But the thing is, in 2011, I only published 1 book that I write entirely, it was Easy Biz, a business book.

I said once, the only thing that can stop us being professional is personal problem. By personal problem means problems with your family and loved ones. And when I was having major personal problem, I can’t write at all for months.

When now, things are pretty ‘stable’, of course I need to write again. One whole tens of pages book, at least.

Problem is, I forgot the feeling of  ’marathon’ pace in writing books and I have to adapt all over again. Sometimes I feel like I’m blocked. People say it’s writer’s block. I simply call it: confusion.

I have this 50 pages something non-fiction script that is pretty much undone and need more revisions and writing to complete. My editor giving me a proper deadline for it. For days, I can only stare at the notes he made. I was overwhelmed. Then I try to loosen up. I treat the article I wrote for the book, as a simple blog post. I even write it in my blog’s new post section just to get the feeling. That way, because I don’t get overwhelmed by the size of my writing, I can calmly dig within myself, write with no burden. And I manage to write nice piece to add to my upcoming book.

On a long holiday last week, my parents ask me to go to the beach with them, I said no. I want to write. I intend to finish my book. Surprisingly, it only needs a day to do revisions and write more articles for the book. And one more day to get my friend to read and edit it, and me writing the new revision, then send it to my editor. Day 3, I can snack and watch dvds. The book is pretty much done very fast, when I focus.

For fiction, I should write a new novel but I have no idea what should I write. I tried to compose an outline but the plot is not that catchy. I continue searching for the inspiration.

Meanwhile, I keep writing whatever on my mind everyday on my Tumblr. It’s ‘uncensored’ and very personal. It’s my journal of reaction. And by writing regularly, I can keep my fingers unrusty. One day, I read an interesting article on other people’s blog  about old books, and my mind wander, in romantic dreamy way. What if… what ifs… and then I start writing the what ifs. And it’s become a lovely story outline. Now it’s time to write it and I think I’ll have no problem because it’s something that I love and passionate about.

Don’t forget to always open your eyes, heart, mind, soul… write when inspired, write to inspire.

Happy writing!

Jakarta Post also mention about me being a fashion designer. Yes, it’s been a long time dream, a childhood dream that finally find its way. I am so excited to announce that I’ll have my own fashion line called: Salsabeela ;)

I can’t give much details about Salsabeela yet, just follow us on twitter @salsabeelashop  and sign your email at our website http://salsabeelashop.com to get information when we’re ready to launch.

And like Selena Gomez says: who says you can’t be the best?

Last night we welcome Mark Wang, Executive Director of GEPI (Global Entrepreneurship Program Indonesia) to Jakarta. I like him a lot. His body language is very open, vibrant and energetic. He’s enthusiast and clearly passionate on what he’s doing. He’d listen carefully for everything I said and give positive feedbacks the whole time. This is how people should be. And I am very optimistic for GEPI to make a greater change with him onboard.

Phil said to me, “His English is very good.” – It’s clear to me that Mark’s an American. How come Phil didn’t know that. He’s American, he should’ve sense it :)) I finally asked Mark, and he said he’s from Canada but spend a long while in New York before doing  social entrepreneurship in Thailand.

“This is exactly why I joined GEPI. My passion is in social entrepreneurship, and what entrepreneur like you usually do, is to fix problems. And I want to involve in it.”

Good luck, Mark. We definitely have more to discuss about #StartupLokal community. Welcome to Jakarta!

I’ve been recommending Belitung as one of the best places to visit in Indonesia, a heaven for photographers. It has some of the best beach, scenery, pretty sunsets and it’s the home of Laskar Pelangi. Most Indonesian know Laskar Pelangi. It’s a mega best selling book by Andrea Hirata, telling stories about his childhood in Belitung. It was so inspiring because a little kid from small island in Indonesia could ended up studying in France, with the power of love from teacher and power of dreams.

Laskar Pelangi then brought into movie theater and create a huge success too. Since the movie, the local government paid more attention and brand the city as “Negeri Laskar Pelangi” or “Laskar Pelangi city”. They also mark places of Laskar Pelangi movie sites.

I am amazed, now Belitung has more tourists, more new hotels  like Bahamas, Grand Hatika & Billiton to complement the existing Lor In Tanjung Tinggi. A local book indeed can stimulate the economy. Now why don’t you start using your own city in your writing? Local government, please support your local writers too!

