footprints of life

Akhir pekan lalu aku beruntung sekali, karena diajak sama ibu-ibu yang buaik buanget untuk pergi ke pesta perkawinan….emm…tepatnya Pesta Kawin Khusus Perempuan.

Maksudnya???? Maksudnya sih sederhana aja, ya begitu itu, ada pesta khusus perrempuan dan ada pesta khusus buat laki-laki.  Dan jangan salah lho…pestanya bukan cuma ada dua itu, tapi pesta untuk masing-masing kelompok juga ada beberapa macam… jadi nggak usah repot ngitung-itung deh, sudah pasti muahaaaal buanget jatuhnya.

Singkat cerita, sesudah panik panik nggak jelas gara-gara ngerasa nggak punya baju yang pantas dipakai ke acara begituan, dan setelah maksa-maksa mampir toko buat beli sepasang sepatu peep-toe warna silver (udah deh, mukanya nggak usah kaget begitu…nggak salah baca kok…), akhirnya aku sih pasrah aja sama penampilan yang kemungkinan besar jauh di bawah standar pesta-pesta kawinan di Sana’a yang terkenal mewah abisss.

Begitu dengar klakson mobil di depan rumah, langsung deh aku ‘bungkus diri‘ pakai abaya dan jalaaaaan.

Lokasi acaranya sih cuma kira-kira lima menit dari rumah, dan pas udah sampai….wah….antrean mobilnya puanjangan abissss.  Gara-gara yang ngajak lupa ngasih tahu kalau nggak boleh bawa HP yang ada kameranya ke dalam, akhirnya terpaksa nitip HPku dua-duanya ke sopir ibu itu. Dari mobil-mobil yang berjajar-jajar itu keluarlah wanita-wanita berselubung hitam dari ujung kaki sampai ujung kepala.  Dan kami termasuk di antara mereka.  Sesudah menunjukkan tiket undangan (jadi, kartu undangan yang seperti biasa itu, di dalamnya ada tiket kecil-kecil dengan berbagai warna, masing-masing tiket untuk acara pesta di hari dan tempat yang berbeda-beda…gila kan..) ke penjaga di luar tembok, kami masuk ke dalam, dan segera disambut penjaga perempuan yang merazia dompet tamu untuk mencari barang-barang berkamera.  Kami lolos dengan sukses (ya iya lah, lha wong nggak bawa apa-apa, hehehe).

Yang pertama terlihat adalah…!!! jreng…jreng…jreng….. Ruangan gede banget yang dindingnya dipasangi cermin dari mulai setinggi dada sampai ke langit-langit.  Dan lebih jreng lagi adalah…di depan cermin segede seruangan itu berdirilah belasan perempuan sedang merapikan dandanan mereka.  Ada yang sedang melepas abaya, sisiran, lipstikan…wah, pokoknya segala macam.  Sudah jelas langsung bikin minder ke mana-mana :p

Baju-bajunya bow’, nggak kebayang banget deh. Jujur saja aku tidak pernah membayangkan perempuan ‘biasa’ bakalan memakai gaun-gaun malam yang modelnya mewah-mewah begitu, serasa lagi ngintipin foto-foto red carpet dari Yahoo, hehehe.  Dan itu belum ngebahas perhiasannya.  Mereka benar-benar serius deh, dan dari sekian banyak bling-bling, aku yakin lebih dari 60% berlian asli.  Untungnya, entah kenapa, kayaknya gaunku nggak parah-parah amat, hahaha, dan yang jelas aku bersyukur setengah mati udah maksain beli tuh sepatu silver murahan. Coba kalau nggak ada bling-bling dikit (meskipun di ujung kaki…), bisa-bisa tambah nggak ngangkat deh.

Sesudah rapi-rapi, masuklah kami juga ke ruangan pesta yang lumayan gede….isinya perempuaaaaan semuanya, ratusan.  Udah gitu semuanya glamor dan cantik-cantik, wuih.  Di depan ada panggung yang dihiasi pilar-pilar putih dan kain-kain putih dan pink, terus ada kursi merah berhias pas di tengah-tengahnya…tapi…kosong.

Banyak cewek-cewek yang lagi nari di depan panggung, goyang mengikuti irama padang pasir, dengan rambut panjang terurai - ada yang dilurusin, dikeriting, dicat, highlight…pokoknya semua ada.  Tato henna dengan berbagai model juga terlihat di mana-mana, di lengan, di bahu, bahkan di punggung.  

Dan itu….baru awalnya saja

Dan postingan ini kayaknya udah kepanjangan… Kita sambung lain kali ya…

Sana’a, 5 Juli 2009.

