finally!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you!!!

Sending you warm hugs, kisses, and good wishes!

Have a wonderful holiday.....

:)

1 Dec 2009

Today is World Aids Day!
Show that you care! Give love and receive more love in return :)
I did put the red ribbon on my favorite broken white satin top. Every one in my campus did wear the red ribbon they received on entrance. The spirit of care and awareness makes me feel happy, plus, all my lecturers were too kind today.
So I guess I could say that this is a great start of a new month.. A very wide smile is on my face right now if only you could see :p
Let's welcome December with warm heart full of wishes..
I don't know if i still believe in Santa as much as I was when I were a little girl,
but I still believe in miracles. And as far as i know, Christmas is the time when most of the miracles in the world happened! (no statistic needed)
My wish for this Christmas is for the world to be a better place: children in third-world countries get proper education and health care, no more wars, people can forgive each other, peace and justice, and all of the people that I love and care about is safe and happy.
Ahem. Sounds pretty much like a dream to some of you, perhaps :)
But imagine if it does come true..
How I wish that millions of other people in the world have a wishlist similar to mine..
Santa could probably make it as Top Priorities in his agenda this Christmas and all our wish would come true, and the world will be a better place for all of us :D

"Paradise is where I am!" - Voltaire

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. .. Explore. Dream. Discover.” – Mark Twain

“The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page.” – St. Augustine

“He who does not travel does not know the value of men.” – Moorish proverb

“All travel has its advantages. If the passenger visits better countries, he may learn to improve his own. And if fortune carries him to worse, he may learn to enjoy it.” – Samuel Johnson

“To awaken quite alone in a strange town is one of the pleasantest sensations in the world.” – Freya Stark

“Travel is more than the seeing of sights; it is a change that goes on, deep and permanent, in the ideas of living.” – Miriam Beard

"One of the gladdest moments of human life, methinks, is the departure upon a distant journey into unknown lands. Shaking off with one mighty effort the fetters of habit, the leaden weight of routine, the cloak of many cares and the slavery of home, man feels once more happy." - Sir Richard Burton

"Don't tell me how educated you are, tell me how much you traveled." - Prophet Mohammed

“The journey not the arrival matters.” – T. S. Eliot

“A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step.” – Lao Tzu

“Our battered suitcases were piled on the sidewalk again; we had longer ways to go. But no matter, the road is life.” – Jack Kerouac

How Many Countries are there in the World?

This particular question pops out on our heads some times. I had a light debate with my friend about the exact answer. He told me that there were 223 countries in this world. I gave it a thought for some seconds then I remembered being told by my other friend that there were actually 195 countries in this world! I googled it, then found the answer from http://geography.about.com/od/countryinformation/a/capitals.htm. Yes, i was right!
There are 195 beautiful countries, apart from what is happening in that country or what has happened there, in this small tiny little earth. (compare it to the whole universe, we're just one little dot, a living dot.)

I also found out that Vatican City and Kosove are not listed as the member of the UN. And some times people confused Puerto Rico, Bermuda, Greenland, Palestine, Western Sahara, and even the components of the United Kingdom (such as Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales, and England) as countries. But they are actually not a country, they are governed by another countries.

United States recognizes only 194 countries in this world. Taiwan fails to be recognized by the international community as independent due to political reasons. But we should also consider it independent as it meets the requirements. Eh, simply confused me.

How many countries in this world have you visited by far?

Here is the statistic of my country :

Indonesia

* Official name: Republic of Indonesia
* Capital: Jakarta
* Total Area: 1,919,445 km2
* Approximate population: 231,627,000
* Location: Southeastern Asia
* Languages: Bahasa Indonesia, other local languages and dialects
* Religions: Roman Catholic, Protestant, Sunni Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist
* Currency: Rupiah
* Organizations: United Nations, Association of Southeast Asian Nations, Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries
* World's 16th largest country/territory (area)
* World's largest arhipelago
Plus, there are 18,110 islands in Indonesia out of which only 600 are inhabited by people!

Here's is the statistic of Malaysia, our neighboring country which currently has some issues claiming our Pendet Dance (it's from Bali,Indonesia) :

Malaysia

* Official name: Federation of Malaysia
* Capital: Kuala Lumpur
* Total Area: 332,965 km2
* Approximate population: 26,572,000
* Location: Southeastern Asia
* Languages: English, Malay, Chinese, Tamil, other local languages
* Religions: Sunni Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu, Christian, other traditional beliefs
* Currency: Ringgit
* Organizations: United Nations, Commonwealth of Nations, Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, Association of Southeast Asian Nations
* World's 66th largest country/territory (area)

Indonesian people are really friendly! Trust me, we just send our deepest sympathy to our fellow who claims or steals our traditional songs, Reog, Pendet Dance, Wayang, Batik, Sipadan and Ligitan, our Kalimantan or Borneo, etc. I know how bad it feels to not having any particular culture as your own. But i guess at least we all how bad it is to steal :)

Anyways.. If you wanna know the names and the capitals of all the lovely countries, feel free to check out my blog.

