[Review] : Critical Eleven : In Between The Movie and The Novel

Ketika pertama kali dengar kalau Critical Eleven akan diangkat ke layar perak, saya langsung memasukkan film ini ke dalam wishlist 2017 ini. Selain saya suka banget sama novelnya, woro-woro dari si penulisnya, Ika Natassa, yang cukup intens di social medianya juga bikin geregetan abis. Tapi, at the same time, saya juga nggak mau berekspektasi terlalu tinggi. Dari pengalaman-pengalaman sebelumnya, film apapun, mau sekelas Twilight sekalipun, seringkali kurang nendang begitu diangkat jadi film. Jadi, sebelum masuk studio, saya berusaha untuk santai-santai saja. 

Film ini dimulai dengan apik. Belum apa-apa saya sudah dibuat tersipu-sipu sama percakapan antara Ale dan Anya di pesawat, tempat dimana mereka bertemu. Di novel, kak Ika mengandalkan narasi untuk menggambarkan isi hati tokoh-tokohnya, itu juga yang menurut saya kekuatan dari novel-novelnya kak Ika, so the reader can feel the engagement with the book in their own way. Di novelnya, pembaca bisa tahu bagaimana isi hati dan jalan pemikiran tokoh-tokohnya. Isi hati dan jalan pemikiran tokoh ini yang nantinya menjadi dasar tindakan apa yang akan dilakukan si tokoh. Jadi pembaca bisa mengerti kenapa si Ale melakukan A, karena menurut pikiran dia A, kenapa si Anya melakukan B, karena menurut pikiran Anya ya B. 

[Exchange Student Life] - Chuncheon Family

The first time I got the news of I go a chance to live in Korea, I was overwhelmed by the joy. It was difficult not to, I've been dreaming of living abroad since I was in elementary school and it was just a step away!

It was true that I was almost devastated waiting the acceptance announcement from the university and the scholarship back then. The university acceptance announcement was quick, but the scholarship wasn't. Back then, if I didn't get the scholarship, I wouldn't take the offer. Studying abroad with self-funding had never been any option for me, and my family of course. Finally, the scholarship announcement released about 1,5 months later, I was about to scream joyfully if I were not in the office. I was on my internship back then. 

[Exchange Student Life] - Dormitory Life

Chuncheon city, is the capital of Gangwon province, South Korea.

When I was about to write my address in Korean, I would wrote it as Gangwon-do (Do to point the province), Chuncheon-si (Si means City) in Kangwon Daehak-gil, Gil means road, Hyoja-dong (Dong means street). This is where my university, Kangwon National University located at. In Korea, if you want to write a mailing address it has to be started with the largest area, in this case, write the province first, the city next, the road name after that, then the street. It is different with the way I write my mailing address in Indonesia, which is started by the street name.

We called our university with Kangdae, as a short version of Kangwon Daehakyo which means Kangwon University. If it is translated to English, name of this university will be Kangwon National University - not just Kangwon University. If the university name is translated to English, the 'National' can be used to figure if the university belongs to the government or a private organization. You can see, because the university name is slightly simpler for Korean, the Koreans have to memorize of at least do a wee bit of research to find out to whom the school is belong to.

That statue, Kangdae pride!

[Exchange Student Life] - Life of a Student

Back then when I had a chance to visit Japan in 2014, the mighty sakura hadn't bloomed yet. It seemed like I miscalculated the date, since flocks of tourist will flood Japan at around April or May to witness the glorious Sakura, but it wasn't.  I didn't want to miss my class on my first semester after I returned back for good from Korea, so flew to Japan before my semester was started. 😢

Just because Sakura is incredibly popular in Japan, so most people (or was it just me?) placing Japan and Sakura in a complementary term. I thought that Sakura is only existed in Japan, that's how it become famous, because you can only meet them in Japan. But I was wrong. Spring in Korea, taught me that Sakura is also exist in Korea in the name of blossom. They have a different name, of course. We called it Potkot in Korean. My American teacher, called that flower 'cherry blossom'. From that time, I stopped calling that type of flower with Sakura, and calling it with cherry blossom instead. It's like you meet a Jasmine in some western country and you call it 'Melati' in Indonesia. Same type, different name.

Sakura in Japan, Potkot in Korea, Cherry Blossom in... all over the world?

But wait, I'm not completely wrong, right? Evidently you can meet Sakura only in Japan. If you meet that flower in Korea, you won't call it Sakura, but Potkot instead 😝😝😝

[Exchange Student Life] - Late Winter Arrival

As the spring has begun, my instagram timeline was filled by photos with cherry blossom background of my friends who are currently studying abroad or just traveling to hunt the cherry blossom peak season. This somehow, brought back my memories about the spring I had in 2013 when I was in South Korea.

 

Magnolia

To think about it, I think I haven't written enough about my experience in South Korea, have I? I was so productive into writing in 2012, mostly in fanfiction, which I had stopped writing it since I arrived in South Korea. At first I was thinking that I would be super productive once I arrived in the land where my muse (back then he is Super Junior Kyuhyun) lives but it wasn't. I was so mesmerized that finally, and finally, I was abroad, and somehow my writing appetite was going numb.

