What motivates you?

Everybody have their own motivation to do anything in life. I need a motivation to wake up from bed, bike to school, go out through the rain to buy groceries, learn something new, and so on.

I recently read an article (in Indonesian) from Indonesian non-profit organisation / movement called Pengajar Muda (Young Teachers). It is an organisation which distributes young educated people to teach for a year in some remote places in Indonesia. 

The article has struck me at how it tells the readers about how simple things might inspire the students. In brief, it is about the curiosity of the students when their teacher told them about snow. When the teacher showed them a documentary on his tiny laptop (watched by around 80 students) about snow, those students couldn't help but perplexed at how strange, beautiful, and fun it seemed to see and play with the snow. Later on, the teacher wrote, "You may live in a small village, or in an island out-of-nowhere. But you have to dream higher and higher each day, It is do-able!"

All students carefully stared at the small laptop screen 

Read the article here (in Indonesian): Melihat Salju - Seeing the Snow

I can totally relate to this. Almost a month ago I saw the snow for the first time (yes, your eyes are reading it right!). It's unbelievable how the snow which I had only seen from the movies before (Home Alone movies) looks so much better in real. How can it be possible that these delicate shaved-ice fall from the sky so gracefully and make everything looks beautiful?? Even the usually dull rooftops looks like fairy tale houses with snow on top of it - I'm not exaggerating. Coming from a tropical country, the idea of having winter (plus snow) is so out of my imagination.

But that was the moment when I (again) found the reason why I decided to study far away from home. To see and experience things that I have never experienced before. I know now, this is my motivation to study harder, to work, to travel, to get to know different people, to get amazed by these small things.

A whole field full of happiness

Bahasa Indonesia

Ya, bahasa Indonesia. Para pemuda Indonesia dulu menetapkannya sebagai bahasa persatuan. Tapi bahasa Indonesia menurut saya bukan hanya bahasa resmi yang diajarkan di sekolah-sekolah. Bahasa Jawa - mulai dari ngoko alus, kasar, sampai krama, bahasa Madura, bahasa Batak, singkatnya semua bahasa daerah di Indonesia pun juga layak disebut bahasa Indonesia. Bahasa ibu yang benar-benar lazim digunakan di antara anggota kebudayaan terkecil dari masyarakat setempat, yaitu keluarga.


Terkadang saya lupa betapa berharganya bahasa Indonesia. Sejak kecil saya tertarik belajar bahasa Inggris. Bahasa pergaulan, katanya. Bahasanya orang-orang pintar dan terdidik, bahasa yang digunakan negara-negara maju, bahasa yang harus digunakan agar tidak "ketinggalan jaman". Sebagai konsekuensinya, saya mulai belajar bahasa Inggris sejak di Sekolah Dasar, dan mengikuti beberapa kursus bahasa Inggris.


Lalu ada lagi bahasa Mandarin yang saya pelajari sebagai bagian dari kurikulum pelajaran Sekolah Menengah Pertama dan Sekolah Menengah Atas. Sebagai warga negara Indonesia keturunan Tionghoa, saya tidak pernah menggunakannya dalam percakapan sehari-hari di rumah. Para leluhur saya tiba di Indonesia beratus-ratus tahun yang lalu, dan seiring berjalan waktu mereka hidup di tengah masyarakat Indonesia, mempelajari cara hidup penduduk setempat, dan singkatnya, menjadi orang Indonesia. Memang, orang tua dan kakek nenek saya punya nama Tionghoa, tapi generasi saya sudah tidak lagi memiliki nama Tionghoa yang tercatat. Jadi, yah, agak sulit menjelaskan bagaimana seorang dengan casing Tionghoa seperti saya - mata sipit, kulit kuning langsat, rambut lurus- sebenarnya memiliki kepribadian orang Indonesia asli.


Kapan saya benar-benar menyayangi bahasa Indonesia?

