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Saturday, July 29, 2017
The ASEAN Tour: Cambodia Our journey to Cambodia began when our coach departed from Ho Chi Minh City. We exited Vietnam via Mc Bài and entered Cambodia via Bavet. It was one interesting entrance. Instead of queuing at the border, we were actually ushered to a noodles shop and expected to have our lunch there while waiting for our passports to be stamped. The same shop also sold the Cambodia Riel on its display counter, as if it was selling souvenirs (and the notes, which looked like Monopoly money, certainly made it all the more convincing). The surreal experience was further enhanced by the casino nearby. I mean, the area was quite deserted and suddenly there was this big casino in the middle of nowhere (but perhaps that's the whole idea. The casino was built there to attract people from the other side of the border to come and spend their money).
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From the left: Setia, Ah Kiun and Darto at the noodles shop in Bavet
It took us roughly around 4 hours to reach Phnom Penh from Bavet. Throughout the ride, we could see that Cambodia had a very dry weather. Even the cows on the roadside looked skinny, so life must be hard down there. I remember crossing the river. The ferry was huge and vehicles as big as our coach could fit in there. Prior to that, some of us went to pee, only to be astounded by the fee: it was one USD for each person! We should have bought the Cambodia Riel earlier (it was fixed rate then, where one USD was equal to 4000 KHR) as they didn't give any change once we paid them in USD.
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Setia and Endrico (peeping through the hole) on the ferry
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From the left: Markus, Hady, Darto, Ah Kiun, Anthony, Setia and Yani in front of the guesthouse at the riverside.
We stayed nearby the riverside (still a work in progress then), a walking distance to the Royal Palace. Once we checked in, we began searching for happy pizza, a delicacy that Endrico read about, something that was supposed to make us really happy. After asking around, we managed to get a tuktuk driver who seemed to know what we were talking about. Despite his confidence, we ended up at a wrong place. He brought us to some pizzeria that sold regular pizzas instead. Judging from the normal families who ate there, the pizzas certainly didn't have any special ingredients that made them unusually happy! We eventually got what we wanted later on. It was sold around the riverside, nearby our guesthouse. The happy pizza tasted bitter and it didn't seem to make us any happier.
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They're All Against Me! Markus and the confident tuktuk driver on our quest for the happy pizza.
When the night came, I went to have a dinner with my girlfriend. Yani stayed at Le President Hotel as she was on business trip. We ordered salted egg crab there, the very first time we ever tried any dishes cooked with salted egg. It was brilliant, simply the best. Perhaps we should go back one day, eh? After that, I went back to meet the boys, but only Markus and Darto that were still awake. The three of us then went out to explore the night life. We had a beer or two at the Pussycat Club, then we explored the surroundings. What we saw was amusing. The Cambodians would gather in front of their houses to do either the slow dancing (two steps forward, one step backward) or rope skipping. They surely knew how to enjoy and cheer themselves up!
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Hady picked up the spider that we eventually shared as our snack. We were on our way to Siem Reap.
The next day, we made our way to Siem Reap, where the famous temple Angkor Wat is located. It was a six hours ride, with a scenery that had become all too familiar for us: dry, dusty and dirty view along the way, and poverty that was so rampant. We stopped for lunch, but the food presentation wasn't exactly tempting thanks to the flies that were aplenty.
Setia, shortly before we began our journey to the floating market via the river behind him.
We visited the floating market not long after we reached Siem Reap. We took a boat cruising on a brown colored river which eventually led us to some sort of lake. While we were on our way, there were underage vendors that would leap to our boat with stunning accuracy and agility. I mean, the boat was moving fast and these kids just jumped onto it as if it! Anyway, the floating market was apparently a couple of boats that floated nearby each other. Our destination was a restaurant, but I don't recall what we ate there. The memory I had was the crocodiles that they kept on the boat. That was like the weirdest attraction ever! Totally unexpected! We went back to the mainland afterwards, just in time to visit the night market. If I remember correctly, we went to Pub Street afterwards, the lively and touristy area, but Endrico lost his way, so there wasn't any picture taken.
Markus smiled as the sun rose at Angkor Wat
The next day, we went to Angkor Wat to see the sunrise. The temple was... colossal. I went to Borobudur before, but when I pictured it mentally, it was much smaller if compared with Angkor Wat. It took us half a day to walk around before we decided that we had seen enough of it. We went to the next one, the Bayon, the temple of faces and then ended the whole day activity with the visit to the tree temple of Ta Prohm (this was where the movie Tomb Raider was partly filmed). They were great, but it was Markus who made our day. In his valiant effort to pose for good photos, he crossed to a forbidden area where the landmines might still be active and was immediately shouted at by an angry officer, haha.
Posing in front of the Bayon temple.
Overall, Cambodia was alright, a real eye-opener. After what we saw there, I couldn't help thinking Indonesia was actually in a much better shape and we should be thankful instead of complaining endlessly. While it was meant to be a Vietnam-Cambodia trip, there wasn't any doubt that Siem Reap was the highlight of it, thanks to majestic Angkor Wat. From Siem Reap, we flew back to Ho Chi Minh City...
At the tree temple of Ta Prohm.
Posted by Anthony Robinson at 3:01 PM
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Labels: Travel
Wednesday, July 26, 2017
The Gauls I always wanted the Smurf in the first place. I remember reading the Black Smurfs at my cousin's house and suddenly the blue creatures that were roughly three apples tall were the coolest thing ever. I asked my Dad to buy me the Smurf comics and he said yes, so imagine my horror when he brought back a comic book with a front cover depicting a shorty and a fatso, both with thick mustache, running away from people who chased them. How my Dad ended up thinking this was a Smurf comic, I really had no idea. Only God knows if Dad ever understood what Smurf really was. I was pissed and sulking, but eventually decided to flip through the pages. What I saw got me chuckled. Realizing that it wasn't as bad as I originally thought, I read it from the start. It was one hell of a story, unlike anything I'd ever seen before. Very wild, very funny. By the time I finished reading, I got a big smile on my face. I knew I wanted more. That was how I got accidentally introduced to Asterix. The book I described above was Asterix in Britain, the third from the list of Asterix books, Bahasa Indonesia edition. There were around 20 books listed on the back cover, so I made it my mission to hunt them down one by one since then. I lost the whole stack once because a friend who borrowed conveniently forgot to return them. I started collecting Asterix for the second time afterwards, this time up to Asterix and the Secret Weapon, only to lose them all again some time in the future. That was just my luck, I guess! Anyway, what is more important is the story itself. I was a primary four student when I first read Asterix. With the imagination of a 10-year-old boy, I read the story as it was and laughed at the funny gags: the dynamics between Cetautomatix and Assurancetourix, the ensuing fights among the villagers that were always triggered by the mere mention of the fish, they were hilarious. The brilliant puns that came with the character names were also amusing. As I was reading the Bahasa Indonesia version, while the names maintained its distinct spelling (for example, the Roman names would always have the suffix -us), they were very much localized to Bahasa Indonesia, ie. a Roman centurion called Nasibungkus (which meant a package of rice) or a Norman named Jagojotos (which meant good in fighting). The four below are personal favorites:
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The story was always funny, alright, but sometimes there were some parts that I didn't really understand then. For example, when Asterix went to Spain and met a guy who suddenly attacked the windmills for no apparent reason, the scene felt disconnected. Another thing that got me wondering was the inconsistent art (the art work on Asterix the Gladiator, which was released as first book in Indonesia, was much better than the second book, Asterix the Gaul) and the characters that appeared in one book, but not appearing in the next one (the villagers such as Agecanonix and Cetautomatix were featured in Asterix and Caesar's Gift, but not found in Asterix and the Big Fight). I also remember thinking how odd the story was when I read Asterix and the Great Divide. There was something unusual with it and not in a good sense, but I couldn't figure out why at that time. It was only much later on in life that I realized the book release in Indonesia never followed the original sequence, which explained why the art work could suffer a setback and certain characters would be missing from time to time. Now I also understand those weird scenes that seemed to be disjointed. The guy who attacked the windmills in Asterix in Spain was Don Quixote. Goscinny and Uderzo were smart artists with great attention to details that they would insert some cultural references into the story. For example, back to Asterix in Britain, I eventually noticed that the Beatles also had a cameo role there. As for Asterix and the Great Divide, it was the first story written by Uderzo, who normally played the role of illustrator, after Goscinny died during the production of Asterix in Belgium (hence the pouring rain, a homage from the illustrator to his writer). No wonder the story was rather awkward and wasn't as good. All those fantastic memories aside, it's worth mentioning that Asterix played an undeniable significant role in expanding my horizon. For the fact that I was growing up in a small town called Pontianak long before internet existed, it was thru Asterix that I became aware of those foreign countries, especially France. Asterix was my window to the world. As a reader, I would follow Asterix throughout his adventures that brought him to as far as America and India. Best learning experience ever! Those who had gone thru the same experience as mine surely knows what I'm talking about. Asterix was there for us, something that we grew up with. This is the reason why the release of a new Asterix book is always a good news. It's like a blast from the past. The latest one, Asterix and the Chariot Race, just came out on November 2, featuring Monalisa as well as the origin of Venice and pizza. Excited? I'm definitely thrilled, and partially tempted to collect them all again from the scratch. May be third time is a charm!
