footprints of life

Ugh, I really should put more effort into this, LOL….what a procrastinator…  Anyway, squeezing my brain dry, I actually came up with the third point,

# 3.  Being positive gives you the opportunity to see other things going on around you, instead of merely focusing on (what you consider as) the ‘disaster’.

At this point of time, I would take the liberty of saying that keeping up a positive attitude is quite close to a spiritual exercise.  You have to train. And you will fail.  Repeatedly.  And then you’ll try again.  And then it will come easier to you. EasiER.  Not easy, just easier. 

I am sure the following words had been said over and over, and over again, and I am repeating some great gurus out there, one of the greatest is Hellen Keller, with her famous quote, "When life closes a door, it opens a window." It is, cliche or not cliche, quite often, true.  Unfortunately, we are quite often so deep down in our personal dark hole that we are unable to see the tiny shaft of light shining through.

Sometimes I am wondering why people are so lucky.  Sometimes I am wondering why people are so successful.  I am wondering why some experiences break some people down, and energize some others. I have heard about, read about, and gotten to know incredible people who seem to have this crazy, creative energy that pushes them so much forward than everybody else.  People who survived things. People who invented things.  People who are ‘lucky’.

Why?  Are they simply ‘luckier’ or smarter?  Or are they equipped with this extra radar that some of us are lacking?  The one radar that keeps showing them other opportunities popping up here and there on the otherwise dark screen?  I personally believe that this ‘radar’ is the case. I don’t think life serves them a much better ‘fate’ (jeez…I hate using this word), primer opportunities, or other similar stuffs.  I just think that they are equipped with something extra to help them recognize the good things coming their way, even when they were down or in the middle of a failed project, or a heartbreak.

With some practice, you will find yourself drawn to good things.  And you will find it easier to spot the good things, and good people, around you, even in the middle of your personal crisis.  Try it out.

Frankfurt, January 22, 2012.

Kado Natal untuk kakak ipar dan mertua.

…. dan kado ulang tahun untuk ibu mertua…. proyek merajut/knitting pertamaku  ;p

Frankfurt, 22 Januari 2012.

# 2. It gives you something to look forward to, to get you through the darkest moments.

When you see the good sides of things, and you practice positivity, you will always know, that there are better things to come.

I know it sounds like bullsh*t to say that we are able to do it in a moment of immense sadness or disappointment, but it does help to be able to see beyond your pain.  It makes a difference to say, "Damn, it hurts like hell, I want to die now" and to say, "Damn, it hurts like hell, but in a year or so I will know what this all means, and I will survive long enough to find out."

I think most people don’t get over 30 without going through one or two painful experiences, right? (If not, then you are damn lucky, and you should be even more grateful because of that )  We survived, most of us did, at least, and wiser because of all these trainings.  Be open to your life lessons, you get them because you need them.  Use the chance accordingly.

Frankfurt, January 6, 2012. 

• Learn to floss correctly
• Learn to use the oven correctly
• February = dentist visit
• Drink!
• Dance!
• Career + academic consultation

Natal kali ini adalah natal pertama di Eropa, yang artinya, Natal pertama yang ‘harus’ dihabiskan mengunjungi keluarga, dan menyiapkan kado natal.

Tanggal 23 Desember aku dan suami bertemu dengan mertua di stasiun kereta Frankfurt untuk bersama-sama berangkat menuju Nuernbeg, tempat tinggal kakak ipar dan keluarganya. Untuk mertua, suamiku punya ide untuk membelikan travel guide Istanbul disertai secarik kertas bertuliskan ‘voucher akhir pekan di Istanbul’. Untuk ponakan-ponakan ternyata kakak ipar dan suaminya sudah menyiapkan kado, yang tinggal kami berikan saja, praktis bukan? hehehehe…

Aku sendiri menyiapkan dua set wine glass charmer, untuk ibu mertua dan kakak ipar.  Wine glass charmer adalah aksesoris kecil yang bisa dipasangkan di kaki gelas anggur untuk menandai gelasmu, supaya tidak tertukar, biasanya motif atau warnanya bermacam-macam.  Aku sendiri membuatnya dari kombinasi peniti + manik-manik + benang dengan teknik crochet/haaken. Sukses! Pengerjaannya sih lumayan rumit, tapi cepat dan hasilnya lucu. Yang menerima juga senang.

