10 Things I Like About Myself

Normally I don’t do this, but here goes

(saying Alhamdulilah while writing it)

1. I reflect to myself a lot. When I did a mistake, I often notice it quickly and do something about it in timely manner. What I like to do is write it down, pouring all my feelings about it until I finally reach a conclusion (solution). It helps me a lot. 
2. I listen to my heart when I want to decide things. And who tells my heart what to do?? Allah SWT
3. I know where I want to go.  Need I say more?
4. I’m a good shopper. When I said that, it means that I don’t shop that much. I seldom go to mall, but when I do, I don’t end up buying things I don’t need. I only buy the things I plan to buy although that doesn’t necessarily means the price is cheap.
5. I’m necessarily a good kid to my parents. They just love me too much
6. I don’t curse or say bad words. When I’m angry, I’d stay silence for a long time, and I would lock myself somewhere no one will bother me a.k.a my room and stay there until the anger flows away.
7. I’m easy to learn new languages. Hontou ni  It all started when I read that English book when I was a kid….
8. I don’t drink. To some people that’s nothing to be proud of, but for me it is. 
9. I’m not afraid of getting weight. I have good self confidence in myself, whether I’m slim or fat. I’ve never been that slim and thank God I’ve never been that fat. But I don’t panick when the scale goes up. It doesn’t really matter to me as well as I’m healthy and still able to move fast. Honestly, I don’t really fuss over physical appearance, neither to me or to the others. And that’s a good thing, I think… 
10. I’m living the live I’ve always dreamed of since I was a kid. I’ve never thought I’d step my feet on UK land, but I do now and as corny as it sounds, I’m proud of myself. Not only living in UK, I also study here and to be able to compete with other students coming from all across the world is just marvelous. I don’t necessarily win, but I do learn how to do things better. 

Well, there goes. 10 things I like about myself. Honestly, I struggled a bit when I reach number 4. Ha-hah. But then things keep coming on my mind. 

I don’t post this because it’s December 31st or anything. Normally, towards new years eve, I would spend my time in my room, writing on my diary about what I did wrong and right that year, I also make new resolution for the next year. Well I will do that later tonight, but this year, I want to start by listing what I like about myself. No particular reason, just try to see if I do have any good qualities.

Turns out that I do

Indonesia…oh Indonesia…

Kalau orang yang sedang belajar di negeri orang ditanya: Bangga gak sih dengan negeri kamu? 

Jawabannya mungkin bervariasi. Untuk negara arogan tipe USA, pasti jawabannya: Yes, I do (udah kayak mau nikah aja). Kalau negara berpikiran maju kayak Japan, orang baru bilang: “Banggak gak kamu…” mereka udah langsung teriak: “Bangga desu!!”

Kalau Indonesians? Hmm….

Jawabannya bervariasi, tapi I’m pretty sure kalau student pasti jawabannya bangga. Contohnya gua. Entah kenapa sejak menginjakkan kaki gua di negeri paman Charles ini, rasa nasionalis gua semakin menggebu. Gua pikir sangat ironis, karena dengan berada di negara orang yang terbilang maju dan powerful, gua malah semakin sadar betapa kaya nya Indonesia. UK yang katanya indah ini, sebenernya masih kalah dengan alam Indonesia yang bervariasi dari Sabang sampai Merauke. Mau apa? gunung? ada… Laut? ada…. Pulau eksotis? ada…. Hutan tropis? ada…. hewan langka? banyak…. hewan satu-satunya di dunia? ada, di Pulau Komodo. Fosil manusia purba? banyak banget di Indonesia. Mau homo apa? Homo Pithecanthropus? Homo Erectus? Homo Floresiensis a.ka. hobbit yang masih jadi perdebatan ilmuwan dunia? ada… homo beneran juga ada…

Masalah budaya? Beuh….. gak usah ditanya. Puluhan propinsi di Indonesia dan masing-masing punya budanya yang unik. Bajunya, adatnya, tariannya, bahasanya. Amazing! 

