There are many trekking routes for these hills. Among them there’s a nice pedestrian, a luxury that I long to have in Jakarta, lead to Holyrood Palace, the official resident of the Queen in Scotland. Feeling a little touristy, I bought my first ticket to blend in with this land of monarch and listened to the audio guide while – trying to – observed keenly on Queen’s gallery and took some usual tourist-like photos. The only different was that I am now entitled for the student discount in Edinburgh.

And the student induction week has over.

So here I am, 15 hours flying away from home, more than 7,000 miles away from those that I can depend on 24 hours a day, and six hours difference of breakfast hours.

Bid good night for Edinburgh stars and good morning for the sun in Jakarta.

PS: untuk para Tante Memels, gue arrange satu meja tambahan. Internet kenceng dan gue bisa bikin kopi enak. Kita kerja bareng as always Udah bisa pake remote karaokenya kan? Pesen RBE juga bisa sendiri ye? Jangan keseringan krisis pamulang yak. Titip nyokap. Take care.

Seems easy, don’t know how it would end up though.

Hope this note will begin a JK Rowling-like writing

To begin, ‘Anabelle and the Music Box’ cabaret show performed by BOSMAT stitched the songs played by Mocca, and their indie label music buddies, during the first three segments of the show. The stage was decorated colorfully, complete with some soldier-like statues, resemblance of a desert flower, magical music box, and a wide screen in the back of the stage for some animations that, if you let them, took the liberty of controlling the mood based on the performed songs. The ambience was similar with what you would imagine of Alice in Wonderland the book version, only with superb music. As usual, there are two large screens on the left and right of the stage for showing whats happening on the stage. In addition, two barcalounger-like-chairs were stationed on the right for the story tellers slash MC, the hilarious music journalist Soleh Solihun and radio-announcer-from-Bandung-goes-to-TV Ringgo Agus Rahman. It was really fun just to hear these dudes rambling over Mocca’s secret or even anything not related with the show. Moreover, the level of enjoyment are multi-folding if the audience comes from Bandung and avid twitter user.

Mocca opened the show with Dream, then continued it with Happy, This Conversation (this one is Yaya‘s favorite – my concert goer partner and the one who take the above picture), I Think I’m in Love, and Secret Admirer. Perfect! All songs that I know the lyrics by heart. Although the cabaret was intended to support the flow of these songs, I would say that somehow it’s distracted my imagination of these songs. The main challenges of this was the small stage in the venue and the poor quality of the mirroring screens on both sides. Seeing Anabelle, Bob the boyfriend (is it Bob? I kinda forgot), and the rest of the cast sharing stages with Mocca is just too much. The screens were sometime lagging or late in switching, plus it did not show a high definition quality as well. Ah well. Actually, Mocca have always been very consistent with how they kept referring their band as, quoted from what is written in their twitter bio, ‘your lovely story-telling pop band’. They are indeed a story-teller. Their songs scream stories! Therefore, it’s does not need a genius to create a story in the mind on each and every single of their songs. We just have to watch ourself out should the imagination gone unthinkably wild.

One of the highlights during the Mocca Last Show was the collaboration. Guess who they hijacked to sing along in the stage? Those great indie label bands: Sore, Endah n Rhesa, Float, and White Shoes and The Couples Company (WSATCC). It’s like having a party at one shot. A familiar party that is. They are like the sweet medicine to your ears after being exposed with those many-people-in-the-band-and-they-just-sing-with-indifferent-voices. Their vocals and musical identity are spectacular. From very simple pair like Endah n Rhesa (I like the way they sing Me and My Boyfriend and change the title into Me and My Husband, and how they actually conversed with their guitar and bass) up to Mocca who nicely make benefit of various musical instruments: guitar, bass, drum, flute, piano, trumpet, trombone, and cello (do I still miss a thing?). And talking about their vocals? These ladies vocals? Oh you just have to see this and compare with the Bjork version of Hyper-Ballad. On the last segment, the collaboration between Mocca and WSATCC went by taking turn. Firstly, Aprilia Apsari sang ‘What If’ with Mocca the band, then Arina Ephipania performed ’Senandung Maaf’ with the rest of WSATCC. That was just superb.

Like their last song, Life Keeps on Turning, Mocca will continue to turn into other pages, that is the reason why the show was named as Mocca Last Show. Arina added one song in the stage that she never sang before on stage, Tanah Air, a national anthem that I’m sure it’s everybody’s favorite. I’ve been consciously avoiding that song ever since I got my scholarship, but then it was presented by my favorite band. The show was like a farewell concert to me too. Well I still have one more concert to attend next week, but Mocca is more than just a band to watch. As a girl growing up in Bandung and having some sweet time during the booming of indie label and distro (indie clothing++ line, very unique to Bandung), it’s with their music that I grew up with. I still remember when Arina thanking the audience, ‘thanks for everyone having our CDs’, I hold myself of not screaming ‘hey I bought your cassettes! in the distro because it’s not available in Aquarius Dago’. And the Aquarius Dago is no longer there too. So, it’s just about the time to embrace whatever turns we encounter in life.

Keep on swinging, Mocca. With whatever label, whatever names, wherever it will be.

Menari Berlari Jatuh – Humania

Pandanganku melayang
Jauh tinggi di awan
Pesona pemandangan
Sungguh indah dengan segala cerita

Kusenandungkan lagu
Lagu pelipur pilu
Namun kehadiranmu
Menerangi jalan di dalam hidupku

Ingin kurasakan hangat pelukmu
Kuserahkan, jiwaku padamu
Ingin ku mendengar suara hatiku
Agar ku tahu pasti
Apa yang harus kujalani

Kuteringat selalu
Masa kecilku dulu
Bahagia berlalu
Membawaku jauh ke alam tidurku

Telusuri perlahan
Dalam sanubariku
Dan temui jawaban
Tuk selalu ada bersama mimpiku

Inginkah ku gapai anganku dulu?
Ku serahkan jiwaku padamu
Ingin ku rasakan kasih sayangmu
Dalam hari-hariku
Serta mimpi tidurku

Menari, berlari, jatuh
Mencari arti bahagia
Yang selalu ada
Dihati kita

Kembali, ke dalam hati
Temui, arti bahagia
Yang selalu ada
Bersama ketulusan cinta

My first encounter with @clubSPEAK (SPEAK stands for Suara Pemuda Anti Korupsi, Youth Voices for Anti-Corruption Movement) was through @rdungga during the Vibrant #19, where her passion while sharing the stories has seduced me to facilitate one of their weekend gatherings on Reaffirming Identity of @clubSPEAK. Then, I so amazed on how these youths can nicely put this anti-corruption movement into their lifestyle without reducing their awesomeness as a student, philosopher, writer, journalist, blogger, filmmaker, creative-planner, and so on. Not so much of big words, just simply born the desire to build Indonesia free of corruption from within, and spread the words to other youths. This is reflected in the SPEAK Oath, where they would recite this every time they assemble.

Then few days ago, I got another chance to facilitate 20 youths from @clubSPEAK network, youth ambassadors from Vietnam, and mentors from Towards Transparency Vietnam for a workshop named Promoting Integrity – My Dream My Way My Action. Prior to the workshop, the most challenging part had to be completed: brainstorming on the flow of the facilitation process. For me, who mostly deal with tangible issues such as conservation, livelihoods, and renewable energy, talking about an abstract concept such as integrity is indeed an additional challenge. The word might not be new, but the range of interpretation of such word is certainly wide, especially considering the various backgrounds of these youths. Everything should be made easy for the participants. Thus we decided to have the entire first day dedicated for the Discover session and benchmarking on the idea of integrity. The main reason is the realization that whatever type of social movement that they are gonna deal with, they must discover their own strengths and assets first. Still, we will apply the combination of Appreciative Inquiry and Asset Based Thinking method for the entire workshop. Then, the second day will explore more on the rest of the Appreciative Inquiry steps of Dream, Design, and Deliver, with a touch of @clubSPEAK style of course.

