Lia Golledge's Blog, page 9

Why I Love Poetry

The first time I have interest in Poetry was when I visit Dublin, Ireland in 2011. There, in a small bookstore near Trinity College, I saw a whole shelf full of Poetry books and I thought, I never see something like this in Indonesia. Poetry has been stamped as an ‘art’ that could never be sell. Thus, no publisher interested to publish it.

After spending my time pondering on the poetry room of National Library of Ireland, standing in the Long Room of Trinity College library, I decided to start writing my first poem. I read it at a dinner with my colleagues, in front of an Irish writer, Claire Kilroy. That’s really how I broke all the ice inside of me. I’m not afraid to sound stupid, even when I do it for the first time. I have the confidence to just do it. Of course, Claire and everyone else were laughing, at least the poem was a refreshing entertainment LOL

Then back to Indonesia, I announce to everyone that I’m going to write a poetry book in a month. Then finally be able to finished it in 2 months. It’s my first ever attempt to make a poetry book, the title is ‘Thinking of You‘, cover beautifully designed by Rayi @mumolabs

Then I keep writing poetry regularly on my tumblr, and now my heart grew fond and fonder to poetry. Because I just realized the power behind it. I always write poetry with notebook, basically paper and pen. Because I think it connects to my heart directly, allowing any emotion flows easily.

For me, poetry is more than flowery words you wrote to sound romantic. No. It’s more than that. Poetry helps you articulate your problems. It expressed whatever on your heart that you thought you never had. Through poetry you can suddenly found what’s been bothering you all these time. With poetry, you can find solution, because finally, you know what’s wrong, what’s the problem.

This is what I wrote as an answer after people come to me crying telling me their problems:

Your lips trembling

Papers are wet from tears

Why, they stop me from writing? You asked me

Because, my dear

Words carry ideas

Words carry dreams

Words carry love

And love cures

That’s why… They hate it so much

Poetry makes a deeper connection with your reader, that means deeper love, that means deeper trust. As a leader, you need to constantly generate love and trust, from you and towards you. I know the Prime Minister of Dubai Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum love poetry. He wrote a book called ‘Poems from the desert’ with Foreword by Paulo Coelho. This is one of his poem…

Why am I Infatuated?

Who are you to torment me so? Yet I forgive

Who are you to dispute me? Yet I relent

You are an unruly being

Merely one among a million

Then why am I infatuated, why do I love you so?

Who gave you the right to manipulate my fate?

For your sake, why would I alter my life?

How would I obey you, when you are my captive?

Amidst illusions and doubts, you left me to float

Why am I infatuated, why do I love you so?

Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President of the United States, was also a poet.

On September 28, 1858, Lincoln wrote the following verses “in the autograph album of Rosa Haggard, daughter of the proprietor of the hotel at Winchester, Illinois, where he stayed when speaking at that place on the same date”:

To Rosa—

You are young, and I am older;

You are hopeful, I am not—

Enjoy life, ere it grow colder—

Pluck the roses ere they rot.

Teach your beau to heed the lay—

That sunshine soon is lost in shade—

That now’s as good as any day—

To take thee, Rose, ere she fade.

I never thought I could enjoy poetry in different way. By reading it out loud. I join #MalamPuisi and read my poems and it feels good. My friend Minh, a Vietnamese American told me about Poetry slam. I never been to, but should be exciting. My experience with spoken poetry in Makassar Writers Festival 2013 also stay in my mind. In Bahrain on farewell party I wrote poem for Bahrain and read it in front of hundreds of guests, and they love it very much, it goes on Bahrain’s National television afterward

I want to quote a dialogue from Dead Poets Society movie about poetry:

“We don’t read and write poetry because it’s cute. We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race. And the human race is filled with passion. And medicine, law, business, engineering, these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what we stay alive for. To quote from Whitman, “O me! O life!… of the questions of these recurring; of the endless trains of the faithless… of cities filled with the foolish; what good amid these, O me, O life?” Answer. That you are here – that life exists, and identity; that the powerful play goes on and you may contribute a verse. That the powerful play *goes on* and you may contribute a verse. What will your verse be?”

― N.H. Kleinbaum

So, what will your verse be?

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Things to do Before You Turn 30

I’m inspired by this post by Dimas about what you should do before 30. By reading the title of this post alone, you should know a little bit about my age :)) So here we go, my version of what you should do before 30:

Backpack out of the country

My first time backpacking was when I turn 24. Me and my best girls pack our bag and went to Kuala Lumpur, Phuket, Bangkok and Singapore. I brought a real backpack, which I regret later because it was too heavy. I remember we must eat cheap sandwiches for breakfast because we splurge on seafood dinner the night before :))

My second attempt to backpack was just last March, this time me and friends went to Cairo, Luxor, Aswan, Alexandria. And eventhough I brought a wheeled suitcase, but it was a real backpacking experience. With the budget limitation and all.

I’m a princess. I’m not the ‘adventurous’ type. And I can afford regular way of traveling. But backpacking, especially out of the country, gave me perspective. I came back, a different person. Making more initiatives, becoming more fearless. At least, now I know that I can walk that much and carry 3 bags in the same time in public transport :))

Travel solo at least once

Travel solo. Like truly alone. Three years ago I went to Ubud, Bali, by myself.This is my first time to Ubud, and the driver who picked me up kind of confused that I came alone and has no plan whatsoever to do anything there.

