Trip to Vienna

23 December 2007. A day after the border is open for Schengen country, we made a trip to Vienna. We woke up around 4 in the morning since our bus will be leaving at 5 o'clock. I actually prefer stayed in bed, especially during this cold weather. But i am so looking forwad about this trip. Eventhough i am half wake on the way there. I can say it's my premiere trip outside Slovenia cause now i dont need any visa for travelling all schengen countries. Around 9.30 o'clock, we already arrived at Vienna. Actually takes around 4 hours to get here, but before bus stopped to give the passanger to have a breakfast. First destination is Schönbrunn Palace, one of the most important cultural monuments in Austria and since the 1860s has also been one of the major tourist attractions in Vienna.
The name Schönbrunn("beautiful well"), has its roots in an artesian well from which water was consumed by the court: Legend has it that the emperor, when seeing it the first time, had called out "What a beautiful well!".
This baroque complex contains an enchanting park, the Palm House, the Gloriette and a zoo. One of the most renowned Baroque structures in Europe, Schönbrunn Palace began life as a hunting lodge during the 16th century, but was turned into a lavish palace by the Empress Maria Theresa in 1750. Home to the Hapsburg emperors from the 18th century to 1918, the palace was built by the architects Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach and Nicolaus Pacassi. Schönbrunn, the former summer residence of the imperial family, is considered one of the most beautiful baroque palaces in Europe. The Habsburgs resided here the better part of the year in numerous rooms for the large imperial family in addition to representational rooms.Emperor Franz Joseph, who later married the enchanting Sisi and reigned from 1848 to 1916, was born here in 1830. The monarch spent his last years entirely in the palace, which became the property of the new Republic of Austria only two years after his death. Today, the palace is part of UNESCO’s cultural heritage due to its historic importance, its unique grounds and its splendid furnishings. No wonder so many tourist here. Too bad we came during the winter ... we cant see the beautiful garden cause everything is 'sleeping' now. To get inside the palace you need to pay the ticket. There are 2 types of ticket, for small rooms (around 30 rooms) ticket cost 13 euro. And for bigger room (around 37 rooms) cost 23 euro, including some special rooms like hunting room and Maria Theresia's collection room. Its worth to pay cause you will see many historical things inside! We decided to go alone without our tour guide because he will have the explanation in Slovenian. Fortunately when we paid for the ticket we also got the translation devices that explain about each rooms. Of course english for me since they dont have bahasa :-D. Too bad strickly not allowed to take pictures inside. Yet eventhough its not allowed, still there's some tourist that secretly doing it. Of course the securuty woman cought him and angrily remind him :-) Took a bit more than an hour to see all the rooms. You can actually stand too long in one room since so many tourist waiting behind you. So we have quickly move. Then after we finished with the palace, we walked a bit around the palace, to the garden and around. But since they are expecting us to come back to the bus soon, so we didnt spend so much time there. It was so cold anyway.
Second destination is centre old town of Vienna. Along the roads, from the bus we can see so many ancient buildings with nice architecture. So many that we cant remember each of their name eventhough our guide explained them. One thing that attracted me is bikes that parking in the side of the street. I thought they are belong to somebody. But i notice they have same colour. It turned out that those bikes are for renting. You insert a coin (i dont know how much, maybe cost 2 euro or something), then you can take the bike to go around the city. Im thinking ...Wah kalo di Indonesia banyak gak baliknya tuh sepeda, hehehehe .... Another thing is definately the shops. They have lot of nice stuff, mostly branded ... and bloody expensive. No wonder Vienna is known as one of the expensive city in the world. People who live here must be have very high salary :-) Anyway, the weather in Vienna is getting colder. Temperature is around -4. My hands and legs feel numb while we still some places need to visit. Sometimes we have to stop in front of special buildings cause our guide explain something about it. I had to keep moving my body so it would make me feel warm a bit. Not just me, but all the people in our tour group feel the same. They cant wait to go inside the building.
Our next destination is Hofburg palace. Hofburg Imperial Palace is a palace in Vienna, Austria, which has housed some of the most powerful people in Austrian history, including the Habsburg dynasty, rulers of the Austro-Hungarian empire. It currently serves as the official residence of the President of Austria. It was the Habsburg's principal winter residence, while Schönbrunn Palace was their preferred summer residence.
Numerous architects have executed work at the Hofburg as it expanded, notably the Italian architect-engineer Filiberto Luchese (the Leopoldischiner Trakt), Lodovico Burnacini and Martino and Domenico Carlone, the Baroque architects Lukas von Hildebrandt and Joseph Emanuel Fischer von Erlach (the Reichschancelry Wing and the Winter Riding School), Johann Fischer von Erlach (the library), and the architects of the grandiose Neue Burg built between 1881 and 1913.
The Hofburg in Vienna is the former imperial residence. From 1438 to 1583 and from 1612 to 1806, it was the seat of the kings and emperors of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation, thereafter the seat of the Emperor of Austria until 1918. Today it is the official seat of the Austrian Federal President. There's also an old church inside the complex where all the imperial family had the wedding ceremony, including Marie Louise who married without her groom, Napoleon Bonaparte.
Next stop is the famous St. Stephan's catedral. But before that, we had some free time to get some lunch or just have some tea to make us warm. Cause Vienna is an expensive city, we decided not taking a chance to go to some restaurant since we dont want to get some surprise in the bill, hehehe ... So as other people, we just went to McDonald, while some others want to try the famous Sacher cake in Sacher hotel. Well maybe someday we will go there ... :-) Im not in the mood to walk in such cold! brrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!! After half hour, we gathered again with the group. As the plan, we will visit St. Stephan's catedral.
It is the mother church of the Archdiocese of Vienna and the seat of the Archbishop of Vienna, Christoph Cardinal Schönborn, OP. Its current Romanesque and Gothic form seen today, situated at the heart of Vienna, Austria in the Stephansplatz, was largely initiated by Rudolf IV and stands on the ruins of two earlier churches, the first being a parish church consecrated in 1147. As the most important religious building in Austria's capital, the cathedral has born witness to many important events in that nation's history and has become one of the city's most recognizable symbols. Since its earliest days, St. Stephen's Cathedral has been surrounded by cemeteries dating back to Roman times, and has sheltered the bodies of notables and commoners. It has always been an honour to be buried inside a church, close to the physical presence of the saints whose relics are preserved there. Those less honoured were buried near (but outside) the church. We can see many different kind of sarkofagus inside. But the biggest and the fancy one is the one from Maria Theresia. Before we are heading back to Slovenia, we had given some time to see xmas fair where they sell mostly things for chrismast, and of course souvenirs. We also went to city hall to see xmas concert. All and all, despite of being cold, it was a great trip!! Yet i think better to visit Vienna during the summer though :-)

