Damian

Ik vind je aardig..

Dedicated to Jesus

Dear sweet Jesus,

How are you doing today? I hope I find You well despite your always busy days taking care of us down here. Thanks to You I am doing fine like always. I am sure that You already know what I am going to tell You (to ask You to be exact). People pray to You to ask You for something they want or to thank You for something You've done for them. That's what people agreed to do. We are taught for so long to come to You in needs. Yet sometimes, I think and say to myself, why should I talk to you for something that I want or for something that I need to thank You when You already know what's in my heart and what's on my mind.
Sometimes I feel that it's useless talking to You, since You already know what I am going say. Anyway Jesus, as I am trying to be part of the society, I talk to You occasionally. Or rarely to be precise. I'm truly sorry if I have singled You out and hardly be Your company when You feel lonely. Do You feel loneliness?

Uh…, anyway.. Since You know everything more than I do, You know that's not why I really want to talk about. I want to talk about something else. As You know, I had IELTS test last week for ADS. It was not bad, but to me it was not good either. As an English letters graduate, I felt so stupid. But, I was a bit relieved when one of my friends whose training program was in Oz said that he met some ADS grantees whose English were not as good as he thought. And now my heart's fast beat goes to the interview next week.

Ow, what the heck.. You know what I want Jesus. You know that it is my desire to be one of those grantees this year. Do You think that I would make it? I hope I would. But then again, who am I to ask?

Sometimes I feel that I do not deserve asking you anything. You've given me a lot and I haven't thank You enough. Sometimes I think that its' not my right to ask You, even for a very tiny favor because I'm just a small fragment, a very tiny dot from the whole dots seen from Your place. But then again, to call such thing about myself seems to be unfair to You because You have created me and granted me with wonderful life. I would also underestimate Your work since I am part of "human being corps", what so called as one of Your perfect creations.

Sometimes at night, I really want to ask You to just grant me with my wish and fly me to the Netherlands with Stuned or to Oz with APS or ADS. I think I did ask You for the first two. But as I recall, You did not give me the green light. Well, I am not saying that I blame You for that. Sometimes I'm mad at You because You did not give me what I want even when I think I have asked You for positive things. But then again, I said to my self that You know what is best for me more than I do. So why bother blaming You? Perhaps I misunderstood You. Surely You would not bestow upon me any catastrophe.

So, even what I really want to ask You is to granting me with the scholarship to Oz this year, I guess it's better that I ask You to guide me through the rest and carry me when I'm down, like the way You always do. For I know, no matter what You decide, it would certainly best for me.

Yours truly,
Sasa

I dreamed of Kenya (The Last Stand)

Begitulah kira-kira,
Hari demi hari berlalu dengan kertas demi kertas, laporan demi laporan, makanan demi makanan, foto demi foto, sms demi sms, shilling demi shilling pun cuman numpang lewat dompet doank hihihihihi.

Akhir kata,
hari terakhir sidang langsung nyamperin bandara deh dianter pak harli.
pulang.....

I dreamed of Kenya (part Deux)

Wuiih, akhirnya setelah seminggu, sempet juga jalan-jalan. Hari minggu kemaren kita ber empat belas pergi maen-maen ke Danau Nakuru yang mana adalah merupakan satu bagian yang tidak terpisahkan dari Nakuru National Park (opo tho....).

Kita kumpul di Wisma Duta jam 7 pagi dan sarapan dulu tentunyah. Perjalanan ke Nakuru waktu itu cuma dan hanya cuma tiga jam saja. Mengapa tiga jam itu cuma dan hanya cuma? Soalnya kalo bapak’e travel itu tidak ngebut di aspal yang berloebang-loebang, pastilah kita nyampe Nakuru 5 jam kemudian. Buset dah itu mobil Matatu jalannya kenceng abis. Pernah nggak maen ke supermarket ato ke mall terus ada liat alat olah raga yang seperti ikat pinggang membuat kita bergetar-getar bak penyanyi dangdut si dada getar? Naaah... waktu si Matatu itu ngebut, rasanya badan daku bergetar-getar begitu looh. Sempet tengsin jugah, tapi ternyata mas Afwandi yang sama ndutnya bergetar-getar juga kikikikikik...

By the way, Matatu itu sebetulnya sebutan buat mikrolet di sana dan karena jenis mobil yang dipake ke Nakuru sama modelnya sama tuh angkot, jadinya kita sebut matatu juga. Sampe di Nakuru kira-kira jam sepuluh pagi. Banyak ketemu sodara di sana. Ada monyet, ada kebo air, ada jerapah, ada zebra, ada badak, ada kancil, ada raja singa (he..?), ada burung-burung, ada banyak deh pokoknya. Tujuan utama ke sana sebetulnya mau liat flamingoes yang lagi ngetem di danau Nakuru, tapi kok ya apes, nggak direstui jalan2 pake uang negara eh rakyat hehehe... . Aer danau nya lagi surut dan flamingoes nya lagi migrasi ke Uganda dan baru balik beberapa bulan lagi (jauh amat yah..).



