backpacking Indonesia

Found a splendid video a backpaker made during her trip in Indonesia. Love it.
I realize there are a lot i havent known about the land of my forefathers..

intermezzo

Hari ini libur! karena koukousei (anak sma jepang) besok mau “snmptn” jadi kelas2 pada disterilisasi

Setelah Solat Jum’at di West Zone 4, gw mencari rekan2 orang Indonesia, pengen ngobrol ceritanya. Karena sesama minoritas di negeri Jepang dan terpisahnya kampus2  kyudai, ada urge untuk ketemu dan ngobrol manusia setanah air. Ketemu deh sama mas taufik dan pak X (lupa namanya). dan disinilah perbincangan itu terjadi

Pak X: “gimana mas adi kuliahnya?”
gw: “ya, gitulah lah pak susah dijelaskan dengan kata2..”
Pak X: “mas adi darimana toh asalnya?”
gw “saya di bogor, tapi bapak orang sumedang, ibu orang padang”
Pak X: “tapi bisa ya bahasa sunda?”

nah, disini gw pgn bilang “sedikit” dalam bahasa sunda, biar  keliatan keren lah

gw: *mikir apa teh bahasa sundanya “sedikit”? hmm… aha! tsukoshi! eh, itu mah bahasa jepang… ah tau, nit noi! loh, itu mah bahasa thai.. wtf! masa gw lupa bahasa sundanya sedikit?

dan akhirnya setelah diem dan mikir 2 menitan gw gk berhasil mengingat

gw: “bahasa sunda bisa sedikit lah..”

duar! it hit me right on the face! baru gw sadar, dari kecil sampe sekarang gw terlibat dalam cross-culture, cross language, dan sering ditanya, “wah bisa bahasa itu dong? dan gw sering jawab “sedikit” dlm bahasa itu. tapi ironisnya gw lupa dengan bahasa daerah gw sendiri! saat memikirkannya kenapa  yg keluar malah bhs thai dan bhs jepang!! -____-” or maybe im just not good in languages thus i get jumbled at which words are which language -____-”

hahahah i dont know why but i just felt so sad! indonesia itu negara yang kaya akan budaya dan bahasa, buanyak banget bahasa daerahnya. bukan gw gk bisa, sbenernya pas gw d SD ada pelajaran bahasa sunda, dan gw inget pernah ikutan lomba pidato bhs.sunda. Dan pas SMA, gw bisa lah decent bahasa sunda, tapi karena di antara itu gw pergi ke thailand, jadi dasarnya gk kuat, dan sekarang gw di Jepang, jadi gk bisa latihan fluently dan sekarang lg belajar bhs jepang juga.

banyak alesannya ya? emang iya :p

 

gw: kalo bapak asli mana?

Pak X: saya dari jogja, tapi karena kerja di Sukabumi, jadi bisa lah bahasa sunda saeutik

gw: -____________-”””’

dreamers and realists.

There are dreamers and there are realists in this world. You think the dreamers would find the dreamers and the realists would find the realists. But more often than not, the opposite is true. You see, the dreamers need the realists to keep them soaring too close to the sun. and the realists? Well without the dreamers, they might not ever get off the ground

~Modern Family S03E10

So which do you think you are? Are you originating the ideas, or making sure that it gets done?

or perhaps both!

dream.

to dream is to have a stubborn kid inside your head, constantly reminding you of your childhood desire.

dream doesnt make you better, doesnt make you smarter, doesnt make you more skillful. dream doesn’t create.

it only gives you optimism, helps you choose your decisions and make your plans, about life and what you want to do with it.

to dream is to let Allah know what you want, where He make opportunities you would never imagine, cross your way.

set your dream from now, it might be another 70 years before you can experience it.

to dream is to know that nothing is ever too late.

~

13.06 31 Dec 2011

2011. the year i set foot on my freak path

 

Indonesia Mengajar

Today, a friend of mine gave me a link, to a program called Indonesia Mengajar. This program, translated roughly as “Indonesia teaches” is a program, pioneered by Anies Baswedan, a president of the Paramadina University.

After reading about it, i was AWED to the max about his idea. actually its a simple idea, a brilliant idea. So his idea was to basically send Indonesia’s bright, young, talented top university graduates, for 1 year teach elementary schools in the most faaaaaaaaaaar away places of Indonesia. (like Fakfak, South Halmahera, Kalimantan etc) Where public facilities such as running water, electricity is limited at nights, and sometimes dont even exist. Why elementary schools? well, Mr. Anies said that 66% of indonesia’s elementary schools lacks teachers. Now you will think, why would fresh graduates, go to some freaky place in the middle of nowhere, far from civilization to teach village people? But believe it or not, the program was aiming to send 50 people but 1000 university graduates applied for this volunteer teacher. Some of them quit their job in big companies just to go and have this hellish experience.