The latest Asterix - Kindle version.
Orang Galia Pada awalnya yang saya inginkan adalah Smurf. Saya ingat ketika saya membaca komik berjudul Smurf Hitam di rumah sepupu saya dan sejak itu saya merasa makhluk biru setinggi tiga buah apel ini adalah yang paling saya sukai di kala itu. Saya lantas meminta ayah saya membelikan komik Smurf dan dia menyanggupinya. Saya kira dia tahu apa itu Smurf, jadi bayangkan betapa kagetnya saya ketika dia membawa pulang komik bergambar yang menampilkan pria pendek dan pria gendut berkumis yang berlari menghindari orang-orang yang mengejar mereka. Saya gagal paham mengapa yang seperti ini bisa disangka sebagai Smurf oleh ayah saya. Walau agak kesal, saya memutuskan untuk membuka komik tersebut. Apa yang saya lihat membuat saya tergelitik. Ternyata tidak seburuk yang saya sangka, jadi saya mulai membacanya. Cerita komik ini sungguh berbeda, liar dan lucu, dan setelah saya selesai membaca, saya tersenyum sendiri. Saya tahu saya mau membaca kisah berikutnya. Itu adalah sepenggal kisah bagaimana saya secara tidak sengaja berkenalan dengan Asterix. Komik yang saya deskripsikan di atas adalah Asterix di Inggris, buku ketiga dalam daftar judul buku Asterix edisi bahasa Indonesia. Ada sekitar dua puluhan judul tertera di belakang buku dan saya tertarik untuk mengumpulkannya. Koleksi saya yang pertama hilang karena tetangga saya lupa mengembalikannya. Saya lalu mengoleksinya untuk kali kedua, kali ini sampai Mawar dan Pedang Bermata Dua, tapi koleksi tersebut hilang lagi! Memang nasib. Akan tetapi yang lebih penting untuk dibahas di sini adalah isi ceritanya. Saya duduk di kelas empat SD saya pertama kali membaca Asterix. Dengan imajinasi anak berumur 10 tahun, saya membaca cerita apa adanya dan dibuat tertawa oleh apa yang tampak jelas di depan mata: kocaknya hubungan Assurancetourix dan Cetautomatix, pertarungan antar penghuni desa yang kerap kali dimulai dari ikan Ordralfabetix, semua itu sungguh kocak. Di versi Indonesia yang saya baca, meski nama tokoh-tokohnya masih menggunakan pola tertentu (misalnya orang Romawi selalu memiliki akhiran -us), tapi namanya sudah lokal, misalnya komandan tentara Romawi yang bernama Nasibungkus, orang Normandia yang bernama Jagojotos, orang Jerman yang bernama Pabrik dan masih banyak lagi. Cerita Asterix selalu lucu, tapi saat saya, masih kecil terkadang ada beberapa bagian yang tidak saya mengerti. Misalnya saja, saat Asterix pergi ke Spanyol dan bertemu dengan orang yang tiba-tiba menyerbu kincir angin tanpa alasan jelas. Bagian tersebut terasa tidak berkaitan dengan cerita. Hal lain yang membuat saya bingung adalah kualitas gambarnya yang tidak konsisten (ilustrasi di Asterix Gladiator, buku pertama yang diterbitkan di Indonesia, lebih bagus dari buku kedua yang berjudul Asterix Prajurit Galia). Selain itu, beberapa karakter, contohnya Agecanonix dan Cetautomatix tampil di Hadiah Dari Caesar, tetapi tidak muncul di Pertarungan Antar Kepala Suku. Saya juga merasa aneh ketika membaca tentang Desa Belah Tengah. Ada sesuatu yang tidak biasa dengan ceritanya, tetapi saya tidak tahu pasti apa sebenarnya yang terasa aneh ini. Bertahun-tahun kemudian baru saya sadari bahwa buku yang dirilis di Indonesia tidak pernah mengikuti urutan terbit yang benar sehingga gambarnya terlihat mengalami kemunduran dari buku yang satu ke buku yang lain. Sekarang saya juga mengerti beberapa adegan yang dulunya terasa janggal. Pria Spanyol yang menyerang kincir angin itu adalah Don Quixote. Goscinny dan Uderzo adalah pasangan penulis dan ilustrator jenius yang seringkali memasukkan referensi budaya asing ke dalam cerita, misalnya saja the Beatles dalam kisah Asterix di Inggris. Akan halnya Desa Belah Tengah, itu adalah cerita pertama yang ditulis oleh Uderzo setelah Goscinny meninggal saat mereka sedang mengerjakan Asterix di Belgia (dan peristiwa tersebut ditandai dengan hujan di satu pertiga bagian terakhir buku ini). Pantas saja ceritanya terasa aneh dan tidak sebagus biasanya. Terlepas dari semua kenangan ini, perlu disebutkan juga peran Asterix dalam membuka wawasan saya tentang dunia. Saya tumbuh di kota kecil bernama Pontianak dan jauh sebelum internet ada, saya mengenal negerinegeri nun jauh di sana, terutama Perancis, lewat Asterix. Sebagai pembaca, saya turut serta bersama Asterix dalam petualangan yang membawanya berkelana sampai sejauh Amerika dan India. Sungguh pengalaman belajar terbaik! Sesama penggemar Asterix tentu tahu apa yang saya bicarakan. Asterix adalah bagian dari hidup, oleh karena itu setiap kali edisi terbaru Asterix beredar adalah kabar baik. Yang terbaru, Asterix and the Chariot Race (saya belum tahu apakah ini juga akan dirilis di Indonesia), baru saja diterbitkan tanggal 2 November lalu. Ceritanya lumayan, ada Monalisa, Venesia, pizza dan Pompeii, haha. Terus terang saya jadi tergoda lagi untuk mengoleksi Asterix. Mungkin saya akan lebih beruntung di kali ketiga!
Koleksi Asterix terbaru di Kindle.