DISCLAIMER:   Foto di postingan ini BUKAN foto tamu undangan.  Foto ini hanya untuk memberikan ilustrasi kira-kira gaun-gaun seperti apa yang bisa kita lihat (eh, khusus untuk anda kaum adam….yang tidak akan pernah bisa anda lihat ding…) di pesta semacam ini.  Dan beneran lho, aku lihat sendiri beberapa variasi model semacam ini.  Fotonya diambil dari sini.

Last weekend I was really fortunate, because a very nice lady took me to a Sana’ani wedding party, errr… a LADIES Wedding Party, to be exact.

a LADIES wedding party?  And what on earth does that mean? Ladies and Gentlemen, that simply means that there are separate parties for female guests and male guests, and not only there are two parties, there are MULTIPLE parties for each gender group, so I don’t think you would even need to bother pulling out that electronic calculator…. these wedding parties are simply super duper expensive.

Anyway, after going through a panic attack for not having anything proper to wear and making a quick stop at a shoe shop and get myself a pair of silver peep-toe shoes (yeah, you read it right : SILVER PEEP TOE HIGH HEELED SHOES), I was finally resigned with the fact that I might be seriously underdressed in one of the notoriously festive Sana’ani weeding parties.

I put on my abaya, and head to the front gate when I heard a car honking up front.  

After a five minute drive, we finally arrived at the venue, and what a long line of cars!!! I had to leave both of my phones with my friend’s driver because she forgot to tell me that we are not allowed to bring anything with camera on it inside the venue.  I saw lines and lines of cars opening their doors, and letting out ladies in in black shrouds, who are then moving swiftly from the car to the security check.  Presenting the small pieces of invitation (there are color coded coupons inside the usual invitation card for different parties on different days… picture THAT) outside the compound was a quick business, and then we were greeted by a pair of female ‘guards’ inside the compound who rummaged through our bags/purses for cameras.

We were cleared.

And LO and BEHOLD!! The first glimpse of the venue was a front hall with chest high mirrors all over the walls, and numerous ladies taking off their abayas and [re]beautifying themselves before entering the party room.  Oh, what a humbling sight!

These beautiful, beautiful, beautiful, and gorgeous (THAT’s how humbling it had been…) ladies clad in exquisite dresses and most impressive statement jewelleries I have ever seen with my own eyes.  But somehow I found that my simple summer dress had made the cut, just made the cut.  And the silver shoes definitely covered my bases.  With the absence of the abovementioned statement jewelleries on any part of my body, I could use any assistance of any bling-bling, believe me.  But then again, I can always get away from the norms, being a foreigner  

After the barely successful attempt of beautifying myself, my friend and I walked into this huge huge hall filled with ladies…ladies….and ladies.  And not one lady looks like the next one.  Up front was an elevated stage decorated in white and pink collumns and fabrics, with a white throne perching gracefully smack in the middle…. empty.

Young ladies danced in front of the stage, moving their bodies and swinging their hair, cascading a loooooong way down their backs - straightened, curled, colored, highlighted; you name it. Vines of pretty little flowered henna tattooes crept up those bare arms, shoulders and backs.

And that’s just the beginning

This posting is way too long already.  So, see you on the next part.

Sana’a, July 5th, 2009.

DISCLAIMER:  The photos on this page ARE NOT actual party attendees, they are just illustrating the kind of dresses you could see (and ehemmm… those you would NEVER see, Gentlemen…) in such parties.  And yes, I saw some versions of these dresses. Pictures are from here.

How many of you actually always have a camera with you?  Or in possession of a cameraphone?

Yup, I saw some hands back there, and also one here.  Ehemmm….probably a bit on the extreme side, I happen to have a small camera AND 2 (two) cameraphones with me in my so-called purse (ugh…hate the word, not to mention that IT couldn’t be called a purse because of its sheer size…let’s call it my handy bag, instead).

And recently, I found one goody thing about having a camera/cameraphone handy…being a girl that is, I can transform it (errr…them..) into an instant visual shopping list, yay!  

The problem started ~ wait, it was not a problem then, it was an opportunity, LOL ~ when I am ’stranded’ in this place, where most of the population doesn’t speak English (nor Indonesian, nor Javanese, in case the earlier statement failed to illustrate how dire my situation had been), and I was (err…actually still am) in a serious need of a pair of nail-clippers.  Yeah, a very simple thing.

My first thought was to run to the nearest pharmacist and ask them if they have anything like that. But then again, what if I can actually find it in a supermarket?  Or cosmetic shop?  Or it is located in some unfathomable department in that ever crowded Shumaila Hari super store (emmm…it’s like the Meijer or Matahari or Carrefour of Sana’a, Yemen)?  Then, where would I end up?  

Next idea was to search an image of the said nail clippers on Google and print it out.  But thanks to the ever present power cut, the images were nicely stored in my hard disc and I had not managed to print them out just yet.

