Wine: The Elegant Liquid

I am not a drinker. I just love to try something new. Thus, last night was really exciting for me.

I went to Jeff's house with Bang Az and Bang Andi last night to talk about the barbecue night before some of our community members go to Australia and Japan next month. In fact, we talked about many things. Ebola virus (seriously, it's really scary), the profile of our host family, the activities we are going to do in Australia and so on. Mba Evi (Jeff's wife) asked us to have a dinner. I thought that the conversation would be finished after we had that very late second lunch. Yap, we actually had had our lunch before we arrived at Jeff's house. 

A glass of red wine

After we hit the meals on our plate, Mbak Evi offered us a glass of wine. Honestly, I was waiting for that ;p because I have never drunk such a 'fancy' wine. I mean, I just drink a slot of it while I have communion service at church.

I got many new knowledge about wine that I have never known before. In western culture, Australia particularly, the good host will automatically offer more wine if our glass goes empty. The good manner to refuse it is like wave our hand over the glass and say 'I'm fine'. 

Commonly, there is always a glass of water besides the wine glass. To prevent getting drunk, we can drink more water after sip the wine. It is also a trick that often used by the diplomats to keep their consciousness. They actually just touch the wine by their lips but act as if they drink it. Of course, it will be dangerous if they can't control themselves and suddenly they spill their secret out.

I drank two brands of wine last night: Torbreck and Wynns. Both are from Australia. The flavor is amazing, but I like Wynns more. I just figure them out in Google and find that there are many others kind of Torbreck and Wynns. If I'm not mistaken, the Wynns was Shiraz 2012, and the Torbreck was the Cuvee Juveniles one. The Wynns that I drank last night was sweeter because it's younger that The Torbreck. The more vintage (the year of production) the wine is, more bitter it will be.

Jeff also told us that Shiraz actually the kind of grapes that used as the material of the wine. While sipping the wine, we actually can feel the fragrance of it like blueberry, wood, spicy sometimes chocolate, and others. I couldn't identify it when I drank but it is like what the coffee fans can taste the sense of fruit or chocolate in certain type of coffee,  I believe. In the foreign country, they compete this skills.

Oh Bang Az also told us, most Australian like red wine better than white wine. White wine is popular to drink after people have fishy meals. It is effective to get rid of the fishy smell. 

Jeff and Bang Az have so many fascinating stories about wine. I and Bang Andi just laughed out loud listening to their experiences and we finally went home at 00.30 am. So many stories between human and wine, I think, either pleasing or embarrassing. We know that many great decision/partnership/negotiation come up while several men in suit drink together. It appears on sacred and prestigious moment. Many people also come to wine when they get stressed. Many people do stupid things after drown out of wine.  

This elegant and sophisticated beverage is going more interesting for me. I hope next, I can taste many more kinds of wine or even visit the winery :)

“Accept what life offers you and try to drink from every cup. All wines should be tasted; some should only be sipped, but with others, drink the whole bottle.” (Paulo Coelho, in Brida)

Right vs Right

Last week, I came to Depok, where I used to spend the years when I was in university. There are two areas named Es Pocong and Kober, which are near to Universitas Indonesia Station. Es Pocong and Kober is separated by a highway named Margonda Raya.

Has been located near to campus, station, and other public transportation, every minutes, dozen of people crossed the road, from Es Pocong to Kober and reverse. Several years ago, it was quite scary to cross the road because the motorcycles run carelessly and and often crashed the people who was waiting to cross the road.

Now, the situation has changed. There is a clear zebra cross and traffic light to help the pedestrians walk through the road. But surprisingly, when I was standing on the side of the road, waiting for the 'walk sign' turn to be green, some young people passed me by before the traffic lights turned red and in 1 minutes they arrived on the opposite side of the road.

Several years ago, the pedestrians might feel annoyed by the car drivers and motorcycle riders' attitude. Now, on the contrary, the drivers may feel irritated looking to the pedestrian's behavior.

This phenomenon often happens in our daily life. We always try to fulfill our rights but do not pay attention on what we should do. At some restaurants, the bill comes first before the food, but the food comes late. At the cashier, we often cut the line as we are the busiest people on the earth and have no time to queue. At the office, employees urge the employer to pay the salary on time, but in daily, they come late and go home before the office hour ends. Or on the other side, the employer asked the employees to work hard, overtime, achieve the high target and promise them self-development intensive to join a training or buy books, but in fact, they are don't have time to read or even to buy books.

So, how was your days? Let's watch out if our behavior to pursue our right kills others right.