this down here and now because when difficult times happen, there will be many people who influence me not to do what is right. Not because they are 'evil', but because the society now really thinks of what is useful, what is not burdensome.

I said it will be tough to make the decision to defend the baby's life.
It's not easy to raise children with certain illness or psychological conditions. 
However, I've met and witnessed more and more courageous parents who decided to bring up these children, who are not influenced by society that tried to dictate us to choose what is the most convenient choice for us. Next time when I say my marriage vow, "...in good times and in bad...", it is a vow to enter a marriage that is not portrayed by most of the Hollywood movies.

I have seen a mother with her teenager who has Down Syndrome. This girl made the most beautiful genuflection in front of Our Lord (I would say better than many adults). Her parents believed that their children, both the typically developing and the one with developmental delays, could grow in virtues too.

When I was waiting for my friends outside a shop in Rome, I managed to have a short conversation with a Japanese lady and her teenager-daughter who has a Down Syndrome. I was a bit 'tempted' to talk in motherese (there's a tendency to treat them as children). However, I was reminded that even if their mental age is lower than their chronological age, at that stage, she was not supposed to be treated like a child. So I asked a few questions just like how I normally talk to the teenagers. I observed how the mother talked to her in Japanese, and I was just amazed on how refine this young lady was!

I also witnessed a young couple defending the life of their first-born baby who 'just' lived for three months. I don't think I can forget how courageous they are and how supportive their friends are from Legion of Mary. For some people, perhaps this is a 'waste-money-decision'. However, for a lot of us, this young couple has become a real example how it is very possible to be heroic to say no even though other people may say "it's better to abort the baby".

To be honest, I felt sad. And a bit scared... I've seen more and more friends are confused despite the fact that we go to Church every Sunday (again...it's not sufficient to just go to Church).

So I pray that I can journey more with my friends. I pray that we can talk more about these issues about life, because life is not a small matter. I pray that we can be strong support for each other if any of us needs to make difficult, but a right decision, just like how I've seen some other mothers supported each other.

Day 3 - From Palas De Rei to Arzua

Hi. It's been awhile since I posted on this blog. My internet is very slow and this creates a new excuse for me. The only time for me to go online is in the morning (like now).

This is the story of the 3rd day of walking the Camino. I can't remember what time we left. I guess around 5.30 or 6am. It was still dark too, but not as cold as the morning of the second day. We walked in the dark for around 2hours, until we stopped for breakfast. As a reminder, this will be our 30 km walk. We'll pass Melide town after around 10km. The aim was to reach Arzua by 4pm and meet at a restaurant called Ultreia. Our guide as also told us that there would be quite horrible uphill and downhill along the way.

During breakfast, we decided to deliver Lilynne's backpack to Arzua. We also dumped our 'unnecessary' stuff during the day (our sleeping bags!!). We still need our sleeping bag at night though. Actually we walked with a good pace on this third day. Audrey and I kept singing and we did an 'experiment'. When we sang upbeat songs, we walked faster. Hahaha. I think the song that made us walk the fastest was "Give me oil in my lamp" =P A few hours after breakfast, we reached a beautiful bridge and took photo for awhile. We also did our half-an-hour mental prayer as we walked from there. On our way, when we passed Melide, we saw a...Sim card shop!! YEAY! I finally got a sim card. hahaha.

morning =)

view from the bridge

this way!

Near this river, a guy who had lost one of his legs sat and provided the 'pilgrim stamp'. I think he was a soldier. After he lost his leg, he participated in paralympics (he was really fit!!)

We also stopped at a Romanic church that had a statue of Our Lady of Snow. There, Carol, our Spanish friend, told us the story about Our Lady of Snow and how we would visit St Mary Major Basilica in Rome that was built because of this apparition of Our Lady and the origin of this title. Anyway, in this Romanic church, a guy stood there and explained about the apparition and he had a thick notebook with various ways to say greetings (hello, thank you, buen camino, etc) and some terminologies of things that they had in that church (e.g., ancient baptismal font). Many visitors from various countries translated the words to English, Japanese, Korean, etc. When Carol told him that I am an Indonesian, I was asked to write down some Indonesian words too. I don't know how to translate "baptismal font" to Indonesian language!!

