JCP FEATURES: LOVE LETTER

“I hope these tears will stop running someday. 
Someday after this darkness clear up. 
I hope the warm sunshine dries these tears.” 
- Someday by IU

March oh march. The least favorite month of the year. And again, this year something dreadful happened in March. Finally, the COVID-19 has reached Indonesia apparently. The virus epidemic has changed to a pandemic and at first, Indonesia took it lightly. As a developing country, we always look up to developed countries (read the USA) and I guess it was a wrong move. Apparently with Trump as the President of the USA. We were “educated” to not use a mask if we are not sick (to prevent mask shortage), as what WHO published. While in South Korea, everyone must use a mask. Whether you are sick or not. Turns out, South Korean’s move was the right one.

When the first outbreak in Wuhan happened, we were still having a good time spending Chinese New Year with family. Then the next month, we were still freely moving around and ditching the “use mask whenever you go out” rules and the next month sanitizer all around the buildings, not only in the hospital, and body temperature checking before heading inside a building. Then more death cases occurred and then the government took an action to limit moving on a large scale (called PSBB). That’s a relief that we took the action faster than the USA to semi-lockdown the city, especially the big cities in Indonesia. The more work-from-home policy applied and limiting operational hours. What’s more, is, fortunately, our President is saner, for not instructing to inject disinfectant.

It’s a stressful period both for the government and medical teams everywhere in the world. And what’s more, is there are lots of stubborn people that don’t care about all of these issues (and there is one in my house). Even though I can’t relate to those stubborn people, but I know it feels suffocating to stay inside the house when you are used to doing your activities outside. I missed the sea and the excitement of traveling. But, since I’m also a home-buddy person, so I don’t really have a problem with staying inside the house. All I can do is praying to let this pass as soon as possible.

We are the World

A few weeks ago, I watched a Korean variety show called “77 Million Love”. They were discussing COVID-19 and this program’s panels came from different countries. You can see it as a mini global summit format. It is a fun and fascinating variety show. Anyways, there are a few highlights that I got from the show, which are:

1. People around the world are the same. 
No matter where you came from, which nationality you have, all are the same. The good example is the panic-buying. There are lots of cases in every part of the country that did this action. Indonesia also has few cases, but it was under control now, because the mart has made quantity limitations. There is one Italian elder, that has been through World War II and this time is more severe than WW II. He couldn’t buy anything since people were panic-buying. When I watched this, I laughed finding it outrageous and no matter your race, skin color, and nationality, a human is human.

2. We should ask “why it could happen”, not “who is to blame”. 
There is a good comment from Tyler Rasch, a representative from the USA, he has been living in South Korea for around 8 years (and his Korean skill is amazing). They were debating whether the virus came from the USA or China before. He said, “I think we have to straighten things out. What we should be asking is why they made the virus in the first place?”. I think this is a good question to be solved. We have been busy blaming this country and that country that makes this happened, without thinking about how we can revive from this pandemic as soon as possible. I think that is also human nature. We tend to blame others first, without thinking what is the root problem and find a way to fix it first.

Hibernating

There are lots of news about the virus and more thorough articles out there. But, I wanted you to stop reading about that and took time to reflect. Reflect on what have you done for the last time? And what are you going to do after the pandemic period ends? So, let’s look on the brighter side of this period and change it as an opportunity to change. I wanted to share the bright side of this period.

Cleaner air
This is one of the best positive impacts of the virus outbreak. Since people are forced to WFH and most of the factories in the world are forced to stop, the air visibility is improving. We can see the drastic change in China since that is where factories mostly located. Well, you can say China is the center of the world economy activities that took place in the 21^st century. China has a lot of environmental problems before, but since the outbreak happened and they had to lock down the country, they finally got a real clean air. Not only that, but we were also "forced" to buy local products since no exported goods are available. It means less carbon footprint. Hopefully, when the economic activities are back to normal, this achievement stays this way. I wish all companies in the world took this time to look back about how they run business and the impact on the environment. Please.

Got more downtime
Since technology advancement, the human race is forced to work hard, nonstop. Just with an internet connection, we can work anywhere, anytime, 24/7. Some people might not feel this, but actually, we are working 24/7 all this time. I think most people are experiencing the same way toward the quarantine. At first, we feel happy and joyful. Because we can stay at home all the time. Then in the next two weeks, we are starting to run out of ideas to fill in the day. Especially, when there is no school, meeting schedule, or work. But, I saw a few positive habits in my social media that families form during this hard situation, such as more bonding times with their kids, creativity activities at home, etc. Also, we got the time to organize things, maybe cleaning the house, rearranging the plans, and many more activities that we used to ignore. For me, this period made me be more organized since I had to watch TV at the designated time. I know it’s weird, but it was a good habit, so I don't mind. I hope you have a good downtime for yourself and form new good habits too.