To benchmark the definition of integrity, we decided to use human rights issue as its approach since both have strong correlation with the anti-corruption movement. First day went smooth with the help of inspiring 30 short video clips on human rights. I bet some had teary eyes watching the video. The video was used as a tool for the participants to feel the idea of integrity and its relation with their experiences. The first question was ‘how do you feel after watching the video?’ This is certainly the ‘it’ question of vibrant facilitation. Then the discussion went through until they were requested to mention one word that came up in mind after hearing the word integrity. It eventually concluded that the principles of integrity are: equality, truth/honesty, starts from within, and fight for the rights, including others. I would say that this benchmarking was the highlight of the day where its marked in the first day evaluation, where some of the participants stated their amazement on how they can easily understand the word integrity without having it defined per se. Well, it was the second highlight actually. The first highlight was when they were singing the Fireworks song of Katie Perry out loud both on the opening and closing session.

Second day was beyond belief. The entire steps of Dream, Design, Deliver had amazed me and Retha on how these youths can easily bound and create their vision board together, creatively. But yet, they are highly passionate for this integrity campaign thus creating a joint vision will not be such a difficult task. Then to close the deal, in the last session, Deliver, they were mapping their individual Integrity Campaign for Social Change – plus their contribution of skills and passions – into the group’s mindmap. To present these group maps, here come another vibrant moment, we asked them to have cultural performance. Just by a half hour preparation, all of the four groups came up with brilliant ideas: live show using teleconference from Indonesia – Vietnam, the folk contests, using traditional attires and hats, traditional dancing, singing, dancing, more singing, and dancing again. And oh, these new friends from Vietnam have marvellous voice that caught us deep although we did not understand the lyrics. We started the workshop at 9 AM and it was 8 PM. Everybody was exhausted but we just could not stop laughing and having fun. Amazing.

After the day was wrapped, Retha and I had a chance to have an end chat with Chi, one of the mentors from TT Vietnam, where we discussed more about the vibrant method and how it would be highly suitable for facilitating social movement in Vietnam. Meanwhile, by quick observation in the twitter – thanks to the technology – I saw the youths were having a blast goodbye until wee hour. Thus, I would say that the best part of this entire session is how the positive energy, whatever it is, can bind longer than the workshop itself. Surely an ammo for social movement.

Note: the pictures were taken from @clubSPEAK photo album where they can be reached via facebook or follow them on twitter.

Beberapa minggu belakangan ini emang bukan my best days. Entah kenapa emosi lagi goyah bener dengan pertanyaan yang selalu mirip untuk beberapa kasus. ‘Kenapa saya?’ atau ‘Kenapa bukan saya?’. Kirain ini hanya akan jadi pertanyaan yang muncul karena hormonal bulanan – terimakasih kepada sang estrogen – tapi ternyata ninggalnya lumayan lama. Kirain ini akan kelar ketika hidup sudah berjalan normal lagi, katarsis karaoke gila-gilaan, sudah ketawa ketiwi bikin agenda sana sini, ikut kursus sana sini, makan bisa enak lagi, bisa nonton dvd lagi, bisa belanja lagi. Kirain selesai ketika nemu object of affection dan object of anger. Tapi masih nyangkut. Pertanyaannya jadi lebih egois lagi. ‘Kenapa dia?’

Ketika datang malam dengan banyak pertanyaan, baik sedang sendiri maupun lagi rame, saya bingung harus tanya ke siapa. Saya nggak tahu juga apakah ada jawabannya. Saya nggak yakin saya puas dengan jawaban – dan harapan – apapun yang diberikan oleh setidaknya setengah lusin teman yang saya curhatin. Pengen banget ngobrol sama Tuhan.

Jadi, Tuhan, Kamu lagi ngapain? Marah gak sih sama saya? I think I’m being very very nice girl seperti yang diajarkan di Pancasila dan berbagai Rukun lainnya loh. Well, saya masih suka download lagu sih, tapi selain itu kayanya saya cukup patuh. Apa karena saya terlalu patuh jadi saya kurang usaha? Tapi sampai mana batasnya? I think I’ve push myself to the fuckin whatever limit that is existing, I even broke some of my borders, but why can’t I have the chance? If I can’t have the chance because I will have greater chance, then why can’t I cope with it?Will I really have a greater chance?

Lalu juga, kata orang banyak kalau punya mimpi, harus selalu dipegang dan diingat biar kejadian, lalu apapun yang kita punya diinvestasikan kesitu. Termasuk waktu dan hati. Katanya, gak boleh takut bermimpi, karena ia yang akan mengarahkan kita ke tujuan hidup. And I do have tujuan hidup. Lalu ketika these beautiful time-and-heart-invested dreams were shattered, is that part of Your plan? What plan actually? When this stage is coming, it is not the rejection that hurt, but the fact that the imagination should be turned off. Why should I be the one who bear this? Is it the end or will there be more unpleasant surprises?

Mungkin sekarang tiba saatnya untuk ikhlas yah, Tuhan? Melepaskan kelekatan. Kata yang cukup basi, tapi ternyata susah juga diterapkan. Anyway, pas banget kemarin dapat selentingan doa ketika lagi ngobrol sama mbak Nin yang berdoa hal yang sama ketika umroh. Surat Al-Faathir ayat 2: ‘Whatsoever of mercy Allah may grant unto mankind none there is to withhold it; and whatsoever He may with hold none there is to release it thereafter. And He is the Mighty, the Wise.‘

So, I’m letting you go. And you too.
Tuhan, temenin yah.

Ever since the born of Friendster, my life has never been the same again. It’s the moment where people start to create a new union in the World Wide Web that is definitely more powerful and has less overhead cost than the United Nations.  As I quoted from a very interesting presentation, if Facebook were a country, it would be the third most populated in the world. In this virtual country, no low-priced airline or lengthy time is needed to investigate one’s whereabouts nor to decipher what’s on one’s thought. Just a click or two, then general information of a person can be blatantly presented in a thing called timeline.

Nothing is unworthy of a tweet or change of status of social media user, especially in Indonesia. According to google trend, Indonesians account for these social media are managed to enter the top ranks. We are on the top ten users of Friendster, Facebook, Plurk, and Twitter. For the last one, it’s easy to spot our behaviour as online time waster. Check on the trending topic every once and a while. Often is Indonesia contributes topics, starting from the amazing social media movement including #indonesiaunite or #koinprita, dominates half of the trending topic during the AFF cup, or some annoying don’t-foll-back or hate-message-hashtags sort of stuffs, proving that these virtual accounts are far from idle. With the low cost cell phone and flooded promotion of social media usage, updating status becomes as important as yawning.

In twitter, to me people tend to try to look critical. Should you put a joke, it better be a witty one, or at least look line one. If you don’t know what to say, better just RT (retweet) someone smart and put additional comment like ‘+1’, ‘I know!’ or ‘Perfect’, so that people know that you can think smart, but it just that someone is saying it first.  Thus, twitter is the best way to waste your time by reading some updated news (@jakpost, @metro_tv, @korantempo), give comments (@anjinggombal, @fiksimini, @soalcinta), plan your holidays (@liburanlokal), find jobs (@unjobs), and tons more. This list can go on like forever. Just stick in the timeline and your following list will grow eventually.

