Reunion

champaign beyatch cabang jakarta: yudi-ardi-ange-beby ;;)

Salam dari Ratu

LELAKI BUAYA DARAT - r a t u

lihatlah
pada diriku
aku cantik dan menarik
dan kau mulai dekati aku

ku beri sgalanya
cinta harta dan jiwaku
tapi kau malah menghilang
bagai hantu tak tau malu

lelaki buaya darat
busyet aku tertipu lagi
mulutnya manis sekali
tapi hati bagai serigala

ku tertipu lagi oh
ku tertipu lagi oh

ku beri sgalanya
cinta harta dan jiwaku
tapi kau malah menghilang
bagai hantu sakitnya aku

mungkin aku bodoh
mungkin aku naif
atau mungkin memang kamu
penjahat wanita

tapi untung nya
aku masih punya kekasih yang lain
tapi mengapa aku
masih saja tertipu olehnya

Earthquake Update

I was in Rawamangun last night, when I ran into my second cousin, Dandi, who had just got back from his supposed vacation in Central Java. He was out in Purwokerto that early morning when the earthquake happened in Jogja, but he was soon on his way to the disaster area. Of course what he told me couldn’t have been much different from what I’d been seeing on tv, but coming from someone who’d actually been there, it sounded so real.

Right after the quake, people feared a tsunami would come. They fled in panic, not knowing where to go. Their only sense was to head north, away from the South Sea. Around Mas Nur’s (Dandi’s brother) neighborhood, people were getting ready to burry an elderly man who had passed away earlier that morning. As they were carrying the body, the tsunami issue spread. Amidst the panic, the body was left on the road as the people carrying it ran for safety. Poor man, may he rest in peace.

Another of Mas Nur’s neighbor was injured and brought to the hospital. The halls outside were full of bodies; breathing and not. So packed was the place that Mas Nur’s neighbor had to wait near the parking lot where 15 dead bodies laid beside.

Although my closest family are safe, some distant relatives suffered from the disaster. As of today, four relatives’ home have been affected, and a distant cousin in Prambanan had to have her arm amputated.

For one or two nights, Jogja was out of electricity. Walking from Tugu to the South, Dandi says it was pitch dark-black. It had rained that first night. The ringroad was jammed, with cars, ambulances, and help on the way. What normally was a 15 minute ride, took more than 2 hours. Imagine the ruins: houses collapsed, hotels split in two. Imagine the smell: of dust and bodies departed.

As days go by, people become weary. Bodies continue to be uncovered. People are still living in tents, relying on help. They have nothing left. Just their bodies and shattered souls. Their Javanese stomachs are starting to go soar. As Dandi says, they’ve been eating too much instant noodles. They long not just for food, but for rice. How much longer must they endure these conditions? How long will it take ’till Jogja recovers? For how long will people keep sending help; until they forget or until another disaster distracts their attention? Could things ever be normal again? Not in a long time. Maybe never, for the scars and the memories will always remain.

Back in Jakarta

So yes, I’m back in Jakarta and in my first 24 hrs, I was reminded of some things of this good old place.

Jakarta is heaven for the perfect massage & scrub. Even if I fall deadly asleep in the middle of it all, I can still feel great. No need to go to Philly and pay $40, just have yourself a fresh Rp 50.000 bill (well a li’l bit more at bersih sehat) and you’ll put smiles on people’s faces.
I don’t have to worry about going over my minutes when talking on my cellphone…
Jakarta is hot. I took 3 showers on my first day.
Jakarta has mosquitos. This was brought to my attention when I found 3 red spots on my thigh. Aiiyaaa….

Good ole Jakarta.

In Singapore

So I was glad to run into Bayu, a 2004 Fulbrighter, in Detroit. We shared the same itinerary afterwards, which meant that I had a friend to share the 6 bland hours of waiting in Singapore. At first I planned on getting a place at the transit hotel, but I overheard a guy saying it was fully booked already. So instead we hung out at the rest area or I think it was called the “tempat rehat” where they put in sleeper chairs & stuff. Because all the sleeper chairs were taken, we sat at this cool looking chair and chatted a bit. Next to us were some computers and a long narrow table for people to plug laptops. So there was this guy, typing or browsing away at his computer, when suddenly a bunch (20-ish) of armed Singaporean policemen came by him. I was like… what? I wonder why they picked on this guy? Was he browsing or downloading some kind of restricted material? If that was the case, I’ve got to hand it to the Singapore PD, they sure work fast!

But no, that wasn’t the case. They were just checking for IDs and making sure the people hanging around at the airport at that unlikely hour were those who were rightly there. So that included us, who had to present our passport and tickets. Well I remember experiencing the same thing in a bus to a transit hotel in Japan, but it wasn’t that threatening as there were only 2 authorities. But this time, imagine waking up to of finding a bunch of policemen, more than half of them pointing rifles -long big automatic weapons- at you face. Believe me, it was not a pleasant sight.