Mr. Kukuh and Mr. Baskara's Farewel party

22 December 2007. This afternoon we were invited for Mr. Kukuh and Mr. Baskara' s Farewel party in Ljubljana. They both were staff KBRI in Vienna, Austria and this month they will end their service in KBRI and go back to Indonesia for new assigment. They were really helpfull person especially when we need an assistance for some papers like visa, pasport, or legislation. It's such a shame they have to leave. As our thankfull ways, we gave them a small memarbilia from Slovenia. We wish the best for them and that they will always remember us. Anyway, I was so excited to go here since it means i will see some Indonesians mixed couple. I actually already met some of them on September picnic, but some not since they didnt make it at that time. And today I met new couples, and one of them actually not from Slovenia, but Graz, Austria :-) Graz is not so far from Slovenian border. Unfortunately i didnt have a chance to introduce myself to one of couple since they leave earlier because their kids somehow got bored and wanted to go :-)
This time the chairman of the community, Bojan and the elders (people who live here for more than 30 years :-)) formally initiated Indo-Slo community as well as people who in charge on it and the activities. And as for the lunch, we had chinesse foods, and thing that interest me much is the sambal of course, hihihi .... was really delicious. And since Patria (Bojan's Wife) ordered the food too much, so each of us have to take the meal home ... rejeki nomplok deh :-)

