Cikelin Chronicle

Seperti itulah kira-kira kalau teman Aussie anda mengajak barbekyuan nanti sore. Seperti orang Indonesia, Aussie juga suka membuat singkatan: barbekyu menjadi barbie , afternoon menjadi arvo . Akhiran -ie atau -y sering sekali digunakan untuk menyingkat. Mereka sendiri menyebut dirinya Aussie . Setiap pagi mereka makan brekky sambil ngobrolin tentang footy (australian rules football). Terus anak-anak kecil pergi ke kindie sementara anak yang sudah besar (atau malah Bapaknya) berangkat ke uni . Supermarket besar di sini nama resminya Woolworth, tapi orang-orang menyebutnya Woolie . Di sini anda bisa beli vegies , tapi tidak bisa membeli cossy (swimming costume). Ada lelucon di sini yang mengatakan agama mereka adalah mengambil sickie pada hari Senin. Sickie adalah waktu cuti/bolos kerja karena sakit atau pura-pura sakit. Sickie di hari Senin memang banyak pengikutnya, untuk memperpanjang akhir pekan. Bahkan setelah libur panjang Chrissie pun mereka banyak yang ngambil sickie. S...

Orang Aussie fanatik sekali dengan hewan-hewan khasnya. Mereka punya Koala, Kanguru, Wombat, dan Buaya. Sementara kita juga punya hewan-hewan khas yang unik: Orang Utan, Anoa, Badak Bercula Satu, Cendrawasih dan Komodo. Sayangnya, apresiasi kita terhadap mereka hanya sebatas nama-nama yang harus kita hafal dari buku pelajaran sekolah. Anindya pertama kali melihat Komodo di Taronga Zoo, Sydney. Dia takjub melihat ' extra big lizard '. Lebih takjub lagi ketika dia tahu Komodo berasal dari Indonesia. " Wow, they're from Indonesia ," teriaknya dengan nada bangga ketika membaca keterangan di depan kandang komodo. Lebih lanjut saya jelaskan kalau di Indonesia ada pulau bernama pulau Komodo, tempat tinggal para komodo. Anindya lebih ber-wow lagi. Anindya juga beberapa kali melihat film dokumenter tentang orang utan. Orang sini (dan juga Anindya) melafalkannya 'Oreng Uten'. Saya jelaskan kalau nama orang utan itu berasal dari kata Orang yang tinggal di...

Karena cuaca sudah mulai dingin, memasuki winter , saya memprovokasi beberapa teman untuk mengadakan pesta barbekyu (gimana ya ejaan resmi dalam Bahasa Indonesia nya?). Memang musim dingin begini enaknya bakar-bakar. Minggu kemarin jadi juga kami serombongan bakar-bakar di Federal Park, Glebe. Orang Aussie suka sekali barbekyu-an. Mereka biasa menyingkat Barbecue menjadi Barbie . Bisa dikatakan masakan khas mereka adalah BBQ (mungkin lebih enak disingkat begini ya?). Dari pengalaman saya ikutan BBQ ala Aussie dan ala Indo, inilah beberapa catatan perbedaannya. 1. Peserta Bule biasanya lebih sedikit pesertanya, hanya 2-4 keluarga. Kecuali bule campur seperti Italia atau Yunani yang memang suka kumpul-kumpul. Bandingkan dengan orang Indo yang rasanya nggak seru kalau pesta cuma orang sedikit. Kalau perlu orang sekampung ikut semua. BBQ kami minggu lalu dihadiri 12 keluarga. 2. Lokasi Bule biasanya punya rumah dengan halaman belakang yang luas untuk pesta BBQ. Sementara pelajar...

