tres surpris !

Got this lovely surprise from maman Andree and papa Christian !!!!!!!!  Merci beaucoup maman et papa. Jet aime beaucoup. Gros bissous !!!

And since they will come to Surabaya next month, think I should improve my francais religiously.

Anyway, yesterday I got a very lovely-cute client named Chloe. You know, I can't resist on cute things !!!

Ohhhhh my goodnesss....... she is a real sweetheart !!!!

 

 

And I can't stop complimenting her mom on how cute and beautiful she was ! Kids are interesting for me, while for others, they are nightmares. Well said and done as dentist, I love to treat kiddos... Their small teeth, cute smile, beautiful ! And I'm crazy about profiles too. So, don't get surprised if I'm analyzing your teeth and smile.

Should prepare for my clinic's outing. This year we will go tooooooooo..... Central Java. Wo-ho-hoooo..... I had rent a big bus so all of my staffs can get their family along. Borobudur, here we come !!! Also should prepare for Hongkong immersion course. Can't wait as Dr. Yau is one of best invisalign providers in Hongkong. And I should hail invisalign's inventors for this very wonderful appliances ! It can work well for some cases which traditional braces can't treat.... And I must say that I love this appliance so much. It can reduce my backpain as I'm spending most of my time in clinic.

And last but not least, I will held a pizza party in clinic on May 23rd. A special compliment for my all invisalign patients and all patients in general. Stay tuned for further info !

Couldn't thank enough for every blessings in my life as I have met great and kind patients and people around.... Thank you for giving sweet compliments to my treatments. It's all because of God's will that I meet nice people and ditch me from bad people. Thank you, God.

Have a great day, people !

i have a chin !

I'm so happy with my invisalign progress ! Can't be happier that I can treat myself so now I can have a chin !!! A real chin. I should do invisalign to myself earlier, really.... But I'm too busy with my patients, then I don't even have time for myself.

I've done 4 months already and now I can smile with a chin ! Wo-ho-hooooooooo.... I feel blessed that I am a dentist. And I'm so crazy about face profile. So here I am.... tradaaaaaa...

beach-hopper

Hello people ! Today is public holiday and it's definitely a perfect day forrrrrr BEACH !!!! I'm a beach hopper and today I visit the most breathtaking beautiful beach I ever seen. In my life.

It's definitely an awesome one. This one was taken with my pocket camera, with my poor ability as an amateur photographer hahaha ! But I'm still amazed that everything was nicely framed just like a paint ! You get the blue sky, the white sand, the aqua-turquoise sea with the white waves. When you see, you will believe. This one is the most beautiful beach I ever seen. With the most breathtaking waves I ever seen. And no, it's not in Maldives. It's not even in Bali. It's in Malang, the south part of East Java - INDONESIA. Will take 5 hours driving from Surabaya and the access to get there is not that lovely since you have to pass a real-trekking-route. BUT.... this will definitely paid off. You won't regret for every single scenery in front of your eyes.

Place : Goa Cina Beach / Chinese Cave Beach
Entrance fee : 5,000 IDR (around 0.3 USD) / car
7,000 IDR (around 0.5 USD) / person

The other side of Goa Cina Beach. So, in English.... rough translation, "Goa Cina" means "chinese cave". You will see a big cave where there was a chinese monk used to live there.  This legend was written in one signboard nearby.

The wave was real strong and beautiful. You won't believe your own eyes !!

I love beach. This one even more beautiful than any other beaches I ever known ! Sadly, no colourful corals or fishes here. But you will find more in Ngliyep beach. 

I will post it in different posting later on !

So this is the legend !! The chinese man in that cave named Hing Hok,

Another beautiful beach to hop ! Welcome to Ungapan Beach. The wave was dark brown and so was the sand. But still you can't catch the silence of this beach. FYI, these beaches are not still so popular among Indonesians, so you can taste the feel of private beach!!

Bajulmati Beach. As legend told, this beach was used to be a big swamp full of crocodiles. Bajul -crocodiles ; mati - died. The sand was dark and sooooo soft in your feet !