How to Get There

Ever since I post beautiful pics of Belitung, many friends asking how to get there. Here’s how:

• Best time to visit Belitung is in June or July; due to the wind, the wave will be friendlier and the water will have more beautiful colors
• From Jakarta find flight to Tanjung Pandan using Sriwijaya Air (cost around $100 return, Jakarta – Tanjung Pandan)
• Transportation you can get a car + driver. I don’t have any recommendation for this though. It will cost you around $60 per day.
• Hotel you can choose to stay near the Tanjung Tinggi beach, around 1 hour from Tanjung Pandan (Lor In from $100 per night) or in Tanjung Pandan (there’s various options like Bahamas Belitung, Grand Hatika, Billiton, etc from $70)
• The boat for islands hopping, a regular boat will cost around $40 – the main destination is Lengkuas island, famous with its lighthouse. Make sure you climb all the way to the 22 floor. It’s beautiful up there! From there you can request to go islands hopping to small islands nearby. If you’re lucky you can go to a sand islands where there’s only little space of white sand in the ocean. I don’t dive nor snorkel but you can also ask the best spots for that too.
  
  
  
• Unique features of the Belitung Beaches are the granite rocks. Make sure you took pics of them while on islands hopping
• Belitung is not only about beach but also has beautiful mountain side in Manggar, 2 hours from Tanjung Pandan. On your way there, you can stop and have a look at SD Muhammadiyah Gantong, the school of Laskar Pelangi.
• For food, you can ask to have Belitung’s Noodle (Mie Rebus Belitung), they have the best seafood too, and try their local coffee ($0.3 per glass)
• Belitung has their own traditional house that you can visit. You can wear the traditional costume of Belitung people too and take picture for your FB profile, like tante Kanti (our host in Belitung, she’s a ‘Harbor Master’ :D)

Thank you tante Kanti for your hospitality and VIP treatment we get while we’re there

As we walk to the plane that will fly us back to reality, I look back to the mountains near the airport and I feel the sun instantly greet me on the tip of my sun glasses. I’ll be back.

You have to communicate the goals of your enterprise and rally your employees around them, and the most effective way to that is still the spoken word. - @EricSchurenberg [click to tweet]

Last week I have lunch with @Sumartok , he’s the founder of @Presentonomics , a company that helps people with their presentation.

I see a lot of people have great ideas in their mind but they’re not able to communicate it in the best way. Maybe the way their presentation look (too much bullets and information in 1 slide) or maybe the way they speak and present themselves. And I really afraid that I could be one of them.

So I asked Sumartok what’s the most important tips for presenting our ideas. And here are some of his answers (it’s tweetable tips so you can click to tweet any tips you like):

1. Understand your audience first before you create your presentation [click to tweet]
2. Put sample of your audience’s daily life in your presentation [click to tweet]
3. Keep the presentation simple. Picture speaks thousand words [click to tweet]
4. There are 2 styles in presenting: with story or logic/facts. Choose the right style [click to tweet]
5. Open your presentation with quotes/story/statistics [click to tweet]
6. Presentation goals: answer what people need & know what’s most important of it [click to tweet]
7. Don’t be over-present. Choose your angle/perspective [click to tweet]
8. Ideally for 15 mins presentation, you’ll need 20 slides [click to tweet]
9. Create pause moments in your presentation [click to tweet]
10. For 1 hour presentation, allocate time to share your stage with audiences [click to tweet]
11. Structure of a presentation: start with problems & end with solutions [click to tweet]

I also asked him about how to present in front of foreign audiences. He suggest the content should bring local insights, take from unique angle, learn local habits in the place you do the presentation and you can compare with your own country’s situation.

We’re also updating each other’s latest news. He’s growing from a ‘regular’ employee working for companies to entrepreneur with several businesses at once. All because his ability to communicate his ideas (to people/boss/investors) thru presentations. You can check more presentation tips from Presentonomics here:

Thank you Sumartok & Presentonomics. All the best for your new venture!

Hope you all enjoy the new look of my blog and happy new year 2012!

2011 is a wild year. One of the best years in my 28 years of life. Although I’m not fully achieving my 2011 goals, but I’m not disappointed, as I have achieved something else that could be equally or more useful.

I don’t do very well with writing. I only managed to finished 1 full book this year, it’s a motivational business book called Easy Biz published by Gagas Media. And I’m happy to hear the reviews and how the book impact readers life.

I did wrote several anthology with friends, either self published in NulisBuku.com or in major publishing like Gramedia Pustaka Utama (GPU). Cerita Sahabat is my first book in Gramedia, the first time partnering with a great writer Alberthiene Endah and other writers, so I’m very happy. But overall, I’m not too happy with the lack of productivity in writing a whole book this year. I wish I can pay it off in 2012.