I end up spend time walking, reading in garden, watching Balinese dance, looking at ricefields, eating nice organic food, while listening to Balinese musical chants from nearby temple. It was very peaceful.

I never got the urge to make connection while I’m in Bali. But people seems to get to me anyway. I end up meeting new friends and also meet the famous medicine man from Eat, Pray, Love: Ketut Liyer, and it was one of the most interesting experience I ever have in my life.

Travel totally alone gave you clarity and allow your brain to came up with amazing things. You don’t have to talk to people. You just have to smile and enjoy beautiful moments. I came back recharged and ready for next challenges.

Write a book

I wrote my first book when I was 22. This is the time of your life when you have so many stories and ideas, and you have time to actually write it. So, yeah, write. Make time to write.

I never thought I could finished a book. Turned out, not only finishing a book, I actually make it a bestseller and wrote 24 other books in different genres.

Writing a book, change my life completely. It gave me a sense of accomplishment, a progress, make me understand that everything is possible. People appreciate me, they trust me, they asked for my autograph and a picture with me :)) and that’s the kind of thing that will energized your 20s and make you enthusiast to go forward and ask ‘What’s next?’.

Start your own business

I started my first real business when I was 23. Not necessarily got enough capital or experience, but I got the energy and I can afford it. What I mean by I can ‘afford’ it was, I didn’t have any family to support yet and I don’t have debts yet in any kind. That’s usually what’s happened when you’re younger. You still have less responsibilities. So, starting a business, that full of risks, is totally possible. And completely worth taking.

Teach children

I’ve been teaching children since I was in university. There’s this small Masjid that I went to 3 times a week in the afternoon that I can teach 20 children some English and reading Quran. Kids are active, so you expect them to be all noisy and running around, they might drive you nuts, especially when you handle them alone. But they have SO MUCH LOVE and wisdom that you won’t get anywhere else in adult world.

I’m not teaching regularly, but I’m donating an Islamic boarding school, just so once in a while I can come and greet my kids. They genuinely love to see me and even missing me when I’m not there. I enjoy my time talking with them about life and dreams. It looks like I’m teaching them, but actually they taught me so much more.

Speak in front of at least 100 people

Everybody dread public speaking. Including me. But my activities as an entrepreneur and writer, required me to meet and speak in front of a lot of people. Usually to motivate and inspire them.

I used to choose to speak in panel or talkshow with a moderator, because I don’t get to face the audience by myself. But then I thought, that must change. I must be able to speak alone, presenting something, connecting directly to the audience.

Then I took public speaking class, professional teachers taught me how to do it. Then I start practicing and experimenting. I review my speaking experiences so I can understand how to do it better next time. Now I know how to start my presentation, that I can speak effectively to up to 100 audiences and more than that I should ask moderator to help me (but I always try to improve), and I believe now my teachers proud of me because I’m not only speaking well in my own language, but also in English while speaking in other countries.

Speak in public taught you how to be vulnerable, gain self confidence when you be able to overcome the fear, and it trained you to think in sequence. And it has been improving my communication skills outside the stage as well. So, speak!

Buy a house and a car

I start hunting for the perfect house since I was 21. I didn’t have the money of course, but I dream anyway. Finally I met the perfect house for me and bought it at the age of 26. That’s one of the best financial decisions I ever make in my entire life.

I get a car before a house, because it’s cheaper, obviously :P You still need a car in Jakarta. If you live in Amsterdam then you must get the best bike possible. Live in London, you don’t need to buy anything, the Tube is more than enough. But in Jakarta, a car is something you must consider having for many reasons.

Get an award

It’s not for you, silly. It’s for your parents. In the age where parents have no idea what job you’re doing, you must give them something to brag about to the neighbors. Ok? :))

In more serious notes, an award, especially from a highly reputable institution, will make people trust you more. And believe me, when people trust you, your life will be much easier.

Fall in love so deep you bought plane tickets to pursue him or her

When you’re young, you still have the energy to fly 20++ hours across the globe to get to someone you love, spend all your money on it and people still ‘rationalized’ it saying, “Aww how sweet.”

When you’re older, of course you still can do that. But people will think you’re losing your mind, foolish, and wasting your time and money. LOL. It’s not like I care about what people say. But your 20s’ the best time to go max at it.

So, yeah. LOVE. DEEP. Now.

Thanks for reading this long. And you can also share your own version on what to do before 30 ;)

Have a great day!

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How to Repent

Ramadan is the best time to review our life and check if we have done something that Allah dislikes. And surely, because we’re only human, we will make mistakes.

Unlike the Angels, that will only act on Allah’s command, human will initiate a lot of actions in his life according to his brain and common sense. And those actions sometimes won’t be in-line with Islamic values and violate the universal laws.

If you still can feel and aware that you’re making mistakes, then GOOD. That means Allah has yet to sealed your heart. Then after you commit mistakes and you know it, immediately, for your own good: repent.

Your Lord knows best what is in your inner-selves. If you are righteous, then, verily, He is Ever Most Forgiving to those who turn unto Him again and again in obedience, and in repentance.