No need to go to heaven. The heaven is here, baby !
Place : Ungapan Beach and Bajulmati Beach (0.5 km)
Entrance fee : 5,000 IDR (around 0.3 USD) / car
5,000 IDR (around 0.3 USD) / person

Coconut trees !!! Who wants coconut ? The price for 1 fresh young coconut is only 0.3-0.4 USD !!!!

This one is also my favourite. Batu Bengkung beach !! As its name, you will see a lot of stones here, combine with beautiful searocks and waves. You just sit here and relax, since nobody was there ! You wanna own your own beach, buddy ??

Actually this beach is not as big as those previous beaches. But this place is so private and calm. You can hear the sound of waves very clear, with the sun soaked up on your skin. Just lovely !

Have a great day, people !!!

i want to be a dentist

Yesterday, a patient gave me a very nice statement to me : "Doc, when I grow up, I want to become like you."
Eh, wait a moment. You don't know what kind of rollercoaster I ride in my life -and you want to become like me ?

Then, her mom told me that they adore the way I move in clinic. It seems that my passion always brings a happiness in my steps.
It's true indeed. If you fall in love, you will appear more attractive, and more beautiful. I love my job so much and there, they can see it in my face.

I tell you, the worst past of being a dentist is just 1 :
YOU HAVE TO GRADUATE FROM A DENTAL SCHOOL
And it's not an easy way to do.

Now, everytime my patients asked me about my good old days memory in dental school, I can happily share them the story. Because I have passed the past. But back in time when I was in dental school, which it was 11 years ago anyway, it was my most nightmare ever.
Yes, ever ! Even worst than when I found out that my beloved ex boyfriend cheated on me.

I was struggling with all requirements during my dental school. It was horror. I was spending most of time (and money) to look after patients, from small alleys to smaller alleys. Let me explain this to you if you are not a dental student. This sounds weird, but in Indonesia, all dentistry students during the co-ass, we have to find our patients by ourselves.

WHY ?
Good question !
Because first, we are not dentists yet. And patients won't consider to seek treatments from dentist-to-be. They want a real dentist to treat them.
Second, our nice dental hospital's patients, can't compare with our huge amount of students. So the supply will never meet the demand. If we wish to finish our requirement faster, will be faster if we find for our own patients.
In short conclusion, it will take forever if we hope that our beloved faculty will provide all the requirement patients for us. So, we have to find them by ourselves.

I have several methods to find my requirement patients. Long story. I will post it separately.

If you want to be a dentist, based on my experience as a dental student, you have equipped and armored yourself with.... PATIENCE. You know that your requirement-patients won't come in a blink. You have to search, and rescue them. If they can't match your schedule, you have to do everything for them to make them can match your schedule. Either you beg their boss, their teacher, their husband / wife, or later, just like what I always do.... I helped my little patients with their homework, taught them, pick them up from school and sent them back to school, and don't forget the goodiebags.

It was tiring. And not fun. And if you want to go to dental school in Indonesia, you have to be prepared. You will definitely struggle with a lot of things to get your batch. And welcome to Indonesia, your challenge is not only your patients, but you must have a super extra patience facing all those complicated birocracy and those people in campus. Let's said, lecturers, technicians, assistants, even your own colleagues.

That was a difficult long procedure to become a dentist.
I don't want to go back in those days, anyway.

I remember my little orthodontic patient, Uti. I wrote about them a lot in my previous posts earlier during my dental school. Maybe now she's 17 or 18 already. She was a patient with the longest treatment I ever gave during the dental school. I must follow up her case for 2 years in total which means I should have a well cooperation with her, her very big family, teachers, and her many many friends. Every Lebaran I came for silaturahmi in her house (I can't find a proper word in english for this, hahaha !), visiting her parents, grandparents, her 9 brothers and sisters, gave her gifts in every birthday, bought her whatever she wants if she can cooperate well, and I remembered last time I gave her a bike for a goodbye-gift after I graduated. This is not bribering, anyway - this is more to compliment for them. When your future depends on your patients, you should complimenting them with one stop service rather than retake all semesters back if your patient decided to break you up.