And then it dawned on me some random article on photography knick-knack I read a couple of months back, and I had a revelation.  Dummy! Of course I can take a picture of that picture (err…still following me?), and bring it with me, how smart!

So here I am, with a pair of nail clippers as the wallpaper of my phones, but alas, I have not managed to get to one of those shops, yet.  Thanks to the pile of Arabic homeworks.  Maybe next time.

But hey, a good idea deserves some bragging, right?

In case some of you are interested to see what other ideas are out there, here is the link to the original article about the other uses of your camera. Cheese!

Sana’a, Yemen

June 24, 2009

Seminggu kemudian, aku pusing menghadapi setumpuk huruf yang bukan cuma harus dihapalkan, juga harus disambung-sambung dan dibaca dengan lancar….aduh mak…

Selamat datang di dunia pelajaran Bahasa Arab.

Yah, betul, anda tidak salah dengar baca. Hari ini dengan resmi ditutup hari ke-5 aku duduk manis 3 jam setiap hari di Yemen Language Center / Yemen College for Middle Eastern Studies di Sana’a, untuk belajar Bahasa Arab. Guru-gurunya semangat banget, saking semangatnya, dalam waktu dua hari aku sudah diberi buku ke-2, padahal ngapalin alif, ba, ta aja masih kerepotan. Tapi sedih juga sih…soalnya belum bisa belajar yang lain-lain sebelum bisa baca huruf Arabnya, alias, sudah seminggu belajar aku baru bisa bilang "assalamualaikum" (yah, itu sih dari Indonesia juga udah bisa, hihihi….), "selamat pagi" sama "apa kabar"… oya, sama "namamu siapa?", hahaha… Masa ngobrol sama orang, habis nyapa selamat pagi, gimana kabarnya, siapa namanya, terus macet…. Ujung-ujungnya cuma bisa bilang "qalas"…alias cuma bisa segitu aja, hahaha, sambil cengar-cengir.

Masih ada dua minggu lagi… SEMANGAT!! Dan berharap semoga minggu depan sudah bisa ngomong sedikit, paling nggak sama sopir taksi.  Lah, masak dianter-jemput 20 menit sekali jalan, nggak ngobrol apa-apa.  Ya itu tadi, habis bilang selamat pagi, apa kabar, terus sepi deh…hahaha…

Wish me luck ya, temans!

Sana’a, 24 Juni 2009

After trying massage, hot pad, balms…..and simply trying to fall asleep for 2 straight days… and finally, I got a good worth of a good night sleep after popping in 2 caplets of Panadol Extra.  Phew….

Today I realized that my text message inbox had hit over 1000 messages – again.  It’s time to start deleting.

As I went through the messages – some of them contained addresses and details I want to keep, so, yes, I am doing it the hard way – flood of memories surged through my brain.

Thoughts about random Italian dinner prepared by our enthusiastic Italian chef Teresa, appointments on reviewing previous week’s salsa moves with Steve, random notes in three languages with Nat, dancing appointments @ Café Habana with Alicia, confirmation on volunteering activities with Rosana, movies, walks, coffees, cultural festivals, I-love-you-s, see-you-tomorrow-s, good-luck-s, South Park, keg parties, grocery shopping, house on fire, midnight rendezvous, mochi ice cream…. Story of a lifetime fleeted before my eyes.  And what a wonderful life it had been.

And I cannot thank you well enough, though I cannot tell you face to face. 

Thank you for opening the door for me.  Thank you for giving me a chance to create beautiful memories to last me a lifetime.

And to a very dear friend, who magically found me and pushed me over the limit almost 4 years ago, thank YOU.

For none of these would have been possible without ‘the chance meeting’ with you.  If you had not jerked me away from the life I thought I had wanted all along, I would have been another ‘normal’ person, and you were right… I would have been bound to be unhappy.  So…thank you, Gatotkaca.

Though sad I am, not to be able to tell you in person, I am sure you are out there somewhere, inspiring people.  Just the way you had inspired me.

 May 31, 2009

Hey there, please don’t say the L word.

The L word does not have a place in our relationship. You and I, we should never even think of that L word. It is just so out of place.

I know the word used to be so familiar for you, and I guess, for me, too. But I don’t want to hear it, not from you, not anymore.

Don’t you know how dangerous that L word is? Can’t you see how that L word gets into your brain and clouds your judgment? Can’t you see how beautiful the world could be without that L word in your world?

Please promise me, don’t you ever say that L word again… at least, not when you are with me. No, no more of that L word. You simply have no right to say it, not to me, ever ever again.

Because, My Dear, you are not what you thought you were. You deserve so much more…. so so much more, than just that L word.

So, look me in the eye, and say it out loud, “I am a winner. I am strong. I am special, and I deserve to be loved.”

Say this L word, My Dear, not that one. For you deserve to believe this L word, not that one.

Salatiga, May 18, 2009.