Gua bangga bisa cerita betapa bahasa Batak sangat berbeda dengan bahasa Padang walaupun mereka itu sebelahan. Gua bangga bisa cerita tentang Bali atau Kraton Yogyakarta yang masih eksis sampai sekarang, betapa di negara yang masih berjuang dalam hal demokrasi ini, terdapat kerajaan kecil nan damai yang diakui negara.  Gua bangga bisa cerita bahwa Indonesia mengakui 5 agama dan Indonesia merayakan Hari Keagamaan masing-masing 5 agama itu.  Gua bangga bisa cerita bahwa Mesjid Istiqlal bisa bertetangga baik dengan Gereja Katredal. Gua bangga bisa cerita tentang Borobudur, Anak Gunung Krakatau, Komodo, bahkan gua bangga dengan koteka!! Unbelievable…

Lalu gua sadar, betapa selama ini kita (baca: gua) has taken everything that we have for granted. Kita udah dikasih alam sebegitu kaya nya, tapi kita gak bersyukur. Gak kita jaga, gak kita olah. Kita udah dikasih keragaman yang most nations in this whole wide world gak punya, tapi gak kita jaga. Demennya berantem, yang dipikir yang bedanya aja. Kita udah dikasih bendera yang makna warnanya dalem banget, tapi kita lecehkan. Hormat sekenanya waktu upacara, kadang gak sama sekali. Kita udah dikaruniai banyak pahlawan yang tanpa pikir panjang rela memberikan nyawa mereka buat kemerdekaan dan kebebasan kita. Tapi balasan kita gak sebanding, gak bakal pernah sebanding. 

Sounds bullshit? You decide.

Honey, I shrunk the socks!!!

Pernah nyuci gak? Kasian deh lo kalau belum pernah. Hehe… 

Nasib jadi anak asrama selama 7 tahun menjadikan gua memiliki kemampuan yang bisa dibilang diatas rata-rata untuk urusan cuci mencuci. Mau nyuci apa? baju, jeans, handuk, tirai, seprei, bed cover, sepatu juga bisa. Mau pake apa? tangan or mesin cuci, bisssaaaa.

Dengan pengalaman jadi tukang cuci untuk diri sendiri selama 7 tahun, gua yakin gua bisa meng-handle masalah cucian selama gua di Plymouth. Iya dong, masa iya lah.

Maka pada malam Jumat yang syahdu (malam Jumat kok syahdu seh?!), setelah pulang dari kuliah yang ajib-ajib-an jadwalnya (dari jam 9 AM – 6 PM gak berhenti, sampe lunch pun sambil lari, ajib kan!), gua melepas lelah dengan… mencuci. Bedanya dengan pengalaman gua selama 7 tahun belakang, di rumah tempat gua tinggal sekarang (Alhamdulilah) ada mesin cuci yang actually work. Maka dengan hati riang gembira gua pun memasukkan semua cucian gua. 

Setelah selesai, some of cucian gua gak begitu kering. Sementara gua tinggal di flat yang mana gak ada lahan jemuran. Ada sih sebenernya di balkon kamar gua, tapi gua gak punya jemuran nya. Dan kalaupun gua punya, terlalu risky buat naro jemuran di luar. Karena… this is England man, dimana udara di dalam rumah lebih panas daripada udara di luar. Belum kalau ada hujan iseng lewat. Akhirnya gua membuat keputusan (yang gua pikir) bijak untuk mengeringkan cucian itu pake mesin cuci. Gua set suhunya 30 derajat dan waktunya…. hmm…. gua menganalogikan dengan kalau jemur di luar. Waktu di Indo, kalau jemur baju biasanya 2 jam kering. Pas gua liat di timer, 120 menit gak ada, yang ada 150 menit. Ok, baiklah 150 minutes it is. 

Lalu 2, 5 jam kemudian gua mengeluarkan cucian gua dari mesin cuci. Baju gua ngepul aja loh. Berasap gitu. Hmm… pasti kering pol nih, pikir gua. Maka alangkah terkejutnya gua ketika melihat celana training gua yang menciut dari ukulan L ke ukuran M. Legging gua yang harusnya panjangnya sampe tumit, jadi hanya sepanjang dengkul. Dan kaos kaki gua… oh kaos kaki gua…menciut jadi setengahnya!!!

Sejak itu gua gak pernah ngeringin baju lebih dari sejam. Dan bahan-bahan yang ‘fragile’ gak gua cuci pake mesin cuci. Gua juga berpikir mending jejerin baju-baju yang belum kering banget di pinggiran tangga daripada menyesal kemudian. Memang, pengalaman adalah guru yang terbaik.