Self-development and rediscovering you 
During this period, we’ve got lots of time to spent and many people use to self-develop themselves. Either it's, cooking, baking, learning music, art, and many more. We are given the chance to use and train our creativity skills. Well, TikTok is part of it. With #passthebrushchallenge or #dalgonacoffeemaking and many more things to upload on TikTok, I believe it is part of self-development. I didn’t jump on that wagon though, but I started a new hobby. I started to strum my dusty old guitar again. I started to watch guitar lesson videos online and learn how to change the C and G chords on time every day. Not only about having a new hobby or train your interest more, but this time also allows you to reflect on what kind of person are you. The fast tempo of our past days sometimes made us forget who we are. What kind of person we are? We tend to choose other’s thoughts rather than our values. I finally understand what I’m good at and not, what is my dream, and what I cherish the most in life.

Dreaming
All-day and night. There is a countless dream that came across to my mind since I got more time to watch TV and scrolling down my social media page. Mostly I daydream about traveling the world as soon as this ended. Because I feel like that there is a limited time left to achieve it. Also, I daydream to meet my favorite screen friends (read my heart-robs; Park Seojun, Park Bogum, Yoo Yeonseok, Ong Seongwoo, Lee Jaewook, and many more). I also daydream to be more like IU. HAHA. That’s the reason why I started the guitar. I came across a guitar lesson of IU’s song and then it brought my memories of her when I saw her on ‘Saebakwi’ show performing her guitar skill and also the time she sang ‘Someday’ with a guitar in ‘Dream High’. It’s been a long time since I have this push factor to achieve something. While learning guitar, I had a huge regret why I didn’t learn guitar properly at school back then. Maybe if I did I can be like IU? Lol. Just kidding. The aftereffect of watching too much K-drama and music shows made me having lots of fantasy on my head. But, that’s a good one though. It’s better to be happy about your crazy fantasies rather than feel mourn and depressed.

Sharing
In hard times, people tend to be more caring for others. Which is good, because it means there is humanity inside of us. It means love does exist. Thankfully, the delivery system is getting better nowadays, so, we can easily order food for our loved one in exchange we cannot see them in the time being. I hope this kind of affection does not stop until the pandemic over, but continuously happen in the future.

See, we can always find positive things in every situation.

I don’t know exactly why, but lately, I always post seriously long posts both here (it’s 7 pages long in MS Word! I even didn’t write this much for my school report) and on my Instagram. But, I hope it gives you enlightenment during the hardships and I need to put out things I have inside my head anyway before it gets rot. Also, the muscles on my brain didn’t work as hard as before, so I need to exercise it, at least.

BONUS!
I love to add some bonus features inside these features. So, I found this interesting post on Instagram and thought it would be nice to share it here. It's from Greenpeace Southeast Asia's page and the post they shared is about the new normal way of thinking we should have after the pandemic ended. We shall reflect our actions and choose what is right for the nearest future. Let's not make the same mistake, okay?

View this post on Instagram

"There is a lot of talk about returning to normal. We need to remind people that we were in a crisis before this crisis. Normal is a crisis." This is a time of much grief and also many opportunities for climate activists to reconnect, care, and strategise. In such crises, it uncovers social injustices that existed in "normal" times that we have the chance to fix. We need to come out of this crisis in better shape than we were before. Via @theweirdandwild

A post shared by Greenpeace Southeast Asia (@greenpeacesea) on Apr 26, 2020 at 11:00pm PDT

(I couldn't find a way to make this embed Instagram post to center, so pardon for the inconsistent layout)

Thank you for joining me again on these features. 
I hope we can all save the world together hand-in-hand. 
See you soon!

JCP FEATURES: BOMBASTIC

“And the Oscars goes to …”

February is kind of a special month, especially this year. Despite the news of the new coronavirus from Wuhan, China is spreading, I want to highlight the winning of four Academy awards that was taken away by the ‘Parasite’ team. Let’s forget about the COVID-19 for a while and look back at this rare winning story.

A few weeks ago, I watched the awarding night of ‘The 40^th Blue Dragon Film Awards’. They were celebrating the 40^th years of the award and the 100^th years of the Korean movie industry. This year marked the tenth years I followed the Korean movie industry, which means I’ve only watched just 10% of it.

Snippets of 'The 40th Blue Dragon Film Awards'
'Parasite' Team
Courtesy of Sports Chosun via Hellokpop.com

The Roar

Dating back to 1919, ‘The Righteous Revenge’ was to be believed the first Korean movie to be released. That year, Korea (South and North Korea were one) was still under the occupation of Japan. So, it was not the era to be creative and appreciate it. Surviving the day was hard enough, how come they have time to enjoy a movie, but it turned out that it received warm attention. The first movie was in kinodrama (play with motion picture inserts) format. A few years later, the format changed. They started to have silent film, sound film, colored film, and then the film format we enjoy now.