Change Your Location, Change Your Life

It is less than two days left before I leave Groningen. I have been staying here for almost two months now. I would surely say this is a lifetime experience I will never regret. I used to think that two months is going to be a long time, but it is not. Two months is absolutely not enough to learn new languages, blend in with the locals, see their cultures and lifestyle, taste the different vibes. There are so many things I have obtained, much more than reading a pile of books. Being in a country, half the world away, 6 hours of time difference, has brought me a broader scope of view.

Idealistically Realist

the north coast of Java island, taken during my last week trip to Central Java

"Do you know what's the secret of being a popular doctor?" my father asked, just recently.

"What is it?" I shrugged.

"Give your patient the most potent medicine. Once they know the drugs work well, they'll know that you're doing your job."

Munchies in Bali

After my short trip (3d2n) to Bali last January, here are some food indulge I tried:

1. Bubba Gump Shrimp & co. - Bali

Terletak di kompleks pertokoan Kuta Center. Setelah melewati Musro dan Discovery Mall di sebelah kiri jalan, lanjut jalan lagi kira-kira 5 menit berjalan kaki. Pertama masuk yang terlihat memenuhi meja hanya turis asing yang makan di situ, setelah masuk di dalam ruangan ternyata ada juga beberapa turis Indonesia.

this food has made my day

I love making salads! I can even make 5 reasons why I love salads:
1. You can choose anything you like as the basic ingredients. Name it: fruits, all kind of fruits, almost all kind of vegetables, chicken, turkey, potato, eggs, prawns, tuna, salmon, pistachios, pine nuts, even pasta.

A lady on my dermatology handouts

This is just random. Related? No?

Almost Unpublished!

This is two dish I made about a month ago, just before the hectic weeks begun. Planned to make pancake anytime soon but the soonest would be after the grand exams though.
I used nearly half the whole pack of cream cheese on the macaroni pizza, and spread generous amount of shreded cheddar cheese on top of it. Combined with lots of sliced sausage, the result is heavenly for cheese and meat lovers like me. Nutmeg, onions, black pepper, and oregano completed the Italian-wanna-be fragrance.

As for the second dish, Spicy Stir Fried Beansprouts, it was literally too spicy for me. Not a major failure but I am pretty thankful its abundant chilli peppers didn't cause any toxic effect.

Beef and More Beef

Actually I made these two dishes around a week ago. Both are made in the same day, with half kilogram of beef I bought from a local market.

Mung Bean Dessert w/ Coconut Sauce

 

I wasn't in mood to study pediatrics this weekend so I decided to make something warm, sweet, and easy. The green bean is sweet with a slight of gingery trace and the coconut milk is a bit savory. Now this snack will be my companion as I open my book! :)

I always like mung bean (or so-they-called here: green bean). Usually I like to keep it handy by boiling them (for 1 hour or so) , add some sugar, and that's it. It is perfect to be enjoyed while it is warm, or after you keep it chilled in the fridge. Today I tried to make a different style of it. I soak the bean for half day (morning to afternoon) while I was revising some pediatrics material. Then on the afternoon I boil it for about 1 hour with some gingers (you can use fresh ones, I use two packs of instant ginger drink this time), and add 1 pandan leaf. Once you see that the beans become twice its actual size and it begins to soften, you can lower down the fire or just lift the pan. add some sugar, stir it up, and leave them to make the coconut sauce.

For the coconut sauce, use coconut milk (I use an instant one) and simmer for about 2 minutes. Mix with some corn flour. Add pandan leaf if you want to add its fragrance to the sauce. Note that you should mix a spoon of corn flour with a room-temperature water first before you heat it. Less water if you like the sauce thicker. Leave until it boils, add a pinch of salt and a bit of sugar,  stir, and lift. Enjoy the sweet mung bean soup with the savory and thick coconut sauce! Yum.
 

a perfect companion as I open my book! :)

Veggies and Beef Soup

Ah, surely cooking has always healed my mood. I used to have this kind of vegetable soup back when I was home, so I tried to make it myself today. Usually my mom makes it either with chicken pieces or beef, but since I didn't have any fresh meat I use beef sausage instead.

