Well, this post is about 'The Missing Part'. I'm going to recount it briefly. so this is the chronology..
Seconds from Departure
My brother, Andre has started a new life as a college boy in Melbourne, Australia. He left Indonesia on 66th Independence Day of Indonesia, 17 August 2011, just 4 days after his 18th birthday. Some close friends and I accompanied him in the seconds from departure. We sang, we laughed, we retraced our great moments. We also made a motivational message for him(My bad, I didn't photograph it ) It was such an emotional time.
Farewell Lunch
4 days before that, exactly on his birthday, we had a great farewell lunch in Bandar Jakarta(a 'new concept' seafood restaurant in Alam Sutera, Tangerang). The attendants were Fogging, Ben10, some of his relatives, and close friends. At that time, me, Stephen(his younger brother), Rere(his cousin), Chrisella(currently his girlfriend), Saras (the adventurer girl), Marcella & Ristia(two close friends from 10th grade. These girls cannot be seperated, always together), and Bella (Marcella's younger sister); we all raised money and bought one funny bunny doll from The Harvest as his birthday present and our representative in his college life in Ausie.
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| The Fogging |
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| Rere's giving a birthday cake to Andre |
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| The Bunny |
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| After buying the birthday present |
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| The attendants |
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| Andre, Maman(Andre's right), and Ben10 |
Darkest Hours
From September to December 2011 was my catastrophic downfall. This was the reason why I stopped blogging. My scores were bad. All of them declined dramatically which led to another trouble that made 'a chain of terror'. Everything broke down to the ground. From 14 subjects I studied, just 6 subjects(religion, Bahasa Indonesia, History, Art, IT and Communication, and Sport) that could save me from utter destruction. I was struggling my best like a horse. I went to the course right after school, I studied and reviewed everything I had studied at school right after I just arrived at home and in my whole weekends. But every time I received my score, it was helluva deterioration. I gained nothing. My morale was desultorily low. I was like topsy-turvy jarheads in the middle of japs' night ambush in Guadalcanal. Unfortunately, I wasn't 'Sergeant John Basilone '.
Then, I started to evaluate my past efforts. Why did I endeavor so hard? Was that really the best solution of the main problem I had? The only result i got was that I just studied hard, not smart. I was keep rushing without knowing the root of my problems. It's like cutting a wood with a spoon, keep the speed high, but never stop to rethink because what in my mind was "I can split a meatball with this stuff, it should be applicable to the wood!". How silly..x_x
However I thanked a lot to God because of the darkest hour, because this one important point evoked lots of following question from the simple ones like, 'what is my perspective about study? Is it correct or it isn't?', 'which is more important to be concerned, the process of achieving something or the achievement? Am I too obsessed with result?','What is my dream exactly?'; to the advance ones 'Is the curriculum of education in Indonesia efficacious to make students be able to discover their dream of life?'. Well, I think I will fully discuss about this thought and paradigm in another post, another day.
Bandung, 21 December 2011
This day was lovely! So, Andre had arrived in Indonesia for the first time after 4 months in Melbourne, and few days later we, 9 people, were having a trip to Bandung! Yey! Actually, we had planned about the destinations that we would like to visit like Museum and some historical yet artful places; but because of traffic and heavy rains, we shut down the plan ._.
So, first of all, we gathered in school in the morning. Then we started our journey to Bandung and arrived there at noon so we decided to have lunch, a very tasty and yummy pork rice :9(damn! I gotta find this kind of food for my dinner, later). Unfortunately, I don't remember the address, what I remember is that the stand was named Nasi Campur Panggang Pasirkaliki, located in front of mini market. After having lunch, the shits happened. Yeah, traffic and heavy rain. So we just went to Starbuck in Paris Van Java mall to wait for the end of the rain. We ordered coffees and having a usual chat. 30 minutes, 1 hour, 1.30 hour, finally the rain stopped. Then we left the coffee shop and went to Braga Street. This street was great! in fact, it's just a narrow street, but it has many beautiful vintage ornaments. Streetlights, tiles, some wall graffiti, plus the 'after rain' aroma(a blend of humid, wet, windy, and cool) made a very well atmosphere. We spent some times there to take some pictures, then drove off. The last destination we visited was The Valley. The valley is a bistro that located in the valley somewhere in Dago. It has a lovely scenery of Bandung city. We went there to have dinner (not a real dinner because the foods they sell were really expensive and we just ordered some cheap foods so that we would be permitted to enjoy the view and take some picture he.. he.. he..). I ordered
Crème brûlée. It's a rich custard base French dessert. Crème means cream, and Brûlée means burned. The top surface of Crème brûlée should be caramelized with blow torch so that it will produce a 'crack' sound when one begins to eat it with the spoon. Mine was exquisite! Very tasty, creamy texture, melted and chilled inside my mouth. Just one crucial mistake the kitchen made, the top wasn't burned. So I could say that I enjoyed consuming a very nice creamy dessert, but I wasn't consuming Crème brûlée. At the end, we went back to Tangerang, we arrived there at 00.30 a.m.. Such nice trip!:)
At school..
