UK dream went true (Part II)

Gue rasa gue gak perlu nulis summary dari part I, langsung aja ya...

Jadinya, gue benar-benar sakit selama flight Dubai-London, bahkan gue berniat akan traktir orang-orang makan jika gue bisa sampai di London dengan selamat. Awal-awal, gue merasa mual (gara-gara teh pahit sialan), terus ditambah pusing, meriang, panas, dan akhir-akhirnya, gue kayak kunang-kunang gitu (half-conscious). Gue coba sebisanya untuk tidur, countdown masih menunjukan kita 7.35 jam lagi ke London. Saat gue merasa gue udah tidur 3 jam, gue bangun, dan ngelihat countdown… crap, masih 7.20 to London. Gue cuma tidur 15 menit. Seriously, 8 jam terkurung di pesawat saat sakit terasa seperti 8 hari di siksa di Penjara Guatemalo (ini ngasal, tapi ada penjara sadis yang namanya mirip-mirip).Untungnya temen gue, Irene, punya panadol yang bisa gue minta. Coba dia bawa Cheeseburger-nya McD atau Snickers (chocolate bar, bukan sepatu), pasti gue minta juga. Setelah itu, gue mulai tenang (baca: tidur karena efek obat).

Sampai di London Gatwick, Harold nanya, ‘Everything’s alright, Rhesa?’, gue terharu, ternyata dibalik tampang shopaholic bencong dia (anyway, tas dia Prada. So cute), dia care juga, gue jawab, ‘Not quite’. Karena emang gue masih kunang-kunang (gue gak tahu bahasa kerennya apa). Pas ini, air hostessnya announce kalau temperature nya akan 1 degree celcius. Dalam keadaan normal, gue pasti udah teriak panik karena di Indonesia, kecuali di freezer nya Bandung Farmer (ini dulu banget ada), gak akan sedingin itu. Tapi gue terlalu sakit untuk notice.

Keluar dari pesawat dan jalan through the tunnel, air hostess nya gak lagi bercanda. Beneran 1 derajat, dan gue masih sangat half-conscious, dan ketika gue berjalan through the terminal untuk ke immigration, gue jalan kayak orang mabok kebanyakan minum Listerine (Listerine mengandung alcohol juga kan), dan di saat self-esteem gue lagi rendah karena sakit dan dinginnya gak main-main, Irene malah bilang,

‘Tahu gak, Rhes? Teman gue, Miranti, pas itu ke Beijing, pas winter, temperature nya -13 derajat, cuma pakai baju biasa'.

Sip, berarti gue cupu banget cuma 1 derajat, pakai baju kaos dirangkep jumper dirangkep coat tebal dan scarf dan beanie. Otak gue gak berjalan dengan benar, karena jika iya, gue pasti bertanya, 1) kenapa di Beijing bisa sampai sedingin -13 derajat, dan 2) kenapa ketika -13 derajat (serious ini horror banget) dan mengenakan baju casual without coat, Miranti masih bertahan hidup dan gak end up di pameran manusia yang diawetkan dengan cara di frozen yang sempat digelar di Singapore (gue lupa exact namenya apa).

Pas ngisi form untuk masuk immigration, vision gue super blurry dan tangan gue gak bisa ngerasain pulpen, masih half-conscious. Pas ngantri, gue kayak mau pass out, jadinya harus ngesot sambil ngantri. Untungnya gue gak papa, sempet ditanyain sama orang immigrationnya, ‘Kenapa kamu travel sendirian? Kamu under-age padahal’. Keren juga orang immigration di London Gatwick bisa ngomong Indonesia, gue jawab ngarang-ngarang yang penting bisa cepet dan reunite sama orang-orang dan bilang kalau gue sakit. Setelah selesai, gue bilang ke Ms Devina kalau gue sakit, sayangnya, gue disuruh jalan terus karena kita harus bus tour dulu ke Greenwich.

Event organiser kita ternyata dua orang yang sudah lumayan berumur (kaku ya bahasanya?), Ian request kita mampir ke Old Trafford, ternyata mereka fans Liverpool, semenjak di Inggris sepakbola itu benar-benar topik sensitif (bagi orang local, sepakbola adalah second religion), mereka agak marah. Kalau kita semua dibakar hidup-hidup di dalam bus, tentu itu salah Ian.

Di Greenwich, kita semua turun dari bus dan ke Royal Observatory nya, anehnya, kunang-kunang gue udah sedikit hilang dan berencana nyari makan supaya bisa minum obat. Gara-gara si Harold (yang tas nya Prada) itu gak berani compromise sama event organiser kita, gue cuma dikasih cereal punya dia yang diambil dari Emirates (gue curiga, jangan-jangan selimut dan headset nya juga dia ambil sebagai souvenir).

Selama di Greenwich, kita photo-photo dan merasakan cuaca UK (yang gak akan kalian mau rasakan), sementara itu, orang-orang disana malah banyak yang jogging cuma pakai celana pendek dan baju sleveless pada keadaan 1 derajat celsius. Mungkin, temannya Irene bisa saingan sama mereka. Habis kelilng Greenwich, kita ke Royal Observatory nya, walaupun gak ke dalamnya…

Ini gue dan Kharis di depan Royal Observatory Greenwich

Group photo di Greenwich

Sehabis group photo dan puas merasakan udara UK (yang langsung kita sesali), kita lanjut perjalanan ke London.

