Staying at home almost every day now has been a mandatory for people regardless of the age due to the pandemic and suggestion by the governments. I am aware that this has been a not so effective time spent for most people be them students or workers as there seems to be not so much can be done by fully staying home. Here comes the good news, there are fun and meaningful things we can do while being home:

1. Have more family time. You can gather with your family more often now that you are home, so spending some good time together during breakfast, lunch and dinner would be a good moment to enjoy.  You may also play with the decor a bit for fancy experience by writing up a menu and use the fancy glassware and candles, even if it’s just a meal of chicken nuggets 😉

2. Set up a regular schedule for connecting, through calls or video chats, to friends and extended family. Friendly faces and voices can do wonders for people in these tensed days. It will also help people to bond with others more than before.

3. Smarten up with online learning platforms. There are platforms offering online learning lesson both for kids and adolescence. If you google it, there will be plenty of offers awaiting to serve you. The point is to help people catch up with the material they need to know for their future study.

4. Claim the extra “me time” for an activity you otherwise too often push aside, like working out or playing music instrument. Living-room workouts don’t have to take up much space, time, or money; you can even have online instructor, free from youtube or paid tutoring from a licensed one. Let’s enrich ourselves and do something good for it!

5. Plant seedlings or plan your garden. It’s the perfect time to begin thinking about the bounty of summer months. If you don’t have access to outdoor open space, try planting indoor plants based on where you live (it can be a different list of indoor plants between countries).

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6. Learn something new. You can start to learn something new that could be useful and shape your skill, such as learning to knit, learning to play an instrument or even learning to cook! There are also other options based on your interest as well to learn though. You can search online for more ideas 😉

7. Donate new, unused face masks to hospitals and first responders who badly need them. I believe this simple and caring act can save a life even when we don’t have much our own, but this little act can mean so much for others, so spread love more!

8. Reach out to anxious friends and neighbors. In times like this, more often than not, people are in doubt and fear of getting infected or dying because of the spread virus as we have no idea how much they are exposed to it, and this is the moment where we can use our time to also support others mentally. I believe that having a healthy mental state alongside the physical fitness is important to have a good immune system to help combat the virus or any other factor triggering our well-being.

All in all, we can see that, in fact, there are many things we can still do while staying home most of the time. If we do it hand-in-hand, we would be able to overcome this difficulty as soon as possible or even make an achievement to remember after passing this outbreak. Stay healthy and spread more love everyone!

If you have been sitting in the couch, staring at your ceiling during nighttime, and feeling less excited doing your daily activity quite a while, I guess you have experienced an upheaval due to the pandemic we face these days. We start doubting our lives and productivity level because the downhill condition seems unavoidable for all human races and is inevitable to escape from. However, the good news is that we do not have to force ourselves to be on top all time. Instead, we can give ourselves some space to find ourselves back if it went far away.

Productivity expert, Racheal Cook, says that we need to start with compassion for ourself. Undeniably true that we might lose faith and excitement sometimes when stumbled by crisis. Therefore, when feeling stuck, it is suggested to take some time to try something new. You don’t need to master everything, she adds; simply doing something different can “activate other parts of your brain and help you think more clearly when you sit back down to work.”

Another thing is that everyone’s situation is different. Psychotherapist, Dana Dorfman, says that there’s no ‘right way’ to get through this difficult time other than allowing yourself to be your own way. “If you don’t have to work or you want to spend time with your family at home, or if you can scale back and just take some pressure off a bit — go for it”, she said. Don’t be afraid to find joy. “When we feel good or nurtured or feel like we’re discovering things about our relationships or ourselves, that enhances us as human beings and extends to other people. Despite social distancing, we’re all very connected”, she added.

All things considered, and I believe that by acknowledging our emotions during this pandemic and channelling it wisely, we would be able to pass this mass difficulty together. It’s okay to take a moment and have a break once in a while arranging our thought and feelings and get ready to take the next steps in an attempt to stay home but joyful and productive, be us students or workers. Stay joyful everyone! We are in this together!

Life journey always has its ups and downs no matter how seemingly perfect someone’s life is. It has no exception towards people, and it can happen anytime. Just like what we all face this time – pandemic of the COVID-19 which exposed global number of victims worldwide and becomes the most trending topic of the year. Simply put, there are times when things go beyond our control. We all know that at that rate, we would naturally feel depressed, frustrated or maybe we even feel like losing our hopes as we are having a hard time finding a solution for it.