@NulisBuku  has grow in a form that we didn’t expect before. The writers community bonding in Nulis Buku Club (NBC) all over Indonesia has been incredibly productive publishing their collaboration books in NulisBuku. We have created success stories about  dreamers who can successfully realizing their dream to become writer of major publishers. We’re excited with what NulisBuku has achieved!

#StartupLokal going to the next step with partnering for Project Eden, incubator that’d help startups to incubate their ideas and successfully launched their products. We’re gonna have office warming soon This year #StartupLokal also welcome our associates: @IlmanAkbar , Joshua Kevin @oleeoebi  & Kreshna Bayu @bayu99 to work together with initiators (me, @nataliardianto & @nuniek) to execute #StartupLokal vision & plans.

My concern in women & technology has it’s own home at Girls in Tech Indonesia @GirlsintechID  meetup that I organize with @anantya – #StartupLokal also create meetup special for Female Founder inviting Shaherose Charania from @women2  to speak via Skype and share her  view. Our partnership with @women2 lead me to become the contributor of http://women2.org and from there, one of my articles got posted at Forbes.com

I must mention that being a chairwoman of ON|OFF 2011, a blogger & social media festival that gathers 1000 participants, has push my limit. It’s really a challenge in each and every way. But it’s totally a rewarding experience, going to 10 cities to promote social media use for community, and promoting online and offline collaboration opportunity at the big event itself in Jakarta. I’m totally a better person after this experience :))

Media has been profiling me generously this year. Infokomputer even put me as one of 10 beautiful women in Indonesia IT world :p To be able to read my profile or things that I do in amazing media like Kompas, Detik, Kartini, FIMELA.com, CHIC, Marketing, Jakarta Post, Jakarta Globe and many more really make me happy & make my parents proud

Wordisme is a powerful writing workshop that I do partnering with mbak @AlberthieneE . From what I read, 300 new writers are inspired and it’s really a beginning of something bigger.

@TempaLabs  game Desa Farm on Blaast platform has brought us to win 1st prize of Blaast competition and we won Europe Geeky Trip Desa Farm on Mig33 has brought us to a new record, around 100,000 users registered in less than 24 hours. We’re excited to develop more games, hopefully iOS would be next after our feature phone kicks this year.

My decision to tweet and blog in English to bring a window for the world to Indonesia has got wonderful results. I’ve been in touch with several Muslims friends around the world from twitter and even get my profile put in one of US Muslimah blogs as an effort to be a better PR for Islam. So friends all over the world can see that we’re pretty much ‘normal’ people and you shouldn’t be afraid of Muslims.

Traveling’s been crazy this year. Going to new places & doing things I never imagine before. From visiting startup incubators in Dublin, going to the Great Wall in Beijing, touch my first snow in Seoul, my first visit to Makkah to perform Umrah to have lunch with the Prime Minister in Kuala Lumpur.

For several things that failed to execute mostly because suddenly I have some new priorities and can’t find time for to do it. And because my supposed to be partners, also have other priorities in their life. So, yes, some of my plans failed in 2011.

2012

A journalist ask my plan for 2012 and I said: it’s gonna be all about writing. My friend Chandra thought that I’m going to relax in 2012. Well, I thought so too :))

But truth is, there are more plans in my head and hands right now.

My first priority is to finish writing 2 books, one non-fiction, other is a novel, that already have its deadline from my editors in February 2012 O_0

I will have to write 1 philosophical semi-autobiography novel & 1 biography book of a person that inspire me, next year. It’s been a pending resolution.

I’m gonna partner with the famous @AlberthieneE  doing something in writing industry. And it’s going to be exciting.

With Hanny @beradadisini  – we’ve been discussing about making some sort of regional size of readers and writers festival in Jakarta.

After featured several time in FIMELA.com in their fashion section, and of course months of cultivating my passion in Fashion, now I’m gonna realizing one of my dreams in fashion industry. Stay tuned!

From several meetings lately, I hope I can realize several business potential with friends from traveling to education related.

The urge to promote starting up energy to youth & women more. Surely @startuplokal  & @projecteden  will accommodate my plans.

This is also the year of traveling. I’d like to visit Turkey, a lot of signs already told me to go there. Also Paris, Insha Allah, I’d make my dream come true, sit and drink coffee while looking at Eiffel Tower. One bonus, if I can make it then it’s amazing, back to Makkah to  perform Umrah or Hajj or going to Edinburgh International book festival. Ameen Insha Allah.