Honestly, hearing about this program here in Japan, is satisfying. For me, it shows that young Indonesian people do care and will try to make a change for the development of Indonesia, particularly in education. the empathy for the the rest of our countrymen especially country children in the far corner of Indonesia is still blaring. And the will or id rather say, the feeling of responsibility, as educated people, to educate our own country children do persist. and more than 1 thousand young bright Indonesians is willing to give up 1 year of their lives, to teach the younger generation of Indonesians living in the most rural of the rural villages, who are less fortunate than their city counterparts.

But you know, I think i can understand these 1000 people who are eager to go into the unknown to teach what they know and actually contibute something good for the country. Even if their contribution is only for around 10-100 elementary school children. For these children its the education, hope, and inspiration they get that makes it priceless. You being there is a figure for them to believe they can be successful and change their fate even if they come from the poorest village in the farthest island. Education is the key, and educated people DOES care about them. BUT you, will be more inspired than them. it is one of a lifetime experience. It would open your eyes, of your own Indonesia. How equality in public facilities and education haven’t reach every village. You will get new experience in leadership, as a teacher, as a figure the village society will look up to help them in some of their village’s problem. (Duh, you are from the city, they expect highly of you). You will learn character, humbleness, politeness, from these people, people who need each other to survive, who haven’t been influenced from the egoistic nature of the city. Truly, the unknown is a place of journey, in hardship and problems you encounter, you have to solve them alone. you will be more and more proud of yourself, proving that yes, you can survive in the worst condition you encounter. its hard, but really everything in this world, whats there to complain about? This is an experience of a lifetime, to be able to get involved with the village culture, wisdom, and ways of doing things (remember, no technology). And you may ask, so what’s so important about these experiences? These are all the things that will affect you in life. In your job, your actions, your plans. your decisions. Your experience will take part in them.

When i graduated from SMA, through SNMPTN, I was accepted in one of the best medical school in Indonesia. But I gave this one up, to study Agriculture, in Japan. You may think this is silly, and weird. yeah sometimes i think so too. But then again, im the adventurer type of guy. the world is vast, and unknown needs to be uncovered experiences needs to be reaped. The road less traveled has always been attractive to me, coz thats where the challenge lay. In the same time, I realize the value of Identity, of Indonesia, my Indonesia. If it wasnt for us, educated Indonesian people who dont bring about fresh wind of change. Who do you expect will?

So, to Pak Anies Baswedan, I am extremely inspired by your program, a simple yet brilliant idea. provided the chance, I will go volunteer too!

Semoga programnya sukses dan terus berkembang pak

 

sources:

http://indonesiamengajar.org/

friends.

dedicated to:

dhglx

&

all of my friends out there,

&

2011, the family i never had

~

ok where do i begin

friends. they are people who you spend your time with,

good friends are there when you are in need,

but great friends know what you need.

friendship bonds only from experience.

either you share joy and tears

hardship and pain

panic,

pleasure,

and other things.

in those times, especially the bad ones,

you know you are not alone, you depend on them

and they know they’re not alone, they depend on you

even when you think you cant bear it, he thinks so too.

you are both weak.

but still you end up supporting each others back.

and in the good times, when you are happy,

they feel it too.

duration of moment doesn’t have to matter

its the quality of the experience that does.

this mutual experience shared, will solidify in you and your friend.

and you’ll forever cherish them as the good and bad times,

you and your friend tackled.

you may not cherish them tomorrow, or next month, but trust me,

as life move on and both of you part.

god willing, you meet your friend and you chat.

you’ll realize, how the crystalized memories still remain in both of you,

and hopelessly, you can only reminisce and nostalgize, of the events you had.

and you’ll thank god, for giving you a friend to accompany you in life.

for having known them,

as someone who had shared experiences, the laughter and the grieves

just with you.

…

~3.06am.japan

1.17am

Silence.
Think.
Galau.
Think more.
*put on music*
Confused.
….
Sleep.

jpoem

i wanna share a very fine Japanese poem i found. damn nice

A poem from Monk Ryokan

世の中は
何にたとへん
山彦の
こたふる聲の
空しきがごと

Our life in this world -
to what shall I compare it?
Its like an echo
resounding through the mountains
and off into the empty sky.

any idea what it meant?

blabla

hoaaa gw menemukan 2 akar kata indonesia yang berasal dari jepang:

 

[English] –> [Japanese] –> [Indonesian]

1. English –> Igirisu –> Inggris

2. Theme –> Tema –> Tema

 

nice right?!

overpopulation

while i was browsing for my essay materials on the internet, i found a cool pic, do you know about the human population growth chart?

 

 

its f****** crazy! never seen a graph as steep as that..

ada ide cara mengatasinya?