XxOo


http://geography.about.com/cs/countries/a/numbercountries.htm
http://www.blurtit.com/q448985.html
http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2009/08/23/protests-over-presence-pendet-dance-malaysia%E2%80%99s-tourism-ad-continue.html

places i've been to

Europe

Austria : Innsbruck
Belgium : Brussels
France : Athis-Mons
France : Lyon
France : Marseille
France : Paris
Germany : Dusseldorf
Germany : Frankfurt
Italy : Florence
Italy : Mestre
Italy : Milan
Italy : Rome
Italy : Venice
Luxembourg : Luxembourg City
Switzerland : Engelberg
Switzerland : Zurich
The Netherlands : Amsterdam
The Netherlands : Volendam

United States

CA : Alameda
CA : Alhambra
CA : Carlsbad
CA : City of Industry
CA : Coronado
CA : Escondido
CA : Fresno
CA : Fullerton
CA : Glendale
CA : Long Beach
CA : Los Alamitos
CA : Monterey Park
CA : Pasadena
CA : Pomona
CA : Presidio of San Francisco
CA : Ramona
CA : Rosemead
CA : San Diego
CA : San Gabriel
CA : San Francisco
CA : San Simeon
CA : Santa Monica
CA : Sunset Beach
CA : Ventura
CA : West Covina
CA : West Hollywood
NV : Las Vegas

places i've been to in Asia Pacific

Asia Pacific

Australia : Adelaide
Australia : Canberra
Australia : Melbourne
Australia : Perth
Australia : Sydney

China : Beijing
China : Hongkong
China: Macau
China : Shanghai
China: Shenzen

Indonesia : Bandar Lampung
Indonesia : Banten
Indonesia : Bekasi
Indonesia : Belitung Island
Indonesia : Berastagi
Indonesia : Bogor
Indonesia : Borobudur
Indonesia : Carita
Indonesia : Cianjur
Indonesia : Cilacap
Indonesia : Cisarua
Indonesia : Denpasar
Indonesia : Gili Air
Indonesia : Jakarta
Indonesia : Jimbaran
Indonesia : Kuta
Indonesia : Legian
Indonesia : Lembang
Indonesia : Lombok
Indonesia : Magelang
Indonesia : Medan
Indonesia : Nusa Dua
Indonesia : Palembang
Indonesia : Parapat
Indonesia : Pematang Siantar
Indonesia : Samosir
Indonesia : Sanur
Indonesia : Semarang
Indonesia : Serang
Indonesia : Solo
Indonesia : Surabaya
Indonesia : Tasikmalaya
Indonesia : Ubud
Indonesia : Yogyakarta

Japan: Kyoto

Japan: Osaka

Japan: Tokyo

Korea: Seoul
Korea: Incheon
Korea: Nami Island

Malaysia : Genting Highland
Malaysia : Ipoh
Malaysia : Johor Bahru
Malaysia : Kota Bharu
Malaysia : Kuala Lumpur
Malaysia : Petaling Jaya
Malaysia : Pulau Penang
Malaysia : Subang Jaya

Singapore : Singapore

Taiwan : Taipei

Thailand : Bangkok
Thailand : Penang
Thailand : Phuket

hey everyone!

My name is Airin and I am from the most beautiful country in the whole wide world, Indonesia, which consists of 17,508 islands, about 6,000 of which are inhabited.
I stay in Jakarta, its dynamic capital city. Try our Bajaj and Busway when you got the chance to come here. For people living in Jakarta, it is the weather that they are mostly complain about. It could be very hot from day to night and there are some times it keeps on raining for days. What i love most from Jakarta? The food. You can find almost anything here from anywhere. ANYTHING! Traditional ones are my favorite : gado-gado, gorengan, rendang, nasi kuning, nasi liwet, pecel, soto!, i could write pages and pages about food :p

More about myself is i love green, butterflies, coffee, ice cream, and i love traveling. My family also like traveling, not as much as i do though. We travel the world together every time we got the chance to do so. I never do it the backpackers' way, cause my parents think that it's not really recommended for me who's just turning 18 last week. So even though i DO really want to go backpacking, i could wait just for another couple of years while im collecting some money. Most of the times i took a tour from the traveling agency so everything has been arranged by them. But last holiday we planned everything by ourselves with the help of some relatives living in the cities we visited.

Later on i will post the countries and cities i have visited up until now. My next destination is New York!, or Japan!. Japan is not too far to my hometown, but i wanna go meet Alexa Chung. She's my role model in fashion!! This would be another trip with my family i supposed. My brother is dying to eat Ramen in Tokyo cause we havent find any Ramen house here that serve better Ramen than they have in Tokyo. But if any of you know where to find a good ramen house in Jakarta, i would really love to know that! :)

Now that i've watched UP (it's a good movie by the way), i have a new goal in my life. I have to try that bungee jumping from the waterfall at least once. Must be exhilarating when u jumped off the waterfall and you could hear the sound of the water just right beside your ears. Woot!

I am studying communications in one of the best place with the best lecturers, London School of Public Relations Jakarta. I am a freshman and really excited with my new campus life! Hope it gets more and more exciting :)

So, now that you know me better, just follow this blog or leave a comment, or you can just simply continue reading my blog! Wow how easy is that! A big and loving thanks to you. Cheers!

xxoo
Airin