Our lady of snow!

Inside the church

Some of us took 'profile-picture-worth' photos here

A guy playing recorder at the bank of the river!

We also stopped at an old lady's house along the way. She is Conchita's friend and Conchita brought us there because this lady prayed a lot for young people. This lady also showed us her small chapel. We also sang a Chinese song (朋友 = peng you; friend) for her.

Congrats! We've reached Arzua ^^

We continued our journey and started eating our chips =P I guess it was around 11.30 because soon afterwards we said the Angelus. It was quite a terrible downhill. Audrey and I were really like non-stop-radio. Fast forward the story, I also managed to teach Audrey Indonesian song (kindergarten song =P). I think the funniest part was when we sang Bon Jovi's "It's my life" when we walked uphill and some guys that walked faster said to us, "Continue singing, I like Bon Jovi." Once we stopped singing because we were panting, but our foot were really aching, and we decided that singing was the only way to forget our ache. =P

We reached a wide road and a church that had a big clock and lots of prayer cards in the Church.Okay now I can't remember which one comes first, but at one point, I think Wei Lian took out her recorder (flute, not audio recorder) and played Sound of Silence, A Whole New World, and the Hobbit soundtrack. It was really an amazing experience ^^

Fast forward again, we reached another terrible downhill (a wide road). According to Conchita, our guide, we need to walk zig zag to reduce the pain. That's how we survived downhill so far. However, we were really tired and decided to sit for 5 minutes outside a small store. Lili got her Aquarius here (an isotonic drink). Well, this part may not be significant to you, but this brand (Aquarius), was so nice! Not too sweet like 100+ or Pocari Sweat and less 'gassy'.

Anyway we walked and walked. We passed another bridge and we saw a guy playing his flute at the side of the river!! Hwahhhh.. We thought, aha..just 3 km more, so let's sit and listen to our friends playing flute. Anyway, by 3.40 we continued walking, and I think the signage 3km was a bit deceiving. We walked for quite some time on a wide road after we saw the sign "Arzua". We reached the restaurant at 4.10!! Congratsss! It was the first time we reached our target.

The food was just amazing!!! This time I chose wine instead of water (they're same price anyway). Citing Carmen, we had the "best ribs we've ever had". We also sang the same Chinese song "朋友" for the waitresses. Afterwards, we proceeded to EFA, a school and residence for girls who'd like to study administration / nursing etc.

We attended a meditation and Mass in English!! (yeay!!) Apparently the priest spent quite some time in Australia, so he also had exposure to Indonesian language and he kept telling us that he knows how to say 'book' in Indonesian (buku). =P We also had chance to go confession ^^ On that day, the priest talked about St James because we would reach Santiago in two days.

At first they told us that the students may be shy because they just arrived in the residence a few days beforehand. After a short Q&A sessions during get-together in the living room (they asked us few questions on what we think about Spain, what we like about Spain, etc), we sang the same Chinese song (again!!) plus another Chinese song (Yue Liang Dai Biao Wo De Xing = the moon represents my heart) because Carol could accompany us with a guitar there for this song. After that, seems that the girls 'warmed-up' already. One of them started to demonstrate how she played the tambourine. So fast and skillful!! Then, another three of them danced while this girls played the tambourine. Hwah...so nice!!

Well, the most memorable experience of this Day 3 was I guess the lesson that even though things seemed difficult and I was often unsure whether I could get through a difficult moment (i.e., this walk), God helped me a lot and He sent many nice people along the way. I also experienced the 'loudness' and family atmosphere of Spanish people =) I was not scared to say that I felt much at home when I stayed in EFA, even though it was only for one night.

