Staying One Night @ Haeundae Beach

....Went to Busan for a seminar. (no stories-related). just pictures...

Stayed at one of the hotels near Haeundae Beach. 

Good Morning, Suray. 

It's a hotel operated by Korea's chain: Bennikea.

A small hotel but..for one night..it's okay. 

waking up to a beautiful scenery seen from my hotel window...ㅋㅋㅋ 

The sun's shining..and...I could see the well..a bit obstructed view.. 

selfie.. 

I was trying to reach out to the far beyond scenery...

Then...I managed to take some shots of the city.

Oh wait..this was taken from Paradise Hotel where I had my seminar.

View from the 16th floor. Haeundae Beach in Winter...completely different from summer splash.^^

Looking down ... 

and..looking up straight into the vast ocean....

PH (pae-ha:) Stories @ Jogja

Guess...we missed the PH in Jogja. (suddenly...I became delirious^^)....Yup, it's been almost three years since the last time we had PH Time. Frankly..one of the reasons was simply because we never had one in Seoul. So, when I had a chance to meet Nana, my colleague, ..the only place that popped out of my mind was..well, PH.

And..since Eyra & Freya also wanted to meet her (affectionately lovable) eonni a.k.a. baby sitters (no..no...my students, Beth & Dewi whom they met in Seoul), why not asked them to join us @ PH? * Thanks girls..for taking our daughter to Timezone and let us enjoy our dinner. ^^

We might as well .....meet..greet...chat...and catch up what we'd been dying to share for the past two years...(c'mon...like there's no such thing as Whatsup ...and Facebook...

 or Path?) ^^

Then..another time..different location..but still @ PH^^, we had lunch along with my other colleagues. Yes...'spending time' at PH @ Jogja was so much fun.

oops!

And it's Lunar New Year's celebration...and we surely did take some time...

to seize the moment.

*Thanks, friends*

Winter's Tale ^^

We still had some reminiscences of what we did over our winter's vacation. One of them is how those two little daughters of mine insisted that they had their own trolley to bring along all the way through the concourses leading up to the Gate. 

And..the fact that they loved this winter vacation is something we treasured the most. 

"and...what do you think you're doing? and...

wait..where did you leave the other trolley, kids?"

The Girls @ Hello Kitty Cafe (part 2)

Okay...though I may not into 'Hello Kitty' stuff, I got to find ways to 'amuse'myself..and this is one thing: 'Please Do Not SEAT!!!!!' okay....oops. 

What about all of those Hello Kitty's love message inscribed on stones stored in glasses?  Only girls-power can do all of these! 

Let me jot down the menu: Most of them are H.K.related. (expected, right?) 

and..this is what the girls really wanted to have. 

The (well, hopefully reasonably priced) mousse.

.

Are these for sale, too? (but, wait..what are those?) 

and...other cakes or waffle that...I could just savor in any other place...but wait...this is not about me....THIS IS about my daughters' wish to come to this cafe....so...I don't judge.... 

Freya's happy. 

Eyra's, too.  

Even..they started to wonder if they ever gonna eat the Hello Kitty mousse...worrying that they might 'hurt' the Hello-Kitty-shaped mousse. (OH DEAR!!!!)

The Girls @ Hello Kitty Cafe (part 1)

I can't remember when was the first time Eyra, especially, got her crush on everything about Hello Kitty. She used to love, well...Tobot, Tayo, and others...but ...at one particular moment, she must've seen, heard, watched, or...got influenced by someone..about girls' being infatuated to Hello Kitty. 

oh, well..anyhow...I didn't even have the slightest idea that there IS such a thing as Hello Kitty Cafe in Seoul.....UNTIL my daughter asked (more like insisted) me to take her there. It turned out to be at Hongdae area...subway line 2.  

We got there at around 4 and it so happened that there was a 'No Order from 4 to 5 pm' so, it meant one thing: we could go around the cafe and see what's inside..the interior may look like. hmm..Eyra seemed to be the one who's excited. 

oops...her sister, Freya, was no exception. In fact..she became kind of interested in this PINK-world of Hello Kitty. OMG...every corners...nooks and corners of the cafe are full of hello kitty-themed stuffs. Mind-boggling....

Waiting for time to order our menu.....and what's to do, then? 

