Trip nya adalah: Rio-Lisbon-London Heathrow. Nyampe London jam 10.45 pagi. Berhubung ga punya jaket dan stok sweater terbatas, begitu nyampe London langsung belanja2 sedikit, either di Heathrow atau di deket2 King’s Cross station. Luggage bisa dititipin di locker selama belanja. Nukerin Pounds nya juga udah dilebihin supaya bisa beli jaket. Abis itu baru dengan santai2 menuju Newark. Diperkirakan nyampe sore2.

Oh well, itu RENCANA ideal-nya. Kenyataannya adalah…

Pesawat dari Rio telat nyampe Lisbon. I missed my flight yang ke London Heathrow. Keadaan di airport Lisbon kacau banget, miskin informasi dan orang2 antri panjang di mana2. Ternyata banyak pesawat TAP yang telat jadi semua connection kacau. Langsung memutuskan kalo harus bayar sendiri ga bakal naik TAP. Antri nyaris 3 jam sebelum bisa ngomong sama perwakilan nya TAP buat request ganti tiket. Abis itu harus nunggu 45 menit lagi buat dapet kepastian, itu pun ke London Gatwick, bukan Heathrow spt tiket awal. Orangnya meyakinkan kalo luggage ikut bareng aku ke Gatwick.

Sama orang TAP sebagai pengobat bete dikasih kartu telpon internasional sama voucher snack di restoran. Bete terobati dikit karena bisa nelpon Sherwood Apartment ngasih tau kalo datengnya ntar telat. Dan juga masih punya sisa pulsa dikit buat nelpon Tante Rina bentar.

On the second flight, I decided to sleep. So tired, jet lag dan capek bo ngantri berjam2, capek fisik dan capek hati. Lagian ntar kan pas di kereta ga boleh tidur, musti jagain laptop.

Arrived in London Gatwick on time. As what I’ve been afraid of, luggage ku ga ada.
Hiks… my nightmare comes true. Bareng sama satu orang ibu2 (sama dari Brazil), kita complain dan submit report. Diduga keras (sama orang airport yang udah biasa ngurus ginian), luggage kita masih di Lisbon. GRR… mo marah2 sama orang TAP.

Akhirnya, there’s nothing more we can do, selain submit report dan berharap luggage bakal dikirim besok.

Aku misah sama Ibu2 itu, dan mulai naik kereta menuju Newark sekitar jam 17.50. Sebab hari udah mulai malem juga sih, takut ketinggalan kereta terakhir.

Gawat juga nih:

No jacket, it’s getting late and it’s getting very cold. It’s not possible to do shopping now due to two reasons: first, I have to catch my trains, and second, it’s Sunday; most stores are already closed.
I need to take a shower. But all my toiletries are in the luggage.
My lock cable for laptop is in the luggage.
My coveralls, boots, helmet, etc are in the luggage. And also are my handbook and my other books.
How am I going to start my school tomorrow without all these things?
I haven’t rehearsed the presentation. What if my turn is tomorrow?
I haven’t read enough material for maintenance evaluation. What if we have a test tomorrow?
I don’t have the British three-pin plug. How can I charge my laptop battery?
And in confusions, I suddenly forgot the PIN for my Indonesian mobile number and now the number is blocked cause I entered the wrong PIN three times.

Ok, basically, I’m in a deep shit.

So you know what happen in the end? To get to Newark, I had to change trains twice. First time, I had 15 minutes. I found a shop that sell jacket and was running like crazy picking up jackets. I picked one without thinking much, very crazyyy!! I didn’t even know if it’s cheap or expensive, good or bad. One thing only: it so cold here, I need a jacket!! So it was 5 minutes shopping and 10 minutes half running for the next train.

And then, in King’s Cross, the same thing, I found a small shop, bought soap and shampoo (without looking at the brand at all!! Hehe) and was running here and there to find the platform!

Geez, what an experience… Tapi syukurlah, terjadinya di negara yang setidaknya bahasanya aku ngerti.

Akhirnya, nyampe di Newark jam 20.30. Nelpon this contact person from Sherwood Apartment, he said he’ll meet me there in 5 minutes.
Took a taxi, a bit surprised soalnya supir taksi nya ibu2 tua gitu (udah hampir nenek-nenek).

Arrived in apartment, safe and sound. Guess what, contact person (org yang tanggung jawab) sama apartemen kita namanya Reza, and yesss… he is INDONESIAN. Ya ampuun kebetulan banget!!!!

I lived with three other girls from my company. They are from Algeria, Angola, and Mexico.

