I have visited
several cities in Europe when I had some break seasons of academic
activities in the university. Let me remember, I was in Cologne when
it was Autumn. I had been in Paris, Versailles, Bern, Luzern, Titlis,
Zurich, Geneva, Munich, Salzburg during winter break. Recently, I
visited Budapest, Vienna, Hallstatt, and St. Wolfgang. I am grateful
to have memory because I had no clue in what extent I have to go and
visit all those cities. By visiting the cities in Europe blindly, I
came into boredom of their model because in many ways they are almost
the same as each other. They exhibit old and well maintained
historical building, with well regulated traffic, high tech and
convenient transportation, large pedestrian area, and many equipped
things that make your living become so much easier. Of course not all
things are automatic over there, fortunately, they still empower
human capital. Oh yeah, they built such peaceful yet complex place
model with human brain and human labor decade by decade. Hallstatt is
one place that I found it different from the others. It gives you
mountainous place with lake in the slope of its hills as scenery that
indulges your eyes along the way you go there.
Well, I always say this joke-like sentence to my friend every time we visit the cities in Europe “we have this kind of place in Indonesia, you know. We just have to pay more attention to our beautiful and rich country. Let's say Hallstatt. People come here and praise its magnificent beauty. What if these people were going to Toba Lake, I'm sure they would also say that our country has a really breathtaking place to visit.”
My friend then said, “do you also mean that they who travel here also have beautiful spots in their own country?”.
“Of course they have. That's why I said that exoticism means the hybridization of human culture and the nature itself. Every human culture is not comparable, they make their own way of being exotic”
“So, why are you comparing this place to our country?”
“I am not . Just give an insight that we should not discredit ours far there when we are witnessing the beauty of other country, here”
“Just save that thought in your mind, keep it tightly, we are here anyway, let's just enjoy our trip. It's once in a life time moment, remember?”
“Which moment is it not once in a life time? I don't remember.”
“Shut up!”
In fact, during my life time in Indonesia, I never went out of Java. I even never visited Bali or Madura or Bromo or Tea field in Bandung. At least, I saw their gorgeous pics in the Internet tho. Hahaha.. It lets me see my life in the other perspective that I had been so much happy living in the village with my family without going anywhere. I really treasured my life in Klaten-Jogja and am proud to be an innocent “gadis desa”. Because by that way, I became a fully loved-human. My family and my home are sort of sanctuary which I always miss when I am far from them. My decision to go abroad was spontaneous. Once, I said to my mother and father that I wanted to stay in the very different place from our village, I wanted to see the world outside like what we used to see in television, Internet, calendars, postcards, like what is stated in many books that I read. I wanted to prove that those places are really day dreaming place to live in. I wondered what kind of people who live there, how cold it is in winter, how developed their country, how advance their technology, how peaceful and classic it is, and many things. I admit that this place is just awesome, exactly like what it is written in the books. I am experiencing it now. But after really exploring those places a while, I realize that these beauty were not built instantly or free of charge. This simple beauty is not really simple, we do not know what really happened in the past, the turmoil, the revolution, the sacrifice of the ancestors, and much things that make these places become like this now. If we want to see the projection of our nation's future, just take a look at what we are doing now because that is the investment for the future. Do we also do some sacrifice for our successor? Seeing our nation is still struggling to be good, I think yes we do. Are we living peacefully in our country now? with this kind of government and societies, not that much! :))
All in all, I urge to come back to my country, Indonesia. I found Indonesia, with its flaws in many things, is the best place for me to live. I want to be a part of my nation in its journey to seek for its unique identity. I want my country to be different from the others, advance in its way, beautiful in its way. If we only imitate the way other countries develop, we have to lose our culture while I see culture is part of our identity. For instance, you will never see a sort of intimacy of neighborhood in Europe, no “nyinoman”, no “angkringan”. You will also never see hospitality in the society when it comes to an event such as Idul Fitri, no “mudik”, no youth comes back to visit the elders, and so on. Our own culture is unbeatable, right?
I count my living abroad as an experience to leave my comfort zone to get more matured. I was living very comfortably in the village with all the people I love. You know, living abroad is really hard for me, beyond my previous imagination. Actually, living in the metropolitan area such as Jakarta is kind of leaving comfort zone, haha.. why not? Don't we feel sorry to them who allow themselves to live in such polluted, traffic, urban place? All they are doing is working whole day until they do not remember sometimes who they are, what they aim to do thing. They live without warm neighbor because everyone tends to be individualist, because everything is available, already there if we have money, we don't depend on people anymore. But people dare to do that, they want to do that, to test how strong they are. Are they finally getting matured after coming back to their village for a while? Some yes, the other no. Even they lose their identity, no culture remains in their attitude. My friend who wanted to leave his job in Solo and moved to Jakarta said that he left his comfort zone. Coming to Jakarta means struggle, you learn something there. That is just an analogue, I do not want to lose my culture of being an innocent “gadis desa”, being the real Javanese. I just want to grab something that I need here to be brought to my sanctuary as a wisdom of life. For me, to travel is to open mind widely, increase knowledge, and respect culture.
