Life Update: [Up to] February 2019

"Can we do this every Monday?" - Ellie.

Hello friends, it's been a while. Here are some short (kind-of) paragraphs on the things I've been up to for the past 3 months (Dec - Feb). Let me give you a heads up: it's a post three months worth of memories.

A On the 27th of December 2018, my barbecue group gathered and... well, had a barbecue. It was usually just the 8 of us, but this year everyone got someone with them and there were like 14 people. We started off with some meat grilling (we decided to go with burgers and fries!), washed the salad leaves, and of course Oji made some dessert (this time it was chocolate mousse). We continued with watching Exorcist: The Beginning (2004), whilst eating the chocolate mousse and constantly drinking carbonated water. We finished around 12 am, not as late as it usually gets, but we were in content. Seeing them, especially the 7 other people who has always been in the room since 2015, is always something to look forward to. It's interesting to see how far we've grown.

B At the end of 2018, I went back to Jakarta and spent New Years with my family. There were the 13 of us in total, and we went glamping by the foot of Gunung Salak (Taman Nasional Gunung Halimun Salak). To be honest, the camp site itself was pretty decent, as well as their bathrooms. But the service provided wasn't all that good... Well, at least I was with my family who I think are basically one of the coolest families I know of. Anyway, on the morning of NYE, the 12 of us (my dad didn't join) went hiking to Kawah Ratu. It's a crater full of sulphur, but it was magical. When we got there, it was actually closed. But we rented a guide so we could continue the track. It was a 2,5 - 3 hour walk from the post, with some extra muddy tracks and clean rivers. It honestly felt like a never-ending walk because my cousins and I were faster than the parents (+ my grandpa!!) and we didn't have much food on us. Once we finally reached the crater, we explored it a bit and then just laid down, waiting for food to come. It was great when we explored the place and just took plenty of pictures here and there, since the crater was supposed to be closed. We walked down in the pouring rain, and head back to camp around 5 pm. We spent the night playing charades and having a campfire.

C By the end of 2018, I did my undergraduate thesis (skripsi) proposal exam. There were so many obstacles just in finding the date and time for me to be examined, but at last... I did it! By the beginning of January, I went to Nusa Lembongan to take my data samples, with the help of MMF SE-Asia. I went to MMF last year for my field work experience (I wrote about it in the MMF blog. Link here), and went back this year for my thesis! I am so grateful to be able to continue my thesis in MMF because everyone in MMF were so helpful and fun to be around with. I also met new people there, most of them in the SCUBA diving commercial industry. I learned a lot from their stories and experiences, and it makes me wonder when will I be able to dive throughout Indonesia like they're doing now... Anyway when in Lembongan, Ellie and Lisa managed to get April and I an introductory course to freediving as well! We were so excited but scared too. Four hours passed by, and it was super fun!! Cam is just an amazing instructor. He makes everything that's hard, super doable for an amateur freediver like me. Anyway, the microplastic samples are now with me, I brought them to Jakarta to be examined using an FTIR Spectroscopy. There are FTIR machines as well in Bali, but I decided to choose the one in Jakarta because I just really wanted to go home. Leaving Lembongan, I would like to thank Ellie, Lisa and Ipeh for letting April & I crash the MMF-SEAsia HQ, April for accompanying and helping me with my samples, Pak Tony & his crew for taking us circle Manta Bay several times in the crazy Penida swells, Rich for his microscope to take the microplastic pictures, Cam for making the time to teach April & I some basics to freediving, Mas Irwan for the quality talks during sunsets and dinner, Ibu & Bapak of Rajuna Homestay for letting us stay there, and basically everyone who have helped me while I was there. I will see you soon.

D A week after I got back from Nusa Lembongan, I decided to go to Jakarta to get some of my plastic samples for an FTIR Spectroscopy. FTIR Spectroscopy basically confirms the synthetic polymer of the plastic samples I have. In knowing the polymer, I get to determine whether the plastics around Nusa Penida are chemically harmful to the ocean creatures or not, based on its polymer composition. Apparently, the FTIR process only took, like a day, and I didn’t know what to do for the rest of the week. Of course, I had some tasks, including finding steel straw manufacturers, tumbler manufacturers, going to the dentist, editing videos, and going through the FTIR result - just in case something don’t match up. However, other than the things above, I really had no plans. And then I remembered, a realistic new year’s resolution that some random website suggested for - ehem, Scorpios - was to catch things up with a friend over coffee (or food) every week. Since I was pretty much free for the whole week, I thought, why not do it for the whole week?

☾ Trista : bestest cousins; basically sister from another womb; concert/dance-party soulmate.
It's not really that surprising that Trista and I are super close because we're born literally only 20 days apart, and shared a celebration of our first birthday, back in 1998. While I was in Jakarta, it was just after Valentine's Day, and Videostarr held a Valentine's party. Since Videostarr haven't make any events in Bali, I really wanted to go and so Trista accompanied me. We (+ Trista's friends) arrived at Monopoli Hotel around 11.00 pm and danced our hearts out until 2.00 am. The next day, we ordered Wings Stop #asusual.