I pray that everything will be ok tomorrow in the school. No test, no presentation, no practicals, just lectures the whole day (am crossing my fingers for this!!)
Mudah2an luggage nyampe (kalo engga, gawat abis!)
Hopefully I’ll meet nice people here, have a good experience, and can do well in the school.
Aminn…

Sometimes I feel like I am shouting in an empty street.

Gosh. I hope that this will not last forever.

Hari ini mood sedang bagus deh. Alhamdulillah.
Pertama, mulai ngerasa tune-in ama temen2 cowokku, bocah-bocah bandel itu... :)
Kedua, managerku bilang, aku ga perlu buat presentasi sebelum berangkat... asik...asik...
Ketiga, an engineer was being very nice, dia bilang mau pinjemin jaketnya supaya aku ga usah bingung-bingung gimana dan di mana harus beli jaket winter hari sabtu entar...

Thank you people, for making my heart so happy today!

Natasha Bedingfield - Unwritten

Time to sing now; nice lyrics btw.

I am unwritten
Can't read my mind
I'm undefined
I'm just beginning
The pen's in my hand
Ending unplanned

[Chorus 1]
Staring at the blank page before you
Open up the dirty window
Let the sun illuminate the words
That you could not find
Reaching for something in the distance
So close you can almost taste it
Release your inhibitions

[Chorus 2]
Feel the rain on your skin
No one else can feel it for you
Only you can let it in
No one else, no one else
Can speak the words on your lips
Drench yourself in words unspoken
Live your life with arms wide open
Today is where your book begins
The rest is still unwritten

I break tradition
Sometimes my tries
Are outside the lines
We've been conditioned
To not make mistakes
But I can't live that way

Back to [Chorus 1] and [Chorus 2]

Feel the rain on your skin
No one else can feel it for you
Only you can let it in
No one else, no one else
Can speak the words on your lips
Drench yourself in words unspoken
Live your life with arms wide open
Today is where your book begins
The rest is still unwritten

The rest is still unwritten

The rest is still unwritten

Natasha Bedingfield - Unwritten

Yesterday was such a nice day. It’s lebaran day, btw.
Semuanya, met Hari Raya Idul Fitri ya, mohon maaf lahir batin...

Bangun pagi-pagi, nelpon ke Indonesia, voice chat tepatnya, lewat YM. Abis itu, email2, browsing2, dan chatting2. Dapet laporan dari orang2, betapa mereka lagi makan2 enak. Di rumah, di HH, and di Berlin. Wah, langsung ngiler2 gitu, apalagi keadaan di rumah kemaren pagi kering makanan gara2 belum sempet ke supermarket (gara2 test). Makan roti yang udah diragukan masih baik atau engga. (but, no dark spots are visible yet, jadi anggep masih baik aja deh… hahaha)

Jam 11.30an, ke supermarket, dan di sana ketemu os meninos, the technician trainees from my department (yang masih pada muda2 banget). Mereka temen2ku kalo kerja di area, dan temen2 seruanganku juga. Hari ini ulang tahun Matheus, jadi mereka mau barbeque-an. Aku diajak, dan tentunya aku mau banget dong. It would be a great way to spend the day.

FYI, orang sini demen banget barbeque-an. For them, a normal party will consist of barbeque (with lots of meat), loud music, and alcoholic drinks. And, a normal house usually has a built in stove/grill outside to do barbeque.

Kali ini barbeque nya di rumah Bruno, Vagner, dan Marcio. Cocok juga buat pesta, teras nya gede, dan ada grill buat manggang2 daging.

Wah ternyata mereka tu gila and cacat2 abis deh. Tapi lucu aja buat aku. Interesting. They just don’t care about anything. Bayangin ya, begitu nyampe, one of them langsung nyambungin selang ke keran air dan selang diiket ke langit2 teras (kebayang ga ya).
Trus all of them (seriously) langsung buka kaos karena kegerahan (orang sini kalo udah di rumah demen banget buka2 kaos and stay bare-chested… Waktu di Aracaju juga gitu)

One of them is even worse, dia buka celana pendek juga, jadi (literally, guys) dia cuma pake underwear doang. OMG, I was so shocked at the beginning, but I tried to act cool dong, and tried not to look at his… (you know what, right guys?)
Sebenernya yang bikin shock juga, nobody said anything, which means that using only your undies in a barbeque is considered VERY NORMAL here. Gosh…

Trus ya, makan-makan, barbeque, dancing with the music, dst. Terus, tiap kali mereka kegerahan, mereka buka keran air, terus mengguyur badan melalui selang yang diiket di langit2… Ya ampun, aku baru ngerti, ternyata itu kegunaan selang di langit2…
Oh ya, one thing more, orang sini cuek abis soal setel musik keras2. They just don’t care what their neighbors will say. Trus, tetangga2 juga cuek2 aja tuh, ga ada yang complain. Mungkin karena weekend kali ya? Kata the guy in undies, it’s okay asal sebelum jam 10 malem.

