Hidup Harus Terus Berlanjut, kan?

Hai, sudah lama aku gak membuka blog ini. Well, sekarang aku mau cerita apa yang terjadi hampir setahun belakangan dan mungkin menjadi salah satu alasan aku gak buka blog ini heheh..

Bulan Agustus 2016 merupakan awal aku memulai petualangan di Bumi Pasundan ini. Seperti semua orang, euforia menjadi mahasiswa baru di institut yang cukup terkenal dengan prestasi akademiknya sangat terasa di awal-awal. Siapa yang tidak senang coba berkuliah di sini?

Di sini, aku tinggal di sebuah kos yang letaknya masih di sekitar ITB. Ini memang bukan pertama kalinya aku tinggal sendirian, jauh dari keluarga dan tempat asal. Jadi, di awal-awal aku tinggal di Bandung, aku sudah terbiasa dengan kesendirian dan mulai membangun kehidupan dengan beradaptasi terhadap lingkungan sekitar. Puji Tuhan, di sini aku cukup aktif di Bina Antarbudaya Chapter Bandung sehingga memudahkan aku untuk bertanya kepada beberapa orang yang tinggal di sini mengenai suatu hal di Bandung yang tidak aku ketahui. Selain itu, karena beberapa anak pertukaran pelajar yang seangkatan denganku dulu juga berkuliah di sini, aku juga gak terlalu merasa sendiri.

Oh iya, di sini aku juga satu kos dengan teman-teman SMA-ku. Ketika aku merasa sendiri di kamar, aku langsung beranjak menuju ke kamar mereka, bercengkeramah dari hal yang berfaedah hingga nirfaedah. Beberapa kali juga, kami pergi ke kosan teman-teman kami yang lain, sambil belajar jalan-jalan di sekitar lingkungan baruku ini.

Gimana dengan kuliahnya sendiri? Hmm... Kuliah di ITB emang bener-bener menguras pikiran dan tenaga. Waktu juga deng. When you're accepted in ITB, your senior will say like,"Welcome to the hell, guys!" Unfortunately, it's true. Mungkin ketika kamu duduk di kelas di awal-awal perkuliahan, kamu akan merasa yang paling pintar. Tapi setelah kamu mendapat hasil ujian... HEHEH sabar aja ya :) Tapi sedihnya gak lama-lama kok, seiring berjalannya waktu kami mulai beradptasi dan terbiasa dengan cara belajarnya ITB.

Kebanyakan anak-anak ITB belajar secara berkelompok, and that's what I do. Awalnya, aku emang mencoba untuk belajar sendiri, hasilnya... lihatlah betapa buruknya heheh. Akhirnya aku mencoba untuk mencari teman yang asik dan mau belajar bareng aku. Di sini aku mencoba untuk tidak sering bersama dengan teman-teman SMA ku karena aku merasa itu akan menghambat adaptasiku untuk tinggal di sini. Untungnya aku ikut unit Radio Kampus. Di situ aku menemukan beberapa teman yang asik dan mau belajar denganku. Awalnya sih cuma teman seunit yang dulu satu bimbel dengan aku di Medan, tapi di tempat kami belajar, sering kami bertemu dengan beberapa teman seunit kami yang lain sehingga kami menyatu menjadi satu kelompok belajar heheh.. Belajar kelompok di sini juga ga bentar. Sering ketika sudah mendekati ujian, kami belajar hampir setiap hari dari sore hingga esok pagi (karena pagi-sore masih kuliah). Pernah suatu hari kami belajar sampai jam 5 pagi hahah... But it's worth actually. Selain kamu bisa nambah teman dan semakin akrab dengan mereka, kamu akhirnya bisa tau beberapa materi pelajaran yang kamu ga tau, tapi temen kamu tau :)

