I'm here again

It's almost four years since the last time I put anything on this audience-less corner of the internet. It's 5.28 am in the morning, I didn't sleep all night because my sleep cycle has somehow inverted at the beginning of the week. The sky has turned blue and I can spy from the windows in my room a cargo ship docked across the channel at one of the ports near Shinagawa.

I have been hit with a pang, I'm not sure if it is the correct way of using this word, of nostalgia recently. I went through my old diaries the other day and felt a kind of unfamiliarity with my old self. I discovered a certain hint of excitement in my old writings that I am sure I have incredible difficulties in reproducing now. So there were some pages in the diary describing my activity as an organizer during some sort of a student body election in ITB back then. I can easily decipher from the writing how I felt for a certain candidate back then or my feelings about each of the event within the election process. These kinds of writings, where I can easily tell whether I had a positive or a negative experience, have somehow disappeared from recent diaries.

Does this simply indicate me growing old? Or maybe I've had my share of talking about my feelings with people, that I lost the need to write them in minute details? 

Anyhow, stumbling upon this blog again could be a sign for me to rediscover that old feeling of excitement.

おそらく。

Kurasi (dari jurnal kualitas rendah saya)

Walau tak sendiri, tapi ibarat terdampar. Terkurung, tapi oleh batas yang tak tampak. Padahal ramai, tapi tidak sepatah suarapun tak terdengar asing. Terjebak dalam arus manusia yang masuk, menetap lalu keluar menembus garis-garis yang tak tampak tadi, sedang diri sendiri terus tak berubah, bagai segunduk endapan di tengah muara yang sekalipun dibatasi gerakan tidak sekalipun melaju.

Sudah sepuluh jam kurang lebih, setengah di antaranya tidak seharusnya terjadi. Kantuk telah datang dan pergi, langit mendung beralih dari terang ke gelap-gelapan, sampai-sampai udara dalam ruang tunggu perlahan terasa berat. Aku letih melepas pasang sepatu, aku letih dengan meninggalkan kursi demi melepas ketegangan di bawah perut. Aku lelah dengan puluhan pengumuman yang satupun tidak memberi keterangan lebih lanjut. Hanya perintah implisit untuk terus menunggu, terus menunggu.

Ingin hati melakukan hal yang berbeda, sayang kepala menolak dan tubuh hanya ingin diletak.

Punch Me

A list to validate that living in Japan all this time is a little bit more meaningful than it seems to be (considering how painful the last two quarters had been, how everyone else is graduating, how I’m not sure about things):

1. I can speak Japanese, and other things – writing Japanese, reading Japanese, etc.
2. I know some Japanese
3. I've paid my own bills. Electricity, water, phone, everything, you name it. Quite thrilling actually to see the number showing on those small pieces of paper that appear magically in my mailbox.
4. I pay rent every month. Just when I thought those bills are more than enough.
5. I've cooked soup, pasta, curry, stir fry, rice, fried rice, a bunch of scrambled eggs, and stir fry. I had never chopped onion before coming to Japan, so give me some slack.
6. I was in five different countries last year. For someone who had never been asked to show his passport for seventeen years, the last five years were quite unpredictable.
7. I have my own cameras.
8. And I take photos. 
9. My English got somewhat better?
10. I've read much more kinds of book. 
11. I can buy clothes outside of Eid Al Fitr.
12. My campus' computer labs got iMacs, the big one.
13. Almost forgot that my tuition's free.

I should just shut myself up now.

Save Point? Or Cutscene Before Boss Battle?

It's almost June, the first half of the year is almost over. To avoid cliché, I will not mention anything concerning the speed of the passing of time.

Talking about halves, it's already the second half of my first quarter of the year. Similar to last year, the beginning of this second half is also the time when I suddenly realized, "Dang, I should study."

"And dang, I should fix my sleeping habit."

"Dang, assignments are piling."

Curated (from my journal of low quality contents)

Looking back,

I found five heads, mostly bent down ― either taped to their right hand or facing straight into their phone. Their position made a nice 'l' shape, 'l' for letting everything go. One of the heads looked up and faced straight then. The grey desk probably got boring.

I wanted to have another look back, but doing so repeatedly is plain weird. I'd decided to stop looking back for now.

Facing ahead,

there were more heads and more colors than looking back had, but sadly there were no faces. Although the heads behind me were mostly slumping, looking ahead still had far smaller prospect of seeing faces, compared to when I ― as bothersome as it was ― was looking back.

Nape of the neck, collar of their shirts were no fun. I ended up staring at their ears.

what do they call one of these?

It's the third day of the new year. Last year wasn't the easiest year, but compared to other worse things happening on the other side of the earth, it was bearable.

a fraction of Wakayama's beach

I started 2015 in a whole different place ― a place that I had thought I would only revisit in plan but never in actuality, and yet I was there, finally having the chance to talk with the people who took care of me three years ago, now speaking in a language that I do understand.

A whole bunch of partings came afterwards. The amazing school, teachers and equally amazing new friends, and not to forget, the most homey room I've ever lived in.

it's the exact same suit and tie as the previous photo

But as I finally become a full-fledged university student, came new meetings. 

Although I haven't made any substantial Japanese friends, at least now there is always someone I can tap on the shoulder whenever I need to ask about something.

note to self: 日本語にもっともっと頑張る

And remeetings with everyone who had spared the time to meet. Thank you!

Good luck on you guys' approaching adulthood, and by adulthood I mean graduation and everything that follows behind it.

Finally to the Tokyo-residing-dudes-and-none-dudes of Indonesian origin who I'd been spending the last week and bunch of other days throughout this year together, thanks for keeping me from dying from loneliness. 