We decided to walk a bit to old town, in the centre of Ljubljana to see chrismast and new year decoration. Of course it is bigger than we have in Velenje. Their theme is 'Universe', so the lights and decorations are made like galaxy and stars. They also have some xmas fair there. Many small shops selling things like chrismast decoration, some souvenirs, and of course there are also bar that offers hot beer :-) We walked along the river and see thing there, eventhough it was damn cold. I already put gloves but i still can feel the cold. Grega got me a hot chesnut to keep my hands warm :-)

New Swing Concert

21 December 2007. Today we went to see a concert again. The New Swing Quartet, Slovenian vocal quartet famous for recreating the tradition of black and white spiritual and gospel music.
Set up 37 years ago, The New Swing Quartet is made up of Dare Hering (first tenor), Oto Pestner (second tenor), Tomaz Kozlevcar (baritone) and Marijan Petan (bass).
Over almost four decades, they have performed throughout the world, presenting their modern interpretations of all forms of American spiritual music.
The New Swing Quartet are compared to the celebrated black gospel vocal bands such as The Golden Gate Quartet and Five Blind Boys of Alabama, and have won many prestigious awards and recorded a total of 40 albums.
And this evening they performanced in our town, Velenje for a Christmast concert. The place is not so big, but full. Ticket per person is around 12 euro. They sang some christmast songs and local songs as well. These guys are unique since they have different type of voice. But of course when they are singing, it turn out into a very nice voice. You can see how it sounds here. We enjoyed it a lot, unfortunately the air inside the hall was so dry that made my throat sore, also Grega's. But after all, we were having fun!

Chrismast's Concert in Velenje

14 December 2007. It's my first year to see chrismast's decoration abroad. Surely it's more glorious than in Indonesia. Many 'bling-bling' lights and decoration along the roads, and in the centre of town. Of course, also a big christmast tree. It makes Slovenia so live and joyfull, since usually during the night it's like a dead town ... roads are so empty and dark. Very different than Surabaya or Jakarta when city is become so live during the night. I guess electricity is so expensive here.

Ah yes, we also went to Chrismast's concert. My father in law's boss was one of the singer so he invited us to see. Again, it's my first time to see a chrismast concert ... well it's because i am not a christian. But here, chrismast is belong to everyone (just like Idul Fitri in Indonesia). December is a happy month for everybody so lot of activities like concerts, sales and fair in town. Anyway, I enjoyed the concert. They sang beautifuly and everyone seemed so touched by their lovely voice. I even almost cried to hear it :-) They sang not only christmast songs but also some other popular songs. Other thing that impressed me besides the voice is how they are so creative in the costumes. It's so simple but really chick and elegant.

End of Dance Course

5 December 2008. Today is the last day of dancing course. We already learned about 5 difference dances; English waltz, Blues, Foxtrot, Cha-cha, and last dance we had was disco folk. Its kind of dance with fast rhytem. Since i am not a good dancer, i had a bit difficult time to follow it. Yet Im trying though. The key is you have to let your body relax and let your partner lead you. Not like me who sometimes doesnt let it happen, and then i stepped Grega's feet, and it made him lost his patient :-) Well its because im not used to dance ... my body feel so stiff like a statue, hihihi ... Therefore just now i found dance is a fun thing to do due my boring day just staying at home. At least i let myself to have fun and also my body get a little exercise. Well maybe next time we'll go for another course and learn more dance, for example Vienna Waltz, Jive, Tango or Samba. We'll see ...

Pic source :http://dancemates.org/DanceMatesLogo1.jpg

Visiting Sonja

3 December 2007.Last night Boža (the lady with pink pulover) invited me to visit her bestfriend's house, Sonja (the lady with blue pulover) because she just brought a cat. Of course i am really excited to go since im a cat lover :-) Back to my hometown, Surabaya, i have lot of cats, they are anggora, persian, and mixed of it. I think now i have around 15 at home. Before it was more, but we sold them. I miss them so much!! Anyway, Sonja's cat is very adorable and friendly. I can hold him without any problem, unless when he is playing with the dog. Yes, Sonja also have a small very cute dog. They get along well together. Too bad i didnt take the picture. Ah yes, the cat's name is Tormac ( hope i am not mistaken :-) . Its a Reggy doll type.

