Pulang!

Saya sudah pulang! Tepatnya tanggal 16 Januari kemarin. Ah rasanya campur aduk, senang dan sedih. Jadi saya mau bagi-bagi foto di perjalanan aja kemarin.

Saya pergi ke Bandara Incheon dari Pohang dengan menggunakan bus malam. Nah, di sebelah terminal busnya ada sebuah shopping mall tempat saya biasa belanja keperluan sehari-hari. Namanya 그랜드 애비뉴 (Grand Avenue). Dalamnya ada toko-toko baju, food court, dan yang terpenting supermarket HomePlus.

Yak, sudah di dalam bus. Busnya berangkat jam 02.30 pagi. Beruntung berangkatnya diantar teman sekamar saya pakai mobilnya, jadi tidak perlu pesan taksi dulu. Sampai di bandara sekitar 07.30, matahari baru terbit, dan mulai ada butiran salju turun. Uh oh.

 Benar saja. Saat waktunya boarding, salju sudah menutupi landasan.

Pesawatnya menggunakan A330. Kebetulan dapat kursi di jendela dekat sayap. Duduknya bersebelahan dengan orang Korea. Kalau melihat keluar, terlihat sayapnya tertutup salju. Waduh.

Supaya bisa terbang, salju yang menempel di badan dan sayap pesawat harus dibersihkan dulu. Deicing istilahnya. Masalahnya, alat untuk deicing ini terbatas, jadi pesawat-pesawat yang mau tinggal landas harus antri dulu. Akibatnya penerbangan tertunda selama dua jam lebih. Pesawat Garuda saya antri di sebelah pesawat Air France. Lucu juga lihat pesawat-pesawat ini antri. Bayangkan saja pesawat sekelas A330 jalan beriringan di landasan, seperti mobil yang antri di kemacetan.

Akhirnya sampai juga! Penerbangan terhitung lancar walau beberapa kali masuk turbulensi. Wuih, kaget pas sampai terminal 2(D/E? lupa). Cakep amaat. Lantainya pakai karpet, dan rapi walaupun masih perbaikan. Cocoklah jadi pintu gerbang Indonesia.

Antrian imigrasi bisa dilewat berkat imigrasi on board di Garuda. Jadi di pesawat tadi ada petugas imigrasi yang mengurus semua keperluan imigrasi penumpang, termasuk visa on arrival. Penumpang yang sudah lolos diberi semacam kartu bebas imigrasi. Nanti di darat tinggal menyerahkan kartu bebas imigrasi ini ke petugas darat. Nice! Ngomong-ngomong si penumpang Korea yang duduk sebelah saya tadi kesusahan isi formulirnya. Lamaa banget isinya. Buka-buka kamus, terus pakai pulpennya macet segala. Akhirnya saya coba bantuin deh. Biar kesannya orang Indonesia baek getoh. Habis itu dia bilang "terimakasi" belepotan, hahaha. Tapi terbayang kalau banyak orang yang kesulitan isi formulir seperti bapak ini. Berapa panjang antriannya. Membantu sekali deh immigration on board itu.

Setelah sekitar 30 menit menunggu bagasi, saya langsung lewat custom. Eh ternyata distop. Ada barang yang dicurigai sebagai onderdil di kopor saya. Ternyata eh ternyata, itu cangkir teh logam saya, hahaha. Pertama kali disuruh buka koper di bandara. Tidak  apa-apalah, artinya petugasnya kerja benar toh? Setelah jelas, saya langsung dipersilahkan pergi kok.

Keluar terminal, celingak celinguk cari travel. Ternyata saya salah pintu keluar, jadi langsung ke arah parkiran. Pas jalan ke sisi yang benar, banyak ditawari travel omprengan. Ah mending engga deh, soalnya dengar-dengar Jakarta banjir. Kalau tiba2 si travel nurunin saya di jalan gimana coba.