Now let's face two thousand sixteen

Boxes

Hello there, white blank space! Haven't seen you in three months.

I just learned something recently. So there is this group of people who live in boxes. Each of them has their own personal box, with their head, hands and feet popping out of it. They eat, sleep, do every single thing while being inside the box. But there is one point that you need to keep in mind, though. They didn't choose to be inside the box, there were put inside the box.

Sadly I'm not really sure who put those poor people inside the box. But it is probably me, or maybe you, as I said before, I can't be sure about it. But to make it easier, let's just say it was I who had put them inside the boxes. 

Some time ago, when they were sleeping, I picked each of them up and shoved them inside these boxes that I just happened to have in excess. I was really busy with moving to a new home, I bought a bunch of boxes, a whole bunch of them, because I thought that I'd need a lot of them. When I finished packing up all my belongings, it turned out that the corridor leading out of my house was still stuffed with empty boxes. What a pity, I thought. Instead of just throwing them away, might as well fill it with something. And that's how those people ended up inside a box.

The story didn't end there, actually. To help me discern one box from another, I put post-its on the inside part of the box. At first, I started with red, because I had a lot of red post-its, but midway through, I realized that I didn't have enough red post-its. Since I had no other way out, I took my old post-its, some were blue, white and some were even rainbow colored, then I taped them in randomly.

It won't be a problem, right? It's just paper with different color.

Even if it becomes a problem, those post-its were taped inside, so each of those people can keep it to themselves. Although whoever put them inside those boxes may be extremely disappointed after hearing that people make such a fuss about difference in color, when they don't even mind being put inside a box.

p.s. there is no known people living literally the way I mentioned above.

Sidewalks or Pavements or Whatever You Like To Call It

I was sitting on a bench (I wasn't sitting on a bench, but for the sake of this post, just suppose so) along one of those sidewalks constructed by the government. In case you failed to define government-made sidewalks, I shall help by providing several additional descriptions about these sidewalks.

These sidewalks are, most of the time, unproportional in size, with its width much narrower than the requirement. Every two or three meters, a tree sticks out of the floor, with the root cracking the sidewalk, while its trunk, at the same time, becoming a separator that forces every walking couple to let go of their locked hands if they wanted to pass through. But, if the tree was absent, you would absolutely find a streetlight or an electric pole full of advertisements - electrical appliances repair service's, toilet repair service's, and recent election's participants's pictures - as substitute. 

In other cases, sidewalks are built on gutters, just acting as some sort of mask to cover the filthy water beneath it that sometimes is blacker than the coffee you last drank (unless you drank it with milk, which I'm pretty much convinced you did). The odd part is, it's not rare to find the gutter cover/sidewalk, which is simply line of blocks made from cement, laying not on the gutter, but on top of another block, or occasionally by the side of the road. Well, maybe they just cleaned the gutter, although it's still as filthy as before, then found it too much trouble to return it back to its proper place. Of course it's dangerous, but at least you'll have this jumping game to keep your lower half from turning into something you'll have a hard time recognizing.

But, my bench was on a different type of sidewalk. It was neither the tree infested sidewalks nor the gutter cover, it's of a slightly fancier type of sidewalk. It had benches. I didn't smell any sewage. In place of trees, potted plants flanked my bench. Those were fancy. Rare as it is, I'm glad such sidewalks exist.

I forgot to mention that I'm back home in Medan. And I also put milk in my coffee.

To South Pole

While walking home tonight, I remembered a person.

He's far away. Nope, far isn't the right word to use.

Let's say that 'ideal' is standing somewhere in the middle of South Pole, then he, the person looking for it, would currently be walking aimlessly around the northern part of Siberia. He certainly had made some efforts to get closer to his ideal self, but to even call it far would be underestimating the distance he still has to shorten between him and his ideal self. To call it far would imply that it is a measurable distance ― that one can subjectively judge as near or far, but in fact, 'ideal' may not even be in the middle of South Pole to begin with, it may be in a completely different place altogether. It may even not be a matter of distance but a matter of depth, and yet he had no idea about it.

That would be the proper way to describe the distance he has from 'ideal'.

But what the hell is ideal? Is it just something like 'this way to ideal' written on a sign by the side of the road, or is it a part of some old legend that says, 'ideal lies asleep beneath that mountain', or is it a reward from proofing your courage, or is it an unending search that may or may not encompasses all kinds of possibility?

"I don't know," thought he. 'Plus, this place is too cold. If I spent too much time on thinking, I could end up freezing." He then decided, "If it isn't there, I'll just look for it somewhere else. After all, my life would be pointless if I stopped here just because I'm not sure about something."

And so he continues his journey toward South Pole.


*The GIF is probably unrelated to the whole thing, but please don't mind it

One of Those Classes

It was physics class, the Physics C. This week the lesson started to go deeper into the topic of light ― reflection, refraction and stuffs. My teacher is somewhat different, he teaches the lesson entirely by using hand outs. Good, since I don't have to spend a few extra thousands yen for another book. But bad, because no exercises aren't given.

Unlike previous weeks, this week's hand out was full of sentences filled with hand written kanjis. When the sentences started to show up, all I could think of was, "Okay, let's just leave this for later," "Let's do something else."

So I ended up wasting the rest of the lesson watching three people, and writing about them, and exaggerating what they did.

1

She wished that she had no need to hold a pencil and an empty piece of paper. All she wanted was to have enough reasons to keep her head up and eyes pointed toward the slide in front of the board. But it was not reciprocal. Her demand for reasons was paid with incoherent sentences from a man with graying hair, walking here and there by the slide.