Well, I always say this joke-like sentence to my friend every time we visit the cities in Europe “we have this kind of place in Indonesia, you know. We just have to pay more attention to our beautiful and rich country. Let's say Hallstatt. People come here and praise its magnificent beauty. What if these people were going to Toba Lake, I'm sure they would also say that our country has a really breathtaking place to visit.”
My friend then said, “do you also mean that they who travel here also have beautiful spots in their own country?”.
“Of course they have. That's why I said that exoticism means the hybridization of human culture and the nature itself. Every human culture is not comparable, they make their own way of being exotic”
“So, why are you comparing this place to our country?”
“I am not . Just give an insight that we should not discredit ours far there when we are witnessing the beauty of other country, here”
“Just save that thought in your mind, keep it tightly, we are here anyway, let's just enjoy our trip. It's once in a life time moment, remember?”
“Which moment is it not once in a life time? I don't remember.”
“Shut up!”
In fact, during my life time in Indonesia, I never went out of Java. I even never visited Bali or Madura or Bromo or Tea field in Bandung. At least, I saw their gorgeous pics in the Internet tho. Hahaha.. It lets me see my life in the other perspective that I had been so much happy living in the village with my family without going anywhere. I really treasured my life in Klaten-Jogja and am proud to be an innocent “gadis desa”. Because by that way, I became a fully loved-human. My family and my home are sort of sanctuary which I always miss when I am far from them. My decision to go abroad was spontaneous. Once, I said to my mother and father that I wanted to stay in the very different place from our village, I wanted to see the world outside like what we used to see in television, Internet, calendars, postcards, like what is stated in many books that I read. I wanted to prove that those places are really day dreaming place to live in. I wondered what kind of people who live there, how cold it is in winter, how developed their country, how advance their technology, how peaceful and classic it is, and many things. I admit that this place is just awesome, exactly like what it is written in the books. I am experiencing it now. But after really exploring those places a while, I realize that these beauty were not built instantly or free of charge. This simple beauty is not really simple, we do not know what really happened in the past, the turmoil, the revolution, the sacrifice of the ancestors, and much things that make these places become like this now. If we want to see the projection of our nation's future, just take a look at what we are doing now because that is the investment for the future. Do we also do some sacrifice for our successor? Seeing our nation is still struggling to be good, I think yes we do. Are we living peacefully in our country now? with this kind of government and societies, not that much! :))
All in all, I urge to come back to my country, Indonesia. I found Indonesia, with its flaws in many things, is the best place for me to live. I want to be a part of my nation in its journey to seek for its unique identity. I want my country to be different from the others, advance in its way, beautiful in its way. If we only imitate the way other countries develop, we have to lose our culture while I see culture is part of our identity. For instance, you will never see a sort of intimacy of neighborhood in Europe, no “nyinoman”, no “angkringan”. You will also never see hospitality in the society when it comes to an event such as Idul Fitri, no “mudik”, no youth comes back to visit the elders, and so on. Our own culture is unbeatable, right?
I count my living abroad as an experience to leave my comfort zone to get more matured. I was living very comfortably in the village with all the people I love. You know, living abroad is really hard for me, beyond my previous imagination. Actually, living in the metropolitan area such as Jakarta is kind of leaving comfort zone, haha.. why not? Don't we feel sorry to them who allow themselves to live in such polluted, traffic, urban place? All they are doing is working whole day until they do not remember sometimes who they are, what they aim to do thing. They live without warm neighbor because everyone tends to be individualist, because everything is available, already there if we have money, we don't depend on people anymore. But people dare to do that, they want to do that, to test how strong they are. Are they finally getting matured after coming back to their village for a while? Some yes, the other no. Even they lose their identity, no culture remains in their attitude. My friend who wanted to leave his job in Solo and moved to Jakarta said that he left his comfort zone. Coming to Jakarta means struggle, you learn something there. That is just an analogue, I do not want to lose my culture of being an innocent “gadis desa”, being the real Javanese. I just want to grab something that I need here to be brought to my sanctuary as a wisdom of life. For me, to travel is to open mind widely, increase knowledge, and respect culture.
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