Tapi seperti biasa, karakter blogger kacanganku pun muncul…alias…lupa mengambil foto…grrr… Sudah diniati untuk memposting proyek ini di blog ini dan di blog khusus craftku di sini, eh….dari 24 (!!) biji aksesoris yang kubuat, tak satupun sempat difoto…halah….  Sempat terpikir untuk membuat satu atau dua sampel lagi, hanya untuk difoto, tapi tunggu dulu deh..banyak ide lain yang belum sempat dikerjakan, hahaha….

Frankfurt, 3 Januari 2012.

A couple of weeks before Christmas, I was chatting with an old friend, and this idea for this posting (and hopefully many more on it’s footstep) was born. I guess we can say that he was in a rut, and I said plenty of stuff, but I really wanted to say a lot more.

On one particularly rutty night, as I imagined it to be, he sent me a message, which I found the next day, "What’s the point of being positive?"  Which I replied to shortly, "Tons.  But to which I think you have no capacity of hearing right now.  So go ahead, and wallow in self pity. FOR. NOW. Take time."

# 1. Being positive gives you reasons to be grateful on whatever life throws at you.

I come from Indonesia (in case you have not noticed, LOL…), and in particular, I am Javanese.  The Javanese has some great and not so great attitudes, but one of them is this thing we like to call, "thank goodness that at least…..".

Say you had an accident and broke your left leg, a true Javanese in you would have said, "Thank goodness that at least I didn’t break both legs..".  If you had broken both legs, it’s "Oh my goodness, at least my arms are fine."  Oh yeah, this one is one of the many jokes being aimed at Javanese, but funny as it sounds, I personally am still doing it. When something is a part of your upbringing, you are prone to simply reproducing it, and you know, I am glad that I am.

This perspective offer me the opportunity of looking at the better side of things, ESPECIALLY when you are experiencing something bad.

I did have a fracture on my left foot several years ago.  It was a stupid crack in the pavement that did it.  Thank goodness I was in a big(ger) city, and could get immediate health assistance (though it didn’t help me, LOL, since they made a wrong diagnosis). Thank goodness that ‘only’ within 4 days, I was properly diagnosed in my provincial town, and had to leave the doctor’s practice with a cast on.  Thank goodness I only needed a half-cast. Thank goodness that on my first trip overseas 3 months later, alone, I had to sit on a wheelchair and got full assistance from everyone, otherwise I would have been totally lost. 

Stupid, hm? But it did help. Think about it.

Frankfurt, January 3, 2012.

Guten Rutsch!

It’s the ‘Happy New Year’ greeting here in Germany.  It’s cute because it literally means ‘have a good slide’, LOL…something worth researching.

Happy New Year everyone! Hope you slide gracefully into 2012, and can avoid all the bumps and manage not to stumble along the way.

Frankfurt am Main, December 31, 2011.

Tahun ini, seperti waktu kami tinggal di Banda Aceh dan Sana’a, masku memastikan bahwa ada ‘Advent Kalender’ di rumah. Di Jerman biasanya kita bisa beli sebuah kotak dengan 24 pintu kecil, yang dibuka satu per satu dari tanggal 1 sampai 24 Desember, biasanya sih isinya coklat kecil-kecil dengan berbagai motif.

Untuk keluarga yang punya anak kecil, biasanya mereka juga membuat advent kalender lain yang berisi kado-kado kecil.  Karena kami berjiwa anak-anak, hahaha… kami membuat ‘proyek’ kecil untuk membuat advent kalender untuk kami berdua.

Jadilah aku membuat 24 kantong kecil dari bahan fleece (musim panas lalu aku sempat membeli 2 buah selimut fleece diskonan, hehe), dan aku mengisi setiap kantong bernomor genap untuk masku, dan masku mengisi setiap kantong bernomor ganjil untukku.  Dengan cara ini kami tukar-menukar 12 ‘gift’…seru kan?  Setiap hari diawali dengan sepotong kecil coklat dari kalender yang dibeli di toko, dan (tergantung tanggal) kado kecil dari kantong kami. Dari coklat, lotion, kalender mini, gantungan kunci sampai ‘voucher’ pijat punggung 15 menit, semua tergantung kreativitas, tidak perlu mahal, bahkan tidak perlu selalu barang-barang yang bisa dibeli di toko.