Day 2 - Portomarin to Palas De Rei

We left around 6.30am and spent a little bit of time finding the restaurant where our guide has booked the breakfast. I was so happy to eat croissant (rather than the 'hard bread'). It was so dark and foggy (and cold!). The plan was to reach Palas De Rei by 2pm and did not stop at all for lunch.

Outside our breakfast place

Did you notice the fog? So pretty!

This time we were considered 'on time'm as in many pilgrims started walking around the same time. We kept going uphill (that's why no pictures at all, we were  quite tired). When we finally saw the view of other hills and mountain from the top, we were so relieved and the tiredness paid off.

The sun rose around 8am

I think what I like the most from the way of Santiago is the sky. Beautiful sky and clouds! I also loved the cloudless sky, yet not so hot weather because it is autumn (first day was an exception).

Beautiful sky1

We also passed old cemetery for the pilgrims. In the past, not all people made it to Santiago. Some (a lot?) died along the way. We didn't really see cemetery now, but it was written there that that land was an old cemetery.

Once we passed this view, we had snack =P

Anyway, we deviated from our original plan. We stopped for a snack around 2pm. After we had snack, we went through horrible uphill. (again, here you don't see many pictures). I started singing with two friends. We recalled lots of Disney songs and I asked them to sing Chinese songs. We arrived at Palas De Rei around 4.30pm (so late!!) with aching foot.

Welcome to Palas De Rei!

We had our real lunch at Palas De Rei,  rested for awhile, took shower, and settled our laundry. We dumped all our dirty clothes together in a washing machine. The second day Albergue was not as nice as the first day's. (I can't recall the name!!! :( ) We went for Mass nearby and managed to do our evening prayer there.

View from outside the church

I didn't join them for dinner because by 9pm I was sooo sleepy. We needed to wake up at 5am the next day and get ready for 30km walk. They said the third day is the most difficult day.

To be continued....

7 Quick Takes Friday - vol.45

- 1 - 

The story of my first day of walking from Sarria to Portomarin (the Way of Santiago) is up!! =)

- 2 -

I also shared some thoughts about skirt length here!

- 3 -

This week's challenge: to sleep early

- 4 -

We were talking about Guardian Angels yesterday during girls' club. A good reminder for me to ask my guardian angel's help more and to talk to my angel more ^^

- 5 -

It seems that university curriculum these days is dominated by producing 'ready-to-work-graduates' only. I think it's good to reflect again on the importance of training the undergraduates to seek the truth, to read, to write, and to think deeper.

- 6 -

Currently reading: The Scarlet Letter

- 7 -

Wah, this is quickest 7 Quick Takes ever. More quick takes at Jen's blog!!

Where to buy not-so-short skirt in Singapore?

It's been getting harder to get a skirt with a nice length (around knee-length or just right above the knees). My boyfriend sent me a link about skirt extender, but I'm not sure if it can be shipped to Singapore.

Anyway, I finally found a nice skirt that is not too short. I spent a little time window shopping early morning before the shops opened yesterday with my patient boyfriend (*cough*) and managed to identify some places that sell gorgeous skirts in Singapore:

1. JRunway (Plasa Singapura)

I found a knee-length fake leather flare skirts here ^^ So happy!!!

2. bYSI

I also saw some nice skirts at the Bugis Junction outlet here.

3. H&M

A bit difficult to get the correct size and length for dresses, but still possible (through hard work and repetitive trying).

The reason why I posted this was I really feel that it's not easy to find skirts that are not too short nowadays. Most 'normal' skirts nowadays are halfway your thigh (literally halfway) and more and more people dare to wear 1/4-thigh-skirts (mini skirts?). However, recently I noticed that midi-skirts are getting popular too (good sign!) and unsurprisingly, these girls that I saw just in MRT or shopping malls were also attractive. Even if people are short (like me; I'm 152cm-'tall'), we don't need halfway-thigh-skirt to look good!  It's also good to check if the cutting is okay (body shape matters!). I don't like to use the word 'mini-skirt' because many people still think that mini-skirt is not nice, but halfway-thigh-skirts are perceived as 'normal'. However, if we can wear skirts with a flattering length, why do we bother to waste money for something normal but not nice?

