A Cool Morning in Dalung

It's very cool this morning here in my Dalung house. I feel it's like during the month of July, where Bali is usually in the coolest season. I think it's because of the whole day rain yesterday. 

I tried hard to get up, and still with my blanket wrapping my body, I enjoy my "hot" Kelapa Kopyor biscuit. I have the Kelapa Kopyor as the replacement for a cup of coffee or tea. I avoid to drink coffee or tea for almost one year now, as it feels uncomfortable in my stomach.   

I hope today will be a bright day. I miss the heat of the sun, as it is already gone for two or three weeks now. 

Let's welcome a new bright day... 

 

Our Morning River Bath

This picture was taken on May 17, 2012. My wife, my two sons and my dog, Tiggy just finished taking a bath in the Lambuk river. Although the water was not clear, but it was clean. We enjoyed the bright morning sun, and the abundant flow of the river.

We always miss this kind of situation, and hope we can have it forever. 

My Working Table

This is my working table. It looks untidy. Yes, its old and dirty. I bought it when I ran a property business on Kenyeri street in 2003. I'm used to do most of my daily activities on this table. Although it is old, for me it's still okay and convenient. 

Besides this table, at the same time I also bought 10 student's chair, and one office chair. Why? While I run the property business, I also did a semi private English Course inside the ruko or shop I rented. I split the room into two parts, the front as the office for the property, and the back one for the English Course. Both of them could run well.   

This table has a kind of a sweet memory for me. It brings my mind back to the difficult finance situation I faced on the time. I will tell you more about my difficult finance situation in other post. I will keep using this table as long as it is not broken. So, keep strong ya...

Start Blogging Again

 

Friday, January 22, 2021, I commit myself to start blogging again. It has been over a year since I wrote my last post. I will write about anything every day, yes, every day. I believe that my writing idea will come like the flow of the Ho river, one of the three rivers near my village. 

Being a writer is always my dream since I was in my high school. I'm sure it will come true very soon. Currently I have some book translation works, and hope to publish one of them by the second quarter of this year. I am also continuing some draft of books about career planning and development. There are many things I want to write and share them with you people. And now it will be the right time to restart.

When I was in my high school, I dreamed of having a typewriter, and live in a simple sanctuary in the Ho river side. Now, as I decide to quit from my professional hotel, property, and English learning career, I try to make that dream come true. I will buy a good typewriter, and build a bamboo hut in a piece of land, just on the river side. I will tell you more about it, when it's ready.

 

Lambuk - A Small River In My Village

Around 100 meters from my house in my village, there is a river called Lambuk river. This river is very special for me, because I spend my time much with it. Although now I live around 40 kilometers away, I always try to come and bath there whenever I have time.

The river is not so big, just about 20 meters wide, but the water is running all year long now. In rainy season it is flooding, and nearly dry during the dry season. One sad thing about it is that it is a bit dirty now, because of plastic and clothes waste. I have an idea, when I have more free time later, I want to build a small sanctuary on it's side, so I can clean the waste every day.

When I was a child, it was very easy to get fish, shrimp, and crabs there. I used to catch them with my grandmother. But now, it is a bit difficult to get them. I guess, it is because of the extensive usage of the chemical pesticide. I hope people will start to go organic, so the fish, shrimp, and crab can live again in the Lambuk river..      .

Property - My Non Successful Business Trial

I quit from my hotel job in March 2002. I don't say that it was a bad decision, but it once brought me to one of the worst finance situations in my life. The story is like this :

From the year 2001, I was promoted to be the Front Office Manager of The Chedi Ubud (now Alila Ubud). I felt the manager position was not suitable for me. As I told in my tagline above, I always like to be independent, anytime, anywhere. So then I started to think of leaving my job, and tried to find an independent job. Property Business then was my choice. Why? Besides I could work independently, I also thought that it could produce much money for me to save for my financial freedom. (I already started reading the book of Robert Kiyosaki : "Rich Dad Poor Dad" on that time).

The business was at first running well, but as the time passed, it was getting worse, and at the end brought me a debt of Rp 200.000.000. It was a big amount of money in 2004, where a piece of a good land of one are (100 sqm) was only Rp 25.000.000 to Rp 35.000.000 in Dalung or Kepaon. I was stressed, and almost sold the house I lived.

I did a contemplation, and following an invitation from one of my friends, I joined a boot camp called Life Changing Boot Camp conducted by Mr Onggy Hianata in Enjung Beji Resort, Bedugul. The essence of the boot camp was : Visualize your dream very clearly, and nature will make it happen.

I tried to follow their advice, and started to make my dream very clear in my mind. My dream was simply "to be debt free." Then suddenly in doing a renovation of Villa Pisang Mas in Legian, I was asked to throw away many second hand books by the villa owner, because the tenant had left the villa. Since I like books, I tried to sort the books and kept with me the ones I might like to read. One of them was "The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success by Deepak Chopra." It was difficult for me to understand at first, but after trying hard, I finally could understand it.

One of the laws tells that we should find our unique talent first, help the community with it, and we will be able to create abundance in our life. I went back to my choice of the property business. I realized that it was none of my talents there. I chose it only because I could be independent, and it could produce much money. I did it not because I liked it, but to earn much money. So then I knew why it was not successful.

Do what you love, and love what you do.   

 

Time To Say Good Bye...

It is difficult to say good bye to someone or something we really love. But now, I think it is the right time for me to leave EC - English is Easy, the company I worked for nearly 8 years.

EC - English is Easy is an English Course company operated by PT Edukasi Carakita. It is based in Jakarta, but currently only opens the school in Bali. There are three schools student can choose. The first is EC Gatsu, located on Gatot Subroto street Denpasar, the second is EC Sudirman, located on PB Sudirman Street Denpasar, and the newly opened is EC Dalung, located on Jalan Raya Dalung Permai, Kuta Utara, Badung.

Together with PT Falcon, Jakarta, I founded the course in 2011, and start to take the first student on March 07, 2012. The course is unique, and much different from other English Courses operating here in Bali, or over Indonesia. It is unique because it uses a special method, called "carakita" or "our way". I myself created the method, adopting our Indonesian way of thinking in expressing something. It is started from the easiest structure, and then gradually step to the more complex ones. To know more about the method, you may visit www.carakita.com.

As the founder of EC, I spent most of my time doing research, compiling learning materials, selecting teachers, administrative works, marketing, and do training. Although our partner PT Falcon didn't closely monitor what I did, I still feel not independent, and now I decide to be back to my nature, being independent.

Good bye EC, you have been filling and coloring my life for few years.