self love = happiness

“Dear Woman,
Sometimes you’ll just be too much woman.
Too smart,
Too beautiful,
Too strong.
Too much of something that makes a man feel like less of a man,
Which will make you feel like you have to be less of a woman.
The biggest mistake you can make
Is removing jewels from your crown
To make it easier for a man to carry.
When this happens, I need you to understand
You do not need a smaller crown—
You need a man with bigger hands.”
― Michael Reid

Buat yang cewek pernah denger gak “Jadi perempuan sekolah gausah tinggi-tinggi, kerja juga ga usah pinter-pinter amat!” hmmm well, i don’t know why but my heart hurt after hearing this hahaaha, maklum aja keinginan master sekedar wacana dari tahun ke tahun begitu juga dengan keinginan menikah (ya eyalah pasangan juga belom ada *rolled eyes)

Dulu banget temen saya pernah cerita kalau cowok yang lagi deketin dia menjauh dan usut punya usut nih ini cowo jiper hanya karena dia yang saat itu kerja bagian marketing di perusahaan asing which is karirnya lagi sangat menanjak dan dia sedang menjalankan studi master di salah satu univ swasta bergengsi di jakarta! belom lagi dengan kualitas keluarga yang dia punya yaah intinya dia memiliki kehidupan yang nyaris sempurna walaupun tidak sejalan dengan percintaannya. *upppsss sorry ya cui*

Dia pun meratap yang akhirnya kata-kata ajaib keluar dari mulutnya, “tau gitu gua gak mau kuliah tinggi-tinggi” ouch! si mbak kayanya patah hati banget

Long story short, kami pun masih jomblo sampai sekarang

the end………

Sori becandaan saya lagi sampah, oke lanjut

Ya, sesuai sama kalimat diatas saya masih percaya kalau kita (perempuan) juga harus selalu meningkatkan kualitas diri kita terutama dari segi pendidikan, because i do believe education can give second chance and better future to anyone dan tentu kita juga harus bisa mengamalkan ilmu yang kita dapat ke dalam sebuah karya nyata *keselek tahu jengglot*

Intinya saya selalu percaya bahwa jodoh yang datang sesuai dengan perkembangan kualitas diri kita. Lagian akan lebih keren kan kalau misalkan nanti anak kita di urus sama ibu yang sarjana, master, atau doktor dibandingkan dengan nanny atau mbak yang lulusan SD atau SMP?

Yang paling penting bagi saya adalah kita harus pastikan kebahagian diri sendiri dulu, percayalah karena kontrol kehidupan dan yang menentukan kita bahagia atau tidak ya ditangan sendiri, mulai sekarang buatlah list hal-hal yang ingin dilakukan ketika masih single, kalau yang ingin keliling eropa menabunglah and reward yourself atau yang ingin membeli game consule favorit *dadah2 sama nintendo 3ds*, mau nonton konser coldplay di melbourne juga ayok wong masih single ini *halo teman-teman yang lagi sing along sama chris martin*, mau ikut fansigning got7 2 bulan lagi buat yang demen brondong putih sipit lincah juga masih dipersilahkan.

girls, selalu jaga diri dan hatimu baik-baik, jangan berikan ke sembarang orang yang tidak pantas mendapatkannya.

Jadilah seseorang yang bisa membahagiakan diri sendiri karena kelak ketika menikah kebahagiaan itu akan jadi berlipa-lipat. Kalau kaya tulisan kanji di angpo pernikahan teman-teman saya yang tionghoa yang artinya “double happiness”

Urusan jodoh memang selalu tak terduga bisa terjadi kapan saja, bagi kita yang belum mendapatkan moment itu tetap bisa diusahakan dengan mempercantik diri kita luar dan dalam, make the world fall in love with the best version of you and then someone that meets your “standard” will come to you suddenly you feel like you’re just coming home from travel so far. *silahkan baper*

 

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Seoul Forest, Nov 2016

 

So single ladies you cannot go wrong, just wait for the bigger hand and bigger heart to hold the world with you.

You guys will take this journey walking hand in hand.

postcard from Seoul and things to do

I have mix feeling before i started to write this,  “is it for real?” “jeongmalyeo?!” yeah  one of my highlight of this year is my trip to South Korea, long story short i bought the flight ticket right after my 26th birthday on April 2016 and the trip is for our autumn trip on November. It was exactly last month, i’m thankful i could visit the mecca of KPOP.