The underlying background of the early days is mostly about the occupation of Japan or Korean folktales. The most famous folktale in Korea is called Chunhyang-jeon (which means ‘the legend of Chunhyang’). This folktale can be found in any storytelling form such as song, poem, drama, book, and many more. The most famous format is song and drama. Most of the Korean traditional performances are inspired by this folktale. Jang Geun-suk and Ha Jiwon’s were able to have a turning point in their acting career thanks to the drama ‘Chunhyang’ (this drama is one of the legendary drama, which every Hallyu fans have to watch).

Lee Mongryong (acted by Jo Seung-woo) and Chunhyang (acted by Lee Hyo-Jung)
from the movie 'Chunhyang' (2000) produced by Im Kwon-taek
Courtesy of CJ Entertainment via Dramabeans

For Koreans, the occupation of Japan was the most painful and longest memory they ever have. No wonder there were lots of visual-art forms that took the settings from this period. They were occupied for 35 years and then for 5 years later another war broke out. They were barely revived the mess that was made during the Japanese occupation. The Korean War is also an interesting underlying theme. Viewers today were curious about those days, which making the filmmakers pushed their creativity to recreate the situation.

As the world is now shifting and more people are open-minded, the storyline of a movie became more diverse and unique, especially when cultures came in.

Turning Point

Hollywood is will always be associated with the word ‘film’. There is where all actors and filmmakers in the world are dreaming to be. There were few Korean actors that have opened the way in the Hollywood scene, like Rain, Lee Byung-hun, Daniel Henney, and Bae Doona. Not only on screen but behind the screen too. I found few Korean named editors and other crews on Hollywood movies, and of them is Marvel Studios' movie. But, who would know that a Korean film will be the one who took home 4 Oscars trophy away that night? I never really care about that award before, even though I personally love watching a film. Since the winner is a Korean film, which is the first non-English film that won the award, I got curious about it. Not specifically about the award, but about the director and Korean film industry itself.

Ninja Assassin Movie Poster
Rain's first Hollywood debut movie on 2009
Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures via Petelagi.com

Bong Joon-ho is a veteran in the Korean film industry and he had good relationships with other phenomenal directors around the world. His acceptance speech leaves a great impression both for the Koreans and invitees that night. It was in simple English, “Thank you. I will drink until (the) next morning, thank you”. But this snippet of his acceptance speech became a stir in the Korean society (there are some parodies of him) and he showed the true Korean culture that night. Well, he is a true Korean to the bone, anyway. His speech is witty and simple enough and brightens up the theater right away. What ‘Parasite’ team did was truly an achievement for Koreans and a gate-opener for other Asian countries. Through this event, the world knows that Asian countries are able to keep up the Western countries, which notable for their advanced technologies and ideas.

The Blue Dragon Film Awards were given before The Academy Awards and of course, ‘Parasite’ also won the heart of the local industry, as well. They won five awards and one of them is the ‘Best Film’ awards. Most of the other contenders who won the other awards, open their speech with, “I thought ‘Parasite’ team who will win this award, or I/We didn’t expect to receive this award…” this shows how strong ‘Parasite’ is.

Bong Joon-Ho's Acceptance Speech Parody
"Parodysite"
Courtesy of Yoon Seyoon's Youtube Channel (Awesome YoonSeyoonie)

Well, actually, superstar actor, Song Kang-ho's other movie called ‘Taxi Driver’ also received lots of love from the overseas movie enthusiasts, but the impact and messages ‘Parasite’ showed were relatable to all nationalities and every citizen in the world. So, it is not an understatement to say the turning point of the Korean movie industry is ‘Parasite’.

Korean Movies Values

Citing from Statista (2020), the Korean movie export value from 2013 to 2019 shows some ups and downs, but it worth more than 25 million dollars each year. The highest value is 43.89 million dollars in 2016. That year is when ‘Train to Busan’ was released. Regardless of the Oscar-winning movie, ‘Parasite’ was released last year, the export values were placed 4^th out of 6^th. I believe because of the other contender movies in 2019 were pretty strong such as The Avengers, live-action Aladdin, as well as Lion King, and many more, it became the reason for lower export value. But nevertheless, in Korea itself, last year marked the highest cinema admission according to Statista. This means that Koreans are more appreciating in the movie industry (both Korean and other countries movies as well) nowadays.

