Aka Aurora's Tales

Since I've graduated from University of Indonesia, I didn't have any formal school to attend. I am just working now while taking some courses. But yeah, I still look for some scholarships and apply for it. In November, I applied for the 2012 AMINEF's Community College Initiative Scholarship Program. I chose to study Early Childhood Education because I am now working as a teacher. That was my first time to apply a scholarship. But time flew. I didn't get any news from the AMINEF. So I just tried to forget about it.

In the beginning of December, I was in the middle of the queue in a bank. My index finger played on my smartphone to read some tweets in my Twitter's timeline. I saw an announcement about Korean Scholarship which was held by Geumgang University, Nonsan, South Korea, cooperated with Korean Cultural Center Indonesia. It is a 4 months language training scholarship.

The basic requirements are :
1. Minimum Diploma graduate
2. If you still enroll in a university, you can apply, but you need to attach a reference letter from your Dean.
3. No need a TOEFL / TOPIK Score
4. The birth year is minimum in 1991
5. Make an introductory video in English

For more info, you can just visit Geumgang University website : Geumgang University .

I collected my application on December 17th, 2012. I didn't expect for something, but at least I tried it. As the time goes by, in January 2013, I went to Hongkong for my annual holiday. When I came back to Indonesia, I got an email which stated that I'm failed to get my scholarship :'(( It was such a disaster for me. There were only 13 people who were accepted, including 2 Indonesian girls. Hmmm ... It's maybe not my turn to get a scholarship.

But one day after I taught, I got an email from Geumgang University which notified me as one of the successful applicant! Yup they added 7 more students to join this scholarship ! Yay, my dream came true !

Right now I am currently studying Korean language in an Intermediate Level. It's difficult but the class is really exciting :D

I will write about it in my upcoming posts

Hi !

It's been a long time not to post something in my blog. Well, I'm kinda ( trying to be ) busy with my work, but yeah laziness always come over me hahahaha. So I have a lot of story to begin my first post in 2013. Let's start it with my trip to Hongkong which was held in January 5th - January 10th, 2013.

Start now !

Soooo, actually in March 2012 after my arrival from Singapore, I browsed some airlines to get some inspirations where to go for my annual holiday next year. My mom was really dreaming to go to Hongkong, because my auntie told her about it before. I actually prepare to go to South Korea. But finally, we decided to go to Hongkong first. Lucky us, we got a really cheap ticket to go to Hongkong with Garuda Indonesia, an Indonesian first-class airlines, for only US$ 247 RETURN ! We departed from Soekarno-Hatta International Airport ( CGK ) anyway. I came to Hongkong with 2 of my aunties and 1 of my auntie's friend who is so close with us, Tante Dyah ( Tante = Auntie ).

But in November 2012, my first auntie, Mimi, got a light stroke or infark, But she'd still like to go! So yeah we brought her wheel chair as well.

Taraaaaa, so we departed on January 4th, 2013 at 23:25 PM ( Indonesia timezone +7 ).

Miss Panda and Hedgehog or called 판다양과 고슴도치 ( Pan Da Yang Gwa GoSeum Doji ) in Korean is a recent drama. It was aired on A Channel Korea several months ago. From the title itself, you maybe can't find any interesting points of this drama. But if you see who starred this drama, maybe you'll take a quick step to know more about it. Lee Dong Hae ( 이동해 ), who starred as a cool patisserie in this drama, is well-known as a Super Junior member. This drama wasn't his first debut, but he got a really important role which he needed to have the experience and a lot of practices. Besides that, the main actress was handed in to Yoon Seung Ah ( 윤승아 ). I had recognized Yoon Seung Ah when she appeared in a popular drama Mischievous Kiss ( 장난스런 키스 ) as Dok Go Min Ah ( 독고민아 ), Oh Ha Ni's best friend. She's one of a popular and talented actress that South Korean has. The main supporting actor of this drama, Choi Jin Hyuk ( 죄진혁 )  maybe has more experiences of acting than his two fellas. He acts for many titles of drama and he's quite popular in South Korea.


Miss Panda and Hedgehog tells about a talented patisserie named Go Seung Ji who became an ex-prisoner. He has no family but he has his grandfather, but not for real grandfather. The grandfather is a bake shop owner named ' Mozart '. Seung Ji or Do Ji ( Seung Ji's nickname - Do Ji = hedgehog / porcupine ) learned everything about producing cakes from his grandfather. After been released from the jail, Seung Ji preferably willed to work at Saint Honore, the best bake shop in town. But he was crudely treated by the head of Saint Honore, Choi Jae Kyeom ( 죄제겸 ). He promised to himself to take a revenge of Choi Jae Kyeom and Saint Honore as well. One day, Seung Ji gets a job at Cafe Panda, a cafe which is led by Pan Da Yang ( 판다양 ), a food journalist. This cafe has no customers since the patisserie of this cafe, Gil Dong Goo ( 길동구 ) isn't qualified enough. Pan Da just recruited her for a pity reason. As the time goes by, Pan Da and Seung Ji have fallen in love each other. They get into a love triangle with Choi Won Il ( 죄원일 ), who is noted as Pan Da's childhood friend and the manager of Saint Honore. But finally Seung Ji gets Pan Da and Won Il becomes their mate. Problems doesn't stop there. Seung Ji finally needs to throw his will to take a revenge to Saint Honore away to help Won Il rebuild Saint Honore as the head of Saint Honore leaves out.

