sketchbook of life

Assalamualaikum.

Ankara trip continued as I took a speed train that brought me all the way to Konya. Arrived at nearly midnight, big thanks to kak Zulfa who already waited for me so that without getting lost we could hop right into the Tramvay and went to our friends’ house.

I only got one day to explore Konya. After meeting with mba Diyanah, three of us headed into our first destination; Sille! It is a one of the old town in Turkey. The Cappadocian Greek language was spoken there until 1922 as it was inhabited by Greeks for over 800 years.

the old town

We went to some places and museums, and ended our Sille trip by going uphill to a camp site where lies an enormous playground and slides. Yay, after witnessing all the common public parks and playgrounds for children, I finally got a chance to play one. It was so high that you might had a chance to experience goosebumps and the stomach-flips as you rode down the slides. I made myself trying all of the slides, and it was fun I might come back later :p

somewhere in Sille. this pic worth a place!

Before we proceed to the next trip, we stopped for an Etli Ekmek for lunch. We visited Konya’s landmark; Mevlana Museum. It is famous for Mevlana Mausoleum, dedicated to a well known great dervish, poet and pioneer of the Islamic Sufism, Mevlana Jelaleddin Rumi. This complex includes many sections such as outdoors, dervish cells, kitchen, yard, mosque, library, etc.

mevlana

I also saw the tulip garden for the first time. Well, its not a big garden though, we just came to the main city park whereas tulip flowers with various colours had already planted. But it is enough for me since I couldnt find any tulip flower back in Samsun. Seeing this flowers grew along tramvay railroad was already pretty interesting for me! Wkwk norak pisun.

hello tulips!

Since summer season was already on the way, the weather was a bit hot, so we ended up brought ice creams; even twice!

The day was closed with a short visit to Japon Park, an early dinner, and a night chats as I needed to catch my train to Ankara on the next morning. Couldn’t believe that a day passed really fast; but we enjoyed it till the end. Konya is a big city, so I definitely need to go back and explore more!

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Assalamualaikum.

Wish I could finish these hutang-posts-yang-sudah-dari-kapan-tahu before the school starts! (This is posted after the school started actually but yea, the post was already finished before)

These stories is going to be connected one another as the events itself were also happened in sequence. 2019 Indonesia Presidential Election was the reason I traveled to Ankara on the first hand. Actually, Indonesian people living in Turkey should be able to do the election from their own cities by sending the election paper via post. But my name was not in the registered list of Indonesian living in Samsun. Seems like I missed the registration process. Thus, I needed to go by myself all the way to Ankara and do the election in the Indonesia Embassy Office.

Then I remembered that Ankara and Konya is connected by a speed train. The travel fare for Samsun-Konya by bus happened to be more expensive than Samsun-Ankara (bus) + Ankara-Konya (train).

Well, the plan settled already!

I took a 7-hours-night-bus from Samsun to Ankara. Since I am not Ankara citizen, I needed to wait until the end of the day (around 5 pm) to fulfill my rights and choose the next president. Luckily I met friends from Rize that happened to experience the same thing, so after the registration was completed, we agreed to travel a bit in this capital city of Turkey.

First, we headed to Kizilay, a shopping area and one of the city center in Ankara. We ate lunch and continued to go to Anit Kabir by bus. Anit Kabir is a national monument where the very first president of Republic of Turkey, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, was buried.

the soldiers

We didn’t spend much time there since the election time was coming. As we were on the way back to Kizilay, the sky turned dark.

And guess what? A freezing rain was falling!

"Freezing rain is the name given to rain maintained at temperatures below freezing by the ambient of air mass that causes freezing on the contact with surfaces. Unlike a mixture of rain and snow, ice pellets, or hail, freezing rain is made entirely of liquid droplets" (sc: Wikipedia).

We immediately ran away to the nearest security and took a shelter. Lets call it an ice rain. It was a real droplets of ice falling from the sky. Whoa. *norak* *baru pertama kali*

I didnt expect that it would be raining at all.. so we went back to the Embassy with soaked clothes and shoes.

can you see the droplets? isn't that cute?

It was really a short trip though, but at least it was better than sitting in the waiting room doing nothing.

It reminded me how easy it was to do the election back in Indonesia. The election in my neighborhood takes place 5-house-away from mine, and all the announcement can be listened clearly as it is always broadcasted from the nearest mosque. Dont forget to mention all the promos and discounts offered nearly everywhere for those who already do the election.

Experiencing a 7 hours bus trip, 8 hours of waiting, the heat in the beginning of summer, and a sudden hit by ice rain, is definitely not a normal election day in my life. Alhamdulillah, I was so grateful I could fulfill both my right and responsibility to contribute for the sake of Indonesia’s future. Since our new president is already elected, lets pray for them and our better home.

mission completed!

