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Netherlands Thoughts

Setidaknya untuk aku

13th December 2015 - 5 min read

Musim dingin datang lagi perlahan menapaki bumi Eropa. Temperatur mulai menunjukan ketidakramahannya. Membuat orang disekeliling tidak lagi bisa meninggalkan rumah tanpa perlengkapan yang cukup. Tidak terasa, ini sudah menjadi musim dingin keenam-ku disini. Banyak hal yang aku lalui dengan latar belakang musim yang berganti. Caraku mereferensi waktu pun sudah tidak sama lagi. Dulu aku selalu menyebut bulan sebagai acuan waktu, aku mulai bekerja di bulan Februari, tapi sekarang aku lebih suka menyebutkan musim, aku pergi ke Indonesia di musim panas lalu.. Entah kenapa, itu membuat arti sedikit berbeda. Membuat memori waktu menjadi lebih spesial. Setidaknya untuk aku.

Belanda membentukku menjadi pribadi yang berbeda, pribadi yang terbuka dan menerima. Tidak ada pandangan aneh terhadap orang yang memutuskan untuk melakoni hidupnya melewati jalan lain, bukan jalanan umum. Itu yang aku suka dan akan aku rindukan suatu saat nanti. Dengan tidak ada ruang dan batas, kreativitas pun melega. Tidak ada label agama.. Semuanya sama, satu, dan semua berhak memiliki hidup yang sejahtera. Ekonomi dan infrastruktur yang baik membuat indeks kebahagiaan meningkat, tapi lagi-lagi, setidaknya untuk aku. Aku merasakan hidup di dua tempat, negara yang miskin dengan rakyat bahagia bernuansa kekeluargaan dan juga negara yang kaya dengan penduduk yang individualis bahkan cenderung kurang bahagia. Aku bersyukur diberi kesempatan untuk bisa mengeksplor keduanya, mengambil sari-sari baik yang bisa kuterapkan di hidupku… dan juga keluargaku nanti.

Enam tahun lalu, di bulan ulang tahunku, bulan Agustus 2009, aku menginjakkan kakiku di negara kincir angin ini. Perempuan muda yang belum 18 tahun harus melihat sekeliling dengan pandangan kosong, tanpa ekspektasi. Terlalu sulit buatku untuk menghadapi perubahan yang terlalu drastis. Aku tidak berekspektasi bukan karena aku sudah cukup dewasa untuk mengerti arti dan ruginya sebuah harapan, tapi karena aku terlalu naif untuk bergumul dengan lingkungan dan hal baru. Aku merasa cara hidupku selama ini adalah benar. Aku terlalu nyaman. Tapi arti nyaman selalu bias, nyamanku bukan berarti nyaman orang lain. Setidaknya itu untuk aku.

Itulah aku enam tahun lalu, tidak bercita-cita, tidak berharap, hidup hanya melewati arus.. Setelah beberapa tahun, aku baru sadar, pandangan dan cara berpikir itu terbentuk saat kita terbuka, mau berpikir, tidak hanya melihat tapi juga mendengar. Menggunakan panca indera sebaik-baiknya. Beruntunglah aku, masih remaja, masih bisa tumbuh dan berubah. Beruntunglah aku memiliki keluarga yang menuntun jalanku ke arah yang lebih baik. Aku perlu melihat dunia lain. Orang tuaku tahu, kakak-kakakku tahu, tapi aku tidak. Itulah yang aku butuhkan. Mereka menuntun, bukan menuntut.. Mereka memberikanku ruang untuk berpikir dan menentukan sendiri jalan hidupku.

Butuh waktu sekitar 6 bulan untuk aku mencerna apa yang terjadi dan beradaptasi sepenuhnya dengan perbedaan yang ada, pemahaman bahasa, musim yang jauh bertentangan dengan Indonesia, selisih waktu yang terjadi, dan sebagainya. Sampai akhirnya aku sadar, semua hal yang aku sebutkan itu adalah kelebihan dan hak istimewa yang tidak bisa didapatkan semua orang. Setidaknya untuk aku, aku bisa perlahan-lahan menikmati makna yang dikandung dari perbedaan. Makna yang dikandung dari perubahan. Dunia itu kaya, maka apalah aku. Semakin banyak aku tahu, semakin aku kecil rasanya. Semakin ingin tahu makna banyak hal yang tidak aku ketahui. Sesungguhnya, sekolah paling efisien adalah hidup, dan guru terbaik adalah pengalaman. Setidaknya untuk aku..

