footprints of life

do you remember how i used to fuss about wanting to have warm shower?  i would make sure to turn the water heater on at least 10 minutes before to make sure that i have enough warm water for a nice shower…. or that i would wait almost for an hour at home to boil some water… (of course, those things do not apply when i am in a hurry….)

well…. the saying ‘be careful with what you wish for’ is certainly applicable for me in Stanford.  the shower is great…. but somehow i could not master the dials, so that i always end up with an extra hot shower… a couple of times i heard other pepole experienced the same thing, and some other people will resolve the problem.  and they tried with me, too.  but maybe, the temperature is still too hot for me…maybe only for me….

until this morning….

we were just the two of us in the shower, at 6 o’clock in the morning, me and a Finnish girl… and then she went out of the shower saying that no matter what she tried she still found the shower to be too hot…. yipeee!!! i’m not the only one! heheheheh… but i resolved to continue with my shower, and today….well, i thought i found my own technique…

i tried to find the least warm temperature  (it was still super duper hot, though…) and tried to make myself as far as possible from the shower head…..read:  i basically have my shower very low (almost) on the floor….huahahahahaha…..but hey, it worked! the water was comfortably warm, although i was uncomfortably folded into two, trying to scrub myself clean….hehehehe…

have a great day, folks.  Stanford is all sunny and shining.

Tuesday, August 26, 2008, 08.20 Stanford time, 22.20 Western Indonesian Time. 

woi…. bandara Changi!!! asli, bikin pegel, hehehehehe.

kami mendarat di Terminal 3, dan bakalan cek in lagi di Terminal 1…. eh, mau naik sky train pas udah tutup. tapi untungnya ada tangga horisontal berjalan gitu. tapi juauhnya nek….. terus abis itu juga masih jauh, hehehehehe….

tapi selain itu, keren abis…. kami aja bengong abis ngeliat toiletnya…wis jan, katrok pisan… tapi seru juga, buktinya sekarang bisa ngenet gratis segala, dan nyambi ngeblog sebelum transfer desk buka lagi kira-kira sejam lagi…*hoahem…* capek juga nih….

masih seneng mode on, karena SIM card HPku masih berfungsi.. semoga roaming internasional yang ‘dijanjikan’ itu bener2 tokcer sampai tempat tujuan.

wis ya…. ada timer-nya nih.  take care….

panik deh…panik…

tak terasa tepat enam hari dari hari ini adalah my ‘point of no return’…setidaknya untuk 10 bulan ke depan.

will i ever be ready?  will i ever be ready enough?

semua ide postingan, foto yang perlu diedit, barang yang harus dikemas, barang yang harus dibeli…. dan semua yang harus ditinggalkan…

Gosh…. reality kicks in. I AM leaving…

btw, Selamat Hari Kemerdekaan.  MERDEKA! 

masih ingat sama lagunya Brian May? sekitar awal tahun 90-an lah….yang gosip-gosipnya didekasikan untuk Freddy Mercury yang baru saja mengakui secara terbuka bahwa dia terjangkit AIDS…

anyway, postingan ini tidak ada hubungannya sama para rocker tersebut…. juga nggak ada hubungannya sama AIDS….

postingan ini ada hubungannya sama IKAN….

lho kok….

begini ceritanya:

di rumah kontrakan kami di Banda Aceh, ada kolam ikan yang terletak di depan rumah. lumayan asyik bentuknya, setengah di halaman, yang setengah lagi sedikit ngumpet di bawah tangga teras.

kolam ini dihuni 5 ekor ikan yang guede-guede buanget… kayaknya sih dari tahun 2006 udah segede itu, hehehehe. pokoknya kalau bisa dimakan pasti udah nggak ada gurih-gurihnya tuh, udah ketuaan dan kegedean.

berhubung keluarga dari yang empunya rumah tetanggaan dengan kami, notabene yang mengurus kesejahteraan ikan-ikan itu adalah pekerja rumah tangga di rumah dan keluarga besar sang pemilik rumah asli.  tadinya sih pas awal-awal kami masih sok rajin, nguras kolam, de el el… tapi lama-lama jadi nyadar bahwa nguras kolamnya nggak masalah, nungguin penuhnya itu yang alamak…lama bener. lagi pula dengan sistem perpipaan rumah yang ribet abis, aku sendiri kurang paham, mana bukaan air PAM dan mana bukaan air sumur.  jadi gitu deh….  

sebulan yang lalu aku ‘mudik’ ke Jawa…(cie….kalau dari Sumatra baru bener bilang ‘Jawa’…hehehe..).  ketika balik ke rumah Banda, terciumlah bau tak sedap.  bingung lah aku… tapi ya sud lah, secara capek banget packing sampe subuh, terus jam 8 udah start dari rumah untuk ngejar pesawat di Semarang, aku langsung masuk rumah.