Meanwhile, things are getting too personal on Facebook home page. Allow me to group 99% of the statuses:
1. The place-tagger (Keen reporter of locations. It mostly added by picture of the location although their faces dominate the entire frame instead.)
2. The kid-worshipper (Everything is about, hopefully their own, kid. Yes I totally agree that all kid in this world is damn gorgeous, but it’s your account, not theirs. I think I have to start another writing with premise: ‘Should your personality washed away once you have kid?’)
3. The avid-merchant (Wonder why your salary decreasing even before the end of month? Go figure).
4. The trivial-spotter (Announce tiny-mini-matters like, ‘Oh I just saw a dog poo’, ‘Hey why did my hair getting fuzzy in the morning?’, ‘The lady in front of me is definitely not colour-coordinated’. Gosh, they are so observant, aren’t they? To me, they’re my favourite. Oh, this is not sarcasm.)
5. The hyperlinks-dropper (No matter what it is, they can always find amazing piece of lyrics, youtube video, quotes from people or movie, and links to other website that match with their current thoughts and feeling. Savvy strategy. *lookingatthemirror)

This stream of timeline is the easiest way to pour what’s on mind and heart. Some even have the tendency to exploit amplify their feeling by stating their likeness, or hatred, persistently. Yet, there’s another some who would choose to be mute instead, because often in timeline, publicity beats privacy.

Kali pertama ke Jakarta, saya numpang di kosan Piesca di daerah depan Sudirman Park sekarang, atau sebuah gedung sembarang waktu itu. Berangkat dari Bandung dengan sang Parahyangan penuh memori, dilengkapi adegan film India banjir air mata iringan ibunda yang mengantar sampai stasiun Bandung. Kepergian saya pertama merantau ini hanya dimodali satu travel bag kecil dan satu ransel mungil. Lewat seminggu, saya dan Piesca mendapatkan kos baru di Karet Belakang alias Karbela. Ketika keluarga saya menengok, mereka membawakan barang-barang saya dari Bandung, dimana jumlahnya masih bisa muat dalam taplak meja kecil yang diikat ala tongkat Pak Janggut.

Sekitar satu tahun lewat menjajah Karet dan seluruh seluk beluknya, Piesca berencana menempuh hidup baru. Karena kamar lama terlalu besar, saya mencari tempat baru yang lebih pas untuk bersolo karir. Menyeberanglah saya ke Kompleks PAM di Pejompongan, Benhil. Kepindahan saya kesini dengan menggunakan mobil Panther, dimana jok yang paling belakang dilipet dan penuh oleh barang.

Entah berapa lama disini, sampai akhirnya pada satu malam saya ditemani oleh….. Tikus! Bisa jadi saya berhalusinasi, tapi saya yakin sekali tikus itu berusaha berteman dengan jempol kaki saya. Kebetulan juga saya pindah kerja ke Pancoran sehingga Benhil mulai terasa jauh. Pindahlah saya ke sebuah kos-kosan ajaib di Pancoran. Kenapa ajaib? Karena walau luarnya biasa saja, nyatanya di dalam rumah kos itu ada minimal 4 lantai dengan minimal 15 kamar per lantai. Silahkan bayangkan adegan juragan kos kipas2 pakai duit. Adegan pindah kos kali ini menggunakan Avanza. Mobil super penuh dgn barang, sampai Rully yang duduk ditengah kelipet dan nggak keliatan mukanya.

Kisah belum berakhir. Ingat adegan juragan kipas-kipas pakai duit? Tambah lagi duitnya karena dia kemudian menaikkan tarif kos-kosan 250ribu per kamar flat. Sebuah kamar doang ukuran 3×3 kamar mandi luar no facilities seharga 800ribu? I don’t think so, buddy. Jadi merambahlah saya ke ranah Mampang. Kepindahan kali ini saya sudah memerlukan jasa mobil box pinjaman dari kantornya Dhany. Walau udah pakai mobil box, saya tidak ingat membeli kardus untuk mengemas barang. Kemungkinan besar, pindahannya cukup gampang karena tenaga kasarnya cuma si Bapak supir aja, sementara tenaga lembutnya ada Buncit, Onge, serta Dhany dan adiknya dan dua ponakannya. Pindah kosan apa kendurian ya?

Rumah Mampang ini punya paling banyak kenangan. Social capitalnya terasa sekali disitu. Banyak rumah/kantor teman yang jaraknya cuma seperjalanan kaki dan banyak yang siap panggil juga. Mengutip komentar Oda, rumah itu jadi saksi bisu cerita, ketawa, dan air mata banyak orang, baik secara nyata maupun maya. Just exactly how I always dream of my home would be.

Tapi kemudian jiwa emak-emak saya muncul. I need better air circulation, I need better quality of water, I need bigger space, and I need a proper kitchen. Hey, cerita akan lebih mengalir dan tidur akan lebih puas dengan adanya bantuan dari dapur bukan? Maka ketika Ira berencana pindah dari Bangka, saya langsung memutuskan untuk menempati kosan di gang di Jalan Bangka itu.

Pindahan kali ini melibatkan satu mobil Avanza lagi yang disponsori oleh Buncit serta satu mobil bak sewaan. Perabotan sih gak banyak nambah, tapi ada 11 kerdus sedang (seperti di gambar di atas) plus 2 troli plastik yang mostly berisi, ahem, kain dan kertas, belum beberapa the pritils. Sempat terkesiap juga, mengapa barang saya masih banyaaaak? Padahal (rasanya) saya punya sistem ‘buang barang’ yang cukup ingtensip loh. Untuk pindahan kali ini, tukang panggulnya ada 3, plus 2 tukang gerobak karena rumah baru saya ini masuk gang selumayanan juga. Melihat semua kotak ini memenuhi rumah baru, saya langsung sakit kepala.

Saat saya menulis blog ini, saya sedang dalam masa break sebelum kembali ke dunia nyata of unpacking nanti sore. Dipikir-pikir, gila juga ya 6 tahun di Jakarta dan 6 kali pindah kosan? Hehe. Berarti, valid dong kalau saya bilang nistalah kalian yang belum pernah mampir ke salah satu dari semua kosan saya itu

Please come, the invisible sign of ‘Rumah Curhat dan Gaol’ will be the first thing to attach at my door.

Lalu dimulailah petualangan pertama yang cukup mendebarkan: pake abotil, obat dari neraka untuk sariawan. Rasanya deg-degan, banyak pertanyaan, sakitnya seperti apa? Sakit banget gak ya? Reaksinya kaya apa? Jangan-jangan sariawan gue meletus? Apa mending didiamkan saja? Dan juga satu pertanyaan yang agak jauh, kemane aje lo duy jaman ABG kok baru sekarang pake abotil? Karena pertanyaan terakhir ini, saya jadi iseng mengingat kembali masa-masa muda dulu. Masa dimana saya memulai banyak petualangan pertama, ‘terpaksa’ mencoba hal baru, dimana rasa deg-degan akan apa yang mungkin bisa terjadi sama menegangkan dan menyenangkannya dengan pengalaman seru yang saya dapatkan kemudian. Mirip dengan deg-degan ketika mengoleskan abotil ke sang sariawan.

Salah satu yang keingetan adalah, dua perjalanan pertama saya keluar pulau Jawa. Yak saudara-saudara, saya si pengelana ini sesungguhnya belum pernah keluar pulau Jawa sampai kuliah tingkat 2, tahun 2001 deh kalo nggak salah. Perjalanan pertama saya keluar pulau pun langsung seru, jaraknya cuma sekitar 1-2 bulan, satu internasional dan satu domestik. Dan dua-duanya super patut untuk dikenang.