So many things that open my eyes after the trip, we didn’t go to tourist place like Nami island and Namsan tower, we saved lot of time, energy, and money for another itiniarary . So what i’m gonna tell you on this post is based on what i had experience with my solo traveller instinct (thou i went with my sister and eventually met some random friends there). Forget those pocket guide book and lonely planet book because we didn’t use them for this trip. If you’re about going to Korea for the first time and you are looking for some non-mainstream experience here’s some tips for you about things to do in Seoul

1. Stay at the local guesthouse

Travel nowdays is really different than we used to know, we used to stay at the hotel for accomodation that will cost a lot. As a traveller with budget hostel could be the best option but you have to check about the review, location, and of course the price. this time i choose appletree’s guesthouse as my “house” for my stay in Korea, the house located in Mangwon area, actually is not far from the famous Hongdae area, not as artsy or lively as hongdae area, but if you want to close to local’s live, Mangwon is the best option! The house is typically korean-urban style house and we can use all the facilities inside the house, what’s even better is the bed was really comfortable and we stayed with the other 2 foreigner in the same room. when i first came to this house i felt like i came home from so far 🙂

2. Explore Local Parks

This is must things to do if you are visiting Seoul in autumn especially the parks where locals spend most of their afternoon walks. I recommend you to visit Olympic park at Jamsil and Seoul forest on the weekend.

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Olympic park Just so beautiful in autumn

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prepare your feet for some hiking, up hill for beautiful sight

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Children Scout at Seoul forest on the weekend

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I want boyfriend to sit with me here

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Some local said that if you don’t want to go to Nami Island, Seoul forest is one of beautiful park when it’s Autumn

 

3. Take some random or OOTD pictures at their photogenic Alleys

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Bukchon Village

Have i told you that Seoul has so many photogenic alleys that you can’t help to take your OOTD picture or just some random snapshot for your nostalgia album

 

Some of these streets i only see them on korean drama and they are as nice as in real life

 4. Explore local Market and try some authentic korean taste

i went to namdaemun market for souvenir shopping and trying some street foods, as a muslim i found some difficulty to find some foods which not contain pork, eventhough we didn’t eat any halal certified foods there but tried our best to find some local dishes and snacks that we can eat like kimbab and pajeon, but we really wanted to eat where locals like to try so we went to gwakjang market on the other night for dinner, oh well….it was like….porks were all over the place! *LOL* hahahah yeah what do i expect?! locals here loves pork..duh! but thankfully we found a stall that only sells food like kimbab, dakbal (chicken feet), and tteokbeoki.

5. Forget Starbucks, try to hangout at small Local Coffee shops 

Have you ever heard that Korea is famous with their coffee shops culture? besides starbucks there are many famous coffee shops brand like Angel-in-Us, Ediya Coffee, Tom & Tom, and Cafe Bene  that you will find everywhere in Seoul. There are also some thematic cafe like hello kitty cafe, pet cafe, lego cafe, line cafe, and i almost cannot mention all of them since there are so many of them!

but my hipster instinct end up choose some small coffee shops that i cannot remember what’s its name as long as i found them cute.

6. Going Home at 10 pm from gangnam station

Well yeah, for this one i think you should experience it by yourself, it was an unexpected experience that i found similiar like we have in Jakarta 🙂

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7. Visit your favorite kpop fandom shrines and show some support like buying their merchandise

Best Dunkin Donut ever!! and saw Jang wooyoung from one of my fav boy group 2pm!

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SUMmarket for my sister who is a die hard fans of EXO, i came here because of their cute merch design and makes me think about taking master degree for merchandise design *lol

6. Visit Seoul Youth Creative Space

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Zzamjigil at Insadong is perfect for you who wants to find some traditional touch and handmade stuff

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While Dongdaemun Design Plaza is for modern and contemporary designs

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Common Ground for Something More Hipster

7. Sit Back, Do Nothing, Daydream, and be productive at the Same time

It might not be suit for everyone when i travels i like to find somewhere to sitback and do nothing. That’s why i don’t like tour in group of people with tight schedule. Some of my friends is not agree with me for this, but as an introvert i can find some luxury and inspiration at moment like this, in Korea i choose Ehwa Women University area for my me time. dscf9456dscf9453

Beautiful right?

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and it’s no harm to do something you like there, like drawing a cute couple who were taking selfie around there. I can say it was my highlight of the trip, strolling around by yourself in the neighbourhood that you only saw in your dreams before is the best way to love yourself more, but don’t forget try to start a good conversation with some strangers near you. But, it doesn’t mean i don’t like travel with friends. I just need one day for myself.

P.S for girls who wants to go to Ehwa alone, please becareful. There are shopping area nearby please becareful with your wallet if not you will end up shopping. Good  quality and cheap bargain are all over the place.

8. If you meet eyes with a cute stranger walking alone..

Don’t forget to Smile! you might get his phone number for free it will be more lucky if you’re fluent in korean.

So that’s all my korean tips based on my absurd experience there. first of all Korea is really aesthaeticly beautiful! but not if you don’t have much money to shop those make-up with cute packagings or pastels outers in Hongdae area or some stationary at ARTBOX please make sure to save up first because you cannot say no for shopping

See ya!