Happy Happy New Year

Hello, 2024!

Wishing everyone a wonderful year of 2024, filled with blessings, endless joy. health and happiness!

Cheers for brighter days ahead. Semoga kita semua selalu dikaruniai yang terbaik dari Sang Maha Segala. 

Cheers from the Frakarsas

It's been an unforgettable 2023 for #thefrakarsas, as we enjoyed our last year in Aotearoa, New Zealand, before moving back to Indonesia.  So many things have happened and for sure, many places visited and wonderful people,- those who became parts of our family,- we met along the way. Pertinent decisions were made in 2023 as well, including those that will change and heavily impact the course of our lives.

2023 has taught us many things as well, including how we, the Frakarsas, all depend on one another, while at the same time supporting each and everyone of us. 

one of our wonderful trips at the South Island, New Zealand

We made many important decisions this year, especially those related to the future of the kids. We have arrived at the point when we will be physically separated in order to pursue our dreams. Bo and Obi are growing up and my husband and I have to definitely work on next phase of our lives. 

will certainly miss my boy..

The plan is for Bo to continue his study in Aotearoa New Zealand and Obi for the the time being will stay with us in Indonesia. Obviously, with the help of technology and all the facilities we can utilize nowadays, space and distance won't be problems anymore. Bismillahirrahmanirrahim, insya Allah semoga semua jalan dilancarkan dan mohon doanya ya teman - teman. 

first time touching the Llama :)

I have been blessed with so many great things that I might not be able to dwell on one by one. For sure, we started 2023 at that time with a great vibe and unforgettable trip to the Northern part of New Zealand. 

Then along the year, I managed to visit 9 countries, without me realizing it. I managed to visit, among others, Samoa (for the very first time!), came back to Cooks Islands, Australia, Japan, Singapore, Turkey, Switzerland and of course, Indonesia! Not to mention many parts of beautiful Aotearoa, New Zealand.

At the same year, I also have to move to 3 houses! One of the records during my existence and career. And for the first time ever, I travelled back home with my mom and my son with 17 luggages as the same time! Hah... never have I thought it would happen to me ever!  For the first time, the Frakarsas went on 6-hour hiking and tracking. For the first time as well, we cooked layers cake or lapis legit, and it didn't work well LOL. Well, so many 'first time' that we experienced here in New Zealand and beyond. Well, so many 'first time' that we experienced here in New Zealand and beyond.

So, that's a little story I have in the beginning of 2024.

I will certainly share more about all those experiences and hope to see you around on the next post!

ASEAN Matters - The 43rd ASEAN Summit in Jakarta

 And I'm back!

Pheew.. it felt like ages since the last time I post here on my blog.

So, happy to be back and I sincerely hope everyone is fine, wherever one is.

These couple of months have been super crazy for me. Starting from August the September, we have series of meetings hosted by the Government of Indonesia. As you are probably aware of, we are holding the chairmanship for ASEAN this year so I was assigned to go to Jakarta together with my Ambassador. The Prime Minister of the Cook islands as well as the Foreign Minister of New Zealand were joining us at the 43rd ASEAN Summit and its related meetings. 

It was indeed a special event as this year, Cook Islands is the chair for Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) and  PM Mark Brown, together with his team, came to Indonesia for the very first time. 

The signing of MoU between ASEAN Secretariat and PIF as well as IORA Secretariats

So you can imagine how excited we were welcoming this delegation and showcasing the best. of Indonesia, as well as ASEAN hospitality. Prime Minister Brown has been scheduled to join many important meetings and engagement during his stay in Indonesia.

So, as you can see, we have a week packed with meetings, signing ceremonies,  lunches and dinners, as well as side events. Many of them were specifically conducted between ASEAN and its dialogue partners, like the US, Canada, Plus 3 and all. So you can imagine how busy that week was! 

My Ambassador and I managed to come and join some of the meetings, including the opening and the closing of the 43rd ASEAN Summit, which was attended by the ASEAN Leaders and all the Guests of the Chair, President Joko Widodo. 

The opening session was great, with live music from Purwacaraka. It was fantastic ensemble for sure. 

The closing session was beautiful as well. I missed the viral dinner, as it was only for limited invitations. But we saw the fireworks on the street, Jalan Jenderal Sudirman to be precise.

After the closing session, on the day when PM of Cook Islands and the delegation was scheduled to leave Jakarta, we took some times to stroll around Anjungan Halte Trans Jakarta and took some mini tours as well as photos. I was lucky that by the time this place was cleared and temporarily closed by Paspampres, my mom and I were already there so we could take great photos here with the crowds.

I took him there and showed him the Selamat Datang statue as well as a little bit of history of Hotel Indonesia. Wearing his fresh teal Pacific shirt, PM Brown seemed to enjoy the scenery and took lots of photos as well! All in all, it was a successful visit.

I left New Zealand at the end of the August and stayed in Jakarta until the second week of September. I got a surprise so to speak while staying in Jakarta, as I was appointed as Director for Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs at Kemlu. Bismillahirrahmanirrahim, wish me luck for this new position ya.  I guess I have to get everything ready before moving back to Jakarta from Aotearoa New Zealand.
Will keep you all posted!

Let the new journey begin..

Alhamdulillah..

I am so grateful that life has been packed with endless blessings from the Almighty. By the time I wrote this, I was starting the preparation to move back to Indonesia.

Yuup.. after living in Aotearoa for almost 2 years (by the time we move, it will be 2 year and some extra days :)), we are instructed to go back to Indonesia. 