Yang super pertama, saya dapet ‘hadiah’ jalan semingguan ke China dan HK karena menulis essay tentang sistem transportasi di China. Very random, yet highly effective Jadi, perjalanan ini mencakup saat pertama keluar pulau Jawa, pertama keluar negeri, dan pertama naik pesawat. Ternyata transformasinya cukup cepat juga. Awal perjalanan, duduk di pesawat gue mulai memaksa Chei untuk duduk dekat-dekat supaya nggak grogi kalau ditanya-tanya pramugari dan meminta dia untuk menerangkan every button yang ada di deket tempat duduk gue. Dan di akhir perjalanan, saya end up nyasar di Hong Kong bersendal jepit ria gara-gara keasikan jalan-jalan sama Nila, karena kami tidak sabar menunggu rombongan berkumpul. One of my lessons learned of this trip: language is not a barrier Saya berhasil belanja di sebuah pasar dekat tembok China dengan memakai bahasa sunda sementara pedagangnya pakai bahasa mandarin.

Keluar Pulau Jawa yang kedua adalah trip domestik, dimana saya pergi menyeberang ke Makassar. Ya betul, menyeberang. Kami bersembilan, anak-anak kuliahan kere, jadi berangkat pakai kereta Mutiara Selatan sampai Surabaya lalu diteruskan dengan kapal laut sampai Makassar. Karena teman-teman saya khawatir saya akan terdera mabuk laut, maka saya dicekoki dengan antimo, antangin, tolak angin, dan berbagai ramuan lain. Walhasil, saya sama sekali tidak mabok di kapal, tapi ngantuknya setengah mati. Setelah ngantuknya ilang, baru saya bisa keliaran keluar masuk berbagai ruangan di kapal laut itu. Trip kali ini juga pakai acara nyasar, tapi bukan di kapal melainkan nyasar di UNHAS bareng Nad-nad. The trip was indeed one of my unforgettable journeys dan saya rada yakin trip inilah yang membangunkan hasrat berkelana saya.

Sambi meringis-meringis kesakitan setelah sang abotil mengenai sang sariawan, saya jadi senyam senyum sendiri mengenang pengalaman pertama mencoba sesuatu. Setelah dua trip heboh itu, banyak trip serta petualangan-petualangan lain yang kemudian menyusul. Sesuatu yang sebelumnya saya nggak pernah kebayang. Pas lagi menjalankan, bitter and worse were always happening. Nyasar, salah makan, keabisan duit, salah perencanaan, temen pergi yang nyebelin, badan luka-luka dan baret-baret, menggendut, kecapean, menghitam, dan masih banyak lagi. Tapi setelah lewat, all that bitter and worse magically turned out to be something funny to share with. Lebih jauh lagi, pengalaman pertama malah bisa menyalakan passion kita sesungguhnya

One of the promises on this Eid al-Fitr is, after conquering the entire something-like-devilish spirit within ourself during the entire Ramadan, people will be reborn. Actually maybe I didn’t put this things right, but it is generally believed that if you really put yourself to it, your previous sins will be erased thus leaving the sins column in the ‘reward counter’ balance into zero. It’s like having audited after one tiring fiscal year. That is what the Great Accountant would probably do, according to the Quran and tell-tales spread out from year to year.

So the question is, what you had done on this end of the fiscal year?

Happy Eid Mubarok all.

Saya sebenarnya penasaran dengan keberadaan line clothing yang satu ini. Banyak yang bilang ini tabu untuk dibahas, namun nyatanya model dan merk underwear semakin berkembang saja. Mulai dari merk nggak jelas di pinggiran jalanan dalem kaum, kelas setengah menengah seperti Nevada yang dijual di Matahari atau super store serupa, sampai Victoria Secret yang bayar modelnya aja seharga ya sudahlah juga. Sebenarnya, seberapa penting sih underwear itu? Apa fungsi sebenarnya dari barang ini? Apa bedanya pakai underwear (lupa, definisi underwear gue disini adalah bra dan panties) sama pakai baju dobel?

Saya jadi ingat beberapa teman dan kenalan yang sering seru-seruan dengan urusan daleman. Ada satu yang tiap beli underwear harus keluar negeri. Singapore paling dekat. Bahkan pernah pas conference di Jerman, frekuensi kehadirannya rendah sekali karena lebih sering browsing underwear. Alesannya karena ukuran bodinya lebih ke-eropa-eropa-an dibandingkan indonesia-indonesia-an. Atau ukurannya somewhere above XL yang memang sangat tidak diakomodir oleh standar all sizenya Indonesia yang nggak masuk akal itu.

Dua teman lainnya sering iri dengki melihat model underwear yang lucu-lucu. Warna warni, gambar menarik, bahan macem-macem, kadar keseksian beragam, dan tentu harga bisa banyak pilihan. Teman saya yang ini ukurannya tidak rata-rata, jadi pilihan modelnya nggak bisa macem-macem. Nah, mungkin kemudian ada yang tanya apa pengaruhnya underwear lucu? Kan di dalem juga? Tapi bahkan Calvin (as in Calvin and Hobbes) punya lucky rocketship underpant juga loh. Well, although sometime it can’t be any of help

Kalimat terakhir benar-benar pas untuk keadaan saya hari ini. Pada saat tulisan ini dibuat beberapa waktu lalu (tapi baru sempet upload sekarang), saya sedang menghadiri pertemuan kampung di sebuah daerah di timur Indonesia yang ternyata tempatnya dingiin setengah mati. Saya sudah bawa jaket, kaos kaki, bla bla bla, tapi satu yang saya lupa. Tinggal di Jakarta, saya suka dengan bahan-bahan yang terasa dingin menempel di kulit, biar adem. Termasuk underwear. And so darling, in this darn cold area, those silk-based underwears are sooo not functioning. Jadi ingatlah ketika packing ke tempat dingin, pilihan underwear yang tepat bisa membuat hari sehat!

Saudara-saudari, ada hal paling mendasar yang patut diberitakan kepada teman dan saudara anda sekalian jika memang berminat masuk ke dunia Matematika. Menurut definisi saya, semua yang kita pelajari tentang Matematika sampai kelas 3 SMA adalah seputar LOGIKA dan BERHITUNG. Jauh beda dengan Jurusan Matematika untuk level S1, mungkin apalagi S2 dan seterusnya ya. Ilustrasinya gini aja, sepanjang saya kuliah, saya tidak pernah pakai kalkulator karena memang tidak pernah berhitung. Semuanya serba filosofis, abstrak, dan tidak aplikatif. Bagus untuk yang suka science, tapi tidak cocok untuk saya. Yang membuat saya lumayan nyaman dengan jurusan Matematika hanyalah statistik, karena saya bisa membayangkan ilmunya untuk diterapkan dimana, bagaimana cara pakainya, mengapa harus menghitung ini dan itu, bisa pakai alat bantu excell dan software yang cukup sederhana, dsb. Mata kuliah lainnya? Ya Tuhan. Hanya karena saya nggak enak sama ortu yang udah bayarin kuliah aja sehingga saya tetap bertahan dan berusaha cepat lulus supaya bisa cepat-cepat kabur.

Hal ini membuat saya jadi berpikir, jika waktu bisa berulang, kira-kira jurusan apa yang akan saya pilih ya?

