My Daily Life

Bersepeda di Oxford

Setelah beberapa waktu lalu gue ngomel2 gak karuan karena katanya udah musim semi tapi kok masih dingin, akhirnya gue mengakui juga kalo sekarang cuaca sudah lebih baik. Lebih hangat dan gak terlalu berangin. Lumayanlah buat makhluk tropis kaya gue gini....

Kenapa cuaca yang membaik ini penting buat gue? Ya karena gue udah pengen banget mulai mengayuh sepeda gue yang selama 7 bulan ini tersimpan dengan rapi di bike room. Sesekali dipinjem ama temen serumah gue kalo pas dia perlu. Tapi sepeda itu baru satu kali gue pake sejak dibeli bulan Oktober lalu. Alasannya adalah....udara terlalu dingin! Gue nggak sanggup mesti menggenjot sepeda sambil melawan udara dingin selama winter kemarin. Selain karena memang tidak terbiasa bersepeda, yang artinya gue memerlukan energi ekstra buat menggenjot, udara yang dingin dan angin kencang yang juga dingin hanya akan membuat gue makin ngos-ngosan dengan suksesnya. Walhasil, sepeda gue hanya nongkrong dengan manisnya bersanding dengan sepeda yang lain.

Akhirnya dua hari yang lalu gue memutuskan untuk mencoba mulai mengayuh sepeda setelah melihat cuaca yang terang benderang. Ternyata hasilnya..menyenangkan!! Rutenya masih dari rumah ke kampus terus ke city center sih....yang gak pake tanjakan. Tapi ternyata menyenangkan juga walaupun gue kadang masih gagap sama aturan naek sepeda disini...masih takut2 buat motong jalan. But it's fun anyway!!

Mungkin akhirnya gue bisa memasukkan kegiatan bersepeda ini sebagai bagian dari olahraga sambil beraktivitas gue disini....selain berjalan kaki yang tampaknya berhasil mengecilkan ukuran pinggang gue...hehehe....

Enjoy cycling.....

A glance to the first day

Today I just did my dissertation presentation. Within the next 26 days, I'll have exam. Right after that, I have to start doing my MSc research for three months. By 1st September, I have to hand in the dissertation paper and if everything goes smoothly, I'll graduate by the end of September. My God, how time flies.

It still fresh in my mind the first day I came to Oxford almost seven months ago. This city has captured my heart right from the beginning. A lovely small city full of students and filled with nice old Victorian buildings. Bicycle everywhere, impressive college buildings, huge university park, and comfortable city centre. I like the place where I live. It's not too far from OUCE (Oxford University Centre for Environment) where I study at the Environmental Change Institute and also to Linacre College. It's also only 15 minutes walk from the city centre. A 7am - 12am Co-Op supermarket is only a few doors away as well as a cinema, a pharmacy, various restaurant (China, India, Spanish), club and bars (too bad I'm not a clubber..hehe), second hand bookstore (I can see it from my room), charity shops, ice cream store, some boutique/clothes shop, home appliances store (pretty expensive, though), hair salons, post office, recycling centre and kindergarten (wish I bring my son here). I also like the house, my housemates, and my room. Everything is perfect, I have no complain about it and I really enjoy my time in Oxford at the very first day.

I still remember the fist time I met with some of my future classmates at a comfy bar in an alley (forgot the name). That was also the first time I went into such kind of place. Never been there even when I'm in Jakarta. They are all very enthusiastic and energetic young people (most of them are below 30, even below 25). In other way, I can classify myself and the eight other people as 'senior citizen' in the class. But I didn't feel any age gap or whatever it is at all and feel more like old friends. We start chatting and exchanging information as well as trying to match names and faces just like good old buddies. I feel comfortable among them and absorbing their youthness to boost my energy and spirit to start my 'fight' here.

I can easily recall my newcomer dinner at my college and wearing my subfusc for the first time. The matriculation day when we were matriculated at the Ashmolean, the group picture and the great lunch after that feels like yesterday. And the first BOP (college party) at night after the matriculation. Gosh, we really had a good time! I haven't forget the excitement of my first field trip to South Devon although I have to give full effort to climb up and down the hill to learn about fresh water lake, soil erosion, coastal management and farming scheme. I, who rarely almost never excercise in Jakarta, had to keep my pace and control my breath so that I can catch up with the rest of the group. But the picturesque landscape and the clean air could freshened my energy up.

The thinking of first lecturer, group presentation, and essay still me smile and make my mind wander to those memories. All night long essay writing, some slow lecture that make me hard to stay awake though the topic is interesting, the glory feeling while browsing and downloading qualified journal by using Athens account (what a privilege), and walk between amazing book shelves with hundreds of book in an impressive library is something unforgetful.

God, I just realize that I have spent my last seven months here in Oxford with tones of memory. Beautiful memory. Its only five months left before I complete my study and go back and now I start thinking on how I've gone through those days. Its true that I had to fight hard and I still have to go through exam and writing dissertation, but the days behind are still so 'warm'.

I know there are still lots of thing can be and have to be done before I go back for good and be together with my family again. But looking back to my every first day and first thing here in Oxford, keep up my spirit to do my best as a way to make the good memories remain. And having a good end.