Idul Fitri in Plymouth – Prayer, Teluk Belanga and Fried Onions

This is my first ever celebrating Idul Fitri without my dearest family. I’ve been away from my family before, but never abroad. That’s why in the past, I’ve always been able to find a way to celebrate it with my family. Not this time anyway

First, there’s this 6 hours time difference (duh!). Second, UK apparently celebrate it a day before the Indonesians do, which is on the 30th September. This is also my first time having Ramadhan month only for 29 days. There’s a lot of ‘first times’ though coming along the way.This is my first time doing Idul Fitri prayer in UK. Me and my landlord drove to North Road East, where there is a mosque. We, well I guess in this case is me, didn’t know who was the Imam and what was the custom in the mosque. But we went in anyway, and to our surprise, we were the only female jamaat there. So we had the whole room just for us.

When the khutbah started (at least that’s what i think it was), we didn’t understand a single word of it. We can’t even differentiate which is a pray and which is khutbah. Moreover, we couldn’t even notice when the Idul Fitri prayer had started. It was when the Imam started to do takbiratul ihram many times that we realized that the prayer had started. The prayer itself is quite different from what the Indonesian and Malaysian used to do. The takbiratul ihram in the first rakaat was not 7 as it used to, and in the second rakaat the takbiratul ihram was in the end of the rakaat ( before rukuk). Just to make long story short, I made lots of mistakes in the prayer. But, you know, it’s the custom here so I guess I just have to live with it. However, I made a mental note to myself, to go to Marjon College next year for Idul Fitri where Malaysians usually have Idul Fitri prayer. Me and my landlord figured that we have more things in common regarding the Idul Fitri than with jamaat from Bangladesh and India.

Anyway, it’s also my first time to celebrate Idul Fitri with Malaysians. And they have this tradition to held open house and invite every muslims and friends they know to come. You know what that means….

yeah… cooking…

I have nothing against cooking. Really. As far as I am concerned, one of the reason I’m still alive right now is there are people around me that have been kind enough to do the cooking. I am more into the cleaning stuff. But I don’t want to upset my housemates, that’s why I stick around the kitchen the whole day after class (yes, I got a class on Idul Fitri day), to make sure there are no dirty cookwares or dishes.

They surely cooked a lot of things, including one food that I really really miss, rendang. There were about 4 or 5 types of food they were making. I was really excited in helping out and to join in the hectic. My friend saw this and she asked me if I can cut the onions, cause they wanted to make fried onions. I said okay, that seemed to be the easiest task at that time anyway. Now let the tragedy begins…

First, I actually have difficulties when it comes to straight lines. Something in my eyes called cylinder. And in this task, I have to cut the onions into extremely small pieces, well… you know how fried onions look like, right? Second, in my entire history of cutting onions, I have never survived more that 2 minutes. I was supposed to cut 8 onions, but of course I started to cry by the time i finished with my first onion. The tears keep on running, by the time i get to my third onion, I wasn’t even look at what I was cutting, my eyes were completely shut. But the task must be finished, i said to myself, so I kept cutting. By the time I reached the 6th onion, I couldn’t stand it anymore, I had to run to the sink and washed my hands and eyes. I looked like I’ve cried for hours.

Finally, the task is finished. I gave the onions to my friend to fries. I was one happy girl again! yay!

…Until my friend over-cooked the onions and had it ruined and asked me whether I can cut another 8 onions again.

By the end of the day, my lovely friends have cooked many things and we were very excited to start the open house. There were even ketupat, or as they call it ‘nasi impit’. We don’t have ketupat leaves here, so we just cooked the rice, put in on plastics, and we pressed it under thick books for a day. Guess that’s why they call it ‘nasi impit’. The name actually describes the whole process

What I like the most about this open house is that I get to see many people. There were work friends, colleagues, and other muslim families. We just had a great time exchanging cultures. What interested me the most is the Teluk Belanga. It is the traditional dress the Malaysian boys were wearing. I was so excited about it because it’s the same as what my sister’s father in law was wearing during her wedding. Looking at them wearing the Teluk Belanga proudly, made me feel like I’m home. I regretted directly that I didn’t bring my Kebaya with me. Otherwise, I would just be as proud as them. Oh well, next year maybe kay, Happy Idul Fitri everyone, minal aidin wal faidzin!!

New Room in My Heart

Okay, here goes.

The story about my room.

When i first found out that i’d be sent to Plymouth, i knew the first thing i’d have to deal with is the culture shock. I was preparing myself well, but i guess it wasn’t well enough.