Despite with all of those nightmares, being a dentist is the most wonderful thing in my life. This one is true. Although I should say to you, that being a dentist doesn't mean that you have to work as a real dentist. You know, drilling, filling, extracting, etc. Ok, that one is the basic, but not the major. That old fashioned dentist concept is now changing. Just like what I do now, I set up also the concept of lifestyle for dental health. But other dentists can have their own passion side by side with our basic skill. They can be anyone. Yes, just anyone. Either a hospital manager, dental lecturer, clinician, technician, marketer, just anyone. Because there are lots of part in dentistry that you can apply in your daily basis. And it's true !

platinum invisalign award

I'm so honoured to be invited as a platinum invisalign dentist. I was spending many years to learn and practicing invisalign. And can be serve my best for my invisalign patients, this event was definitely worth paid off !! I was also invited for clinical-cases sharing speech which was a total awesome. Hopefully can make it again next year !!

My Indonesian colleagues. Only 2 clinics from Indonesia were invited including Gigi Sehat Dental for coronation award. Thank you to my solid team and very well cooperative patients. All of you guys had supported me lots !!

Those awesome dentists were coming from Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand. All top invisalign providers were there and it's so good to catch up again with you guys !!! XOXO

The next day, my ortho teacher Dr. Kenneth Lew invited me as a guest to join his sharing-case lectures in his clinic. Here I met a double qualified oral surgeon from Thailand, Dr. Kanita, and from Japan ! Thank you for inviting me, daddy Ken !!

be safe, zoe...

This QZ8501 was a real huge tragedy to Indonesia.... to Surabaya people....   
After one by one sad news since Sunday, today I got a shocked news from one of D's principal. She confirmed that one of QZ8501 passengers was Zoe, D's classmate. D's class in Prepper is not big. His friends are Stella, Caitlin, Rizky, Raj, Roshan, Siena, and Zoe. And as the class is not big, I know their parents quite well. Just last week the kids performed together in Christmas charity show - one of their school program. And that little girl, Zoe was there.... dancing together with D and their other little friends from Prepper class.

D, Raj, and Zoe in last Christmas performance rehearsal. My heart and prayer always be with you, cute little girl....

I was so shocked emotionally, because I know her quite well as D also meets her everyday at school. She travelled with her dad, the only Briton in that flight. I've never seen her dad before, but her mom and her grandparents are loving cheerful people.... and so as Zoe... What a tragedy....

I can't express how sorry and how sad I am.... As lot of friends, patients, people I know, also lost their relatives and beloved people. Hopefully there will be survivors as the rescue team now had found one by one deadbodies and wreckages in Karimata Sea. Still hope there will be a miracle. Still hope there will be miracle. Still hope there will be miracle.....

Or maybe they're just flying higher up there, in a very beautiful place named heaven....

That is why "have a safe flight"
"take care"
"I love you"
"please let me know when you've safely arrived"
means a lot.....
It could be your last goodbye

This is the most heart-breaking tragedy. My deep condolences for QZ8501, the passengers, and their beloved family....

have a safe flight, air asia QZ8501...

My thoughts and prayers go to all passengers onboard Air Asia QZ8501.....

I was terrified and cringed when one by one friends and patients told the story about their missing family, friends, relatives, beloved people who were on board yesterday.
The plane took off from my hometown, Surabaya, and it's a very very common route....  It's only Surabaya-Singapore.....
Plus, it's a good airline with good safety protocol.....
I travelled a lot with this QZ 8501, with also Capt. Iriyanto as a pilot.... This flight is so common.... I can be one of the passengers, or my relatives.... Oh dear God, how can it be.... how can it be....

Since last week, my patients had already talked about their holiday destination with their family. And Singapore was still the most favourite after Bali. I was looking for Surabaya-Singapore flight with Air Asia since I planned to take my parents for year end holiday surprise. I need 5 seats, but only 2 seats available at that time for 28th. And it was still October when I tried to book this flight. All 28-29-30 December's flight was not available. All was full booked. So I cancelled my Singapore trip and plan to visit my grandma instead.

