{welcome 2009}

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

I've been thinking and thinking what would be the best for my first entry to this blog in 2009. I was re-arranging my graphic site too this morning, so I came to see this quote by Cate Blanchett that I put on the 'about me' page. I like this saying, it rings really true to me. I like it I like it, so much. So why don't I gather some dreams for 2009, and a little bit of re-introduction perhaps?



First when I made this blog, I wanted to use this to post updates on my graphic site, Amreta's Graphics. But then I use it to post just about anything that I had in mind. I'm a dreamer and love to get inspired by what I see and meet on travels (and often it means 'armchair travel' through books, magazines and the internet), which I think is necessary as I live in a hectic, crowded big city like Jakarta, with a schedule that goes from full time job, to practicing the violin, playing with the amateur chamber music ensemble, drawing graphics, crafting, hunting for second hand magazines, fabrics and papers, to attending cultural activities, family gatherings, going to book stores, etc etc...so much to do, so little time! But I heard loving all that you're doing is a sign of an exciting life so I have no complain :o)



There are times I got so lucky that I have the chance to travel (real travel) and it is my favorite time to get inspired. Back to Cate Blanchett's words: my first trip was at age 9 to Bali, joining my dad's art class in a study tour, discovering the work and life of Balinese artists. My first time abroad was as an exchange student for a year in France, living with a french family, 'forced' to speak french, went to high school, simply lived like the french. Those first experiences really set my idea about travels. And somehow the next thing I know, similar 'arrangements' just fall into place with the other trips. I love it. There has been a big number of synchronicities playing around. In 2009 I wish that it will continue :o)



My dream? Traveling to Bhutan. It's intriguing. I heard about their Gross National Happiness concept. I saw articles about traveling to Bhutan, with focus on the art and design such as in Elle and Vogue, on the culture in National Geographic, and on the well-being in Yoga Journal and Yoga Plus.



Oh yes, they are some of my favorite magazines. Let me tell you about my another 'hobby' when it comes to magazine. Imported magazines are quite expensive in Jakarta, so I opt for buying second hand magazines. Old magazines, sometimes only a few months old, but recently I found Elle Decor that dates back in 1996! And much to my surprise it doesn't look old at all. And for some new ones, I subscribe to digital magazine through Zinio. It's worth it, good price and I can 'bring' the magazine everywhere in my laptop, very practical especially when traveling.



And though I live in a big city, I love the countryside and country style. Country Living has been my favorite magazine ever since I knew about it. My host families in France and Sweden all live either in a very small town or in the countryside, in their lovely homes surrounded by beautiful nature. And during my stays with these families I learned for the first time about decorating and entertaining 'the country style'.



And you know what? I love decorating 'the country style', though in practice what I do is 'decorating with what you have'. But I think, that's also what country style or junk-market style is all about. Currently I attempt to reorganize and redecorate my 3x3m2 bedroom cum work room. It was a necessity so I decided to blog about it, to be able to track the progress - and to motivate myself. I found the internet and my collection of decorating magazines to be very useful. Inspiration is everywhere!



When it comes to photography, I'm mad about taking pictures of flowers. I'm not a pro and am only armed with my 6.1 MP Kodak digital camera, but I have had so much fun with it.



The violin has been my passion since I was 13 year old, when I saw on TV Maestro Henryk Szerying play the Beethoven violin concerto, and then locked myself in the bathroom until my parents agreed to buy me a (cheap) violin and to send me to a violin teacher :o) I've been listening to classical music since far longer than I can remember, but am also really drawn into folk music recently. So don't be surprised if there are some posts about music as well.



I'm also a fan of flea markets and traditional markets. And hey, I'm an Indonesian and still deeply impressed by my Javanese childhood. When I have the chance I would also like to post entries about folksy things from Indonesia. Folksy things make me feel at home somehow. And it reminds me of the cultural richness of the world we live in.