It was a mixed feelings obviously, as we do enjoy our life in Aotearoa New Zealand, but at the same time we believe that it's also a golden opportunity for us to embark on a new journey which hopefully will boost my career path. 

So, long story short, we are preparing our next move back home. After Australia, Switzerland, and New York City, this is the 4th time for us to move internationally. That means, logistics have to be very well prepared. Boxes, boxes, come to Mama haha. Again, between stressful feelings of managing all the logistics, The Frakarsas are super excited to return home.

But I feel so melancholy.. it just felt like yesterday when we started our  new adventures in the Pacific realm, Aotearoa New Zelanad.

I remembered that we got around 11 cm3 items to be shipped to New Zealand (which at later stage, we just realized, it took 3.5 months to reach us). We packed our essentials and most of them contain any of Indonesian items I love so much and will need at later stage. We packed Bapak's MTB as well, although for sure, he plans to get new ones in Aotearoa New Zealand (bravooo, Pak hehe)

We left Indonesia on November 25th, 2021 and went through Christchurch and as the local regulations in Aotearoa New Zealand at that time mandated us to have a short quarantine of 7 days, we have our arrangement in one of the hotels in there. After that, we continued our trip to Wellington and have 2 other days quarantine in there as well.

Cheers from Queestown, South Island

Fast forward 2 years, we are getting ready to go home. Alhamdulillah luckily, we have visited many places in Aotearoa, New Zealand, be it in North as well as South Island. Auckland, Lake Taupo, Rotoroa, Hamilton, Napier, Northwood,  Picton, Kaikoura, Akaroa, Christchurch, and beyond..Not to mention the amazing views of South Island. I certainly have to share them one by one here.

Still the vantage point from Queenstown, South Island, New Zealand

Alhamdulillah as well, Abang Bo will be back to continue his 13th year and his university days in Aotearoa, New Zealand. Hope all is well as planned ya Bang.

Thank you so much for everything, Aotearoa, New Zealand. You have been wonderful and memorable to us.

Well, wish us luck yaaa. Bismillahirrahmanirrahiiim...

Indonesia, here we come!

MERDEKA - HAPPY 78TH INDEPENDENCE DAY, INDONESIA

It was windy and cold, as we started assembling for the flag - raising ceremony this morning. 

Yet, our hearts were warm with pride as we saw Merah Putih, our national flag, was gallantly fluttering against Aotearoa’s blue sky. A beautiful, historic day! 

Pengalaman indah di bumi Aotearoa merayakan genap 78 tahun usia negeri tercinta, kebanggaan kita semua, Indonesia. #thefrakarsas beruntung bisa menjadi bagian dari cerita penuh warna tentang jalan panjang perjuangan, indahnya persatuan dan persaudaraan serta memaknai kemerdekaan. Alhamdulillah… merci ya Rabb 🇮🇩🙏.

Saya dan @bofrakarsa were proudly wearing our Tapis from beloved hometown, Lampung. A bit mix and match I know (apologies for that) but proud to wear my Siger and the set of West Lampung Tapis I got as my dowry (thanks sweet 💜 @frakarsa ).

Bo was wearing his Tapis and Kiket, the headrest for Lampungnese males, Manuk Mekhem or the sleeping bird (CMIIW please 🙏😇). Well, again happy and proud to wear them 🇮🇩🇮🇩🇮🇩 

 These are only a tiny bit of fun photos I took today, so bear with me 🤗😉 

 Merdeka 🎉🎉

Welcome to Whakapapa - It’s Snow Time at Aotearoa New Zealand

It’s Snow Time at Aotearoa New Zealand 

 

Kia Ora,

Apa kabar semua? 

Welcome back to indahnuria.com and let’s continue our adventure here in New Zealand. This time, I have a little story about how us, the Frakarsas, enjoys winter time in the land of the long clouds.

This year is the second winter we have here in the Kiwi land. Yet, last year’s winter was a but fuzzy and blurry as we had so many things going on in July- September 2022. I somehow remembered cold, wet winter days last year, which is not too different from now. However, this year we manage to drive up North to see the snow and enjoy a bit of fun out there.

On our way to Ruapehu and Tongariro National Park

So on one long weekend, we drove to Tongariro National Park and went to Whakapapa, a ski area in this beautiful place.It took us 4 hours to drive there and we decided not to stay over night in Ruapehu, the nearby village. After that long drive, welcome to Whakapapa - it's snow time at Aotearoa New Zealand !

We got our ticket for 1-hour sledding in Happy Valley, Whakapapa. The ticket for the 4 of us cost NZD 89.54, including taxes and surcharges.

Got our ticket and we were ready!

Obi and Bo were excited, as the last time we played in the snow was back in New York City. When we arrived, it was foggy and rainy, yet we managed to enjoy riding our sled and go up with the magic carpet ride. Bo actually wanted to try the snowboarding but we were a bit late due to the traffic up to the Whakapapa ski station. Well, fog and rain are not helping.

Bo posing with his sledding board

Yet, we arrived and directly got our ticket at the machine. After that, we went down to the Happy Valley (What a perfect name for the place :) ) and lined up to get to the area for sledding

There were three lanes we could use and it was again fun to play in the snow, screaming around and hitting the snow piles. One hour flew fast and although we wanted to continue, it was too cold and freezing already. So, we called it a day and just wrapped it up the same time as the Happy Valley was about to close.