Posted by Anthony Robinson at 1:30 PM
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Labels: Comics, Favorites
Saturday, July 22, 2017
Book Review: A Brief History Of Indonesia I picked up this book when I was at Bandung airport. I never knew what to expect but much to my surprise, this is a great book and an easy reading! It was written chronologically, started from the time the Melanesian and Austronesian came to the Archipelago, the rise and fall of kingdoms such Srivijaya, Majapahit and so many more, the foreign visitors from Ibn Battuta, Zheng He to the likes of Cornelis de Houtman and Raffles, the colonialism, the fight for independence, the birth of a country called Indonesia, and then some. Reading this is a brilliant experience and it's all the more interesting as it's written by a foreigner. It's always good to see our nation's history from another point of view, especially one that doesn't have a reason to be biased. Names of historical characters and places (the writer, Tim Hannigan, did a good job on this as they were pretty accurate) such as Sultan Agung, Diponegoro, Ternate, Mataram and so forth bring back the memories of history lessons that I learnt during school days. At the same time, reading such a rich and occasionally bleak history also gives one a perspective of how vast and multicultural Indonesia is. The book does help to show that Indonesia is really a melting pot of cultures, races and religions. It's silly to debate and argue about who are the natives, because what we know today as Javanese, Sundanese, Dayak, etc. are the result of multiple migrations and assimilations, from the time the Flores hobbit walked the earth to the arrival of Chinese, Indians and Arab. We had Hinduism and Buddhism flourishing in the form of empires such as Srivijaya and Majapahit, then gave way to Islam that came later on. We have the cultures that built upon the cultures from the years gone by. We had different races and religions co-existed for centuries. Through the peace and fighting periods, we learnt the need for tolerance. It's a shame that we seem to forget it these days, when one tries to be louder than another.
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My favorite part is when Soekarno appeared. The Archipelago had gone through its fair shares of ups and downs when finally the man himself arrived on the scene, paid his dues and finally proclaimed our independence. It was a simple and short announcement, but it changed the course of our history. Our independence was not given. We seized the moment and Soekarno was at the center of it. Say what you like, but despite the mistakes that he made, he's still our Founding Father and I have only the utmost respect for him! (Long before Duterte, here was the only leader in Southeast Asia who dared to tell the United States to, "go to hell with your aid!" While the statement actually wasn't an achievement for us Indonesians to be proud of, it still never fails to make me smile). The subsequent pages were bittersweet, describing how the British was puzzled by the unseen red white flags when they came back to the Archipelago. It only goes to show how young our Republic was, with Soekarno and team facing the impossible tasks of getting things in order. Thank God that with a little or no clue at all, they still did a pretty decent job! The downfall and transition was sad and painful, though. The particular chapter in our country's history is rather murky, actually. There's no single source of truth about the coup that happened in 1965, and after the bloody massacres that happened throughout the country (an event that was totally eliminated from the history lessons at school) Soekarno was ousted and left to live the rest of his life under house arrest. Next, the book tells us about the tale of the Smiling General, Soeharto, and his New Order. Come to think of it, the man was the President for the first 18 years of my life and indeed he always smiled. Younger generations like me, who studied history lessons rewritten towards his advantage, wouldn't suspect that he was behind all that went wrong during the New Order. I mean, he looked like a kind hearted old man! It was only much later on, after he was toppled, that we got to learn what sort of man he was. On a hindsight, given the fact that he did what he could to build the country that was in a mess after Soekarno, let's just say that he stayed too long in power that he was eventually corrupted by the power itself. Finally, the last few chapters were rushed to bring us of to speed about the successions that happened after Soeharto, from Habibie to Joko Widodo. It ends right there, with the phrase Bhinneka Tunggal Ika (unity in diversity) to remind us again who we are as a nation. Overall, a very good book!
The book and its review.
Posted by Anthony Robinson at 7:46 PM
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Labels: Reviews
Thursday, July 20, 2017
The Time Capsules I've lived long enough to see that desktop computers aren't always what we know today. Back in the 80s, one actually had to boot up the computer using 5¼-inch floppy disk. This was the first disk storage I'd ever seen, very impractical, small in capacity and fragile. The next generation, still in the form of floppy disk, came in the size of 3½-inch, sporting the capacity of 1.44MB. This was in the 90s, when I was in high school. Unlike the predecessor, the smaller size diskette was solid looking and some even came with plastic casings. By the way, it was also around this time that hard disk became an integral component of a computer. The dawn of CD was a game changer, giving a new meaning to the word burn. Suddenly we could burn a 700MB worth of data into a CD! The capability was to be amplified by DVD many years later. At the same time, the arrival of USB also was also revolutionary, heralding the birth of flash drive and, later on, the external hard disk. With its plug and play ability, data transfer couldn't get more practical than this. It was a stroke of genius and is able to stand the test of time so far. The arrival of the Cloud does change the way we keep our data, but it can't totally replace flash drive yet. The only gripe I had about external hard disk was the idea of plugging the USB every time we needed to use it. That was the reason why I looked around for alternatives in 2012. I'd been using MacBook for a while then, so I naturally looked no further. That was when I found the Time Capsule at the Apple catalogs. I liked the idea that it was a combination of wifi and and external hard disk with the size of 2 TB that was always wirelessly connected to my MacBook. That meant I could do away the wifi and the existing external drive without any worries of running out space. 2TB was definitely enough for the whole family. It also worked well with Time Machine feature on MacBook. It could do advanced stuff, too, such as reserving certain IP to a specific MAC address. Furthermore, this being an Apple product, the initial setup was unbelievable easy and user-friendly. The thing one gotta watch out with electronic product is the life span. Just because you still can power on the hardware today, there's no guarantee that it'll still be alive tomorrow. Having said that, after using it for few years (or almost five years, in the case of my Time Capsule), it's wiser to get it replaced. This is all the more important and relevant when it comes to a data storage, because you certainly don't want to lose your data. This was why I eventually replaced my Time Capsule with... another Time Capsule, haha! I agree that there should be plenty of options out there nowadays, but why bother changing into something else when the existing technology still serves its purpose? On top of that, when I was expecting some problems setting up the new hardware, once again Apple did it all for me. It's as good as clicking next button and the original configuration was transferred to the new Time Capsule, relegating the old Time Capsule as and extended wifi and secondary hard drive. It was quite a brilliant experience, I must say. If you have a similar situation, perhaps you can try it out, too!
From the left: the new and the old.
Posted by Anthony Robinson at 10:26 PM
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Labels: Technology
The Ten Percent Roughly a year ago, I found myself sitting at the coffee shop with my church-going friend, talked about many things about a Christian life, including tithing. Now, before we get into what we were discussing, let me share with you some backgrounds first. I was into Christianity as the church cared to explain about what was going then, ie. what life was like in Israel at that time, which helped to put things in perspective. This actually helped me to understand why Jesus said this or did that. The church I am attending is also shepherded by a pastor who knows how to preach in an engaging way, so it is great. You see, sermons are like physics, and I failed physics because it was boring. I'm more receptive when things are entertaining and our pastor is good at that. As for why tithing, well, I've always wanted to write about this topic from a layman's point of view since I first heard of it. Anyway, back to the coffee shop, tithing was the only the topic that had a lasting impression in my mind. It was a strange concept that was difficult to explain. The idea of giving something as real and concrete as cash to God, whom is nowhere to be seen but yet omnipresent, is kind of mind-boggling. Furthermore, God is supposed to be almighty, so what's the use of cash for our Father in heaven? At the same time, as we can't give it to God directly, the tithe actually goes to church. Who's to say that it's not going to be misused? My friend managed to come to a conclusion that God always provides. He quoted his own life experience that, since he had given what belonged to God, he was assisted in the time of need (you'd notice that the stark difference between a believer or non-believer is, the former would simply call it lucky while the latter would say it was by God's grace that he made it through the hard time). Given the complexity of the subject, a more satisfying explanation came much later on, when the pastor preached about it for the second time (I seem to recall that he also talked about the same thing with a different approach last year). Here's the video of it (quite long, but pretty enjoyable, so sit back and relax):
The First Things First sermon by Pastor Jeff © Hope Church Singapore
Eventually, I learnt that it's not a matter of questioning the use of money for God, but it's more of giving back what is rightfully His to begin with. I don't see the point of doubting the church, because tithing is almost the same as donating: we give because we trust what our heart is telling us do and we stop there, because we've done our parts. If the institution or the church still misuses it, it's their problems, really, so why worry about something that is beyond our control? Karma will get them, anyway, if they don't do it right. Now, back to the coffee shop again, the reason why the conversation we had lingers on my mind is, in its simplest form where you don't call it tithing, the act of giving can be seen a form of exercising mind control. I always fancy the idea that it's good to have money, alright, but it's bad when we get too clingy on it. You'll miss much of what's going on in life if you're too focus on money. Give it away, especially when the portion is not yours. It can be challenging because the amount will grow as one continue to earn more in life, but that's the fun part of it, because it makes you human. You'll come to a point of asking yourself whether you are the master or the slave of the money you have. Once we put back the original intention of tithing, it's good that we don't shortchange what belongs to the Almighty above. By the end of the day, in a material world we're living in, a clear conscience is the moral compass that we need to move forward in life...