What a tragic, it happened right in holiday season, when people plan to travel with their family for holiday. And Singapore is still the most favourite holiday destination for Surabaya people. It's very near, only 2 hrs flight, child and family friendly, and Air Asia is still a favourite airline. They normally take off at 7.30am, not as early as China Airlines 6am. And also not as pricey as Garuda Indonesia which has the same time schedule. But as I fly a lot with this airline, they sometime do reschedule. So maybe that's why the QZ8501 took off at 5.30am, not at 7.30am as usual...

Actually I couldn't sleep well the night before. I was widely awake until 3 or 4am. I read books, tried to sleep, worked with some of my patients' cases, tried to sleep again but still couldn't, watched tv, then I fell asleep for a while.... I wake up after a nightmare and I couldn't sleep again. I don't expect that I will get a sad news in the morning about Air Asia QZ8501. My heart bleed even more when I read the manifest list. Some people that I know.... Relatives of friends.... Relatives of patients..... May God always be with them, bless them, wherever they are. 
 
Dr. Jerry, my very good colleague from Singapore, and some of dentist colleagues abroad texted me right after the news spread on media. They immediately thought of me when the tragedy happened. Thanks Jerry and friends, you're so thoughtful, really.

That is why "HAVE A SAFE FLIGHT" mean so much. You might lost your loved one in just a moment....  Life is so fragile, isn't it?

Now, we only can hope for a miracle. Dear my friends and patients, my prayer always be with you and your missing relatives on board. May God always be with you and protect you. Amen.

if you want to be, be !

Today, my little patient shared his hilarious dream with me :

"Doctor, I want to be a soccer player. A very professional soccer player"
Cute thing is, he is still 7 ! When I was 7, I wanna be a princess. Well.... just kidding. Actually, I wanna be a teacher. Why teacher ? Because another people were too mainstream. They wanna be doctors. And I won't follow the crowd. The crowd should follow me, hahaha...

"Wow, Hampton, it's so cool ! You don't wanna own a shipyard like mom ?"
His parents are the owner of one of the biggest shipyard in Indonesia. And normally, Chinese people will hope that one day, their children will inherit their business.

"No, I will let my brother to do the shipyard. I want to be like Messi and Christiano Ronaldo !!! They're very cool !!!"

"You will need to study very hard and practice more then ! I support you. One day, I can hang your picture in clinic, titled : Hampton - a professional soccer player, was here when he was 7 years old. Wow !!!"

He gave me his big and cute smile. I notice that kids nowadays, they are very smart. They speak english and chinese fluently. They can operate smartphone in a very fast way. And they know already what they wanna be in a real, serious way.

I started to think to become a dentist when I was 17. I spent my time since my first year in dental faculty, assisting my uncle in clinic, and started to carve hundred of teeth since then. Then it becomes my passion, my biggest passion. Until today. I serve one by one of my patients with lots of enthusiasm and passions. The biggest joy and pride is when they can smile happily with my service. It's priceless.... It's called happiness...

I feel blessed and lucky that I can have my hobby as my job. And even better, I can boss myself in my own clinic, I can do and decide whatever I want to keep this clinic move forward. I can take holiday just anytime I want. What can be better than this ?  So once I listened to my little patient, Hampton, I supported him to always chases his dream.

With a lot of passions inside, you can create beautiful magical things.

basic tips for ladies

Dear ladies,

Be careful with your own dignity. Don't let any men flatter you with nice words, and nice compliments just to take advantages from you.

Men, not all of them are bad, but most of them are jerks.
You will be lucky if you can find one who isn't a jerk, who always stays by your side, who never leave you no matter happens, who is not telling you all the time to trust him -but he will prove himself that he's trustable, who is not telling you all the time to be a good girl and not dig in his past, who will not leave you in doubt, with a lot of questions in your mind that something's wrong is happening now.

I am not a man-expert, but I had met a biggest liar in this world, and through pain+sadness+tears+etc etc etc, I become a lie detector naturally.

Mostly, liars will be....

1. Talking about others' faults. Everytime it's never their fault, it's always others fault.
"My wife cheat on me....."
"She left me....."
"She never understand me...."
"She never cares to me...."