Enam tahun lamanya aku membentuk pribadiku. Ketidak mudahan hidup membentuk pribadiku ke arah yang lebih solid. Pribadi yang pantang menyerah. Aku percaya pada diriku sendiri bahwa apapun akan mungkin jika kita berusaha keras. Setidaknya itu untuk aku. Enam tahun berjalan cepat, aku menikmatinya, aku berjalan menoleh kebelakang dan melihat seberapa jauh aku berkembang. Jalanan ke belakang itu tidak terlihat, memaksaku untuk mengingat-ngingat, bukan kembali menyusurinya. Aku melihat, mendengar dan berpikir, maka terbentuklah aku. Setidaknya itu untuk aku.

Apa yang aku lakukan dan aku pikirkan sekarang, aku anggap benar. Tapi sebatas aku..
Kamu? Berpikirlah, setidaknya untuk kamu… dan bisa jadi itu juga benar.

Europe Hidup di Belanda Netherlands

Giethoorn trip – a day before Ibnu going back for good

16th April 2015 - 5 min read

I have always been wanting to go visit Giethoorn. It’s a little village in the province Overijssel, East-Holland. It’s known as the Venice of Holland because of the fact that most of village part is water/lake. There used to be no transportation except boats, and looks like they are trying hard to keep it that way although now of course there are buses which can take us from Steenwijk (nearest big city) to Giethoorn. The disadvantage is that once you miss the bus, you will need to wait for 1 hour. Also, because Netherlands does not have the best climate habit in the whole world, it’s a little tricky to arrange a trip, because in Giethoorn, the nicest way is to rent a boat and ride it along the way under the sunshine while reading a book or even just contemplate. Imagine when it suddenly rains or wind storms, they enjoyment will stop just like a finger snaps.

Anyhow, that day was a really beautiful day, considered as one of the most beautiful day in Holland so far that I decided to take one day off. It is also because coincidentally Ibnu, one of our good friends were leaving to Indonesia for good and he also planned to go to Giethoorn that week. I guess universe really conspires when you really want something. I also brought a long my brother in this little trip, feeling good to enjoy and share happiness.

Thus here we are, in a very beautiful sunny day after travelling for 2.5 hours total. Walking through the canal, and found the second boat-rent we could find (cheaper than the 1st we saw in the entrance). We took the offer for 15 eur per boat/ hour, and we paid 30 eur as we want to chill for 2 hours to go further. Although, we ended up getting lost and near-to-death experience (AGAIN!) but this time I am exaggerated a little bit. It was actually hilarious that keeps cracking me up until this point. Fega was trying to take over the driving seat, of course we wanted everyone to experience the ‘captain’ moment. We just realized that not for once he had any experiences in taking a control of a vehicle, he can’t drive car nor motorcycle, thus he didn’t have the instinct of making the right/smooth maneuver on the lake. Not only that, but it was indeed confusing with the fact that turning right the stir means the opposite of where the engine moves. So couple of times he hit the side walk roughly but graciously, because he was so calm haha we kept on saying right right right, and he turned to left, we said reverse, he turned front (going forward, like stepping on the gas fully). Ibnu who was the frontman was couple of times almost having a heart attack, because the first person got hit will be him. But thank God we’re all okay. And we closed the day by eating a great waffle and dutch pancake.

Below pictures were all taken before the incident happened, happy faces….

 

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Events Family Hidup di Belanda Milestone Netherlands