Posted by Anthony Robinson at 2:11 PM
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Labels: Life
Sunday, July 16, 2017
Linda And Siri The thing with having daughters is, they are lovely and beautiful they melt a father's heart. That's why a father playing dolls with his daughter for three nights in a row isn't as crazy as it sounds. When her mother was busy with her younger sister, Linda naturally turned to me during her playtime and, for the past few days, I ended up playing as Anna from Frozen. To be frank, it wasn't that bad. The only rule that Linda imposed on me was strictly no singing allowed. She didn't seem to have any objection when I inserted some of the not-so-girlie ideas into the plot we were playing, such as using goo goo g'joob from I Am the Walrus as a keyword to enter the doll house. I also got to change it to alakazam and abracadabra (and she always either forgot or had a problem pronouncing the latter, which was quite funny). On another occasion, I even adapted the scene from Noah's ark by asking her to get as many toys as possible into the doll house before the flood came. It is all good, except I can't be possibly doing this every night. I'm a father, alright, but I'm also a writer with a blog to run. While it's true that writing is just a hobby and the blog is just an outlet, I have also told myself not to get too complacent and to always have a breakthrough by coming up with something new. I was exploring the Amazon Affiliate Program that night. After running a blog for six months, I thought it wouldn't hurt if I could monetize it a bit, haha. Learning a new thing definitely took some time. It required some reading and testing so that I could understand how the features worked and what was suitable for roadblog101.com. During the trial and error, Linda came to me a couple of times. She was such a sweet girl that she just asked what I was doing and when I would finish doing it. She also expressed her loneliness by saying she didn't want to play alone. I said I might take a bit more time, but never really told her when I would finish doing stuff. Linda went back to her room afterwards and never reappeared again. Then I started hearing her talking to some guy with a strong accent. I soon realized who the person was. It was Siri! She must be very lonely and had no one to accompany her that she tried to comfort herself by talking to an artificial intelligence. What a jerk I was for letting her down! I quickly dropped what I did and ran to her room. Apparently she had a trouble communicating with Siri, because the AI didn't understand her Singapore accent. The last conversation they had prompted Siri to dial an emergency call. I shut it down immediately and gave her a hug. She was worried if Siri had called the police. In fact, she was so bothered by the incident that she asked me again 20 minutes later, when we were playing dolls, if Siri managed to call the police. I'm not proud with what had happened between Linda and Siri. On the contrary, I was so ashamed of myself. However, I still have to write it down as reminder for all of us, the adults. We surely don't want our kids to feel less important than what we are doing at the moment. I learnt my lesson the hard way that there'll be time for us to do our own personal stuff, but not at the expense of the children. The last thing I ever wanted was to have a five years old trying her best to figure out why her father didn't want to play with her anymore and I wish I could have handled it better. Don't let the same thing happen to you, too...
When Siri was a better listener than a parent...
Linda Dan Siri Keunikan dari memiliki dua anak perempuan adalah betapa cantik dan lugunya mereka sehingga hati seorang ayah pun menjadi lembut karena mereka. Ini alasannya kenapa sang ayah rela bermain boneka bersama putrinya selama tiga malam berturut-turut. Ketika ibunya sibuk dengan adiknya, Linda biasanya mengajak saya bermain dan selama beberapa hari terakhir ini, saya memainkan boneka Anna dari film Frozen. Tidak terlalu buruk, sebetulnya. Satu-satunya peraturan dari Linda untuk saya adalah tidak boleh menyanyi. Dia tidak keberatan ketika saya memasukkan beberapa ide yang tidak feminim sama sekali ketika kita bermain boneka, misalnya frase goo goo g'joob dari lagu I Am the Walrus Sebagai kata kunci untuk masuk ke rumah boneka. Saya juga diperbolehkan mengganti kata kuncinya menjadi alakazam dan abracadabra (Linda selalu lupa dan kesulitan melafalkan kata kunci yang kedua sehingga terlihat lucu). Di kesempatan lain, saya bahkan bisa mengadaptasikan kisah nabi Nuh dengan memintanya memasukkan mainan sebanyak mungkin ke rumah boneka sebelum banjir datang. Semuanya berjalan lancar, tapi saya tidak bisa melakukannya setiap malam. Saya sadar bahwa saya adalah seorang ayah, tetapi saya juga seorang penulis yang memiliki sebuah blog. Benar adanya bahwa menulis hanyalah hobi dan blog adalah sarana untuk hasil dari hobi tersebut, tetapi sedapat mungkin saya berusaha untuk tetap aktif. Di malam itu, saya sedang mencoba-coba tentang Amazon Affiliate Program. Setelah menjalankan blog selama enam bulan, saya lantas berpikir, mungkin tidak ada yang salah kalau bisa mendapatkan sedikit keuntungan dari hobi ini, haha. Akan tetapi, mempelajari sesuatu yang baru itu membutuhkan waktu. Saya juga harus melakukan testing berulang-kali untuk melihat apa yang cocok untuk roadblog101.com. Sewaktu saya sibuk dengan proyek kecil ini, Linda menghampiri saya beberapa kali. Dia dengan manisnya bertanya, apa yang sedang saya kerjakan dan berapa lama lagi waktu yang saya butuhkan. Dia juga bergumam bahwa dia tidak ingin bermain seorang diri. Sambil terus bekerja, saya lantas menjawab, mungkin masih cukup lama, namun saya tidak memberitahukan kapan saya akan mengakhiri aktivitas saya. Setelah itu, Linda kembali ke kamar dan tidak lagi mendatangi saya. Tidak lama kemudian, saya mendengarnya berbicara dengan pria beraksen Inggris kental. Segera saya sadari, siapa itu sebenarnya: suara itu berasal dari Siri! Dia pastilah sangat kesepian sampai terpaksa berbicara dengan kecerdasan buatan yang ada di iPhone. Betapa buruknya saya sebagai seorang ayah karena mengecewakannya seperti itu! Saya lekas berhenti dan berlari menemuinya. Ternyata dia sedang mengalami masalah komunikasi dengan Siri karena kecerdasan buatan itu tidak mengerti bahasa Inggrisnya yang beraksen Singapura. Percakapan terakhir yang mereka lakukan membuat Siri menelepon ke nomor panggilan darurat. Saya bergegas mematikannya dan memeluk Linda erat-erat. Dia khawatir bahwa Siri telah menelepon polisi. Begitu cemasnya Linda sehingga 20 menit kemudian, ketika kita bermain boneka, dia tiba-tiba bertanya, apakah Siri berhasil menghubungi kantor polisi. Saya tidak bangga dengan apa yang terjadi antara Linda dan Siri. Justru sebaliknya, saya malu pada diri saya sendiri. Akan tetapi ini adalah pengalaman berharga, jadi saya tulis. Sebagai orang tua, tentunya kita tidak ingin anak-anak merasa bahwa mereka tidak sepenting apa yang kita kerjakan. Saya belajar dari kejadian ini bahwa ada waktunya kita mengerjakan apa yang kita suka, tapi tidak dengan mengorbankan waktu kita bagi anakanak. Saya sungguh tidak berharap bahwa anak kecil berumur lima tahun dengan sedih membayangkan kenapa ayahnya tidak ingin bermain dengannya lagi, sebab itu akan menjadi trauma yang tidak terlupakan baginya. Akhir kata, jangan sampai hal yang sama terjadi pada anda juga...