The ingredients:
1 clove of onion, finely chopped
1 tomato, chopped
2 or 3 carrots, peeled and diced
beef sausages, cut
beef stock
about 2 ounces of beans, cut into 2 cm length
salt, pepper, and nutmeg
a small amount of vegetable oil

How to make:
Stir-fry chopped onion until it caramelized and smells good. Add carrots and beans, add beef sausages about 2 minutes later. Pour in the beef stock and set the medium fire until it boils. Once it boils, set the fire to small, add the tomatoes, and simmer. In about 3 minutes, try the carrot and make sure it is already done, but not too mushy. You decide how soft you want them to be. Add salt, pepper, and a sprinkle of nutmeg. Parsley would be good as the garnish and it smells good too. If you want to add chicken or beef meat to the soup, make sure it is pre-boiled and already chopped so you can add it just when you add the sausages in.

Ready to be served, and enjoy!

Don't Sweat Small Stuff

Overheard the casheer girls' talk in the hospital this afternoon when I was waiting for an appointment with a dentist.

"So what do you think if when the patients want to know which doctor is a reputable one in this hospital, we answer that there is no good doctor here?"

"Yeah, that might be a good idea. Those doctors are nothing without us. Even we look less important for them, it's us who actually play a big role on whether the doctors will have good reputations or not."

"For even if we looks uneducated and less smart than them, they should not underestimate us."


Me, sitting there, so glad to have the chance to heae such honest comments from real people around the doctors. It is so true that we should not underestimate anyone in our life, for every single person have the possibility to affect pur life, either in positive way or in negative one.

I promised myself that very second not to inderesrimate anyone around me, either it is a patient who is not able to pay, a junior coleague, a casheer, even the janitors. Lesson learned. 

My Den

My den is a sea of unread books.







Less than 2 months left to read all of these books. I think I just need to document this as one moment in my med school. My children might want to know this one day. Or it is me as a doctor in the future who will look back at these pictures and may regret on my bad time management and my lack of reading.

For the moment, I think I need a new bookshelf. A big one.

Stir-fried vegetables

This is basically a stir-fried vegetable dish. I used some brocolli, carrots, silk tofu, and fishball in it. Oyster sauce and sesame oil make it tastes good. 15 minutes of preparations, you can always make this kind of this with any vegetables you have left in your fridge. :)

Today's Lunch Box

My lunchbox for today is stir-fried broad Chinese-style noodle. And as usual, it is as simple as any college student would make. First you need to scramble 2 eggs, and separate it. Sautee the garlic until it smells good, add the noodle and beansprouts, stir. Set the fire to medium level. Add chopped fishballs and scrambled eggs, mix them altogether in the wok. Add oyster sauce, salty soy sauce, sweet soy sauce, salt, pepper, and a bit of sesame oil. Mix them all and in just about 3 minutes your noodle is done! Quite easy, you can add prawns, squid, or chicken and you can substitute the broad noodle with any kind of noodle you have in your pantry. Easy and quick, those two words will always be in a college student's cookbook. :)

Cheesy Frittata

Just made it 10 seconds ago. Thanks to anyone who invented the brilliant cheese cream.

Fast Food -- a Healthy Choice! :)

So this is the proof that fast food is not always bad. This meal, a super fast one, contains fiber, fat, carbs, and protein. It tastes good too! One different way to enjoy oatmeal: add anything you like in it! I like savoury, so I just put salt, pepper, and crushed chilli pepper into it. Add shreded beef for the protein. Fried shallot and garlic will enrich the flavor.

As for the veggies, I stewed carrots, broccoli, and green bean. Topping is made from peanuts, chilli pepper, garlic, salt and sugar -- crushed altogether.

If you are a busy college student, and you have your own quick and tasty recipe, please do share! :)

Lunchbox

Banana wheat roll--10 minutes preparation! :)

Early Lunch - Late Breakfast

This is a low-budget easy meal that only take less than 15 minutes to prepare. It has the fiber, a bit of carbohydrate, fat, and protein--something that is student-friendly! Well especially for those who don't live with their family. More details on comments. :)

Simply Meal