2. Very royal of compliments.
"You're the most beautiful woman I ever met, beautiful eyes, beautiful smile, bla...bla...bla..."
"I never feel a love like this before I met you"
"You're the most amazing woman I ever know ! Very smart, very passionate, bla...bla...bla..."
"Beautiful food. You always serve me the best !"

3. Very expert to make you fly up high in the sky.
"Don't worry baby, she's nothing compares to you"
"We can live very good, you don't need to work, you're my queen, I have a big house, car, bla.... bla... bla..."
"I miss you. So much. All the time."
"I want to know what's your favourite wedding ring."
*and send you flowers, or candies, or chocolates, or candle light dinner with no occassions* - please differentiate between being romantic and trying to invest to you so you can give him a good sex later.

4. Sometimes, you feel it difficult to contact him all the time.
"You know, I'm very busy. I will contact you later."
"I must work. A lot of things should be done."
but later on, you know that nothing's get done. So ? Yes, he's trying to get rid of you. To ? Maybe another girl ?

5. Good at manipulating your feeling.
"I'm sorry baby that I hurt you. It breaks my heart that I see you very sad...."
"Please don't be sad. I'm yours and only yours...."
Be careful if it had happened more than once.

6. He has no past. In the exact words : he will never tell you the truth about his past.
"Today is today. Tomorrow -we don't know. It's another day. So, don't bother with my past."
"I want to start a new life, find a new love."
"Never listen to others. Just trust me. Can you trust me ?"

7. You have a slight feeling that this man is too good to be true, but you just deny your feeling, and think that he loves you a lot.
WRONG. BIG MISTAKE. Trust your own gut and intuition. In the first sight, people will hide all of their flaws. But some people, they're just too good to hide their flaws.....forever.
And you will live in lie. Forever.

8. He starts to forget things.... Promises..... And told you some shits such as....
"I'm old. It's good that you are very young. With you, I feel safe and don't need to remember anything."
"Please remind me, brutally remind me. You're a very good reminder for me, baby."

9. He loves to punish people. Because he doesn't even feel that it's his fault.
"I won't talk to you, so you will learn something that one day you should listen to me."
"By this, you will learn something."

Indeed, a man who is truly loving you will tell you upfront about everything he doesn't like from you and still loving you - just the way you are. And man who is true, they will never forget their promises or their words. Women's big mistake is : they're too nice. Well, too nice is not a good thing. Too nice will not impress people. It means that you lowered your dignity and let others to take you for granted.

Once a man treat you like shit, just walk away. And never look back. I even never wonder how-why-when-what he's doing or so. I don't care, and I won't give myself any excuse.

It's simple. Difficult to do, but once you can burn all the memories or send him back all the stuffs, you will stand stronger. No jerks deserve every single teardrops from your beautiful eyes. Once you walk away and do your best, one day karma will do their job and if you're lucky, God will let you watch.

few memories from primespeak lecture

Meet my girlfriends from Singapore. Dedicated invisalign dentists from DP dental : Jolene, Pearlyn, and Fushi. We had a great time when we had OC course in Las Vegas too :)

Primespeak lecture was a wrap ! Met again with my awesome colleagues -platinum elite, platinum, and all dedicated invisalign dentists there. We had nice sharing and chitchat about cases and experiences. And nothing's better than having a good coffee with these good people. I had a great time in Singapore. And I heart all of you, friends !

With the magic of 'tongsis' a.k.a monopod, Dr. Berti took our nice-nice pic together. Here we are.... me, Dr. Bertina Djemat, Dr. Hilly Gayatri, Dr. Eugene Eu Loh Min, Dr. Michael Sernik, and my daddy Dr. Kenneth Lew. This picture was edited by Dr. Berti. Well done. It looked so cute. I mean, we looked so cute. Ahahaha...




 

Thank you Anne for being such a good personal assistant and arranged everything for me. One Farrer Hotel and Spa was really superb ! Worth my every seconds staying here since I spent most of my time in Singapore in this hotel due the tight schedule of lecture !!