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| In the morning, at school. |
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On the road..
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| Journey to Bandung. |
Having lunch..
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| The yummy pork rice |
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| After having lunch |
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| The stand |
At Paris Van Java mall..
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| Stephanus |
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| Andre and Chrisella |
Evening at Braga street..
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| (Left-Right) Andre, Chrisella, Nick, JuBris, Stephanus, Saras, JeBhe, me, and Rachel Dewi (photographer) | |
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| JeBhe |
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| Chrisella and Stephanus |
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| Stephanus and JuBris |
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| The happy couple 'Andre & Chrisella' |
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| JeBhe |
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| Saras and JuBris |
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| Saras and I |
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| Nick |
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| JeBhe and Rachel Dewi |
At The Valley..
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| Stephanus and JuBris |
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| Saras |
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| I called him, 'Me'. |
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| JeBhe and Rachel Dewi |
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| Nick |
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| Andre and Chrisella. How sweet they are... |
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| At The Valley parking lot |
The video(made by Rachel Dewi)...
Liberation
A brand new year! I welcomed 2012 warmly and optimistically. I have learned so many valuable things in the previous year, and I came to this year with new hope, new dream, new objectives,new strategies, and new vigor. Past mistakes shouldn't be repeated, that was my pledge. I had to liberate my self from the shadow of my past and prove that 'Hey, I'm not that guy anymore. I'm not the old me. I'm new.". This point was my life revolution.
In the beginning of this year, many things have changed. I've finally found my dream that someday I want to be a great chef who has high competency and ability so that I enrolled to Sunway Le Cordon Bleu , I quit my English course(which also my TOEFL class) that I had been taking for about 10 years since I was 7 then I joint 3-month-IELTS preparation class, and I resigned every organization and
extracurricular that I joint (like scout and student council) so that I could totally concern to my great final exam of my 3rd year in high school that would be held in 16-19 April 2012. So from January to 19 April 2012, I was fully concentrating on it, doing my liberation.
Photo Shoot
On 10 March 2012, my class was having photo shoot handled by people from WHALE(the company that took care of my batch's yearbook) in an abandoned field behind Pelita Harapan University, Lippo Karawaci in order to fulfill yearbook requirement. The theme was Hippies. It's quite easy for the girls to find the dress, but really hard for the boys. Me, myself, had no idea what shit I wore hahaha.
Paradise
I can explicitly state that Bali will always be the best island to have a vacation or a trip for me. Not only the view, the culture, and the people from foreign countries that create the happy atmosphere for 24 hours; but also my delightful memories of love, friendship, relatives togetherness, and self-indulgence that make me sure about my last statement. I'm so proud and thankful that Bali is a part of Indonesia(Even Indonesia itself is less popular than Bali. Survey said that some outsiders that have ever been to Bali being asked 'Have you ever been to Indonesia?', they said 'no'.)
Me and about 90 twelve graders were having a holiday tour to this exotic island from 29 April to 4 May 2012 just one week after the great examination ended. For 6 days and 5 night we all merrily carved our last moments in high school. Everyday we were having a trip that scheduled by Putra Jasa travel agency from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m., after that we could freely go to enjoy the night life of Bali, then we had to return to hotel at 11 p.m.. A lot of things had been done in this exciting trip. We went to Uluwatu, Dreamland, Tanah Lot, Bedugul; had dinner at Jimbaran; boarded on Quick Silver cruise, etc. But the best part was definitely the 8-11 p.m. free time hahaha..
