Life is a Journey

Visa, Pasport

Hidup memang lucu.

Hari ini saya ada appointment dengan Keduataan Italia. Jam 11. Setelah semua perjuangan (halah, berlebihan!) mempersiapkan dokumen-dokumen persyaratan….akhirnya saya berhasil di-interview dan dengan sukses DITOLAK!

Oke, emang salah saya juga sih, ga teliti. Karena ga perhatikan tanggal expired pasport, yang ternyata akhir tahun ini. Sedangkan memang persyaratan kunjungan itu minimal pasport berlaku 3 bulan setelah waktu perjalanan. Jadi Bapak yang di kedutaan itu dengan dingin mengembalikan semua berkas saya. Masih untung dia belum minta pembayaran visa. Dia bilang, setelah paspor diperpanjang, baru boleh bikin appointment dan apply lagi.

Jelas langsung bete berat. Mana masih cape, masih belum puas tidur, sempet nyasar waktu nyari kedutaan ini, ga bisa log-in ke website nya kedutaan Italia… pokoknya jengkel! Dan saya pusing mikirin semua pesawat dan tempat yang udah dibooking, dan juga asuransi perjalanan. Kalau batal berangkat ga lucu. Jadi ingat salah satu quote-nya Randy Pausch "The brick walls are there for a reason. The brick walls are not there to keep us out. The brick walls are there to give us chance to show how badly we want something"

Akhirnya dari Victoria Station saya ke Marble Arch, terus ke Kedutaan Indonesia.  Ternyata tempat urus pasport bukan di situ, tapi di gedung di belakangnya. Agak-agak ajaib gitu tempatnya, kalau mau urus paspor di London nanti saya kasih tahu deh :) Tapi ternyata Bapak yang urus ini baik banget. Dia kan nanya, kenapa saya ga lapor waktu datang (dan saya baru tahu kalau harus lapor setelah baca pengumuman di tembok gitu)… Ampuuun Pak :p Saya berdalih bahwa ga tahu, dan dia cuma nyengir (mungkin entah sudah berapa puluh pelajar yang beralasan seperti itu). Terus dia kasih semua formulir yang harus diisi (termasuk formulir lapor kedatangan tadi… hehe)

Giliran harus kasih foto, bingung lagi jadinya. Ternyata background nya harus merah ya. Bapak ini senyum lagi, terus bilang bahwa kalau keluar dari kantor ini, terus ke pojok jalan ada restoran, nah di sebelahnya ada farmasi. Tanya aja di situ. Pas saya ke sana, benar juga. Di belakang kasir ada ruangan kecil untuk pas foto kilat. Fotografer nya cuma bilang : "for Indonesia Passport ?" Terus udah deh, difoto. Dia malah nanya saya mau ambil foto yang mana (padahal tahu kan, foto pasport mana ada yang bagus). Setelah bayar (sekitar 6 pound) saya balik lagi ke kantor tadi. Terus Bapak tadi periksa-periksa lagi. Minta cap jempol kanan (pantas ada bantalan stempel gitu di loket) dan kasih saya tanda terima buat ambil pasport minggu depan. Terus dia tempel secarik kertas yang menyebutkan bahwa semua pambayaran sekarang harus lewat postal order atau bank draft, ga boleh lagi pakai cash. Tapi bayarnya sih masih minggu depan, jadi masih ada waktu.

Sepulang dari kedutaan tadi, naik bis niat balik ke rumah. Tiba-tiba di tengah jalan sopir bis berubah pikiran, jadi bis hanya sampai Tottenham Court Road, ga sampai King Cross. Jadi masih harus jalan lagi, lumayan jauh. Terus kebetulan ada kantor pos, jadi sekalian beli postal order tadi (20 pound + 1.75 pound charge). Beres!

Pikir-pikir….memang selalu ada hikmahnya ya. Coba kalau saya ga urus  perpanjangan paspor sekarang, kemungkinan training di salah satu negara maju di Asia bulan Oktober-November nanti bisa juga batal...

Pray for me?

I was amazed with the things I learned in 9 months… but I feel even more surprised with the things I learned in 3 weeks. I think we will never know how well people cope with difficult situation under huge pressure.