QS 17:25

Repentance in Arabic called ‘Taubah’ and it literally means returning, turning towards Allah after we took the wrong road and astray. I believe Allah let us making initiatives that can lead us to making mistakes, so that we will gain lessons from that experience. So, by knowing how those mistakes affect our life, we’ll know that we won’t do the stupid mistakes again in the future. And after all those mistakes, Allah still lovingly open door widely for human to ‘return’ to Him.

The first thing we should do to repent: acknowledge our actions, what we have done wrong. Istighfaar. Remember Allah. Ask for Allah forgiveness from the heart, feel the deep remorse, regret what we have done and avoid doing the same mistake again.

Shaqiq said, “Weeping over past misdeeds, being afraid of perpetrating a sin again, forsaking the company of evildoers, and adhering to the company of the righteous- these are the hallmarks of a sincere repentance.”

Offers 2 raka’ats of prayers. Seek forgiveness and truly connect with Allah thru this intimate communication.

Hazrat Abu Bakr radiyallahu anhu, says, “I heard the Holy Prophet sallallahu alaihe wasallam say, ‘There isn’t a man who, when he commits a sin, rises, makes ablution, and offers two rak’ats of prayers, but Allah forgives his sins.’

Help more people. Share more knowledge. Give more charity. Listen to more people in difficulties. Be nice to people. Do more good deeds with the intention to seek Allah’s blessings and to show that you’re really seriously regret on what you did.

And perform As-Salat (Iqamat-as-Salat), at the two ends of the day and in some hours of the night [i.e. the five compulsory Salat (prayers)]. Verily, the good deeds remove the evil deeds (i.e. small sins). That is a reminder (an advice) for the mindful (those who accept advice).

QS 11:114

Repent daily. As the Prophet Muhammad SAW was known to repent 100 times a day (while he has already guaranteed a special place with Allah in heaven). Masha Allah.

Knowing your source of misdeeds and avoid. Join the more pious people with sincere heart, that will help protect you from doing the same mistake again.

Will Allah accept our repentance? Don’t worry. Be sure that Allah is loving and forgiving. And Quran confirms:

Verily, He is One Who forgives (accepts repentance), the Most Merciful.

QS 2:37

After we repent, hopefully we will feel that peace of mind and gain more clarity in our mind, to be more aware of signs and guidance that Allah gives to our life. Insha Allah.

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Makassar International Writers Festival 2013

It was unforgettable moment for me, to be able to witness more 700 young people of Makassar, gathered in Fort Rotterdam and enjoy, really enjoying, poetry reading at the closing ceremony of Makassar International Writers Festival (MIWF) 2013 @makassarwriters. I said to Josephine Chia, fellow speaker & writer from Singapore, “Josephine, this is big.” Josephine was like, yeah it’s great. “No, no, Josephine. This is HUGE. This is AMAZING.”

Most Indonesian people enjoy music concerts. But they have yet to embrace literary events. Maybe because those kind of events are simply nowhere to be seen. So, I salute the hardworking team and the initiator of MIWF 2013, mbak Lily Yulianti Farid @lilyyulianti, for their tremendous effort to put this event and ignite change in Indonesia, starting from Makassar.

I was invited to represent NulisBuku.com as one of speakers in MIWF 2013. I’m so honored to be in the same list with Indonesian living legend Sapardi Djoko Damono, Dewi ‘Dee’ Lestari, Joko Pinurbo, and many other writers from all over the world.

Due to some unexpected things happen on my side (I missed my flight, things that never happen in my life -_-), I got my speaking session rescheduled to the next day to a writing workshop with mas Krishna Pabichara @1bichara. I really enjoy my personal chat with mas Khrisna, who’s the writer of the bestselling book ‘Sepatu Dahlan’, about Mr. Dahlan Iskan, and many other things. I also enjoy talking to enthusiasts young writers of Makassar that was also extremely talented.

During the workshops, I met a teacher coming all the way from a city almost 2 hours from Makassar, with one of his students. He believes that by showing this kind of event (and after that he will take his student to a movie), it will create unforgettable experience that the student will be able to share back in his class. Teachers like him, gives me hope!

Of course, Makassar means a lot to me. I live there for 10 years when I was in elementary school. I always cherish my time coming back to this city. I spent time eating their delicious food, and hop on a becak (Indonesian rickshaw) to enjoy the city. Lucky me I was with a good rickshaw driver. We had some conversation about his daily life, and it leads to a conclusion, “I trust Allah, miss. How much I earn everyday, it’s a blessing from God, and I’m grateful.”

Have a peaceful Ramadan, my friends

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Birthday in Istanbul

“I strongly suggest you to postpone your trip to Istanbul!”

My heart sank. I got a warning message from my good friend in Istanbul, just a week before my scheduled trip to spend my birthday there. There’s a protest-gone-wrong in Taksim Square, and things didn’t look good.

But of course, if you tell me I can’t, I will prove it otherwise. So, I told my friend, unless the airport’s close, the world’s end, or something like that, I will still stick with my plan. Besides, I know how things can easily getting exaggerated. My last trip to Bahrain and Egypt shows that everything’s perfectly ok there, despite the media or even social media somehow shows bloods, people screaming, something burning, but none of them seen either in Bahrain and Egypt when I was there. So I was confidence with my Istanbul trip, and turned out, in all 5 days trip I saw no sign of violence. Only beauty and serenity.

