Silence

Today is supposed to be the day when the families in our neighborhood work together to clean the entire neighborhood. It has been years since the neighbors gathered and worked together. Long, long time ago, when I had not even reached 10, we used to socialize that way. However, today is a bit different than I used to remember.

The husbands, the sons, the fathers were working together; literally working, cutting down trees, and socializing through work. On the other hand, the wives--the housewives--were just sitting and chatting with out loud laughter... which irritated me. It bugged me to hear them laughing instead of doing what they were supposed to do, that is to clean a small triangle park. It was even too small to be called a park. It disturbed me when my mother is the only one who actually swept the park. I joined her, of course, but it was really tiring to hear other housewives only laughing.

Usually I would be whining all the time, not to mention cursing, but this time I kept silent.

I don't know what made me choose to be silent, but it was not bad. I know that after this I might complaint to my mother, but at that time I felt like I had won against the silly housewives and my silly anger. It is a test for me also, to be silent and to swallow my anger instead of bursting it out.

I hope next time I would be able to vanish my anger fully.

Was I That Immature?

So. . . I have this one cousin.
Bright, talkative, confident, and very sure of herself. Tapi, dia sangat suka mendebat orang hingga terkadang keyakinannya terhadap pendapatnya ini membuatnya keras di dalam perdebatan. Saya sampai capek sendiri menghadapinya. Sekilas, dia terdengar menyebalkan. Maksud saya, sulit sekali untuk menjelaskan sesuatu padanya, apalagi memenangkan debat darinya.

Namun, dari perdebatan-perdebatan kecil yang kami lakukan, saya masih bisa menemukan hal-hal untuk ditertawakan. :) As I said, she's bright. Karena itu, perdebatan dengannya kurang-lebih memang harus dilakukan dengan berpikir keras agar bisa memberinya jawaban-jawaban dan argumen-argumen yang tepat. I used to fight her with all my might, but now I can say I am wiser.

Not wiser than she is, but wiser than who I used to be. :) Sedikit banyak saya belajar tahu argumen-argumennya didasarkan pada sudut pandangnya sepihak. Suatu hal yang wajar, karena dia memang belum benar-benar melihat dunia. Dia cerdas, tapi hanya dalam dunianya. Jadi, saya pun belajar untuk tahu kapan harus berhenti mendebatnya.

Hal lain lagi yang saya pelajari adalah kecenderungan anak seumurnya untuk merasa pintar. Dulu orang tua saya sering berkata saya sok sekali, saya merasa sudah lebih pintar dari orang tua dan orang-orang lain. Ternyata, setelah mempelajari karakter sepupu saya, saya sedikit-banyak terbayang juga seperti apa saya dulu.

Mungkinkah saya juga begitu dulu? I don't know :) it could be.

Finding New Family Members

It's been three days since my arrival back in West Java after going on a vacation. My newly-met family members are still the hot topic of my talks. There are a lot that I want to tell but somehow I lost my ability to describe the feelings perfectly. All I know is I am fully happy to be finally be able to meet them :)

When I met them, it was as if we had known each other for so long. Well. . .not exactly like that. Of course when I first met them, I held back a lot. I needed to know if they accepted me. Thankfully, they did and went our story on and on!

I wish to see them again soon, as soon as possible.

It's like I finally have a hometown to come back to :)