Better Late than Never Post: Back to School - Beijing

How many considerations you had or reviews you have to read before making a decision? Some of us might more careful than others, some would love to know a lot about the details before making a decision, especially a big one. For me, I'm a 'go with the flow' kind of person. I don't criticize a lot and I tend to take whatever that's on the table. That is also how I decide on which school I attend. :D What I'm talking about is how I decide to choose Beijing Open University 北京广播电视大学/北京开放大学 to study Mandarin at their Chinese Center for two semesters.

Actually I asked a few agencies and few persons before I choose which school I'm going to, and my friend who is also my roommate then in Beijing also searched for some information regarding some school in Beijing. I can say that my roommate likes to search and browse for information and I am the opposite (hohoho). When I went to an agency in Pluit, they suggest Beijing Open University, I didn't remember exactly what are the reasons why they suggest BJOU to me, but they also gave me list of some universities and the total expenses for one year study. I knew that I want to study at Beijing, and in a place where they don't have a lot of Indonesian people in hopes that it would improve my language skill faster and they say this school didn't have a lot of Indonesian people study there. When my roommate and I checked their website, they put an Indonesian contact person there. We decided to contact Ms. Huang directly instead of using agency. Surprisingly, Ms. Huang was giving us a prompt and informative reply regarding what we need to enroll to BJOU. We also applied for the full scholarship offered, and we got it! HA! Lucky us. It's a RMB 8,000 worth of scholarship per year.

Based on the list that the agency gave me, it is cheaper to study at BJOU compared to other universities in Beijing. The Chinese Center itself only had around 100-ish students per semester. It is a small school compared to others, but I like that in one class, they were only around 10 persons so the class was more private. It gives a lot of benefit for students improvement. They also provide a one on one class or group class based on request- but I took the regular class. If never learned Chinese before, don't worry, they will teach you from the very basic. 

For the school fee itself, during my period of study: Autumn 2012 and Spring 2013, each semester is RMB 8,000/semester/4 months. As for the dorm fee, it was RMB 5,600/4 months/shared room (special price for scholarship student). For living fee in Beijing, it depends on your lifestyle. During my stay there, the standard meal would cost around RMB15/ meal. You can find a lot of cheaper food than that, and you'll save more if you cook yourself! The public transportation is also very affordable and quite reliable (exclude the rush hour- you better stay at home). The bus' fare starts from RMB0.40 and for the subway, it only costs RMB2.00 to any station. - those price were only valid till the last day I was in Beijing, July 10th 2013, and the exchange rate was still RMB1= IDR 1,600.

I heard that the living cost and the school fee at a non-big city in China is more cheap, so I believe that you can save more by choosing other a smaller city. The one thing I know for sure is, after learning for two semesters in Beijing, it didn't only improve my language skill, but it also opened my eyes and my mind about the world. Being able to meet friends from all over the world, helpful teachers and experiencing a Chinese culture. It something that I wouldn't trade with anything in this world. In fact, writing all of the details above makes me missing them more :(

The Indonesian Girls in front of at BJOU, Ms. Huang is also in the picture :)

Anyway I might not being to detailed about what I write in here but feel free to contact me if you had any questions regarding my experience back then. If you ever had a dream about studying in China (like I did), you should take the chance!

Good luck!


Abeth

Beijing or Jakarta: 爱你没差- Love you, no matter what (PART 2)

This is the second part regarding Jay Chou's concert. The first one can be seen in here. So as I mentioned earlier on the first part of this post. I'm going to write about my experience watching Jay Chou's concert. This is his second concert I've been to in my life, and it's happening with only twenty weeks time difference. How could that possible? Only God knows why.