Ngomong-ngomong tentang unit... Aku merupakan salah satu kru Radio Kampus atau biasa disingkat dengan RK. Seperti unit-unit lain, sebelum menjadi anggota unit ini, dalam unit ini menjadi kru, kami diharuskan mengikuti kaderisasi, di RK disebut sebagai pendidikan. Di unit ini, aku diterima menjadi announcer. Ini merupakan pengalaman yang sangat baru buatku. Jujur sebenernya aku masih kurang pede ngomong, bahkan sampai sekarang karena anak-anak ITB sangat kritis dan keren-keren, di situ aku kadang merasa minder. Tapi anak RK sangat sangat lucu, juga asik. Dari RK, aku banyak tau tentang tempat-tempat hang out yang bagus di Bandung, tempat makan yang enak, film atau musik yang baru keluar, dll. Aku bener-bener merasa up-to-date di sini. Walaupun begitu, kalau lagi serius, kayak musyawarah atau forum gitu, mereka bener-bener serius. Dari situ, aku jadi banyak belajar dari mereka tentang berorganisasi dan berpikir kritis dan kreatif.

Selain RK, aku juga lumayan aktif di Persekutuan Mahasiswa Kristen atau biasa disingkat PMK. PMK ITB membuat aku emang bener-bener bertumbuh secara rohani. Aku merasa lebih mengenal Tuhan sekarang dibandingkan yang dulu. Well, you know, anak ITB itu sangat ambis (read: rajin) dalam akademik sehingga banyak kehidupan sosial mereka sangat kurang, akibatnya mereka merasa sendiri dan ada kekosongan di dalam diri mereka. That's the point, guys. You need God, aku merasa butuh Tuhan dalam diriku. Di PMK, aku aktif di Divisi Pelayan Khusus (PK), tugasnya seperti menjenguk orang sakit, menghibur orang yang lagi sedih dan menjadi penyambut orang yang datang ke ibadah PMK setiap Jumat.

Hari berganti hari, bulan berganti bulan, kini aku akan memasuki tahun kedua. Katanya sih besok bakal pengumuman jurusan. Hopefully I get the one that I want the most! I won't tell what it is anyway heheh... Dari pertengahan Mei kemarin, sebenarnya aku udah libur, tapi aku belum balik karena masih harus mengikuti beberapa diklat yang merupakan persyaratan untuk menjadi panitia OSKM (Orientasi Studi Keluarga Mahasiswa), semacam ospek gitu, mahasiswa 2017.

By the way, sekarang kan lagi puasa. Di daerah kosan aku, ga ada warung makan yang buka pagi-pagi. Jadi untuk sarapan aku harus bangun jam 3 pagi untuk beli makan (sahur). Such a great experience actually, belum pernah ngerasain begini, tapi gapapa sih, that's what we call as tolerance, right?

Sudah hampir setahun aku berada di sini, banyak sekali perubahan yang aku rasa di dalam diriku. Lika-liku dalam kehidupan juga semakin banyak untuk mengasah kepribadianku menjadi manusia yang kuat. Tapi hidup harus terus berlanjut kan? Aku percaya, semua badai pasti akan berlalu dan suatu hari, aku akan benar-benar menjadi manusia kuat, hebat dan bisa menginspirasi setiap orang.


Bandung, 4 Juni 2017.
00:09

België? Dat Is Mijn Tweede Thuis!

Hi! We meet again. It’s already around 5 months I’m here. Time flies so fast! I hate it so much. Many things happened to me during these 5 months and almost all of it are new for me. Actually, I don’t really want to tell it because my English is getting worse here, even my Indonesian! Am I lying? No, it’s really true! I still remember when my Indonesian friend asked the time to me and I don’t know to say it in Indonesian. I also ever wanted to write an email to my Indonesian friends, but… after I wrote one sentence in Indonesian, I didn’t know anymore how to write in Indonesian, even in English. I was so lazy at that time to open my lovely Google Translate, so I didn’t send it. Hahaha…