Yang pertama sepertinya Arsitek. Entah kenapa saya merasa Arsitek adalah profesi yang seksi. Mungkin gara-gara sosok Ted Mosby di How I Met Your Mother kali ya. Tapi melihat kerjaan para Arsitek, terutama yang membuat desain-desain dengan kertas gambar dan meja gambar kayanya keren aja. Apalagi kalau lagi lihat foto-foto rumah-rumah mungil hijau unik minimalis keren, waah saya selalu merasa si arsiteknya keren. Saya membayangkan diri saya berada di belakang meja gambar (padahal sekarang mah udah pake komputer ya? ), ngarang cari inspirasi, mikirin detail ini dan itu, wah pasti keren deh Anyway, kayanya memang saya lumayan terobsesi, karena kata keren muncul sering sekali dalam paragraf ini.

Kedua, sesuatu yang berhubungan dengan nutrisi. Oh betapa lifestyle sangat memengaruhi hidup di masa yang akan datang!! Gue selalu membayangkan asyiknya jika bisa meneliti makanan2 yang bergizi dan berharga murah. Pengen berbudi daya jamur, buat makanan2 olahan dari jamur, aiming kaum vegetarian kota yang berani bayar mahal buat lifestyle, ajak dee lestari untuk jadi spokeperson produk gue! Side jobnya (karena kadung bergelut di dunia makanan) bisa jadi food stylist!! Arranging foods with colorful papers, little-useless-yet-cute things, confettis, ribbons! Main-main dengan kamera, menata-nata makanan agar terlihat cantik. Woo hoo! Life will never be dull.

Ketiga adalah komunikasi. Eh, kuliahnya apaan sih sebenernya kalau mau jadi jurnalis atau penulis? Yang jelas saya suka dengan kegiatan tulis menulis dan tanya menanya. Menulis itu seperti membuat mumi, mengawetkan ide dan cerita. Untuk mumi yang satu ini, meracik formula zat pengawetnya itu yang bikin penasaran. Sering banyak tema melintas di otak, kepikir untuk menulis satu atau dua paragraf, tapi sebenernya mau nulis apa sih? Siapa yang harus ditanya supaya tulisan kita ‘bunyi’ sih? Taro dimana niih tulisannya supaya banyak yang liat? Gue harus kemana lagi yaa biar dapet tulisan baguss? Itulah kenapa gue doyan untuk membayangkan gimana rasanya kalau punya profesi ini.

All in all, setelah dipikir-pikir, semua keinginan ini sebenarnya paradox juga. Karena sempat salah jurusan, saya sangat membuka diri untuk banyak hal yang bisa mendistract saya agar tidak stres karena salah pilih. Hasil dari membuka diri itu membuat saya terdampar di banyak tempat dengan banyak teman yang berarti banyak obrolan. Bahkan pekerjaan saya sekarang ini juga didapatkan dari semua faktor tadi. Semua jurusan yang saya sebenernya inginkan itu, baru kepikiran juga karena pergaulan saya setelah saya salah jurusan. Dimana kalau saya tidak salah jurusan, mungkin saja sekarang saya sudah tidur manis settling di sebuah tempat dibandingkan kelayapan di dunia maya jam segini di atas sebuah kasur di Belitong. Dimana kalau saya tidak salah jurusan, tulisan ini dan segala hal yang membuat otak saya terus berusaha aktif mungkin tidak pernah ada.

Hey, terimakasih ya Tuhan. Kalau saya tidak salah jurusan, mungkin malam ini saya lupa berterimakasih pada Mu.

                                          the ultimate destination: segara anakan lagoon

                                         the fast ocean on the other side of the lagoon

                                                         the pretty lagoon from top

The photos were taken by Hasan who went there on February 2009. He’s so lucky to have all of the serene, calm, low-tide, blue sky, and pretty cloud of the Laguna Segara Anakan, the prime spot of Sempu Island. When I was planning my trip to be in July, I was expecting the similar weather but yet my luck is not on the weather but more into the challenging journey.

So this pretty Sempu Island is a small island on the tip south of Java island, belong to the Malang District, East Java, Indonesia. The island is the one down under in the red circle.

From Malang, you can get the public transportation heading to Turen, then take another public transportation from Turen to Sendang Biru. Based on several references, the price range for public transportation is around IDR 15,000 (USD 1.5) each. Once you get to Sendang Biru, get your license and permit to the BKSDA (Natural Resources Conservation Agency) and you will be asked to pay some money, around IDR 20,000 per person. In this office area, some small stores are available to have lunch and buy fresh water or other stuffs before entering the island.

                                                           me in front of the office

                                                           lunch in sendang biru

To get to the island, you have to take fishers boat from Sendang Biru to Semut Bay, the entrance for Sempu Island. One way ride is only 15 minutes since you can basically see the island from the Sendang Biru. The round trip price of the boat is IDR 100,000 (USD 10). Based on some chat with the officers and ‘expertises’ of Sempu, there are actually two trekking paths in Sempu. One is from Semut Bay heading to the Segara Anakan Lagoon, the major and common destination, and the other one is heading to Telaga Lele (Lele Lake). The latter is less common and has longer and more challenging trekking path. 

                             the blue sky in Sendang Biru and a glimpse of Sempu Island

Shall we now continue from the tip of Sempu island, the Semut Bay.
                                                   the Semut Bay during low tide

First of all, one thing for the trip to Sempu: MIND THE WEATHER! On the lovely July where on paper you will have perfect weather, pretty sky, and everything, apparently we didn’t get any. Hasan and some other references said to have one or two hours trekking. But I proudly announce that it took me FOUR hours to get to the lagoon, and THREE hours to get out. We went there on Monday at 2.30 PM and people said that there were heavy rain on Sunday night and it’s previous days. So the mud, is here, there, and everywhere. I have no idea what kind of shoewares that you should use if you take this trip during the rainy season. Maybe the best is shoes designed for muddy area because we found many abandoned ordinary shoes/sandals on our way in. I myself choose to go barefoot after 30 minutes trekking. According to our guide, from scale 1 to 10 of the most challenging trekking path, we were ‘lucky’ to have the largest scale of 10. Woo hoo!! Here are some of the pictures of the road so that you can imagine the trekking path in its worst condition.

 

(Arrgh, sorry if the layout is not nice. Am using new application here).

So here are the pictures of the muddy area. The one on the left is the picture of me and Oda. A bit blurry since it’s so difficult to take pics in this kind of circumstances. Anyway, the mud can even get into your knees, the viscosity is damn high thus it takes efforts to just move your legs. Our way out is far worse than our way in. During our way out, basically the whole trip was muddy. You can’t even get a meter of dry area. So use your ‘disposable’ clothes for this trekking trip.

Alright, when you’re feeling discourage to see the pics. Scroll the page roll up again to see the beautiful Segara Anakan lagoon to strengthen your vision. Or lemme give another one of the paid off after this long and exhaustive journey.

                 you’ll get a lot of balls that you can play with while swimming in the lagoon

While you’re in the lagoon, get yourself to climb a cliff where you can see the scene of border between the ocean and the lagoon. My neck were chilled and I secretly got teary eyes when I saw them. It’s amazing. In the following picture, the cliff that you should take upon is the highest one on the left.

For me, I will not recommend to go there on your own. The path is NOT EASY. You need other people to take care each other, or at least to take your picture above, or to chat while looking at the pretty lagoon underneath you. Here are some of the picture of way to get above.

So I guess that’s a wrap of all technicalities that you might need to have as mental picture to plan your Sempu trip. For us, we’re lucky to be accompanied by Rido, or Kacong, as our guide during our trip to Sempu. Oh Mas Rido is extremely helpful and knowledgeable about the place. If you look for a friend for your trip in Sempu or other location in East Java, you can contact him through 085755727223.