I was really sure, with my limited thought and faith (haha) that Jay Chou will never had a concert in Jakarta. That's why I was willing to watch the concert alone in Beijing (which I never regret). So when my sister said that Jay Chou was going to held a concert in Jakarta. I was like in my own thought: "no sh*t r u kiddin' me!"  - kids please don't curse like this in front of your parents-. What I thought was impossible, turns out to be possible. You just gotta have a little faith and then viola! God will let Jay Chou performing in the city where you lives. Amen! I think my sister did pray a lot for Jay to come to Jakarta :p

I was just coming back from Beijing this early July and then my sister told me about the news. She was super excited to buy the pre-sale ticket from Jay Chou's fans club, while me.. I have to admit that I wasn't as excited as the first time I want to watch his concert. Maybe if I can describe what's inside my head it, it would be "okay. Jay Chou's coming to Jakarta.", while my sister was like: " O MY GOD JAY CHOU'S COMING TO JAKARTA!!! WHERE CAN I GET THE TICKET? WHERE WHERE? WHEN? HOW TO? O MY GOD PLEASE LET THIS NEWS BE TRUE AND NOT ONLY HOAX!" Yep, probably something (less) like that. I understand that feeling, it was me a while back ago when I wanted to buy the Beijing concert's ticket. This is a feeling that can only be experienced by a true fan (hahaha claiming my self a true fan huh?). I let my sister decide and handled all the ticketing process but I told her that I want have a center seat. We decided to buy the Gold Center ticket. The ticket price is starting from IDR750,000 to IDR3,000,000. It is not a cheap price. We all know that. Again, as I mentioned somewhere in my earlier post, love needs sacrifice. For me, buying Jay Chou's concert ticket costs a lot of money.

To cut the story short, finally it's October 12th 2013 already. The venue was at Ancol, Mata Elang International Stadium. Though the ticket says the show starts at 7p.m., but my friend, as a true Indonesian we all know being fashionably late is a common thing in our daily lives, so 7.45 p.m. was the time the show started. I had to admit that even though I said that I wasn't that excited anymore to watch the concert, once the show was about to start, my heart was racing. Suddenly I felt like I am a teenager again (well I am still one *age denial*). When Jay finally showed up on the stage, some people went crazy (me! me!), while some people were just chilling and stay cool on their seats. Myself, I stood up in front of my seat. I got excited watching my idol performing in front of me with a super awesome effects (the venue and effects are waaaay better than the Beijing one). And there it is... just when I stood up in front of my seat, a lot of people behind me (I'm not saying one, it's more than five aunties) asked me to sit down because they said I was blocking their view. They probably didn't now that there are two giant screens in front of them. So I was like, okay, maybe I get too excited, I calmed down a little bit. I sat down, tried to enjoy the show and pleased those aunties behind me.

How come you get so calm when Jay Chou is singing in front of you?

Then the show continued, I had an idea in my mind that the concert's song list would be the same with the Beijing concert but I was wrong! On Jakarta concert, Jay sang a lot of different songs with the one in Beijing. Yippie! I was so happy since I the songs were more familiar to my ears too hohoho. The "Rooftop" skit was not being performed during the show, instead he performed a lot of his older songs. Then as of course I got more and more excited during the show, I stood up in front of my seat and started to sing along during the show. Then suddenly I felt a pat on my back, another auntie told me to sit down again. This time, I told her to suck it up! *sigh* I wish I had that courage. Instead, I gave her my best smile and told her to stand up and enjoy it like I did. Ever since I don't care anymore, I stand up whenever I want to. Come on aunties, this isn't a cinema -_-'

Overall I enjoyed Jay's concert in Jakarta, though I think that his voice wasn't at his best, maybe he ate too many gorengan the other night after rehearsal- just kidding everyone, don't take it seriously. He tried his best to engage the audience during the show, interact with the audience, but sadly (this is the part where I complain *again*)  most of the audience didn't connect with him back. I said before that I'm not Jay's #1 fan,  but between Gold center audience, I think I'm his #1 fans comparing myself with others who just sat down and looked like they only know less than ten Jay Chou's song out of 30 songs he performed that night. Most of the audience didn't even stand up even on the last song :( You paid some great amount of money, to be entertained, but you don't seem to enjoyed it. Why aunties and uncles? why?
My salute goes to the audience from the left and right wing side, they are the real Jay fans, their energy was positive during the whole show.