Thus, she chose to stop. With head bending down, ears closed, she took the pencil and the paper, then began to write.

2

He was focused. He was, in all manner, different from the girl, except for one thing ― the pencil and paper, although that similarity was strictly limited to the fact that they both hold the same kind of thing, while the purpose was completely different. The girl held hers as a sign of lost. He held his because he had not gone down, he was in sync with the walking man.

3

He removed himself. He was there only because the schedule told him to do so. He sat there, behind the girl, holding a pencil and a bunch of papers, jotting down some other assignments.

He had papers and pencil, just like the other two, but one aspect made him unique. Unlike the other two, he had nothing to do with the man by the slide. He cared not a bit about the slide, or whether the man was giving him what he needed or not. None of these things mattered to him, he just carried on doing what he had started from before ― doing some other assignments.


*I should be studying calculus, not doing this.

Midnight's Ramble

It was two o’clock in the morning. Unlike previous days, the night was somewhat colder. He was already on his bed, ready to send the ships sailing to slumber, but just like most people of this age, he still had his phone shining a constant dim blue light on his face while he read just any lines he could find on the social media he was currently browsing.

Then a thought struck. He wanted to have something written. He abruptly dropped his phone on his bed, kicked away the blanket covering the lower part of his body, then went down from the loft.

He wanted to go straight to the computer, but he remembered that he had a few things left to do. Instead of pushing the square shaped button on the computer’s CPU, he got into the bathroom quickly, brushed his teeth then wudhu. He had missed his maghrib prayer, which normally should have been done about seven, eight hours ago. He was in Akihabara around that time, walking aimlessly with a friend, then with the same friend, passed the night with an equally aimless conversation at a Starbucks. And obviously, finding a proper place to pray in Akiba is not that simple. For that reason, he had to do the maghrib and isya together.

The prayers that followed his wudhu can’t be called proper. He shouldn’t really be having other thoughts in his mind during prayers, but he had. Lots of them, actually. Especially about things he wanted to write. He tried his best to cast those aside, but more random thoughts came fleeting by.

Once he’s done with the prayers, he was ready to have a start on whatever it was he wanted to write. Then suddenly he realized two things. First was that he didn’t have his glasses with him, so he took it from the loft. The second thing was that the story he wanted to write had actually been finished.

As A 'Mahasiswa'

I'm twenty years old, and finally a university student.

It has been an amazing April, although April hasn't even ended. My parents were both there for the university's entrance ceremony at the beginning of the month. Seeing them there, among the natives, I found it weird, and amazing at the same time when I realized that whenever my parents are asked about my whereabouts, they now can answer, "He's studying in Tokyo."

worked as a tour guide for two weeks

Making friends have been tough. I'm not really certain whether it's just me who is very adept in repulsing people, or it's the people around me who aren't really acquainted with strangers. Plus, my Japanese is still far from sufficient to talk smoothly, without stumbling mid sentence due to lack of vocabulary. It isn't rare for me to open dictionary in the middle of the conversation just so I can nod at whatever the other person is talking about, with complete understanding.

These people I met in my department are mostly into what they want to study. So after the entrance ceremony, we had a series of orientations, and within each orientation, we'll have to introduce ourselves. One of the introduction's item is 'to which major do you want to continue?' It was easy to find people who said that they want to study mathematics - my department/faculty/whatever is the school of science - because, "Mathematics is beauuuutiful!" He obviously didn't say it in English, but that's how it probably would sound like if he had said it in English. In another case someone else would say he likes physics because physics and world and bla bla bla.

Lessons are brutal. I used to learn calculus for about six months, and they were meaningless against this new horde of calculus, plus linear algebra. So we have a tutor class every week, and whenever I see the list of problems, sometimes all I could do is laugh.

Clearly not because I knew how to do it.

Even though it has only been a month, a lot of changes are happening. 

No longer leaving room five minutes before class without breakfast and a proper shower. Now it is either fifteen, twenty minutes walk or five, ten minutes of cycling to the school. 

No longer talking loudly in class with fellow Indonesians. Now it is either speaking Japanese or shutting up.

Mushy

This will be a post heavily filled with text.

You know what? Advancing, or let’s say moving on, is both good and bad. Well, who doesn’t want to move on? Some girl sure wants to move on from her ex: no more stalking on Instagram, no more putting double meaning posts on Path. But since I don’t have any love story, what I can move on from is this preparatory school and actually become a university student. Or if it were me from two years ago as the subject, I sure wanted to move on from high school and get into the university I wanted so much.

But before I get on to that, let’s suppose that life is like walking on a journey, although I find it to be a very bad metaphor. I’m not really sure why I said that though. Journey sounds romantic, it feels more like heading to a certain direction, or if I put my other interest as an explanation, journey sounds like meeting new companions, running in the forest up and down to level up, then beat the hell out of the last boss. But life isn’t like that. Most of the time, you’re not even sure of what you’re doing, and for most people on earth – those who can’t even feed themselves, those who are unfortunate, life sucks. But let’s just say life is like walking on a journey, or running if you find your life to be quick, because looking for some other metaphors might not be the best idea.

Here is my take on life as a journey. I imagine myself walking on a long stretching dirt road. It was almost dusk, but the sky was mostly still bright. The sun was there hanging close to the surface of the earth, but I was not really sure whether that’s west or south west or north west. On both sides of the road occasionally there would be short broken wooden fences, which didn't actually fence anything, they just stood there like props. Aside from the road, it’s just endless grassy plain. Once in a while I’d find trees, and if I looked into the distance, there would be some small houses gathering kilometers away without any road from those houses that connect to the one I’m walking on. There were barely any clouds in the sky, and if there were any that happened to be passing by, they would just be some small patches with curly sides like the kind of clouds that kids in kindergarten, or me in some cases draw above the twin mountains that stretch from the left to the right edge of the paper.