Akhirnya naik Cipaganti yang pool to pool. Ternyata sekarang travel punya semacam terminal khusus ya? Waktu saya berangkat dulu belum ada. Satu lagi tanda kemajuan. Petugas travelnya nganterin saya dan ngedorongin troli koper saya, gut service. Saya juga dioper ke travel yang lebih awal dari bookingan saya. Tapi ternyata travel yang lebih awal itu terlambat berangkat, penumpangnya sudah ngedumel saja, hahaha.

Dan firasat saya benar. Macet saja saudara-saudara. Tidak  apa-apalah, sekalian kangen-kangenan sama Jakarta. Jadi bisa ngobrol banyak juga sama penumpang  di sebelah. Bapak-bapak yang baru pulang dinas dari Palembang. Dia kerja di kantor penyalur tenaga outsource. Kerjanya terbang-terbang terus keliling Indonesia. Maklum, kantornya punya cabang di mana-mana. Di KM 57, travel saya berhenti di checkpoint-nya. Saya turun, cari teh botol. Meni sono kana teh botol teh. Eh harganya 7000 rupiah. Mahal sekali! Akhirnya diganti jadi tahu sumedang aja. Lumayan, obat kangen dan lapar.

Lima setengah jam dari bandara, akhirnya si travel keluar juga dari gerbang Pasteur. Langsung lanjut taksi, dapatnya Gemah Ripah. Dari obrolan sama sopirnya, baru tahu, ada juga shift sopir taksi yang selang-seling sehari-sehari, tapi sekali bawa langsung 24 jam. Wew. Biar ga habis waktu di jalan katanya. Benar juga sih. Finally, home sweet home!

2013/26/S2

Whew! January is always a big month for me. This year make it more so. I defended my master thesis in December and will be going home this January, Woooho! Alhamdulillaah. This week, I also had my 26'th birthday *gasp*. And we just have the new year behind us. I think this is a good time for reflection, not only for the past year but also since I went to pursue my study in Korea. Here is some major lesson that I get, outside my research, of course.

1. Give yourself some break
You are just a human being. A mere mortal with limited time, capability and energy. Thus, you are prone to failure. When you do fail, there's no need to be so hard on yourself. It's natural. You can throw so many hours at your work but if you don't have any more energy, it would not yield anything meaningful. In fact, it can be harmful as you could make unnecessary mistakes, resulting in reworks. Do your best in your work, but when it's time to call it a day, shutdown and relax.

2. Prioritize
Well, since you only have limited energy, you need to be selective about what you are going to spend it for. This is where you make your choice about what is important for you, and what's not (ahem, dial down the drama please). And what's important might not necessarily productive economically. But when you choose to do something productive, choose an activity that can deliver most effect per energy spent. You know, the pareto principle. For example, you might feel productive rearranging your room the whole day, or reading a productivity blog, but what about that term paper laying around?

3. Think long term
This year, I gained a new hobby. Running. Endomondo recorded that I had run for more than 160 km in 2012. Maybe it's not much for some people, but I'd never thought i'd be able to run that far. My target was just to be able to run 10 km in one go. It's already a stretch target to me, mind you, since at the beginning of the year running 3 km will leave me half dead. So I run regularly, increasing the distance and speed little by little. The result, before winter comes I can cover 10k under one hour. Slick huh? Well the secret is to do it step by step. In the beginning of my training, I often get impatience and push my myself way over my limit. I'd get good result that day, but then I'd be crippled for more than a week, not able to do any exercise whatsoever. So just do it little by little, step-by-step. As long as you keep yourself moving in the right direction.

4. You'll miss a lot of things, and that's okay
To do what's important, you have to give up many things. Learn to say no. You don't have to go to every gathering. And that volunteering will go just fine without you (your ego might say otherwise, but believe me on this). Every body has their role in this world, play yours well, and let other play theirs.

5. You are not alone
There are some who miss you. Some who want to help you. Some who need your help. Thus, don't forget to   turn your head away from your work once in a while and look around.

6. The world is just awesome!