Personal goal next year would be making my parents happy. Of course, they know what’s that mean :))

Share your 2012 resolutions, let me read it! Have a great year ahead!

Because it’s not so good to enjoy spa alone, I drag 2 of my best girls, Em & B to go with me :)) We decided to stay one night in Jogja and then go to MesaStila, previously known as Losari Coffee Plantation, wellness facilities located in Magelang, 2 hours from Yogyakarta (Jogja), Central Java, Indonesia.

Jogja is only 1 hour flight from Jakarta, so before I can really enjoy my AirAsia seat, it already need to land. We stayed at AllSeasons hotel, a new hotel in Dangen area near Malioboro, and we love it so much. With rented car, like a spoiled tourist, we go to places from Keraton Jogjakarta (Palace), shopping batik at Malioboro, taking pictures in Borobudur temple to watch Ramayana dance performance.

Jogja has been known as a cultural city and popular to the youth as the place to continue study, because there are a lot of universities in Jogja. Thus the ambience is different with Jakarta. It’s more artsy, laid back, and creative.

We enjoyed our time in Jogja, but of course, we’re excited for MesaStila.

Our first experience with MesaStila was when they come picked us up at our hotel in Jogja. There are complete snacks, fruits, face mists, mineral water on every corner of the car and iPad2 for our entertainment during 2 hours journey. We spent the whole hours sleeping and when we woke up, we already reached MesaStila.

The front office was a historical Colonial-era railway station from the 1860. Ticket to  ’MesaStila Express’ is given to welcome us.

When the first time I see the scenery in the part of 22 hectares area, it lifts my mood instantly watching all the intense green, misty sky and faint image of the mountains.

The Club house, not far from the front office was the 1828 house of a Dutch who own the coffee plantation. It’s fully restored and furnished with a collection of Javanese antique furniture and paintings. They even have library so we can read books, grand piano to play with in the afternoon, and a lot of exotic chill out place to enjoy our snacks while watching the mountain in the afternoon.

We must walk thru wet stones path to reach our Villa. It’s like a little house in the forest. It’s very spacious, have a deep traditional Javanese style (Each villa has been reconstructed from an original Javanese antique wooden house and decorated with original antiques collected from across the island) but also very conviniently modern, and I literally scream when I see our bathroom that made B jump & running to my direction. Our bathroom is very big, it has a spacious bathtub overlooking the forest outside. We can imagine ourselves reading books while sipping our orange juice inside the bathtub

For me the most important aspect for a spa is the massage. The phone ring to remind us for our 3pm massage appointment. We run with our umbrella, beating the drizzle to reach spa house near the pool. We picked rose-infused massage, a massage with no oil (dry body massage) with the Tuina technique plus scalp treatment using traditional Chinese techniques. It feels so good, one of the best, and I. Want. More!!

After massage, we drag our relaxing self to Turkish Hammam, intense style of sauna :)) We tried to be inside the Hammam as long as we could and soak our body in a cold water pool. We feel so fresh and hungry afterwards!

The selection of menu, as expected was all healthy food. But all without losing its amazing taste. We enjoy our eating experience so much. Maybe because we’re always hungry :))

That night, we were sleeping like a baby. I woke up at my usual early hour, and B would mumble something like, “Ollie, get back to sleep!” from inside her blanket. But I prefer to go outside and sit in our spacious veranda, looking at the magnificent nature’s painting of the coffee plantation and nearby mountains, that looks as if it’s put to fit my eyesight.

Our morning Yoga is unexpectedly heavier than we thought. But it feels good to be able to stretch our stiff body. But soon after yoga, we feel like we need another session of massage :))

Our butler Suharman guide us to get to know more about the coffee plantation area. Inga & Yohan from Belgium also joining us (I saw Singaporean & Japanese group too during my stay). He introduces us the differences of 4 varieties of coffee planted in MesaStila: Robusta, Arabica, Excelsa & Javanese coffee. They also plant their own vegetables & mushroom. We’re stop to see how the coffee is processed and also enjoying the original coffee made from their own field.

