Bahasa Indonesia

Ya, bahasa Indonesia. Para pemuda Indonesia dulu menetapkannya sebagai bahasa persatuan. Tapi bahasa Indonesia menurut saya bukan hanya bahasa resmi yang diajarkan di sekolah-sekolah. Bahasa Jawa - mulai dari ngoko alus, kasar, sampai krama, bahasa Madura, bahasa Batak, singkatnya semua bahasa daerah di Indonesia pun juga layak disebut bahasa Indonesia. Bahasa ibu yang benar-benar lazim digunakan di antara anggota kebudayaan terkecil dari masyarakat setempat, yaitu keluarga.


Terkadang saya lupa betapa berharganya bahasa Indonesia. Sejak kecil saya tertarik belajar bahasa Inggris. Bahasa pergaulan, katanya. Bahasanya orang-orang pintar dan terdidik, bahasa yang digunakan negara-negara maju, bahasa yang harus digunakan agar tidak "ketinggalan jaman". Sebagai konsekuensinya, saya mulai belajar bahasa Inggris sejak di Sekolah Dasar, dan mengikuti beberapa kursus bahasa Inggris.


Lalu ada lagi bahasa Mandarin yang saya pelajari sebagai bagian dari kurikulum pelajaran Sekolah Menengah Pertama dan Sekolah Menengah Atas. Sebagai warga negara Indonesia keturunan Tionghoa, saya tidak pernah menggunakannya dalam percakapan sehari-hari di rumah. Para leluhur saya tiba di Indonesia beratus-ratus tahun yang lalu, dan seiring berjalan waktu mereka hidup di tengah masyarakat Indonesia, mempelajari cara hidup penduduk setempat, dan singkatnya, menjadi orang Indonesia. Memang, orang tua dan kakek nenek saya punya nama Tionghoa, tapi generasi saya sudah tidak lagi memiliki nama Tionghoa yang tercatat. Jadi, yah, agak sulit menjelaskan bagaimana seorang dengan casing Tionghoa seperti saya - mata sipit, kulit kuning langsat, rambut lurus- sebenarnya memiliki kepribadian orang Indonesia asli.


Kapan saya benar-benar menyayangi bahasa Indonesia?

Ups and Downs in Pediatrics

From my own picture collection, taken in Collosseum, Italy.
Siblings playing with their parents' video camera.

It has just been two weeks since my first day in Pediatrics rotation, and I can't help being in this kind of love-hate relationship with my daily job. Our daily schedule is tight, we have to be present in the hospital around 6 am and start making daily subjective and objective examination to all the patients in the ward. There are 29 co-assistant in total so we will have several patients we will examine daily. Then we have to write it all down in the patient status, including the diagnostic and therapy planning. It is a very effective way to learn about clinical medicine, thou. Then, most of our days will be spent helping the residents observing the patients ( every 3 or one hour, depends on the diagnosis), assisting in some clinical procedure, or participating in group discussion. Everything will be ended around 3 in the afternoon and on some days we have night shifts, mean doing almost the same job we do during daytime, only during the whole night.

One Day in the Clinic

The doctor carefully explained about the medication prescribed. Haloperidol, Folic Acid, Clobazam.  None of them were familiar to the mother. She stared to a space that did not exist. Her ears were listening to the doctor's words, every single word. But her mind was spread into several thoughts at the same time.
She might need to stay for a month, or maybe more, in this city, 4 hours away from her home. She didn't have any place to stay, yet. Her husband might have to work harder than before. She would look for all the therapies, anything that could fix the problems. She might will have to leave her younger daughter at home. Her son might will never able to enter regular school, be a regular child.
Who will afford all the medication and medication fee, anyway?

And just moments ago, she discovered that her son was diagnosed with mental retardation.

Change Your Location, Change Your Life

It is less than two days left before I leave Groningen. I have been staying here for almost two months now. I would surely say this is a lifetime experience I will never regret. I used to think that two months is going to be a long time, but it is not. Two months is absolutely not enough to learn new languages, blend in with the locals, see their cultures and lifestyle, taste the different vibes. There are so many things I have obtained, much more than reading a pile of books. Being in a country, half the world away, 6 hours of time difference, has brought me a broader scope of view.

Fiets in The Netherlands

the bike racks

Bicycles are not uncommon in every region of the world. But there is something special about bicycles in The Netherlands. They are not a one-moment trend. Neither a stylish accessories about what's in and what's not. Bike is a need. It is cheap, healthy, and fast. People ride bikes anytime, to any destination. Even you can find some men in neat suit going to workplace daily on bike. Students, the older ones, professors, professionals, anyone. People can choose an expensive multi-geared bike with fancy model or they can basically opt for an old--but fast one.

It is common for little children to start with 3-wheels bike, then usually children in school age will learn to ride bikes with foot-brake, the ones without hand-brake and you need to turn the pedal backwards to brake. I have tried them once, and it was not easy, as I did not usually ride bike in Indonesia, where I came from. There are also special bikes designed for people with disability. Usually they are three-wheeled, with different models and size depends on their disabled limbs. Some children with special needs also use custom made bikes to stimulate their movement, strength, and coordination. Another extra benefits of bikes.