Di London, kita melakukan banyak hal. Belanja souvenir (gue selalu nyari yang 50 p dapat 3), ketemu Big Ben, naik London Eye (gak ada bedanya sama bianglala dufan), nonton 4-D cinema di London Eye (gak beda sama di Ancol, dan gue gak suka 4-D cinema), photo di depan London Bridge dan melewatinya, ke Buckhingham Palace, Westminster Abbey (church tempatnya si Prince William dan si Kate menikah, sumpah, sok akrab), dan itu seru banget! Kharis bilang,

‘Rhes, serious ini kayak mimpi.’, yang gue bales,

‘Lo gak mimpi, ris. Coba gue slap pasti sakit.’

‘Monyet lo, Rhes.’

Memories kita di London banyak banget dan blog ini pasti akan kepenuhan kalau di tulis semua. Gue share picture aja ya…

Kita didepan London Bridge

Guide kita di London, Czech them out.

Di dalam London Eye, dufan gak kalah

Group photo di bunderan Buckingham Palace

Selesai di London, kita langsung ke Worcester untuk bertemu dengan foster family kita masing-masing. Perjalanan dari London-Worcester sendiri memakan waktu 2 jam, di perjalanan gue dan Noel sempet teriak-teriak histeris karena melihat Wembley, ‘WEMBLEY!!! OH WEMBLEY BABYYYY’, yang langsung ditanggepin aneh oleh EO kita, mungkin emang kita yang terlalu norak ngelihat stadium bola doang.

Lanjut ke part III ya!!!

(PS= ternyata Allah itu adil, temennya Irene yang tadi gue ceritain, ternyata lebih clumsy dari gue, gue mendapat report kalau dia…. kehilangan boarding pass di Belitung… dan gak tahu gimana bisa aja boarding dan pulang ke Jakarta. Sementara gue kalau kehilangan boarding pass di Dubai saat lagi sakit dan panik, bisa meninggal di tempat)

UK dream went true (Part I)

Gue udah janji kalau gue bakal nge-post tentang trip gue (dan teman-teman) ke UK pada March 19-April 4 2011, dan sebagai blogger yang baik, teladan, dan tidak pernah membantah orang tua, gue akan menulis tentang itu.

Pertama-tama, ini adalah school trip yang diadakan sekolah gue, BINUS International crap School Serpong, sebenarnya ini adalah program immersion (terjemahan: pembenaman), jadi objective nya adalah kita di blend dengan culture orang-orang dari seluruh dunia. Immersion programme ini dibagi-bagi, ada yang ke UK, US, Spain, China, Bangka Belitung, dan Australia. Gue bertanya-tanya, kenapa gak ada pilihan immersion yang ke North Korea atau Palestine, biar kita bisa belajar sejarah berperang dan sekalian ikutan berperang (dan tidak pulang kembali). Pendek kata, dengan mengambil resiko terhilang di tengah-tengah gurun Sahara, gue ke UK bareng teman-teman. Ini terdengar asik, tapi bagi traveller amatiran seperti gue, ini bakal jadi seperti serial TV Survivors dan semacamnya.

Semua participants ngumpul di Soekarno-Hatta airport pada pukul 3 PM. Karena sebelumnya, person in charge kita, Mr Harold the queer warn kita habis-habisan untuk berada di airport on time atau miss the flight, dan mungkin akan end up immersion di Lebak Bulus (belajar berantem antar fans klub sepakbola). Boarding nya jam 5.15, dan kenyataannya, Mr Harold baru sampai jam 4.30, sebelum dia sampai, gue telpon dia terus-terusan dan berteriak ala cewek, ‘SIIIR, comeee hereee quiccckly’. Alhasil, gue deg-degan parah karena dia ngaret gak kira-kira, dan dia yang possess passport dan ticket kita, saat dia datang, orang-orang langsung menyerbu dia untuk dibagiin passport dan ticket dan buru-buru scan belongings dan check-in.

Terlihat kekhawatiran dari muka gue

Gue, sebagai remaja nanggung yang kebanyakan nonton Amazing Race, sangat excited akan trip ini karena mengira gue akan layaknya berada di Amazing Race, travelling sendiri dengan teman (dan satu queer), tegang karena harus cepet-cepetan beli ticket, dan all that stuff. Ternyata beneran, malah sebelum berangkat udah kerasa kayak Amazing Race, bedanya gue hampir jantungan saking deg-degan.

Setelah perjuangan berat, dan process penyesuaian ketegangan (intinya, pas gue udah tenang), kita akhirnya boarding. Gue jalan sama temen gue, Noel, untuk menenangkan gue. Noel itu, sangat contrast dengan gue, udah terbiasa travel sendirian kemana-mana, jadinya dia tenang aja. Sementara gue, selama ini selalu travel bareng keluarga, jadi kalau ada hal yang gak beres tinggal nanya bokap atau nyokap.

Salah satu contoh Noel udah expert adalah, dia nekat ngantri di queue untuk expatriates pas immigration, gue ngikutin dia, mungkin gue bisa jadi expatriate beneran, seorang tourist dari Cuba. Ternyata bener aja, gak ada yang nge-check kita mau queue dimana. Akhirnya kita duluan bisa get through orang immigration dan lari ke pesawat (gara-gara si queer telat).

Pas sampe pesawat, gue duduk dengan Kharis, Ian duduk dengan Tina, sementara Mr Harold duduk dengan seorang stranger yang terlihat butuh dua seats, eat that! Kita take off dari Jakarta ke Dubai untuk transit (Jakarta-London via Dubai), dan itu sendiri membutuhkan waktu 7 jam, gue tahu gue pasti akan stressed terkurung, pas Taxi, gue juga masih deg-degan akan scene tadi, lari-lari sambil panik ngejar pesawat. Pas udah take off, akhirnya gue bisa tenang.