Finally got the ID Card

4 December 2007. As planned, today we picked up the ID. Alhamdulillah its already done, just like they said that it would take a week. I feel relieve that everything is doing well. And not so complicated as other documents. Plus, its cheap. I think we only paid for less than 2 euro. Now im officialy temperory citizen in Slovenia :-) With this ID its easier for me to do the trip outside Slovenia, especially later we will be on Schengen countries. And if i want to visit my family in Indonesia, and when i go back here I dont need to carry that permit paper (which is in Slovenian language, not english - tanya kenapa?!?!?!, hehehe ... ), just showing my Slovenian ID card to immigration. It has bilingual language, English and Slovenian, so im sure they can understand it :-).

Take care Slovenian ID card

28 November 2007. I've been living in Slovenia 7 months now and already hold a temperory residence permit for 5 years, but i still dont have ID card or in Indonesia we called it 'KTP'.I dont know why i cant get it the same time i got my permit. Or take care of it right away. Anyway, since Slovenia will be on Schengen country this December, so we are going to take care the ID since we plan to go to Vienna during that month. That way i dont need to carry my permit paper (yes it's on paper not stamp in my pasport :-)). So today at 4:30 afternoon, after my husband returned from work, we went to administration unit. Requirements are only pasport, copy of my residence permit, 1 photograph, and a proof of marriage registration. They said it will be ready in a week. So next week i will have Slovenia KTP :-D

New Haircut

22 November 2007. Today I got a new haircut. Boža kindly took me to her hairdryser friend. Since i am not sure if i will look okay with short hair, then i just fix my hair's shape and cut a bit, and make a 'poni' in front :-) I have a doubt of making a huge change with my hair. Takes year for me to have this long hair, and its such a shame if i have to cut it short. Therefore i actually wanted to look a bit different ... maybe someday when i have a gut, i will do it, and of course money ... since haircut cost expensive here :-D And today i had it free since Boža kindly paid it.
When Grega saw me, he asked what is the change? cause he didnt see any change on me :-) Maybe he expected i will be home with short green hair, hehehe ... Oh well i like it so doesnt matter what he thinks, hahaha ...

Don't you know Slovenia has a new President ?

11 November 2007. I bet not many people knew about this issue :-) Slovenia is a small country and not many people know where it it. So its no surprise if you dont know now they have a new president. I often got a question whenever i mentioned that i live in Slovenia. Same questions ...'where is it? is it Slovakia before they saparated from Cekoslovakia? where is it in map? duh!!!hehehe ... Anyway, this past few weeks local televisions were broadcasting about next election of Slovenian president. There were some debates and campains. The interesting part about the election here is anybody can stand for a president, even a handycap, as long as you get certain signatures from your supporters. And there's one candidate that was a handycap. While in Indonesia, to be a president candidate you must physically healthy, means no handycap allowed. Cause i remember in our UUD 45, there is 1 poin that saying something like 'seorang presiden harus sehat jasmani dan rohani'. Now back to the result of the election, finally Dr Danilo Türk was elected with major voters. Here's a little about his biography that i collected from some sources.

Dr Danilo Türk was born on 19 February 1952 in Maribor, Slovenia. He studied at the Faculty of Law, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia, where he obtained his law degree (1975). He continued his academic career at the Faculty of Law in Ljubljana where, in December 1982, he became assistant professor, then associate professor (1987) and finally tenured professor of international law (1995)

He served as the first Slovenian Permanent Representative to the United Nations between 1992 and 2000. During this time, he was president of the United Nations Security Council in August 1998 and November 1999. During his term on the Security Council from 1998 to 1999 he dealt with the issues of Kosovo, Iraq, Libya, East Timor, Congo among others.He was subsequently UN Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs from 2000 to 2005. IBetween 2005 and December 2007, when he assumed the office of president, he worked as a professor of international law and dean of student affairs at the Faculty of Law of the University of Ljubljana.

In June 2007 he filed as a candidate in the October 2007 Slovenian presidential election. He was backed by the Social Democrats, Zares, and DeSUS and also by the non-parliamentary Christian Socialists and Democrats. In the first round of the presidential elections, held on 21 October 2007, he placed second with 24.54% of the votes, which brought him into the run-off against Lojze Peterle, who received 28.50%. He won the run-off on 11 November 2007 with 68.2% of the votes, and became the third president of Slovenia on December 23, 2007 and was inaugurated in the National Assembly on 22 December 2007.