Istanbul is special for many different reasons. It must be one of the most beautiful cities, if not the most beautiful city, I ever visit in the world. Such a perfect combination of East and West. The hotel I stayed in Sultanahmet area, crammed with historical sites like Masjids and Grand Bazaar from 1500s, even 360 AD piece like the The Obelisk of Theodosius, ancient Egyptian obelisk, erected just beside Hagia Sophia in Hippodrome of Constantinople to celebrate Pharaoh’s victory. The obelisk looks exactly like the one I saw in Karnak Temple, Luxor, Egypt. How on earth they can bring the similar Obelisk here is beyond me.

While walking, it’s very easy to stumble upon some ‘under the radar’ beautiful old Masjids. It’s like finding a hidden treasure. Blue Mosque is heavily packed with tourists, it’s overrated. My favorite Masjid was Hagia Sophia and Süleymaniye Mosque. It was big, beautiful with amazing details, and very peaceful. Sometimes I confused on how they did it, create a grand masterpiece like that, masha Allah.

Also my favorite part of Topkapi Palace, is the place where you can see vintage stuff from Prophets, from Turban of Prophet Yusuf, to Prophet Muhammad’s footprint, swords, and hair. I felt a rush of sadness, the same feeling when I visit Prophet Muhammad’s house in Masjid Nabawi, Madinah. I really miss him that much.

Back to Istanbul, still on walking distance, there’s a Bosphorus strait and bridge that connect the Asia side of Turkey to the Europe side. The view is just breathtaking.

Since this is my birthday, I was fortunate to be able to spend it with my Faisal. We enjoyed our trip to Bahrain last January and we decided to do that again in Istanbul.

Traveling can show a lot about a person, and we both learn some new things about each other in this trip. All was good stuff, we prove to be a good partner. I’ve learned that we can bring out the best in each other. At least in photography, where we exchange role as model and photographer, taking ‘dope’ pictures, most of the time :))

There are plenty of good looking Turkish man and woman in Istanbul. As normal people, we admire what we saw along the way. I’ve learned that, when everybody, like the beggar, waiter, fruit seller, students, hotel staffs, manager, business owner, look handsomely same, then you realize that you need to find another perspective to choose a partner. Because looks alone won’t matter anymore.

Talking about food, there’s not a single place disappoint me with their food in Istanbul. In cheap, expensive, or luxurious restaurants, everything’s taste heavenly! Five days straight I order any kind of lamb menus :))

Some recommended place to eat, try Konyali Lokantasi at Topkapi restaurant for their best Bosphorus view, Havuzlu inside Grand Bazaar for their various creamed eggplants, 360 Istanbul for their magnificent night view, breakfast at Armada Hotel Terrace for some view of Blue Mosque and Bosphorus strait in the same time and of course don’t forget Turkish delight and traditional Apple tea in Hafiz Mustafa 1864 at Sirkeci.

To get around, the first 2 days we spent walking like a real tourists, because that’s what we thought real tourists would do. Then we realized that our energy level is not that much, especially I’m growing old, it’s my birthday, remember.

So we switch to taxis. Then  we found out, that taxi fare, like many other things in Istanbul, are expensive. After observing people, finally we manage to find the best solution: using tram. It’s very easy, with 3TL token (like $1.5) we can go wherever we want in the tramway, which covers almost every important spots.

We went to most major tourist attraction like Blue Mosque, Hagia Sophia, Topkapi Palace, two hours Bosphorus Cruise, just because I don’t want my mom blaming me for not going there :))

Then we also visit some unique place like Museum of Innocence, a Museum built by Orhan Pamuk, based on his novel with the same title.

I wrote down the Museum address, someone told us we need to go to Taksim and walk from there. Clueless, we use the tram to its last terminal, and walk to Metro headed to Taksim.

When we saw ‘Taksim’ sign in the Metro I started to freak out. First reaction was, ‘Quick! Let’s take picture!’ Then, ‘OMG we’re approaching Taksim, do need a gas mask?’

Obviously I watch too much news, because when we set foot in Taksim square, the sky was blue, birds are dancing, children running happily, only a line of Police’s cars that makes difference. When we tried to take some pictures with the Police officers, a VoA (Voice of America) guy shoot us from afar and we were high-fiving each other to this achievement. We might going to be on TV! :))

Apparently nobody knows anything about this Museum of Innocence. This is where my offline Lonely Planet Istanbul map become a little bit useless. But we keep on asking and keep on walking. The road is getting smaller, getting more blank face from people who didn’t speak English, it’s getting quieter, that I crack a joke, maybe we’re in a gangster area :))

Of course it’s not helping. F was clearly annoyed to walk aimlessly like that. He’s a planner and ‘security’ guy, he didn’t like getting lost and feeling not safe. I’m more spontaneous person, so there I was bouncing happily and F dragging himself curious to see what the hell is Museum of Innocence all about :))

When we finally reached, we can’t took pictures inside. But basically the museum is a collection of stuff a man collect from the woman he love. The first floor displayed hundreds of lipstick stained cigarette butts from the lady. Second floor shows many other things, like her friends pics, all her clutter, it was a little bit creepy.