Selama flight, satu hal sudah pasti, gue frustated. Gue tentu gak bisa main bola atau melakukan hal-hal extreme to kil my bore. Emirates Airlines cukup bijak untuk provide kita ICE (bukan es batu), dimana kita bisa main game, nonton movies, dengar music, etc. Dengan kata game, gue mengharapkan game keren kayak FIFA 11, atau Amnesia (sumpah ini serem). Tetapi, yang ada adalah game cupu (no offense to Emirates, gue gak mau dibantai orang Arab Saudi). Alhasil, gue cuma nonton (itupun gak betah) dan mostly dengerin music. Pas itu, ada seorang Englishman middle-age, gara-gara bosen, gue ngajak ngobrol, tapi kayaknya dia lagi gak mood jadilah gue di ignore. Kebanyakan orang bisa tidur selama flight to Dubai, sementara gue enggak. Mr Harold aja tidur sambil cover kepala dengan selimut (mungkin untuk mencegah di candid), dan ketika Ian meng-candid semua orang sedang tidur, tiba-tiba kebosanan gue mengurang.

Salah satu hasil candid kita

Kekurangan tidur gue awalnya tidak bermasalah, sampai pas kita sampai di Dubai untuk transit 4 jam.

Air hostess Emirates sebelum landing di Dubai Airport announce kalau temperature nya sekitar 20 celcius degree, berarti gak masalah, sementara gue memakai coat tebal dengan alasan… gak cukup ditaruh di backpack gue. Pas gue keluar pesawat, anginnya parah banget. Semua orang photo airportnya, sementara gue, yang berstatus satu-satunya photographer amatir, hanya bisa stretch out karena jujur aja, 7 jam duduk itu gak keren.

Ternyata, rules di Dubai strict, kita gak boleh take photos dan karena airportnya memang besar banget, 1 juta kali lebih besar dari Binus mungkin, kita harus naik shuttle bus untuk ke boarding gate selanjutnya, disinilah kebodohan gue dimulai. Pas turun dari bus dan menuju boarding gate, gue melihat semua orang take pictures, gue juga ikut-ikutan take pictures, entah gue terlalu amatir atau terlalu obvious, ada satu petugas airport yang marah ngelihat gue photo, mungkin dia ngira gue photo dia. Alhasil,gue dipanggil, dengan logat Arabnya, gue bahkan gak ngerti apa yang dia omongin, ternyata gue dipaksa delete photonya. Anjrit, pas itu seriously gue kira gue akan ditahan di airport terus dilaporin ke polisi terus dipenjara, pas itu gue panik banget, dan sialnya, cuma gue yang kena, padahal banyak yang photo.

Belum recover dari kepanikan tadi, kita harus scan belongings lagi, sayangnya, di Dubai semua hal serba strict, kita harus ngelepas belt, bahkan sepatu dan kaos kaki juga dilepas. Gue dengan gemetaran melakukan semua itu. Setelah udah jalan 5 meter-an, gue baru nyadar passport gue ketinggalan. Anjrit, tambah panik, gue ambil, gue masukin tas, panik gue makin menjadi-jadi.

4 jam transit di Dubai mungkin hal yang biasa, tapi bagi gue yang agak sakit dan ditambah kejadian-kejadian itu, hal itu menjadi sangat torture. Sial gue belum berhenti, kita stop di Starbucks, dan karena gue mual (saking paniknya), gue gak minum coffee, dan minum teh (Earl Grey), pas duduk di boarding gate, gue baru nyadar kalau gue gak nambahin gula sama sekali, pahit banget. Tambah sakit gue. Bagus. Gue sempet berkeliling airport dengan Kharis dan Noel karena bosen. Setelah itu, gue beli McChicken dengan harapan gue bisa feel a bit better, sayangnya gak ngaruh.

Sebagai orang yang sok organised, gue mencatat semua spending gue. Sayangnya… gue mencatat itu di sisi belakang ticket gue. Mampus. Banyak hal buruk yang terlintas di otak gue mulai dari 1) gue mungkin ditahan di airport karena ticket invalid sampai 2) gue terpaksa nginep sendirian di airport karena ticket invalid. Mati aja gue, dengan tampang desperate gue bilang ke Mr Harold, ‘Sir, I wrote something on the back of my ticket paper’. Sang guru tercinta udah bikin gue tambah panik, dia bilang, ‘SO? you’re going to have to stay here and we can do nothing’. MATI AJA GUE! 5 menit penuh silence, gue udah mau pingsan saking paniknya. Untungnya, ternyata Ms Devina (person in charge juga), bilang kalau itu gak papa. Sumpah si Harold pengen gue jejelin ticket gue sekalian, kalau gue pingsan karena panik, itu salah dia.

Dubai Airport, baru nyadar ada praying room sekarang

Rasa panik gue masih besar saat kita bentar lagi udah boarding. Akhirnya gue sukses… sakit. Pas boarding, gue duduk sama 2 orang strangers, makin parah aja sakit gue, dan flight dari Dubai ke London yang memakan waktu sekitar 8 jam adalah flight terburuk dalam sejarah 15 tahun gue.

(Anyway, takut kepanjangan, lanjut ke part II ya? Ayook)

Krabby Peti !!

Terdakwa no: 7

Lokasi: Bandung… i guess

Taken by: Rhesa oh yeah

Tuduhan: Mr Kreb membuat sebuah Krabby Peti yang lezat!!! Eh Krabby Patty..

Ternyata… Creaby Pety itu Krabby Patty yang asli Indonesia –_-

Sanpride Banana

Terdakwa no: 6

Lokasi: somewhere in Yogya

Taken by: Rhesa the awesome guy

Tuduhan: Saya kemarin memakan pisang sanpride, dan minum jus jeruk sankis yang didinginkan di lemari es sanken

Mau dong…. jus pisang sanpride…

Unfinished story made by me and Marsha..

