Friday, April 23, 2010

Ngalor-ngidul Ngomongin Negara Lain

Saya sebenarnya ingin bercerita tentang orang-orang di tempat belajar baru saya, tapi karena niatnya lebih ke ghibah, saya bikinnya di ceruk saya yang satu lagi. Saya kasih password saja sekalian lah ya.

Jadi saya sekarang ingin bercerita tentang teman saya yang lain lagi. Awalnya saya menyapanya karena ingin minta pendapat hal remeh tentang kemampuan bahasa. Setelah ngalor-ngidul sedikit, dia bercerita kalau dia sedang mengurus masalah pindah kewarganegaraan. Dia bilang, katanya mau pindah ke negara subtropis itu.

Yang bikin saya tercenung justru ini: sejak saya hidup di Jepang, rasanya saya kok malah menggapai-gapai sisa-sisa akar Indonesia saya. Lebih spesifik lagi: mencari warna Jawa saya. Jelas saya tidak sendiri sebagai Jawa murtad: nggak bisa ngomong Jawa dengan unggah-ungguh yang sesuai, malas diajak ngobrol basa-basi dengan tetangga-tetangga yang lebih tua karena rasanya pakewuh kalo ngga pake bahasa yang bener, tapi toh nggak tahu caranya. Jelas ada banyak jamur yang saya kenal, tapi rasanya kalau jamur yang lahir-besar-hidup 18 tahun di daerah yang notabene bukan area perkotaan besar, rasanya saya baru nemu satu: saya sendiri.

Um, mungkin sama adik/kakak saya ding. Tapi rasanya mereka lebih bisa bersosialisasi. Oh, omong-omong, maksud saya jamur itu Jawa murtad.

Jadilah saya sekarang orang Jawa, yang tidak bisa berbahasa Jawa, hidup di Jepang yang jauh nian, dan hanya mampu berlangganan beberapa blog bahasa Jawa di RSS reader saya. Kalau anda pengen tahu, boleh lho dicek, di sebelah kiri laman di yang saya taut di sini ada folder "jawa".

Tapi mari kita balik lagi ke masalah kewarganegaraan. Pertama kali saya ke luar negeri waktu SMA, saya ingat waktu di mobil menuju Simeiz dari Sevastopol, saya sempat berpikir, "Kayaknya kalau hidup di sini enak juga nih," sambil memandangi lahan-lahan yang memang rata-rata kosong dan hanya ditumbuhi semak-semak di sepanjang jalan. Mungkin secara intrinsik manusia pengen tahu bagaimana rasanya tinggal di luar negeri kali ya. Kalau kata teman saya yang lain lagi, urip kuwi sawang sinawang: kita melihat orang lain, membandingkan diri, dan berandai-andai jadi orang itu. Hidup di Indonesia: nggak bisa naik bis tanpa ketemu pengamen, ngga bisa berhenti di lampu merah tanpa ketemu pengemis, ngga bisa ke stasiun tanpa ditawarin porter atau calo tiket. Semuanya jadi berasa lebih baik di negeri orang. For better or for worse, beberapa hari setelahnya saya berturut-turut: mengalami insiden kantor pos, melihat pedagang buku dengan aksara cyrilic yang asing, dan secara umum makan makanan yang ngga ada rasanya. satu rombongan akhirnya menghabiskan condiment yang ada di meja tiap kali makan (masih ingat waktu saya cerita insiden babi?). Tahunya lagi, beberapa bulan setelah saya pulang, Ukraina beberapa kali ditampilkan di halaman depan Kompas: unjuk rasa di lapangan pusat kota Kiev, pendukung oranye versus pendukung biru, dan drama calon PM yang diracun hingga wajahnya menjadi buruk rupa.

Intinya, saya sekarang dalam kondisi sawang sinawang sama teman saya yang pertama saya ceritakan di awal tulisan ini. setahu saya dia nggak menguasai bahasa negara tujuannya. tapi dengan sukarela .... Ya sudahlah ya. Saya sendiri sekarang nggak berpikir pengen jadi warga negara Jepang. Baca saja belum lancar. Dan sekarang saya sekedar menghitung hari. Untuk kembali. Ada apa setelah kembali? Kita pikir saja nanti.

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Terrific Tuesday

I thought I'd better not blog about the Kings of Convenience live show last week (and keep it all solely in my memory), but then I decided against myself during another round of toilet epiphany. Also, initially a bit torn whether to post this in my posterous or this blog (as posterous will create a nice alliteration with my intention: for posterity's sake).