I promise myself I would never forget this incredible moment. The reasons were not the places I had visited or things I bought, but every single priceless second that I spent with 4 good friends: Nando, Citta, Fifi, Elfin. Every emotion we shared, every story we told, every stupid thing we did. I would never forget how Nando and Citta always fighting like Tom and Jerry, the unpredictable things that Elfin did because she was brokenhearted, the silly Harry Potter thunder tattoo Fifi had on her forehead, every Citta's mumble during the walk, the Nando's 'Aaaaahhhhh!!!' with his special accent, and every alcohol I tried for the first time (Pomegranate Margarita, Brandy, Singapore Sling, Dry Martini, Arak Bali, etc). Those all were the real souvenirs for me..:)
At the sad end, when everything was over and turned into history, when I came back to Pamulang, my lovely home. I turned my TV on. It was Starworld, and Coldplay was singing their song, Paradise. I didn't know what was the song about at the time, but I found a word that could finely describe all the happiness I got from the trip, it's 'Paradise'..
"This could be
Para-para-paradise
Para-para-paradise
This could be
Para-para-paradise
Oh oh oh oh oh oh-oh-oh"
For the complete story and another photos of this trip, I recommend you to visit Fifi's blog..:)
Bali (part 1)
Bali (part 2)
Bali (part 3)
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| Me (promoting my Twitter ^^) |
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| Nando |
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| Citta |
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| Elfin |
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| Fifi |
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| In Pulau Penyu |
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| Dinner at Bubba Gump |
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| Everybody pose! 1..2..3..*click*(somebody please kick me on the face!) |
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Miracles
I believe that Friday, 18 May 2012 wouldn't be forgotten by my batch, The 11th batch; because in the evening of the day, operetta that's entitled 'WICKED: THE UNTOLD STORY OF WITCHES OF OZ'(adapted from the broadway musical of the same title) was performed and it's LEGEN... wait for it...
Let me introduce this event first. Every year, students who are in the 3rd year of high school will have several projects to be conducted like making year book and organizing prom night. They will need a great amount of money to support their plans, and if they divided the sum of money they need into the number of twelve graders and asked them to collect, it would be a lot of money each student had to spent. Some of their parents wouldn't agree either. So the solution was to make a kind of Charity Night where all the twelve graders gather and prepare solemnly the last performance and the profits would be used to subsidize.
My batch's Charity Night was successful and ended with bunch compliments. It was magical. Every components, directors, actors, dancer, and crews, were working cooperatively beautiful. But beside the great magical story on stage, there were many miracles happened in the preparation time. Like JeBhe that acted as Madame Morrible, was sick and very unfit. She could faint any time at the time. The crew had prepared the emergency action(sudden black out, stage clear, MC in) if she suddenly lost consciousness during on stage. But She could make it till the end. What a miracle! Another one was happening to the set and design crews. So they were about to make a gigantic clock for the background. Because of the budget they had was very low(they only had Rp 5.000.000,-), they was going to make it by digital printing. At that time, I was just a cast with a simple part, so I asked to my friend, Cynthia Dewi(CynDew), who was the coordinator of set and design crews, if I could contribute set and design. Then after I knew the problem, I said to her "I know a guy that able to make the clock! He's a professional visual artist!". Then we contacted the guy, Mr. Jean Tjendana. He has been working as a freelance visual artist for about 40 years. After we talked and negotiated, the fixed prices were given. Rp 18.000.000,- for the 3D one, and Rp 9.000.000,- for the 2D. It was impossible that we could afford. We were puzzled in confusion. On that point, what in my idealistic mind was "No matter what, we have to purchase one of them. At least the cheap one. We could not go back to our past plan that is low in esthetic value. We have to find a way."; it contradicted with CynDew's pragmatic mind "We clearly couldn't purchase that. Let's forget that and back to our previous plan. We must be realistic and do our best from what we've got right?". Too bad, there was no way we could find to buy that expensive thing. So she started to find a person to digital print the clock, and I contacted the visual artist guy that we weren't going to use his service. But suddenly, the uncle of the director, Albertus Axel, sponsored the event by transferring much money just 2 weeks before the d-day and the committees agreed to use that for affording the 2D gigantic clock from the visual artist. Again, what a miracle!
Some casts...
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| Elfin as Elphaba |
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| Kefas as Fiyero |
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| Merilda as G(a)linda |
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| JeBhe as Madame Morrible |
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| Kevin 'Coi" Alfonsi as Doctor Dillamond |
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| Felicio Maega as Boq |
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| Rachel Pinasti as Nessarose |
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| Samuel 'Sammy' Loanka as The Wizzard of Oz |
Some scenes..