When I arrived, it was late winter. It was the early of March in 2013. The weather was super cold. I was freezing. At the first step I took when I went out from the Incheon Airport, I said "Somebody please turn off the AC!" Little did I know, it was the real weather of a winter. It was the first winter that I experienced, anyway. The cherry blossom, or in Korea it is called Potkot - hadn't bloomed yet.

Happy International Women's Day!

 

Source : https://www.pinterest.com/dennlet/inspirational-women/

It is devastating whenever I read some comments on social media, the patriarchal culture in Indonesia is very obvious. It is closer to sexism sometimes. As an Indonesian, I am familiar with a lot of saying that belittling a woman, whether or not the speaker realize it. If you’re an Indonesian woman, you will agree, that you must have at least one relatives or neighbours, who said that even you have a Master of PhD, in the end you will be back to the kitchen. Right? Right. Or you will be familiar with people commenting “So she hasn’t married yet in her 30? No wonder, she’s being too ambitious with her career. What’s the point of those money without a husband and children anyway?” Or people who comments that if your age is more than 29 and unmarried, it is your fault of being picky. When you leave your ex for a better off man, you will be blamed of not being faithful and being a materialistic gold digger. When you choose to marry a not too good looking guy, well, people will questioned how rich is he.

And when you’re married, and haven’t had a child yet, they will say “It’s not good to be in contraception that early, it’s your first child!”, or if you have had your first child, they will say when will you give your child a sibling? Your children must be lonely, and it’s not good to have only one child. When you’re experiencing a miscarriage, it’s your fault of not eating a right food, of doing too much carrying heavy things. When you can’t cook a delicious food or you can’t do some house chores well, you have to question if you have passed the standard of being a housewife. When you choose to be a working mom, you’re not a good mother because you neglect your children. When you’re staying at home mom, well, a woman can’t be that lazy! When your kids are being naughty, people said the mother doesn’t take care of them much, too busy with her work, or too busy with her friends. When your son do drugs, when your daughter being a young mother, it is your fault of not educating and protecting the children well so they trapped into such a misery! 

When a woman file a divorce, people says that you’re not a good woman. You’re not good because you can’t protect your household. When a man file a divorce, people will get suspicious, questioning if you’re a nice woman – you know, that woman who never get home late, stays at home, never meet any other man, never go to some parties with friend, never waste your husband’s money, never to be ambitious with your career, have a nice kid and so on that define a nice woman. If it’s crystal clear that your husband fault that your marriage fall apart, you gotta be patient a little! Don’t you pity the children? They said.  So whether the man or the woman fill a divorce, who to blame? Woman of course! When the husband cheats, it’s your fault because you can’t provide enough so he has to look for it in another woman. When you cheat, well, all hell broke loose. 

When a politician do corruption, people will said “Of course, his wife’s shopping appetite must lead him to a corruption!” When a woman get raped, it’s her fault of wearing revealing clothes, being in particular place, doing some particular things. It is your fault of being stupid of saying yes to someone that you trust in the first place. This is the most disgusting, blaming the victim of receiving something that she never wanted to?

I refuse to admit that I am a feminist. I love the idea of equality between men and women, but to declare myself as a feminist, it is still long way to go. However, I like the idea of humanizing woman at its best. They have human rights as equal as men do. They have options, they have decision. They can drive their life wherever they want to. They have thoughts, they have consideration. They have wish and dream. They have things they like, things they don’t. They have things they want to do, and thing they don’t. They can say yes, and they can say no. They’re not just a mere child labourer, house cleaner, foods maker, or anything that objectifies them. 

Happy International Women's Day!

[Fiction] - Satu Hari di Musim Gugur

Kau sudah sampai? Maaf, aku sepertinya terlambat. Tapi mungkin tidak terlalu lama. Tunggu ya. Maaf.

Kursi itu kosong. Kursi dengan serat kain pelapis berwarna biru laut yang telah kuhafal diluar kepala polanya. Kursi yang terletak di belakang setangkai bunga lili hitam yang selalu kuacuhkan keberadaannya, berapa kalipun aku meminta seseorang untuk meletakkannya disana. Kursi dengan pemandangan danpung – daun-daun yang memerah -  pada musim gugur Seoul yang indah di balik jendela. 

Sesekali aku melirik arloji di tanganku, sesekali melirik goguma latte berwarna keunguan yang kini mulai mendingin tanpa pernah kusentuh, tapi tak lama. Busa susu yang menghiasi permukaan latter itu berbentuk daun maple khas musim gugur, dengan enam ruas jari yang sudah kuhafal diluar kepala. Aku menunggu sudah lama. Aku bahkan menolak untuk mengecek sudah berapa lama aku duduk disini. Menatap kursi kosong, momiji, dan latte dihadapanku berganti-gantian. Tapi kursi di hadapanku entah bagaimana merebut perhatianku paling banyak dengan mudahnya. Seharusnya ada seseorang disana. Seseorang yang berjanji akan tiba sejak satu jam yang lalu. Satu menit, dua menit, tiga menit, aku mengatur posisi dudukku. Empat menit, lima menit, enam menit, aku menukar tangan yang kupakai untuk menopang daguku. Gusar, kuambil ponselku. 

Maaf ya, kau ingat Pak Kim kan? Bos-ku? Tiba-tiba dia memberiku setumpuk dokumen. Aku pasti datang, tunggu ya. 

Aku melengos kesamping. Berulangkali mambaca pesan yang masuk darimu.