Okei, gue sekarang berniat untuk post sesuatu yang gue dan Marsha tulis. Well, kalau ditanya gue dapat ide nulis ginian dari mana, jawabannya keren banget. Jauh lebih keren dari yang nulis. Jadinya, di suatu malam gue mendapat mimpi, dan pas bangun baru sadar kalau mimpi nya seru dan keren, dan coba gue express dalam bentuk novel (yang unfinished), gue belum ada niat untuk nyelesain tapi kalau response nya bagus, akan gue usahakan walaupun tentu akan tidak sama dengan plot yang sebenarnya. Dan ini saat gue masih sangat obsessed dengan Hayley Williams jadi harap maklum jika gue being too imaginative

***

At first, i was planning to go for a homestay program in somewhere really far, England. The person i was paired with was apparently a serial killer.... He is only my age, but he is kind of into killing little children.. I think that’s an abnormality. While i hadn’t figured out who he really is, we got along well. It was happening from almost months. Until.. Until my friend who went for a homestay program too and was placed near to mine, and also knew Mark, my roommate through my bestfriend, Hayley, told me what he saw. ‘I saw mark, hiding behind a big tree. And he was carrying a real sniper. He was kind of ready and in the position to.... shoot someone. And he was aiming it straight at a bunch of children playing. One time a police officer showed up to just tell the children not to play around cause a lot of cars were passing by them. And he got shot! It was supposed to be the children who were targeted. But the police officer showed up in a wrong place and wrong time. And Mark himself, ran away without getting caught. People were damn shocked and surrounded the cop to help. But i was too late..’ Explained him. I took him jokingly, eventhough he looked real serious. I didn’t believe him right away. But when i was sitting on my couch watching TV. A shocking news came up. It says “ A police officer found dead, shot from nowhere”... And that was clearly the same story as my friend told me. I was shocked, and mark suddenly opened the door and stepped into the room. I reflexly changed the channel right away. He said ‘What’s happening man?’.. , I replied with still my body shaking ‘Not.. NOTHING. How’s your day been?’ He said “ URGH.., Not a good one mate. I failed again to make all the parents sure about hiring me to babysit their children. I’ve been looking for that kind of job since quite a long time.’ He finished his words. I was saying in my mind, “Now i got convinced. There’s something wrong about him”. And he walked towards his bed, gazing at me with a weird expression. I could do nothing but smile. That evening, was my worst times ever cause it was winter and i couldn’t go out cause the snow was really thick. Besides, he asked me to take a look at some “masterpieces” of children picture he took a few days ago whom he told me, the children he was going to babysit. I was in my mind wondering ‘Why is this guy making it so obvious now? I mean why not show it to me earlier?’. As the sky turned dark. We went to bed. I personally couldn’t stop thinking whether this whole craziness is actually happening or not. I just couldn’t stand on thinking that big possibility, Mark really is a serial killer like the ones i saw on those famous TV series. But this is real. He didn’t look that way, he looked everything like a totally nice guy. He even washed the dishes for Mrs.Wiliams, that night, i only slept for a very little time. The darkest night of my life, that was.