"Skirts should never ride high up the thigh when sitting. A just-above-the-knee length is the most flattering and can be adjusted to an acceptable length while sitting." 
(Mary Sheehan Warren, "It's so You!", page 77)

Anyway, after attending a few different talks or reading more sources on fashion and image, the message is the same: the focal point should be our face ^^ So if any of your friends are wondering and in 'dilemma' whether they should get a crop-top or not, whether they should go ahead with a halfway-thigh skirts or not, we should encourage them to say that they are pretty and they look better with clothes that direct people's eyes to their face rather than their belly button or their thighs. ^^

The walk - day 1 - Sarria to Portomarin

People did the walk of St James (the Way of Santiago) for various reasons. My friends and I did 'only' the minimum requirement to get the certificate. We walked for 100km from Sarria to Santiago for 5 days. Along the way, we met some people who walked for various reasons. Well, we didn't meet anyone who did the walk to lose weight like in the movie "The Way", but we met some other people who for some reasons felt that it's time to think more about their life and decided to walk this path.

Can you see how hot was the first day??

We delivered our second luggage (all necessities for Madrid & Rome trip) from Sarria to Santiago. It took a little bit more time so we only officially started walking around 10.30 am 'only' with our necessities for 5 days. We aimed not to stop for any lunch. However, around 2pm we were only halfway so our guide suspected that we would reach Portomarin (our first stop) quite late. We decided to have lunch and it was the best lunch during our 5-day-walk!

At the beginning of the walk, so excited to see an albergue called "Don Alvaro Albergue"

Romanic style of church

110 km away from Santiago. How to read this sign: we knew that on the first day, the distance was around 23km. Our end point (Portomarin) was at km89. It means we had 21km more to go when we saw this sign.

free view without skyscrapers, cool!

dying sunflowers. Better than nothing! We thought we couldn't find sunflowers because we only started our journey at Sarria

The first day walk was quite hot. We were enthusiastic in taking many photos (= walked slower) but the heat made me doubt whether I could continue walking even though it was only my second hour of walking. I was really happy when we decided to stop and have lunch. It was where I got my first stamp too.

Interior of the restaurant where we had our lunch. 10 Euro for first course + second course + water/wine + dessert. The portion was too big for one person so I shared with someone else.

Bird nest! I've never seen bird nest this close (oops!)

Hydrangea, everywhere at street side! (usually I only saw it sold at florist with an expensive price >.<)

 When we reached  the km 91.5, (it means around 4km before we reached Portomarin), we stopped just to get a stamp. It was drizzling already at that time. That suddenly the rain was getting heavier!!! I was with three other girls and we decided to wait there. The rest of the group arrived quite some time afterwards and they  were all drenched. We were singing a bit while waiting for the rain to get 'calmer' (--> back to drizzle again) and decided to walk after quite some time.

Welcome to Portomarin!! The village was moved from here to the current town because they built a dam that would flood the whole village

Ooops. Some more stairs to climb before reaching Albergue

The Church of San Juan at Portomarin. It was moved brick by brick from the village and marked (each person was paid according to the number of bricks they moved up)

We finally saw the bridge which indicated that we finally reached Portomarin, it was already around 7pm!!! Our guide said that we broke her record (as the slowest group so far; hahaha).
When we reached our hostel, it was better than we expected. It was clean and there were not too many people in a room like in the movie "The Way". We also spent time to dry our shoes by putting newspapers in our shoes and kept changing them until our shoes were a bit dry.

The Albergue where we stayed. Nice owner let us used the laundry free of charge!

Remember our luggage that we sent to Santiago? The van would pass our albergue too, so we had our last chance to dump more unnecessary things from our current 5-day-backpack. The result was a heavy black rubbish bag filled with all our stuff (from 10 of us). That's how much 'unnecessary things' we brought along with us on the first day. =P

More stories coming soon...