Before all this pandemic arises, I have been reading a book in my downtime especially before I go to bed which you all might know as it is not a new published book entitled Life without limits by Nick Vujicic.

Nick Vujicic as you can see on the cover of the book is a man without limbs, but he has inspired many people by his limitless life. I feel so blessed by his sharings. There were moments when I was laughing out loud with the jokes he threw (I must admit he is a funny guy who knows how to joke! haha) and also moments when I was so touched by his life experience. What amazed me the most I guess is the way he responds to all the shortcomings he goes through. At the same time, I can also see how supportive his family in taking care and motivating him in the beginning of his journey. It must be pleasant to hear that, but trust me it doesn’t automatically be as it looks now. Instead, it is a result of a life process too. Please check his book for better understanding of his life journeys 🙂

Through his book, I feel inspired and strengthened especially when I have a difficult time. Everytime I feel like losing hope or myself in the midst of tough life, I feel thankful that it gets my back. No matter what happened, we still have control over our reaction. Yes, we might not be perfect human beings, but we could keep ourselves away from doing the wrong things to others and to ourselves.

All in all, if you feel like losing hope or have any negative thoughts of yourself, remember that God is with us, but He can’t be too easy to flip all the problems in our lives as it won’t do us good to be spoiled kids. One sure thing is that He promised to be with us in the process along the way. God bless you all!

Many of my closed ones know a random fact about me for being an extraordinary girl who likes unusual stuff. Things that are unique, especially those which are out of normal. I value almost every little crazy thing in my life. This is why I happened to pet eel and frogs when I was a kid, freaking out many of my other family members especially because I brought the frogs to a housewarming party of my relatives. When everyone was in shock with the view of me keeping those unusual animals to keep as pets, I found it cool and fun at the same time 😀 Dad always shook his head back then when I came home with a cage of chicks or birds and or a bag of fish and eel. Frogs and turtles were his gifts by the way as I asked him to buy me those little creatures.

Unfortunately, I have to say that the fate of my frogs and eel were not as I would expect them to be as they died tragically. I did a little bit of experiment to the frogs in the means of giving them a more real habitat by providing leaves and a bit of water inside the aquarium as I got inspired by the national geography program. The day after, I found them died in the tank (please don’t blame the channel for providing such idea as it was fully my immature action doing it when I was a kid and had no supervision to all of these doings). Other than eels, I also kept a turtle back then, a big one that looks like this:

My turtle stayed in the house yard. One day, there was a heavy rain, and the yard was full of water. I had an idea to put my eel in so that it can swim freely in the water. Recklessly, I forgot to take it back from the yard after an hour (in an hour the yard would be full of rain water before drying) as a result I couldn’t find it anywhere. I hoped to find it at least somewhere, but I couldn’t until I saw a fishy look at my turtle with a tail of its tongue. I never see him that way before; I thought he too was in danger. I took a closer look of it and felt that something was off. I wanted to confirm my doubt by pulling out the tongue’s tail from its mouth, and yes my doubt was right, it was my poor eel. it died in the hand of my turtle as I left it in the yard due to the rain. I felt so bad that day and never wanted to keep any of those unique animals to pet anymore so as not to harm them.

Now that I grew up, I kinda miss the moment when I could see my pets every time I’m home. I missed how I can take care of them and let them color my days with their wiggles. Better preparation should be set upon those living creatures arrival as I learnt a lot from the time I kept pets and that I can minimize the flaws in raising them in the future. Thank you for reading my random fact series blog and hope you guys enjoy your day! Feel free to comment and share your experience with your pets too. Would love to see how many of you share the same thing with me in raising pets at home!

I used to be a fan of manga drawings that directed me to even try drawing it myself until I bought a manga drawing books. The books consist of manga drawing techniques starting from the beginning. With that guidance, I was able to make my own manga drawing though it’s still far from perfection. Back then, there was no smartphone at all, so the only thing we could use to keep a memory of something was by using a camera. I was not a well-organized kid in the past that made me loose my stuff including the manga drawings I made 😦

My liking to Japanese stuff didn’t stop there as I also liked reading manga (comics) and novels. What is still vivid on my mind is a Japanese kid novel entitled “Totto-Chan: The Little Girl at the Window”. As a kid, I really enjoyed reading this novel for its classic pictures inside out. Not too many pictures inside but it’s just enough to represent the story. Written by Tetsuko Kuroyanagi, this novel tells about a little girl named Totto-Chan who studied at Tomoe Gakuen, a Tokyo elementary school founded by educator Sosaku Kobayashi during World War II.