☆ Wibi : junior high - senior high school super friend.
We talked for around 20 minutes, catching up with each other’s (and other people’s) lives after years of not having a proper conversation in person. We met in UI while I was doing my plastic samples. Seeing him again was really nice because out of all the people I list below him, he's the longest friend I've known... And he's probably seen the many phases of me, and how much (or how little) I've changed since 2009 more than I do haha.

☾ Saras & Deshinta : senior high friends; bbq friends who I meet every 6 months or so; people I genuinely look forward meeting with when I’m in Jakarta.
We had a 3 hours-ish long worth of stories and future plans (!!!) over coffee and green tea latte (guess who got green tea latte? me) at 7Speed Coffee, Kemang. Although we get to see each other every 6 months, we didn’t really had the chance to actually talk with each other during our last bbq.

☆ Oji : senior high friend; bbq friend who I meet every 6 months or so; super friend 4ever????.
Out of all my high school class mates, he’s probably one of the people I meet most of the time every time I’m in Jakarta. I’ll be honest, my time in Jakarta wouldn’t be complete if I didn’t make any time to catch up with him. We went to our school to pick up my brother and did some silaturahmi with the  students, teachers and staff we know. I spent another day with him as well, where we visited Ifa at her coffee shop, wait for her to finish class at her campus, and then we had dinner.

☾ Tasya & Andre : senior high friend; friends closest to where I live.
I called Tasya and asked if she wanted to join Oji & I for dinner, but she was still at a train station 40 minutes away from where we were. We called Andre instead and asked if he’s home. We eventually went to their house and had some incredible brainstorming over Tante Linda’s chicken rendang, tahu goreng and sayur sop. I spent another whole day with Tasya, going around Jakarta Kota and had el cheapo duck rice for lunch. We ended up going to Damar's food kiosk, tried his Smokey Burger, and eventually went home with him. I spent another day with Tasya and Andre on Thursday, where we accompanied Ifa in campus, and then had dinner.

☆ Damar : big guy I have been friends with since high school ; a generous person of giving everyone rides back home.
Damar is now married and has a baby and also have a burger kiosk. His burger kiosk is called Smokey Burger, and it is located at Perbanas Institute, in Kuningan, Jakarta. He graduated from Singapore in a some-what cooking school if I wasn't mistaken, therefore the taste of those smokey burgers are tasty, without a doubt.

☾ #AlumniAS : community of people who have participated in activities held by the US Embassy in Jakarta.
Ever since I joined the #YSEALIMDE, I was considered a a) YSEALI Alumni; and b) #AlumniAS. As I was scrolling through Facebook, I received an invitation of a Facebook Live watch party, watching Jenna Jambeck talk about plastics. Not-that-surprising, Jenna Jambeck mostly talked about the general information of plastics which I mostly already knew. What's interesting is though, we get to do a tour around the new embassy building! It's really beautiful, and the MyAmerica space facilities sounds inviting. I don’t really know the people of #AlumniAS, so I figured going to their events was a great way to network with new people.

☆ Ifa : senior high friend; super attached friend!!!!!.
Ifa and I were like super glued when we were in high school because we would almost always be with each other. I remember I got jealous of this girl who tried to take Ifa away from me. But Ifa eventually got back to being my best friend :) I went to the coffee shop she worked at, and we went through some life events for the past months over coffee. After wards, Oji and I accompanied Ifa to her campus. While she was in class, Tasya came along and joined the party. After wards, the four of us went to have dinner, with my parents, brother, and Andre joining in.

☾ Kevina : fellow Scorpio; fellow Elasmobranch enthusiasts; fellow Our Oceans Youth Leadership Summit 2018 ; fellow struggling marine science student (she's now graduated though).
On Friday, I planned to go to WWF's Diskusi Konservasi about sharks. Coincidentally, Kevina texted me and was going to the discussion as well. However, since the discussion was still at 3 pm, we decided to visit Haluu World, an art installation, at Plaza Indonesia. Meeting a fellow marine science student is really exciting, because you actually get to talk about things you actually know and care about. 

PS: The WWF discussion we got to see was very interesting because instead of only talking about conservation, social-economics, and sciences, we actually talk about culture as well, which was The Chinese culture of shark fin soup (and other "exotic" a.k.a. animal-cruelty food).

My 10 days in Jakarta really made me feel in content. It's good to be around people and places you're familiar with.

P.P.S: I challenged myself to wear the exact same jeans while I'm in Jakarta. #NailedIt.

Photos taken by a whole lot of people, sorry I can't name each and every one of you beautiful photographers.
Taken with iPhone cameras, pocket cameras & pocket cameras with underwater housing.
Edited on Afterlight and Adobe Photoshop, all handwriting and layouts by yours truly xx.