Some components..
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| The casts and equipment crews(at the back, black clothes) |
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| The choir |
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| The orchestra |
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| Set and design crews |
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Preparation..
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| The headquarter of set and design crews, equipment crews, and costume crews |
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| Costume crews working in HQ |
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| Orchestra and choirs rehearsing. |
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| Some casts and dancers practicing choreography. |
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| CynDew and Nicholas Yanuardi(Equipment crew) |
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| Sound and lighting section |
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| Equipment crews briefing |
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| 1.. |
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| 2... (hey this guy was me |^|) |
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| 3!!! Voila! The gigantic clock is set! (OK, not completely set :|) |
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'Great'duation Day and 'Fair'well Night
26 May 2012 was the Graduation day. I felt great on that day! Not because expecting something good that could possibly happen(actually the rundown was pretty boring and for about 5 hours we had to wear a very formal dress and sit nicely in a solemn situation ._.), but because of the blend of expression. I was glad because my (I called that) '12 years of basic education' (elementary, junior high, and senior high) would officially over, yet sad because each of my close friends had their own dream so we were gonna say 'bye-bye', yet anxious because I was going to start a new life soon, yet relieved because 3-year effort I spent in high school was paid, yet, yet, yet, the list of 'yet' goes on..
Some documentaries...
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| These guys are best! (L-R) Ben-ben, Nando, Nathan, Tony, and me |
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| This was Biology study group. Beside me: CynDew, Yolanda, Tony(the tutor). Front row: Kevin KP. Second row: Thomas Rikl |
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| Fifi was nominated as the best student of natural science programme. I had to take a picture with 'The Superstar'! |
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| Some friends said my style looked like Hitler. |
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| Let's see Hitler first... |
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| Were you kidding me?! |
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Aaaaand, there was Farewell Night on 8 June 2012, in the evening. This event would be the finale of my senior high school story. At first, I thought it would be very dramatic where lot of tears would close the night. In fact, not that great. I don't know, it's just my feeling or it was like that. Anyway, we all enjoyed the night. We had our last dinner. We told joke, we chilled, we danced, we hugged; for the last time together. That night was fair..:)
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| The MC of the night |
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| Our principal, Mrs. Etiwati giving her short speech. |
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| There were a lot of teachers attended |
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| Another teachers |
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| aaand another teachers... |
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| Queuing for dinner. |
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| Eleven graders' band |
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| There were a lot of nominations. Rosa and I were nominated as 'Ter-medok(javanese accent)' |
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| Me and Rosa |
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| Yustina Prawira and Kevin 'Coi' Alfonsi as Prom King and Queen. |
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| The end of the night |
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| Back row (L-R): Ben-ben, Hendri JS, Nando, Tony, Nathan. Front row: 'Nick' Yanuardi, Sofhian Pratama, me. | |
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New Chapter
I took off to Malaysia on Sunday, 8 July 2012, just a day before I started my new chapter in my life. Yeah, because I would officially be Sunway Le Cordon Bleu student! I was so happy that I couldn't be happier! Be a student of the best Culinary Institution in the world! This would be my first little baby step of my dream in culinary world. So in about 2 months I would be taking Brevet D'Assistant, the first part of
Diplôme de Cuisine. Learn what is this, what is that in a real restaurant-level kitchen and be taught by professional chefs. Cool!
However, my first 2 months in Malaysia was boring. The classes were very interesting actually, but they were only on Tuesday and Thursday, so I had nothing to do in the other days. And unfortunately, I wasn't permitted to cook in my condo. So I was just surfing on internet, watching series, chilling, eating, practicing my knife skills, watching series again, surfing on internet again; I was living in a circle of laziness. Thanks God, it's just 2 months and on 13 September 2012 would be the examination day, so I was about to have some vacation.
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| Sunway Le Cordon Bleu |
My batch, the 3rd batch. Let me introduce the guys(L-R)..
Kelvin: The chill one. He's never in rush but always serve the dish on time.
Sutono: The Muay Thai guy. Kelvin's best friend.
Rani: The eldest yet smallest. She's ever worked in restaurant.
Shirleen(I don't know how to write her name exactly:p): The youngest. Both her parents are Le Cordon Bleu alumni.
Kostas: A Greek dude. Always rushing in the kitchen.