Anyway, despite the complaints I wrote above, overall my sister and I were happy yippie!!! Thank you so much for coming and making your fans' dreams of watching you live came true. We couldn't be any happier seeing you performing live on stage. We are proud to have a hardworking (and hard abs) idol like you, Mr. Jay :) We are certain that this won't be the last time seeing you performing live. We have our faith!

简简单单爱

The Happy Girl,

Abeth

Boba Life: Fat Straw

If you looked into my wallet now, you'd find loyalty cards of many bubble drinks stall instead of a credit card under my name. Maybe you have one of those loyalty cards too.

Bubble tea or bubble drinks isn't a new thing around us. I remember being a teenager (more than a decade ago) and that time, Taiwanese bubble tea was a hit. I think that time the price was around IDR 10,000 or something. Now, just like fashion, the bubble tea makes a comeback to our daily life- with the price doubled. They visit us just like an old friend, bringing back the good old memories back then. (halah ketauan tuanya dah)

Okay so this one place I visit, is very easy to find. If you live in Kelapa Gading or come to this area often, you wouldn't find any difficulties to reach this place. You just follow the Kelapa Nias Raya road, after Mahaka Square/ Sportsmall on your left, you'll see a cute Bee sign hanging. If the sign says: "Fat Straw", that's the place I'm talking about.

They said their specialty drink is Ice Milk Drink, comes in a big size cup. So me and my sister ordered the Caramel Pudding + Honey Boba one, then a Black Magic Milk Tea, and an original toast.

Tadaaaa...

This is the hard part. The part where I have to say my verdict. I have to say that the there's nothing special about the taste, I mean, it's bubble tea, what else do you expect. It's not a fireworks in your mouth. On the other hand, it's a great alternative place to hangout for you and your friends/ family ( I assume that this place is more suitable for teens and young families). I wish when I was younger I had a cute place like this to hangout (it's an affordable price for Kelapa Gading's teenagers, I think). There are indoor and outdoor seated areas. Probably the night time would be a better place to hangout because when I came in the afternoon if you're sitting next to the glass window, mamamia! an ice cube would melt easily there. 

So everyone, please don't get satisfied easily with what I write in here. You should come with your loved ones there, try the boba, take a cute pictures and tell me what you think about it too :)

Let's raise our boba cups and say CHEERS!

Abeth

Yummy for Tummy: An Introduction

I never consider myself as a foodie, a food critic or whatsoever, but I do like to post cute pictures of food on Instagram. Some people are criticizing the "take pictures and upload it on social media before eating" habit, for me, I kinda find it annoying too - even tough I'm doing it myself. I just couldn't resist sometimes. So please forgive me, I know I'm annoying, but it only take less than two minutes for me to do it. I wouldn't let your meal to get cold so that I can get some 'likes' on Instagram anyway :p

As for restaurant nowadays, I think that most of the newly opened restaurants are selling a nice view, location, and decorations instead of the food it-self. In my personal opinion, the reason I go to a new restaurant was one, everyone goes there and I don't want to feel left behind (latah dong eke). Second, the place is so cute, I can share it on social media and everyone must have thought that I had a great weekend. Shallow me, I admit it. haha. Last but not least, I have so materials to write for you guys! Isn't it great? You finally get a valuable lesson reading this blog (take that, Wikipedia!)

On the other side, I have to tell you, eating out in those kind of cute restaurants aren't cheap. Well, it's actually also depend on what you ordered, but I personally think that eating out in a cute/ happening/ popular place in Jakarta also costs a lot of money. Maybe it has something to do with the economy and the rising of the middle class people in Indonesia? (here you go, I made up my own theory). I think that eating out in Indonesia right now is the same with Singapore- when 1SGD = IDR 7,500 (me, reminiscing the old days when I still earned SGD haha). So... yup.. I might started some posts about food or restaurant. I can't promise that it would be an accurate and objective review. Well, maybe it's better that I told you that it's not objective at all, so you won't complaint later :D

It's just me sharing my thoughts about what I eat. So come take a bite with me if you want to!