The events leading up to the event itself was not entirely favorable, having realised that I had inadvertently missed out Jamie Cullum live show the night before because I mixed up the date. The trip from Kyoto itself also was not pleasant: neither during the bus ride to Kyoto station or the train ride to Shin Osaka station I got a seat. Almost two hours fidgeting on my feet. I was, however, pleasantly surprised finding out the Kyoto-Osaka train ride was faster than I expected.

So I came to Club Quattro, and silently stifle my excitement upon seeing that the venue was really no bigger than the multimedia room in TVST ITB. I mean, yay, it won't be a mob-like crowd! The only thing I regret was upon seeing that all the seats are taken, I then decided to secure a spot against a railing in the back. Still a great view (I made sure I had my glasses with me when I left for campus), but considerably further from the stage. When I first arrived, there was still ample room in the front, but I can't really bear the thought of having to stand up for a long while.

Stage not that far, even from where I stand.

The show itself started a bit late, around ten or fifteen past seven, and when the duo showed up (I remembered thinking this upon seeing Eirik Boe: the hair. it's like he's coming straight from the Riot album art), they started playing right away.

Now here comes the part where my description won't do justice: I am sad to say that the show didn't magically alleviate me of tired legs. I can't say that they seemed like deities, and partly glad of that. And they put on one great show.

See? Even I can't comprehend what I was trying to say.

Anyway, it was a very engaging show. Which at some points reminds me of waiting Apresiasi Sastra class to start, listening to their Live in Rome recording. It was a little bit like that and then some. If you didn't catch the show at another city, give it a listen. Even from audio recording alone, you can feel the vibe.

Several songs into the show, Erlend Oye disappeared quite a while from the stage to look for water and towel, and when he came back, he was bringing extra water bottles and paper cups for people near the stage! I looked at my own drink, empty long before the show started, and the bar was closed during the show. So that was a major reason of my regret being in the back railing*.

The water part come as no surprise, really, because the room, being packed, was a bit hot. I myself took off my sweater not long after the show started. I think it was when Erlend went looking for the water, Eirik said to the audience that he needed to unbutton his shirt a bit more. Naturally, somebody in the audience then shouted, "Take off your pants!**"

Another memorable bit of their performance was when they played I'd rather dance with you. Erlend actually went down from the stage and dance in the middle of the audience! I really can't imagine him doing that in Sabuga. (If you were in Sabuga and he did exactly that, please, please, please don't burst my little happiness bubble here.)

It was overall a really great show, I can't imagine a better way of spending a Tuesday night, or a better way to spend 5800 yen (and 500 for drink) here. I really wouldn't have mind if the show continue for another hour; I wished I had snapped some pictures during the show (my search for pics from the show on flickr two days later was not fruitful); I cursed my iPod for failing to save the audio recording, but hey, we can't all have what we wanted, can we?

After all, it was a night I spend most of it smiling inside.

----
*Yes, I know what you're muttering: Murah. But it didn't really surprise you, isn't it? Coming from a guy happily eaten free lunch in Kobe before he was tricked into present in--oh nevermind.
**I'm not sure, tapi rasanya yang teriak ini adalah bapak-bapak bule botak yang tinggi halfway the distance between me and the stage. Which made me realized (even more) kalo banyak penontonnya yang bule. Hence my tweet about height that night :D

Monday, April 5, 2010

Being Atlas

So we were talking about different extremes of the same spectrum: homicide and suicide. I remember blurting out comparison with Atlas: it's not like the burden of the heaven rests on our shoulders. I vaguely recall being vindicated, as the other end of conversation suggests that we would see a lot more suicides if the world indeed rests on our shoulders.

But is that really so? Sometime later I found me comparing myself on different situations. Whenever I have people rely on me, perhaps for direction of what turn to take, I willingly step down the car and ask any nearby person. Looking for way out of subway, I can be more assertive. 

Conversely, when no-one depends on me, I revert back to being languid. Case in point: myself at present. I don't feel the school is such a big deal and hence my inertia. 

Even in the realm of fiction, this is somewhat similar. Take a look Harry Potter--or Percy Jackson, or practically every other protagonist ever penned: the burden of the world suddenly thrusted to their shoulders and they at the very least try to stand their ground. So could it be that what's keeping it together for mankind is the sense of importance? The sense that when we fail, the world is also doomed with us? That we are the only one able to make difference?