Posted by Anthony Robinson at 8:21 AM
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Labels: Life, Technology
Friday, July 14, 2017
Menuju Pikiran Positif "Pikiran positif tidak datang secara instan, namun latihan dan penerapan dalam hidup akan membuahkan." Ada banyak cara yang bisa kita lakukan untuk menuju pikiran positif. Berikut ini ada beberapa pilihan yang bisa membantu kita. Mari kita bahas satu persatu. Prinsip 90/10 Prinsip ini akan akan merubah pola hidup anda dalam bereaksi terhadap orang, keadaan atau masalah. Apa yang dimaksud dengan prinsip 90/10? Ini artinya 10% dari hidup anda terjadi karena apa yang langsung anda alami dan 90% dari hidup anda berikutnya ditentukan dari cara anda bereaksi. Di sini maksudnya adalah anda tidak dapat mengendalikan 10% yang akan terjadi pada diri anda. Anda tidak dapat menghindar dari kemacetan. Pesawat terlambat datang dan hal ini akan mengacaukan rangkaian jadwal anda. Anda tidak dapat mengontrol kondisi 10% ini, tetapi beda dengan 90% lainnya. Anda dapat menentukan yang 90% ini. Bagaimana caranya? Dari cara reaksi anda. Anda tidak dapat mengontrol lampu merah, tetapi anda dapat mengontrol reaksi anda. Jangan membiarkan orang lain menipumu, karena itu kontrol cara anda bereaksi. Marilah kita lihat contoh di bawah ini: Kondisi: Anda makan pagi dengan keluarga anda. Anak anda secara tidak sengaja menyenggol cangkir kopi minuman anda sehingga pakaian kerja anda tersiram kotor. Anda tidak dapat mengendalikan apa yang baru saja terjadi. Reaksi anda: Anda bentak anak anda karena telah menjatuhkan kopi ke pakaian anda. Anak anda akhirnya menangis. Setelah membentak, anda menoleh ke istri anda dan mengkritik karena telah menaruh cangkir pada posisi terlalu pinggir di ujung meja. Akhirnya terjadi pertengkaran mulut. Anda lari ke kamar dan cepat-cepat ganti baju. Kembali ke ruang makan, anak anda masih menangis sambil menghabiskan makan paginya. Akhirnya anak anda ketinggalan bis. Istri anda harus secepatnya pergi kerja. Anda buru-buru ke mobil dan mengantar anak anda ke sekolah. Karena anda sudah terlambat, anda melaju mobil dengan kecepatan 70 km/jam padahal batas kecepatan adalah 60 km/jam. Setelah terlambat 15 menit dan terpaksa mengeluarkan kocek Rp 600.000 karena melanggar lalu lintas, akhirnya anda sampai di sekolah. Anak anda secepatnya keluar dari mobil tanpa pamit. Setelah tiba di kantor dimana anda terlambat 20 menit, anda baru ingat kalau tas anda tertinggal di rumah. Hari kerja anda dimulai dengan situasi buruk. Jika diteruskan maka akan semakin buruk. Pikiran anda terusik karena kondisi di rumah. Pada saat tiba di rumah, hubungan dengan istri dan anak anda masih bermasalah karena cara anda bereaksi pada pagi hari. Kenapa anda mengalami hari yang buruk? 1. Apakah penyebabnya karena kejatuhan kopi? 2. Apakah penyebabnya karena anak anda? 3. Apakah penyebabnya karena polisi lalu lintas? 4. Apakah anda penyebabnya? Jawabannya adalah #4. Anda tidak dapat mengendalikan diri setelah apa yang terjadi pada cangkir kopi. Cara anda bereaksi dalam lima detik tersebut ternyata penyebab hari buruk anda. Berikut adalah contoh yang seharusnya terjadi. Kondisi: Kopi tumpah menyiram baju anda. Begitu anak anda akan menangis, anda berkata lembut, “tidak apaapa sayang, lain kali hati-hati ya.” Anda ambil handuk kecil dan lari ke kamar. Setelah mengganti pakaian dan mengambil tas, secepatnya anda menuju jendela ruang depan dan melihat anak anda sedang naik bis sambil melambaikan tangan ke anda. Anda kemudian mengecup lembut pipi istri anda dan mengatakan, “Sampai jumpa makan malam nanti.” Anda datang ke kantor lima menit lebih cepat dan dengan muka cerah menyapa karyawan anda. Bos anda mengomentari semangat dan keceriaan anda di kantor. Apakah anda melihat perbedaan kedua kondisi tersebut? Ada dua skenario berbeda, dimulai dengan kondisi yang sama, diakhiri dengan kondisi berbeda. Mengapa? Ternyata penyebabnya adalah dari cara anda bereaksi. Anda tidak dapat mengendalikan 10% dari yang sudah terjadi. Tetapi yang 90% tergantung dari reaksi anda sendiri. Ini adalah cara untuk menerapkan prinsip 90/10. Jika ada orang yang mengatakan hal buruk tentang anda, jangan cepat terpancing. Biarkan serangan tersebut mengalir seperti air di gelas. Anda jangan membiarkan komentar buruk tersebut mempengaruhi anda. Jika beraksi seadanya atau salah reaksi maka besar kemungkinan anda akan kehilangan teman, dipecat, stres dan lain-lain. Bagaimana reaksi anda jika seseorang menyebabkan anda terjebak macet dan terlambat masuk kantor? Apakah anda akan marah? Memukul stir mobil? Memaki-maki? Apakah tekanan darah anda akan naik cepat? Siapa yang peduli jika anda datang terlambat 10 detik? Kenapa anda biarkan kondisi tersebut merusak hari anda? Coba ingat prinsip 90/10 dan jangan khawatir, maka masalah anda akan cepat terselesaikan. Kita coba lihat kondisi lainnya : Tiba-tiba anda dipecat. Mengapa sampai tidak bisa tidur dan khawatir? Suatu waktu akan ada jalan keluar. Gunakan energi dan waktu yang hilang karena kekhawatiran tersebut untuk mencari pekerjaan yang lain. Pesawat terlambat. Kondisi ini merusak seluruh jadwal anda. Kenapa anda marah-marah kepada petugas tiket di bandara? Mereka tidak dapat mengendalikan terhadap apa yang terjadi. Kenapa harus stres? Kondisi ini justru akan memperburuk kondisi anda. Gunakan waktu anda untuk mempelajari situasi, membaca buku yang anda bawa atau mengenali penumpang lain. Sekarang anda sudah tahu prinsip 90/10. Gunakanlah dalam aktivitas sehari-hari dan anda akan kagum atas hasilnya. Tidak ada yang hilang dan hasilnya sangat menakjubkan. Sudah berjuta-juta orang menderita akibat tekanan stres, masalah berat, cobaan hidup dan sakit hati dan hal ini sebenarnya dapat diatasi jika kita mengerti cara menggunakan prinsip 90/10. Teknik Mengubah Kalimat Berkesan Buruk Menjadi Berkesan Baik Salah satu teknik yang tidak kalah pentingnya untuk bisa berpikir positif adalah dengan memulai mengubah kalimat-kalimat kita yang berkesan buruk menjadi berkesan baik. Dalam mengajar, saya selalu mengatakan kepada murid-murid saya jika kalimat yang sudah baik, jangan merusaknya dengan menambahkan kalimat lain yang dimulai dengan kata tapi. Sebaliknya, jika kalimat tersebut tidak berkesan baik, maka cepat-cepatlah menambahkan kata tapi dan diikuti kalimat yang akan membuat kalimat semula menjadi berkesan baik. Contoh: pertama kali saya mengajar, saya banyak menjumpai kalimat-kalimat yang saya kurang suka dari sebagian murid-murid saya. Saya