Seharian kita muterin taman nasional Nakuru. Luas bangeeeeet deh. Bener-bener berasa di Afrika (hello...where have you been gitu looh..dah seminggu kok ya baru berasa di Afrikah). Akhirnya perjalanan diakhiri dengan makan siang di hotel sana, terus pulang deh. Ampe wisma dah jam tujuh malem, waktunya makan lagi kikikik. Bener-bener bak menggarami air laut alias menyuburkan badan yang sudah subur hehe..

Malam berlalu, detak jam tik tok tik tok barengan sama aer hujan. Nggak berasa dah pagi lagi, dingin lagi, males mandi lagi, are panas cuman anget-anget nggak kukuuu deh... yaaah, sidang lagi deh.

to be continued...

I dreamed of Kenya... (Judul yang nggak banget..)

Hm….

Nggak nyangka bisa pergi ke Afrika. Kalo nggak karena kerjaan ya karena apa lagi yak? Tabungan masih jauh dari ongkos keliling dunia hehehe… Jadi ceritanya, di sini lagi ada Sidang UNFCCC (baca: United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change) dan daku ketiban durian-durian yang berguguran dengan manisnya.

Anyway…

Berangkat ke Kenya itu ribet jugah, walopun sebetulnya nggak harus ribet. Yang katanya harus suntik Meningitis ama Yellow Fever ternyata udah nggak perlu lagi. Udah ada tuh di bandara Jomo Kenyatta tulisan gede-gede nggak perlu lagi vaksinasi yellow fever. Lah why o why ya, waktu itu jauh-jauh pergi ke bandara Halim menghabiskan 300 ribu rupiah buat cubitan yang gak berasa apapun, ... ck… kecewah..

Kemaren itu berangkat dari Jakarta tanggal 4 November 2006 barengan ama Pak Salman, Plt. Direktur PELH. Transit sejaman di Kuala Lumpur terus transit lagi di Dubai sebentar (baca: 4 jam). Nyampe di Nairobi, kirain bakalan panas gitu yah. Ternyata adem ayem ajah..kecewah deh… abis nggak bawa jaket :)

First thing crossed in my mind about Africa was… panas, berdebu dan agak primate gitu (kurang hajar sekaleee…). But fortunately I was wrong. Nairobi jauh dari ketiadaan. Jauh dari yang namanya panas. Jauh dari yang namanya polusi tapi dekat dengan yang namanya penodongan dan penembakan. Walah… jadi milih yang mana ni? Kepanasan atau kejahatan?

Seneng banget deh waktu ke Nairobi. Kirain seumur-umur nggak bakalan lagi aku temui udara segar kayak di Kaliurang (dulu). Nyatanya, Nairobi itu surganya udara bersih. Nggak ada kata lain buat mendeskripsikannya selain sejuk luar biasa. Kalau pernah diopname di rumah sakit sampai mau tewas, pasti pernah dikasih oksigen sama suster. Wah… kalah deh itu tabung oksigen. It's like makan permen mint Golia sebanyak-banyaknya.

Tapi sempet surprise juga waktu menginjakkan kaki di bandara Jomo Kenyatta. Hm… bandara internasional yang kecil dan lumayan kumuh. Kalah deh ama bandara di Ambon, Kendari, Samarinda, Yogya, Medan. Ama jakarta apa lagi… Tapi yang seru adalah, sebelah kiri persis bandara itu adalah Nairobi National Park. Jadi begitu keluar bandara, kalau beruntung dan belom pada bermigrasi, bisa lihat Jerapah, Zebra dan teman-temannya.

Sepanjang jalan yang udah bagus yang dilihat padang rumput yang jarang-jarang karena dimakan binatang, yang menguning warnanya karena terik matahari dan mbak-mbak serta mas-mas yang mayoritas item (halah..). Kota Nairobi sendiri nggak terlalu adem sih. Mulai berasa rindang waktu masuk ke suburb, di mana diplomatic compound dan UNON (United Nations Office in Nairobi) berada.

Tadinya nginep semalem di Wisma Duta KBRI yang walah walah bagus banget yak. Rindang, halamannya luas, ijo royo-royo, plus ada Jiro dan Cheetah, rotweillernya pak dubes dan extra 3 German Shepperd hehehe.. Trus, malem berikutnya hingga curiganya sampe malem-malem terakhir, daku nginep di tetangga sebelah, di rumah orang Yaman yang astaghfirullah baeknya nggak ketulungan. Pinjem handuk boleh... mau ngudek-udek dapur silahkan... mau nonton tipi semaleman sumonggo kerso... ampe mau ngetik-ngetik kerjaan (baca: laporan sidang) pun dikasih ruang kerja. Gubrak abis pokoknyah..

Deskripsi kamar: gedheeee.....jacuzzi......eternit kaca (wakakakakakakak). Mana daku sekamar ama mbak Julia dari KLH. Kagak salah temen bobok nee..? kikikikikik....

Hm...seminggu di sini belom sempet ke mana-mana karena jadwal Sidangnya emang padat abis dan nggak ketulungan ya, ampe malem mulu. Akhirnya baru minggu ini ada rencana mau nengokin teman-teman flamingo di Danau Nakuru. Hm.. males sih sebetulnya, karena sisi feminin lebih condong belanja oleh-oleh ke Village Market (wink..wink..). Tapi yah..tak apa, itung-itung nabung cerita buat anak cucu (halaaa...h).

....to be continued....