Khimideaki: The experienced one. He takes care of 5 restaurants right now. Too bad, he couldn't continue the programme because the illness he had.
and me, my self..:)
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| Khim and our Chef Instructor, Monsieur Franck Bruwier |
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| Pellaprat. Our demo class. |
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| Apicius. Our practical class. |
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| My student card |
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| The tool kits of cuisine student. |
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| Clafoutis aux cerises - Cherry custard flan |
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| Magret de canard sauvage aux groseilles rouge - Duck breast with redcurrants |
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| Cailles grillées avec beurre de lime et de coriandre - Boned grilled quail with lime and coriander butter |
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| Boeuf Bourguignon - Beef Burgundy |
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| Certificate part 1 |
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| Bronze Le Cordon Bleu pin. |
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| Le Cordon Bleu polo shirt. I got this because my perfect attendance B) |
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Darn! I almost forget something! So before I went to Malaysia to study, Andre, Chrisella, and Saras bought me a Parker pen with my name on it. That's so precious, guys! :]
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| Thanks to Andre, Chrisella, and saras! |
Day Off
Awwwwwyyeeeeaaaaaahhhhh!!! Finally I got my vacation from 14 September 2012 - 7 October 2012. In this days off, I wanted to be in Indonesia, my beloved homeland, as long as I could; thus, I went back to Indonesia happily on 15 September 2012. But when I arrived in Indonesia, I realized that not much I could do because my friends there were not in holiday :|. Luckily, my bro, Andre was also in Indonesia for his 2-week holiday. So, this is the list of things I've done on my last vacation..
- I watched 3 movies. First and the
best was 'Premium Rush'. I liked the plot. Simple, creative and
enjoyable; eventhough the ending was cliche where the good wins and the bad
loses. Second was 'Penumpasan Pengkhianatan G 30 S PKI'. It's an old historical
and political movie that was made during the regime of Soeharto, to commemorate
the deaths of 6 generals and 1 officer, where Communist Party of Indonesia was
prejudiced as the doer. 'Scenario'-cally, this movie was very good, but
millions of people said that it's full of lies. Looks suspicious! The last and
also the least was 'The Bourne Legacy'. This movie was terrible! So much worse
than The Bourne Trilogy. The only part that deserves a thumb was the action.
- I cooked some dishes at home.
Banana souffle with orange chocolate mousse, Chicken En Cocotte Grandmere, Poached Pear with Orange Glaze(I made this one for my mom on 24th September 2012, her 52th birthday :)) , and Swiss Roll with Melba Mauce. I made basic beef Lasagna, chicken stock, and beef stock as well; but I didn't photograph :P
- I cooked also with Elfin and Fifi in Fifi's house. We were going to make Banana Souffle (just like I did before) and the result was... disaster :(. So when the souffle was raising about 1 cm, then it fell apart. After I went back and arrive at home, I talked to my mom about the disaster. She told me that, we used the wrong type of banana. The truth was, the banana we used was different with the banana that I used for making the previous souffle. And the characteristic of it, it will enlarge if we heat it. Hmmmmmm...--
- And, for the third time, I made souffle. But this time I was cooking in Andre's house with Stephen(Andre's younger brother), Rere (Andre's cousin), and Jason(our cousin). We succeeded! Too bad, we didn't document that time, at least Stephen photographed the souffle :).
- Oh! I also had a haircut! Actually, I decided to have haircut in Indonesia just because the price. I've had in Malaysia once in an Indian barbershop. It's good, in fact; but the cost was twice expensive than the salon near my house. The result? Not as good as the Indian barbershop one, but that's OK..
- Last, I'm reading a book called 'Soe Hok Gie: Catatan Seorang Demonstran'. It's great, super duper andromeda great! It's about the diary of idealistic inspirational young Indonesian demonstrator who died in Mount Semeru in 1969. The book contains a lot of his thought, ideas, philosophies, etc; about social and politic in Indonesia. This book was one of the reasons why I wanted to reactivate this blog again. Thanks to Soe Hok Gie..:)
At Present
On 7 October 2012, I went back to Malaysia to continue my study as Sunway Le Cordon Bleu student in second part of
Diplôme de Cuisine, Brevet De Cadet. Thanks God, now the schedule of my class is Monday-Wednesday-Friday, 3 times a week so that I wouldn't be so bored hahaha.
So, that's all what I did in 'The Missing Part'. Sorry for the long post...:D
wait, what?! I said this post would be brief? Really? *ups*