My room looks very messy at the moment… well, I know, I am not a tidy person anyway, but now it’s worse. Not nice. I just want it finish. I want to have a nice sleep without dreaming about writing essay, writing exam, attending group debate, presenting in front of strangers etc etc…

The good thing is; it is not a multiple choices exam. I hate multiple choices. The tricks that lie beneath the possibly answers. There is mark’s deduction if you keep it blank, or choose the wrong answer. I think it does not reflect your knowledge. Fifty questions in 1.5 hours? Go figure…

Therefore, 4 questions in 3 hours seem more reasonable, and another 3 hours in the second day. Although that means 4 short essays (plus calculating all formulas)..about 2,500 word, in English (but of course! What do you expect, my dear?) Will be very interesting ;)

One of my friends (the student’s representative) sent us email… she said, “..And above all, remember that you are bright, insightful people who have done amazing things in the world and will do even more incredible things in the future.  You also can write these exams well…” Very encouraging. Thanks a lot M!

I have put a card on my wall. Like a self-help mantra. I passed the exams with very good grade.

With God’s help. Friends, pray for me? :)

Puasa baca berita

Saya dan grup belajar saya belajar bersama tadi siang. Kami membahas soal-soal ujian 2 tahun lalu, salah satunya tentang vaksinasi di Lombok. Saya sempat  kehilangan kata-kata ketika satu teman membahas betapa kompleksnya kondisi di Indonesia. Untuk modul yang terakhir, dia melakukan riset tentang Indonesia karena topik penelitian dia adalah soal bidan dan kaitannya dengan penurunan angka kematian ibu dan bayi di Indonesia. Melihat dan mendengar “orang lain” yang dengan fasihnya membahas negeri saya tercinta, termasuk memberikan langkah-langkah untuk menurunkan angka kematian ibu dan bayi… membuat saya tercekat. Terharu. Mungkin sulit buat dipercaya, tapi melihat BUKAN warga negara ini dengan begitu semangat mencoba memberikan solusi untuk persoalan bangsa ini… Yah, mungkin saya terlalu sentimentil…

Masalah sudah sedemikian banyak, kenapa tidak berkonsentrasi pada pemecahannya saja? Bahkan untuk itu pun masih dibutuhkan kerja sama yang kuat dan kerja yang sangat keras. Saya benar-benar tidak bisa mengerti.

Teman satu gedung di sini menanyakan soal berita penyebaran uang dari atas pesawat di Indonesia (?). Saya bilang, saya tidak tahu. Sedang puasa baca berita tentang Indonesia, sedang malas. Terakhir baca tanggal 1 Juni lalu dan itu membuat saya mual. Sungguh.

What a day!

I woke up on Sunday Morning at 8am. The first thought in my mind was my exam in next 2 weeks. But I was sooo tired, try to remember what happened yesterday. It was crazy!

After lunch, I decided to join the walk in my neighboring areas,Bloomsbury. We started the walk in Holborn tube station and it was ended in  British Museum . I knew that Bloomsbury is famous with many British Writers, but yesterday I realised there are sooo many! Virginia Woolf is one of them, but definitely is one of the famous. I was surprised that she was living in the same building, where I was taking my last modules. I also learned that my university (UCL) is the first uni in England that accepted woman student and allowed woman as a professor. Our walk’s guide was very good (thanks god now it is not difficult for me to understand that thick British’s accent hehe). I felt satisfied with the walk.

In the evening, my friend invited me to join him attending the Irish’s music concert. We had light supper first, and if you know me (sure you do!), you know very well who was cooking. We are approaching the summer thus the days are longer. It was still bright when we reached Irish Cultural Centre in Hammersmith  The opening performance was brilliant (and those 2 young men are handsome too!) and the main band, Solas, was fantastic! One guy can play 5 instruments during the concert. I am jealous. How can people have such talent?

When we were going back to the tube station, I realised that we will have a very interesting night. The new major of London issued the new regulation that ban drinking – and carrying the open container – beverage contains alcohol in the public transportation (tube, bus, train, DLR) per 1 June 2008. As a result, many people (=thousands) arranged party in the tube in the night before, as a protest. I understand that people can drink “responsibly” but if you see what happened yesterday, I also understand why Boris Johnson issued this “unpopular” regulation. The party mostly happened in Circle Line, but the line was cancelled and some tube stations were closed. The crowd then jumped to other lines, including my line. It was interesting to see that drunken peoples can behave differently. Young man from the states asked why I didn’t join the party and show me the pictures that he was taking by his Iphone, as if we are very good friends for ages. And the other groups in  my left side just started the random topic about film and ended up hugging each others because they have similar interest :D Funny. And it was not finish, because when we walked to my accommodation, we show a group of people wearing Batman and Robin costumes and they screamed happily to us :D I think the police and tube officers were very busy. What a day!