When he explained about how the coffee trees have been grafted and grown from the original Robusta-Arabica plants nearly two hundred years ago, I spontaneously said the him, “Is that possible?” And the answer stunned me, “Of course it’s possible, it’s the same kind, Robusta & Arabica is coffee, they can mix together. Same like human, you can marry a foreigner, it’s no problem. We’re from the same kind.” *jaw dropped*

Em & B let out giggles as I still not yet recovered from his ‘tweetable quote’ remarks. My friends know what’s on my mind, and I can’t understand, why a person I just met in 11 hectares of coffee plantation thousands miles from Jakarta, can talk to me like a messenger, about mix marriage.

It’s sad leaving MesaStila, I still haven’t explored more activities and facilities. But it’s time to go. Like our butler said on his another ‘tweetable quote’ remarks,

“Life is like the path on coffee plantation, it has ups & downs & turns. That’s just the way it is.”

Checkout amazing pics of MesaStila from these websites

http://sassymamahk.com/losari-spa-retreat-coffee-plantation-yogyakarta-indonesia/

http://www.collektionhotels.com/2011/12/mesastila-true-exhilarating-back-to.html

Dalam sekitar 6 jam perjalanan dengan Korean Air, saya menikmati istirahat saya setelah selesai menggelar event ON|OFF 2011 2 hari sebelumnya, sambil sesekali bergosip dengan Miss Jinjing (iya! Saya pergi sama si tukang belanja, Miss Jinjing :D). Kami membicarakan pramugari-pramugari Korean Air yang cantiknya luar biasa dengan kulit wajah yang sempurna, selicin porselen. Kata Miss Jinjing, “Minder deh kita di Korea ntar.” Emang bener banget :))

City View

Bis rombongan kami bergerak ke Seoul yang berjarak sekitar 1 jam dari Incheon. Incheon adalah kota industri (yang banyak pabrik) tempat airport-nya berada. Mungkin seperti Sidoarjo dan Surabaya

Begitu sampai di Seoul, kesan pertama saya adalah kotanya mix antara modern dan tradisional, tidak terlalu ramai, tidak juga terlalu sepi. Konturnya berbukit, gang-gang dengan jalan menanjak dan rumah berundak juga banyak terlihat. Mengingatkan saya akan sudut kota Semarang atas.

Untuk menikmati pemandangan kota Seoul, kami diajak naik cable car menuju Seoul Tower. Pemandangan dari cable car saja sudah spektakuler, apalagi saat kami berjalan menuju Seoul Tower. Di kanan dan kiri, banyak pohon-pohon kering meranggas karena dimakan musim,  menambah kesan romantis tempat itu. Tanpa sengaja mergokin pasangan Korea yang lagi pacaran. Oh so sweet. Bener-bener kayak di film Korea! <3

Seoul Tower menawarkan pemandangan 360 derajat kota Seoul (eh bener nggak tuh). Jadi bisa komplit ngeliat indahnya Kota Seoul. Kebayang deh kalo malam pasti lebih bagus lagi. Jadi miris kalo inget ‘tower’ kita nan imut -> Monas <- yang sama sekali nggak ada update-nya sejak jaman dulu kala -_- Padahal Korea Selatan baru kelar ribet berperang dengan Korea Utara sekitar tahun 1953, tapi kemajuannya sudah pesat banget kalau dibandingin sama kita *uhuk*

Culture & Religious Belief

Kami diajak ke Changdeokgung (palace) atau Istana Changdeok. Arsitektur-nya mirip istana di Cina, dengan beberapa detail bangunan yang membawa filosofi-nya masing-masing. Kemudian yang khas, halamannya nggak berumput sama sekali tapi menggunakan pasir.

Ciri bangunan Korea makin banyak terlihat pas kita main ke set-nya Yonginsi MBC Dramia, open set seluas hampir 30 ribu m2 untuk drama Korea yang ceritanya diangkat dari sejarah. Lokasi set ini di daerah pegunungan yang indah banget. Tentu saja kesempatan baik ini kita gunakan untuk foto-foto :P

Di dalam bis, Suki, tour guide kami menceritakan tentang Golden Miss. Istilah Golden Miss ini muncul di generasi muda Korea sebagai istilah untuk wanita-wanita sukses yang memilih untuk tetap single. Jumlah Golden Miss ini semakin banyak di kota besar di Korea. Di generasi sebelumnya, peran wanita masih tradisional dan mirip-mirip kita di Indonesia. Sesukses apapun wanita, tetep dianggap nggak lengkap kalo belum bisa ngasih  anak laki-laki. Sounds too familiar :p