Living in a country where has 3 national languages, as I said before in my last newsletter is unique but also complicated for me. The majority languages here are Dutch and French. Almost everyone here can speak both beause they learn it at school. I’m really proud of being an exchange student in Belgium because I don’t only learn to speak Dutch but also French a little bit. Every product here has writing in Dutch and French. I live in Flanders - a Dutch-speaking region – so you will see the advertisements in public places in Dutch. While in Brussels, the capital city of Belgium, has Dutch and French speaker over there. So, the advertisements will be in Dutch and French. Even in the train station, if they want to say the departure of the trains, they will say it in Dutch and French. And if I go to the south of Belgium, Wallonia – the Frech-speaking region – it’s better I speak English than my bad Dutch. Based on it, I’m really proud of being Indonesian which only has 1 national language. I can’t imagine if every dialects in Indonesia become national language…

In Indonesia, it’s not really common to use calculator, especially in the exam. We are used to calculate by ourselves on the paper. But in Belgium… You can use it as you want, they even use it in the exam. And what makes me become lore impressed is the calculator can make graphic! First time when I saw it, I said, “WHAT??!!” I really never see that in Indonesia. I was thinking that I was so tired to calculate, especially in the exam and must search how the graphic will be and draw it by myself. And now, I see everyone use their calculator in the exam and they just copy the graphic from the calculator into their paper. They also bring only some papers of the books everyday. I mean, their books are easily to rip. So, they will take only some pages from the books that will be learned by them in school and put it in a binder. So, if they have thick books, they don’t need to bring all the books to school like us in Indonesia, only the binder with some pages. It’s really more comfortable!As you know, western people really like walking or using public transportation and now I MUST DO IT TOO. If in Indonesia, my dad will bring me to school and pick me up again by car, now I must walk every morning to school because it’s close to my house, around 10 minutes by foot. If I go further, I must use bicycle or walk to the station and take the bus. In the beginning, it’s really hard for me, I’m really tired because in Indonesia, if it’s even 10 minutes by walk, you still use motorcycle or car! But now I already use to it. Moreover, I think it’s good for my health. Oh ya, being on time is very important here. For example, taking the bus or train. If you’re not on time, you have to wait it again for one hour. Or maybe you have an appointment with someone and you’re late, he/she will be really disappointed to you. They also don’t care if you are an exchange student with “late” culture because I live in a new culture, not in mine anymore.

Maybe you also know that western people have "table manner" which must use fork and knife. That's what I do also here. If in Indonesia I usually use hand or spoon and fork, now whatever is the food, if it's pasta, fish, chicken, or anything else, I have to use fork and knife like them. Beside that, Belgian also use to drink alcohol or something with soda when they are eating. I ever went out with my family, everyone choose the drinking with soda while me, only order water. Oh yeah, they also have 2 kinds of water here, the usual water and water with soda -__________- I ever tried water with soda and I didn't want it anymore. I think it will be my first and the last water with soda -___-

In the beginning of December, there was exam in my school. Because I'm still a beginner, it's really hard for me to understand the lessons and AFS asked us, the exchange students who didn't want to take exam here to do a social work as volunteer. So, during my friends had exam, I worked in OCMW Genk, it's a place for old people to eat, learn how to use computer, learn languages or even play cards with their friends. I worked to served coffee or tea in the cafeteria of it. 2 weeks there was very priceless for me. Many things I learned, especially from the volunteers over there. They work also like me but they also old people. I asked them why they still want to do it while they are also old people as people they serve. They even said to me they already work for years, even more than 20 years. And they answered because they like to do it. They are happy if their friends are happy. WHAT A WONDERFUL ANSWER! Actually I really didn't want to work over there because I serve old people which are very annoying for me. But because of the volunteers I met over there, I learn that VOLUNTEER=HEART. We need our heart to do volunteering. Now I also understand why people want to be volunteers in AFS or maybe why my host family or other host families want to host us. It's because they have their heart in it. VOLUNTEERS ARE REALLY PRICELESS!

Two days before Christmas, the family from my host mom came to our house. They are really nice and friendly. We did many things. We talked together, young people got presents from the older people, the kids read a letter for the family as Belgian tradition here, and played cards together. It was really fun! I felt like they are also my family. While in the New Year's Eve, I went to Brussels. I met my Indonesian friends over there. We talked everything and ate very much because we needed to go to restaurant to get warmth hahaha... In the midnight, we saw the fireworks. It was beautiful and I was really happy because that was my first time to celebrate New Year abroad.