                                      oda and mas rido, my two trekking guardians

Get yourself prepare both mental and physical, especially if you’re a city person like me, who spent time in front of computer more frequent than in bed. But if we share the same interest, this trip will surely recharge you and you will not be able to stop smiling and telling all of your friends about the trip. Hope the island can still survive in the next several years, but anyhow, my grandkids will still hear of its beauty from first-hand-novice experience

Being grown up in the same house for 22 years, I never get to understand the different between house and home. That particular building in the corner, that is my destination everytime I got home from school. That one with black fence, is where my parents, brother, and some relatives live along with me. That with the mango and rambutan trees in front, is where people sending me things, coming to visit, and picking me up for parties. In short, all I can think of was the physical function of it as a building. It’s like a giant drop box to support my well being, to lay tiles and bed for my sleep, to give roof and wall for covering the heat and cold.

Then I urged to cut this stable and routine. I moved to Jakarta for work and the journey of my rent-rooms/houses were started. My Jakarta life span began in June 2004 in Karbela, sharing a room with Piesca. Starting at this very moment, I begin to realize that ‘home’, is now a riddle to me. During this six-years of my Jakarta well being, I moved to at least four rented-rooms in southern part of Jakarta. I consider this maneuver of moving in and out of places had evolved me into this soul-searching of a thing called home.

Piesca, my first and only roommate, said that I used to cry in my early days working in Jakarta. I didn’t realize it though. Most probably it was unconscious cry due to the feeling of not-so-comfortable in my first new city. I also remember a time when I got broken hearted, and I don’t know where to go and what to do in Jakarta. I strived hard just to get to Carrefour in Ambassador Mall to see Ria, a dear friend working in the store where I can poured my heart out while she was acting folding the wardrobe’s sections (mental picture: one girl with massive tears talking to a store employee in uniform, changing alleys for every 5 minutes so that people won’t really notice). There’s time also where I went to Mala’s home in Cipete, and all I was asking is, ‘Can somebody in your house cook me a home-made dishes?’ And until current, I always managed to get to my home in Bandung for at least once a month, just to get a smell of breakfast and the morning chatter sound of my Mom with her friends.

Along the years, I seek to find my way home. Actually, it’s easier to picture a dream house rather than a dream home. I already imagined how my future house would be. It will not be in Jakarta, most likely will off from urban area and preferably beach, small-house, pretty garden, outdoor bathrooms, big kitchen, and full of windows. As for the home, hmmm. I dream of it to be the place where I, and my loved ones, can feel comfortable to sleep, to eat, to chat, to laugh, to cry, and to dream. It will be the place where you and your friends are welcome to stay on the way of your itinerary. It will be the place with so many mental and physical pictures. In this massive world issues and steady economic rising, I might have to less-prioritize the dream house. Nevertheless, I believe to soon find my home.

This second encounter was recalled during my dinner at a very nice and cozy vegetarian restaurant namely Socrates in Medan. The restaurant is very nice, uh I mentioned that already, but it is indeed very very nice and worth to be mentioned more than once.

The food is amazing, the interior design is awesome, they have many neatly organized books, and the price is very affordable. In addition, they have this picture of Master Ching Hai in here there and everywhere, and her show (I did not clearly notice anything else rather than Ching Hai’s face all around since I was too busy with the food) was continuously aired at big flat screen in the center of the restaurant.

So, back to this Master Ching Hai, what awed me the most on my first (indirect, of course) encounter with her was the persistence ‘being vegetarian’ campaign done by her followers. As you might be guessing, the December weather of Copenhagen was disfavoring tropical creatures. You can use layers of clothes, whatever coats, numbers of socks and leather shoes, very puffy gloves and hats, and mind you, it was still damn freezing. The longest I had been outside with minor movement was during the two to three hours queue before entering the conference room. That was enough to numb me and I am sure that I cannot ever be qualified for to become her followers.

Unlike me, the followers of Master Ching Hai were tirelessly campaigning the being vegetarian movement at every day during the (at least that I know) 15 days of conference. There were around the same 15 of them outside the conference room. They were there at the very early morning when we arrived at 8 AM and they still there when we are back to the apartment at 8 PM. They were also there when we escaped from the conference room at 2 PM, to prove that they were always there, in the outside of the breezing Copenhagen with at least minus degrees Celsius. They distributed heavy package of campaign materials (not just brochure, it also include hard cover books on Master Ching Hai’s bird poetry) and sometime provided vegetarian sandwich if we were lucky enough. They were carrying this all around and constantly asking you to take all of those materials. If you tell them that you already have one, they will insist you to take another one or two because one is not enough. For me, their persuasions was sometime at the level of credit card promotion person. Yet, seeing from their persistence, their campaign indeed beaten all of the other campaigns of environmental organizations happened during the conference.

The experiences of watching Master Ching Hai’s followers in between the snowy weather and seeing her faces all around the restaurant had yielded me with two major questions, can I be a vegetarian? on what topic would I dare to stand tirelessly for campaigning? I know that I should have put these two questions in separate writings, but for me the revelation come together so please just bear with it.

As for the being vegetarian, I would consider this very challenging in a positive kind of way. In principle, I do want to do this. The basic reason is not for the sake of climate change, actually. I once watched this documentary movie, forget the title, but it is about a poultry factory sharing stories on chicken farming. Although the show emphasize more on the electricity produced by the factory, I can’t help to suppress my guilty feeling of wanting to eat meat that had made those poor animals engineered to fulfill the exhaustive demand.

As for the campaign, I do join numbers of campaigns. Yet I have to be honest, that none of them that I am deliberately 100% campaigning and willing to ‘sacrifice’ myself to do so. Yes, I do not wear plastic bag, but I do not really force my friends to do the same. Yes, I do involve in numbers of environment-related campaigns, but I will not stand up for days to yell about it.

Oh well, I do not think that I can answer both right now. I just try to make myself heading to those two directions. Am far from being veggie, but I stop eat four-leg animals and not eating any animals that still resembling its original shape. While for the good-deed spreading, well, just do it for yourself blatantly in front of others, write about it in the social media while softly asking your friends in case they want to do the same.

Yet, to think deeper about it, actually it leads me into two more major questions: how far do I want to change my lifestyle? and what are the things that interest me the most that I want to share to other? Hm, too many questions for tonight. I’ll be happy if you want to share your answer though

I do not know much of music, but I just want to share that her music is great, nice voice, very simple, and so easy-listening. On top of that, the lyrics are amazing, ladies and gentlemen. I would like to copy one of the lyrics that up to now, I don’t think ever find any singer who wrote about ‘gang’ life. This I’m sure happened everywhere, from the bronx area as we watch in the Hollywood movie, up to some silly unimportant tawuran in your neighbourhood. Uh, I so wanted to interview her for my alternative media campaign thesis (ngayal.com).

Thanks for reminding us, Zee. Hope Hector will be the first and the last.

First of The Gang to Die

You have never been in love,
Until you’ve seen the stars,
reflect in the resevoirs

And you have never been in love,
Until you’ve seen the dawn rise,
behind the home for the blind

We are the pretty petty thieves,
And you’re standing on our street..

…where Hector was the first of the gang
with a gun in his hand
and the first to do time
the first of the gang to die. Oh my.
Hector was the first of the gang
with a gun in his hand
and the first to do time
the first of the gang to die. Oh my.

You have never been in love,
Until you’ve seen the sunlight thrown
over smashed human bones

We are the pretty petty thieves,
And you’re standing on our street..

…where Hector was the first of the gang
with a gun in his hand
and the first to do time
the first of the gang to die. Such a silly boy.
Hector was the first of the gang
with a gun in his hand
and a bullet in his gullet
and the first lost lad to go under the sod.

And he stole from the rich and the poor
and the not-very-rich and the very poor
and he stole all hearts away
he stole all hearts away
he stole all hearts away
he stole all hearts away
he stole all hearts away
he stole all hearts away
he stole all hearts away
he stole all hearts away
he stole all hearts away.

