Beth's posts with tag: germany
Forwarding a fellow's message in toytown...good news for everyone: Starting Dec. 1st, travelers can bring more goods 'dutyfree' to bring on plane or boat from n on-EU countries to Germany! Limit raised to 430 euro instead of the previous 175. Yay! Here the link for new regulation (in Deutsch)
|  | Maap, nggak banyak moto-moto karena memang niatnya cuman beli backfisch lalu pulang. Setiap ada pasar malam gini gue and D emang paling doyan hunting makanan hehe...Menu wajib adalah backfisch sama mandel. Nah yang nggak wajibnya yang banyak :D |
 | Go nude! | Oct 31, '08 9:26 AM
for everyone |
On Wednesday, four people came to replace our window with the new ones. Considered that the work would take at least 7 hours, I and D decided to go to wellness center. So there we went, to a place called Aqualand – Köln. We did everything there, from just lying down, swimming, sliding, doing massage, sauna Jacuzzi and even sleeping. And what was so special? Bloody hell... Even I read already about this naked culture, I was still shock to see so many ‘elephants’ and ‘papayas’ in sauna area. We have sauna also here in our apartment complex, but so far not many people go there and none of them are total naked. It took really a big courage to be total naked among several –also- naked people. First I went to Turkey something sauna which had a lot of steam smoke, so you can barely see if someone else also there. Inside this smoky area I felt safe - naked.
Not forget to mention, that I bought special wardrobe to wear when walking around in sauna lounge where most other people (usually the old ones) simply showing their elephants and papayas! In fact there was a rule written in the wall that you are not allowed to be naked in the lounge. You only allowed to be naked when you are inside the sauna room. But of course some people just ignorant and it hurts my eyes! Where are macho guys and sexy girls when I need them?! Doh, they prefer to wrap their body! But yes, when we already inside sauna room, everybody naked; old, sexy, small, big, fat, wrinkles, macho…except me! And of course everybody looked at me like I was an alien. Hello, I remove my bikini already! I only wear towel to wrap my body, is it not naked enough?? Then in another sauna room, one guy came. I didn't look at him directly but with my eyes corner, I realize that he also wrap his body with towel. Aha, I have another alien friend. So I turned my body to face him. I guess I would have better view than seeing naked old women. But…but… the guy sat that way so that his elephant under his towel pointed at me at first sight! O M G! Saw my red face, D took me out from that weird area. We back to pool area. D still back many times to sauna cos in fact sauna has so many interesting programs (i.e pour your body with coffee cream, vegetables shower, etc.), but this time he went back without me. My god! I still have the pictures in my mind!!
Asyem, abis di ke Köln, pulangnya dicegat polisi.
Ceritanya, begitu sampe di stasiun sini, gue naik sepeda buat ke rumah yang jaraknya msih sekitar 1 km. Naik sepedanya super ngebut karena dingin, nggak pake jaket tebel...Soalnya tadi pas baru berangkat gak dingin-dingin amat. Kira-kira 300m dari rumah dicegat polisi, ditanyain siapa namanya, mau kemana dari mana, bla...bla...endingnya; Frau Agustina, anda bermasalah karena naik sepeda gak pake lampu.
Halah, mana gue tau kalo lampu gue ternyata matek (seingat gue dulu sempet idup :D) ? Mana gue tau kalau ternyata lampu di sepeda hukumnya adalah wajib. Dengan muka dimelas-melasin gue bilang aja kalau ich habe keine Ahnung kalau lampunya rusak. Kirain masih nyala. Untung pak polisinya baik...jadi gue gak didenda, cuman dinasehatin aja hehe...
Tapi ngasih nasehatnya lumayan lama bo...Secara dia mikir gue nggak ngerti hukum-hukum persepedaan di negeri Hermann, dia neranginnya jadi kemana-mana. Wuih, padahal asli dingin di jalanan. Akhirnya setelah gue pasang bahasa tubuh gemetaran karena dingin, dia nyuruh gue lanjut jalan 
Jadi ingat, dulu sering pulang dari kampus kemalaman. Rumah gue cuman sekitar 500m dari kampus tapi otw there nggak ada lampu sama sekali dan kanan-kirinya sawah. Tapi gue lancar aja tuh, nggak pernah nyebur. Bukan karena gue punya keahlian melihat dalam kegelapan ya...Tapi karena gue udah apal jalannya. Cuman ya kadang-kadang musti melindas kotoran sapi atau bahkan ular. Rumusnya cuman satu; naik sepedanya musti ngebut biar ularnya mencelat instead of mlungker di roda. Pokoknya asal jangan ada orang jongkok di jalan, pasti selamat deh! :D
 Buat yang suka ikan dan tinggal di Jerman (nggak tau apakah produk ini juga dijual di luar Jerman), ada ikan kalengan enak nih. Favoritku yang Grüner Curry sauce. Rasanya 'Jawa' banget! Kuahnya lengkap dengan irisan cabe dan daun jeruk. Produk ini dijual di Norma saat Asia Week tapi kalau gak salah di Lidl dan Hit juga ada (saat-saat tertentu). Yang rasa tom yum enak juga tapi nggak sedasyat yang grüner sauce.