Now, it’s already winter here. Winter starts on 21^st December every year. I was really excited in the beginning December. I really hoped there will be snow because many people say in 2013, there was no snow. But… ON 2^nd DECEMBER 2014 MY FIRST SNOW FELL!!! It was in the evening. After dinner, my mom went outside and she said, “Benny, it’s snow!” I was surprised and ran outside directly! I saw everything is almost white! I was really happy although it’s not too much. I took many photos of it. Hahaha… After that, there was no snow anymore. But in the winter break, OH GOSH! THERE WAS SO MUCH SNOW! It was like my best Christmas gift ever. Every new thing that I find here is really unique and awesome. Altough sometimes I find something different with my personality or my culture, now I’m falling in love with Belgium. Now I can say, BELGIUM IS MY SECOND HOME!PS. Sorry I don't have time to post the photos. I need to sleep now but I promise to post it asap. Good night!

Dream.

One day when I was in KSJ, a little girl asked me a question in Dutch. I didn't understand what did she say. Fortunately there was my friend who heard our conversation and looked my confused face. Then my friend said that the little girl want to know what do I want to be in the future. Then I answered, "I wanna be an ambassador". Yeah, that's my dream.

Talk about dream, I actually have many dreams since I know what 'dream' is. I think not only me, but you and other people also have many dreams. One of my dream is being in Europe and now I'm already here, exactly now I'm an exchange student - which is my dream also - in Belgium. When I was walking after school to my house, I thought about dream and suddenly I remember a quote from Oprah Winfrey, "THE BIGGEST ADVENTURE YOU CAN TAKE IS TO LIVE THE LIFE OF YOUR DREAMS"

Now, I wanna tell you some experiences I got in these last 2 months. These experiences make me become more understand what dream is and how do you feel when you already accomplish it.

In the end of September, I had post arrival orientation from AFS. I must go to Dworp, it's near to Brussels. It's so far, so I need to take the train and actually I never take train before. So, I was confused how to get there. Luckily, I and my friends from MIL make an appointment that after Dutch lesson, we will go together by train. So, it was my first time to take the train. It was really cool! They have two-level train. After we arrive in the station of Dworp, there were volunteers who already waited for us. In the station, we met our friends from other countries and I met Fikram and Icha who are my friends from Indonesia! Most of us did hug each other and we talked about our experiences. After that, we were brought to the camp by bus. The place was really cool. Unfortunately, the camp was only 3 days. It was really short. We still missed each other, but we had to go to our home.

MILLLL!!!

Camp for Orientation

Train station in Genk

First time I met Fikram in the station after 1 month! 

Me and my friends on the train

In the 2nd October, I celebrated the Batik day, a day to commemorate Batik, Indonesian's traditional cloth as a Masterpiece of Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO. I celebrated it by wearing batik to school and take a selfie with my friends with a paper that I had written on it "HAPPY BATIK DAY!" It was really nice.

Then 2 days after that, I had Infoavond, it's an evening to promote or introduce AFS to the people. In that day, we, the hosted students were given chance to introduce our country. Some of us wearing traditional clothes, making traditional foods, etc. While I only wore Batik, brought Ulos - traditional clothes from my ethnic group, TONGSIS OR SELFIE STICK and some photos about Indonesia. Hehe.. Oya, before that, we did bowling and took a selfie of my batik :)

Preparing for Infoavond 

With the Thai girl

The Thai girls 

Ulos, Batik (Indonesia) - Short for Thai boxing (Thai) HAHAH 

With Hong Kong girl and a returnee from Hong Kong

Then, in the beginning of October, I change my family. Now, I live in Genk! It's bigger than Maasmechelen, but still smaller than Medan, my city in Indonesia. Now I live with Dad, Mom, 2 brothers and 1 sister, they are studying in university now. I really, really love them! They are crazy, especially my second brother, but I always laugh every day at them. They make my day every day! They like reading, many books in every side of this home. They have children books in Dutch which I can read and understand easily. And they also don't have tv, but this make them become more special than the other families. If they want to watch something, they use internet. My parents like history, especially my dad, he knows everything, he is like 'mbah' google in this house. So, I often ask them anything and now I know more about Europe. Unfortunately, I don't have family photo with them, sometimes one of us is not at home when I remember to take photo with them and sometimes I don't remember when all of us at home.