F said, “This doesn’t make any sense, how can one loves that much!” – it was creepy, but totally make sense to me. Everybody has their own answer to the question, “What’s the craziest thing you ever do for love?” – for some it could be collecting stuff and make a museum, for other it can be as simple as buying tickets to a place they never been before to meet their lover, with a deep trust that everything’s going to be ok.

I cried when I met my beautiful friend S on Thursday morning. It’s the combination of beautiful scenery and meeting her for the first time overwhelmed me. Internet connects soulmates, even when he/she is thousands miles away, this is what’s happened with me and S, and I’m grateful for the day we finally met after years of friendship, exchanging beautiful words and our love for Rumi via email.

I tried to pay my curiosity on sufism by watching whirling dervishes performance in HodjaPasha Culture Center. I saw all these grownup men in white dress and high hats shed their tears. They’re not just circling, they become one with God, remembering where they come from. Touches my heart.

Like I said, Istanbul is special in many different reasons. We enjoy our dinner at the fancy 360 Istanbul, watching Istanbul city lights at night, with the orange looking minarets from the Mosques and sparkling Bosphorus strait twinkling from afar. There I was on my birthday night, in the most beautiful city in the world, with the handsome guy I love smiling in front of me: Alhamdulillah, what more one can ask for?

Istanbul was unforgettable, but I know Allah still has many other gifts for me. May Allah grant me abundance and lead me to some more beautiful adventures in my life, insha Allah.

Ps: Thank you friends for hundreds of birthday wishes I received on Facebook, Twitter, Text messages, etc. I read everything and deeply touched with your kind wishes.

Pss: All pics were taken with my new Samsung NX300. It really helps me a lot because I don’t have to carry lenses for different purposes. This one camera was enough for all kind of shots in my trip. It’s easier because it’s lightweight either. Recommended!

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From the First ASEAN Youth Entrepreneurs Seminar & Exposition Brunei

This is my second time visiting Brunei. The last time was to speak at Think Big Innovate 2012. And few days ago I’m back to Brunei to speak about entrepreneurship to ASEAN young entrepreneurs on the first ASEAN Youth Entrepreneurs Seminar and Exposition.

I thought this time I’m going to focus on one message: about being perfect. I always say that I’m an imperfectionist. I start small and quick, far from perfect, because I believe perfection is a journey. So, this ‘lean startup’ spirit is the one that I want to spread in the forum. Speaking with me was Muzamir Mustafa and Azura Liyana, both entrepreneurs from Malaysia.

From the networking event, I met a lot of young and passionate people from across ASEAN country.

I met some Bruneian university students who want to start their own business with fund from an angel investor: their dads I asked them, “You know that you’re lucky to be in the University for free, right?” They giggle, “We know!”

I also met Gee from Philippines that really passionate to beat all odds and finally will start his own fashion line

I also spend time to stroll around Brunei, enjoying the view from their magnificent Masjids

Going to Bandar Seri Begawan’s very clean, neat and beautiful market where a fish seller said I’m beautiful like a celebrity and a grandma sang Malay poetry

Even I met a food seller lady who recognize me because I was on Brunei tv the night before :))

As always, I really enjoy my trip to Brunei. Wearing Baju Kurung, Brunei traditional dress, bring a sense of a Malay Queen in me :)) I feel a lot like a woman

Last but not least, thanks a lot Huda, who’s been helping me taking my pictures, and taking me shopping around Brunei, I owe you a lot, keep in touch

It’s a long way for me, from an awkward girl who didn’t know how to do a presentation, to someone who has to present something in English in front of regional/international audience. I hope what I’ve been trying to say was heard and could be the inspiration for you to dream, create and act – living the life you always wanted!

Ps: all pictures were taken with my new camera Samsung NX300 – and I’ve started a #picslosophy hashtag to capture human interest photos every day!

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ASEAN Blogger Festival Indonesia 2013

It was such a great opportunity for me to be able to join the ASEAN Blogger Festival (ABFI) 2013 in Solo, Indonesia. I was fortunate to attend such event in Kuala Lumpur and Bali, few years back, so I can be able to say that now I’m part of the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) Community, with friends all over ASEAN countries. To me, ASEAN community is not started in 2015, it’s already happen now.

This year, #ABFI2013 has a new theme “Re-inventing the Spirit of Cultural Heritage in Southeast Asia“. In this 4 days event, attended by more than 300 participants all over Indonesia and other ASEAN countries, we discuss about all things that will enhance the awareness of ASEAN community 2015, a security, economic, and socio-cultural community, the topics of the seminars and breakout sessions varied from travel & tourism, social media to blogging itself.

I was moderating a session about ASEAN Tourism Potentials with Ibu Nina Soemitro from the Ministry of Travel and Creative Economy Indonesia and also Pak Widdi Srihanto, the chief of Travel Department of Solo. The combined population of the 10 member states of ASEAN is around 600 million. The number of international visitor arrivals to ASEAN has increased rapidly to over 81 million in 2011. The travel and tourism sector has become an important driver of growth and prosperity for many countries and it has a vital role in realizing ASEAN vision.