Selain Ikannya, saya juga suka beli beras jasmine dengan merek yang sama. Kemasanya per-1 kiloan sih, tapi harganya lebih murah dari pada di Asian Shop, sekitar 1.60 €/ kilo, sedangkan kalau di asian Shop 14 €/ 5 kilo. Rasanya sih sama enaknya. Semoga berguna ya infonya :) 
 “Hi Beth, some minutes before I go on vacation…Here are the pictures for the E1-E5. The others will follow in separate emails. Sorry for late reply. I’m back in 2 weeks…-A” Holiday again?? He just back from holiday not for so long ago! Well yes, good thing is that I don’t need to be rushy. He’s a kinda client who always checks my work every 5 minutes. But the bad thing is, that when I’m done in 3 days, I still have to wait for 2 weeks until he’s back. Means longer time to finish the project, longer time I get my payment. Yeah, the ballad of a freelancer. I told my father in law that in Indonesia people only have 12 days holiday in a year instead of 30 days like in Germany. And joking, he told me to go to his office and tell all the employees about that 12-days holiday. As a company owner, of course he would be happy if his employees only have 12-days holiday for work effectiveness’s sake. Another example, it’s just this morning my hubby called tax officer cos he didn't get his 2007 tax-back till today (while I got mine already on July). And the officer said, the guy who’s responsible with letter M is in holiday for 2 weeks! So he has to wait for that long to know when he’ll get his tax back. In Indonesia I will be careful to take 2 weeks holiday at once, cos that’s all I have in one year!
Program yang paling sering membuat saya mengerutkan kening di TV Jerman adalah program Galileo di ProSieben. Biarpun sebel tapi kita sering aja nggak sengaja nonton karena acara sebelum Galileo adalah The Simpson yang kita wajib nonton sembari dinner. Begitu Simpson kelar, kita pasti males ganti channel karena keasyikan makan. Kenapa saya sebel dengan Galileo karena acaranya suka nggak bermutu. Yang paling sering adalah proses pembuatan makanan XXL; burger XXL, Pizza XXL, schnitzel XXL. Yang nggak kalah sering lagi adalah how to work in fast food resto. Host dari ProSieben praktek kerja sehari di fastfood resto dan ya begitulah Galileo nayangin apa aja yang musti dia kerjain. Nonton sekali dua kali sih nambah pengetahuan tapi kalau keseringan bosen juga (acaranya tidak diulang-ulang tapi fastfood resto-nya yang ganti-ganti dan 90% tentu saja proses kerjanya sama). Yang paling nggak bermutu adalah (geezz...) sebuah test, apa yang terjadi bila seseorang nggak sengaja menelan uang koin. Testnya bukan apa yang akan terjadi dengan organ tubuh kita, tapi apa yang terjadi dengan koin itu! Jadi si host menelan koin. Setelah itu dia makan-makan yang banyak sampe pengen 'doing business'. Pas 'doing business' itu, partner dia lengkap dengan masker di wajah 'menangkap' si koin yang beberapa jam terjebak di dalam tubuh si host. Lalu koinnya diperlihatkan di depan kamera dengan kesimpulan: koin yang tertelan, setelah keluar dari tubuh manusia ternyata tidak sekinclong sebelumnya. Warnanya jadi mate. Huh?? That's the most important news of the world I ever heard! Ada lagi test nggak penting, yaitu pada sebuah kertas ukuran A4, berapa lipatan yang mampu dilakukan oleh manusia normal? Maka beberapa orang duduk bareng mencoba melipat kertas sampe sekecil-kecilnya. Rata-rata hanya mampu melipat sampai 7 lipatan. Err...okay, that's so important for human being. Tapi kapan itu ada liputan yang menarik di Galileo, yaitu tentang GEMA (German Music Rights Management). Bukan, kali ini bukan tentang sharing and download music ilegal. Tapi tentang 'memperdengarkan musik' secara ilegal. Kalau ada yang notice, pertama kali saya pasang playlist di multiply, ada lagu dari German band yang judulnya Remmidemmi. Begitu ada tayangan tentang GEMA di Galileo, buru-buru saya copot lagu itu dari playlist. Kenapa? Karena meskipun saya beli lagu itu, saya musti bayar royalti ke yang punya lagu liwat Gema karena telah ,memperdengarkan lagu itu ke publik! Di Galileo ditayangkan seorang pegawai Gema yang jalan-jalan (kontrol) di pusat kota, masuk ke bar, pertokoan, wellness service, etc.Di sebuah toko si bapak itu menegur yang