Penduduk Korea kebanyakan menganut agama Buddha terutama aliran Zen. Maka tempat ibadah mereka kebanyakan berada di dalam hutan terpencil, agar bisa lebih khusyu’ dalam beribadah. Jalan menuju Woljeongsa Temple pemandangannya luar biasa menakjubkan. Kita harus melewati jembatan dengan sungai yang airnya sudah beku, dan pohon-pohon dengan salju yang menyelimuti rantingnya. Mirip sama pemandangan di serial Winter Sonata. Romantis manis :’)

Ski & Salju

I think this is the highlight of the Winter trip. Saya tidak pernah terbayang sebelumnya akan melihat salju, apalagi main ski! Sumpah! Karena kebayangnya, Salju itu adanya cuma di negara-negara barat, yang kesananya mahal, dan mungkin kalau pun saya ke sana nggak pas lagi musim salju. Alhamdulillah banget, ternyata di Asia juga ada salju hehe :p Baru tau and ngerasain sendiri kalo salju itu ternyata kayak es serut *norak*

Anyway… Alpensia Resorts di PyeongChang yang berjarak 3 jam dari Seoul ini adalah sebuah kawasan peristirahatan dan wisata terutama untuk ski. Kabarnya, PyeongChang bakal jadi tuan rumah Olimpiade musim dingin 2018. Hotel-hotel dan bangunan di PyeongChang ini tampilannya bergaya Eropa, jadi berasa di Alpen-nya Asia

We stayed at Holiday-Inn dan pemandangan kamar saya langsung mengarah ke arena bermain Ski. Indah banget dan rasanya nggak sabar untuk ikutan bermain!

Tapi, ternyata main ski nggak semudah itu haha. Bahkan setelah setelah pake baju khusus dan sepatu ski serta diajarin main ski sambil menggigil kedinginan selama 1 jam, tetep aja begitu meluncur, sama sekali nggak bisa ngerem padahal udah diajarin teknik ngerem yang bener :p Akhirnya, tentu saja yang ada malah jatuh terguling-guling ke bawah dengan sukses. Masalahnya, begitu jatuh, maka untuk bisa bangun itu PR berat. Suki yang senantiasa membantu saya bangun sampe bertanya dengan khawatir, “You fell a lot of times… are you okay??” Haha sakitnya nggak seberapa sih -_-

Spa

Satu lagi daerah tujuan wisata ski yang kita kunjungi namanya Konjiam Resort. Di situ ada fasilitas untuk spa juga. Sayangnya karena spa-nya berbentuk kolam pemandian yang nyampur antara laki-laki dan perempuan, akhirnya saya nggak bisa ikutan. Katanya Miss Jinjing, pemandangan dari atas (kolam serupa onsen dengan view pegunungan) luar biasa keren dan spa-nya juga asyik. Maybe next time deh!

Konjiam Resort ini hotel punya-nya LG. Besar dan bagus. Saya perhatikan masyarakat Korea sangat fanatik dengan teknologi buatan dalam negeri. Mereka pengguna setia produk-produk LG, Samsung, Hyundai dan produk dalam negeri lainnya. Patut dicontoh nih!

Korean Food

Makanan Korea rata-rata eksotis, karena percampuran beberapa elemen warna dari sayuran (ada filosofinya), dan merupakan pengalaman baru bagi saya. Saya akrab dengan makanan Jepang, tapi tidak begitu paham makanan Korea.

Kami diperkenalkan pada Kimchi, makanan side-dish yang selalu ada di setiap menu orang Korea. Mungkin kalo kita, Kimchi itu seperti sambal. Kimchi itu dari daun sawi yang diolesi dengan bumbu Kimchi kemudian disimpan atau difermentasi selama minimal seminggu. Semakin lama disimpan, semakin baik dan semakin mahal. Kami juga diajari cara membuat Kimchi, melumuri sawi dengan saus Kimchi… seru sekali! Apalagi instruktur Kimchi-nya lucuk… namanya mas Jae Min ^_^

Perpaduan sayuran dari berbagai jenis dengan nasi dan saus itu namanya Bibimbap. Pantesan ya orang Korea kulitnya bagus-bagus banget, ternyata makanannya semua sehat bebas gorengan

Satu lagi yang sifatnya daging adalah Bulgogi. Kita makan beef yang dimasak sendiri dengan campuran berbagai sayur dan jamur di sebuah restoran yang namanya Bulgogi Brothers. Enak!

Makanan di Korea juga disajikan a la Padang dan dimakan selalu sharing karena konsepnya mereka kalau makan itu harus barengan. Nice!