The panel has been a great inspiration for me, because at first, I never thought about travel and tourism in ASEAN way, a bigger perspective. Now I can see how much potentials we can bring to each other. Fellow ASEAN countries can complement each other, highlighting our best and unique attractions then package it as one major destination for international traveler. ASEAN committee members have seen this big tourism potentials and they’ve prepared a strategy, launch a new logo along with a new website informing about 10 destinations in ASEAN countries.

Well, I saw the website, they had this calendar of events across ASEAN countries, I’m curious on how Indonesian’s going to fill that section. Since, we don’t have an exact events list of the year of our own :P Solo, in the other hand, has been inspirational. With low budget plans, they make a full year of interesting events list, put it in a catalog, and they’re now ready for tourists. They also have an excellent airport! (compared to you-know-which-one).

Tonyo Cruz @tonyocruz, my long time blogger friend from Philippines, was presenting about “It’s More Fun In The Philippines”, Philippines official travel and tourism campaign. It was really inspiring. They encourage blogger and social media user to share about Philippines, to the world, in a fun way. They have a hashtag for that too #ItsMoreFunInThePhilippines – I said to Tonyo, since we’re now bestfriend and we’re collaborating for ASEAN’s sake, please make a new campaign #ItsMoreFunInThePhilippIndo :))

I know we have a great official website Indonesia.travel – but it’s not enough. Our neighbor Malaysia has more than 24 million tourists every year, we CAN’T just satisfied with 8 million tourists! As a part of solid community of Indonesian bloggers, we have to see this event as an opportunity to help think the best way to promote our country with our social media power. These are some of my ideas of an action plan:

Like Pak Hermawan Kartajaya @hermawank and Pak Hazairin Pohan @hazpohan said, Blogger is a marketer and by using English, you can reach to wider audience. You can start by blogging in English for any of your traveling posts.
Try to commit to blog at least once a month about Indonesia or South East Asia (SEA). Remember, your own home town has a lot of stories too! @Kounila and @PreetamRai were excessively promoting Da Lat when we met at ABFI in Solo. Now I’m planning my trip to Vietnam, thanks to them! Nila share about Da Lat in her blog.
Using specific hashtag for sharing the link, for example #FaveASEAN
Submit your story to Indonesia.Travel
Put a specific link or banner to highlight the travel category of your blog, so it’s easier for people to find your content
Take more beautiful pictures of Indonesia or SEA region (don’t forget to use the hashtag)

I also speak in a breakout session about the potential of Indonesian Startups and I saw the energy in the room. Everybody wants to create something. With 60% of 240 million people in Indonesia are young people under 35 years old, I’m very optimistic about the future of our country.

So, are you ready to start a history and make us all shine?

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My Experience with Touchscreen Ultrabook

Now that most of my gadgets are touchscreen, it’s natural to wanting a touchscreen Ultrabook for my daily use. And finally I got to experience it with my new Acer Aspire S7. It’s using the powerful Intel Core i7 and Windows 8. Hottest things combined in an already stylish, ultra-thin Ultrabook.

The first difference I notice was from the Metro UI start screen in Windows 8 and the swipe side ‘Charm bar’ that allow us to search, share, go to start screen and setting. It took a while for me to get used to it. But once you get the ‘rythm’, the swipe and type to search will come pretty handy.

Just like in tablet, you can install any apps possible from the store. Once you open an application, you can swipe down to close the app. swipe up to see the option of the apps, or swipe right to move to other applications.

Windows 8 is mentioned as one bold move of Microsoft because its ‘radical’ change from the previous Windows 7. Some of my notes about Windows 8; One of the apps that I often use is Skype, but for this Windows version, the feature in that app, is not complete. I can’t send files, and that can be annoying in business discussion. It’s also want me to use my Live account for accessing the apps, synchronized things, when I wasn’t really using Live that much, so I had no contacts nor calendar to synch from there. One more thing, multi-tasking is not very seamless in this OS, you constantly need to move from Metro UI to desktop. But I finally get a way of splitting the windows, so it can works side by side.

With S7 touchscreen Ultrabook, like in tablets, you can tap to select, pinch to enlarge, and doing so many other multi touch methods. It’s fascinating! So, if you’re like me, and you love to hang out in cafes, get ready to be asked by strangers about your chic S7. It’s proven to be a very effective ice breaker!

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Why Teachers must Write

Saya merasa di Indonesia, menulis belum mendapat ruang yang cukup di sekolah. Padahal saat ini semua dilakukan dengan menulis. Mulai dari menulis email, menulis pesan via whatsapp/bbm, ngetwit sampai update status. Semua membutuhkan keahlian menulis. Jika tidak biasa menulis, bisa-bisa yang ditulis akan menimbulkan kebingungan dan salah kaprah banyak orang, pesan dalam tulisan tidak akan sampai dengan baik. Belajar menulis bukan soal menulisnya itu sendiri, tapi belajar menganalisa, belajar berpikir, belajar berkomunikasi secara efektif.

Saya percaya salah satu orang yang harus jago nulis adalah guru, terutama guru di sekolah, dalam berbagai mata pelajaran. Kenapa? Karena guru lah yang berhadapan dengan murid setiap harinya. Guru berpeluang membuat murid mempunyai kebiasaan menulis mulai dari usia dini. Caranya? Ya dengan memberi contoh dan banyak memberi ruang untuk menulis di dalam kelas.