Daddy Seok-woo (acted by Gong Yoo) in Train to Busan (2016)
Courtesy of Next Entertainment World via Detik.co.id

There are 1.1 thousand Korean movies that were released in South Korea and few of the remarkable movies that were released are, ‘Extreme Jobs’, ‘Parasite’, ‘Born 1982: Kim Jiyoung’, ‘Exit’, ‘The Gangster, The Cop, The Devil’, and ‘Innocent Witness’. I haven’t got the chance to watched all the movies that were released last year, but ‘Extreme Jobs’, ‘Parasite’, ‘Born 1982: Kim Jiyoung’, and ‘Exit’ are truly remarkable movies. It was entertaining, touching, and they had the best castings too. I realized that these three elements are the things that made Korean movies attractive. Korea is known to have a diverse historical value. From the Kingdom era to Japanese occupation to the Korean war to fighting from poverty until the modern-day. Through those ups and downs, making their storyline unique and rich.

'Exit' (2019) Movie Poster
Courtesy of CJ E&M via IMDb

Notable Movies I’ve Ever Watched

Well, as far as I remember, I started to follow the Korean film industry since I watched ‘Train to Busan’. Thanks to the handsome daddy, Gong Yoo, I watched the movie. If it was not acted by him, I probably wouldn’t dare to watch it, even though so many people talked about it, even from the non-Korean-fans. Even the movie got a special studio in my neighborhood cinema.

The first Korean movie I watched is ‘The Man from Nowhere’. The film was released in 2010, which is the second year I got hooked in the Korean wave. The film was too dark for me to watch at that time, but the film itself received lots of love from the viewers, especially the Koreans. The Won Bin effect was pretty huge that time, well up until now actually. Another good Korean movie I’ve watched is ‘Miracle in Cell No. 7’. Oh, I cried a lot. Both Korean movies and dramas could make me a crybaby and are really good at delivering the same emotions. The classic ‘My Sassy Girl’ and ‘200 Pounds of Beauty’ should not be missed out from the list.

A snippet of 'My Sassy Girl' (2001)
Featuring Gianna Jun and Cha Tae-hyun
Courtesy of Cinema Service via Tumblr

One of my favorite films about the Japanese occupation is ‘The Battleship’. Indonesia and Korea had the same year of Independence, which is in 1945. This film’s setting is when Koreans were brought to China to be a slave. With the help of a “spy”, they were able to plan an escape route. When they were able to exit the slavery, the Alliance bombed Hiroshima (on the 6^th of August) and Nagasaki (on the 9^th of August), which brought down Japanese power greatly. It was an intense movie, where there are lots of scenes of poverty, blood, and cursing. The hidden patriotic of me came out when I watched the movie.

Lately, I’ve been watching some old Korean movies like, ‘Taxi Driver’, ‘A Day’, ‘The Chronicle of Blood Merchant’, ‘The Undercover Spy’, ‘Sunflower’, ‘Love Forecast’, ‘Scarlet Innocence’, ‘Luck Key’, ‘Beauty Inside’, and many more. Since it was premiered in different years, I could see it clearly that the industry was progressing. And that’s why I chose to write a post about this topic on my feature this time.

A movie is not only about telling stories and entertain the viewers, but it's about passion and hard work. A single movie is not complete without a writer, director, music director, editor, actor, and more other crews that need to hold in hand creating a wonderful story and entertain the viewer. No wonder why a movie ending screen-roll is long. It's all because so many people needed to make a movie. Let's appreciate every movie, even though you don't like the story or the actor or other things, but let's remember that it is a piece of someone's hard work.

It was pretty unfortunate, that the industry had to stop for a while this month because of the COVID-19, but I hope you can catch up to watch Korean movies in this hard situation. Wishing you to stay healthy and happy all the time. This too shall pass. I will pray for all of you wherever you are. If you are able to read this post, you are doing well and fortunate. Let’s save the world together. See you in my upcoming post.

BONUS!
I wanted to share some of my experience watching the preview or premiere of the Korean movies while I'm in Korea. I pretty often going to the cinema while I'm living in Korea because first, I got to see the actors in real life cheaper than going to a fan-meeting, second, there were lots of good movie in 2018, third, their popcorn was tasty, and lastly, it's good to spend time with friends and learn Korean in the same time. So, here it is.

Source:

https://www.koreanfilm.org/history.html 
(Very recommended site to get the insight of Korean film industry through expertise eyes)

https://www.cinemaescapist.com/2019/12/best-korean-movies-2019/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/40th_Blue_Dragon_Film_Awards#Nominations_and_winners

JCP FEATURES: SURVIVING

“Human in nature is profit-oriented, while animals live just to survive the harsh wild”

My recent trip to Balikpapan, East Kalimantan was a life-changing trip ever. Not only because I went there with my best friends (and we had a blast bonding time after 18 years of friendship), but also because of what I found out after the trip. I’ve mentioned it sometimes on my blog or videos that I’m not an animal buddy and hates mountains, but those didn’t make me dislike this trip at all, even though mostly we were visiting forests and encounter with wildlife. My friend is doing research about why Joko Widodo, the President of Indonesia choose this island to be the next capital city. The three of us flew to Balikpapan, East Kalimantan to find out the answer. Well, we couldn’t really find out the answers, but we found out a sad truth about this island.