Somehow Radiata Stories' world comes to mind

These roads were cut into parts. You go through a few kilometers of road then you’ll find crossroad. Choose one, go through it, then you’ll find another crossroad. Sometimes there will be weird crossroads. There will be two roads, but lining side by side and you can move from one to another easily. Some other times there will also be a turning road, you’ll be taken around and somehow you’re on a whole different path but not really making any progress on your journey. The fun thing is, there are roads that can take you through small patches of forest or climbing up on a hill. You’ll repeat all of this over and over again until you find your own home, like the one I saw in the distance before. Once you find your own home, it’s your choice. You can stay there, talk to people who happen to pass by, or keep on going until you lose the last ounce of your strength. There isn't really a finish line. Even if you make it to a dead end, there is always another way you can take.

The road isn't yours alone, you’d meet people on this journey, those who coincidentally taking the same route as you. It’s not really a big deal if you met on a rather short road, or maybe you met each other on the crossroad, both mulling on which way to take. But it’s not a simple thing if you meet up from the start of crossroad, through forest, through swamp, for years, then suddenly you were put in front of a crossroad. And you both had different choices, and you both had known that your choices were different even from the time when both of you were struggling together in the swamp.

This is what I say about the good and bad of moving on. You clearly don’t want to stay in the swamp, but at the same time you wished that the crossroad never comes.

This is what I've been doing for the last two years.

Two years ago, with people who have been together with me for three years, I chose a path. Some of those people chose the same road, though. Then a year later, as consequences to my own actions, I met a different road, a road that I was kind of looking for. It can take me from the yellow skied grassy plain to the cold snowy hills. I took it because the road appeared just that one time. So I took that road and, well, detach myself from everyone else. One year through the snowy, relentless field, I met a whole bunch of people again. I’m happy. But just when I started to be satisfied with it, there, a crossroad. Again. I can see it down there. 

Parting

The year of living in Fuchu is coming to an end. Let me list a few things that I 'probably' will miss:

1. Random knock on the door at night.
2. Random knocking/bell ringing on other's doors at night.
3. Doing laundry after 11 pm.
4. Some clubs doing their morning practice on the field next to the dorm, with their random shouts here and there.
5. Coming to other people's rooms just because they're turning their AC on.
6. The whole cafeteria routine. Taking the green tray, lining up, taking the same menu - misoshiru, fish, tofu - as always, paying, filling the tea cups, taking chopsticks, sitting at the usual table, talking with the same people - usually in Indonesian, then returning to dorm at around 00.10 pm for dzuhur.
7. Seat for maths, physics and chemistry class. 
8. The distance between school and dorm that lets you get up from bed 10 minutes before class starts.
9. Class starts at 8.30 am.
10. Beautiful sunsets visible from room's balcony.
11. Beautiful sunsets which seem to always differ from day to day.
12. Free internet.
13. Convenience store that sells cheap vegetables.
14. The voice of my neighbor's skyping with his family, or the voice of my other neighbor while he's singing.
15. Sudden invitation to go to an all you can eat restaurant.
16. Easily forget to bring homework.
17. Indonesians' birthday party. Invading birthday boy/girl's room, then eating ice cream together. 
18. Being a majority.
19. Sankichi.
20. ...

The list won't end.

But most of all, I'll be missing the people. The teachers, other students, and even just the random Japanese students who happen to be studying bahasa Indonesia.

'Almost' one year in Fuchu had given me the chance to meet all sorts of people.

From the kind of person that I won't get along with, whatever I do and whatever he does; To the kind of person who doesn't want to eat the oranges that he got for free, just because he doesn't want to peel the skin and get his nails all yellowy; Or the person that I thought would be the riding-horse-or-shooting-arrows-kind, but turns out to be reading the same book as me and watching the same thing as me; Or probably the kind of person who says that Big Four isn't a good book.

Phases of Living Alone

It's my 8th month living abroad. Time does pass unnoticed, that when I realized it, I've lived here as long as I have lived in Bandung.

Living abroad on your own, hmm.. actually it isn't technically on my own, since I get money every month, so yeah, living here isn't really that hard. Manage the money properly, eat properly, get enough rest, pay monthly bills, for most people it shouldn't really be that hard. But the study, well, it's a different story, it's hard.

So, like every single thing out there, there should be something that can be learned from living here. I know that it has only been 7 months and 22 days, but I've experienced something that I'd call phases of living detached from your everything else (family, old friends, home).

One more thing, it's 100 percent personal experience, I don't know how it is with other people.

1. Happy phase

That feeling of joy upon landing in Narita and the excitement of a whole different life. Living in one of the most advanced city in the world with piles of new experiences waiting for me to try them. Not to mention the actual freedom that I'll be having here, where I'll literally be living without anyone telling me what to do by mouth. Who wouldn't be happy? Someone might not be happy, but I was very happy.

The first few weeks after arriving here was bliss. Lessons were easy, lots of free time, great internet speed, something different to do every weekend. Damn, I miss those days!

But like every single aspect of life, it will come to end, sooner or later.

2. Longing phase

This phase isn't really a problem. This is just a completely natural thing to happen. When you don't meet someone who you used to meet everyday, you surely will miss them. But, you know, with all the current technology, a simple swipe on the phone screen, and you can see and keep in touch with all of them.