The City
I went Umroh for 9 days, including the traveling time, which take 9 hours from Jakarta – Jeddah one way. My route was Mecca, Madinah, and Jeddah. In general, this famous land of Moslem is indeed an arid ecosystem with its extremely dry land. The driest area is Mecca, where its only point of interest is the mosque, Masjidil Haram. All of the people are always heading to the mosque, at no matter hours, especially during every five time of daily prayers. Many skyscrapers surround the mosque, where all of them are hotel to serve people going for pilgrimage. What I’m saying about skyscrapers here is more than 20 storey high soaring to the sky. The distance between each hotel is very tiny, or even considered nothing. Thus safety is a big question there, especially those hotels are mostly still in the stage of construction or renovation. Thus, many cranes are up there in the at least tenth storey taking up concrete and other building materials. So, you might want to be careful and hopefully everything is finished once you got there.

The sole source of drinking water in Mecca is from Zam Zam well and mineral water. They don’t have ground water and the precipitation is extremely low, only three times per year! You call Komodo Island to be the wonder of nature? Then you might want to ponder on this water source as well. You can find Zam Zam available in every corner of the mosque where people can have as many as they want. For those taking water for more than 1 liters, there are many source to do that outside of the mosque. Meanwhile, for other means of water they were desalinating the seawater.

Meanwhile, Madinah is more beautiful. All of the hotel and stores are built in blocks. It’s very neat, less dust, and pretty. There are still many Zam Zam water in Masjid Nabawi, but not as much as in Mecca.

Clothes Wise
In short, those general female Moslem clothes that you see in Indonesia? All of them is not wearable inside the mosque. People are mostly use the long skirt (similar to Gamis) but with very less color, mostly plain black, wearing long veil that gets to your buttock, and the clothe should be really loose. You can count with your hands people using two pieces and the bottom is tight trousers. Even if people using two pieces including shorts, the top is very long even covering your knee. Therefore, for Indonesians, it’s just save to use mukena.

Photography
This one my dear, is unfortunately not allowed in the mosque. While the only point of interest in Mecca and Madinah are indeed the mosques. Thus I bring the pocket camera with me, which is still manageable in Masjidil Haram, but surely cant in Nabawi because they were checking on your bag before entering the mosque. Rumor has it that the Masjidil Haram also sometime checking on the bag. The pocket camera is handy enough for basic pictures. Yet careful is a must because my friend saw people posing in Masjidil Haram and taking pictures, and they were fined. The fine is quite major, around USD 100. Although, however, I don’t find my interest to take pictures is as huge as me being in another place Therefore, my DSLR is not really functioning there.

Shopping Wise
Same as above, I also don’t find my lust of shopping is similar to my usual behavior of traveling. I only manage to go around Mecca at my last day. After going to the tree cities, I conclude that you can find many cheap and low price materials in Mecca, although you will rarely find things originally from Arab Saudi. Most were coming from either China or India. In Mecca you will find many ‘mass’ things, for example paint for nail, hair, eyes, small bottle of local perfume, tasbeh (beads for praying, similar to rosario), rugs, and things like that. The rugs are better and cheaper in Mecca. There are many street vendors selling things for 5 Riyals (around 1.5 USD).

In Madinah, things are getting more expensive but the good is better. There are many stores selling jewels if you’re interested. For me I found the Quran is more pretty. While in Jeddah, the city is so like Batam in terms of shopping. You want to shop in Jeddah then you go find perfume, shoes, watch, and those kind of stuffs.

Hundred reasons you can find to go Umrah, but mine is yet simple, to make my Mom happy. And I’m sure that the general rule is if we want to do something for our parents, we don’t want to miss a chance since no one know what if tomorrow never comes. Yet, I do consider this ‘why?’ question is important. Thus, you might want to start the list of your reasoning right now.

Preparation
Prior to my depart, I tried to make myself ready, and I am glad that I did this. I realize that this trip is more of a trip for my soul, believes, and any other invisible aspects. I did avoid things and even make abstinence of things that might be a bit naughty, and did things that can feed my soul more.

Luckily, Ijul recommends book by a Persian sociologist Dr. Ali Shariati titled ‘Makna Haji’ or ‘the Pilgrimage’, where it led me to comprehensive understanding on each and every step of my ‘small’ pilgrimage. The book told me more than just a pray to recite. It give me interpretation, what to expect and not to expect, what are the stories and histories, what do each rituals and places represents, why we should do that, why Muhammad or Abraham did that, and many things that will make you ponder on your actual mission at that holy place.

Personally, I do not really like books that stated God would grant your wish if you pray at this and that spot. In addition, I do not really enjoy books with many Arabian quotations and direct translation, but no analysis or further information of what actually written behind those lines. Thus, I found this little book is quite perfect and I do recommend it. Nevertheless, respecting the diverse perspectives of Islam, I think you must aware of Shariati’s path just in case it does not match yours. Just google Ali Shariati and you will find many. You can also click here for the English online version of the book.

Another thing, from what I read in many references, prior to going Umroh or Hajj, one needs to prepare for worst-case scenario, including prepare to die. One should consider that the trip would be the last destination. Well this is based on the early days of Hajj or Umroh back then, where it took months just to get to Mecca due to the lack of transportations and everything. Thus logically, the risks were indeed major. In order to prepare this, many advised to make apology to people and even make a list of inheritance. Somehow, I deliberately did this, especially the latter.

My list is not much of major huge and tangible assets as what it supposed to be, but it is indeed my utmost precious things with stories. Those include the complete collection of Conan the Detective, which its first 40 series I bought with my early salary of teaching mathematics to high school kids for Rp. 120.000,- per months! I remember bought it in Palasari with Tata and Noka, and it was raining and my jacket was used to cover the comics instead of myself Then my piles of necklaces, where I get from all of my and my friends travels. Blimey, each has its stories

Well, I think the basic intention of making this list of inheritance is just simply to be grateful. No, I am way far from having houses and cars, mind you. Still, thinking that I had gone this far, do make me feel really grateful and it indeed ease my mood and make me even more excited of going Umroh.

The First Experience
I had my Miqot (a vow to do Umrah) in the airplane when the plane is entering the Mecca area. Thus, the first thing that I did after arriving at 2 AM in the morning was going straight to Masjidil Haram, and seeing the Kabah with my very eyes.

When I first see the Kabah, I still used my brain and logic. I kind of considered that Kabah and the surrounding space for people to do the tawaf are very small. I do not know how it can accommodate millions of people during the Hajj season. I amazed with the size of the mosque, its super grand. All of the lamps has make no difference between night and day time. Another thing is unlike the usual mosque, the direction for praying is round thus everywhere I will see people praying heading to Kabah. Everywhere I looked around, there were people, man, woman, all ages, diverse origins, yet they do the same thing. All is a new wonder for me.

I started the tawaf by greeting the Hajar Aswad, representation of a mother of Ismail in one of the corners of the cube. Then I started my first round, chanting my own prayer to God and just talk and talk to God. Referring to the leader of my umrah travel, they actually said only few prayers (in Arabic language) is an obligation. Other than that, we can just say whatever to praise to God. Therefore, I often use the prayers that I know of, or just talk to God, instead of reading books of Arabic language or new prayers. This has made me get swayed and I forgot when, not even the second round I guess, I started to sob then burst in tears.