Just look around the 2nd floor of the cafe and they found this life-size(?^^) Hello Kitty...that Eyra would love to take a pic with. 

oh, Dear...you, too, Freya? Okay..just go there and take a pose. 

All Hello Kitty-covered walls are the only things that simply make this cafe deserves to be called 'Hello Kitty' cafe. Other than that? nothing special about this....(or wait...is it too biased..since I am NOT into Hello Kitty?:-) sorry,girls. 

But..for you, Daddy can do anything...like taking you to this cafe..even though..the Hello Kitty-shaped mousse was tagged at 10,000 Won!!! Oh, Dear......!!!!! 

and...please don't tell me that the restrooms are also H.K-themed!!!!!

Meeting One of My Former Academic Advisors Back in College

Whenever I had a chance of coming back home to Jogja, one of the must-do things is meeting my friends, colleagues, and of course my lecturers back in those days when I was still at Gadjah Mada University.

This time, I met one of my favorite teachers, Ms. Ni Gusti Ayu Roselani. Yep, judging from her name, she is a Balinese. She never fails to amaze and surprise me in so many ways. Okay, not boast, but...ms. Roselani happens to be a vivid lover of Korean dramas:-) hahaha...how cool is that, eh?

and even the Muslim wear that she's wearing (in the picture) is her own rendition of Hanbok-inspired Muslim wear. (too bad the picture does not capture the whole lower part of what hanbok may have looked liked, otherwise...one would easily say that it IS hanbok:)

Ms. Roselani, till we meet again....in Seoul, perhaps? Insyaallah.

...yes..and that's the plan.

Timezone: We'reeee Baaaacccckkk....for a while!

One of the so-called 'weekly' routines that Eyra and Freya used to do back then. They had this reload-able membership card with which they could play at the playground area--with extra cost, of course. But, as I remembered correctly, they more often than not...offered discounts with which they could spend extremely 'not-that-cheap' amount of time at Timezone:)

So, they're so excited to find out that we brought them back here. 

Though they could do most of these stuffs @ android smartphones, I still could not believe how they're still attracted to 'DO' this picture-scratching game. :-) I guess..the only reason lies in the fact that they could print out the picture along with their picture right after they finished 'drawing' the picture. 

While their Mom and auntie were busy playing supposedly kid-game, Eyra and Freya were asking me what other options they had...to 'use up' all the points in the card. 

"So, did you have a greaaat time, Mom and Tante Yuni?" 

Yeaach....they seemed to be having a great time, though. 

One last click of the mall with its Imlek decorations hanging and dangling down at the main atrium of Amplaz. 

Though it may sound weird, but...I got to admit that the 'sense' and 'smell' and 'sound' of Amplaz kind of made me feel 'homey' (hmm..though I still wonder if it is the right diction to use).

Up in the Sky to Indonesia

 A view we had a chance to see and enjoy while up in the sky flying with Garuda Indonesia. Yes, the blue sky and weather during our flight really made an astonishing and enjoyable journey. Alhamdulillah.

Blue sky and clear skies. 

Freya usually enjoyed the flight, but this time she was having a bit of fever so...she was sleeping during most of the flight. I remembered she only watched one movie 'Despicable Me 2' that she was eager to watch upon realizing that her fave movie was on the list of in-flight entertainment. 

As for her sister, she could not be happier since she was 'accompanied' by her doll she took along with her for this trip. And..oh..that little tiger was a gift from the Airlines.  

Finally, after almost 7-hour nonstop flight from Seoul to Jakarta, we could see the coastline of Jakarta. We're about to land at Jakarta International Airport. 

Okay, another picture with Mama. So, Eyra seemed to be so excited of this trip since it's her first after 2.5 years. Yes, she really wanted to see Jogjakarta again... 

Alhamdulillah, we arrived safely at Jakarta and we needed to transit for 2 hours before departing for our connecting flight to Jogjakarta. Another 50 minute flight from Jakarta. 

I am glad to know that Eyra and Freya were fine. I guess...they know that they're about to be in Jogjakarta in less than an hour. But, other than that...

having a 7-hour flight must have been a bit tiring for them. 

So, when they knew that they could run along the corridor of the Jakarta airport, they were excited. 

Alhamdulillah...we're going to Jogjakarta.

Yes, Jogjakarta...here we go.