Learning by Travelling

Halo! Selamat liburan hai, kalian Sastra Jerman mania! 

Well, ketemu lagi sama gue di sini. Semoga ga bosan-bosannya kalian membaca tulisan gue yang kadang penting kadang ga jelas hehe. Sekarang gue udah nyampe rumah dan lagi nonton Liverpool vs Fulham, LFC lagi good luck nih 2-0 loh, and you know Arne Riise plays for Fulham. Dan gue di Bandung nih...

Dan tadi itu pertama kalinya gue ke Bandung pake Bus. Krik, gue nervous banget takut kesasar. Biasa naik travel atau naik mobil bareng keluarga dan tadi sendirian -_-. Gue cengak cengok milih bus dan finally yakin sama sebuah bus, gue masuk tuh eh ada cowo Afro gitu.  Gue duduk di kursi seberangnya, gue narok tas di atas tempat duduk eh tiba-tiba dia ngebantuin gue, gue pun kicep trus say thanks. 

We smiled to each other. Trus mulai masuk deh pedagang dengan dagangan yang macem-macem, ada yang jual mobile charger gitu dan doi pengen beli trus reflect Inggris gue keluar. Kemudian gue jadi interpreter dadakan, berhasillah transaksi tersebut, mereka berdua bilang makasih. Gue kept silent lagi sambil dengerin musik. Eh si abang Afro ini mau beli headset, gue jadi penerjemah lagi tapi kali ini abang penjualnya jujur, katanya ga cocok di smartphone itu negro. Akhirnya ada pedagang lagi dan dia mau banget beli headset itu. Okay, berhasil deh transaksinya. Melihat gue yang rada bisa bahasa Inggris, dia pun kaget.

A: You speak English very well, you look intellectual hmm do you go to college?

T: Of course I do. 

A: What do you learn?

T: German Literature

A: Du sprichst Deutsch

T: Ja. That's why sometimes I lose my word to speak in English while my brain's running the German words.

A: Yep, but it is really good for you to speak many languages. Easy to find a job, or travel the world.

T: Yes,sure. How many languages do you speak?

A: 4. Brazilian Portuguese, English, Swedish and lil bit Swahili. 

T: Wow, cool. Where do you come from actually?

A: I live in Sweden. My father is Brazilian, my mother is South African.

T: An international person, a mixing of the different part of world.

A: Yea, thank you.

Trus kita ngobrol banyak dalam bahasa Inggris. Walaupun kita sama-sama bukan native tapi percakapan lancar dan nyambung. Dia bawel banget pengen cepet nyampe trus akhirnya ngerti kalo tadi macet karena weekend dan hujan tak kunjung reda. Oh ya, setiap ketemu foreigner gue selalu menanyakan perspektif mereka terhadap Indonesia, culturally, educationally, everything. Menurut dia, Jakarta or Indonesia is similar to Bangkok and other South East Asia country tapi Bahasa lebih mudah dipelajari dan membuat setiap orang asing pengen belajar karena didengernya enak dengan intonasi atau aksen Indonesia yang lucu. Nah, kekurangannya di Indonesia belum ada sky train dan dunia Internasional pun tau kalo pendidikan di sini kurang memadai atau bisa dibilang mahal. Di Swedia, pendidikan gratis dan dapat diakses dengan mudah, baik bagi orang lokal maupun asing, kecuali kuliah yang memang butuh dana ekstra, sekitar 150-300jt Rupiah per tahun katanya. 

Selama ngobrol dengan dia, gue bener-bener dituntut untuk terus berpikir dan it was really good for my English Improvement.Dan dia juga selalu ngingetin gue buat belajar bahasa asing yang lain. And my friendly-character really reflects the Indonesians hospitality, he said. Everybody stared at us, when we talked. He said many times that I'm so helpful, not let him to be deceived. 

Singkat aja ya, sebenernya gue duduk bersampingan sama anak elektro Gunadarma dan dia ramah juga baik, sunda pisan euy. Dia kaget gue kok mau ambil sastra jerman but he respected my choice. Dia turun di Cimahi, Padalarang trus ngajak tukeran nomer HP, siapa tau nanti bisa ketemu lagi dan ngobrol-ngobrol katanya. Nah, gue niatnya mau turun di Pasir Koja yet I don't know where it is exactly then I talked to the driver to drop me there... of course The African follow me, he didn't know what to do to reach the center of Bandung. Gue dijemput Ci Cherry dong dan gue bilang, " My sister will pick up, come with me?", "Of course, please help me again" dan pas Cici nyampe, mukanya terheran seems like saying " what the hell r u doing, Tiara?! Who's that African? R u kidding me? Probably he's drug seller?!!" and so on. I explained to Ko Freddy and Ci Cherry. With kind-heart, they both can accept the African, I even didn't know his name lol.

In the car, Ko Freddy introduced we all to that foreigner, " Okay, I'm Freddy, this is my Sister, Tiara and this is my Wife, Cherry and sorry what's ur name?", "Oh, I'm Robert, ur sister is very helpful and I'm looking for hotel near the center of Bandung, would you mind?" and Kok said, " I'll try my best to help you :)". Kita ngobrol terus sambil nyari hotel dan semua pada... PENUH. Oh man!! dan Cici bilang, "Gila lu yee, kalo dia bandar narkoba gimana kita? ", "ampun Ci, gue cuma niat baik ._. kebayang aja kalo gue yg di posisi dia and don't know where to go gitu" padahal si Robert udah jelasin, " I live in Sweden, My Father comes from Brazil and my Mom from South Africa. I travel Asia, this two week special for exploring Indonesia. hmm do you have baby?". Koko jawab, " yeah a boy", " how old?", "9 months", " Oh my God! I'm sorry, you just should help me to find a resto so I can open google maps, take a cab and find the hotel by myself" and said Koko, " No, it doesn't matter. From the start we intend to help you and should make it happen", "Oh, very kind of you".

Finally after one hour drove around Bandung, sekitar Dago-Braga-Asia Afrika dapet juga hotel, yang dari awal udah kita liat cuma cukup mahal gitu dan Robert nyerah, kebetulan itu hotel depannya ada McD. Oh iya, si Robert bilang dia suka masakan Padang, really spicy. Dia nanya tuh masakan Bandung apa namanya? pake tangan juga ga makannya apa sendok-garpu? Trus si Koko bilang, " We have Sundanese Food, we also eat them with hand without any spoon or fork ", " Yep, eating use naked hand is better, taste better and delicious. Sunda? I can easily remember that name cause similar to my middle name, Funggai lol". Apa kata lo deh -_- haha.

Pas saying-goodbye, dia meluk Koko dan salaman sama kita and  said,  " Thank yo so much, Freddy and Cherry. U both are very helpful and hey! Don't forget to keep that angel, she's really helpful I even can't say anything, very thankful to Tiara. See you later, and my regards to your baby boy. Good bye! " Kita cuma bisa senyum dan bahagia tentunya bisa bantu seseorang, ntah sekarang dia di mana. Rencananya dia mau ke Surabaya dulu, kalo sempet sih ke Jogja dulu katanya trus ke Bali. Semoga selamat sampai tujuan deh... Really impressive, I can learn many things by that journey. Thank you Allah.

written on 22nd-24th of December 2012.