2020 did not start pretty well in Indonesia, especially, Jakarta, the capital city of Indonesia. Flood every part of Jakarta on the first day of 2020. It was the first massive flood after 3 years. Probably, you have heard about this, that Indonesia is moving its capital city to Kalimantan island, the second largest island in the Indonesian archipelago. Kalimantan is gifted to have 40.8 million hectares (well, not sure if this number still valid) of tropical forest, becoming the world’s lungs. But, deforestation (which includes illegal loggings and greedy palm oil companies) and modernization play a huge role in reducing the tropical forest. But, this doesn’t make Mr. President take back his plan on moving Indonesia’s capital city to this wide island. 

A view from the resort. This is what a forest should look like.
Well, with higher and denser trees it will be great. 

We visited a wildlife survival center where we can encounter the endemic residents of Kalimantan or Borneo island’s forest, orangutan and the least known endangered sun bear. I knew sun bear as a honey bear ( beruang madu in Indonesian) before, thanks to this visit, I finally knew the official name of this bear species. There are lots of new information that I got after this visit and I’m so grateful for this unforgettable encounter.

Sun bear in training their hunting skills.
Photo credits to my friend. 

Extremely closer look of a sun bear. I trembled and worried that my phone will be their lunch, so this is the best photo I could get.

Blessed with fertile soil is not always a good thing. Borneo island may not have a volcano, but they have everything else. Palm oil, coal, woods, tasty tropical fruits, and much more. Those natural products made this island a profitable target to be explored. Well, human in nature is profit-oriented, while animals live just to survive the harsh wild. Humans will take chances and will do anything for their needs. This is human nature because that’s how we survived and be different from other creatures. And because this same reason, orangutan habitats were gone and eventually they became an endangered species.

Many of the orangutans in the conservation center were the victim of deforestation and illegally-owned. Deforestation made orangutans puzzled when their home was gone and changed to housing. I just knew that orangutans live in semi-nomad, they build their homes then leave it and build other houses, going around and around like that, then they might come back to their first home. Unfortunately, not many people know about this and thought it’s an open and free space, they burned orangutans’ hardly made houses and changed it to their house or a commercial area. Some people raise orangutan as a pet when their nature is in the wild. It was so devastating that many people in rural areas didn’t know about this.

The conservation is working hand-in-hand with the locals, raising awareness that orangutan is not a pet. The awareness program seems to bear some result, there were no more orangutan get into the conservation for the last 2-3 years with the reason found as a pet. It’s a good sign that the locals are aware of this endangered species and participate actively in the rescuing program.

Well, the 3 hours trail at the survival center brought so much insight for me. I got to realized that Indonesia has so many potentials but sucks at managing it. There are a few facts that I didn’t know about orangutans before. It’s the endemic animals of Indonesia, but not much information that I knew about this animal. A human can transfer illness to orangutans and also the other way around. That’s why we couldn’t interact with the orangutans directly, even though we want to.

Our DNA and their DNA is only 3% different, which is a huge difference in physical form, but psychologically we are practically the same. They can get angry, stressful, crazy, depressed, etc. The ones in the survival center many of them have trauma and will be very hard to live directly in the wild. But not all orangutans can go back to the wild even after joining the program. There are few orangutans that could not go back to the wild because they are severely hurt mentally and physically. The most common cause is baby orangutans were taken away from their mother to be raised as a pet. Just imagine, if your child was taken away from you, how do you feel? Baby orangutans naturally are really protective toward their mother, so taking the baby away as a pet is awful and stressful for both the mother and the baby.

The survival center serves as a training center for the orangutans before they go back to the wild. Because of that, visitors could not interact with them at all. Only authorized personalities and volunteers are the only human being that able to interact with them.I’m really sure when you heard the stories of the orangutans there, you will be very heartbroken. But, on the other side, there are a few bright and lively orangutans that will make you smile.

A few days ago, I got an update on one of the orangutans named Romeo. He seems very normal despite his old age. He could have to go back to the wild, but he is too old, it might be hard for him. The survival center is still watching him, whether if he can go back to the wild or not. The update I got was not a good one. Romeo is started to change in a weird way. Orangutan doesn’t like water. In the wild, they will find a shelter when it’s raining. But, Romeo suddenly splashing water to himself. This is not a good sign, because there is a change in behavior. I couldn’t think what we can do about this, but I hope no more changing behavior anymore.

