archive

Mulai dari sini!

diluar ekspektasi, ternyata bisa se-grogi itu gw sampe gaenak makan wkwkwkwk

On one hand, I am very grateful to be where I am in this Ramadan. Qadarallah, it feels like all the prayers, decision, events, and encounters in the last twelve months has led me to my current situation. It has been a roller-coster kind of juorney, but I feel very relief we've made here.

Di sisi yang lain, ada perasaan bersalah juga. Udah dikasih nikmat sebanyak ini, tapi rasanya kualitas Ramadan tahun ini masih jauh dari sempurna. Bahkan kayanya ga lebih baik dari tahun kemarin. Syukur masih bisa khatam Qur'an dan ngerjain beberapa ibadah sunnah. Tapi ya ga bisa solat 5 waktu ke masjid, ga bisa terawih berjamaah, ga bisa iktikaf di masjid di sepuluh malam terakhir, and in general, I just did not feel the full immerssion of Ramadan here :(. Allahumma innaka 'afuwwun tuhibbul 'afwa fa'fu 'anni.

Tahun ini juga rasanya sepi, karena harus kembali bangun sahur dan buka puasa sendiri lagi. Jauh dari rumah. Jauh dari masakan Ibu.

On another hand, I got that butterfly again in my stomach, of which I might've lost last year. And it definitely helps me to cope with being alone away from home :)

--

And for next year Ramadan? Honestly, I have a ton of wishes and plans. Like A LOT. But that's another story for later. Buat sekarang, intinya sih pengen dipertemukan lagi dengan Ramadan tahun depan dalam kondisi spritiual, fisik, dan mental yang lebih baik. Dan semoga hajat-hajat besar itu bisa terjawab di akhir Ramadan selanjutnya. Aamiin.

It's finally here. The one month that we've been excited about recently. For me, this would be another very special Ramadan as I, fortunately masyaallah, have the chance to experience it abroad. I said fortunately because I am very happy to spend another Ramadan in europe, especially still in the cold season. That being said, there are some things that I would definitely miss. Suhoor and ifthar with family, takjil gorengan, taraweeh in the masjid (because in Florence, there seems to be only one masjid which is far away from my place), and in general the vibes of Ramadan itself :(

But, yang paling penting, adalah how will I spend this special period of times as a muslim. Buat memanen hasil terbaik di Ramadan tahun ini. Harapannya sih bisa lebih baik dari tahun terbaik, although it seems a bit harder here in Italy hahah. Semoga dimudahkan lah ya.

Allahumma sallim lana Ramadhan wa tassalamhu minna mutaqabbala

Itu kesan pertama pas melihat gedung-gedung menjulang tinggi di Kuala Lumpur. Walaupun suasana atau vibes nya mirip Jakarta, i.e. padat, macet, panas, korporat, dll, rasanya kualitas hidup di sini cukup signifikan lebih baik secara umum. Harga makanan yang sama (rasanya mirip sih, nothing to complain), tapi dengan standar pendapatan yang lebih tinggi. Harga tol dan bahan bakar juga lebih murah. Plus, transportasi publik yang opsinya jauh lebih banyak. Lini MRT/LRT nya aja udah lebih dari 4, dan itu jangkauannya juga udah luas banget (walopun gw ga sempet nyobain sih wkwk)

That being said, sebenernya KL ini cukup membosankan juga wkwk. Kalo siang panas banget, bisa sampe 36-37 derajat celcius. Beneran gaenak parah buat jalan di luar. Jadi ya paling strollingnya dalem mall. Apa mungkin karena gw gasempet eksplor banyak juga sih ya.

Well, there is a very high chance I'll be back here. So, let me just put this 'judgy' note here for now.

Anyway, heading to another destination and time to get prepare for the Ramadan!

Sampai jumpe lagi.

Begitulah satu doa khusus yang sudah satu setengah bulan kebelakang rajin dipanjatkan.

And now, under the not so bright full moon, we are approaching Ramadhan even closer.

This Ramadhan seems to be (insyaallah) another exciting, unique, and fairly different from last year. Hence, I am very grateful to welcome the holy moon. Looking forward to it!

With this book finished a few days ago, my reading this year is now more than last year, yey!

This book is a memoir from the author filled with pretty good life lessons and many ear-catching quote that we can share. A really good read to relive my emotion a bit I would say hahah. Anyway, the descripton of Morrie, the dying professor, reminded me of Professor Sturgis from Young Sheldon. So everytime I read his conversation, I could imagine Professor Sturgis voice and speaking style very clearly hahah.