Grumpy Grandma

My 13 hours on NW 0025 from Detroit to Narita was a very interesting experience. I got an aisle seat, which was great, but with the grumpy grandma sitting behind me, I would’ve settled for any other seat, really!

It started early on, when I suddenly felt something slightly hit my head. I realized it was a blanket that the woman behind me put on the back of my chair. The steward that passed by said, “Be careful Mam, you don’t want to hit the lady in front you.” Listening attentively, I heard her reply, “Why not?”

Whaatt??…did I hear her wrong?? Did she just say why not?? Ok…calm down, maybe I heard her wrong. But then I saw the steward look apologetically at me. Grabbing the blanket he said to the woman, “OK Ma’am, if you don’t want the blanket, then I’ll take it away from you.”

Fine…I’ll let it go… I don’t want to create problems. I stayed in my seat, and minded my own business.

After some time… the other (kinder) grandma sitting next to the grumpy grandma wanted to get up and walk around. I felt my chair being pulled back as the grumpy grandma tried to get up. I thought, Ok…she was fat and old, she needed support to get up. Then I felt her hover her body over my chair. Then she welcomed herself and positioned her hands at the top of my chair. Hellooooo??? Doesn’t she see a living being right below here? One who was trying to get some rest and sleep?? I don’t know if I was oversensitive or what, by I definitely felt as if she was invading my space. Well, it was my chair she was standing over, and my head she was forcing to move to an uncomfortable position. In short I felt disturbed, and I let that be known by moving about and sighing a bit. I repositioned my head on the chair, and waited for her to move away. I waited and waited. I looked back and saw that nobody was hovering over her chair. So if she wanted the flabby wrinkly grandma could’ve stood at her seat instead of mind. This offended me. The blood in my head was boiling to a point that could get me to explode.

So I kindly said, “Excuse me Ma’am.”
And the freakin’ old lady, just stood there, looked back at me and said nothing back
S h * t
What was that supposed to mean? Did she not hear me? Does she not know that I was irritated? Damn you white female chauvinist!
So I said again, “Excuse me Ma’am.”
And I got the same reaction.

f c u k

Now those of you who know me well enough should know what I did next.

I turned my head around and glared straight into this selfish kampungan flabby woman’s eyes. “Is there a problem Mam??!!!”
“What?”
“I said, do you have a problem? Would you mind not putting your hands on my chair?”
“I’m just waiting for my friend to come back, she’s still walking around”
How dare she reply that way!!
“Well, would you mind not putting your hands all over my chair? If you like, you can move them to your own chair!”
And with no apologies the frumpy lady shifted her hands away from my chair.

Hell, what’s wrong with this person?? Was she one of those freakin’ prejudiced Southerners, or did she just have an attitude? With all the age she’s accumulated I’m sure she should’ve known better. And where did she go to school?? Didn’t they teach her anything about being polite and acknowledging other people’s private space?

Or was it me? Was I being overly judgmental and sensitive? It’s just that never in my plentiful years of using any public transportation have I come across anyone so obnoxious, and never have I been so irritated & personally offended (except when running across those perverts on the PPD). If these were the kinds of people the States were really made of, boy was I glad to be leaving the country.

And so…that was how I began my 13 hr flight to Narita. With a maniac woman who sat behind me, who continued to disturb the whole aircraft by talking non-stop throughout the *nite* and by laughing oh so passionately at some useless movie she was watching while everybody was trying to get some sleep. But at least she was kind to the baby sitting next to her.
So I wonder? Did I read the wrong signals? Was it she with the attitude? Or was it me who she thought had the attitude? Well whichever way it was, she certainly made me feel uncomfortable. And I certainly showed it to her.

Thanks!!

I hate packing. I’ve always hated packing. Plus, I’m a procrastinator. Put that together, I get something called Packing Like Crazy at the Last Minute. So it was my final night in Urbana. I had just gotten back from buying last minute titipans at Walmart. When I got back to my apartment, accompanied by Etta & Paksi, I realized I still had a ton to do.

First and foremost, I had a bunch of past exams I needed to discard. I couldn’t just throw them out for fear some smartass would pick it up and leak the questions to future adv 481 students. So I bought a paper shredder for Etta & Paksi to have fun with. Turns out there were more problems made then solved. The shredder worked according to its own mood, dying down whenever it grew hot or tired. Ms. Etta our Electrical Engineer was very attentive with the machine-using patience, water, and tweezers to urge the machine to work again.

So I guess you ask, where the hell is this girl’s priority scale, having friends play around with a shredder on her last nite in Champaign. Well, I can’t answer. I know I should’ve started earlier, or just put more thought into packing. But my heart had been so heavy about leaving that I just couldn’t force myself to do it. Talk about lack of determination I guess-and of course that tendency to leave things till the last minute.