Seperti Bona @allewunder, guru Bahasa Indonesia, yang selalu mencontohkan bahwa ia suka dan rajin menulis, sehingga excitement-nya menular ke murid bahkan guru lainnya. Guru lain di sekolah yang akhirnya ikutan menulis bernama Steve @Steve_me_pure.

Steve dan Ibu Muslimah di Belitung

Steve adalah seorang guru olahraga. Lazimnya, guru olahraga hanya mengajarkan tentang praktek olah tubuh yang baik dan benar. Tapi Steve juga mengajarkan dan menginspirasi anak didiknya untuk olah pikiran. Ia menyemangati anak muridnya untuk melakukan kultwit tiap hari sabtu dan minggu dengan hashtag #infopenjas Ia bahkan membuat blog http://penjastar.wordpress.com/ yang berisi tulisan tentang dunia olahraga dalam perspektif pendidikan, human interest, dan lainnya. Menarik dan seru banget!

Karena gurunya menulis, murid-murid Steve jadi termotivasi untuk selalu berlomba menuliskan informasi-informasi mengenai olahraga, jadwal pertandingan dan hasilnya, isu-isu hot seputar olahraga, gaya hidup dan kesehatan. Mereka belajar dengan menulis.

Teman baik saya @nataliardianto, COO Tiket.com, di awal karirnya juga seorang pengajar. Saya perhatikan ia terbiasa menuliskan solusi masalah yang ia temukan pada saat coding atau hal teknis lainnya di tumblr-nya. Contohnya adalah postingan yang ini. Ini tentu memudahkan sehingga orang lain bisa menemukan pemecahan masalah dan tidak harus jatuh ke masalah yang sama. Ia pun belajar untuk mengidentifikasi dan menganalisa masalah, hal penting untuk mengasah critical thinking yang dibutuhkan seorang leader.

Kepada guru-guru (bisa guru di sekolah, guru di rumah atau orang tua, guru di masyarakat, semua pemimpin komunitas), yuk lebih banyak membaca. Dengan banyak membaca kita tak hanya akan terinspirasi untuk menulis, tapi juga mengetahui tata bahasa yang benar, cara penyampaian yang menarik, mungkin yang tidak menarik juga bakal ketahuan, membaca juga membuat kita menjadi lebih open mind, berwawasan luas, sehingga kita mampu dengan cepat menganalisa fakta dan mencari koneksi antar hal-hal yang sepertinya tidak berhubungan.

Untuk mulai menulis dan mengajarkan menulis pada anak murid, silahkan cek beberapa referensi berikut:

Best practices

Teaching writing skill

Writing model bank

Mulailah dengan hal yang termudah, seperti membuat blog atau rutin menulis di Facebook Notes, jadikan kegiatan menulis sebuah fun activities, kombinasikan dengan social media agar tetap ‘dekat’ dengan ‘lingkungan’ gaul murid sehari-hari. Bikin kompetisi menulis agar murid makin bersemangat, dan di akhir tahun, gunakan kesempatan untuk mengumpulkan tulisan anak-anak dan self-publish dengan NulisBuku.com

Mimpi saya, satu tahun satu anak di Indonesia bisa menuliskan satu buku. Tapi, sebagai awal:

satu guru satu buku satu tahun

Anda siap?

 

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Kartini Next Generation Award 2013: Inspiring Women in ICT

It’s an honor for me to receive the Kartini Next Generation 2013 Special Award – Inspiring Woman in ICT by Ministry of Communications and Information Technology Republic of Indonesia with other inspiring women in several sectors like education, entrepreneurship, social community and creative media.

My love to technology started when my dad bought me my first laptop when I was 13 years old. I started to get connected to internet, find new friends all over the world, curious on how to make a website, starting my first web consultant company in highschool with the name ‘Kalong design’ :)) Creating websites with Geocities for my teachers.

Not many people knows, because I want to travel the world, I took ‘International Relations’ UMPTN test at Gajah Mada University. But I failed and went to Jakarta instead to take Information Technology. There, I met my friend Irman Fauzi and we have our own web consultant XUFOS Labs. and create our startup called Suka2Kamu.com it’s like a Facebook, basically :))

I took IT in college because I thought I will learn more about web developing, but turn out I only have it a little moment in 1 semester so I have to learn everything about web developing by myself. But the college experiences, meeting a lot of smart geeky friends who mostly men (only 20% of class are women), really matters for my personal development and understanding the tech world without being intimidated by it.

Before I finished college, I teach HTML and web building at Nurul Fikri. I was paid per hour and I was happy with my salary (compared to what I get from being a lab assistant in my campus lol). I also happy to see my students learn from zero to hero on how to make a website. Later after I become a writer and I started writing how-to books, this feeling grow stronger everytime I get an email, appreciating me for writing the book because it changes their life.

IT has changed my life indeed. Working my first and last job as web developer at Plasmedia IT consultant really teach me a lot about work and about life. My boss Mark Eliasaputra taught me to trust to myself and be confident. I know it’s hard for you to imagine, back then, I had no confidence in coding (afraid to make mistakes) and I was afraid to meet people (because I was a behind desk programmer).