Why should I name this post as ' A Sincere Love Does Exist ' ? Because making a cake is the same as love each other. You can't make a good cake if you don't make it with a sincere heart and love. It does happen to Seung Ji who makes a cake with his fully heart and loves Pan Da sincerely. Love is something that you can't buy or bargain. Everybody has love inside of their hearts, but they have their own thoughts how to express their love. Pan Da makes Seung Ji facing her because of her fully sincere heart. Actually Pan Da is a girl who has never dated before and Seung Ji is someone who always put a wall in his heart if it's talking about relationship. But everything turns out into a good one if we do what we want with our love and heart. A sincere love does involve a friendship of these 3 people. They need and take care of each other. It's such a sweet thing that I have seen. In fact, love and friendship still take their parts to color this world.

I'd like to recommend you to watch this drama. It's all not because the stars are in this drama, but it's all about what messages you can get from this drama. If everybody can do something with their fully hearts like Seung Ji makes a cake and Pan Da loves Seung Ji from the deep of her heart, many happy things can happen to this world.

Enjoy the drama! :)

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xoxo

[ TOUCH KOREA EVENT ]

Hallyu wave is really spreading to all over the world. Not only for K-pop and K-drama, but also the culture, foods, fashion, until in trading. Who don't know about Korea now ? Many Korean companies, restaurants, cultural centers are spreading in almost every country in this world, include of Indonesia.

Now also, Korean food is becoming a trend for culinary lovers in Indonesia. We can find many restaurants or food stalls at the mall which serve Korean foods. But you know what, mostly Indonesian just knows about bulgogi, bibimbab, kimbab, and tteokbokki. Yeah I know because not many Korean restaurant serve many kind of Korean foods. Korean food is not only Bulgogi and the others that I mentioned above. If you have a chance to visit Korea, why don't you try to try those 3 delicious Korean foods ? Or if you want, you can try to make this at home.

Let's sort what Korean foods that I choose !


1. Sinseollo ( 신설러 / 열구자탕 )

Have you ever watched ' Boys Over Flower ' or 꽃보다 남자 , a Korean drama which was so popular in 2009 ? One of the scene there appeared Mr. Lee Jung Gil , who became Yoon Seok Young ( Yoon Ji Hoo's grandfather ) ate Sinseollo.

Sinseollo is actually a Korean royal court cuisine. Usually it is served for the King / President or for the royal family in Korea. Sinseollo is such a casserole which contain various of meats, vegetables, mushrooms and broth soup. Then it's served in a large silver vessel with the hole in the middle. The hole in the middle is for putting the broth soup. Then the ingredients are placed in around the pot.

You can share this sinseollo with your friends since the portion is so big. By sharing, you can enjoy to eat Sinseollo. You know what, sinseollo / yeolgujathang means to make your mouth happy. Because it's so delicious, so your mouth will be happy if you eat this. And I think not only your mouth which will be happy, but also your heart and body will be so happy.

Many restaurants in Seoul served Sinseollo now. So you can try to eat it if you go to Seoul. In Indonesia, I think there's no Korean restaurant serving it yet now. But later on, maybe they will serve it and let us try this royal cuisine. Because it's a royal cuisine, so it's rather pricey. The average price is about 35,000 - 70.000 Korean Won or it can be more than that, depend on the restaurant and the location of the restaurant.

Or if you want to try to make it, you can try this recipe :

AMT after cook	AMT per 1	Temp.	Heat time	Cook time	Cooker
2㎏(4 portions)	500g	65~80℃	1 Hour 15 min	3 Hour	18㎝ Sinsun Pot

Time	Process	Hear Control
Preparation	Preparing beef. Shaping dumplings. Preparing frying stuffs, Preparing garnish
0 min	Simmering broth	H-heat 9 min. M-heat 40 min.
40 min	Seasoning beef and radish. Seasoning broth Pan-frying dumplings	M-heat 2 min. M-heat 16 min
60 min	Pan-frying stuffs. Scalding carrot Placing in the Sinseollo pot and boiling	H-heat 2 min. and 20 sec. H-heat 3 min.

