Random Thought: Kecap

Siapa yang nggak suka kecap manis? Kayanya nggak ada deh. Enak banget gitu loh. Tapi sesuka2nya gue sama kecap manis, gue nggak sampe gila segala macem dikecapin sampe item...

Waktu lagi ngobrol2 sama Asti dan Ninda, kita sampe ke topik makanan dan ngebahas kecap manis. Lalu tercetuslah ide makan spaghetti pake kecap manis. Ha?? Nggak banget deh! Tapi Ninda ngotot spaghetti kecap manis itu enak. Hmmm... Kebetulan gak lama setelah itu, Asti masak spaghetti. Pertamanya Asti yang pengen nyobain idenya Ninda, akhirnya semua kepingin dan semua setuju kalo spaghetti kecap manis itu enak! :P Bukan spagehetti Italia lagi sih jadinya, lebih kaya mi Jawa...

OK, ngomong2 soal kecap, pada penasaran nggak sih apa hubungan antara kecap dan ketchup (saos tomat bahasa kerennya)? Dulu gue sempet mikir, apa istilah ketchup dibawa oleh kaum Belanda kali yah, trus kupingnya orang Indo nangkep, dan dipakelah istilah kecap(cara baca ketchup) untuk saos2 berwarna kecoklatan, misalnya kecap manis, kecap asin, kecap ikan dan kecap2 lainnya kalo ada.

Ternyata kenyataannya kebalik loh bow! Justru istilah ketchup itu diperkirakan berakar dari istilah kecap kita! Nggak ada yang tau pasti sih. Tapi menurut Wiki, kemungkinan kecap asalnya dari bahasa Malay, yang nggak lain adalah akar bahasa Indonesia. Oke deh!! :)

Cheaters!

Hari ini hari gue ngasih quiz untuk murid2 ter-(gak ku)sayang gue. Seperti biasa, gue bawa bahan bacaan buat ngabisin waktu. Biasanya sih gue sekali2 angkat mata, patroli pandangan kesekeliling kelas, just to make sure everyone's doing their own work.

Hari ini, gue yakin banget ada 1 murid gue yang nyontek. Namanya orang lagi test kan biasanya serius ngerjain. Ini orang satu matanya nggak bisa diem. Dia lirik kiri, trus lirik gue, trus liat ke mejanya sendiri. Lirik kiri, lirik depan, lirik bawah. Hmmm... dikiranya gara2 dia pake topi, gue gak bisa liat kali yah kalo matanya lagi belanja.

Jadi gue yang biasanya konsen ke buku bacaan gue kalo lagi nungguin kuis, kali ini gue berdiri didepan, pasang posisi siap siaga.

Yang dicontekin anak pinter sih. Jadi gue peduli. Kalo yang dicontekin geblek sih, salahnya sendiri nyontek... hehehe...

Masih Seputar Telur Paskah

~ Awesome

Happy Easter!

Paskah. Kalo natal dikonsumerisasikan dengan pohon natal berhiaskan segala pernak-pernik bernuansa merah, valentine dengan bunga mawar dan warna pink, paskah adalah waktunya mendekorasi dengan telur warna-warni dan sang kelinci paskah. (Si Easter Bunny mungkin cuman di Amrik aja sih...) Apa yah hubungannya kelinci sama paskah? Apa juga hubungannya telur sama paskah? Ada yang tau? Hubungi gue.

Ngomong-ngomong soal telur paskah, dulu jaman-jaman masih ada pelajaran prakarya, agenda kita di minggu menjelang paskah pasti menghias telur. Tapi, lain dari hiasan telur paskah di sini yang biasanya hanya diwarnai dengan motif totol-totol kaya macan tutul, polos satu warna atau lebih, bergaris-garis zig-zag, sampe corak-corak kreatif tergantung sang penghias. Hiasan telur ala Indonesia adalah dengan menyulap si telur jadi karakter ciptaan kita. Paling populer sih biasanya telur sarjana. Kenapa yah?

Favorit gue juga sih, entah kenapa. Kalo nggak salah pernah juga gue buat telur santa klaus. Mungkin malah beberapa kali, gampang sih. Tinggal gunting kertas merah bentuk segitiga, gulung sampe berbentuk kerucut, jadi topi deh. Untuk jenggotnya, pake kapas dong. Tinggal gambar mata, dan hidung, jadi deh. (Mulutnya kan ketutup jenggot putih tebelnya...) Pernah niat banget, gue buat telur cewek, dan untuk rambutnya gue tempelin benang wol, terus dikepang dua... hihihi...

Sayangnya karena nggak pernah terpikir untuk diabadikan, gue nggak inget lagi tuh pernah buat karakter apa aja. Boro-boro difoto. Sampe rumah biasanya cuman gue tunjukin ke orang-orang rumah, trus langsung dimakan! Tapi seniat-niatnya, nggak pernah gue sampe seniat orang ini...

My advisor: Did I tell you that someone called me asking about you? Someone is interested in hiring you. But I told her that you're not graduating this year and to consider you for next year instead.

*senang*

Dedicated for my best friend

Before leaving Jakarta, I didn't know what it means to "maintain a friendship." I took the people around me for granted. I was so happy to be constantly surrounded by my beloved family that I don't think I needed a friend outside of them.

You know how parents usually complaint about their daughters spending so much on the telephone it nearly send them to bankruptcy? Well, not my parents, or should I say, not this daughter. I rarely call my friends just for the fun of it. My friends usually were the one who called, and often times our conversations were filled with homework questions. And badly enough, I remember that when someone called just to chat, I often times thought, what a waste of times! So as you might guess, I didn't have a lot of real friends back then. Didn't feel it was any problem though, 'cause hey, I've got mom or dad or my sisters who was just a shout away. I realized that at the worst, it made my social skills nearly ZERO.

Then I left for the US. The first couple of years was still full of fun. I lived with my cousin. Her friends became my friends. Lively! The next year wasn't too bad. My cousin left for Seattle, but I still have a few friends that I made the first couple of years. The fourth year my sister came to town. Then I made new friends, her friends became my friend. See the pattern now? Yep, I always knew someone from somebody else. I think I probably made only one real friend on my own during my stay in St. Cloud. Pathetic!

I started having problem since I moved to Duluth. This time, I moved to a completely new place. Didn't know anyone and no Indonesian (which if there had been any would have made it a lot easier...) I pushed myself, I wanted to know people. But still it's so hard! My conversations with the people I knew here is as far as, how are you, what kind of class you're taking, stuff like that. NOW I finally feel I have a problem.

But at this time, I started to get close again to my childhood friend. We started emailing each other about our problems and life story. We used to do everything together. Our moms are friends. We went to the same school for 12 years, we went to the same church, we took the same extracurricular activities, we both were kind of antisocial, me because of the reasons I've put above, her because of her attitude problem she used to have.

She considered me her best friend. Me? I didn't. If you would asked me then who I considered to be my best friend, I don't think I would have mentioned her name. But I'm grateful that we're still friends until this moment. Now I will proudly say that I'm lucky to have a friend like her.

She's become this wonderful person. Her life is not problem free, but she has so much faith in God. The way she talks now is different, very wise. When I went back last winter break, I hang out with her a lot. I brought her when I met with my high school friends. The most fun part we had was when our family spent about 4 days in her mom's hometown.

Now she's preparing for her wedding next year. I hate it that I know I wouldn't be able to make it. I was so happy when she gave me the big news. I couldn't stop smiling that day. This is for you cha... My confession and my apology. May we always be the best of friends.