Tomoe Gakuen was not just an ordinary school in general. It provides students with practical interesting subjects in which students could join any classes. Freedom of expression was well imposed in the story. It encouraged people to acknowledge kids’ talents and interest which might be different from one another.

After sharing all of these, I just realized that I was once a fan of Japanese stuff. I use the word ‘once’ because I change my preference to other regions like Thailand, China and Korea. I am not into Japanese stuff with no exact reason why this time. I think the other countries mentioned have more influenced in their movies now than before. However, it doesn’t mean that Japanese is off circle in mass media. Its culture heritage and beautiful scenery never fail to attract tourist each season especially during cherry blossom aka Sakura worldwide.

I know it feels so random for me to share all of this thought today, but this got me thinking how extraordinary each country is as it has its uniqueness and beauty. Let’s embrace the world more with respect and love!

Who likes raising fish at their homes? Also anyone here who likes planting? If your answer is yes for these two, you might consider practicing aquaponics system in your homes. Not many publications nor information about this technique has been exposed in general, but thanks to a friend, I now know this fascinating activity that even supports the environment constructively.

Aquaponics is actually a combination of the word aqua from aquaculture meaning raising fish in a controlled environment and ponics from hydroponics meaning growing in a soil less media . So, the idea is that aquaponics mimics a natural ecosystem. It represents the relationship between water, aquatic life, bacteria, nutrient dynamics, and plants which grow together. Aquaponics harnesses the power of bio-integrating these individual components:  Exchanging the waste by-product from the fish as a food for the bacteria, to be converted into a perfect fertilizer for the plants, to return the water in a clean and safe form to the fish.

I think this is an effective way of having our favorite activities done at the same time as we can integrate them. In a big scope, there are people who implement this system for their business.

Knowing that now we need to stay at home more than ever, I think making our own aquaponics at home wouldn’t hurt. Greener environment will help us refresh our mind and so our surroundings. Go get your very own plants and fishes to be home now!

#stayingathomecanbefun #ecofriendlyactivities # lockdownpositive

Hi everyone! It’s been quite a while not to keep in touch with you guys all. I have been in shocked and disbelief these days that coronavirus has ben at an alarming rate where I live. For about 2 weeks, Indonesia has been in red zone for the spreading of this pandemic issue, specifically in some big cities like Jakarta and my place of living, Surabaya.

To protect the people, our President, Joko Widodo, raises our awareness by encouraging us to stay and work from home to mitigate the virus spreading everywhere. This helps people be aware of their cleanliness and to pay more attention to their surroundings. Many Personal Protective Equipments (PPE) are used not only by health practitioners but also by publics in general as a prevention of the virus. However, the case with PPE is alarming recently as it is in high demand and is not enough to meet everyone’s need.

In response to PPE shortage, some people tried to make it by themselves, especially those who are basically active in garment industry. I know that cloth mask might not be as perfect as the surgical mask to combat the virus spread, but it does help to minimize the amount of bacteria to spread to other people. By staying fit, it is a good protection for ourselves and others to have better immune system to face coronavirus.

So, in this chance, I would like to encourage everyone who have all the materials to make their own masks. You can click on this link to get the patterns and steps of how to make it: https://www.instructables.com/id/DIY-Cloth-Face-Mask/

The patterns are downloadable and most of the materials are pretty much easy to get, so whenever you think you cannot help doing anything, just remember that every small act matters. Your supports, prayer and care to other people are best valued!

Let’s spread more love! Virtual hugs for all of you

Hey, you! Yes, you. Welcome to noodle lover’s page! 😀 Yeayy!

My close friends and relatives know me as a noodle addict as I happen to have noodles served in any kinds of cooking almost in any occassion. Simply, I don’t really have favouritism over specific types of noodles as I love almost all kinds of it. That’s why I never skip opting noodles for my meals at least once a week wherever I am. So, when I travel, I feel more grateful that I got a chance to try more variants of noodles regardless of the taste because sometimes it might not taste as good as I expected, or it just doesn’t suit my taste as Indonesian. I could say I have more pleasant experience with all kinds of noodles throughout the Asian countries I have ever visited. Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand serve amazingly noodle dish in many cooking variants like Hokkien mee, wonton mee and not to forget pad thai 😀

In this chance, I would like to cheer everyone who might have no chance to try those dishes. I could many times miss the chance to eat it myself 😦 and it isn’t easy to find it where I live. So, I come up with some alternatives to help me cure my noodles eating desire.