Everything just feels so amazing and magical. It’s amazing that I can be there, it’s amazing that I can be there with my Mom, it’s amazing that I can take my Mom there, it’s amazing that I can be with these people, it’s amazing that I now see Kabah with my eyes, where I usually see it only in the rug for my daily prayers, it’s amazing that I can walk through the path where the previous prominent leaders used to do so, and other many amazing things. The feeling was actually indescribable, it is even is indescribable until now. To know one you just have to experience one (wink).

Closure

So, there I was, in the largest mosque in the world, center of prayers for all Moslem in the world. The obligatory steps that you should do for umrah is actually lasted only in three to four hours. So on the rest of the days, that were four days in Mecca, I did the tawaf sunnah (optional, not obligatory), read the Quran, doing the daily prayers in the mosque, and just sitting and reflecting in the mighty Masjidil Haram. At each and every time, I always find new enlightenment.

There was moment where I can only thank to God, there was moment where I think I found a lot of good verses in the Quran, there was moment where I just felt that I beg for apology to God, and many more of those mixed feelings. And of course, there were many moments where I amaze with all of the people in the mosque and how grand the mosque is. Aside from my own feeling, I might not recall any magical things that I can share. Its just that somehow I feel everything is easy for me, I feel calm, happy, and anything that just cannot make me stop smiling.

To conclude my writings, I would suggest you to try the trip. Get your own reasoning, get your own mission, get your own reference, and get your own Umrah leaders. Anything, but just try to go. Umroh (or Hajj) is representing both how to manage your horizontal and vertical relationship. It is not to solely make you blindfold just to worship God with no questions and in the other hand it is not purely asking you to do only rituals without reflecting it to God. It is the art of balancing both, something that we might often forgot how to.

‘once upon a time, there were four little Rabbits,
and their names were Flopsy, Mopsy, Cotton-tail, and Peter..‘

Peter Rabbit, and other series of Beatrix Potter , had me at hello. When I first read it as a child, I found that the stories of this rugged rabbit, smarty squirrel, mighty mice, was a total delight and the characters felt so alive. I imagined myself having Peter as my pet and we were wandering through Mr. McGregor garden. In addition, my mom bought me two small marmots as her efforts to materialize Peter Rabbit. Nevertheless, this cute couple is unable to talk and we do not have much space and plants to compare with the garden of Mr. McGregor.

Growing older, I looked at those tales again and observed more on its detail. They made me amaze on the niceties of the drawing, the personification of the characters took my breath away, and I envied on the miniscule aspects of the stories, including how profusely Miss Potter mentioned names of plants and animals. The way she chose, described, and drew her characters felt so close to reality thus, I believed that it was beyond imagination and indeed inspired by actual experiences and interests. It had lead me to wonder what the Hill Top Farm is like, how people in UK actually treated their plants and animals, what are the different between parrots in Indonesia and in UK, how do people live during winter, and many other mind-boggling questions. This has certainly positioned Beatrix Potter as my idol. Furthermore, she continues to stand in my top idol especially after I know her remarks as a conservationist. She also performed notable actions by leaving her 4,000 acres properties to National Trust. Please note that the woman we are talking here was living in 1913, where freedom of expression for women was still extremely ignored. How can you not be inspired?

Graduating from varsities, I found my interests grow in the environmental department. In addition, I currently work in a program that provides grants for community initiatives to apply their local wisdom in conserving natural assets. After five years of working, my desire to find to pursue master degree is skyrocketing. To complete my dream, this course has to be abroad since master degree must be taken in a complete package to get its absolute means. This package comprises of education, travel, and culture. These three things are inseparable. Each is completing others and wrapping them with strong interest will surely provide best results for future actual implementation. Otherwise, you would just get new knowledge and no additional benefits to follow.

Hm, I guess these early paragraphs have easily concluded me to aim the United Kingdom Well, my arcane connection of UK in relation with Miss Potter might be explained at the two early paragraphs. All the same is explainable for the logical reasoning behind it, though. Let us just start with education to roll the dice.

The good reputation of British educational system has made them recognized in most parts of the world. There are many high-flying varsities in UK offering courses on various subjects, including environmental issue. Not just in-class, direct practices are also made available in most of the courses. Moreover, many people from different backgrounds are gathering to learn in this country thus it offer another set of experiences of interacting with multi-cultural communities. This diverse experience will be strengthened by combining them with the interesting history of UK, and how good are they in preserving its traditions, landmarks, and gardens. Spread of museums, galleries, historical buildings, and many other points of interests are there to be visited. Beside, its landscape of an island country is perfect to sharpen my interest in learning more about managing natural assets in archipelagic countries. On top of these, it is always easy to travel in and around UK. The country is small and well-coordinated, so day trips will be effortless. Many flights to and from most airports in UK has made visiting other countries of continental Europe easy. Of course, visiting Lake District National Park in Cumbria is on my top itineraries for various reasons: to visit one of the most beautiful spot in UK, to add more National Parks that I had visited in my list, to complete my in-class learning, and of course, to answer my curiosity of the place that inspires Miss Potter the most.

The profound imagination of knowing much about the life in UK, and to visit the country that provided Miss Potter with much of aspirations to record its wealthy natural and cultural assets into understandable languages, have always unconsciously guide my fingers to type the letter UK every time I browse for master degree. I always yearn to experience living in a place where it has strong origins and cultures to complete my formal education. Ultimately, I am hoping that this country can spare its inspiration for me to contribute my legacy to the world, just as what Miss Potter did with the dearly Peter Rabbit.

Dua foto diatas diambil masih di Kecamatan Samatiga, Meulaboh. Masih beberapa menit saja dari teman-teman Samatiga yang menjadi mitra kerja kita. Pantai barat Aceh ini memang sangat cantik dan sepi, enak buat foto-foto. Tapi mungkin juga kalau sore ramai ya? Karena saya lewat sini ketika jam 11 siang, dimana matahari lagi lucu-lucunya.

Ini dia si pohon kutilan yang banyak di pinggir jalan. Katanya musim Duren dimulai sekitar bulan July. Surga buat para pencinta duren. Kalau untuk saya yang nggak doyan duren, seperti melihat pohon kutilan

Ada puing-puing rumah disamping jembatan tempat kita akan menyeberang. Saya langsung naksir sama framingnya.

Di dua titik kita harus menyeberang pakai rakit. Yang satu memang harus, yang kedua adalah opsi jika kita tidak mau memutar yang akan lebih lama 45 menit dibanding jika kita memilih rakit. Yang jelas, gak usah deg-degan naik rakit ini. Walau presisi roda kepada kayu sebagai jembatan ke jalanan tampak selalu kurang pas dan kelihatan seperti mau jatuh, perjalanannya selalu lancar saja kok.

Saya paling suka foto mesjid dramatis, dan yang tidak terganggu dengan kabel listrik So this is my favorit.

Kaya gambar waktu SD ya? Gunung dan sawah Yang ini plus pantai, membuat pontennya bertambah tentunya.

Ini dia jalan barunya yang udah jadi. Mencengangkan. Kaya di luar negeri (kalo di pelem-pelem ). Trus melihat konstruksi jalan yang kanan kirinya masih banyak bekas gunung batu, saya rada curiga si kontraktornya sempat bilang ke pacarnya, ‘Dik, untukmu kan kubelah pegunungan…’

Tibalah kita di Banda Aceh. Lewat REX, loh, kok REX jadi kaya begini? Ternyata para pedagangnya direlokasi di jalanan sebelah kiri Hotel Medan (kalau menghadap REX), katanya sih nantinya akan direlokasi lagi ke REX yang ada di foto ini. Tapi tempatnya kecil banget menurut saya, nggak sesuai sama bayangan tentang REX waktu itu.. Yang jelas saya yakin, semua yang pernah kerja di Aceh, pasti punya kenangan sendiri dengan REX