At the next day, Mark had woke up earlier. I woke up really late. When i walked downstairs. I saw Mark playing video games of that typical.. Counter Strike game with a real passion. I asked, ‘Where are the others, Mark?’, and he replied this way, ‘Going somewhere, setting up something for our activity’. He was more focused on his video games. I didn’t want to bother him any longer so i went out to have something to eat for breakfast. Yeah, i hadn’t had my breakfast, Mrs.Williams didn’t prepare it for me. I was heading to a cafe i visited daily, but it had a lot of people coming. I thought it was just another busy day for them. But those weren’t customers. As i approached the cafe a bit closer. I could clearly hear people shouting around, and a cop was also in the crowd. What was happening? Oh my gawsh i just remembered, could Mark possibly have anything to do with this? I walked closer to the crowd and saw 2 children, all girls, around 5 or 6 years old, with almost all their clothes ripped off, it looked like somebody tore it up so badly, with many bullets on their chests. Died... i nearly fainted. This fits with what i saw on TV and with what my friend told me. ’Wha..what happened, sir?’ asked me to a random old man there, ‘I witnessed the procession, right in front of my eyes.. it was still 7 in the morning, a young couple brought their two children. They were playing around.. while the couple were going back to their car to get something. They didn’t pay attention on their children. Suddenly a boy your age walked up to them and kind of talked to them about something, took them inside the the cafe. And there was another boy, kind of stroking their hands when they came up. Tore their clothes up. But the girls screamed out, the boys gagged their mouth out. Took them to the toilet, and shot them off the chest. Probably they didn’t want to take the risk that they could just get caught, after that they ran away. The waitress found their bodies and called 911 straight away’. Oh my flippin gawsh. WHO ARE WE DEALING WITH? PEDOPHILES? And could that possibly be mark? I wasn’t so sure about that, but if it was him. Who was the other guy? That thing drove me crazy. Some more cops were coming, they told us to back off. They were surrounding the bodies with a police line. I was really really stoked-still, not believing what just happened. Then a married couple stepped in, cried hard. Well, that must be the couple that old man was talking about. I went up to them and gave them my biggest condolence. After that, i never wanted to go back to the house. I went to the place where my friend, Jersey was staying during his homestay program. He’s the one who first told me about Mark’s abnormality. He was there with nobody, the home owners were away to do some business in London, we were placed in Manchester. He let me in. I was coming with my body still trembling with fear. I told him everything about that “madness”. I started the conversation, ‘Man, diid..yo..you know what happened thi..this morning?’, ‘Hey, what is it with you man? Calm down. Yeah it was all over today’s TV news.’ He shocked me with that. ALL OVER TODAY’S TV NEWS?? If it was really Mark, i bet he must’ve thought that there’s no possible way, the news wasn’t heard by me. I’d be finished. ‘Do you..do you have a clue who did it? Was it possibly..Mark?’, ‘Oww.. not only possibly i guess, i don’t mean to scare you or anything. But i think there is a clear 50:50 chance for him to be the one who did it. I mean, look at the pattern. It suits his style so much. I’m not being an expert or anything. But the evidence clearly relates him to the crimescene and he left his typical mark there.. fresh blood all over victims’ bodies. I personally don’t know why he never wanted to clean up the bloods.’, ‘That made sense, but.. how could a 5 foot 9 guy, going out that morning, carrying a big weapon, not making any noise that can wake me up. I mean, i was at the room all the time. I must’ve heard something, or the homeowners must have. He couldn’t just leave the house because the front door was always locked an he didn’t have the key.’ I explained, ‘Really? I thought of that too. But, how are you so sure he went out through the front door, i mean, no other way?’, ‘Gawsh, no other way. And the room is too stuffed with our things, so there’s not too much space left because the beds theirselves are quite huge.’, ‘One conclusion, there is no way he can go outside the room with that big gun, and managed to keep quiet. It wasn’t him. That simple.’ Jersey concluded all things that way, ‘Yeah, if we think about it logically. But i have a big hunch that keeps telling me not to go back to my place. I hope i’m wrong.’, ‘Well, i can’t just say ‘don’t you worry about it, it’s just a hunch’. Even a hunch can mean real serious. If you’re not sure, you’re more than welcome to stay here.’, ‘It’s not like that, it’s more like.. i know there’s something wrong about Mark. I really do, and i am now more convinced after hearing that story you told me and the TV headline. This can’t be wrong and i am busting him a.s.a.p.’, ‘if you got anything really important to say, tell me man. I’m here for you mate. You alwa... HEY WHAT IS IT WITH HAYLEY??’. Jersey was shouting really hard, seemed really shocked. Hayley was running towards the house real quick, she looked like she had seen a huge monster.. ‘HIM HIM, IT WAS HIM, I SAW HIM THERE, AND HE SAW ME TOO.’ Screamed her, ‘Hey. Calm down. Chill. Chill. What was happening?’ i asked her, ‘It was..it was Mark, he was in the cafe. I think he was pretending not to know about what was happening, asking people. And he saw me staring at him. And he showed me a very strange expression like he was telling me to go back to him. I didn’t know what he meant by doing that. But i was running my best to your place. Then here i am. I was really afraid he may come after me.’ She replied, ‘Is he still possibly there?’, ‘I DON’T know but he may be coming here cause he saw me busting him.’, ‘Busting him for what? He didn’t do something suspicious did he? You said he was only going there to..’, ‘Asking people about what happened. Yeah right. And i was aware that he was sort of, distracting their attentions, the cops were getting distracted too. He was doing it so he could take the evidence with him, in other words, he cleared up the evidence. Fibers from clothes, blood drops, and the rope he used to strangle them. And he also...’, ‘A STRANGULATION? I was asking an old guy there and he told me they shot the children,’ I got shocked, ‘What? That’s strange. Have you seen the bodies? There were no signs of shooting.’, ‘Yes i did. I clearly saw the bullets on their chests. And didn’t you see the holes those bullets caused on their chests?’, ‘Well, something must have made it invisible. Otherwise i could see that too, the point is i busted Mark for taking away the evidences and i might be in a so much big trouble now.’ She finished her words. Jersey found it strange, and a bit odd. And he turned out to have stalked Mark since the very first time he saw him doing something suspicious. And through that times, Mark never ever cleared up blood drops of victims he killed or he wounded. He is kind of... too hygienic he wouldn’t even want to make contact with blood or things that can disgust you, moreover cleaning them up. ‘I’m not so sure Mark would do the cleaning-up all by himself, he’s like that kind of.. clean-freak.’ Said Jersey. I asked Hayley further about whether she saw someone else or not, She apparently wasn’t noticing that. In fact, she was just passing by the cafe. She didn’t stop there to buy food. All of a sudden, when i thought things had been handled well, Jersey bellowed out something we feared the most. He saw Mark walking on the street that leads us to the house. And yes, he knew Jersey. I introduced him to Mark earlier this year. He knew where Jersey was staying, ‘Quick! Out of the house! Through the back door!’ Bellowed him. I realized that if i didn’t do something, well.. something terrible would happen. ‘C’mon Hayl, we’re going out to somewhere, hurry up.’ I personally didn’t know what to do, where to go. All i knew is i had to get Hayley, whose life was endangered out to somewhere. She was really really shocked her body kept on shaking. Well, Jersey was only taking such fast action to anticipate the possibility of Mark coming over there. And probably not necessarily Mark would come over. But just in case he would. And Hayley herself, she was powerlessly dragged by me. We walked down the main street without seeing anybody. My mind was so stuffed about what might happen if Mark really thought that Hayley realized that what he was doing is actually clearing up evidences, which she did. ‘Man, he didn’t look like how he usually does, he seemed.. like he just got beaten up by someone. I still got a clear vision inside my head about how he looked like. and...’, ‘I think it’s better for you to no longer think about that anymore. You’re stressing yourself out.’ I suggested her. Instead of stop talking, she gave me a clear specific description about what she suspected he might have done, and why she was that terrified. It made me...feel really shocked...well not shocked, more than that. Especially i knew that she was in a grave danger. She shouldn’t have got involved in this thing. It’s jsut unfair how she could get dragged into this kind of thing and be the one whose life is threatened the worse. And if Mark suspected someone from all of us to have known about what he was doing. He would surely list her on top. It’s just...i couldn’t think that far and i know this was bringing her bad effects. Well at that time, all i thought about is just to ease down the stresses we got as much as possible. So i took her to our favorite restaurant we usually hung out together. She said there’s no time for coffee or food. But i didn’t care. She always brought some of her friends there we did many stuff together. But that day was only us. It was like everything had been set up for us. I supposed to like it. I know it was NOT a good timing but that was probably the moments i’ve been waiting for, and enjoyed it so much. It was like something i’ve never ever gotten to do before. And yes i had a crush on her, i wasn’t trying to deny that. But with her sad face, sipping her cappuccino, trying to make herself calmed down. It hurt. Hayley was in a yellow shirt which also had an orange sweater over it, she also put a grey beanie on her head, matching with her orange-reddish dyed hair. As we stepped into the restaurant, we took the seats that were near the door, and started having a conversation, ‘Hayl?’ I asked her slowly, ‘Yes?’ She replied with her shocked face. ‘Listen, i know it’s hard for you. But please calm down. Take that look off your face. You don’t look good with that.’ I tried to be wise, and i was sort of trying to amuse her a bit, it might be helpful to cool things down. She forced a smile, than began sniffling again, ‘But i can’t. I saw Mark doing all that stuff, acting like he was a professional criminal. I could imagine him slaughtering those little girls, he was an animal.’ She started sobbing, then bursted out crying. She put her head on my shoulder, i couldn’t resist her face when she was crying. Tears fell down from her eyes wetting her dyed-red hair. ‘Listen Hayl. I’d try to make things better like... umm... i’d do anything that can make you feel better. Anything the best for you.’ I said. She calmed down a bit then gazing into my eyes. She gave me an expression like she felt so comfortable being around me at that time. Then we kissed. All of a sudden we kissed. She got pretty nervous after that and remained quiet for maybe 10 minutes. And then she braved herself to speak out, ‘You’re a nice guy.’ Well, that flattered me.