Kayaknya bisa menjadi tradisi tahunan nih, terutama karena kantongnya juga bisa disimpan dan dipakai lagi untuk tahun-tahun berikutnya.

Selamat menyambut Hari Natal!!

Frankfurt, 22 Desember 2011. 

A couple of days ago my tiny handbag umbrella broke on the way back from school. Naja, the wind was especially strong, and I was lucky that I was wearing my waterproof jacket, because the umbrella would not have done a great job even if it were okay.  Luckily, I have a spare merchandise umbrella sitting somewhere on the corner of the apartment. 

One thorn in the grand plan of using this spare umbrella is that it has a company logo on the side. I have a problem in advertising for a company, especially because it’s for a language school (and I am going to another language school) that has taken 75 Euro of our money, and has been saying for 3 months now that they find difficulties to find people at the same level as me to start a class…. yeah… right…. anyone offering money back? nope…

Anyway, I did not feel like advertising for this company..so as I was sitting on the bus home, I was thinking of ways that I could get around it. Nail polish remover!! Despite the awful chemical odour, it kind of work I got to remove most of the stencil away (thank goodness that printing is so expensive in Germany, that they could only afford two smallish surface print spots on the umbrella…LOL), and at a glance you could barely see anything, YAY to ‘new’ umbrella!!

Frankfurt am Main, December 16, 2011.

Aku lagi sering mengingatkan diri sendiri untuk sering bersyukur, hehehe.  Kursus bahasa dan sedikit sejarah Jerman sudah resmi selesai hari ini.  Hari Senin depan tes untuk sejarah, dan dua minggu lagi tes bahasanya.  Sejauh ini sih kayaknya bakalan baik-baik saja.  Cuaca lumayan bagus.  Kado pernikahan untuk teman yang sempat bikin pusing sudah terkirim dengan sukses. Bulan depan mungkin bisa ‘pulang’ ke Indonesia sebentar.  Life is good.

Tapi ternyata rasa iri sama jalan hidup orang lain kadang menyusup begitu saja ya, hehehe.  Iri sama orang yang menyempatkan diri jalan-jalan keliling eropa, keliling dunia, atau keliling daerah-daerah eksotik di Indonesia…. terpikir…"yah…aku kok nggak kemana-mana…".  Iri sama orang yang punya kerjaan bagus dan bisa punya duit sendiri….terpikir…" yah…aku besok bisa kerja apa nggak ya…terus mau kerja apa…". Iri sama orang yang tanpa diduga punya anak lagi, padahal usia udah di atas 40 (anak kejutan ceritanya, tanpa rencana…)…terpikir… "wah, kapan ya aku sendiri punya anak…kami berdua sehat nggak sih sebenarnya…".  Iri sama orang yang sangat ‘fashionable’… terpikir… "wah, kok kayaknya aku nggak stylish banget ya…mahal nggak ya coba nemuin salon baru di Jerman…belanja sana sini…".

Padahal diri sendiri paling males kalau disuruh packing, hahaha….sukanya kalau liburan nyantai di rumah aja.  Padahal tahu sendiri bahwa masih pengen ngejar belajar bahasa, dan pengen konsultasi akademik dulu sebelum memutuskan mau belajar dan kerja apa.  Padahal memang mau nyantai sebelum punya anak. Padahal punya prinsip sendiri, yang penting nyaman dan pede dengan diri sendiri, dan cukup males belanja baju karena ribet nyobanya….

Bersyukur…bersyukur…bersyukur…. Banyak orang yang mengalami kesulitan belajar grammar, ketika kamu nggak.  Banyak orang yang baru pertama kali mendengar kata ‘eksekutif, legislatif dan yudikatif’, ketika kosa kata itu sudah menempel di kepalamu sejak usia 10 tahun.  Banyak orang yang repot membersihkan rumah besar, ketika di apartemen kecilmu 15 menit dengan vacuum cleaner sudah bersih. Banyak orang harus berhitung untuk setiap pengeluaran kecil, sementara kamu bisa beli buku kapanpun kamu perlu.

Bersyukur..bersyukur…bersyukur….

Frankfurt, 7 Oktober 2011.