My Blog

Kalau TV Canada belakangan marak dg penganugerahan penghargaan di industri musik dan perfilman, mulai Golden Globe sampai Oscar, maka saya mau ikut memberi nominasi untuk pahlawan-pahlawan dalam kehidupan kita, yang seringkali tidak mendapat apresiasi atas jasa-jasa yang mereka berikan…

Kalau beberapa waktu lalu saya menominasikan Pak Sugimin, yang rela menuntun sepeda motornya menyebrangi genangan air setinggi pinggang selama musim hujan demi mengajar murid-muridnya di sekolah, kali ini saya menominasikan Soraya sebagai woman of the year!

First question, who is she? Selesai dari program master double degree IHS Rotterdam akhir tahun 2005 lalu, Soraya tak lebih dari seorang pegawai yang bekerja di Jakarta dan seorang ibu dari seorang putra yang bertempat tinggal di desa Puton, Bantul, Jogja. Dari sini saja saya sudah berpikir betapa beratnya hidup yang harus dijalani oleh Soraya dan keluarga. Hampir setiap akhir pekan atau paling tidak dua minggu sekali Soraya pulang ke Jogja untuk berkumpul dengan anak dan suami. Sampai sabtu 27 Mei 2006 dini hari, gempa mengguncang Jogja. Soraya  dan sekeluarga mengucap syukur karena mereka sekeluarga selamat, walau rumah rata dengan tanah. Kepala dusun Puton wafat akibat gempa dan sejak hari itu Soraya memulai peran barunya memimpin warga desa melewati masa krisis dan merekonstruksi kembali desa mereka pasca gempa..

So, why Soraya? Sebagai satu-satunya warga desa yang punya network kaliber nasional dan internasional yang memungkinkan masuknya bala bantuan untuk korban gempa, Soraya yang saat itu tengah hamil 3 bulan memulai dengan mengkoordinasi penyaluran bantuan medis, penyediaan tenda darurat, dan sekolah darurat. Saat kehamilan memasuki usia 7 bulan, bersama tim arsitek Bambu Tak Gentar, Soraya bersama warga membangun kembali 3 mushola dan masjid untuk menyambut Ramadhan dan Idul Fitri. Alhamdulillah di malam takbiran ketiga mushola dan masjid tegak berdiri dan dipadati oleh penduduk yang memanjatkan puji-pujian kehadirat Allah SWT…

Hingga detik-detik menjelang kelahiran, Soraya bersama Tim Cordaid IHS mengejar target pembangunan 200 rumah darurat sebelum musim hujan tiba, "Kasihan kalau saat hujan turun warga masih tinggal di tenda, repot… Walau sekarang gerak saya agak terbatas karena hamil tua," katanya. Alhamdulillah tanggal 8 Desember, Soraya melahirkan seorang bayi perempuan yang sehat. Tapi tidak sampai seminggu berdiam di rumah, bayi itu menjadi saksi kesibukan sang ibu mendistribusikan semen dan material untuk pembangunan 200 WC untuk warga, subhanallah… Mungkin tidak ada istilah lelah di dalam kamus seorang Soraya. 

So, when you’re feeling blue, when life seems so hard because there are so many unsolved things, try to remember these great people who devote their lives for others and never complain about their own problems.
"Saya hanyalah seorang pelaksana amanah…", ucap Soraya
"Selama saya  masih diberi kesehatan, saya hanya mengerjakan apa yang bisa saya kerjakan, alhamdulillah kalau bermanfaat  untuk orang lain, sayang kan kalau kita tidak berbuat apa-apa…", ucap Pak Sugimin

One of the attraction to live abroad is to have international companions on dinner time. It’s possible when you live in a multicultural cities where you could have 8 persons from 6 different countries or at least 4 persons with different nationalities. So, it’s really a good experience to exchange stories from each countries, and at the same time you could learn their culture from their eating habit, cool isn’t it?