Some might say that meeting directly is different, it's not something you can do with phones. Well, sweethearts, you can't have everything in this world.

3. Contemplating phase

This is the most tiresome part of all the phases.

After a few months, the happy parts are slowly disappearing. When the lessons start becoming more difficult, when the burdens I have to face slowly appearing (tests for university), then it's time to spend more time in the bathtub and contemplate on life even more! It doesn't specifically have to be bathtub, I just happened to spend a lot of time there. Come on, hot shower is magical.

So a few points that I usually think about: is it a good decision to come here?
After learning that I may not have what it takes to get the university I want, this thought came repeatedly. 'What if I got thrown to some bad universities?'

Next would be: how would I be doing if I hadn't come here?
This one usually came around when I start checking on my friends and see how they're doing. And what they're doing seemed so fun.

The good thing is, it's over. I may still be contemplating on something, but I no longer question my decision to come here.

4. Accepting phase

As you can see, I'm actually writing about it, so you can say I've accepted most of the terms of living here. And upon accepting it, the life here becomes just simple, usual life.

Excessive Fiction

Lately, I often go out in the middle of the night, about 12 pm or 1 am, just to go to the konbini (convenience store). It's usually for things that I just realized that I ran out of, like a pack of eggs, or toothpaste. Or sometimes a pack of pocky or ice cream just because I want to have something in my mouth other than rice.

The closest konbini from the campus is actually just across the street. But my dorm is on the other side of the campus, so, although it's close, it still takes 5-10 minutes of slow walk.

So what do I do when I walk across the empty campus in the middle of the night?

Daydream (or is it nightdream?) about what should I do if I want to disappear.

The first thing that I would make sure is whether I bring my wallet or not, because sometimes I only took coins and key when I go to konbini. Once I'm certain that I have my wallet, I would keep going with the plan. The next step would be to get rid of my phone (or just turn on the airplane mode). All I know is that people can be traced from their phones, so yeah, phone's out.

Now what should I do?

I always think that a simple white shirt, short celana rumah with holes and a pair of slippers are not the best combination to run away and disappear, so I have to do some shopping first. The best option would be to take the train and head to Shinjuku, since there is a 24 hours open strange store, that sells all sort of stuffs, from your favorite kit kat green tea, to clothes and cameras and even secondhand Louis Vuitton bags. It would be a good start to buy some clothes, bag, et cetera et cetera. By bag, I meant the bag you wear on your back, not the secondhand Louis Vuitton.

After that, it would be best to pack everything properly. Carrying them in plastic bags all over the place is not a good idea for someone who's running away, right? A short visit to the toilet to take care of the items and change clothes, then look for a place to stay for the night. The first thing that came to my mind was always capsule hotels or spending the night in a cafe or restaurant until the train starts to run. But, just when I'm about to go deeper into the run away plan, I've already arrived at the konbini. And the next time I start imagining this again, it usually starts from the wallet check again.

Sebelum Balik ke Dunia Nyata!

Hampir dua bulan gak buat apa-apa dan gak terasa minggu depan libur musim panas udah habis. Mulai 1 September masuk trimester musim gugur. Nilai trimester ini dipakai buat masuk ke universitas, UWOOOH!!

Jadi saya udah ngapain aja selama satu setengah bulan liburan ini?

Naik Gunung Fuji. Pertama kalinya naik gunung! Gunung Fuji memang mudah buat didaki, jadi yah gampang-gampang aja. Mulainya juga dari ketinggian 2000-an meter gitu, jadi tinggal sedikit aja dakinya, udah sampe. Daki Fuji itu udah begitu umum bagi orang Jepang, sampe-sampe saking ramenya hari itu, 200-300 meter terakhir ke puncak itu ngantri. Literally ngantri. Nungguin orang di depan maju, baru deh bisa maju.

Dakinya rame-rame sama mahasiswa Indonesia lainnya yang di TUFS, totalnya jadi bersebelas kalau gak salah. Naiknya kurang lebih jam 19.30 dan mendaki selama delapan jam. Di puncak ujung-ujungnya cuma bisa gemetaran-gemetaran gak jelas gara-gara suhunya yang di bawah nol derajat. Rencana awalnya mau lihat sunrise, tapi yah apa mau dikata, ternyata berkabut. Apa yang kelihatan cuma langitnya jadi kuning-kuning gitu, terus mataharinya ngintip-ngintip beberapa menit sekali. Setiap mataharinya ngintip, semua orang di puncak langsung, "WOW!" terus diam lagi karena mataharinya gak kelihatan lagi.

Perjalanan turun cuma empat jam, dan kami bersebelas udah misah-misah aja sesuai speed masing-masing (naiknya juga gitu sih). Pemandangan selama turun itu mantap sekali, gak rela rasanya ninggalin tempat itu.

the way down

Pulang. Siangnya turun dari Fuji, malamnya terbang pulang. Iya, pulang ke Indonesia, seminggu aja. Terus banyak yang komplen, "Ngapain pulang? Buang-buang duit aja." Memang duitnya, duitnya situ? Duitnya mamak-bapak aku kok kelen yang sibuk. Ups, nggak ada topik jadi kayak gini tulisannya. Well yah daripada ayah sama mama yang kemari, setelah dipikir-pikir memang bagusan kalau saya yang pulang. Biaya lebih minim dan saya juga bisa jumpa lebih banyak orang. Intinya jumpa ini, jumpa itu, makan ini, makan itu, dan seterusnya.