malamnya, dan malam-malam selanjutnya, barulah aku tahu dari mana sumber bau tak sedap itu.  setiap kali keluar rumah, tampaklah ratusan butir makanan ikan siap pakai alias pelet terapung-apung di permukaan air kolam (’terapung-apung’ itu cocok nggak untuk nerjemahin ‘kampul-kampul’,hehehehe….).  walhasil, makanan yang tak habis dimakan ikan itu menjadi sampah berbau anyir….hiii….

tiap kali lihat pengen bilang sama yang punya, kalau ngasih makan mungkin porsinya perlu dikurangi.  soalnya makanan sisa kan malah ngeracunin air kolamnya… tapi belum sempat bilang sudah keburu besok malamnya lagi, dan hal yang sama kami temukan lagi….

sampai hari ini.

hari ini housemate-ku dengan muka ‘jelek’ masuk rumah dan berkata, "Could you check the pond, please? I think the fish are not moving…"

waduh… keluarlah aku cepat-cepat…dan voila, keadaan kolam memang sangat ‘mencurigakan’…  permukaan kolam teh udah berubah warna, penuh dengan pelet yang udah melebur dengan air.  kuliat-liat sih emang tuh ikan-ikan sepertinya sudah ‘lewat’. tapi gimana nih, secara bukan ikan kita…

langsung aja kusuruh housemate-ku SMS sang tetangga, "Maaf Pak, sepertinya ada masalah dengan kolam ikan, bisa tolong cek?" tapi sampai kami keluar makan siang, keadaan kolam masih tetap pathetic….

ikan-ikan yang malang…..

you see, not only starvation kills….

image from here 

I guess you are not too familiar with the name ‘Baruklinthing"…. and I guess, even many Javanese nowadays will not recall the name so quickly.  But it was that very name which shot through my mind as the airport pick-up car went down the congested road of Surabaya-Malang, right next to the dike of the Sidoarjo mud flow…

If you are familiar with the legend of the creation of Rawa Pening, Central Java, the connection is understandably apparent.  But then again, I guess most of you are not familiar with it.  So I guess I’d better start by retelling the story, of course, only as far as I remember it to be… (in case there are correction, please don’t hesitate…)

—— 

Once upon a time, a time when there were Gods and Godesses, Princes and Princesses, on the island of Java…  a mighty knight was meditating for many many many years.  He was so mighty he could turn himself into any shape and form, and he was meditating in the form of a giant snake.  The snake went round a giant tree, and had been there for so long that moss had started to cover all of its surfaces.

One day, a neighbouring village organized a communal work, a ‘kerja bakti’, in the forest.  And one weary villager sat beneath a tree and stabed his dagger into what he thought were its roots.  Much to his surprise, blood started oozing out. Everybody instantly gathered around the man, and after thorough inspection, they found out that the whole thing was a giant snake.  Afraid that the snake might cause harm to the village, the villagers slaughtered it and brought it back to their village.

Once there, the meat of the snake was made into ’sate’… (you know ’sate’?  you know, these meat pieces put on a bamboo skewer and grilled on charcoal fire….really exquisite, by the way… ), and the whole village was feasting.  One dirty looking boy strolled into the village and tried to ask for some ’sate’.  But nobody gave him any, they laughed at him and pushed him away instead. 

He kept asking until he reached the end of the village, where a poor old widow gave him a skewer.  He told her that his name was Baruklinthing, and that she should do exactly as he said.  He told her to prepare an ‘lumpang’ and an ‘enthong’  (jeez, this part will be hard to translate…. will try later….).  And then he set out to return to the village.

At the center of the village, he took a piece of used bamboo skewer, and pierced it down into the earth.  He then challenged everyone topull the skewer out of the earth.  Everbody bursted into laughter. Children started trying, but none succeed.  Then adults began trying, to no avail.  After each and every single one of the villagers tried their luck… the child stepped forward, and said, "I am Baruklinthing, and I am the spirit of the snake you had just killed and ate, you ruthless people.  Though I had done nothing to harm you and your children, you just killed me and then you had the guts to eat my body.  For this, you will all be punished," and he pulled the skewer out…

And out of the hole came water……and water….and more water…..  And the water kept coming and coming, until the whole village was submerged completely.  And thus, Rawa Pening came into being.  Legend has it that the lake is full of snails, which were the incarnation of the ruthless villagers.  None survived, none except of the poor old widow, who prepared her ‘lumpang’, float on it, and rowed with her ‘enthong’.

 Rawa Pening from a hill-top

——- 

Hm.. I was somehow reminded of the legend, as I was gazing to the smoke still bellowing from the point where the mud had come out… well, actually, has been coming out… every single day… for the last 2 years…  Somehow… a ‘Baruklinthing’ punched a hole in the ground, and mud keeps coming…and coming…and coming…

PS: It did help boosting my memory when not even a week later, I saw on TV that a 15 metre tall fountain came into existence outside somebody’s backyard, right at one of the kampongs I had passed on my way down to my birthday in Malang… 

East Java, July 12, 2008 - Central Java, July 24, 2008.