Before I land my feet on Plymouth, I realise I have to have a place to live in first. And I brilliantly spent one full month (or more, don’t really remember) to find a room to rent in a house share here through the internet. Yep, risky, but i did it. And i did find a decent room in North Road West. It was a double room, with huge area where I can pray, a wardrobe, small wardrobe, table and chair, physically it was perfect. What was not, came later.

That night I slept early, since I was very tired and I had to wake up early in the morning to have early breakfast anyway (it was Ramadhan). I woke up at around 3 AM, not because I wanted to but because it was noisy out there. Well, apparently, my housemates just got home from, i don’t know, clubbing maybe, not really sure. But they were drunk, and at that first night, I have to deal with the culture shock.

About culture shock. It’s one thing to watch the whole western cultures on TV, and quite another to actually face it in front of your eyes. I kept my cool, but inside I was scared to death for no reason actually. But I was scared to death. I have no explanation to what I was feeling. What I knew then is that I don’t think I want to live there throughout the year. I have to concentrate on my studies and I need conducive surroundings to achieve that.

Alhamdulilah, I met few Malaysians student who then introduced me to my current landlord. They really welcome me in their house and i directly moved in the week I met them. The room is comfy and it has its own terrace where the neighbour’s cat loves to drop by (I love cats!!!). As for the surroundings, I love it a lot, since it’s quite and the house is all-female and apparently all-muslims. yay!

Here are some pictures of the room. Enjoy!

Tesco’s Vegetarian Lasagna

I’ve been here in Plymouth for almost a week now, and I haven’t got a chance to really look into the city. But my friend had been kind enough to show me around the city center where I can easily find halal food to cook or eat, and also cheap clothes (don’t we all need that..). Last weekend my housemate (which happens to be  also my landlord), took me to this CarBoat. A place where people sell their unwanted belongings. Well, ‘unwanted’ seems too much, cause the stuffs there are great! I mean, there were not only clothes, people sell their printers, radios, home appliances, dolls, baby carts, and many stuffs. But I was there for the clothes

See, my luggage was locked in my previous house so I didn’t change for about a day. This is a long (and quite embarrassing) story, and I’ll get to it in the next blog.

So, obviously i was there for the clothes. I’m kinda an easy shopper. You know the one who doesn’t need a long time to decide which item she’s going to buy. So it only took me less than an hour to fill my hands with 3 tops and 3 trousers, with only 14 pounds to spend. It’s great!!

My sister told me that a clothes can be 14 pounds each in UK, and it’s true. We went to the mall afterwards to buy undies (apparently i need it), and clothes there are around 10 – 99 pounds each! So, i did a good deal at the Carboat.

As for food…. I have my favorite now. It’s Tesco Vegetarian Lasagna. You know that I’m Muslim, so I have to be careful in choosing what to eat. My friend told me that, i can eat anything here that is labeled ‘good for vegetarian’. The first thing i bought was Tesco Vegetarian Lasagna, and i directly liked it. You know why? Because it is easy to cook (only involves microwaves, that is), and it tastes great!

My Tesco Vegetarian Lasagna

And it’s pretty cheap too. Only 3 pounds for 2 lasagnas. By now, this is how i survive in Plymouth.

I’ll look into other types of cooking though, but now, nothing can compares to this lasagna

See you around! Tomorrow is my induction day! Yay!

w

My Journey Begins…

Well,

Gua udah di England. Gak nyangka deh! Bener. Kesampean juga menginjak tanah Eropa. Eh UK itu Eropa bukan sih? Geografi gua jelek nih (ngelirik ke Ira.. ).

Jujur, sejujur-jujurnya. Gua gak niat waktu ikut program beasiswa Depkominfo 2008. Soalnya buat gua, dapet beasiswa keluar negeri, full pula, itu sangat mengawang-awang. But, here I am…Alhamdulilah…

Anyway, from the moment i packed my things, i knew this would be interesting. Kenapa? Karena, walaupun gua udah biasa jauh dari orang tua, tapi gua gak pernah bepergian sejauh ini. Koper gua pas ditimbang itu 25 kg, sementara limit bagasinya 20 kg. kelebihan satu kilo harus bayar $53.17 alias sekitar 500 ribu aja loh. Mahal amat cuy! Tapi Alhamdulilah pass juga. Mungkin karena gua check-in nya awal-awal.