Homestay. Natsuyasumi (libur musim panas) kali ini juga jadi kesempatan buat keluarga baru lagi. Sama satu orang mahasiswa Indonesia lagi, kami sama-sama dapat host family di Hiroshima. Nah, sekali lagi saya harus perjelas seberapa baik dan ramahnya orang Jepang sama orang asing. Homestay di rumah orang Jepang itu berasa tinggal di rumah sendiri. Waktu homestay kemarin sayangnya cuma ada host mother sama adiknya, kami juga segan mau nanya kemana host father-nya. Mereka gak malu-malu ngungkapin pendapat pribadinya sama orang asing kayak kami berdua. Host mother-nya juga gak pake malu-malu kalau lagi cerita-cerita atau waktu lagi main Wii bareng. Ibunya juga betul-betul sabar setiap ngomong sama saya, berhubung bahasa Jepang saya masih di bawah standar. Satu hal luar biasa lagi yang gak kalah penting, host mother-nya gak nanggung-nanggung bayarin semua keperluan kami selama di sana. Entahlah berapa banyak duit yang udah dikeluarin buat kami, sampai-sampai saya jadi segan kalau lagi dibawa makan, berasa nguras duit. Saya homestay selama enam hari, dari 15-20 Agustus. Terus teman saya pulang balik ke Tokyo, saya lanjut jalan-jalan sendiri.

Ke Kansai. Sebelum pulang ke Tokyo, karena udah terlanjur lagi di daerah sana, yah sekalian aja Osaka sama Kyoto disinggahin sebelum pulang. Betul-betul jadi turis, berusaha ngunjungin sebanyak mungkin tempat-tempat wisata di daerah Osaka sama Kyoto, bahkan sampai dibawa jalan-jalan sama teman-teman yang di Osaka ke Kobe.

Fushimi Inari-taisha

Waktu di Kyoto, betul-betul sendirian, ke sana ke mari, terus nginap di guesthouse/hostel yang sekamar sepuluh orang bareng-bareng sama orang asing. Gak nyangka bisa ngalamin sendiri yang biasa cuma bisa dilihat di program adventure di televisi.

Sayang liburannya udah mau selesai.

Seperempat Tahun Kemudian

Hari ini tepat 3 bulan setelah sampai di sini. Apa aja yang udah berubah? Tons of things udah berubah, terutama kalau berhubungan dengan uang.

Jalan-jalan. Dulu, waktu masih bulan pertama, dalam seminggu bisa sampe empat-lima kali ninggalin kampus buat pergi entah ke mana. Suka-suka aja pergi kemana-mana gak kenal waktu. Waktu itu, biaya kereta mah gak peduli sama sekali. Hari ini isi kartu 1000 yen (110.000 rupiah), habis, besok isi lagi 1000 yen, habis lagi, beberapa hari kemudian isi lagi 1000 yen. 

Kalau sekarang? Senin sampai Jumat cuma bisa ngeram di kamar. Perjalanannya cuma asrama, kelas, konbini (convenience store) seberang kampus, sama kantin. Bahkan buat belanja ke supermarket yang lengkap dan murah suka diundur-undur sampe Sabtu atau Minggu, pas kebetulan lagi di luar, soalnya gak mau bayar biaya kereta ke supermarketnya. Kalau sekarang, diusahain cuma ngisi kartu buat naik kereta 1000 yen per minggu. 2000 yen udah paling parah kalau memang Sabtu dan Minggu dua-duanya jalan-jalan. Buat bisa menghemat, saya rela-relain naik kereta dari stasiun yang jaraknya 15 menit jalan kaki dari kampus. Padahal ada stasiun dekat kampus yang kepeleset juga udah sampe, tapi yah, kan mau ngemat. Karena itu, setiap jalan-jalan sekarang selalu diusahain buat berangkat sepagi mungkin dan pulang semalam mungkin = biar gak rugi.

Makan. Pas masih bulan pertama, makan itu selalu sembarangan milihnya, bukan babi kok, maksudnya sembarangan aja gak lihat-lihat harga. Kalau jalan-jalan, makannya sushi yang gak buat kenyang dan mahal. Kalau makan malam, beli bento dekat stasiun yang kisaran harganya diatas 40.000 rupiah semua.

Terpaksa masak

Kalau sekarang? Setiap malam harus masak nasi sendiri, soalnya nasi di sini harganya sesuatu sekali. Semangkok yang ukuran besar, yang bagi orang Indonesia tidak besar, bisa hampir 20.000 rupiah. Makan pagi disederhanakan, nasi tambah telur atau nasi goreng atau roti tambah susu segelas. Makan siang hampir selalu di kantin. Nasi selalu bawa sendiri, jadi di kantin biasanya tinggal beli lauk sama sayur yang totalnya biasanya 30.000 rupiah tiap hari. Terus kalau makan malam diusahain masak sendiri, dan kalau malas, beli lauk dari kantin lagi. Intinya sekarang pengeluaran buat makan perhari yang biasanya 1000 yen jadi antara 300-500 yen. Bahkan karena sekarang lagi puasa, dalam sehari kadang gak ngeluarin duit sama sekali karena masak sendiri. 

