My Purple World : spring 2016

Showing posts with label spring 2016. Show all posts

PS 122 Cultural Night

PS 122 Cultural Night is back!

Remember that I posted PS 122 Cultural Night event last year?
I posted the story here, culture night at PS 122.

And we all are more than happy to join the fun again this year.

Like last year, we have Indonesian table during the event.

And it was fun, fun, fun.

This year, my dearest friend and neighbor, Dita, join me in the food department.

with Dita @ditut :)

Dita, the famous food photographer, stylist, and illustrator (go check her Instagram @ditut :)) and made 2 trays of delicious bakwan or vegetable fritters. Super yuuum indeed.

While I prepared 2 trays of bakwan jagung or corn fritters and 1 big tray of mie goreng or fried noodles. Truly Indonesian favorite food and we hope everyone will enjoy that, too.

So, amidst the crazy never-ending UN meetings I have, I managed to ask permission to leave the office early on that Friday dan headed back home. Hurrily changed my clothes in purple kebaya and Tapis Lampung, Bo, Obi et Udi have got everything ready.
Off we went to the school yard and prepared our table.
It was supposed to be alphabetical order and clearly somebody took our table first :(.
After I spoke to the committee, they let me use whatever table available and we started tidying up our table.
I didn't take long as I just throw all those colorful tenun and traditional fabrics from Indonesia and set the food.
And at 6.30, the Cultural Night started.

We have many people coming to our table and tried our food.
Some of them even come back for more and love the fritters :)

sweet corn fritters for y'all..

We also had the raffle tickets.
I donated two bags of Indonesian traditional handicrafts for the raffle this year. They even have more prizes like hampers, chocolate boxes, gift vouchers, bags, perfumes, and more.

Isn't it exciting?

try your luck :)

For the entertainment department, this year we have dances and fashion shows.

Unlike last year, the Fashion shows was firstly introduced this year.

Not really really a fashion show but we did have red carpet there in the basketball yard where kids (and parents ;)) can gracefully walk displaying their traditional costumes.
Obi and I joined the show, with me wearing Tapis Lampung and purple kebaya while Obi wore Baju Bodo from Makassar, North Sulawesi, Indonesia.

the fashion show that day :)

As all of the Indonesian food we have were gone in the first hour, we managed to look around. There were many countries participating, but just like us, most of the food were already gone in the first hour as we had so many visitors.

There are several stands which are the same as the previous year, but for 2016, we have a manga corner.

Do you know manga comics?

Meet Ms. Takashima...

we're on the list :)

For sure we all have a blast during PS 122 Cultural Night.
And I have decided to join again next year :).
Do you have cultural night as well in your kids' school?
Do you participate as well?

Check out more of my stories at #Steller :)

Labels: Bo et Obi, Culture Night, Indonesian culinary, NYC, PS 122, spring 2016

Indah Nuria Savitri

A blessed mom of two who loves traveling, diving, blogging, vlogging, cooking, shopping and all the joy life can bring. A lifestyle blogger who has a soft spot for wastra nusantara and purple stuff ��. Been living in 4 countries in 4 different continents and traveling to more than 50 countries (and counting ��♥️)

Spring Break 2016: the Death Valley

The Death Valley.

Aren't we all intrigued by the death?

D.E.A.T.H.

What is death?

A scary concept that may haunt our consciousness?

Or freedom from all fears and failures?

When I heard the name of one of these National Parks here in the US for the first time, I was thinking that it might derive from it being a dreadful "killing field" of creatures passing over this very spot.

When we google it, for sure the image you'll find is the famous skeleton of the mountain goat's head.

Miserably stared back at you with its hollow eyes.

That is something!

The more we browsed, the more captivated we were.

That is why we decided to come and visit Death Valley, our second National Park in this spring break trip.

Our journey this time started from Page Arizona. It took us around 6hours from Arizona to Death Valley, California. Long and hot 6 hours :)

The view along the way is lovely indeed.

Typical mysterious deserts with its beauty.

We left Page early in the morning and manage to arrive in Death Valley at noon.

And it was so hot indeed.

Death Valley is, in fact, one of the hottest points in this country.

We headed to Furnace Creek, the visitor center, to know more about this huge Park. Looking at the map given to us, Death Valley is indeed so vast, so empty, yet so simple, and so quiet.

It was very quiet we could hear our own voice echoing back.

Well, Death Valley is the hottest, the driest and the lowest National Park indeed.

One thing for sure, there is NO SIGNAL here.

NO signals, NO GPS, NO service.

We very much relied on the map and road signs as well as park newspaper which has abundant information and warnings.

There are several interesting spots in Death Valley.

Some of them are Badwater Basin, Dante's View, Devil's Golf Course, Zabriskie Point, Artist Palette, Scotty's Castle, the Racetrack and more. There are so many ghost towns as well.