Sudah mendekati tengah malam tapi kamu belum kembali. Ibumu resah, begitupula enam saudaramu yang lain.

this year is definitely something else and offers more than I had expected, a bit too much I would say hahah.

tho surprised and unpleasant as it is, I am definitely still excied to figure out and unfold what actually is 'behind' this. Like really, again, no matter how perfect the plan seems and how close it is to reach the goal, there is just something that is beyond our control. And that's His plan.

Insyallah for the best lah ya.

In the end, I really couldn't feel indifferent with this farewell. It was short and I did not really take anything personal from this place. But man, leaving still sucks, even tho I've been used to it. I did not expect to find some good people I could call friends here. This short few months has been nothing but fun and great experience. Furthermore, it has been so much joy living in this city. Like really, the most comfy town I've ever lived in Indonesia is here.

Hope these people and this place all the best. Mögen wir UN's wiedersehen!

Dan besok udah Jum'at terakhir di Bandung aja ya, Ram? Balik lagi ke awal tahun ini, rasanya banyak sekali yang terjadi di delapan bulan sebelum 'dua puluh enam'. I mean, I expected to learn new experiences, but this was beyond what I had planned hahah. And I'm a bit surprised at how well I have managed everything so far. Alhamdulillah ya Allah. You have given me so much ease this year. Beneran deh, nikmat-Nya mana lagi yang mau didustakan?

And with what have happened this year, I'm now having a high expectation to what will happen in the next 12 months. Seems exciting. Mengunjungi tempat baru. Bertemu orang-orang baru. Komitmen dengan proses yang juga baru dijalani. And so much more. And all of them looks really funn tooo. Ahh, can't wait to undergo this much of experience. Can't wait to see the future with you. Bismillah!

One thing at a time, dude. One single thing.

All things considered, I genuinely did not have any plane to leave my current place. Like, I have really been enjoying the work, mingling with all the collegues especially the junior ones, being the media/photografer for every events, and lastly, participating in the sport events; billiard, badminton, and pingpong.

In the last month, we held sport competitions celebrating national independence day. There were the those three sports and I participated on all of them. Tho I was really a noob in billiard and we got eliminated on the first day hahah. But for the other two, I really hoped to win. Just so I have something memorable to leave behind.

Badminton went really well in the group stage. We were a group of three and each team played 2 games against the other. My partner and I drew once and won once, making us the group winner and went to the quarter-final. In quarter-final, we faced our manager and our friend (also a junior engineer). We were really confident because both of us played badminton quite well and our opponents, I mean our friend, hi did not really play the sport. But the manger was notably much better tho. So we lost. 2-1 in BO3. Sad. (But it's okay, because i think I made the manager happy so that my resignation process with him got well hahahah)

And then the pingpong. In the group stage, me and my partner, a senior operations staff. We were in the group of four, and we won all of our 3 games. All of them were clean 2-0s. My partner had so much experience in pingpong, such a beast for our level I would say. And then before the quarter final. Just a couple of days before the match, he resigned :(. My partner got changed with a middle-level business development staff. He was quite good, but not in the same level as the previous man. In quarter final, we faced a rather easy opponent and we won 2-0. Then we headed to the semifinal, where we faced the favourite. Although they were great players, we actually had some confident to win. In the first set, we lost. But not that much and we thought that we could still win. And in the second set, we, especially me, played like never before. I was in the zone. My hit, return, and even few smashes were on point. We won that set and brought the game to the game three. And we played that set really bad hahah. We lost so bad, like 21-9. Straight after that game, we played again for the third place. We won with confident and became the second runner-up.

--

If not for that one single particular reason, I really don't plan to change place. Because it has been that much fun in here,alhamduillah.

But again, we can't really control anything, can't we? We planned, Allah decided. And with prayers, we can only hope that His plan will go our way. For the best, insyaallah.

Like really, I thought that becoming an adult would be so stressfull and depressing. But hey, it turns out to be enjoyable. Even when faced with options, making decision is really exciting.

Up until this point, I don't think I could measure how much effort and commitment I put on myself. Along the way, I have been very much aware that I did not really attach to anyone. Not really being considerate, I would say. I don't remember having the feeling of 'sacrificing' my decision just for others. It has always been 'me first'. Sounds pretty self-centred, isn't it?

But now, it may be it. The time and chance to do that. To be on the other side of the party. To turn down the ego. To put as much effort and commitment as I did to myself for someone else. Someone worth, insyaallah.