Pelajaran Bahasa (dan pelajaran lain-lain). Menurut saya, ini yang paling kejam di antara semuanya. Jadi bahasa Jepang yang aku bakalan belajar di sini ada tiga tingkat: 初級 (shokyū) = beginner, 中級 (chūkyū) = intermediate, 上級 (jokyū) = advanced. Kata teman yang kuliah di Sastra Jepang waktu di Indonesia, tiga-tiganya butuh waktu 4 tahun di universitas di Indonesia. Tapi di sekolah bahasa ini, tiga-tiganya harus selesai dalam 1 tahun. Dan karena ada tiga trimester di sini, jadi setiap trimester harus selesai satu. Sekarang walaupun belum selesai trimester musim semi, tapi karena pelajaran shokyu udah selesai, langsung diajarinlah chukyu-nya biar hemat waktu. Ini perbandingan sederhana pelajaran pertama antara keduanya,

Shokyū : わたしはルスファンです (Nama saya Luthfan)

Chukyū : 夏目漱石は、小説家として有名が、みなさんと同じように１９００年に文部省の国費留学生として、イギリスで３年間勉強した (Silahkan gunakan Google)

Selain itu sekarang juga udah mulai belajar IPA. Ujian akhir juga tinggal seminggu lagi, 

Bahan ujian!

Pekerjaan rumah. Pekerjaan rumah as in cuci baju, masak, dsb. Waktu pertama-tama jelas excited kalau nanti bakalan mandiri. Mandi sendiri, masak sendiri, bersihin kamar sendiri, biayain diri sendiri (well, yang ini memang seru), cuci baju sendiri, jemur pakaian sendiri, dan jangan lupa, lipat pakaian sendiri. Pas masih awal-awal memang enak, pelajaran sedikit dan waktu luang banyak. Tapi sekarang? Cuma bisa berharap jemuran terbang masuk kamar dan ngelipat sendiri, air dari keran nyala sendiri dan piringnya bersih sendiri. Yah gitulah.

Puasa. Iya, sekarang udah bulan puasa. Ini yang pertama kali gak sama orang tua, udah gitu jauh lagi tempatnya. Walaupun gitu, selamat menjalankan puasa! Selamat berpuasa dari jam 2.40 pagi sampai 7.00 malam! Marhaban ya Ramadhan!

What Have You Done to May?

Antara kerasa sama gak kerasa, udah mau dua bulan di sini. Selama sebulan terakhir ini, antara postingan terakhir sama postingan yang baru ini, ternyata ada banyak yang udah saya alamin, sampe shock sendiri ngelihat foto di hape kok segini banyaknya ya. So, let the pictures do the talking.

Beberapa minggu yang lalu, semua mahasiswa pre-undergraduate dibawa jalan-jalan ke Fuchu Folk Museum, mengenai kehidupan jaman dulu di Jepang gitu. Tapi, karena guidenya full ngomong pake bahasa Jepang, yah gak gitu dapat apa-apa. Tsugi!

Foto-foto yang di atas ini waktu Golden Week. Jadi kalau di Jepang itu, dari tanggal 3 Mei sampai 6 Mei itu hari libur. Karena libur terus gitu, disebutnya Golden Week. Kalau udah Golden Week, kemana-mana pasti rame. Yaiyalah ya, hari Sabtu-Minggu biasa aja juga rame.

Waktu Golden Week ini saya sempat ke beberapa tempat. Pertama ke Ueno Zoo (上野動物園). Kebetulan hari itu lagi Midori no Hi (Green Day), jadi kalau masuk kebun binatang digratisin. Kebun binatangnya bagus, ada monorail-nya segala di dalamnya. Setelah dari kebun binatang ini, malamnya kami ke Kurayami Matsuri/Festival in the Darkness yang diadain di Okunitama Shrine (dekat dari kampus). Biarpun namanya 'in the Darkness', festival-nya gak ada dark-dark-nya sama sekali. Ini festivalnya kurang lebih kayak yang ada di komik-komik itu. Di sepanjang jalan masuk ke kuilnya, ada banyak stand-stand gitu. Takoyaki, okonomiyaki, yakisoba, gula kapas, jualan yoyo isi air, jualan topeng, yakitori, sampe rumah hantu juga ada. Udah rumah hantunya gak gitu seram, mahal lagi.

Besoknya, saya juga ke Tokyo Institute of Technology (Tokodai). Ada kompetisi Futsal yang diadain sama mahasiswa-mahasiswa Indonesia yang kuliah di Tokodai. Gak, saya gak ikut futsalnya. Habis dari Tokodai itu, siangnya ke Odaiba. Odaiba itu pulau buatan yang ada di Tokyo Bay. Kalau dihitung jaraknya dari TUFS, Odaiba itu jauh kali. Pulang pergi aja bisa kenak 1500 yen (lebih kurang 150 ribu rupiah). Jadi kan buat ke Odaiba itu nyeberang laut sedikit, dan hari itu saya naiknya kereta. Kirain waktu di dalam kereta nanti bisa ngelihat air di sekitarnya, ternyata nggak, keretanya lewat terowongan. Kecewa. Okesip, lanjut.

Odaiba itu penuh dengan mall. Mall yang kalau dimasukin, langsung terasa pulang ke mall-nya Indonesia. Ada beberapa landmark terkenal di Odaiba, ada Gundam raksasa yang kalau malam lampunya nyala dan kepalanya geleng-geleng. Terus ada juga Patung Liberty versi kecil.

Ini mahasiswa Indonesia aja.

Ini foto kelas. Saya dapat kelas E.

Terus ini kali ya. Tanggal 15 Mei ada acara Welcome Party dari pihak kampus. Salah satu kegiatan acaranya itu perkenalan setiap mahasiswa baru. Kalau negara lain itukan, biasanya kalau gak 3 orang, 4 orang. Tapikan kalau dari Indonesia tahun ini ada 16 orang. Jadi waktu perkenalan itu, kayak beda sendiri gitu. Negara lain cuma makan 2 atau 3 menit buat perkenalan, waktu Indonesia perkenalannya gak selesai-selesai. Biar cepat, perkenalannya juga dibuat pendek. Negara lain ngomongnya, "Watashi wa _(negara)__ kara kita, _(nama)_ desu. Dozo yoroshiku onegaishimasu!" Berhubung Indonesia rame, kenalannya jadi, "_(nama)_ desu. Dozo yoroshiku!"