So, basically, this blog is about my artwork, hobbies and things that inspire me. I love getting inspired. I hope you, too. Thank you for visiting and reading my blog, I've been enjoying putting together my thoughts in my entries and I appreciate all your comments and support. Let's hope for the better in 2009 :o)

{daisies and the cat}

Still about the wild flowers which grow everywhere in the garden of my host family's home in Mullhyttan, but I thought it's worth an entry of its own. The cat, Svea, gladly posed for my camera shoots, as always (if you missed my previous entry about it, it's here)

{wild flowers and a trip}

I’m still cleaning up, getting organized, it feels like a never ending story. And this includes cleaning up my computer and re-organizing the files, moving them into CDs and labelling them. Labels. I love labels. Especially the cute ones.

And I came across these pictures from my trip to Sweden and France last summer. That was nice. Travelling with a 14 year old girl turned out to be really inspiring. Especially when the 14 year old is a brilliant girl like Brea, the daughter of a great friend of mine.


Brea and I outside our hostfamily’s house in Gränna, Sweden.

By the way, ever since the photo exhibition Herbarium Amoris in Jakarta two years ago (read my entry about it here), until now I’m still crazy about taking pictures of flowers. And my host families’ homes in Gränna and Mullhyttan in Sweden are two of my favorite places for hunting pictures of wild flowers.

By the lake in Örserum, Gränna








The quiet beauties in Mullhyttan

[.happy.birthday.jakarta.]

22 June 2008...Jakarta is 481 year old! And I can tell you it's always quite an event here when Jakarta celebrates its birthday. I will check later what's up in the city.

I made two scrapbook-style photos for blog and will upload the templates tomorrow. And more templates in the members area. Now it's just so late and I need some good night sleep....so stay tune :-)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JAKARTA!!!



Visit Jakarta



This 2,5 meters-tall giant puppet is called "ondel-ondel", traditionally parades the streets of Jakarta during a celebration, accompanied by traditional music from Betawi (native Jakartans)

[.weekend.break.]

Oho! Finally a little time off. Probably these are the nice things about sharing the house with my cousins, and having the terrace turned into a small restaurant. Though I would always have my privacy upstairs, whenever I want I would just go downstairs and join the fun, or creating the fun itself :-)

I have my favorite corner in the restaurant and when lunch time is out and there are not many visitors, I would occupy that favorite corner with my books or papers or crafts and coffee - so would my cousins on the other tables.

Sometimes various traditional food sellers would pass by and my cousins would buy some snacks or refreshments. They had fresh fruit slices with peanut and palm sugar sauce today.

And I managed to change a little bit my inspiration board - added two pictures of baby me with dad and grandpa, and a DVD picture of maestro Claudio Abbado conducting the Berlin Philharmonic performing Beethoven's symphony no. 7 - my favorite. A picture and poem by Mr Hammarskjöld are still intact.

I just felt like it, inline with Father's Day next week. Wish my dad were here again. But I know he's watching over me from above, and smiling :-) I miss you, Dad!!

[.a.passage.through.history.]

This weekend I sent myself far off to 1732-33, set myself onboard a Swedish sailing ship, the Fredericus Rex Sueciae, on her voyage to China. My heart pounds so heavily when a midshipman shouts "land ahoy!!" and the western tip of Java is just before our eyes. Meanwhile alot of crew are sick and finally we came to an anchor off Angra in the Straits of Sunda. Here I saw myself amused when I arrived to this passage: "Here the Javans came off in their small boats with fowls Goats, Plantans, Pumplemusses, & Guavas, & other fruits, (with some Curious Birds) &c which were very very acceptable to us, especially the fruit such as the Coco nuts and Pumplemuses which recoverd the people that were sick of the scurvy to admiration in a very little time that not one of them died of it, which very likely they had done had not they met with this Refreshment, the natives would have brought us Cows too if we would have stayd a few hours..."

All right. I have to admit. I lost myself in a book and it was my imagination playing while reading "A Passage to China, Colin Campbell's diary of the first Swedish East India Company's expedition to Canton in 1732-33". Mr Colin Campbell was the Supercargo, the first director of the Swedish East India Company. The transcript of his diary I'm reading now - in search of more information about the Swedish presence in the history of Batavia (now my dear city of Jakarta) - was thought to be lost because Mr Campbell ordered to destroy all the ship's journals when the Dutch attacked the ship in the Straits of Sunda (the strait between the islands of Java and Sumatra in the Netherlands East Indies, now my dear country Indonesia). Somehow this diary is pretty fascinating for a girl with chronic lust for history like me. Mr Campbell reconstructed his journal upon his return to Gothenburg in Sweden, where the company sits, and now, it is a very valuable source of history. I imagine.