Pic source : http://www.up-rs.si

Its snowing!!!!

17 November 2007. It's snowiiiiiiiiiiiiiinng!!!! Yes, correct ... im so excited when i see the snow is falling in our town, Brezno. I've been looking forward to see snow since the first time I stepped my foot in Slovenia. Actually it was falling since last night, but i couldn't see it clearly. I only looked up from the windows. It was like a powder falling down from the sky :-)
And today, when i got up, quickly i opened the bedroom's window, and i see everything is already WHITE!!!Looks so beautiful and i cant help myself to take pictures of it. Then, even it's cold outside, i opened the door a bit so i can touch it. Feels so smooth in my hands and quickly turn into cold water ...bbrrrrr!!!! I feel like 'orang udik' or as Tukul said 'Katrok' hahahaha ...

Winter is getting here soon ... in Slovenia

14 November 2007. Lately the weather is getting cold. I heard from the news that snow is already falling in some area. Yeah ... winter is coming. It means soon no food for the birds cause everything will be frozen. We already prepared the bird's house where we can put some food for them. So they wont be starving. This is one thing i found interesting here ... how people here are so caring with their environment, while in my hometown, people tend to treat nature so distructively.Instead of feeding the birds, they probably more interested to capture and sell them in market. I remembered, in my naighborhood while i was still staying in Surabaya, every sunday young people likes to bet on dove, whose is the fastest is the winner. Just like what 'pepatah' said "lain ladang lain belalang, lain lubuk lain ikannya"

13 November 2007. Since winter is approaching, we decided to get me a new boots that would be suitable for icy roads. And when i walked around the center, i see this shop 'Paprika' which selling shoes has 20 % discount for all stuffs, including the leather boots that i wanted. I told Grega about it. So after having the lunch, we went there to check with my father in law as well. And instead getting only one boots, i got another special boots with thick layer and rubber pad for walking in thick ice road so i wont get slip. I just realized for almost 6 months living here, i had already bought 4 pairs of shoes ; 1 for spring, 1 for autumn, and 2 for winter. I didnt know so many shoes i need to live here, hehehe ... while in Indonesia you can have only 1 or 2 shoes for all the year :-)

Trip to Brdo and Nova Gorica

2 November 2007

Berhubung 1 November merupakan day of the death hampir di semua daratan eropa, hari Jum'at kita pergi ke Nova Gorica untuk berziarah kakek suami bareng2 dengan mertua dan temen dekatnya. Day of the death merupakan hari mengenang kerabat yang sudah meninggal. Pada saat seperti ini, pemakaman bakalan rame dikunjungi kerabat yang ingin menyalakan lilin dan menaruh bunga di makam orang yang mereka cintai. Kota Nova Goriza dekat dengan perbatasan Italia. Hanya 10 menit. Disana sekalian juga mengunjungi nenek dan juga panen buah Khaki, karena kebetulan sekarang lagi musimnya. Buah ini hanya bisa tumbuh di daerah yang berhawa hangat. Kalo beli di toko harganya juga mahal. Aku sendiri juga belum pernah merasakannya :-) Bentuk dan ukurannya seperti tomat, kulitnya berwarna kekuningan dan dagingnya berwarna kemerahan. Rasanyapun sangat manis. Aku kurang suka. Panen hari ini lumayan banyak, 3 keranjang penuh karena buahnya tak ada yang ambil. Meskipun dah kita sikat sampe 3 keranjang, di pohon masih banyak. Selain buah khaki, di halaman depan rumahditanami banyak buah dan sayuran karena paman suami hobi berkebun. Oh iya, sebelum pulang kita juga pergi sebuah desa kecil bernama Brdo, dimana banyak terdapat vineyard (kebun anggur) dan disini penduduk lokal memproduksi wine. Disana juga terdapat monumen dan tower untuk melihat pemandangan sekeliling seperti italia, tapi dari jauh :-)