This is Romeo. The oldest orangutan in the survival center.

Let’s be a smart human being. Less wasting, less greedy, and more caring. We only have one earth and it's getting old. Let’s do not do something we will regret later just for the sake of convenience and benefit. That’s how we will survive this life. We are way far from the Eden garden, but let’s work for it because all of these things are not ours.

I found some useful and interesting articles that might help you to know more about orangutan. You may check them out here.

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/2019/04/extreme-animals-that-live-in-jungles/

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2016/12/orangutans-behaviors-borneo-sumatra/

Let’s reflect on our lifestyle and be more attentive to our surroundings.
Thank you for joining this first JCP Feature.
See you at the next one.

Source:

https://www.profauna.net/en/forest-campaign/kalimantan-forest/about-forests-in-kalimantan#.XlSyOKeB2Rs

Special thanks to Bornean Orangutan Survival Foundation (BOSF), Balikpapan for the effort in caring for the Bornean Orangutan and the sun bears that need help. If you happened to visit Balikpapan, surely visit BOSF and get some insights about these orangutans.

JCP FEATURES

2020 is going to its third month, which means the first quarter will be completed soon. Time really runs fast and I haven’t had time to catch-up my plans for this year yet. Last year, I did the “Monthly Life Rewind” project on my YouTube Channel and I had a hard time to keep uploading it on time. Due to that project, I think I neglected this blog a lot. So, this year, I’m going to be more focus on this blog and made a monthly project here. I wanted to exercise my writing skills and hope it will bring a greater good. It’s killing two birds with one stone, right?

Lately, I spent my days alone and it made me be more introvert, but filled with lots of ideas and deep thoughts. Recently, I fall in love with Kim Namgil and he made documentary audiobooks, which I’m thinking of making a monthly feature on this blog. Also, I watched so much travel documentary that matches my interest in the past few years. My last visit to Balikpapan, East Borneo also triggered me to be aware of social issues that are happening through social media. I’m not a famous influencer or what, but I believe that everyone can be an influencer for others in their own way.

I hope this “JCP Feature” will help people to be more aware and care, have open-minded, and importantly, more knowledgeable. I witness too much stupidity in society because of carelessness. So, I hope the power of social media could bring a greater good rather than harm. I hope this feature post has a positive impact and bring happiness toward others. Thank you to all of you who kept on reading this blog. I don’t really care how many of you and where you’re from, but thank you so much. Let’s make the world to be a better place. Stay safe and be happy always!

xoxo,

Jennifer

MY 2019 KPOP THEME SONGS

Whoa, can’t believe it’s 2020 already! Time really flies so fast that I can’t believe 2019 just passed by. I would like to thank everyone who took part in my life in 2019 and hope you have a great days ahead. This time I would like to share what I’ve learned and got throughout 2019 through k-pop songs. It could be a great song recommendation for you all. Hope you enjoyed it and get me through this post till the end.

Kicked off January 2019 with my best friends in South Korea! The 3 of us finally reunited and had our first trip together. Probably it was on our bucket list, and we finally got to tick that off. Also, my brother came to see me in Seoul after one and a half years since the last time I saw him. My fellow Student Executive member also came to visit me. I made many memories with all of them, though it was a short meeting. Last but not least, I got to see Wanna One and Park Bogum. I went to Wanna One’s last concert, which made me so emotional. Though I watched the first day of their concert where they still not feel like breaking-up and saved up their tears, I felt pretty emotional. Especially when they sang this song (12th Star). This song made me realized that every fan is important regardless of whether they (the artist) know us (personally) or not. This applied too when I watched Park Bogum’s fan meeting slash mini-concert in Seoul last January. The venue was pretty big compared to his previous fan-meeting venue and he is more focused on singing at that time, so the fan-meeting concept is half the interview and game and the other half is performance. He has an ocean-wide of fans last time and I was just like a drop of it. But, he always thanked us for supporting him, which means he notices every support the fans gave to him, regardless big or small the support is. I’m proud to be a fan-girl and will always be.

It’s the month of love, but I think this year’s Valentine’s Day was not that special nor festive. But, I still feel the love vibes in every corner of the city this month. In February also had Chinese New Year, unlike last year, where I got to spend with my big family in Indonesia, this year I only got to spend my family in Korea, which lesser in number than my Indonesian family. This year’s Valentine’s Day weekend, I got to spend it with Eric Nam. I listened to his songs on repeat like 2 weeks before his concert and I really liked most of his old songs. OST songs are also included. Because I wanted to maximize my time in Korea, I went to his first concert in Korea. The song’s lyrics pictured my February pretty well. It was my last semester of school and I don’t know if I can stay any longer or not in Seoul. I’ve been looking for job opportunities in Korea, but in the end, I’ve got to go back to Indonesia. This song gave me a little light on countless options to choose from. Since this mentioned the word ‘heaven’, I got reminded to pray and ask God, which path I should take.