menyuruh mereka menerapkan teknik ini. Sering kali saat saat menerangkan sesuatu, mereka kadang mengatakan, “kedengarannya mudah tapi sulit sekali mengerjakannya,” atau “saya bisa tapi capek, musti banyak latihan dulu,” dan lain sebagainya. Saya selalu memotong kalimat mereka sebelum mereka melanjutkan dengan kata tapi sehingga mereka hanya mengucapkan, “kedengarannya mudah,” dan saya langsung jawab, “memang mudah saat kita mau belajar.” Begitu juga saat mereka mengatakan, “saya bisa,” maka saya akan menjawab dengan cepat, “saya tahu kalian bisa dan mari kita tekuni lagi dengan banyak latihan bersama.” Sama juga halnya dengan saat mereka mengucapkan kalimat yang berkesan buruk, saya selalu menyambungnya dengan kata tapi. Misalnya beberapa murid saya suka mengatakan, “banyak sekali dan sulit sekali,” dan saya akan melanjutkan kalimat mereka, “tapi semuanya bisa dipelajari dan diselesaikan. Yuk, kita selesaikan satu persatu.” Jika mereka berujar, “aduh, banyak sekali masalah dalam hidup aku,” saya juga akan melanjutkan kalimat tersebut, “tapi kamu masih hidup dan ada waktu untuk menyelesaikannya.” Alternatif lainya, bisa saja saya lanjutkan dengan kalimat, “tapi aku anggap masalah itu sebagai tantangan dalam hidupku untuk lebih hebat lagi.” Selanjutnya ada juga cara mengubah kata-kata yang berkesan buruk menjadi berkesan baik. Contoh: buah setengah matang vs. buah setengah mentah, atau wah, sudah berhasil 30% vs aduh, masih 70% lagi. Kita bisa lihat makna dari kalimat-kalimat tersebut sebenarnya sama saja, namun kita juga bisa tahu mana yang berkesan baik. Tentu saja buah setengah matang dan wah, sudah berhasil 30% adalah kalimat yang berkesan baik. Yang tidak kalah pentingnya adalah cara mengubah penempatan kalimat. Secara sederhana kalimat-kalimat tersebut hanya kita ubah penempatannya tapi itu sangat mengubah maknanya. Ini sangat penting bagi kita untuk memulai berpikir positif. Berikut contoh-contohnya: Kamu cantik tapi pelit menjadi kamu pelit tapi cantik, guruku baik tapi kejam menjadi guruku kejam tapi baik, mama menyayangiku tapi cerewet menjadi mamaku cerewet tapi menyayangiku, dan seterusnya. Saya melihat teknik-teknik ini sangat ampuh mengubah cara pandang kita saat kita selalu mempraktekkannya. Ini sudah terbukti dengan beberapa cara pandang murid saya. Mereka lebih positif dalam berkata-kata sekarang. Teknik Membingkai Ulang Ada juga teknik yang dinamakan membingkai ulang dengan mengubah sudut pandang sehingga semuanya menjadi positif. Kita akan lihat kisah nyata berikut ini: Ada seorang ibu rumah tangga yang memiliki empat anak laki-laki. Urusan belanja, cucian, makan, kebersihan dan kerapihan rumah dapat ditanganinya dengan baik. Rumah tampak selalu rapi, bersih dan teratur. Suami serta anak-anaknya sangat menghargai pengabdiannya itu. Akan tetapi ada satu masalah, ibu yang bersih ini sangat tidak suka kalau karpet di rumahnya kotor. Ia bisa marah berkepanjangan hanya gara-gara melihat jejak sepatu di atas karpet, dan suasana tidak enak ini akan berlangsung seharian. Padahal, dengan 4 anak laki-laki di rumah, hal ini mudah sekali terjadi dan menyiksanya. Atas saran keluarganya, ia pergi menemui seorang psikolog bernama Virginia Satir dan menceritakan masalahnya. Setelah mendengarkan cerita sang ibu dengan penuh perhatian, Virginia tersenyum dan berkata kepada sang ibu: “Ibu harap tutup mata ibu dan bayangkan apa yang akan saya katakan.” Ibu itu kemudian menutup matanya. “Bayangkan rumah ibu yang rapi dan karpet ibu yang bersih, tak ternoda, tanpa kotoran, tanpa jejak sepatu, bagaimana perasaan ibu?” Sambil tetap menutup mata, senyum ibu itu merekah, mukanya yang murung berubah cerah. Ia tampak senang dengan bayangan yang dilihatnya. Virginia melanjutkan, “itu artinya tidak ada seorang pun di rumah ibu. Tak ada suami, tak ada anak-anak, tak terdengar gurau canda dan tawa ceria mereka. Rumah ibu sepi dan kosong tanpa orang-orang yang ibu kasihi.” Seketika muka ibu itu berubah keruh, senyumnya langsung menghilang, napasnya mengandung isak. Perasaannya terguncang. Pikirannya langsung cemas membayangkan apa yang tengah terjadi pada suami dan anak-anaknya. “Sekarang lihat kembali karpet itu. Ibu melihat jejak sepatu dan kotoran di sana, artinya suami dan anak-anak ibu ada di rumah, orang-orang yang ibu cintai ada bersama ibu dan kehadiran mereka menghangatkan hati ibu.” Ibu itu mulai tersenyum kembali, ia merasa nyaman dengan visualisasi tersebut. “Sekarang bukalah mata ibu.” Ibu itu membuka matanya. “Bagaimana, apakah karpet kotor masih menjadi masalah buat ibu?” Ibu itu tersenyum dan menggelengkan kepalanya. “Aku tahu maksud anda,” ujar sang ibu, “Jika kita melihat dengan sudut yang tepat, maka hal yang tampak negatif dapat dilihat secara positif.” Sejak saat itu, sang ibu tak pernah lagi mengeluh soal karpetnya yang kotor, karena setiap melihat jejak sepatu di sana, ia tahu, keluarga yang dikasihinya ada di rumah. Catatan: Virginia Satir adalah seorang psikolog terkenal yang mengilhami Richard Binder dan John Adler untuk menciptakan NLP (Neurolinguistic Programming). Teknik yang dipakainya di atas disebut Reframing, yaitu bagaimana kita ‘membingkai ulang’ sudut pandang kita, sehingga sesuatu yang tadinya negatif dapat menjadi positif. Terlampir beberapa contoh pengubahan sudut pandang. Saya BERSYUKUR: 1. Untuk istri yang mengatakan malam ini kita hanya makan mie instan, karena itu artinya ia bersamaku, bukan dengan orang lain. 2. Untuk suami yang hanya duduk malas di sofa menonton TV, karena itu artinya ia berada di rumah dan bukan di bar, kafe, atau di tempat mesum. 3. Untuk anak-anak yang ribut mengeluh tentang banyak hal, karena itu artinya mereka di rumah dan tidak jadi anak jalanan. 4. Untuk tagihan pajak yang cukup besar, karena itu artinya saya bekerja dan digaji tinggi. 5. Untuk sampah dan kotoran bekas pesta yang harus saya bersihkan, karena itu artinya keluarga kami dikelilingi banyak teman. 6. Untuk pakaian yang mulai kesempitan, karena itu artinya saya cukup makan. 7. Untuk rasa lelah, capai dan penat di penghujung hari, karena itu artinya saya masih mampu bekerja keras. 8. Untuk semua kritik yang saya dengar tentang pemerintah, karena itu artinya masih ada kebebasan berpendapat. 9. Untuk bunyi alarm keras jam lima pagi yang membangunkan saya, karena itu artinya saya masih bisa terbangun dan masih hidup. 10. Untuk setiap permasalahan hidup yang saya hadapi, karena itu artinya Tuhan sedang membentuk dan menempa saya untuk menjadi lebih baik.