Jadi selain dapet tempat duduk window seat dan depan, gua juga masih dapet petugas yang ramah-ramah dan jatah bagasi yang lebih banyak. Hehe…..

Anyway, onto the journey.

What should i say…..

well… there’s one thing i should say…

I HAVE NEVER BEEN ON A PLANE BEFORE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So umm… well….. i was kinda awkward at first…. but on the second plane ( i had transfer in Qatar), i was okay. Di pesawat kedua, gua sebelahan sama TKI yang kerja di Qatar bernama Rasma. Dia ikut majikannya ke UK untuk belajar. Dia harus menjaga 4 anak majikannya yang masih kecil-kecil dan ribut banget!! Tapi dia seneng bisa sebelahan sama gua, karena dia bisa dengan puasnya ngomong gini keras-keras: “Anak-anaknya kayak setan semua! Gak ada yang nurut kalau dibilanging!”

Okay, sister. I get the point. Tapi Alhamduliah dia di tangan majikan yang baik. I dont see any scar on her, so i think that’s a good sign.

Anyway, kalau ada yang belum tahu, gua itu berangkat dari Indonesia ke UK itu totally sendirian. And people keep asking me this, as if they dont believe it. But I am going by myself. Bahkan gua gak hanya pergi dari Jakarta-London sendirian. Gua pun harus berjuang pergi ke Plymouth, sendirian. Letak Plymouth itu di ujung selatan pulang Inggris. Jadi dari London sekitar 3-4 jam by train dan sekitar 6 jam by bus.

Gua berjibaku dengan koper 25 kg dan tas backpack 10 kg, beli tiket kereta api dari Heathrow – Paddington, London (ini kereta pusat kota di London, mungkin kalau disini kayak Gambir or Kota), dan dari sana beli tiket lagi buat ke Plymouth. Dari stasiun Plymouth gua jalan ke North Road West. Tinggal nyebrang sih. Karena di jalan itulah seharusnya rumah kos gua berada.

Oke, disinilah tragedi itu dimulai.

Gua jalan kayak orang baru keluar dari lemari es di jalan North Road West. Begitu gua ketemu nomor 224, gua langsung pencet belnya (ada 3). Maka, jendela paling atas kebuka, dan muncullah seorang cowok. Dia tanya apa gua udah telepon landlordnya? dan gua bilang belum. Terus dia dengan semena-mena bilang” “Sorry, i can’t get you in” terus langsung tutup jendela.

Oke, baiklah. Inilah yang disebut dengan individualistis orang Barat

Maka dengan penuh amarah, gua menuju ke stasiun lagi (mohon diingat, gua bawa barang nyaris 35 kg selama proses ini berlangsung). Gua ke stasiun dengan tujuan bisa pake telepon koinnya. HP gua entah kenapa, walau international roaming nya udah jalan, tetep gak bisa telepon ke nomor luar.

Jadi gua nelepon lah landlord gua itu, dan gua tersambung dengan…. answering machine. Ya Allah, ujiannya banyak banget. Perlu gua tambahin, suhu saat itu 16 derajat and keeps on dropping. Gua bilang, call me back. Dan ternyata dia emang call me back, ke telepon umum tadi. Gua yang norak dan gak ngerti kalau telepon umum sini bisa ditelepon jelas gak ngerti. Alhamdulilah ada bapak-bapak yang nanya, apa telepon itu buat gua. Gua dengan noraknya masuk lagi ke telepon umum dan nunggu telepon berikutnya.

ternyata bener itu landlord gua, dan gua disarankan balik lagi ke rumah karena ada orang yang sedang menuju ke sana. Baiklah… gua kembali lagi ke rumah bernomor 224 itu. Gua gak bisa masuk dong, jadi gua nunggu aja loh di luar. Dingin banget! and i looked like an idiot soalnya bawa koper gede banget. Gua juga desperate karena orang yang ditunggu, gak dateng-dateng. Gua udah baca-baca surat AlQuran aja biar gak ditipu. Akhirnya setelah SETENGAH JAM menuggu, orang itu datang, dan gua bisa tidur dengan tenang di kamar gua. Tadinya gua pikir gua bakal jadi Andrea Hirata yang akhirnya tidur di taman.

Alhamdulilah dapet kamar juga,…tapi…. cerita lain menanti di rumah baru gua ini…

Still more to come… so… stay tune

w