The month with the most mixed feeling in 2019. I feel happy, sad, mourn, then another happiness. I went to Super Junior SS7S Concert in Seoul, which I booked last minute. Also, went to Busan, where I insisted my mom go there for the last time before I went back to Indonesia and thankfully, my friend still works at Hyatt, so I got a special price to stay in Park Hyatt Busan. Not long after that, I had to go back to Indonesia and I felt so sad. I almost cried at the airport when I saw the messages my sisters sent me. But I didn’t! I cried in the airplane because I watched a very touching movie called “Cek Toko Sebelah” (literal translation: See the Next Shop). Right after I arrived in Indonesia, my mom had to be rushed to the hospital. Only one week, I got to spend my days with my mom in Indonesia, she had to go forever. She was called by God on White Day. Now, White Day is not the same anymore for me. After those mourning days, I got to see Park Bogum again after two months. I got to forget the mourn and got new energy by seeing my lovely oppa. It was a real rollercoaster ride and thanks to this song, I regained some energy to move on. Especially, when Park Bogum sang this at his fan meeting with piano. It soothes me, even though I became more emotional thanks to this song.

Mom, I still love you and will always. You are missed every day.

I was still not over with hospital visits. My grandpa had to rush back to hospital and got to receive heart surgery, so I still need to visit the hospital, which I’m sick of it. April went so fast even though there weren’t many special things that happened. I got to spend the Easter break with my family and friends and felt grateful for that. I came across this song when I shuffled a playlist on Melon and I fall in love with this song. It helped me to realize the warmth of home and the thoughts of ‘glad I’m home’. Oh, this song is so light and easy to listen to, so I really recommended this song.

It’s a family month in Korea, from Children’s Day to Parents’ Day. So the theme song for May might be fit with the lyrics of ‘Spring Day’. I started to listen to this song is because of the melody and the catchphrases. But, now I started to listen to the lyrics and it’s so relatable for me. I missed my mom quite a lot that month. The saying, “you never know what you have until it’s gone” is so true. We never took so much deal on this kind of day before, but after my mom was gone, I started to know the importance of this kind of special day. To all of you, please take care of your parents and love your children or small kids around you, cause they are important.

June was a blast! It was a long holiday in Indonesia and everything seems smooth. I got to spent my time with my friends, which I felt grateful for each of them. From staycation, photo hunting, until late night talks and games. I had so much fun and laugh thanks to them. This song is an OST of ‘Touch Your Heart’ drama. The song has a sweet and romantic melody and lyrics. I’m in love with the drama as well as this song.

I was obsessed with watching Produce X 101 on July. I don’t really watch the previous ones, but this time I started to watch it because the representative of the National Producer is Lee Dong Wook (HAHA!). In July were their concept examinations (?). They are only left with 31 participants and they were divided into 5 groups with different concepts such as sexy, cutie, and so on. The one who was in this group was mostly the one who got into X1 because they are that good and the song is one of the top favorite one. I didn’t know anyone other than Hankgyul who joined the program. But then, I started to catch my eyes to Kim Wooseok, Lee Jinhyuk, Jo Seungyeon, and Han Seungwoo. Kang Daniel the junior, Kim Yohan is also an attractive participant. Anyway, this song is a super catchy song that even when I go to the bathroom, I kept on singing this song. The song has a great message too. Well, it’s more like an encouraging message, whether it’s for them or for the listeners.

UPDATE:
I was so sad to hear the news that they are disbanding. They even debuted for full a year. It's too shocking and I still couldn't get it why they have to choose this decision. Well, I hope the best for each of the members and let's meet in a better circumstance.

The month of celebrations! From birthdays to Independence Days were the most celebrated in August. It was my birthday month, which I shared the same one with Hwang Minhyun, Kim Hyanggi, and Jo Seho. Also, there are a few of my family members’ birthday and friends. On August also my favorite actors, Park Bogum and Park Seojun debut anniversary! Both Korea and Indonesia shared the same month of Independence Day, which I think it's cool. I believe it is not a coincidence, but I think God has a wonderful plan for this. Anyway, I think, ‘Gift’ from Melomance is a perfect theme song for August because of the lyric, “even those ordinary days become special in this moment”. This specific lyric is really matched with my feeling about this month. Thanks to Minhyun, Seongwoo, Park Seojun, and Park Bogum. Also, to my favorite drama of the month, ‘Hotel del Luna’. 

Oh, Melomance has great songs you can listen to. Search them on YouTube and you will definitely love them.