After that, we really really kept ourselves silenced. I don’t know why. But i felt a lot better after hearing what came out of her mouth. As the waiter gave us the food we’d ordered. We began taking our first bites, it was a grilled chicken breast with potato chips added we’d ordered. Light meal that was! In fact we really didn’t mean to stop by there to eat much. We finished our meals quite in a time. And we really really had no clue on where to go next. I wasn’t sure if it was already safe for to head back Jersey’s place. Hayley called, ‘I was having quite a moment thanks to you. Now what we’re up to?’ It didn’t take me long to think that i better phoned Jersey for asking. First try, he didn’t pick up, second try, he still didn’t pick up. I’d tried to call him for perhaps, 4 times but he didn’t answer the call. Well, at that time i wasn’t worried about him ignoring the call. Nor was Hayley. We just stayed there in the restaurant, and i also managed to make Hayley chat with me about everything but Mark. Then suddenly i got a phone call, it was apparently from Jersey. He told me the reason why he didn’t pick up my calls. He left his phone downstairs and he was in the attic, hiding. Mark happened to visit his place. He knocked the door a few times, but Jersey said, he didn’t go bellowing, shouting or stuff. He acted normally. And Jersey let him go in. They talked about general stuff, something that did not have anything to do with my suspicion on him. And he DID ask Jersey where Hayley went, he simply answered, ‘I haven’t met her today, didn’t know where she went’. I was quite terrified knowing that all my fears really happened, Mark coming over Jersey’s place, asking about Hayley, meaning: He DID have a suspicion on Hayley that she might be aware what he did wasn’t just sightseeing. If anybody knew what he did, which was clearing up evidences. He had plenty reasons to worry about it. The bad thing= Mark knows that I know Hayley, the good thing= He doesn’t know that we get along so well these days, so he wouldn’t think i’d met her this morning. So, i continued my conversation with Jersey, i asked him, if Mark didn’t go crazy on him or do mean stuff. What did he hide for? He said, after Mark left the place, he heard a BANG! sound as if somebody’d thrown rocks right into the window and broke it, coming from the backyard. He went to the attic straight away to hide, and as he felt safe enough to go back downstairs. He did see a broken window, but there was no sign of somebody breaking into the house or anything stolen. But he found a torn piece of paper stuck in the broken window, and discovered 4 simple but threatening words: MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS! ‘I didn’t know where that came from, it was just a piece of small paper, and it wasn’t signed either. But i have a strong feeling it was aimed at us..nonono...... well, you and Hayley to be precise.’ He snapped, ‘Me? What bad things had i done until somebody threatened me? I mean all that Mark stuff. Well, it was clearly aimed at Hayley, no doubts.’ I said, which i hoped i hadn’t. I just made things worse for her, ‘Sorry.’ I apologized. ‘No, we three need to be extra cautious. He knew we all got along, well.. at least we knew each other well.’, ‘Great. We three. All of us.’, ‘What?’, ‘Nothing, i’m just still so curious about, how Mark managed to keep quiet while getting out.’, ‘Yeah.. i mean, i still am too. Are you going back to your place, anyway?’, ‘I normally would say after all this, i’d be a complete nuts if I was still willing to go back, even if someone makes me to. But in this case, well, i can’t stand being haunted by this curiosity. So i plan to stay up late tonight if possible, i’ll be pretending to be asleep. In fact i’m gonna be awake all night. Or anything it takes to bust Mark.’ I chided. I tried to make myself sound cool and not to look, um, worried? No. That’s not the word. Probably, Anxious. Yeah, that’s it. (Don’t blame me if they’re synonyms). These Mark stuff have gone so fast and crazy… yeah, it’s been… only a week since I was first told by Jersey and since I accidently watched the shocking TV news. I’ve lived in England for about 3 months. I know it’s pretty long when you are in a homestay program but I’ve planned to stay longer to see how people here live daily. The habits, and all that stuff. Because I think I’m gonna have my college here. And yeah, this has been surreal…. I mean something like this has never happened to me before.