Cheers,

Abeth

Beijing or Jakarta: 爱你没差- Love you, no matter what (PART 1)

The post title is based on a Jay Chou's song "爱你没差" ai ni mei cha which means "Love you, no matter what" in English. It's a song on Jay's latest album "Opus" and it is a conclusion of what I had in my mind and my heart (hahaha) regarding Jay Chou- especially his Opus World Tour 2013 concerts (yes, concerts with 's', plural).

First of all, I would like to declare that I like Jay Chou. As I may have mentioned about him in some post way back since the first time I started to blog, but I never consider myself as his #1 fan. I am far faraway from that. To be honest, I like him more when I first started to learn Mandarin (around 10 years ago) and listening to his music/ song lyrics helps me to improve my Mandarin (believe it or not). Around ten until three years ago, my sister -she's the one who usually buy stuff, I only use them for free-  still buy the original cassettes (please don't tell me you don't know what this stuff is) and the original CD's, also some of Jay's VCD concert. Then things changed, our priorities change, I'm not really up to date with Jay's latest works, about his movie career especially, but in music wise, I still know that he's having a new album coming up, and so on.

Part One: BEIJING

Then something magical (HAHA) happened during my stay around March 2013 in Beijing. I received an SMS about Jay Chou's concert in Beijing, and somehow my heart skipped a beat, one because I know it's about Jay Chou's concert in Beijing and second because I'm not really sure on the details about SMS because of my limited Mandarin skill (boo hoo!). There's only one thing I know for sure: I WANT TO GO TO THE CONCERT!!!! Hahaha.. excuse my excessive use of caps lock there, but if it was a movie, you can say that my heart was full with explosion and fireworks back then. I couldn't even had a good night sleep for few days because I haven't bought the concert ticket yet. When finally I had the ticket in my hand, it was a joyful moment and my sister can only jealously imagining that she'd able to watch to concert with me. I really believe back then that Jay will never be able to had a concert in Jakarta, that's why I didn't mind when I have to watch this concert alone, it's a price I am willing to pay (and the ticket price too). I bought the RMB 780 ticket price on the left wing stage, and I have to say that it is not a cheap price ticket (the cheapest was, but as we already know.. love needs sacrifice.

On Sunday, May 26th 2013, the long waited day finally arrived. One day before the show, I watched the Shanghai Opus World Tour uploaded on youku.com (China's Youtube) from fancam so I had a little bit of image on my mind on how's the concert gonna be like - since I believe that I need to catch up with a lot of Jay's newer song. I took 地铁/ subway to reach the stadium, and just when I exited the subway, it pedestrians were full with people who sold Jay-related accessories and souvenirs for the concerts dominated with pink color. My heart beats even faster when I reached the gate of 首都体育馆, but surprisingly, there are no signage or a poster to indicate that there will be a Jay Chou's concert in it. If I hadn't seen the merchants who sold the accessories earlier, I might have think that I've gotten into the wrong place.
Then when I finally enter the stadium, there was not many seats filled yet since it was one and half hour before the show. It was really hot when the show haven't started yet, but luckily later on the AC was working properly as soon as the crowd started to show up one by one. The person sitting next to me was also coming early and he was watching by himself too, so I didn't feel that lonely waiting for one and half hour. He even asked me to keep watch of his belongings while he went to the restroom. This boy definitely didn't remember his mama's advice to not to talk to any strangers, let alone to let a stranger to keeping eye on your belongings *tsk tsk*. How lucky he is to meet an honest Jay fans like me.

