[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. 

Movie Review : Sunshine Becomes You

Libur natal kemarin, saya dan mas pacar menyempatkan diri untuk nonton filmnya Nabilah JKT48 yang judulnya Sunshine Becomes You. Sebelum nonton, saya berulangkali tanya sama mas pacar bener apa enggak dia mau nonton film model beginian karena selera mas pacar biasanya Iron Man, atau 007 dan teman-temannya lah. Tapi, beruntunglah saya punya mas pacar yang baik hati, penyabar dan penyayang, dia mau nemenin saya nonton film ini meskipun sebenernya ada film-film lain yang worth it untuk ditonton dan sesuai seleranya dia, Starwars misalnya.

Wonder why they didn't use brighter/shinier tone in the poster while the title is about Sunshine, not about gloomy season

So, here it is, review dari film Sunshine Becomes You yang kemarin saya tonton:

Kalau ditanya apa yang menarik saya untuk nonton film ini, pertama adalah karena novelnya. Seperti novel-novelnya Ilana Tan yang lain, novel ini juga beautifully written. Memang novel ini terkesan tidak segreget novel-novel Ilana Tan sebelumnya yang tentang musim-musiman itu. Novel Ilana Tan selalu mengingatkan saya sama tulisan-tulisan penulis handal dari dunia fanfiction Korea. Saya dan temen saya, Sasa, yang tulisannya bagus itu, curiga kalau Ilana Tan ini sebenarnya penulis fanfiction juga. Apalagi kalau baca karyanya yang Summer in Seoul. 

Book Review : Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami

Beberapa hari yang lalu, saya baru saja menamatkan salah satu buku yang sudah jadi wishlist bacaan saya sejak lama. Judulnya Norwegian Wood. Penulisnya, Haruki Murakami. 

Seperti yang saya bilang sebelumnya, ini adalah kali pertama saya baca bukunya Murakami. Awalnya saya cuma dengar-dengar saja tentang nama besar Murakami sebagai novelis Jepang yang karyanya sudah dinikmati di seluruh dunia. Oh iya, saya juga sempat dengar tentang Murakami, sebagai penulis Jepang, dengan setting novel yang rata-rata di Jepang, tapi seringkali mengangkat isu yang kebarat-baratan.

Saya langsung jatuh cinta sama Norwegian Wood!

Senbatsu Sounsenkyo, AKB48 dan Selintas Mengenai Customer Engagement

source: http://magikowonderland.blogspot.com/

Setiap tahun, 48 Group memiliki perhelatan akbar yang dinamakan Senbatsu Sousenkyo. Senbatsu artinya member-member pilihan. Dan Sounsenkyo, artinya pemilihan. Meskipun menyandang angka 48, bukan berarti jumlah anggota 48Group ini ada 48 orang, meskipun tetap saja jumlah 48 orang itu lumayan ‘aneh’ kalau bicara tentang jumlah anggota sebuah grup musik yang mungkin paling banyak hanya beranggotakan belasan orang. Ada lebih dari 300 gadis yang menjadi anggota idol group ini, dan mereka semua adalah member aktif!

Meanwhile on the Train

There's a lot of things, like, 'lots' on the last few months of my life. 

I've been started my internship since about two weeks ago, in an advertising company that I enjoy very much. Perusahaan Jepang, perusahaan yang besar, perusahan yang sudah saya incar dari dulu. Saya kira, dua bulan magang bakal jadi hal yang membosankan. Cerita-cerita temen tentang di tempat magang yang kerjaannya cuma lomba 'lama-lamaan' di kantor, fortunatelly, nggak terjadi sama saya. Saya memang baru magang dua minggu, tapi saya dapat pengalaman yang nggak terhingga. Now I understand why the internship experience will be really, like really beneficial if I go to work later. 

Saya bukan cuma merasakan senangnya bisa berkontribusi untuk satu perusahaan, bertukar pikiran sama supervisor saya yang masih muda tapi berwawasan luas, gimana 'bangganya' waktu supervisor bilang "Untung kamu ngasih tau.." or things like that. Hal-hal seperti itu kayaknya nggak ada kata-kata yang cukup untuk menggambarkannya. That was kind of feeling that if you haven't experienced it, you will never know. Or the time when I got my first paycheck, I was very very happy. Setelah berhari-hari berdesak-desakan sama orang-orang di kereta, bingung sama hingar-bingar ibu kota, mendapat gaji dari hasil keringat sendiri rasanya nggak bisa digambarkan dengan kata-kata. Jumlahnya memang nggak besar. Tapi uang itu, bertahan beberapa minggu di dompet saya. Masih dalam posisi ter-hekter dengan baik. Sayapun lama menimbang-nimbang untuk apa uang itu mau saya pake. Beli sepatu.... beli baju... atau beli apa ya? But I ended up giving the money to my parent. A friend of mine, who is really really wise, was giving me such a wonderful advice. Gaji pertama, bukan hal yang bakal saya dapatkan setiap bulannya kan? Sepatu, baju, atau hal-hal yang saya pengen beli bisa menunggu. Tapi saya pengen gaji pertama ini jadi spesial.