Western Dinners
The Dutch, for example, as a highly organized community, they schedule everything in their agenda. They will invite you for a dinner even 2 months in advance. You couldn’t come or invite someone for a dinner spontaneously. Once we sat in a cafe and tried to decide when would our next dinner appointment be and we endded up with a date 6 weeks later. "Sorry, my weekends are fully book!" Even when you want to visit a new baby born, you have to make a phone call first to make an hour appointment with the parents. "Well, I am not comfortable if there are too many guests in one day," said the mother. At first you’ll laugh at them, but after sometime you’ll be just like one of them: can’t live without your agenda!

When a Dutch invites you for a dinner, you will have at least 3 courses. The appetizer, usualy warm soup; the main dishes usually something with noodle or potatoes; and dessert, usually cakes or coffee or tea, or their famous ‘vla’. It’s very common that they will ask you: what you eat and what you don’t eat? It’s very important because they are fully aware that some people has food allergy and they want to make sure the dinner is save and enjoyable for all guests. Including providing halal food for their muslim guest. "Ok, I’ll buy the meat from a halal butcher so you can eat as well!" If all people in the world could respect each other like this then, I believe, there won’t be any war in this world!

Another dinner tradition in the west is to bring something for the host. Eventhough they won’t ask, but you’ll feel guilty if you show up with empty hands. I guess it’s sort of a way to thank the host. You don’t have to bring something luxurious, coz everybody simply loves chocolates as dessert. For those who drink wine, a bottle of wine is always appreciated, especially it’s cheaper than a box of bottled beers!

Montrealers
In my third month in Montreal, my french colleague introduced me to
Montrealers dinner tradition. We started with a dinner to enjoy the
holiday season. As habitants in a festival and multicultural city, the
Montrealers love to have games after their dinner or in any
get-together occasion. They will do any game to please the guests. From
exchange gifts, playing cards, playing queen and king with cakes, etc
etc.

Dinners is also a good chance to exchange information about researched
and you’ll be amaxed of how these young fellows involved in advanced
fundamental researches. For example:

"I’m evaluating the role of basophils in asthma…" Hmm, so far I only
know that mast cells are responsible for allergic reaction…

"I’m trying to find out the role of CD-47…" Well, at the same time I tried hard to refresh  my memory on what’s the role of CD-8.

"I worked on the physiology of muscle cells. We would like to find out
in mollecular level, what cause and prevent the muscle atrophy. You
know, even NASA had a project to make sure their astronauts will be
able to walk again after they return from the space mision." O la la,
suddenly I felt like living a millon years behind!

Asian Dinners
One of my favourite is chinesse dinner. I lived seven months with Shuwen Deng, who comes from the west north province in China, Xin Jiang. I couldn’t count how many times we had dinner together: just the two of us or with either my friends or her friends. But we have something in common: we believe we have to have enough food, the more the better! "Don’t invite someone for a dinner and let them go home in hunger," she said. The same principle applied in any Marrocan, Iranian, or Indian dinner. So, make sure you have an empty stomach to finish all the dishes that the host provides!

From Shuwen I learned that people from the north of China has different eating habit from their fellows from the south,"The south loves rice and the north loves everything from flour". She also enriched me with geographical and demographical facts about China and Chinesse. "I think the Chinesse people in Indonesia are kantonesse, most of them are traders. But when people from the mainland are travelling abroad, most of them are pursuing their studies or researches…"

Indonesians Dinners
Well, most of all, Indonesian get-together is still on the top of my list! Nothing comparable to Indonesian cuisine! I fully agree with the slogan "Makanan Indonesia bercita rasa tinggi". You have the spices, you have all kind of dishes, you chat in your own language, laugh at simple stories, for a second you’ll forget where you are. "It’s good that Indonesians have a solid community  and you get together very often, you so won’t feel lonely," a friend said and I nodded immediately. "That’s what we’re proud of!"