Saya bersyukur karena... (silahkan dijawab)
Posted by alvin alexander at 9:52 PM
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Labels: Life
Wednesday, July 12, 2017
Japan 201: Father And Son Trip Being a Dad, especially when you came from a very remote area and became a father when the 80s just began in a bustling small town, could be a tough job to manage. My Dad was from this godforsaken place called Nanga Serawai (try googling it and you'll know what I mean) and during his heyday, he was in Pontianak, the center of the universe for Hakka and Teochew communities in West Kalimantan. He got really busy and I grew up not really knowing a man I called Dad. I mean, I always know he adored me since I came into existence, but we didn't really talk. It was only later on in life that we had a better relationship. This Japan trip was one of the fondest memories that I had with him. As I told you before, I only ever came to Japan due to one reason so far: to attend a Paul McCartney concert. This round was no exception. I was actually planning for a China-Mongolia trip when I heard of Paul rescheduling his concerts in Japan, so the hell with whatever that was planned earlier, because I was so going to Japan!
Another ticket to ride, one year later.
The problem was, we had a newborn at that time and my wife was occupied, so whom should I go with? It didn't make sense to travel alone, not when expedia.com had a promo of two to go at the normal price of one passenger. After giving a thought, I asked my Dad if he was free to go with me. On a hindsight, it must be a challenge for him to say yes, because I eventually learnt that he was a proud Chinese who remembered his history lessons well and what was done by Japan to China during the war time still pissed him off. Anyway, more to that later.
The view from inside my capsule.
We took the Cathay Pacific flight, had a short transit in Hong Kong and arrived at Haneda at night, then made our way to Kanda station. I chose to stay at the capsule hotel there for the sake of trying it out. I think the socalled room was only slightly bigger than a coffin. I accidentally bumped my head against the ceiling once or twice when I tried to change my jeans to shorts, hence it's not advisable to do so. The bathroom was actually a big shower room which was meant to be shared by the guests, so one had to get naked in front of other nude and nonchalant strangers. It was unique, but not exactly the most pleasant experience ever, I would say.
Surveying the Tokyo Dome: Paul is Out There!
The stay in Tokyo was only going to be a few days this round. We had a quick visit to the famous Tsukiji fish market in the morning then we continued with the site survey to the concert location, the Tokyo Dome baseball stadium. Since we stayed so near to Tokyo station, of course there was a visit to the Imperial Palace. Oh, while we were in Tokyo, we somehow managed to spend some time at Ueno Zoo, too, for I never saw gorillas before (as a bonus, there was also an aardvark there).
At the Tokyo Imperial Palace.
The main event, the concert, was what one could expect from an ex-Beatle. Paul was in a jovial mood. One could see that he was so relax and, ever the entertainer, he enjoyed performing. I could easily write a separate article about it, but back to the Japan trip itself, during the concert, there was this kind Japanese who barely spoke English and, upon learning that I came from afar just to watch Paul, he went out without saying anything and came back with a keychain as a gift. That was very nice of him. What happened next was even more startling. When the full house concert started, this Japanese guy suddenly stood up and sang the songs in proper English for the entire show! It was amazing, really.
The full house concert about to begin!
The following morning, we checked out early and went down to Tokyo station to take a shinkansen ride to Kyoto. JR Pass was a good buy for a city hopping journey because we just had to present it to the train station officer, he would show us the train schedule, we would pick one and then we were good to go. The bullet trains were the solid proof of how efficient and precise the Japanese people were. The timetable, 08.16am or 10.02am for example, was simply odd! The other parts of the world would have rounded up 10.02am to 10.05am.
Dad, nearby the Tokyo Station.
It was during the train ride such as this that we had our talk. Dad would share me his experience and I would ask him things that I seemed to recall but didn't really understand then. As I stared at him, I saw a man who had gone through a lot. Dad was no longer the young man I remember from my childhood. He was much older now, alright, but his eyes never lost the love for his son. I was glad that I could be a son he was proud of. On the other hand, I admired him for what he had done and didn't blame him for the things he failed to do. It was a beautiful moment, really. It's not everyday one can stop and spend time with his father like this. In fact, it took us 35 years before we had our first trip together, just the two of us, therefore the trip was so memorable.
The Golden Temple in Kyoto
But that wasn't the case for Kyoto. It was like a trip gone wrong. We went to the Imperial Palace but didn't see much, because most parts of it were inaccessible, so we basically walked from one end to another, looking at closed doors and spacious garden. From there, we took a bus to the interchange that happened to have a route to sightseeing spots. That's how we ended up at the Golden Temple. We took the bus back to the main train station where we arrived earlier that day, headed back to the hotel and we left early on the next day, making our way to Osaka. If you asked me what I think of Kyoto, well, it's an old city, but I'm not entirely sure what to see there.
Dōtonbori.
Osaka is huge and I always like big cities. We stayed in Shinsaibashi and our hotel room had a digital Beatles jukebox, so it was cool! We went to Osaka Aquarium where it housed a whale shark, the gentle giant. The place was quite unique, because we actually had to go to the highest floor and slowly came down by going round the circular walkway. We spent the night by strolling around Dōtonbori, the part of city that was divided by a river and illuminated by signboards. As this was Osaka, we had okonomiyaki and the sweet noodles with eggs. Was it called yakisoba? I liked it very much!
Okonomiyaki.
When it comes to Osaka, the Universal Studios is a major attraction, especially for first timers. It is bigger than the one in Singapore and it had this Spider-Man ride. I watched Water World for the first time here, but what lingers on my mind was Jaws. When we took the ride, the Japanese staff, who acted as the boat captain, spoke in Japanese and acted enthusiastically as the shark attacked us. Upon seeing this, my Dad whispered to me, "if this is an eight hours job, imagine how many times he should repeat the act for the whole day." That was just Dad with his keen observation. He was genuinely impressed by the Japanese.
Dad at the Universal Studios, Osaka.
And the impression got better when we reached Hiroshima. Coming from a city as big as Osaka, Hiroshima felt like a small quiet town. We stayed nearby the Peace Memorial Park. If not for the destroyed building that was left there as a monument, one wouldn't be able to tell that it was the site that was destroyed by the atomic bomb, because it was already transformed into luscious garden now. We visited the museum as well, which was quite eerie, and I remember vividly there was timepiece that stopped at 8.15am, the time the bomb exploded. There were stories recounted by witnesses who survived the horrible moment, complete with gory details such as how the people died (some immediately dissolved into nothing, others were very much in pain with their hair and skin melt and blended together, only to die on the following day).
The A-Bomb Dome, Hiroshima.
I could see Dad mellowed down quite a fair bit as we sat down there, watching the documentary. In life, we all have our differences and yes, what the Japanese did during the war time was a very bitter experience to the Chinese. But by the end of the day, we're all human. What we saw in Hiroshima was simply too much to bear, very inhumane and certainly a lesson for us to give peace a chance. After the trip, Dad always said that Hiroshima was his favorite city.
Dad at Miyajima.
The next day, we went to Miyajima, an island nearby that is famous for its giant spatula and floating torii gate. The sea receded while we were there, making it possible for us to approach the gate. There were many wild deers roaming around there. Fascinating, really. We hiked a bit, went to the temple full of spatulas and crossed back to the mainland afterwards. Had a bit of city tour by taking the localized version of the hop on, hop off bus for the rest of the day. Then came the last leg of our trip, Yokohama. Unlike the journey from Tokyo to Hiroshima where we stop at Kyoto and Osaka for few days, we did the four hours train ride at one go, reaching Yokohama at noon time. The hotel we had there was also the best for the entire trip: the Shin Yokohama Prince Hotel. Once check-in was done, we had a long walk from Minato Mirai to Chinatown (and visited Cupnoodles museum that we passed by). Throughout our stay in Japan, we had all sorts of Japanese food, from ramen, Yoshinoya beef bowl, cold soba and curry rice (no sushi and sashimi as my Dad didn't want to try those), so the sight of Chinese food was like heaven-sent. We had chicken rice there which, to be frank, was goddamn awful, but at least it was still Chinese food.