Then with the time and energy we have, we were faced by our classic problem.

So much to see, so little time

For the first stop, we had Badwater Basin

Badwater Basin is the lowest elevation in North America. It was located 282 feet, or 86 meter, below the sea.

When we first stepped our foot here, all we could see was white and brown field.

Of salt and mud.

at the Badwater Basin.

The salt flat was very interesting.

We have never seen it before and pretty much interested to see closer.

It feels like in another world.

It somehow reminds me of Star Wars :).

Bo and Obi realy enjoyed the Badwater Basin.

Although it was very hot, but they were happily running around the sands flat, looking at the salt and mud formations which are very unique.

Then after that, we headed to Devil's Golf Course. Nice name, right :).

It is basically a vast field with dry mud and salt. Looks like a thorn golf course.. And maybe only the devil who can play golf here.

This place is certainly huge so it feels like it belongs to us. We have more cars and visitors in Badwater Basin, but not on the other parts of the park.

Next, we drove around the Artist Drive. This one way drive is beautiful indeed, with some dips and curves which accentuate the mountainous structure of this area.

Then we arrived at the Artist Palette.

We took a break here and took photos until sunset.

By the time we finished at the Artist Palette, it was already dark.

And we were drop dead tired as well.

We stayed at Stovepipe Well that night.

Before heading to Yosemite National Park, we stopped at Mezquita Flat Sand Dune.

So, what do you think about Death Valley? Fascinating isn't?

Labels: California, Death Valley, National Parks, NPS, spring, spring 2016, spring break 2016

Indah Nuria Savitri

Spring Break 2016: Grandeur Grand Canyon

"Mommy, where are we now? Why is it snowing?"
"Are we going to hike again today?"

Obi asked me, looked worried.

I was busily packing bottles of water and salty snack in our backpack when I heard Obi from the back seats.

"Don't worry, baby. We will have another great adventure today," I smiled reassuringly.

We just arrived at Grand Canyon.

The next place we visited after Lower Antelope Canyon and Lake Powell, still in our Spring Break.

And we made it!

We finally made it to Grand Canyon.

Perhaps, for many of you, visiting this national park is a regular annual trip. But for us, coming from a different part of the world, Grand Canyon is certainly on top if our bucket list along with Alaska,Yellowstone National Park, and so many more.

And it was snowing (yes, snowing) when we arrived here one early morning at the last week of April.

Driving for about 2 hours from Page, Arizona, we started the trip from Dessert View, heading to the South Rim, up to the Hermit Road. North Rim was still closed for the season. We managed to stop at Little Colorado River Gorge for a while.

Little Colorado River Gorge

Grand Canyon, on whatever season, never fails to amaze us.

Standing there, warmly wrapped in our light winter gear, the grandeur Grand Canyon is all for us to explore.

Dot by dot, every view point, we enjoyed the breathtaking beauty of mother nature with admiring eyes and endless wonder.

And how small we are amidst the vast and incredible nature.

cheers from the Watch Tower.

Asli ngeri-ngeri sedap foto sama anak-anak di Grand Canyon.
Tebing di mana-mana.
Dan kalau takut ketinggian, kebayang deh sengsaranya :).
Apalagi seringkali karena melihat keindahan alamnya yang luar biasa, kita langsung lupa diri dan sibuk mengabadikan pemandangan alam dengan kamera (tunjuk diri sendiri >_<).

You have to be fully alert all the time.
That's for sure/
Bo et Obi were very cooperative. We have drilled them before to stay on the path, to be behind the rail, and to be cautious. Not to mention how dangerous it is to play around, jump and run while trekking .

Good thing tebing tempat kita foto ini di bawahnya ada tebing lagi yang pendek dan landai. So, it's much safer buat foto seru :).

Just don't look down.

at the Powell Point...bener-bener foto di ujung tebing :)

We started our journey from the Desert View drive, driving along this beautiful palisades.

The vista is amazing.

We stopped at the Watch Tower, enjoying the canyon and its grandeur.

For the first 20 minutes, we were so busily taking pictures and recording videos until our hands were numb due to the cold >_<.
As you can see, pictures shown here are both taken by me and my hubby, Rudi, as the watermark indicated :).

Good thing the kids were waiting inside the watch tower.

We also got a chance to climb up the tower and see beautiful Indian drawings and symbols on the wall.

the Indian drawing

From the watch tower, we drove along and stopped at so many points, - Yaki Point, Mather Point, Grandeur Point and more.

We took the buss from Grand Canyon Village headed to the western part of the Canyon, hiked from trailview overlook to Maricopa Point, Powell Point, Hopi Point, Mojave Point, the Abyss, monument creek point, Pima Point and finally to Hermits Rest.

Words can not express the amazing vista we saw along the way.

So precious, so mindblowing.