My house from the front

My house from the back

Playing with my brother and his friend

Playing chess with the crazy brother haha

Library of Gene

Town Hall of Gene

Park of Genk

Great Market of Genk

I move to Genk but I still go to De Helix in Maasmechelen, where I lived. So, every morning I must wake up at 06.30 in the morning and take the bus at 7.30. It's really cold. And in the afternoon, after the school, I must take the bus also and walk from the halte to my house. It's pretty far and I didn't use to walk in Indonesia. Now, I must take bus and walk everyday as European and feel the cold! It's already autumn and going to winter which means the temperature will get lower everyday. I really miss the sun, feel hot and have zweet every day :') But I like it actually, I really feel like a European now. Hehe...

The halte every morning :) 

Autumn

The way to my house

And I must pass this trap to my house :)

In the end of October, I had autumn holiday for one week. I went to London with my school. It was like "Oh my God! This is the biggest dream of my life and now I'm here!" I really wanted to shout at that time when I arrived in London, but it's impossible. Haha.. Unfortunately, it's only 4 days. It was really a short time and I didn't really enjoy the trip. But my host parents said that they already have been there for a few times but they still miss some places in London because London is very big and for the first time, it's only to get how London is. I'm really grateful to be there and I wish I can go there again! Ya, I must!

The station in Brussels

On Eurostar

During under the sea, it hurts our hearing

First step in UK!

St.Pancras Station

In the Undergound, it's really hot and many people over there

Time is important

Something weird for me, the advertisement is about the future of UK!

In Halloween, I had party with AFS in Leuven. It was really cool. Marija, my AFS friend did make up to me and after I saw my face, I thought about... Genderuwo, a ghost of Indonesia. Ya, I looked like it -_- In tomorrow of that day, I had KSJ activity in the evening. I became a Pocong, a ghost of Indonesia again on that day. At that time, I thought being a Pocong also can presentate my country. Haha.. My parents did the clothes to me, they were confused how to make it. But finally, they did a great job, I really looked like a Pocong. In that evening, we, the oldest group scared the younger group of KSJ. Anyway, the place was really good! They did a great job of decoration, I like it!

Genderuwo and friends...

Pocong and friends...

Live in Genk makes me easier to travel anywhere because many buses and there's a train station over here. My host parents also sometimes brought me to some places. I'm really grateful to live with them :) So, I've already been in Antwerpen, the biggest city in Belgium and its port is one of the biggest ports in the world, ranking third in Europe and within the top 20 globally; Brugge, a prominent world heritage site of UNESCO and people say it's 'The Venice of the North'; Maastricht, Netherlands for twice, one for traveling and the other one for looking a carnival. It's really close to Belgium and there's a bus from Genk to Maastricht; and Cologne or Koln in Germany, I met my AFS friends from Indonesia over there. We really had fun on that day! I even never meet my AFS friends from Belgium beside the camp because I'm closer to Germany than to other cities in Belgium. Hahaha...

Maastricht station

You will see many bikes in Netherlands :)

The Maas or Meuse, one of the five oldest rivers in the world

I went to Antwerpen with Marija and Augusto, my AFS friends

Antwerpen station

My AFS friends from other chapter, we met in Antwerpen

The town hall of Brugge

With my host dad

With my host mom

The Dom of Köln

With Myron and Nathan, AFS friends from Indonesia who live in Germany

With Myron, Nathan, and Lia

We got INDOMIEEE!!! But we got lost first -_-

Rhine in the night 

Carnival in Maastricht

So, that's all I had during these 2 months. Actually there are more experiences I got, but it will be really really long and the stories above are the most important in these 2 months and they make me become more understand what dream is and how does it feel when you accomplish it as I told you. See you!