Memoirs of Japan (1)

It began as a small talk with one of my students when one topic thing leads to another and suddenly she asked if I can speak Japanese –which I can’t despite of my trip to Japan some months ago. As I talked to her, memories come rushing in my mind as I recall the happy ones and the cold ones -- yup, cold as in "Goodness, who turn off the thermostat, it's chilling down here".

The first person that greeted us in Japan was Indonesian doctorate student who currently study in Hokkaido University, the first poster in Japan--in Chitose airport-- that caught my eye got Haruma Miura on it, the first Japanese person I talked with (not counting immigration officers) was an airport policeman that stopped us, asked questions, then kindly advice us to take bus to Sapporo. And the first Japanese food I ate was soba with some tempura--fried shrimps on it.

But the first thing I noticed right before our plane landed is snow,  white layers of snow wrapped the earth surface everywhere and we ahh ohh-ing while looked down from the plane window (I believe is our first time to see snow :p). It was January this year when we visited the northern island of Japan, Hokkaido, right in the middle of winter season. It was my first time in a place that got temperature around zero degree (and for the girl who always wear jacket in air-conditioning room it came as a shock :p)

That day, the sky bright and clear, it was perfect. Alhamdulillah, we were not welcomed by heavy snow even if at night the snow started falling, but fortunately we’re already safely tucked in our bed and survived the worst of it.

Ah, I have not introduce us, have I? Me and my 3 friends, Ambar, Indra, and Wahyu, got a chance to became auditor student in Hokkaido University for 3 weeks. Together we rode the chilling yet crowded “Ekonomi AC” train from Jogja to Jakarta with some of our baggage securely trapped between us so there were little space to place our feet—I’m sure one or two of us got really uncomfortable position to sleep that night, we climbed the seemingly endless stairs in the Jakarta’s station (I quite forgot the name) while dragging our baggage behind (I should thank Wahyu to help me with that), then we crammed in four seat taxi to go to Soekarno-Hatta airport while Indra keep the conversation flowing with the taxi driver (some interesting stories we got :D). And finally, together we waited more than half a day for our plane in the international section. 

After we had seated in the plane, everything went easy, there was no direct flight to Sapporo so we have to transfer in Seoul, South Korea. It took about 6 hour from Jakarta to Seoul (Incheon airport), about 3 hours from Seoul to Sapporo, and 3 hours waiting time between the flight that we used to pray Dzuhur in a prayer room and adjusting to the cold weather. They got a really nice prayer room in Incheon airport with some Al-Quran in the shelf and believe it or not one of them got an Indonesian translation :D. Incheon airport is one big airport with a lot of interesting spots that targeted the bored passengers, there were a spot where you can learn Hangul (Korean’s letter) and sometimes there were performers wore traditional clothes performed traditional dancing or playing some kind of bamboo flute, you can always spot them from their colorful vibrant clothes—and the crowd that surround them. Ah I forgot, there’re also a lot of stores to entertain your eyes—if not your wallet. 

Looking back, it was a wonderful memorable experience, for so many first time I experienced that day, including first time to come to Jakarta, first time to ride a plane, and first time to go abroad.

And that’s a first chapter of our fascinating journey, sorry it have to come to an abrupt end, hopefully I can continue the story about our journey in Sapporo in next writing. 

Award? Awkward?

I got this absurd requests to answer some questions from Kiki, it is a part of blog award things  (well, I don't familiar with blog world..), I got 11  questions from her, then I have to post 11  questions (I can pick them) to my other 11 friends (It's gonna be a problem, cuz I don't have that many friends who managed blogs...)

So,, at first I decided to argue my case, I want to defend my freedom of speech and my right to choose to accept or refuse (hear hear).  But, I came to conclusion that it's better to resigned and accept the challenge, so here I am trying to find words to answer those questions and forget my unfinished presentation for Thursday for a while +__+

The questions is in Bahasa Indonesia, but I'm quite busy this morning (and quite hungry,,,) so I decided to keep the original language and broke my English-only rule.

1. Pernah nggak kamu merasa kamu kesepian/sangat kesepian padahal banyak orang si sekitarmu (orang2 yang kamu kenal).

Lonely? Do I ever feel lonely? Of course,, I'am a mere human. But the situation like "majas antitesia", feeling lonely in the familiar crowd,, ehhm have i ever?

Probably not, or it's so long time ago and I forgot. 

I got this one moment just recently in the lab, in the mid-afternoon, the weather was so cloudy and the laboratory really deserted, nobody else but me in that area and there was no sound. I barely registered my surrounding when I stared at my notebook quietly read news in the net, but that moment when I raised my head and started to take a look, man, the lonely feeling surged through my heart (and the laboratory felt somewhat creepy). 

So my point is your perspective decided your feeling, you can choose to feeling lonely or not. If you keep busy and doing useful activities that lonely feeling wouldn't come (it worked in my 'deserted laboratory case' haha). As for the lonely feeling in familiar crowd,, just surged to the crowd, join the conversation, being useful. Lonely comes when you felt nobody understand you or you're feeling useless. Well, before you want someone understand your feeling, understand theirs first. 

2. Pernah nggak kamu berfikir untuk membuat sesuatu yang menurutmu "WOW"... bermanfaat tidak hanya bagimu tapi juga orang banyak, jika iya apa...dan manfaatnya apa?

Sure, every person in this world have something like "before I die, I have to give the world something", uhmm except psycopaths I think ( you know, they lack emphaty, so I think they don't give a damn to the world)

As for me, It's still abstract. Hehe. 