Anyway, after one and half hour waiting, the seats inside the stadium were slowly occupied. Fans were starting to light the pink light stick given at each of our seats. The lights were being dimmed off so you can see the sea of pink light stick and you can already feel the excitement and anticipation of the crowd. Then the long waited moment happened, precisely at 07.30 p.m. the white curtains that covers the stage finally dropped down. That moment, everyone went crazy (HAHA), the screams are everywhere and I had no hesitation to join the fun. And there he was, Jay Chou, at the stage, singing live in front of me (and thousands other people) with his six pack -this is very important detail. Luckyly that day, I borrowed my teacher's binocular (my LaoShi likes to watch Beijing Opera with it) and it is very very useful to be able to see Jay Chou (his six pack - now I sounded like a perverted lady hahaha)  clearly. I have to admit that my seat isn't the best seat to see the whole stage so I depended a lot on the screen and binocular.

View from my seat on the opening song. Didn't bring along a proper camera that time, only Blackberry

Although I've watched the concert on the internet a night before, the excitement and the feelings were totally different, especially when you were standing with a crowd who shared the same (and even more) excitement than what you had. The fans were continuously singing, cheering and screaming during the show. I have no idea on how can they have that much energy to do that for two consecutive hours, but it was a very fun night, everyone had fun, everyone responded positively to the concert and what Jay asked us to do. In short it was a fantastic moment for me personally, not only because I get to see my idol, but also because I was able to shared the excitement and I didn't feel like I was alone watching the concert, those other thousand strangers were my best friends for the night. My favorite song for the night gotta be: 哪里都是你- it stuck in my head for weeks after the concert。

The best video I had on my blackberry (please excuse the shaky hands haha)

In short, I'm a happy girl that night, probably the happiest girl for the weekend at my school because they said I looked super happy on Monday after watching Jay Chou's concert. Hahaha. Some might say that it's a bit exaggerated, but I did feel awesome for the whole week :p
I even thought that watching Jay Chou's concert was the highlight of my life in Beijing, going to the Great Wall or eating Beijing Roast Duck can't be compared to the feelings I had back then. *smiling ear to ear*

*this post will continue on Part 2: JAKARTA :)

Behind Those Aisles

Today I accompanied my mom and went to one of hypermarket in Kelapa Gading. The funny thing is, when I walked into the fruits and vegetables sections, my mind went instantly to the hypermarkets I used to go to when I was still studying in Beijing, Walmart (沃尔玛) and Carrefour (家乐福） . It reminds me of the joy and the luxury (ha?) of strolling around each section of the hypermarkets, trying to read the words (汉字）on the packaging, and guessing what ingredients contained on the items *dork alert*.

I may describe it a little way overboard haha. What I meant to say is, as a student (and unemployed at that time), going to the supermarket/ hypermarket is a form of entertainment for us (me). If I were in Jakarta, going to the mall and strolling around malls for hours is a form of entertainment because some of the items are still much affordable compare to the malls in Beijing. So, how do I substitute my longings to go the malls like I used to in Jakarta? Going to hypermarkets is the answer. HAHAHA... 

As a student, my class everyday starts from 8.30 am- 11.45 a.m., after that I didn't have any other activities. So you can say I had plenty of time to play around or get wasted (hahaha no no I use my time wisely :p). The nearest mall to my dorm/ school would take a bus ride or a subway ride, but to get to Walmart, it takes around five - ten minutes walk (depending on my mood) and around fifteen minutes to get to Carrefour. So whenever we get bored, we could just open the door, bring my wallet, (oops don't forget to bring the dorm key) and walk into the hypermarket. Most of the things I bought at the hypermarkets were snacks or bread for my breakfast - and to be honest, I prefer to buy licensed brand products because I believe that I don't need to questioned about the quality of products whatsoever. There are a lot of cheap price products at the markets that sometimes I get scared on how can they get profits with such low price items. Canned beer for example, I thinks it was only one kuai/ can, while the bottled mineral water was more expensive than that. 

Anyway.. it's amazing on how such a little thing like going to the hypermarkets can bring such a good memories. When I was still in Beijing, I never thought that Walmart and Carrefour can bring such a sentimental memories about the days careless and free days as a student. Hahaha.. Maybe next time I'm gonna write another ordinary thing that triggers my memory about some good old days. Yeah... those were really good times back then *gazing the window*

Love,

Abeth