Shopping

Jalan-jalan ke luar negeri nggak bakal lengkap kalo nggak shopping :p

Insadong Market. Isinya banyak barang antik, seni, oleh-oleh, aksesoris, dan fashion. Di sini saya membeli boot baru yang cakep dan sukses disirikin sama Miss Jinjing sampe akhir perjalanan :))

Doota Mall. Tempat-nya barang-barang fashion. Seperti Mangga dua kali ya kalo di sini. Kalo sempet, main aja ke Mall kecil di sebelah Doota. Banyak barang-barang oleh-oleh lucu juga dan I get my new Korean glasses too di sini

MyungDong Market. Di sini yang paling wajib dicari adalah makeup! Cewek-cewek Korea itu sangat merawat diri sekali dan yang namanya merk makeup Korea banyak banget, lucu-lucu dan murah! Yang nyari BB cream bisa langsung melipir ke Missha. Ada juga Etude House yang lucu banget, FaceShop, Skin Food hingga merk-merk yang nggak masuk Indonesia, lengkap berjejer di Myung Dong. Lucunya, brand ambassador merk kosmetik ini rata-rata cowok

Korea Grand Sale jadwalnya 9 January – 29 February 2012 tuh. Ayo dijadwalin ke Korea ^_^

Skin & Beauty

Penasaran juga kan sama perawatan kulit orang Korea? Selain karena genetic, tentu karena mereka sangat sadar kulit. Kita sempat singgah ke Skin Anniversary dan facial di situ. Enak banget! They have a different method in facial dan itu beneran enak banget. You should try!

Let it snow…

Saat mulai hujan salju, kami semua yang sedang sarapan langsung loncat-loncat girang dan berhamburan keluar. Salju yang perlahan turun, ranting-ranting kering yang dramatis, semua sempurna! Tinggal ditambah sosok Hyun Bin berdiri dengan sweater biru muda menanti dengan mawar di tangan kanan pasti akan lebih oke lagi! *dijitak massal*

I’m grateful for my friends on the journey, especially Miss Jinjing, Chandra, Intan, Munti & Isti, hope to keep in touch. I had some of the best laughs with you guys involving chopsticks & tos :))

Thank you KTO for the amazing winter trip. I hope to come back soon, I’ve left a piece of my heart in Korea. Kamsahamnida!

We do our first media conference in July 2011 to kick off the event. I felt like a student learning for an exam when I get all the media documents from Nia. I’ve been connecting with medias, but mostly to talk about myself. This time it’s different. I become ‘the face’ of ON|OFF 2011 also represent our sponsors: Acer Indonesia & US Embassy. New experience for me.

Soon after, we started our ON|OFF Chat journey to 10 cities all over Indonesia supported by the US Embassy Jakarta. The first city is Solo, with theme: Education. We change the whole concept of blog workshop into a seminar and brainstorming session. I love the outcome, I think it’s a success to encourage more people to use blog and social media to the next level.

Introducing new name to change the powerful name of Pesta Blogger is not easy. But the vision behind ON|OFF 2011 is big and I want to fight for it as much as I could. ON|OFF or Online Offline in my opinion has 2 meaning. First, using online tools to make offline impacts. And second, to be a bridge for online and offline community to meet and collaborate making a completely new stuff that could reach bigger audience.

I need to show you again the statistics. Almost 40 million Indonesian are on Facebook. 15% tweets all over the world, coming from Indonesia. There are more than 5 million blogs in Indonesia according to SalingSilang. The world admire the strength of our online community. Imagine if you use online tools to strengthen offline aspects of your life. You’re too must be proud of our achievements and use this opportunity to UNITE and spread the light.

December 3rd, 2011. When I stand at ON|OFF 2011 with Pak Ted, Don Q from US Embassy, Ibu Helmy from Acer Indonesia, Pak Anies Baswedan & My advisors, when I hear Renata sing our National Anthem, Indonesia Raya, I was touched. This is it! This is the moment. Finally after months, a lot of energy, heart & mind poured into ON|OFF 2011 preparation, this is IT! Ndoro Kakung held my hand, it was cold. But, I’ve been calm enough. ON|OFF 2011 has taught me a lot, including public speaking.

An event usually cater the chair’s visions. I’ve been blogging since 2003 and you can read how I grow from there in #BerkatNgeblog – and I want more people experience the same, by connecting them in ON|OFF 2011. You can see also other spark of my passions here and there in ON|OFF 2011. From startups, books to fashion. Ideas meet opportunities concept also can be seen in the BreakOut session where we try to have 2 speakers, from the idea side and opportunity side.