(reading the book, I got 'seasick', which means more or less like 'homesick') ;-)

now taking a break, back to 2008 and it's time to work on my graphics! :-)

see you soon later!

[.a.sunday.in.the.city.]

...earlier today at around 3 p.m.....

Here I am! On a Sunday afternoon, writing from a bustling foodcourt at the Mall Ambassador in South Jakarta. It's not my so-called ordinary day. I'm not really into eating alone at a busy foodcourt where there are so many people talking at the same time and loud music. But this morning my computer suddenly crashed and I had no choice but bringing it to the store where I bought it, to get it repaired. And it's at the Mall Ambassador.

I finally got out of the house at around noon when the rain already subsided, and couldn't help from stopping by a company building half way to the bus stop, where two cute little puppies were playing by the building's main entrance. The puppies were 8 week old, said the guard at the entrance. And they are short legged, so chubby with the cutest gaze when they look at people.

But the rain started pouring again, so I had to say "au revoir" to the puppies (wonder whether they understood...) and then rush to the the bus stop. It would take me 1,5 hour to get to the mall, so I was glad I didn't forget to bring with me the book "Digging for the Truth" from the History Channel and all the way I continued to follow Josh Bernstein's archaeological adventures until I reached my destination: "Karet" bus stop on Sudirman street.

Sudirman street, named after the legendary Indonesian hero General Sudirman, is normally on weekdays a very busy, main business street in Jakarta. But obviously it was not the case today. This is also my usual route to work, but in clear days I walk about 25 minutes to my office after getting off at Karet bus stop. When raining like this, I preferred to hop into a public transport though I knew I would miss the walk.

Arriving at the computer store in the mall, the salesman, recognising me from my previous visits asked me whether there was anything he could help. I said I had a rpbolem with my computer that I bought last october, that is shut down itself without warning nor particular reason (of course there must be a reason, I just couldn't figure it out!)

The salesman called one of technicians flocking in the repair corner, but all of them responded with a cheering choir. I would say they were so nice. I think it would really help panicking customers, who always come with their troubled computers. One technician told me to relax while checking my computer while another offered me a bottle of mineral water.

"We have to repair several components" said the technician who was checking my computer. "have you backed-up all of your files?"

"Well, no" I must admit. Now I blamed myself for not taking the time to back up my files.

"Let's see if your files can still be saved..." he asked the other technician if he knew where a disk containing data recovery program was. He found it. Then he tried it. After awhile he told me to mark the folders I wanted to save and after a click I could see my graphic files (I recognised their names, of course! :-)) being transferred to another partition in the hard disk, which is spared from error.

"We'll need around one hour to finish this" said the technician. "Your files look okay"

I thanked him and told him I'd be off for lunch and back in an hour. Somehow I was amazed how I could stay calm at that time - but still, I noticed something I always did when panic attacks: I couldn't stop munching chocolate!

So here I am now, eating at the food court. I wasn't interested in eating at one of the more quiet restaurants at the moment...and besides, I was thinking of eating Manadonese cuisine (North Sulawesi) this time. I know one food stall at the foodcourt which serves very delicious porridge a la manadonese: rice porridge with greens, corn, sweet potato, fish, and spicy hot sauce. The best in the city! And for this, at least for this time, I'd sacrifice my fondness of quiet moment while eating ;-)

[.tagged.in.pictures.]

Tagged by my Polish friend Joanna. Me in an afternoon chamber music playing in Jakarta a couple of months ago (now I have longer hair, and different glasses). Can you notice that Joanna's got a nice camera (and good eyes behind the camera:-))

[.walking.with.flowers.]

If you live in Jakarta and walk every morning to work, you may spot on the street some guys selling potted plants and flowers. Like this morning. I just loved the sight. Country in the city.