3. Apa keinginan terbesarmu yang menurutmu mustahil untuk tercapai...sebutkan apa, dan kenapa?

Dream that I thought impossible?
Well, anything is possible with Allah permission. 

The key of happiness is "do the best and expect less", so whatever comes around, you accept it with open hand and contented heart. Don't have any ambition you'd say? Well, I'm still working to expand my ambition, maybe.. conquer the world? haha

Yes, I deflecting the questions, I have the right am I? *wink

But, I have something that impossible to overcame or if it's possible it needs a tremendous effort to build it. I want a room that time doesn't matter, another dimension that time much slower than ours. Sounds like a science fiction?

Well, I feel time running fast these days so I want to have one ( I know it's absurd )

4. Jika kamu dikasih kesempatan untuk memilih, mau pilih mana... pergi ke masa depan atau masa lalu... cantumkan alasan kenapa?

I prefer past to future, but can I have them both, please ??

According to physics theory, we could go to the past but not to the future, so I stick to the science (albeit it seems incredulously impossible). The reason is sightseeing, I'd love to sightseeing the past with my own eyes. Maybe I would go to jurassic era, then observed the ice age, observed the early man (Adam AS) and hear Muhammad SAW lecture (I'd need a subtitle for that.. ahh maybe I'd eat Doraemon's 'konyaku translator' ^^).

And there was a theory that man and giant-ape (that evolutionist believe is part of the evolution of human) lived in the same era in Europe, and the giant ape is extinct as they couldn't compete with man. It's a clear evidence that those two  are different species and denied the hare-brained idea of man evolution from ape =__=, yes, I want to observed this giant apes tribe and early man tribes and watch them compete for the fittest.

To cut short is,, I want to observed every historic events in the past ^^.

5. Jika kamu mendapatkan kesempatan untuk menjadi orang lain, kamu pengen jadi siapa? kenapa beserta alasan.

Do I want to become somebody else? Well, I quite content with my live, so I have to refuse the generous offer.

6. Siapa motivator, atau inspiratormu!! apa yang membuatmu terinspirasi atau termotivasi, cantumkan alasan.

My motivator?? There are so many of them.

The first and foremost is Muhammad SAW, for he is the ideal man. The second and the rest is the wise man that come before and after he.

7. Kalau kamu dilanda stress atau galau yang tiada tara, sampai kamu merasa putus asa dan tak tahu harus berbuat apa...apa yang kerap kali kamu lakukan buat ngalahin perasaan itu. apakah cara itu lebih sering berhasil atau malah kadang kala gagal?

The 5 stages when we fell depressed/grief in accord to Kubler-Ross are :

• Denial (this isn't happening to me!)
• Anger (why is this happening to me?)
• Bargaining (I promise I'll be a better person if...)
• Depression (I don't care anymore)
• Acceptance (I'm ready for whatever comes)

So my first step to overcame it is trying to mend the situation, and if it's not worked then I trying to rationalize the out come, it is easier if I did it in writing. It's partly heal the situation and keep it from getting worse.

As for my heart.. I heal it with reading Al-Quran ( we have to read Al-Quran because of Allah not because our broken heart, sooo I still trying to straighten my intention). Beside that I tried to be grateful to Allah SWT, for all His mercy and blessing that I couldn't count and still have. 

Time heal everything, so I believe there's no failure method in healing depression or galau ^^, as long as it's positive.
More importantly we have to move on, actually we don't have much time to feel depressed, there are so many things that we can pursue rather than wallowing in grief.

8. Kita harus mensyukuri apa yang kita miliki, apakah kamu sudah tahu kelebihanmu apa? kalau iya, apa dan kenapa kamu menganggap itu kelebihanmu, kalau tidak kenapa kamu merasa kamu nggak punya kelebihan?
Well I have this easy go lucky attitude, it's make me an optimistic by nature and always see the best on people. I found almost every person is likeable or.. some parts of them is likeable =__=.

Let's not over analyze this okay? My head hurts and I'm famished. 

9.Tipe teman seperti apa yang membuatmu nyaman ? kenapa?

A friends that I can talk to, when you don't have anything to talk with each other is.. awkward 

10. Kalau kamu berkesempatan mengulangi masa lalumu, memori apa yang ingin kamu ubah? alasannya?

Well, I content with my life, I try to make peace with my mistakes and not to be glued to the past. So I refused your offer, thank you,,,

Moreover, it can make a butterfly effect, the things that you'd change in the past could effect the future.

11. Terakhir, kita tidak mungkin bisa membalas budi orang tua kita, tapi apa pernah terbesit untuk memberikan ortu kita sesuatu? barang atau apa? sebutkan apa itu? serta alasan kenapa?

Yes, of course. 
Alhamdulillah my parents is still alive, so the most important things is keeping them happy, and in my current situation (student, still depend to them) is limited to give them my strength (swept, moped, sometimes cooked when I was home) and gave small gifts.

But someday I want to give them something, and it's a secret *wink. I do have the right to keep silent, don't I?

The Messenger of God, upon whom be peace, said: "When a person dies the benefit of his/her deeds ends, except three: a continuous charity, knowledge from which benefit is derived, or a pious child praying to God for him/her" (The Hadith was related by Muslim and Ahmad).

“Jika seseorang meninggal dunia, maka terputuslah amalannya kecuali tiga perkara yaitu: sedekah jariyah, ilmu yang dimanfaatkan, atau do’a anak yang sholeh” (HR. Muslim no. 1631)

And that's it, I decided not to make another person miserable just to give this award, so I pick nobody.