Setelah pada mulai bosen makan2 daging (gile, semenjak di sini konsumsi dagingku jadi tinggi banget!), mereka terus maenan air. Kebetulan teras di rumah mereka ini terbuat dari keramik gitu, jadi kalo dikasi sabun jadi licin dong ya. Ya udah, mereka langsung tuangin sabun deterjen (yang buat cuci baju) di sepanjang teras. Dan terus mereka main SELUNCURAN! OMG! Kiddies banget ga sih!!!

Setelah bosen dengan main seluncuran dan udah siram2 badan mereka yang skrg berdeterjen itu, mereka memutuskan untuk pergi ke pantai. Ternyata pantai tu ga jauh dr rumah mereka. Kira2 10-15 menit jalan. Dan, lagi2 aku amazed ama their ‘I-just-don’t-care-about-anything-so-what’ behaviour. Some of them ga pake sandal i.e. nyeker doang, some of them ga pake kaos, and the guy in undies cuma put on his t-shirt aja (Kenapa sih dia ga pake shorts-nya??!!)

Dan, ya ampun bela2in gitu lho, bawa2 keresek berisi minuman dan bekel tomat yang diiris2 buat kalo laper selama di jalan. Cacat abis ga sih???

Nyampe di pantai, mereka maen2 air sebentar. Aku sih duduk manis aja di pinggir. Bagus juga punya alesan soalnya aku kan pake jeans dan ga punya baju ganti. Ga lama, terus kita beli es krim dan jalan pulang.

Aduh, selama jalan pulang, mereka juga cacat abis. Kejar2an, tindih2an, perosot2in celana pendek dsb. Kenapa ya, kok aku jadi berurusan ama bocah-bocah bandel begini?? Bandel tapi hatinya baek2 semua sih… They made me laugh a lot… They are anyway 6-9 years younger than I am (Gosh! I am so old!).

Begitu sampe di rumah, the party is officially over. I called a taxi to go home. They took a shower, get ready to sleep or to start studying again. Oh, for those of you who might be wondering what I was doing while they were being so crazy and all… well, don’t worry guys, I kept my sanity and being a good girl. I sat on the side and just laughed at them a lot. I was their ‘mom’, keeping my eyes on them waktu nyebrang2 jalan, naroin es ketika dahi salah satu dr mereka entah kenapa luka (Dasar anak-anak bandel!!)... :D

Hari ini aku ke Rio untuk ngurus visa. Berangkat dari Macae jam 6 pagi naik van bareng Gustavo dan satu orang lagi yang biasa nongkrong di Almaxarifado (Ga tau namanya siapa). Sampe di Rio’s office jam 9.15an.

Jam 10, a guy named Bruno came. He accompanied me buat ngurus visa. Semoga urusan visa lancar dan ga bermasalah.

Selesai urusan visa, aku balik lagi ke Rio’s office. Ketemu Juliana, a Brazilian girl I met during OFS-1. She’s a very nice girl, considering sebenernya kita kan ga deket2 dan ga kenal2 amat. Makan siang bareng dia dan temen deketnya. They are really nice people. Talking about normal things: guys, life, touristic areas, historical buildings etc.

(FYI, Juliana nih lawyer gitu, dan temennya journalist. Oh, betapa menyenangkan untuk sekali2 ga ngomongin hal2 yang berbau engineering)

Makan di one of the resto di daerah deket kantor. Emm, kayaknya emang business district gitu deh. Abis makan, sempet mampir di café kecil buat minum kopi. Aku baru tau kalo Juliana itu 30 years old. She doesn’t look like she’s 30. Dan aku baru tau kalo dia juga ga punya cowo. Dan ternyata di sini juga it is an issue if you’re in your late twenties and still single.

Anyway, aku cuma mau bilang, I had a great time today in Rio, spent time sama orang2 yang gue ga gitu kenal tp baek bgt sama gue. They told me that to survive this kinda life I’m living right now, I have to be very friendly with everybody, be talkative, and make as many friends as possible… And I totally agree with them.