The Feline Quest

I found this little fellow at the local fastfood franchise in Jakarta yesterday, just sitting around on a customer chair (yep, the cleaners were nowhere to be found) and minding his own business. That was until someone came to the table to put a box of scrumptuous fried chicken and left to wash her hands; completely oblivious to the fact that that a feline was sitting about 15 centimeters away and was transitioning himself from a boyish cat to a potentially sneaky thief.

But mind you, he was no ordinary stray cat. Like a true gentleman, he pretended to look completely innocent during the ‘handover’, and he even bothered to check on his surroundings before finally gazing at the prey. Oh, I truly admired his attitude.

What? Did I warn the customer of the upcoming catastrophe? Of course not! I’d rather take out my phone to snap some pictures. Hehehe.

===

More takes on this week’s theme can be found here.

5 General Principles of Teaching Adult Learners

As a language instructor with 8 years of experience, I feel that I have developed sufficient sense of knowing the needs of my adult students and how to fulfill them by maintaining some general principles in class, be it in IELTS or Business English training. They are not the result of some careful research, mind you. They are simply tips that I have experienced with mostly satisfactory outcome. So here they are:

Source: Penn State for Adult Learners

Xiaomi Luncurkan Mi Pad 2

Setelah pembelian impulsif sebuah tablet berukuran 8 inch pada beberapa minggu lalu dan hanya bertahan dipakai selama 5 hari itu, saya lalu menutup mata dan telinga terhadap semua iklan hingga akhirnya berita terbaru datang secara tidak terduga: Xiaomi meluncurkan tablet Mi Pad 2!

Mi Bunny – simply adorable.

Acara peluncurannya baru selesai diselenggarakan di Beijing pada tanggal 24 November 2015 kemarin. Sebenarnya selain tablet Mi Pad 2, Xiaomi juga meluncurkan ponsel Redmi Note 3 di acara yang sama. Namun karena saya juga baru membeli ponsel, saya masih bersikukuh tidak ingin melihat informasi ponsel lain hingga setidaknya 6 bulan ke depan. Nah, sementara itu bolehlah kita intip sama-sama tablet teranyar dari produsen gawai asal Tiongkok ini.

Berikut beberapa spesifikasi unggulan yang saya sajikan dalam gambar:

The Three Tiles

Can you name the events depicted in these trio images from the books of John, Acts of the Apostles*, and Genesis?

“Rumah Tegel” (The Tile House) was a tile factory in Lasem, a small town in Central Java, Indonesia, whose products once decorated the residences of the royal families and wealthy merchants across the island. The factory is now defunct but visitors are still allowed to come inside and appreciate some of the artworks that the owner families left behind.

At a corner of the terrace, I came across these images that serve as decorative coating on the tiles. I was puzzled at first before recognizing two of the images. The first one is taken from John 8, in which Jesus was writing on the ground when Mary Magdalene was about to be stoned to death and He challenged anybody who considered themselves not sinful to step forward and take the stone. Meanwhile the third one is taken from Genesis 3, in which Adam and Eve were cast out of the Garden of Eden.

Now I know that the second image is taken from The Acts of the Apostles*, but the number is unreadable and I cannot really make out the scene. Can anybody help me identify it?

• It turns out that the image at the second tile is not taken from the book of Acts. Instead, it depicts the scene in Revelation chapter 10. This book is also called Apocalypsis Ioannis, hence the abbreviation APOC. Many thanks Celina for your meticulous attention to the details. 😀

===

Browse more entries in Weekly Photo Challenge: Trio.

The Three Towers

It was dawn on the day of Buddha’s birth, and the pilgrims and observers were walking towards the ceremony. I stood there from a distance, just admiring the three towers of Angkor Wat.

Oh Angkor, bring me to your stories of faith and inspiration.

===

Other takes on this week’s challenge can be seen here.

Life Begins at 40

They say life begins at 40. I never believed it until now. Despite the physical problems which start to emerge here and there, never have I been feeling alive than before. I am ready to explore the world, learn new things, go back to university, and write again.

So here I am launching The Jakarta Blogger. I pray to God that this blog may be a channel of information, inspiration, and blessing for many people. Amen.

Oh, and Happy Birthday to me! 😀

Learning in Schools vs. Learning through Life

Every year, high school graduates leave their schools as newly independent persons and experience the world at first-hand. They are faced with two options in general: to start work immediately or to continue their studies at the university level. While some people such as Steve Jobs can be very successful without ever having to go to college, academic learning has proven to be a solid evidence of excellence in many aspects of our lives. Therefore, as appealing as learning through experience may be, high school graduates should take the academic pathway to guarantee a bright future.