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Apa kabar, jalan yang ini?
264 hari yang lalu, masih hijau. Sudahkah dipenuhi bunga sakura hari ini?
Salam dari sini, semoga bisa dipertemukan lagi dengan warnamu yang lain.
(Juli 2016)

Keesokan harinya, hari presentasi. Dari pagi kami sudah bertolak menuju Hokkaido University. Konferensi dibagi menjadi beberapa topik, kami masuk ke kategori Pertanian. Seharian dihabiskan untuk rangkaian acara, presentasi, sambil juga menonton presentasi peserta-peserta lain yang tentunya keren dan inspiratif. Memang, salah satu benefit ikut acara seperti ini, jadi tersadarkan kalau masih banyak banget yang kamu engga tahu ya. Suka berasa kurang jauh mainnya. Jadi makin terpacu untuk tahu lebih banyak, karena setiap orang di situ handal di bidangnya masing-masing.

Di akhir acara, alhamdulillah kami berhasil membawa pulang titel Best Presenter. Selamat, Yudha si presenter!

Barakallah!

Sehari setelah presentasi, beberapa dari kami berkelana ke Otaru. Otaru adalah sebuah kota kecil dan pelabuhan di Hokkaido. Terkenal dengan kanalnya yang sempat menjadi akses utama distribusi barang dan terhubung dengan pelabuhan Otaru sebagai akses masuk ke Hokkaido. Kanal Otaru ini membentang sepanjang 1140 meter, dan dihiasi dengan bangunan-bangunan bergaya Eropa di tepinya. Semacam kota wisata juga, karena objek-objek menarik untuk dikunjungi memang terletak di sepanjang Kanal dan dapat dicapai dengan berjalan kaki.

Otaru

Kami berkelana hingga sore hari, kemudian kembali ke penginapan dan bersiap packing untuk pulang.

Pagi menjelang, dan tibalah hari kami harus meninggalkan Hokkaido. Kami mempunyai waktu sekitar dua hari penuh untuk tinggal di Tokyo sambil menunggu penerbangan selanjutnya ke Jakarta. Setelah menaiki pesawat kembali menuju Tokyo, hari itu diisi dengan perjalanan darat, hingga malamnya saya dan Putri sampai di apartemen kak Diwa, kak Ami dan kak Irma yang berbaik hati mempersilahkan kami tinggal selama di sana.

Hari pertama di Tokyo bertemu dengan Tsani. Kami berkomunikasi sejak 2016 lalu, ketika pertama kali pergi ke Jepang, tapi belum pernah kesampaian untuk bertemu. Akhirnya kita berjumpa di Genki Sushi dan jalan ke Harajuku. Pertemuan singkat namun sangat berkesan, ternyata memang sebaik ituuu orangnya tuh... dan sudah berpengalaman banget ngeguide sana sini, toplah. Tsani saat ini sedang menempuh pendidikan Master di salah satu perguruan tinggi ternama di Tokyo, mohon doanya supaya dimudahkan segala urusannya ya!

Ketambahan Hachiko

Saya, Putri dan Yudha sempat random jalan ke Odaiba di malamnya. Mau berfoto tapi sulit dan sangat effort karena dingin berangin gabisa pegang kamera. Baiklah takapa, dilihat langsung juga sudah bagus kok.

Hari kedua, sempat terheran karena gada angin apa tiba-tiba begitu keluar dari apartemen, disambut hujan salju... terhitung langka untuk Tokyo bersalju di bulan Maret. Jadi salah kostum, balik lagi ngedobel baju. Tapi sebentar sih, lebih banyak hujan airnya. Kami berencana ke Ueno Park karena kabarnya bunga Sakura sudah bermekaran di situ. Terakhir kali ke Ueno Park, musim panas tahun 2016. Saat itu semua pohonnya masih hijau. Masya Allah, ternyata benar-benar bisa dipertemukan dengan warnanya yang lain :)

Spring in Tokyo!

Hari itu kami juga bertemu dengan bang Madsol, TMB 50 yang sedang pertukaran ke Tokyo. Makan udon, kemudian jalan random lagi ke daerah Akihabara (literally jalan kaki karena kalau naik kereta nanggung stasiunnya dekat). Lihat-lihat segala macem, beli titipan, borong barang Daiso, dst dst. Ohiya, sempat ketemu ka Asya juga, panutan Forces yang sedang studi di Tohoku University! Walaupun sangat singkat karena ketemunya di stasiun, dan baik kami maupun kak Asya engga bisa lama-lama.

Lagi-lagi, singkat namun bermakna.

Di perjalanan kali ini, dipertemukan dengan mereka yang walaupun hanya sebentar saja, tapi menyadarkan diri ini untuk selalu bersyukur, karena masih dikelilingi dengan orang-orang baik. Baik yang baru kenal, hanya yang komunikasi jarak jauh, bahkan yang sudah kenal lama tapi bertemu kembali di tempat yang berbeda.

Di beribu kilometer jauhnya dari rumah, ternyata, dunia tidak se asing yang kamu kira kok.

Pulang kembali ke Indonesia disambut dengan telapak tangan yang tiba-tiba mengelupas-kelupas heboh. Kedinginan ternyata, memang makhluk tropis.

Yak.. siapa sangka, di tahun yang sama, belahan dunia yang berbeda, diberikan kesempatan lagi melihat si butir es fenomenal itu. Alhamdulillah.

Sekian cerita perjalanannya kali ini. Wassalam!

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