It was all changing after I decided to be an entrepreneur, creating online bookstore Kutukutubuku.com with my bare imperfect-coding-skill hands and leave my full time job. Mindset has changed, I met a lot of people thru networking events, make new goals, create startups with visions and hopefully bigger impact for society.

With my partners at Nulisbuku.com, we tried to give solutions and solve ‘publishing’ problems for new aspiring writers. It was meant to solve my own problem at first, I can’t find publishers who want to published my not-so-popular-in-topic kind of books. Now, Nulisbuku has 30,000 members and help self-published more than 2,000 books in our print-on-demand platform. Generating tens of success and life altering stories, from people who believe in their dreams.

So, because I know how technology has changed my life, how it was becoming the enabler and catalyst for my growth, I try to spread the words to ladies to not being afraid to use technology for all their life purposes, to help solve problems within the community and eventually help the world. Technology is not complicated, it’s sophisticated

I want to mention some brave young ladies in IT, mostly my good friends, who has been using technology as part of their success and have inspired me:

Angeline Anthony ; Co-founder Kutukutubuku.com, NulisBuku.com. Background: Design. My long time partner and bestfriend. We worked together side by side when we were working full time. Our similar passion in books unite us. She’s reliable and effective. It was pleasure working and traveling with her (we’re spa lovers!)
Shinta Dhanuwardoyo ; Founder Bubu.com. Background: Architecture, Business. A ‘Goddess’ in Indonesia digital industry. One of Indonesian women role model in IT. She initiate Bubu Awards and ID-Byte, one of Indonesia’s largest digital event. She’s beautiful, very fashionably chic and a batik lover.
Anantya Van Bronckhorst ; Co-founder & Executive Director of Think.web. Background: Communications. My partner in Girls in Tech Indonesia. A very neat and solution oriented lady. Named one of successful young entrepreneurs. Love her!
Nuniek Tirta Ardianto ; Founder HamilCantik.com, Octovate Network Relationship Manager. Background: PR. My partner in StartupLokal. Highly connected, understand IT world really well because she marry Natali Ardianto Co-founder of Tiket.com
Alexis Brille & Febby Tan; Founders of Va & Co. Background: Computer Science & Information System (Alex) & Computer Arts (Feb). A dynamic, ‘crazy’, highly creative, brilliant and super smart girls. They’re doing things that I don’t understand :)) (like doing augmented reality at Gedung Sate). They’re my bestfriends who I can talk about everything, from UX, business, art, to love and life.
Titi Rusdi ; Co-founder of 7Langit. Background: Finance. She’s growing a successful Blackberry apps development company with her partner Oon. A happy & cheerful friend
Angie Marsha ; Co-founder JasaPembantu.com. Background: Secretary. She treat me like a mentor, she asks a lot of critical questions on how to build her company. But she never asks me if I want to be her mentor, like most people do. Instead, she just went directly pitch her ideas, vision and ask questions. I found chemistry with her and she’s now one of my best girls.
Diajeng Lestari ; Founder of HijUp.com. Background: Social Science. Running a successful Hijab fashion marketplace, she started as a fashion blogger, with vision. She brainstorm a lot with her husband, Achmad Zaky, the founder of BukaLapak.com, to start building her own dream company.
Dhyoti Basuki ; Head of Public Relation at Intel. Background: PR. Ask her anything about processors, she will give you the details. Nuff said Chic, feminine and pearly lady. I love her books collection
Astrid Warsito ; PR & Digital Communication Manager at Acer Indonesia. Background: Communications. She’s the woman behind the successful Acer Indonesia campaigns and make Indonesia one of role models for Acer global. Lovely cheerful lady with beautiful babies
Trinity ‘The Naked Traveler’ ; World traveler, travel blogger at naked-traveler.com. Background: Communications, Management. I call her Miss T, one of my favorite travel buddy, she utilize her blog to share her traveling story. It became successful, and even more successful when she turned it into a book. Now she’s traveling around the world in a year. I believe she’s in Ecuador now
Yuditha Sitinjak ; Founder Hakunamatata.co.id. Background: Design. Really impressed with Ditha. We met for 5 minutes after my talk in a conference, then she asked some suggestion for her startup, I gave her quick advice, then not too long after, she already make my suggestions into reality! Highly passionate and motivated girl!
Hanny Kusumawati ; Creative Director at Maverick, Co-founder Coin a Chance. Background: PR. She’s been using social media as tool to promote her social campaign on coin collecting. Now Coin a Chance already brought children back to school and put smile on their face. She’s a romantic writer, and my lovely poetry writing buddy
Ainun Chomsun ; Founder Akademi Berbagi. Background: Communications (I haven’t confirm :D). She’s been using social media as tool to spread information and create free classes with a lot of subjects to learn. Now her Akademi Berbagi classes are available in 38 cities in Indonesia. I have been teaching in several classes in Jakarta, Depok, Solo and Semarang. It was a valuable experience. One of Akademi Berbagi students, Mas Muadzin co-founder of Semerbak Coffee, finally finished his first book after he participate in my writing class in Akademi berbagi. She’svery inspiring and full of energy!

I know there are more ladies in IT, but I’m going to stop the list now. I’m looking forward to write a new ladies in tech list in my next posts!

Share me your own version of most inspiring women in IT in the comment box below!

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