Feel bored with Indonesian chicken porridge ? So let's try Dalkjuk now ! Dalkjuk is a Korean chicken porridge but seems it's like samgyetang. Actually I just thought about that because the whole chicken is boiled like samgyetang, but the difference is no ginseng on it. For neutralizing your tongue from spicy Korean food, Dalkjuk is the best choice for you. Because it's not spicy ( but yeah, still if you want it to be spicy, you can spread chili powder then ), hot, delicious, and easily to digest. It's also healthy because it contains a lot of nutrition which is good for your body, such as carbohydrate from the rice, protein from the chicken and the chicken broth, also vitamin and mineral from the vegetables that you put into. It's also suitable to eat it when the weather is cold, like winter in Korea. But you can eat it when the weather is hot to return your energy back.

The basic recipe of dalkjuk is so easy. But you can improve it by yourself. Usually I add more vegetables on it because I love vegetables and make the dalkjuk appearance become nicer. Ok, you can try to make dalkjuk from this basic recipe below :


1. Wash and soak the rice in water for 2 - 3 hours ( usually they use sushi rice, but you can change it into the regular rice )


2. Drain it by a colander


3. Wash the whole chicken then boil it with chopped garlic and chopped spring onion. Don't forget to spread a little bit salt and pepper.


4. After it is boiled well, take the chicken and move it into another bowl. 


5. Put the drained rice into the boiled chicken broth. Boil them until the rice become a porridge.


6. While waiting your porridge, take the chicken meat off from the bones and shred it into small pieces.


7. Chop spring onions and big red chili as garnishes.


8. After the porridge is well-done cooked, place the porridge into the bowl and don't forget the soup from the chicken broth.


9. Garnish it with chopped spring onions and chopped big red chili


10. DONE !

How is that ?? Easy right ??? You can make it by yourself at home and you can add your favorite ingredients into your dalkjuk :D

But if you go to Korea, of course you can find lots of restaurant which sell dalkjuk, especially in winter. Since I never taste dalkjuk in Korea, so I don't know about its price. But I think it's not too expensive. So from now just try to make it at home and I guarantee you that Dalkjuk is one of the Must-Try Korean Food ! ^^



3. Jajangmyeon ( 자장면 )




Jajangmyeon is wheat noodles which is spread with salty black soybean paste. This black soybean paste is usually called as chunjang ( 준장 ) . Usually we can add sliced meat, vegetables or seafood. It's kinda spaghetti, but with more Asian taste.

In 2006, Jajangmyeon was included into the Top 100 Korean Cultural Symbols and in 2009, Jajangmyeon was chosen as The Best Selling Item in All Chinese Restaurant in Korea and also The Most Ordered Food By Delivery in Korea.

You can find many kinds of Jajangmyeon, such as  ganjajangmyeon (간자장면), which is jajangmyeon served with the jajang sauce without the starch, with the sauce and noodles being served separately in different bowls, and samseon jajangmyeon (삼선자장면; 三鮮炸醬麵), jajangmyeon with seafood filling, such as Squid, shrimp, sea cucumber, etc. Samseon ganjajangmyeon (삼선간자장면; 三鮮간炸醬麵) consists of noodles served with sauce, which contains seafood on the side. You can also taste Jajangbap is essentially the same dish as jajangmyeon, but made with rice instead of noodles.

Geez, it's been like a year I've never wrote about my life. Here I come tadaaaaaa !!! ^^

It's all now about my recent job. Job that I really love, even it's not my major anyway. I graduated from University of Indonesia in majoring Communication - Broadcasting. Several months after thesis' revision and before the graduation ceremony, I had already got a job. But it was as a kindergarten teacher. I didn't know what was in my mind until I thought to be a kindergarten teacher. Once got an interview chance, but I refused it cause of salary problem which was not compatible. The second, I got an interview chance in a kindergarten near my house. I love the kids and they also love me. Buuuuttt, the big problem was the working situation and the teamwork which didn't make me comfort at all. I was like a stranger who didn't know anything then suddenly appeared at that place. I know, not all people thought like that, but my own team DID think like that ( although they said ' we never thought like that ', still face expression and eyes contact told me ).

I didn't feel comfortable so I shared a story to my best friend who was also my TOEFL teacher WHO was also one of my student' parent. I told him about everything that I felt and everything that I didn't agree with. One day, he complained the things that I had told him to the principal. Suddenly, they were shocked. Actually, it must be me to tell the principal, but I think that was the way to go out.

I had a plan to resign from that place soon, so with that way, I can resign and never come back to that school. I really thanked to him, although he felt so bad when I told him that I resigned from my job. After that he offered me to apply as an English Teacher in my institution which I got TOEFL preparation course. And thankfully they accepted me as an English Teacher.

I really felt all of teachers here accepted me warmly. In my first day working here, I didn't feel like a stranger. They embraced me and taught me everything. Now I have worked for 4 months. I enjoy teaching! Yeah, I remember, my childhood ideal was being a teacher. And the dream came true!

Now I really try my best to work hard and learn everything that I don't know yet. I also try to be responsible in everything that I've done. Thank God, my job is now my passion. You gave me more than enough. Great job, great friends, great principal, and of course great experience !