A quality dinner with expert of TMD - Dr. Ade Amarhoseya, queen of invisalign - Dr. Hilly Gayatri, and passionist of endo - Dr. Farida. I can say that those women were inspiring ! Independent tiger women who work with passion and great spirit in dentistry. Meanwhile, dinner was a wrap ! The hairy crab, the sweet potato, the oyster omellette, the marinated jellyfish, the eggyolk spinach all was awesomely g-o-o-o-o-o-o-d !!!
But most of all, great friends and togetherness ! Indeed !

With Dr. Ade - one of my great inspiring colleague and friend. I heart your dedication and passionate in TMD and lecturing. Well, let see if we can make it together in future. Love you ! XOXO~



Finally I went to this skytree!! I was there last year but I didn't have any chance to see the lights at night. Now I'm going myself and also climb into the high bridge in top of the garden ! I'm glad I made it, yaaaay !!!!



A-sudden-pajamas-party ! Happy birthday dear Dr. Hilly Gayatri. Keep awesome and rocking in your career. Wish you all the best for years ahead ! XOXOXOXO

Have a nice day everyone !

hello weekend

I am reviewing my slides this morning when maman called me that the postcards from Bali are well received !

I sent them when I was attending Japanese prosthodontic meeting earlier this month. I visited my grandma as well !!!! And this family reunion was awesome. I hopped on few beaches and of course I never get bored of walking along the sea.

Singapore is calling this week for Primespeak key opinion leader meeting. Can't wait for meeting my awesome colleagues there. Will see you soon, doctors ! And meet up with my girls after Primespeak lecture. XOXO... Can't wait for brunch chit-chatting with all of you, girls...

Just realize that I hadn't posted anything about Vegas course and my past lectures lately. I will definitely  post it during my spare time and will keep you in touch, readers.

Amazing view from Nikko hotel private beach



getok tular

Boleh percaya boleh enggak, saya selalu yakin kalo pasien pertama hari itu adalah pasien penentu pasien-pasien berikutnya.

Kayak hari ini misalnya.

Pasien pertama diawali dengan kasus servikal berderet-deret. Sampe sekarang saya baru bisa mandeg, mata capek luar biasa karena pasien yang dateng kasus servikal semua. Pernah seharian saya ngegarap pasien anak-anak non stop. Dari pagi sampe malem, yang periksa anak-anak semua. Pernah juga seharian itu saya ngegarap kasus interdental dengan kavitas raksasa-raksasa dengan nomenklatur gigi yang sama.

Paling merinding kalo pas hari itu diawali dengan pasien bengkak. Bisa sampe tutup praktek, pasien bengkak kayak nggak kelar-kelar.
Ini getok tular ato apa ya ??

Jaman dulu waktu saya masih kuliah, kalo hari Senin udah apes pasien nggak dateng, ACC ngadat, bisa-bisa semingguan itu kerjaan klinik kayak nggak ada benernya. Dulu sih saya kira itu cuman sugesti. Tapi kalo dirasa-rasa, bener juga lho.

Nggak kok, saya nggak pengen balik S1 lagi. Cukup sudah cukuuuuuuppppppp.

sneak in my chinese culture part 3 : those ultimate words

Not all Chinese do this, but since I was kid, I was being taught to always say these 4 ultimate words :

I'M SORRY, my or not even my fault. No excuses. 
EXCUSE ME, everytime you are being a guest into someone's house, or if you're invited to join a ride in someone's car. No excuses.
THANK YOU, period. Everytime. No matter they do good or bad things to you, ALWAYS say thank you. No excuses.
MAY I HELP YOU ? It's not a sugar-coated questions. I will help. With my very maximum efforts. Whether I like or dislike the person. No excuses.

And too bad, it's in my blood.  

If you are a Japanese, you will get familiar with this. Once we help people, we will help with maximum efforts until it's done. Believe-it-or-not, I get the same culture. Not in all part of China we have this 'totality-of-being-a doormat' kindness. It's a kind gesture, is it ??

And I should blame all estrogen hormon to create me and tradaaa.... I'm a woman. I involve my sensitive feeling into a relationship. Which will turn into a relationshit later for people who don't mean it. Or simply just take me for granted.

If you happen to know me quite well, you will see this in my daily life.