punya toko bahwa dia tidak boleh sembarangan nyetel musik di tokonya. Yang punya toko ngeyel, karena dia beli CD dan bukan CD bajakan plus bukan donwload ilegal dari internet. Tetap aja nggak boleh, kecuali kalo dia bayar ke Gema, karena bukan masalah bagaimana dia mendapatkan lagu itu, melainkan bahwa memperdengarkannya ke publik itu masalahnya. Lalu si bapak masuk bar. Di situ lagi ada tayangan olah raga yang ada spot iklannya. Kebetulan iklan itu pakai backsound dari German band juga. Nah si bar owner harus bayar juga untuk itu. Halah, kan TV yang menayangkan musik iklan itu? Bukan maunya si bar owner? Dia mah cuman nyetel TV-nya doang dan dia pasti bayar dong untuk siaran TV itu. Tetep aja dia musti bayar karena memperdengarkan lagu dari Gema member di depan publik. Kalo dengernya di rumah sih nggak apa-apa. Radio di Jerman ternyata semua juga bayar ke Gema, karena memperdengarkan musik ke publik. Sebuah karnaval party di desa yang tentu saja bakalan garing tanpa musik musti bayar 500 € untuk beberapa jam dengerin musik. Untungnya memperdengarkan musik di wellness misalnya spa diperbolehkan. Phew, at least ada pengecualian. Lucunya lagi saya browsing-browsing info tentang Gema, someone mentioned bahwa meskipun kita yang punya lagu (kita artistnya, yang bikin lagu), kalau kita menjadi member Gema, maka kita harus bayar ke Gema untuk memasang musik kita sendiri di myspace kita sendiri! Kalau saya yang punya lagu, saya nggak mau jadi member Gema. Yang ada orang malah mikir untuk muter lagu saya. Jadinya lagu saya nggak bakalan terkenal karena nggak ada yang muter! And apart of that, not forget to mentioned this hidden taxes!
| Start: | Jul 12, '08 6:00p | | Location: | Poller Wiesen |
| | Last night was so quiet...no honking horn in neighborhood like usual. But we good had time though! |
Germany won against Turkey last night. But the game was quite boring. The game between Germany and Portugal was much more interesting. And last night Turkey even played better than Germany! But anyway, happy that Germany goes to finale. This time we really have to see in in public viewing. And when they win, someone will send me durian chips cos he lost the bet! Ha! And as I search in the news today, I think the prediction was wrong. No kwaral remmidemmi a.k.a chaos between both supporters. Last night in my environment even some Turkish also celebrate the joy which was cool and not forget to mention the fireworks too! But of course, while the politicians busy to make friendship campaign during the game (and it works!), no matter who's the winner, the right-wing extremist attacked Turkish kiosk somewhere on the east of Germany! Schade...
Saya kan setiap hari kecuali Sabtu dan Minggu, selalu chat dengan ayah saya di Jogja. Akhir-akhir ini temanya tentu saja sepak bola piala Eropa. Kapan itu saya sempet cerita kalau (Bastian) Schweinsteiger itu makna harafiahnya dlm bahasa Indonesia adalah 'pemanjat babi'. Schwein= babi/ Steiger=pemanjat Lalu tiba-tiba siang ini tadi papa dengan hepinya nulis di YM: "Wah si pemanjat babi hebat ya semalem mainnya!!" Gedubrak! Terjatuh ngangkang saya! Mengeja nama Schweinsteiger memang syusyah! Di sini memang suka ketemu nama aneh-aneh. Tetangga di apartemen saya nama belakangnya Knoblauch alias bawang. Lalu ada juga Tits, Löser, Hammster 
Mid June. Schafskälte (sheepcold) is coming up and I kinda blame it to cause my sickness. Not a bad thing though but throat-pain, headache and sneezing hundreds times a day are really not my things. So I decided not to go to school even today is the last day before two months summer holiday. Ah I think won't miss a lot since some students already absent for early summer holiday.
So what is this sheepcold day? It's a weather phenomenon happens in European countries when a hot, warm weather of June suddenly drop into minus degree for several days. Why Sheep? Invoking the image of the livestock shivering in the fields after being shorn of their first wool of the season.
I read it somewhere that last few years the temperature really drop down into minus and caused a lot of trouble. But so far here from around 25°C we sliding down 'only' into around 13°C, but that's enough to make me headache!