I think this month was the most frequent time I went traveling. I went to Bali, then I went to Japan the following week. It was fortunate to go back to Bali after a month, which means I went to the most exciting place in Indonesia twice already this year. Have I told you that I bought my Japan trip ticket unplanned? I just wanna be a YOLO kind of girl. I bought it in April? Well, if I’m not mistaken. The ticketing site is having a sale, so my cousins and I talked about it 30 mins before we bought the ticket. The ticketing went pretty fast and we ended up buying the tickets to Japan. It was my first time ever to set my foot to the hometown of Sanrio. The time I bought the ticket was probably the lowest and weak point of my life, that’s why I made a quick and abrupt decision ever. Thankfully, it was a good decision. BOL4 is a duo singer around my age, so their songs are really relatable for me. This one specific song could sum up my September really well.

I don’t really remember how my October went by. I had to attend my school friends’ wedding and also I met with my BEM (Student Executive Board) members as well as our juniors. Also, I met up with my double degree friends before I went for Korea. There’s nothing much special, but I cherish all of those meetings. Oh well, the mighty Super Junior was back with Kyuhyun! They are officially full membered now. Instead of their title track, ‘Time Slip’, I prefer ‘I Think I’, which is a side-track from their album. It’s not about the lyrics that I like, but I like the rhymes and the tempo. They still use the Latin-style musicality, but it’s more simple and easy to listen to. I have a few new favorite releases, such as AKMU’s ‘How Can I Love the Heartbreak, You’re the One I Love”, Hotel del Luna’s OSTs, and many more, but I think Super Junior needs a special mention in this post. They are the first group I became a fan of and thanks to them I had found joy and a new hobby. lol. I’m glad that they are finally complete. All of them are now free from army duties! Welcome Back, SUPERMEN!!

By the way, Super Junior is coming to Jakarta this week! I wanna see them, but I don't have enough money to go to, so I haven't bought the tickets yet. I don't know whether I'm going to watch it or not, but let's hope the best for them!

November might be the most burdensome month ever. I finally execute Wandermayjay’s first-ever tours. It’s been a long time since I’m back on the game and I think I’m lacking in many ways, thankfully it was successfully executed. Despite those dramas I’ve experienced during the tour, the most dramatic thing ever is when I got back to Indonesia. I almost missed my flight and lose my consciousness because of dehydration. IU’s newest album is extremely relatable, 5 out of 6 songs in the track-list has awesome lyrics (역시 갓아이유!). The song ‘Unlucky’ is a little reminder to all of us, that life goes around, which means good things will eventually come to us. If you face a problem, don’t worry, carry on, cause you will find a way soon. I had the most frightening nightmare ever and dramatic night at the airport, but all of it became a memory and lesson. 

Thank you, IU for keeping on making great songs.

December usually associated with Christmas, but I didn’t put my favorite K-carol song as a theme song, because this Christmas seems less festive than I had last year. In December used to be my mom’s birthday, also we celebrate Indonesian Mother’s Day. It was a pretty emotional month rather than a joyful and festive one this year. It’s also SHINee’s Jonghyun’s one year death anniversary (?). The day before my mom’s birthday, I shuffled my iTunes and this song played. The lyrics are amazing and simple. It’s just a message of a daughter or son to their mom as a gratitude for their unconditional love and prayers. Thank you Mom for the love you gave all this time. I’m so sorry, I couldn’t repay you back yet. Love you!!

While making this post, I realize that music is something powerful that you can get easily. You can get some comfort from all of your problems, new energy to seize the day, and much more power to help you. I'm really amazed by God's incredible gift for humans. Thank you so much for everything, God. 2020 is going to be great and better. AMEN to that!

2019 was also a year where we lost a few wonderful human being we saw on the TV. Regardless of age and careers, many people choose to leave the world by themselves. It was a devastating option, but I hope we all can learn to be a better human being. To love and care for each other. Life is not long, after-life is. Please, stop hating others and start to love others as you love yourself. Well, lately people don’t know how to love themselves, so please learn to love yourself first this year. You are a beautiful creature, don’t hurt yourself.

I wanted to say that you’ve done well and you will be better in the upcoming days in 2020. Don’t be discouraged if you face a problem. Let’s see it in a positive way. No more hatred and spread love! You are a lovable person, a great human being, you deserve to be happy.

A special mention for you who feel like old and facing life quarter crisis, I would like to recommend a song from five-membered B1A4's last album (Rollin'), ‘Like a Child’. This song is about an adult that felt rushed by the world and asking the time to slow down and wanted to go back to when he was a child. This song told us to just have fun and enjoy the ride cause no matter how hard we asked the time to slow down, it won’t. Keep the simple and sincere thoughts like you were one before.

Thank you for everyone who read this post, hope you got some encouragement. 
 See you with more content contents! 
Happy New Year 2020!!