Quality weekend with Mom Dad

30th March 2014 - 7 min read
Minggu, 22.57 malam
Seperti biasa, weekend rasanya cepat sekali berlalu.. Sebodohnya ini terdengar, tapi saya pengen begadang sampai besok pagi demi memiliki quality time dengan saya sendiri dan demi punya waktu lebih panjang untuk berwiken. Nggak mau hari seninn.. hikshiks but hey reality strikes and will never experience what I have experienced this week if there is no Monday. *Cheering myself up
Anyway, it has been a good productive week for me and I should be really grateful for that. Hari Selasa, saya dan sahabat-sahabat dekat datang ke konser YUNA. Gosh, it was totally magical as I have been admiring her ever since I discovered her existence in this planet, back on 2010 if I am not mistaken. She has such a pure incredible voice, I guess she was born with such talent. She sings genuinely and what is more important for me is that she speaks her soul out. I consider one to be very lucky to be able to sing out her feeling beautifully.
It is such a great night that I will always remember. Especially, I got the chance to have a little conversation after concert with the star whom I fell in love deeper to due to her humbleness. I am very luckyy!!! Oh, and I got to take a picture together with her.. 🙂 Alhamdulillah
Left to right: Nadya (whom by accident I bumped into), Prita (it was her bday that day), YUNA, me, Alda

ps I held my tears when I was with those people, but when we said goodbye, I cried my heart out like a baby calling my ‘bestfriend’ to tell him how bad I miss him. It is wonderful how such a star could give an influence.

And this weekend is the last weekend my mom and dad will stay. I do not have the time to be sad as I merely want to focus on how to make them enjoy their last days, at least I wanted to take them to places they have never been. Moreover, these last 2 days, the weather has been amazing, temperature is very warm. I am very much grateful for that as it really determines their enjoyment and excitement of them in wandering around hihihihihi
I took them to a petite city nearby the city where I live. It is called Leiden. It is one of the oldest cities in The Netherlands, it is located on the Old Rhine. Back at the 18th century the won the first place as ‘superlative, I forgot what it is’ and offered a huge amount of money, however they were more focused on educating their local people, that’s why they bargained to build the Leiden University instead of having the money, which has become as top 50 university worldwide and took part on creating the first map for colonializing Indonesia. What an ironic story.
It was 20 degrees that day! super amazing.. bought an ice cream for Aqila 🙂 we are all happy nevertheless, although not everything we got to see as we were there already late that the cruise we wanted to ride was already gone. On Sunday, I took them to Amsterdam visiting Rijksmuseum, the first National Historical museum in the Netherlands. It is fulled by paintings of amazing artists, mainly Dutch, Van Gogh, Rembrandt, etc. Surprising thing acquired from this visit is that now I know a lot of arts movement particularly in the Netherlands, was inspired by the Art Nouveau (new art) from France, which was influenced by Japanese, which mainly got an effect from INDONESIAN ART. We’re steps forward back then!
But hey even though nothing is perfect and not everything came as expected, the most essential thing is, we enjoyed and cherish the moment. What’s the meaning of a vacation if we’re rushed by the time, is the journey and the enjoyment that matters.. Every time passes is permanent, why not seize it instead 🙂 Carpe diem.
Dad and Aqila are using the binocular in the middle of a impeccable view between lake and mill

 

In front of a Dutch typical home, yet it was decorated more in an artsy and colorful way

 

Spring has sprung.. Such a beautiful color

 

Me standing with my javanese face among lots of Nias islanders’ faces during colonial period 🙁

 

My kind of painting, me with Aqila who wanted to stick with her Tante that day
With mommy on NS train towards Amsterdam. Will miss this ‘bawel’ lady 🙁
Us on top of the windmill De Valk, Leiden. Awesome place!
Again, me and Aqila (who keeps being a photobomb in any of the selfies I tried to take that day hehe), this one is inside an old windmill (de Valk) who was built in 1611. The stairs were terrifying, but we (a 4 year old and a pair of 60s people) gratefully made it hihi deg2an pisan euy

Currently enjoying days with loved ones… counting the days before their departure. 
Love them! I am happy that I could bring smiles upon their face although just a little 🙂
 
 
 
Europe Netherlands

B stands for Beach and Bliss

21st August 2011 - 2 min read
I do like to see other people happy that I will tend to sacrifice myself, mentally and financially.
This is kind of family root, we have the same tendency to share with others. I can’t resist as we were raised under one ceiling.
And Yes, I am grateful I was born and taken care by a very loving parents who nurture smoothly and give an adequate education to all of us.
Just want to say, that you should be thrilled and thankful of what you’ve own and be living in our shoes.
Anyway, lately the weather is perfect. Bunch of friends and I decided to spend a slight of our time to go to the beach 🙂
Love love love

The shoes : a birthday gift from Ipa 😀 happy