Well, if it weren’t for Paksi and Etta who cheered me on thru the nite, and helped me out with everything, I would’ve had a thorough mental breakdown. I was repacking clothes into the vacuum bag, since one of them suddenly stopped functioning optimally. I was sucking air out of bags past midnite, and vacuuming my room by early morning. My poor roommate, she must’ve also had a sleepless nite, from all the noise. The vacuum also managed to drop itself onto my legs, well it may be better stated that I managed to drop the heavy vacuum onto myself that set me to laughter and tears at the same moment.

So the three of us worked thru the nite. None of us got any sleep. Etta…. I’m so sorry I put you thru all that trouble… I know you’ve never been that great at staying up, and u are one of the most organized people I have ever known, so I’m sure what you experienced shocked you. I’m sure it didn’t even hit you in the face until I left and everything passed by. You just saw a panicked friend and you gave me all the support I needed – you can’t tell how much I appreciated that.

And Paksi, I know you’ve never been the type to be so hot on helping people pack & move about. In short, you’re not “keyudis-yudisan” who’d jump at any opportunity for a pahala-giving workout session by helping people pack and move. Although staying up late has never been a problem for you, I know how difficult it is for you to even walk up a flight of steps. So I know you’ve put in a lot of effort to help me out, carrying boxes up and about, throwing out trash, going up and down two (not just one) long flight of steps. So I hope you know that you’re help did not go unnoticed. So can’t thank you enough.

So to Etta & Paksi, I am so ever thankful. I love you both.

And of course I have to thank Lia, who appeared as the most beautiful being that early morning of the 31st, (because she was the only one with decent sleep & bath-and because she’s just plain beautiful – u know I’m not the only one who says that) and helpingly drove us to the airport.

Plus, I have to thank Driya who came by the airport with the sweetest goodbye card ever. We had a splendid time the nite before. Well Paksi… If you’re ever in need of a drinking buddy, you know who else to call now… heheeh…

And although he left for Jakarta earlier, I can’t leave Ardi out, cuz of course he helped with those boxes I shipped out. Carrying & helping me pack up that stuff, and driving to Chicago with a car full of boxes I know wasn’t all that fun.

So guys… there’s nothing I can say now, except thank you, not just for being there but showing that you really care. You’ve certainly outdone yourselves, cuz you’ve certainly used as Extreme would say more than words is all you have to do to make it real !!

So thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
From the bottom of my heart.

PS. I’ll try to be a better packer the next time round ;P

Getting Hit On

My final days in Champana were filled with many lasts… last dinner with my roommate, last call to friends, last errands, last trip to Walmart, and one which I am especially happy to announce is my last eventful packing experience (I will go into this in a later post).

Among the last rituals I attempted was my last, as Paksi would call, “ajojing disco dancing.” Well we made plans here & there, in Champaign & Chicago, but all attempts were failed. One planned trip to Soma, ended with sleepy souls at the Stake ‘n Shake (padahal dah niat dandan gitu loh), a planned event at the Hunt after Japonais, ended with full stomachs and dizzy heads (too much MSG!!) at Triple Crown, and another planned trip to Soma was filled with disappointments as Soma was closed for Memorial Day (I think). So, on my 2nd to last night in Champaign we ended up doing casual drinks at Cowboy Monkey. The members: Ange-Etta-Driya-Lia and Paksi. Well at first there were 4 of us, minus Lia. Then Lia called and said she wanted to join, so Paksi went to pick her up, leaving three gorgeous girls with three gorgeous drinks at the table.

Eventually, as I was calling to check up on Paksi & Lia’s whereabout, a not-so-gorgeous guy came to our table. He asked if we would mind him joining us. Of course we would, but evidently no one had the guts to say so. In the midst of my phone call, looking away from the guy, I told Driya, “Ini cowok gak jelas ngapain sih? Udah usir aja Dri, bilang aja kita gak tertarik.” And here’s what happened after:

Driya: What? What did you say?
The Guy: Do you mind if I join you guys?
Driya: Sorry, what? I didn’t here you. What did you say?
Me (in my head): starting to laugh
The Guy: lit up his cigarette and reached for the ashtray in the middle of our table
Me (in my head) OMG, ni orang pede banget sih, gak tahu ya dicuekin, kok gak pergi2 sih?
The Guy: slurring some unclear words…(not that he was too drunk)
Etta: looked away, awed, in shock, speechless

Me (calling Paksi): Woiii di mana siiiih? Buruan dong, lagi digangguin cowok gak jelas nih
Paksi (on the other line): Huahhahahha… Iya ini dah mo nyampe kok.

The Driya came with her magic line:
Driya: Sorry, no English
Me: ketawa terbahak-bahak
The Guy: astounded, pressed his luck by staying a little while, and finally left

Huahahaha ancur. Lucu loe Dri!!! You’ve definitely got spice girl!That was the funniest thing ever… We totally cracked ourselves up afterwards.