After that, I headed back home… I left home early this morning at 7 and hadn’t gone back there… well for a “young adult” like me, that’s not sinning… I mean when I was a kid and I was away for more than 10 hours without informing my mom where I went, i simply thought I’d just committed a sin. My mum would ask lots of questions about that. But now I live far away from my parents and my landlord barely talked to me. I had no fear about going back home after all those things. Not a single fear, even my biggest fear I’d just had a few minutes ago had been gone.. and what I feared of is Mark bursting out asking lots of questions why I hadn’t been home all noon and I end up not being able to hide my nerve and finally get caught for being aware of who he is. If that scenario happened, I would end up getting killed. For sure. But on my way home I was really angry of him, I’m not trying to act like I have no fears of Mark. But I really wanted to protect Hayley from being captured by Mark. Okay I’m acting like she is a prisoner on loose… I really didn’t want bad things happen to her… After what happened in the café… yeah it’s pretty obvious… (unfinished)

***

Jika ada part yang terlalu imaginative, itu Marsha yang nulis (scapegoat abis). Anyway, sebulan lalu gue benar-benar homestay di UK, dan untung banget gak end up kayak di ceritanya. More posts await!

Akhirnya, blogger ini telah tersadarkan….

Jadinya, gue sekarang sudah selesai exam week (seperti yang dibilang di post sebelumnya) dan akan gue post tentang hasil semua exam gue yang… pokoknya nanti gue kasih tahu.

In conclusion (sumpah ketahuan banget gue dapet jelek di exam bahasa, bagian pembuka di bilang ‘conclusion’), hari-hari ini gue bisa melakukan apa saja (termasuk nge-bell rumah tetangga sembarangan), karena… gue udah gak ada pr. Tapi bukan berarti bebas sih, kayaknya emang yang bikin Binus mempunyai misi membuat semua murid nya bahagia tertawa karena gila… masalahnya, kita masih ada 3 projects. BAYANGIN! exam udah selesai dan masih ada 3 projects!!!!! Untungnya, gue tidak ber-mental tempe goreng, mental gue cukup terlatih untuk menerima ketidak adilan terbesar ini.

Banyaknya waktu luang yang tersedia membuat gue me-review blog gue dengan membaca postingan di blog lama sejak tahun 2008, dan postingan awal-awal di blog retarded ini. Seriously, itu nostalgic abis. Gue jadi mengetahui bagaimana cupunya tulisan gue dulu, dengan jokes-jokes yang benar-benar crap, gaya dan struktur menulis yang orang-orang gak akan ikutin untuk menulis essay di English A-Level exam (itu cara baru suicide). Tapi dari semua ke-cupuan blog gue, gue serasa travel back in time ke tahun 2008, membaca my old memories yang lucu banget, inget-inget kalau walaupun tulisan gue jelek parah, si Bilal pernah benar-benar minta ke gue untuk bikin postingan (mungkin, dia ingin menjadikan tulisan gue sebagai reference buku dia yang berjudul “Kesalahan beternak ayam”). Dan setelah membaca tulisan-tulisan lama gue, itu jadi menyadarkan bahwa…. gue sangat kangen blogging, bahwa blogging is what I enjoy the most.

Inti kata, gue pengen minta maaf selama satu millenia ini (gue memang terlihat sangat muda), gue hampir gak pernah posting dan insyaallah gue akan posting lebih banyak saat free time.

***

To the point aja, gue merupakan orang yang sangat menggunakan adiknya dengan baik (untuk ngambilin gelas, bikinin makan, dan ngerjain tugas art), dan semenjak adik gue lumayan jago menggambar (sebenarnya cuma gara-gara gue aja yang gambar mobil balap jadi mirip kotak pensil), gue akan menyuruh dia menggambar komik yang menceritakan kehidupan gue di blog ini. Dalam lain kata, gue nyontek karya orang lagi (maklumi saya). Rencana ini sebenarnya masih sangat unreliable karena 1) adik gue jelas bukan Dio (orang yang gambar komik untuk Radith), 2) ngebujuk adik gue untuk disuruh-suruh lebih susah dari mencari jerami di dalam jarum (kebalik gak sih?), dan 3) adik gue suka makan plain crepe (sementara DIo pasti gak suka).

Pokoknya gue berusaha banget supaya bisa terealisasikan, tapi perbedaan paling mencolok adalah. Dio itu professional, adik gue amatiran. Dio dibayar dengan banyak uang, adik gue dibayar dengan banyak crepes (yang pasti gue makan juga), dan Dio pasti bilang, ‘Oke, gue akan nyelesain semua ini karena gue professional’, adik gue pasti bilang, ‘Kak, adek males ngerjain, pengen nonton phineas and ferb’. Yap, perbedaan itu lah yang agak membuat gue pesimis. Tapi gue pengen ini beneran, and let’s see how this develops :)

Blog is not dead yet :)

Oke, gue tahu gue udah berabad-abad gak bikin post, gue tahu mungkin lo bertanya-tanya apa saja yang gue lakukan selama ini sampai tidak menyempatkan waktu untuk bikin post (bahasa gue kaku coy).