Nippon-Maru at Minato Mirai, Yokohama.
The next morning, we had another round of walk, this time from Yokohama station to Minato Mirai. The weather on April was cool and breezy, so it was very comfortable. A cup of coffee at the Bay Quarter Yokohama did help to make our day, too! After that, it was sayonara, Japan! Until we meet again!
Posted by Anthony Robinson at 7:57 PM
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Labels: Travel
Sunday, July 9, 2017
Cara Mendengarkan Dengan Baik "Kita diciptakan dua telinga dan satu mulut, artinya kita harus lebih banyak mendengarkan daripada berbicara" Salah satu cara belajar yang efektif adalah dengan mendengarkan orang lain dan mengambil hikmah yang positif dan melupakan hal yang negatif. Kita akan bahas dahulu tipe-tipe dalam mendengarkan. Saya membaginya menjadi 4 tipe yaitu: 1. Hanya mendengar dalam arti kita tidak mencerna apa yang kita dengar ataupun kita tidak sengaja mendengarnya. Sebagai contoh, bajaj lewat di saat kita lagi berbincang dengan keluarga, maka kita hanya mendengar suara bajaj yang lewat tersebut. 2. Sekedar mendengarkan, artinya kita dengan sengaja dan sadar mendengarkan apa yang disampaikan tanpa mau peduli dengan hal yang tersirat atau hal yang lebih penting yang mau diungkapkan tapi tidak diucapkan secara langsung. Kadang kita akan gampang lupa terhadap apa yang disampaikan. Contoh: kita mendengarkan pembicaraan antara teman-teman yang sedang ngobrol. 3. Mendengarkan dengan seksama, yaitu berarti kita memberikan fokus dan perhatian dengan sengaja dan sadar mendengarkan apa yang disampaikan. Setelah itu kita mencoba merenungkannya. Contoh: kita mengikuti seminar, mengikuti pengajaran. 4. Mendengarkan dengan hati, yaitu mendengarkan sekaligus ikut turut merasakan situasi yang disampaikan sehingga kita tahu apa yang ingin disampaikan walaupun tidak diberitahukan secara langsung. Kita akan lebih peka dengan apa yang harus atau tidak perlu kita lakukan karena terkadang kita cukup menjadi pendengar saja. Contoh: mendengarkan teman curhat, kadang kita terlalu cepat memberikan reaksi kepada teman yang curhat dengan memberikan saran ini itu sebelum mereka selesai bercerita. Ini karena kita tidak mendengarkan dengan hati.
Jika kita mendengarkan dengan hati, kita akan tahu apa yang mau disampaikan. Kita juga mengerti bahwa terkadang, meski kita hanya diam dan ikut turut dalam situasi mereka, mereka sudah merasa tenang karena kita mendengarkan dengan hati. Contoh lain adalah saat dalam keluarga, suami sebagai lelaki yang berpikiran logis akan cepat sekali memberikan tanggapan terhadap istri yang sedang curhat, namun kenyataannya banyak sekali istri yang hanya perlu didengarkan dan mereka ingin para suami untik ikut merasakan apa yang mereka rasakan. Ya, memang terkadang pendapat juga dibutuhkan, namun intinya adalah dengarkan dulu secara utuh, baru berikan tanggapan, terutama dengan sikap dan tindakan terlebih dahulu, baru bahasa lisan dengan memberikan pendapat sebagai solusi pilihan.
Banyak mendengarkan bisa memberikan jauh lebih banyak manfaat bagi diri kita dibandingkan banyak berbicara. Telinga saja diciptakan dua, lebih banyak dibandingkan mulut yang hanya diciptakan satu. Itu berarti kita seharusnya memang lebih banyak mendengarkan daripada berbicara. Namun sayangnya tidak semua orang mau mendengarkan dengan baik. Berikut ini ada 10 tips untuk mendengarkan dengan baik: 1. Pusatkan perhatian anda pada orang yang sedang berbicara dan dengarkan apa yang dia katakan. Jangan biarkan pikiran anda melayang ke tempat lain. Hanya dengan cara seperti itu anda bisa belajar menjadi pendengar yg baik. 2. Pandanglah mata lawan bicara anda dengan wajar. Ini memberikan kesan bahwa anda memperhatikan apa yang diucapkannya dengan sungguh-sungguh. 3. Berikan respon yang bersahabat. Respon kecil yang mungkin tampak sepele bisa membuat dia merasa dihargai. Sekali-kali anda bisa mengangguk, menggelengkan kepala, tersenyum, tertawa atau memberikan komentar-komentar pendek seperti, "oh, ya? Hebat! Luar biasa!" 4. Berikanlah kesempatan lawan bicara anda untuk menyelesaikan apa yang ingin diutarakannya. Hindari kebiasaan memotong pembicaraan orang lain. Selain tidak sopan, kebiasaan itu bisa membuat dia merasa kesal dan tersinggung. 5. Bila anda merasa bosan atau tidak berminat dengan topik pembicaraannya, alihkan dengan perlahanlahan. Jangan sesekali mengubah topik pembicaraan secara mendadak seperti pengemudi yang belok tanpa menyalakan tanda lampu terlebih dahulu. 6. Buatlah lawan bicara anda bergairah untuk terus berbicara. Bila anda berhasil memancing gairah orang yang semula kurang antusias, maka anda telah berhasil merebut hatinya. Namun dalam hal ini ada pengecualian, yakni bila lawan bicara anda adalah tipe orang yang suka memonopoli pembicaraan. Orang seperti ini biasanya akan selalu bergairah untuk terus berbicara meskipun anda sudah tampak terkantukkantuk. 7. Kendalikan diri anda untuk tidak tergoda ingin mengalahkan lawan bicara anda. Anda bisa memadamkan gairah orang lain hanya dengan menunjukkan bahwa anda lebih oke daripada dia. Biarkan dia merasa bangga dengan prestasi atau pengalamannya meskipun anda punya prestasi atau pengalaman yang lebih hebat darinya. 8. Dalam kasus-kasus khusus, belajarlah untuk meringkas apa yang diuraikan oleh teman anda sebelum anda memberikan komentar atau nasehat. Bersikaplah seperti seorang dokter yang mendiagnosa dulu penyakit pasiennya dengan teliti sebelum menyimpulkan apa penyakitnya dan memberi resep obat. Bayangkan bila ada orang yang menceramahi anda panjang lebar, padahal tidak ada hubungannya dengan apa yang anda ungkapkan. 9. Belajarlah peka terhadap motif orang lain. Mungkin dia sedang mencurahkan isi hatinya tanpa keinginan untuk dinasehati, apalagi disalahkan. Jadi anda cukup berperan sebagai pendengar saja. Mungkin dia sedang menceritakan pengalaman agar anda memujinya. Pujilah dengan spontan dan tulus. Mungkin juga dia sedang mengajak anda masuk dalam komunikasi yang lebih akrab dan terbuka. Kalau anda mau, mulailah melakukan komunikasi dua arah. 10. Belajarlah mendengarkan dengan tulus. Semua kiat tersebut di atas tidak akan membuat anda menjadi pendengar yang baik bila anda tidak melakukannnya dengan tulus. Anda tidak akan menjadi pendengar yang baik bila anda terbiasa berpura-pura menjadi pendengar yg baik.
Kadang kita cukup duduk diam dan dengarkan. Photo by Ignasia Susan
Posted by alvin alexander at 12:03 PM
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