Kami juga sempat nampil tari Saman seadanya. Banyak salahnya padahal, tapi tiap selesai satu rangkaian gerakan, semua yang lihat tepuk tangan. Waktu selesai, jadi terharu sendiri bisa pamerin budaya Indonesia ke orang-orang luar. Bahkan ada mahasiswa Indonesia yang ngambil S2, sampai nangis setelah kami selesai Saman. Alhamdulillah yang lihat juga pada kagum, bulak-balik bilang, "SUBARASHII!"dan sebagainya.

Well, itu dua minggu pertama Mei. Kemana sisanya? Sisanya dipake buat belajar.

Kenapa Monbukagakusho?

Hai kalian yang baca, makasih ya udah baca. Jangan langsung ditutup tab-nya, kali ini informasinya InsyaAllah bagus kok. Sebagai penerima beasiswa Monbukagakusho, saya betul-betul berharap kalau tahun ini juga ada banyak orang yang mau daftar beasiswa Monbukagkusho. Makin banyak yang apply, makin banyak juga nanti yang bisa lulus ke Jepang, kan buat bangga kalau dari Indonesia banyak yang dapat. Kayak tahun ini misalnya. Biasanya penerima beasiswa S1 itu jumlahnya gak lebih dari 10. Tapi tahun ini, untuk S1-nya ada 16 orang di Tokyo dan 12 orang di Osaka. Bukan nyombong sih, pamer aja.

Jadi, kenapa harus ikut beasiswa Monbukagakusho?

Bebas Biaya
Bebas biaya? Biaya pendaftaran? Bukan, gratis kuliah maksudnya. Selama kuliah di sini, biaya kuliahan dan pendidikan di sekolah bahasa (selama satu tahun pertama) bakalan ditanggung sama Kementerian Pendidikan Jepang/Monbukagakusho. Kalo kuliah di Indonesia kan masih dibayarin ayah-ibu, kalau di sini gak perlu ngeberatin orang tua buat mikirin biaya kuliah lagi. Orang tua gak perlu lagi buang-buang tenaga mikirin, "Aduh! Uang kuliah anakku udah harus dibayar bulan depan!" Gak mau apa buat orang tua lebih tenang hidupnya? Mau kan?

Di Jepang
Sebenarnya mau kuliah di mana aja, itu semua tergantung sama orangnya. Tapi, kalau kuliah di Jepang, paling nggak udah terjamin dapat pendidikan yang lebih berkualitas. Universitas di Indonesia masih berupaya jadi world-class university, tapi kalo universitas di sini rata-rata udah world-class.

Berada di Jepang juga jadi kesempatan buat belajar keberagaman budaya dunia. Kalau waktu SMA gak sempat ikut pertukaran pelajar, selama kuliah di sini bisa dapat kesempatan bagus buat berkomunikasi dengan mahasiswa dari berbagai negara. Kayak sekarang aja di TUFS, saya udah jumpa banyak mahasiswa dari Nepal, Mongolia, Thailand, Brazil, Malaysia, India, Bulgaria, Peru dan banyak negara lain. Kapan lagi coba bisa merasakan yang beginian?

Bahasa Baru
Ini juga jadi salah satu keluarbiasaan buat kuliah di Jepang. Kalau dapat kuliahnya di Singapura atau Malaysia atau Amerika atau Inggris, ujung-ujungnya juga masih pakai bahasa Inggris kan? Tapi kalau ke Jepang, gimanapun ceritanya harus bisa bahasa Jepang buat kuliah. Nah, di zaman globalisasi ini, eugh serasa ngetik tugas PKn, di zaman globalisasi ini, bahasa punya peran penting. Makin banyak bahasa yang kita kuasai jelas jadi lebih bagus. Ini juga salah satu alasan utama saya pas ditanyain kenapa ikut Monbukagakusho waktu tes wawancara.

Dapat Uang Saku
Mahasiwa yang dapat beasiswa dibayar untuk kuliah dengan baik. Pemerintah Jepang ngasih duit setiap bulannya sama penerima beasiswa Monbukagakusho yang jumlahnya cukup, 120.000 yen per bulannya. Asal gak makan sushi setiap pagi, siang dan malam, dan gak ke Shibuya tiap hari, duitnya pasti cukup kok.

Tanpa Ikatan
Cuma karena dapat beasiswa ini, gak berarti penerima beasiswa nanti harus kerja untuk pemerintah Jepang. Gak ada ikatan sama sekali. Mau kerja di Jepang, mau pulang, mau gak kerja, mau tidur, bebas kok.

Nah, kalau sekarang udah tertarik dan mau tahu detil-detil soal pendaftaran, bisa cek ke sini dan kalau rajin udah bisa mulai coba-coba ngerjain soal-soal tesnya:
http://www.id.emb-japan.go.jp/sch.html
Kalau belum ngerasa yakin, buka aja juga link barusan, mana tahu jadi lebih jelas. Bisa cek juga post-post saya sebelumnya atau blog-blog penerima beasiswa lainnya yang link-nya ada di sini:
http://haisayaifan.blogspot.jp/search/label/Monbukagakusho
http://zahr-atul.blogspot.jp/2014/04/fellow-mext-scholars-blogs.html