Well, don’t worry be happy i’ll be there for you… gue gak macem macem kok, gue gak mengedarkan majalah terlarang yang berisikan bebek dan tikus telanjang sedang bermain bersama(Disney comics) dan karena itu gue dituntut oleh semua orang tua Indonesia dengan tuntutan mencemari pikiran anak bangsa dan ngumpet di danau toba *gue obsessed banget dengan danau toba*(endless lame one), tidak, semua itu tidak benar, gue cuma melakukan rutinitas gue yaitu… sekolah. Kenapa hanya ‘sekolah’ membuat gue sangat occupied? BLAME BINUS BLAME BINUS HELL BINUS BURN BINUS DROWN BINUS! Yeah, sekolah desperate gue saat ini, BINUS International crap School Serpong adalah tempat paling ideal, bahkan terlewat ideal untuk menghancurkan childhood kita (bahkan, saat gue nulis article atau mungkin blogpost sangat ter-influenced dengan cara menulis sociology essay).

Thank Binus for this, gue sangat merasa tua being 15 and being in grade 10. Contoh, kegiatan immature yang gue lakukan selama kelas 9 seperti… nonton Phineas and Ferb, bersepeda di weekend, nonton American Idol, Glee, CSI, The Apprentice (kayaknya sama sekali gak immature), Suite life on deck, Family guy… tidak bisa dilakukan lagi, atau jika gue orangnya simple, tidak bertele-tele dan rajin belajar, gue gak sempet nonton sama sekali. Jangankan itu, rutinitas gue sehabis pulang sekolah adalah… masuk rumah, lepas kaos kaki, inget-inget pr, ngerjain pr, belajar buat test (selalu ada worksheet atau unit test every each day), dan biasanya semua itu selesai jam 10, which is my bed time. Seperti yang terlihat, gue bahkan tidak mencantumkan kata ‘bernapas’ di dalam rutinitas gue sehabis pulang sekolah. Yeah, itu menggambarkan betapa padatnya jadwal gue karena Binus!

Oh dan, gak kerasa bentar lagi gue udah mau naik kelas 11 (kalau insyaallah promoted ke kelas 11) dan di kelas 11 itu kita harus memilih stream (semacam jurusan) yang terdiri dari Science, Social, atau ICT. Dan tentu, beda stream berarti beda kelas. Itu yang membuat gue… kurang suka dengan how things work out, karena baaanyaaak banget orang yang gue pengen sekelas, tetapi beda interest dengan gue dan berencana milih stream yang berbeda. Seriously… thus, karena gue milih social, gue harus encourage orang-orang yang gue pengen sekelas untuk milih social, dengan menakut-nakuti, ‘Nanti kalau lo gak qualify science, terpaksa lo milih social. Dan kalau lo maksa milih science, lo akan stress, terus karena stress lo akan gila, terus kalau lo gila lo akan jadi aneh, kalau lo aneh lo akan dijauhin temen terus….’, dan biasanya dijawab, ‘Lo akan lebih aneh dari gue rhes no matter what. Dan nilai gue, gak kayak lo, pasti qualify science’. Nice, fail discouragement.

Sedikit random dan off topic, gue akan menceritakan satu hal yang gue bilang sangat sangat ridiculous. Ini terjadi sudah lama, sekitar pas gue masih smp. Waktu itu, Marsha menyebarkan perbedaan antara kata “gaul” (konotasi baik) dan “gaulzz’ (konotasi jelek). Dan pas itu, phone provider gue, XL ngirim broadcast message yang berisikan… sebenarnya gue lupa tapi kira kira seperti ini… ‘Mau menjadi gaul?? Langganan XL sms automatic modifier dan sms kamu bisa menjadi sangat gaul. Hanya 5000 per bulan’… kata “gaul” sangat di overused disini. Dan gue saat itu, sebagai orang yang sangat anti dengan hal gaulzz, tidak terima direndahkan martabatnya seperti itu. Alhasil gue meng-counter sendernya dengan reply text dia, ‘SAYA TIDAK GAULZZ’. YEAH, akhirnya gue berhasil menekankan ke orang itu kalau gue gak terima diperlakukan seperti ini. Tetapi, kenyataan memang pahit, besoknya gue menerima text yang berkata, ‘Selamat, anda telah berlanggangan XL sms automatic modifier. Pulsa anda akan dipotong 5000’. OH CRAP, lebih parah lagi, pulsa gue terus terusan dipotong 5000 per bulan, walaupun gue udah unsubscribe terus-terusan. Shit happens.

Dan yang terakhir, gue baru aja menyelesaikan exam week. Yes, di Binus semua terjadi dengan prematur. Teman-teman gue exam baru minggu depan atua 2 minggu yang akan datang, sementara Binus exam minggu lalu. Dan gue gak tahu dalam rangka apa, Binus mengadakan culture festival dengan mengundang orang orang dari berbagai daerah di Indonesia dengan mengundang orang native Papua, Bali, Maluku, Batak, etc etc dan rumah tradisional dan hal typical culture mereka juga ada. Asalkan jangan mengundang orang maori aja, nanti setiap ada murid lewat atau guru lewat bisa terbunuh karena boomerangnya (kecuali Mr Rey, akan gue bantuin orang maori itu dengan melempar banyak boomereang). Oh dan, seperti biasa, ini tradisi lama, gue akan membuat summary mengenai exam gue,

English= baik-baikin yang buat soal (walaupun *sigh* Mr Rey)

Chemistry= MASUKIN KE KANDANG SINGA YANG BUAT SOAL

Physics= kasih tiket pesawat ke Bombay yang buat soal

Bahasa Indonesia= ceburin ke sungai Nile yang buat soal

Biology= kasih tiket concert Avril Lavigne yang buat soal

Georaphy= kasih tiket pesawat ke Europe yang buat soal

Economics= bangkrutin yang buat soal

Sociology= traktir makan yang buat soal

Math= kasih undangan ke royal wedding yang buat soal (loh kan udah lewat?)

Pokoknya, gue gak expect banyak. Tapi gue keen on social dan looking forward to grade 11 :)