"Briton Gets Refund For Having too Many Germans in Hotel First, a British court awarded a man compensation because there were too many Germans in his holiday hotel. Now, the German press is firing back -- with tips on how best to avoid the English this summer. Hint: It involves football. "
Read the rest
I wont be happy too if I go vacation to i.g. Africa and instead of Africanish (of course, as a native language) and english, all brochure and tour guide are in Japanese or Arabish language! Hehe...
Kemarin nggak sengaja baca news di koran lokal tentang a couple, yang laki dari Jerman dan yang perempuan dari Philippine, yang lagi 'suffering' karena peraturan baru dari German embassy untuk tinggal di Jerman. Enggak terlalu baru sih sebenarnya, sudah dari bulan Agustus tahun 2007, tapi sayanya saja yang baru tahu. Peraturan itu seperti dimuat di sini, memuat pasal bahwa untuk tinggal di Jerman bagi pasangan mix marriage harus lulus ujian bahasa Jerman sederhana yang diadakan institusi terkait sebagai perlengkapan permohonan visa (untuk Indonesia; Goethe Institute). Dulu waktu saya pindah ke Jerman belum ada peraturan ini. Yang ada adalah wajib belajar bahasa Jerman sesudah sampai di Jerman. Enggak tahu bagaimana yang dimaksud dengan bahasa Jerman sederhana, tapi gadis Philippine ini beberapa kali ujian nggak pernah lulus. Padahal suaminya bela-belain kirim uang 200 € tiap Minggu untuk membiayai kursus dan ujiannya. Di koran yang saya baca kemarin si suami ini lumayan stress krn dia sudah jual mobil dan asuransinya demi membiayai hubungan jarak jauh tersebut tapi dia belum juga bisa kumpul. Sementara gajinya tidak banyak-banyak amat. Bahkan katanya sejak merit dia belum sempet having sex dengan istrinya sendiri krn dia harus segera terbang balik ke Jerman. Si suami ini berusia 49 tahun dan si istri berusia 19 tahun. Hm...19 tahun sudah lewat batasan umur untuk menikah kan ya?
I'm inspired from a thread in Toytown Germany, a Germany's English-speaking crowd. So lets make similar thread here...of course depends on where you live. Since I live in Germany, so here I am: If I were a dictator of Germany, this would be my rules:
(of course some people in Toytown just have exact ideas with mine! hehe...)1. Abolishing Der, Die, Das! (this is very important! :D)2. To work as shop assistant and customer service, people need to be AMAZINGLY nice and friendly3. No need to pay premium rate to call customer service4. Shops have to be open on Sunday5. Shops have to be open daily from 9 am to 10 pm6. Close shop, bank and post office for lunch break is NOT allowed7. Introduce CUSTOMER IS A KING value in the whole part of the country8. All kinda cakes have to stay yummi but have to be free from FAT
9. Every adult woman get free newest car from Government
10. Abolishing Mark Medlock
So how bout you...a dictator of...
| Simone | Apr 16, '08 7:46 AM
for everyone |
Yesterday I went to dentist for regular check up (every six months). Still go to same nice Ärztin (female doctor) Simone. And she's waaay to sweeet! Cos everytimes I tried to speak Deutsch, she always answer in English. She even ordered her assistant and reception to speak English with me too! Hey! My German improves a lot, ya know! I thought it only happens in Starbucks when waiters always 'push' me to speak English hehe... But well nevermind, I gave up...maybe she like to improves her English too
| | "Bin heute Abend bei dir,
Schau wie sehr ich an dich denk',
hab kein Parfüm mit, keine Seife, ich trag‘ ne rote Schleife,
denn ich, bin heute dein Geschenk..."
'Bin Heute Abend' adalah lagunya Roger Cicero yang paling gue seneng. Berhari-hari ngapalin lagu itu doang (secara bahasa planet hehe...) sampai akhirnya katam di last minute kemarin. Lagu yang lainnya mah cukup la..la..la..la...aja :p
Tapi ternyata teman-teman...lagu itu nggak dinyanyiin sama mas Roger!! Pas dia pamitan, seperti biasa penonton yakin dia bakalan muncul lagi, dan memang dia muncul lagi. Lalu dia bilang mo nyanyiin lagu-lagu famous termasuk 'Bin heute Abend' secara medley tapi sampe lampu gedung dimatiin juga dia gak nyanyiin lagu itu!!
Mas Roger! ich hasse dich! Tapi teteup suka diing...He's cute when singing :p
Btw modalnya cuman pocket camera, dan duduknya mayan jauh dari stage, jadi blur ya blur deeh hehe... :p |
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