Hello,

Welcome to Finally Woken.

This personal blog is administered by an Indonesian who has been stranded in Scotland since 2007. During her settlement she is continuously finding things about Scottish people, accent, weather, football, and food which amuse her all the time. Being 12,000 km away from home also makes her seeing her beloved country from different perspectives.

Although she has been writing on and off since forever, she never took it seriously, even though some of her short stories were published in local newspaper years a go. She started the blog in April 2005 in Friendster before moving to Blogger in October 2007, simply because she is fed up with Friendster which has limited capabilities to play around with widgets (seriously!). And finally, after almost a year, she has moved to her own domain, where you are visiting right now: http://finally-woken.com.

She spent many years in two big cities in Indonesia before living in Sydney for a couple of years - the best time in her life so far. Back in Jakarta - or repatriate - in 2001, has brought so many shocking moments for her on daily basis. Her findings are compiled in WTF moments, and it doesn’t stop just before Finally Woken doesn’t live there anymore!

When she landed in Scotland the first time, she found out that she had to start everything all over again. Without knowing where to go or to ask, she was thinking how convenient if we have a sort of forum where people can share their stories and experience living overseas.

She then initiates a forum called Indonesian Expatriates Forum in early 2008 to share stories and to network globally. Later on, hopefully, this forum also can provide useful information and assist anyone who has the similar situation to embark a big step leaving Indonesia. If you are an Indonesian - students, professional, traveler, spouses, parents or volunteers, who are currently or about to living in a foreign country, please join the forum. If you are a seasoned or returned expat, your valuable experience can be shared too.

Read more about her in:

60 things you might want to know about the author:

1. She was born with two teeth peeking out of her gum already.
2. She cannot tell where she is from. Everyone in Indonesia seems to have a hometown and a village to go to back to during holiday seasons. She was born in Surabaya, grew up in Makassar, back to Surabaya during college, went to Sydney for a few years, back to Indonesia and worked in Jakarta for less than a decade. None of her family are from East Java. Her mother’s parents bear royal titles from Javanese palace. Her dad’s parents are not Javanese and are rumoured to have Dutch and Arabic traits although no one seems want to explain this to her. So to make things easier she would say she’s from Surabaya.
3. Her parents were famous in their little city, as mother was a local TV reporter and father managed a health Q&A column in Sunday newspaper. She got teased a lot in school.
4. They’re still together after 30 years. Which means she’s now in her 30s. She wouldn’t lie about age, there’s too much wisdom revealed from her eyes. Haha.
5. She’s a Sagittarius and a Tiger. Not that she believes in horoscope.
6. She’s very tiny - as tiny as Kylie Minogue.
7. She had short hair until high school and long hair afterwards. She went to perm it once. It was disastrous and traumatic, as none other than L’Oreal Indonesia Academy boss and Hair Division General Manager thought it was ugly. Huh.
8. She wears glasses since she was 10, and her vision is really bad. Now she wears contact lenses and plans to undergo a laser surgery. Soon.
9. She went to all-girls Catholic school for 9 years until junior high. They didn’t do anything naughty like what you imagine. Sorry.
10. There are lots of doctors in the family. Beside her dad, 2 uncles and her auntie (who is a doctor herself, married to a doctor and her son is a doctor and another is married to one), it seems like her cousins are either doctors or are married to them. People thought she would become one too, but…
11. She has a degree in architecture, however…
12. Never practices as one.
13. She took a master’s degree in construction management in Sydney. She didn’t intend to go back to Indonesia until one day she was chatting to an alumni who suggested her to contact this lady - who turned out to be the Senior Associate Director of the company. In two weeks she flew back to Jakarta, got a job, and arranged her return for good.
14. She landed back in Jakarta and was shocked to see a thick dark gray cloud above her head - she was used to clear blue sky of Australia.
15. She suffered from asthma and cough for the first two months in Jakarta. She cried the first 6 months, wanted to go back to Australia, nevertheless…
16. She has fallen in love with the city after a year. And never intended to leave, but hey, life has full of surprises.
17. She worked as a project manager for a property company before working for L’Oreal as purchasing manager.
18. People always think that because she has worked for L’Oreal she’s good at applying make-up and knows what to recommend for their skin/hair problems. No matter how many times she tries to explain that she doesn’t know anything about it (see no.16).
19. She still hangs out with ex-colleagues who become good friends.
20. She and her two ex-colleagues-cum-friends dream about opening a noodle station. She believes it’s going to happen soon. Maybe in 2050.
21. She is taking a year off of work. It’s very relaxing being a lady of leisure, however…
22. Her time is almost up. All job offers so far request her to move to London. But no chance, she’s got to find a job in Aberdeen.
23. She met Stuart in Bugil’s, a fact that Bart, the manager, would like to boast to everyone like it’s a big deal.
24. She didn’t really know where Scotland was until she met Stuart. Yeah, she sucks in geography.
25. She doesn’t care about football, even a World Cup.
26. She has not been to a live match before and never intends to. But she knows her time is running out as everybody thinks it is a must, at least once in a life time.
27. She thinks golf is boring, unfortunately it’s a big thing in Scotland. She tells everyone that she doesn’t do small balls. People think it’s hilarious.
28. She never had flat shoes until she moves to Scotland.
29. She has a thing for Gucci. Little bit.
30. She adores fine things. But not like people who buy branded goods for the sake of the labels, she really appreciates the perfection of the works. She knows the history behind each brand she likes.
31. She has a thing for Vietnam too. She declares herself as a Pho Bo lover.
32. She goes to Bali every time she goes back to Indonesia. And thinks Indonesia is the best heaven for food and indulgence.
33. She’s a coffee addict. She tries to cut it down to 3 mugs a day.
34. She plays piano since 4, but was a drummer in a band. The band practiced for years, was only able to play one full song, and had only performed once in front of the neighbours. Yeah, pathetic.
35. She types really fast, it freaks people out. Especially when she does it without looking at the keyboards.
36. She got a blue band in karate when she was 10. And just like ballet lesson she had been taking since 4, she suddenly decided she’s bored with it and just quit.
37. She reads fast, one novel in two hour. She’s read Tolkien’s, Verne’s, and Melville’s when she was 11.
38. She likes literature and is familiar with Indonesian literature and writers. She was a fan of Rendra, Sutardji and Sapardi in high school, and her friends thought she was weird. That before she found Agatha Christie, John Grisham and… chick-lits.
39. She takes everything too seriously sometimes.
40. And she’s a control freak. She likes to have plan A and plan B. It’s part of her character and her job as a project manager who has to plan everything and manages the risk.
41. She doesn’t tolerate bad manners.
42. And she can’t stand stupid people. Sometimes she is so frustrated especially when she has to deal with customer service officer in Indonesia.
43. She is a fast thinker, and expects people to follow her thinking. Which is not always a success. And she becomes upset when they can’t follow her.
44. She is a fast learner too.
45. She is a perfectionist. Not as bad as she used to be, where everything had to be perpendicular or level. Now she can live with imperfection. A little bit.
46. She is quietly dubbed as the most stubborn and feisty one in her big family. She didn’t understand how they decided to crown her with such title. She’s thrilled, though.
47. She is stubborn and feisty. She won’t back down until she’s proven wrong.
48. It’s difficult because she’s usually right. Most of the time.
49. And she remembers everything. Most of the time.
50. Stuart thinks it’s scary because she can hear and smell a thing from 5 meter away. No matter how quiet he farts…
51. She was with the same man for 10 years before realized that it wasn’t right. Leaving a comfort zone and entering the unknown was scary. But she’s survived. Funny that afterward, everybody starts saying that they never thought it would have lasted. Well thank you, but next time please speak up.
52. She used to work for an ice cream shop in Sydney and still remembers how to make a good smoothies.
53. She cooks. Her friends look at her in awe because none of them can. Even though they only hear about it and never actually taste her cooking…
54. She likes cat up to the point she pesters them, even the one in the street. Tilly cat loves and hates her.
55. She writes since she can remember. Blog is only one medium.
56. What she enjoys the most is a quiet dinner in a nice restaurant with a bottle of wine and a good conversation.
57. She finds smart men are sexy. She prefers smart men rather than good looking men.
58. She doesn’t have favorite color. Last time was purple. Now it’s lime green. It took her one and a half year to decide the colour of her bedroom.
59. Has she mentioned she has been living in Scotland since 2007?
60. Can she stop now?

Enjoy your time here, and if you have any suggestions, questions, or comments, do not hesitate to drop one here.

Regards from the granite city!

Finally Woken