I thank EVERYONE, great people who’ve been participating in ON|OFF 2011. Hope your ideas, meet the opportunities. Special thanks to my SEA blogger friends coming all over SouthEast Asian countries. I truly enjoy my short time with you guys. Hope we can learn from each other’s experience!

I wanna thank my advisors: Ong, Mas Iman, Enda, NdoroKakung, Natali for their  tremendous support.

I wanna thank my team at Maverick: Nia @nsadjarwo  one of the best people I’ve been working with so far – very detail, neat, dedicated, beautiful (eh) and all, Hanny @beradadisini  amazing mind, Nena, Atri, Dewi, NonaDita, Fany, Ignes, Dita; My assistants :)) Vika, Diana, Lita, Gery; My new friends from the US Embassy, Phil, Corina, Dian; my friends at Acer, Ibu Helmy, Astrid and everyone that I can’t mention one by one. Thank you for making this a fun journey.

I love what I’m doing, hope it shows. And hope we can make the event better and better each time.

I’ll see you all next year!

Check complete photos of ON|OFF 2011 Empowered by Acer in my Flickr

Neil Gaimain said, “Writers may be solitary but they also tend to flock together: they like being solitary together.“

This is true and explain everything I felt in the past years. I always been the most quiet person when there’s many people around. I love their presence but I don’t feel like interacting with them (my original personality is this). So, that’s the ‘solitary together’ feeling.

When we first started Nulis Buku Club in January 2010, we thought why there’s no writing club around? Maybe it’s because writers just want to write and be alone most of the time. I got a friend, I think she already published 100++ children books & novels. But never once, she can have the time to go out and meet me somewhere. She just want to write.

I completely understand that writers find it easier to say something with words than speaking it. But to be able to share, especially with new writers, on how you’re doing what you’re doing, really would mean something for the community. The more people inspired to write, the more brilliant thoughts unleashed and spread to the world.

With that passion to share in mind, me and friends of NulisBuku.com celebrate our birthday on 11.11.11 with books launching & talkshow. Normal, every day people, can be a writer and can have a chance to have a cool book launch event too! I know the feeling when you’re on stage and watched by 150 people for the first time. That’ll be one of the best moments of your life.

For this 11.11.11 event too, I wrote 2 pieces of my mind in 2 different kind of books. I told people that these are books that you won’t find me write it before. One is a spiritual book called ’1111′ talk about my spiritual experience with the number 1111 and another is a gloomy, dark, inspired by true story writing in a book titled ‘I Love the Way You Lie’. It’s one of 11 projects in 11 days that we did on twitter. All books can be bought at NulisBuku.com or follow us on twitter @nulisbuku

One more powerful event last week called Wordisme. I speak to Mbak @AlberthieneE one day. I said I want to be a successful biography writer just like her. I want her to teach me. She said, instead she want to teach more people. Then she came up with idea of not only teaching biography writing, but also magazine, novel, blog & scriptwriting. We form a team, and make it happened yesterday, November 19, 2011. The line of speakers & moderators was amazing. All great writers. 350 people from all over Indonesia  packed the room, and from the conversation on twitter @wordismeID   #wordisme – I know they’re all super inspired!

I have a session too in Wordisme with Raditya Dika. We’re talking about blog writing, and how from blog, it can get you further to your goals & dreams. Everybody knows who he is, a blogger turn best selling author, movie actor, standup comedian, famous with more than 1 million followers on twitter and people knows how funny he can be. And I was trying hard to keep up with him :)) But of course it’s always back to the nature of the people. He’s been my bestfriend, so the conversation went natural. Thanks to moderator @miund  so we can keep the flow fresh. I am grateful that @RadityaDika  also  support me by telling people the story that inspire NulisBuku.com also telling people that he read my first novel back then and he love it. Thank you Radith *big hug*

If you want to check a complete summary of Wordisme please check here

I want to thank all of NulisBuku team and Wordisme team to make all the great events happen. You know who you are. Also a huge huge thanks for mbak AE for the opportunities.

Coming up next, there’s a NulisBuku.com event too at FIMELA Fest, November 26, 1pm – 3pm at Mini Stage, Level One, Grand Indonesia. You can register here.

We’ll have ideas meet opportunities session on Writer & Publisher at ON | OFF (Pesta Blogger 2011). Save the date December 3rd, 2011. Watch the @onoffID timeline & website http://onoffid.org

See you around!