Anytime I feel like missing sweet and salty fried noodles, I will have this instant fried noodles (this is not a paid promote okay :p )

When I crave for something soupy and out of this country’s taste of soup noodles, I will have this Thai and Korean’s instant noodles. These really bring me to a place where I am not in at the moment.hohoho!

Note: we can also add some plain milk inside to lessen the spiciness of the soup

Last but not least, this is definitely a must have item we should keep as stocks at home – the all time favourite: Indomie!!! 😀

For a better experience of eating this Indomie fried noodle, you can try adding Bangkok spicy sauce and or sweet and spicy sauce (any brands will do but i use the one from Indofood). This instant noodle (our food emergency savior. Lol!) will never fail to be combined with any toppings such as eggs, chicken and veggies and especially with the sauce I recommend.

I think I have enough sharing my favourites and tips for making our instant noodles better than ever or at least far from boring :p now, it’s your turn to discover your own experience with noodles! Feel free to try my recommendation 🙂 But please don’t overly consume this type of food for your health okay?

Happy noodle-ing!

Mystery case file back in the past time always draws people’s attention in the modern era as it provides a history, leading to the existence of something. Perperators of kidnapping and killing in Korea, for example, will be sentenced to death since the case of murdered and kinapped child in the past. It also correlates to the myth of the ghost child, haunting the crime scene where it was located in a famous women university in South Korea, specifically in its music faculty building as the child happened to be killed there in the hand of a college student. This is just one out of many mystery cases I listened to these days from a famous Korean youtuber, Jang Han Seol who is best known as Korea Reomit in his youtube channel.

I am so interested in his stories from his news update, daily activities to mystery cases. His ‘scary story’ in a way has updated people about the dark stories happening in Korea, so basically we can refer to the originality of the case which later gives us an understanding as to why is there a policy upon a misfortune. Oppa Reomit (this is how I call him usually :p) is so fluent in Bahasa as he has ever stayed in Malang, Indonesia for about 10 years when he was small; therefore, he could speak fluent Javanese other than Bahasa, and this is also the reason why he named his youtube channel as Korea Reomit as when you spell the word Reomit backwards, it would be Timoer :p – interesting fact for new audience for this channel 😀 and thus it is clear and informative for us Indonesian to listen to him talking in the channel as he speaks bahasa and mainly targets Indonesian audience 🙂

Other than the scary storys which have accompanied me along this time, I also feel enlightened for his information about Korean culture and updates. It makes me want to discover more of the country itself in the future, and so I believe that this channel would be a huge help and inspiration for those who would like to continue their study in Korea or visit Korea for travel or business purposes.

Here is a sneekpeak of how he looks like if you still wonder and are not sure that this channel might be a good idea to check 😀

Happy Reomit-ing guys!

Has anyone here ever heard ASMR vlog on youtube? I believe that some of you might be familiar with this kind of vlogs already, name it from mukbang which is known as online audiovisual broadcast eating show in which a host eats food while interacting with audience to daily activities vlog which shows what people do daily, simply sharing the natural sound from their actions.

I’m so in love with the later recently as it feels so relaxing and comforting to hear the sound of people’s preparing food material, cutting food ingredients and of course the cooking show. These vloggers might not be famous chefs making fabulous dishes, but their simple homey dishes get me thinking of how it feels like to be living alone away from family but taking care of ourselves well. I love to know and am so inspired to put into practice what they do to keep themselves fed well with simple cookings and how to keep their place of living clean and homey to stay. I feel both happy and inspired to know this ASMR vlog as it comforts me for its sound and also inspires me to be more creative. Talking about being creative, I like to make DIY products, and I was inspired to tailor my place of living to my liking from vlogs.

Above is an example of inspiring vlogs for DIY room decoration ideas that I like to see in my down time. I feel like calling all K-pop fans out there to join me watching this vlog as everything is so Korean 😀 – the room setting and decoration, looking adorable isn’t it?

Feel free to check more of this type of vlogs on youtube based on your preference in your free time. Last words: Be happy. Be productive. Enjoy!

Happy ASMR-ing! 😉