But oh, don't get scared,
I don't expect anything in return.
Even you take me for granted, I don't care either. It's in my blood anyway.

hidden heaven in malang : kondang merak beach

This hidden heaven called Kondang Merak beach. Well... I am a beach hopper. I love sea and beaches. And honestly saying, it's the most beautiful beach I ever seen. All of these photos were taken by my cellphone camera with no filter. And I'm not a pro-photographer. Hahaha...

Not many tourists visited this beach. This beach was not as popular as Kuta beach or all beaches in Bali. But this one was awesomely beautiful -well, it's true. Laid in Hindia sea or Indonesian sea in south of Java island, the waves were big and very VERY beautiful. Definitely recommended for beach-lovers.

Amazing thing about this beach is.... you can see many beautiful rocks, corals, marine fishes, feel the fresh sea breeze in a beautiful beach which feel like a private beach because it was very quiet !! Lunch was awesome. One very big portion of octopus, and huge tuna skewers with unlimited rice for IDR 55k (it was less than USD 5).

To reach this beach, you will need A LOT OF EFFORTS !!! You can follow a direction to Balekambang beach, then you will see a very VERY small signboard written : Kondang Merak. And you will enjoy 4 km driving in a road full of rocks and stones. But the scenery was worth every journey. Glad I can make it !!!!

Kondang Merak beach. Quiet and beautiful

Building a sandcastle

Tres joli !

Beautiful corals

And the sea lays under my feet

Let me take a selfie !

Believe it or not, most of fishermen here are all christians

Huge plate of octopus !

Huge beautiful rock with sparkling sea

Follow me !

Sun, sand, sea !!!

Huge tuna skewers !!!

sneak in my chinese culture part 2 : be a doctor

A heart-touching thing about Chinese parents is.... they are willing to sacrifice everything for their children. Even they have even nothing. And it will continue until they die. It's true.

Chinese parents are so generous to their kids. And even more generous to their grandkids. If they come from average to rich family, they will fulfill every needs of their kids. Even providing a house for them when they're getting married. Well, as summary, they have worked hard when they're young and they don't want their kids to feel their oh-so-hard-life like theirs.
For low income family, they will work very hard to put their kids in a good school, even they're willing to sacrifice their best food for their kids.

I can say that my grandparents and parents had a very difficult life when they were young. My grandpa had nothing when he started his business in Indonesia. Until now our family company is getting bigger and stronger. It's clear, very clear in my parents' eyes that they don't want me to feel their hard-old-days. So, they forced  persuaded me to become a doctor. Oh, and for your information, for Chinese people, doctors (or dentists) are the most prestigious title-job-profession ever.
And I have a lot of doctors and dentists in my family. And we practice together in 1 big clinic-chain.

For my parents, and most of Chinese parents, their proud come when they have relatives (son/daughter/brother/sister/in law) whom are doctors. I must admit that this thing was absolutely NON-SENSE. But.... that's them. My dad always tells me that his decision to put his kids in dental faculty is because.... he didn't have any opportunity to get a higher education. My grandpa pushed him to help at work and he has to left school. He always tells me this :
"My beloved daughter, if you're becoming doctor or dentist, you don't need to work to other people. You can be your own boss with your own knowledge and skill. You won't depend on anyone to survive. I'm not a conglomerate who owns huge companies which I can give to you. But I hope you can survive with your brain and cold hands."
In one side, I must admit that he's right. At least I don't depend on anyone to survive. 

And because my family is a religiously Buddhist family, they always teach me not to harm anybody. ANYBODY. No excuse. Even you hate that people. Everytime they told me not to squeeze poor people when they come in my clinic. We help, wisely. Rumour said that Chinese people are stingy. No-no, they're not stingy at all to others. Yes, they're stingy for themselves. They won't buy luxury things for themselves even they can provide it. They prefer to keep it for next generation. Kids, grandkids, future. Well, not all.... But TRADITIONAL chinese family like mine, normally do this.

And first question that will pop up if you're going to introduce him or her to your parents : Is he/she a doctor ?

Or if you want to get their blessing with your new relationship, simply tell them : I'm dating a doctor.