Hari yang cerah

   

Inilah pemandangan hari ini dari kamar gue. Langit yang biru, udara yang cerah dan ternyata sudah mulai agak hangat (asiik). Sayang buat dilewatkan dikamar aja, tapi disiplin belajar harus teteup jalan toh? Lagian jumat ini juga mesti presentasi outline disertasi. So...mengutip mantra terkenal yang dipake pippilotta di blognya "pain of discipline is temporary, pain of regret is eternal", maka gue meneguhkan hati untuk belajar di kamar hari ini dan dengan berat hati mematikan komputer untuk sementara waktu. Karena browsing adalah pengganggu konsentrasi utama no. 1 (udah utama, no 1 lagi...sepertinya mulai kecanduan internet nech). So....get ready to turn off your computer!! *hmmph*

Menu makan siang

Setelah beberapa hari dilanda rasa malas memasak, hari ini gue memutuskan untuk memasak sawi yang dibeli di chinese supermarket seminggu lalu. Alasan pertama adalah, keburu sawinya busuk...ntar malah nggak kemakan n buang duit. Kedua, memang tidak ada lagi yang bisa dimakan bareng nasi. Sudah beberapa hari ini gue mengandalkan bumbu pecel siap pake buat makan sayur sama telor dadar atau ceplok. Beberapa hari sebelumnya masak sarden yang ditambahin cabe merah n bawang putih. Terus gue juga sempat memasak mie goreng dari mie telur yang juga dibeli di chinese supermarket n habis dalam dua kali makan. Ada sih beberapa bungkus indomie, tapi kemarin baru masak indomie rebus rasa soto ayam. Masak indomie lagi? Gak sehat kan? Lagian juga ada sayur yang menanti dimasak toh?

Setelah menimbang-nimbang dengan cermat dan menilik persediaan bumbu yang ada, gue menetapkan hati buat masak tumis sawi yang gampang dan cepat, plus bereksperimen memasak balado telur. Karena memasak balado memerlukan bumbu yang dihaluskan, jadi gue akan meminjam blender temen serumah yang sering dipake bersama.

Setelah cabe n bawang merah selesai dipotong, segera gue masukin ke dalam blender. Bayangannya adalah hasilnya akan berbentuk seperti hasil ulekan, halus gitu deh. Ternyata....hasilnya tidak bisa halus, entah apa yang salah. Sepertinya mata blendernya emang gak didisain buat menghaluskan bumbu atau emang udah tumpul atau....gak tau lah. Yg jelas bawang merahnya masih kelihatan, gak nyampur. Tapi walaupun udah gue stel di kecepatan maksimum, hasilnya begitu aja. Gue nyerah, berharap ntar rasa balado gue gak terlalu aneh2 amat.

Setelah berkutat di dapur sekitar hampir sejam, jadilah menu makan siang hari ini tumis sawi n balado telur. Untung....balado telur gue rasanya lumayan, biarpun biji cabe masih tampak nyata dan disana sini ditemukan potongan bawang merah yang gak hancur. No problem, at least rasanya ok. Tumis sawi gue oke juga, pas sama nasi. Tetapi, ternyata nasi yang gue masak semalam jadi agak kering karena rice cookernya tetap dalam posisi warming, kelupaan dimatiin. Tapi tak apalah....yang penting makan siang gue hari ini cukup bergizi, bisa mengisi perut buat belajar lagi, ya gak?

Weird spring (at least for me)

Spring is coming!!! Hurray....enjoy the warmth of the sun!! Let's celebrate the blossoms of flower!! Hmmm...wait a minute, has the spring really come? Has it become warmer? Well, I see flower and tree blossoms everywhere, but is the weather really become nicer for the tropical people like me?

Well, some people did say that its warmer now although I still find myself  muttering on the chilling wind because it doesn't seem and feel warmer for me. But hey....why don't I test what people said? Why don't I braved myself to leave my comfortable winter coat at home and only add layers under my thin jacket? Maybe it has warmer already. Oh, I guess I should also leave my gloves at home because it won't go with my spring outfit.

Soon after I resolved that, I decided to wear spring clothes on my visit to London yesterday full of hope that I won't freeze. Hmm...maybe the weather is warmer because I kind of enjoy my London travel with a friend on Saturday afternoon. Things were going well until evening although I could feel the cold wind breezing. Well, it is normal to become slightly colder at the end of the day, isn't it? Positive thinking. We can't expect the weather to change in a flick, right? So I just enjoyed the dinner in one of a Turkey restaurant with some friends and almost come to conclusion that spring is really coming. Until we finished our dinner and went out of the restaurant to go home. Man....it was sooooo cold and I was shivering in the chilling wind. Damn my spring clothes!!!

My suffer in my spring outfit is continued this morning when I had to leave London quite early because my friend had to catch a flight back to Jakarta at 12 and she decided to leave from the place where we stay at 8. So she dropped me at Victoria to ride on a bus to Oxford at 8.10. Unlucky me, I have to wait for about 30 minutes for the bus and I told you....it was cold. I could feel my hand numb inside my thin jacket's pocket. Gosh...

Oxford was no better than London. And just a few hours ago, I saw hail from my window. Ohmigod...hail in spring? Is that for real? I tell you, it is totally far far away from my imagination about spring. I guess I have to lower my expectation, huh?

So, since I really have no clue whether the spring is should be like this or I'm expecting too much for a beautiful and warm spring in April, I guess I'll stick to my winter coat until the next few weeks. Except if the weather suddenly become friendlier for me in the next few days and I can go out without suffering from the chilling wind. When the time really comes....thank you my winter coat and good bye.

Hmmm...musim semi yang aneh.....