Di Australia, hari ibu diperingati setiap minggu kedua bulan Mei. Hari Minggu yang lalu, Anindya bangun pagi-pagi untuk memberi kejutan hari ibu untuk saya. Saya mendapat kartu di dalam piring kertas cantik dan magnetic note untuk ditempel di kulkas. Wah, cocok sekali dengan profesi saya sekarang sebagai penulis daftar belanja mingguan, hehehe. Anindya membuat kartu dan membeli hadiah ini di sekolah. Kartunya berbunyi seperti ini: " Dear Mum. Thak you for yor help. I want to have a caravan do you mum? I like what you treat me. I have a give for you in the box ." Soooo sweet I wanna cry. Oh, about the caravan, I'll tell you later . Di sini, perayaan hari ibu lebih personal. Setiap orang mengucapkan selamat hari ibu dan memberi hadiah kepada ibu masing-masing. Tradisi memberi hadiah kepada ibu di hari ibu ini seperti tradisi memberi hadiah natal. Bisa ditebak, toko-toko di Mal berlomba memberi diskon dan harga spesial untuk produk-produk wanita. Begitu juga toko bung...

Pengen makan di luar dengan dana pas-pas an? Datanglah ke Mc Donald. Di Indonesia, hanya orang yang berduit yang sanggup makan di Mc D. Rasanya keren bisa makan di restoran cepat saji itu. Tapi di sini, Mc D adalah restoran dengan harga makanan paling murah, yah, mungkin pamornya sejajar dengan angkringan di Jogja. Sepotong cheeseburger harganya 'hanya' $1.95, bisa dibeli dengan uang receh. Happy Meal favorit Anindya bisa dibeli seharga $4.25. Menu lengkap: burger, kentang goreng bertabur garam dan coke harganya di bawah $5. Soft Ice Cream-nya yang terkenal itu, hanya 80 sen. Memangnya berapa sih harga makanan yang lain? Di sini, makanan harganya rata-rata $6 - 7. Misalnya doner kebab, sepotong pizza, masakan cina (satu porsi nasi dengan 2 macam lauk), 1/4 ayam barbecue, sepiring salad, sepotong sandwich, atau burger beneran (artinya burger lain selain Mc D). Itu belum dengan minumnya loh. Sebotol air mineral 600 mL harganya $2, lebih mahal dari seliter bensin yang hanya $1,2...

Ternyata pembagian BLT nggak cuma ada di Indonesia saja. Di Australia sini juga ada, istilahnya stimulus package . Pertama kali saya baca Kevin Rudd mau bagi-bagi uang tunai dari berita ini . Tapi waktu itu saya cuek-cuek saja, karena saya pikir nggak akan kebagian, lha wong saya di sini cuma numpang tinggal, bukan penduduk tetap ( permanent resident ) atau warga negara. Baru setelah saya cek rekening, kok ada tambahan handsome amount of money dari Kang ATO ( Australian Taxation Office ). Rupanya saya dan Nino termasuk golongan pekerja yang berhak mendapatkan BLT ala Aussie ini. Tahun kemarin saya memang sempat kerja di bidang ritel, menjadi supervisor supermarket. Uang pajak yang saya bayarkan tahun lalu inilah yang dikembalikan lagi ke saya. Jumlahnya lumayan. Kalau dihitung-hitung bisa beli beras setengah ton (ehem). Beda sama BLT di Indo yang mungkin cuma cukup untuk makan sepuluh hari. Apa sih sebenarnya tujuan pembagian uang ini? Saya nggak tahu kalau di Indonesia, tapi ...

Kembali ke Australia rasanya kok kayak pulang kampung aja. No surprise, no more excitement . Semua masih seperti enam bulan yang lalu ketika kami kembali ke Indonesia. Mulai menginjakkan kaki di bandara, saya sudah tahu mau menuju kemana. Melewati petugas imigrasi, saya juga kalem-kalem aja, bahkan saya kepedean menyapa mereka duluan. Bandingkan dengan waktu pertama kali saya ke Australia, deg-deg-an terus bawaannya. Takut enggak ngerti mereka ngomong apa. Padahal toefl saya lumayan loh... cuma tingkat percaya diri saya saja yang rendah. Maklum, saya ini memang soliter di dunia nyata. Nino was as handsome as ever. We hugged and kissed and went home by taxi. Tempat tinggal kami juga seperti yang saya bayangkan. Harga barang-barang di sini juga belum naik (ugh, jangan sampai). Susu cair satu liter masih $1.09, sayap ayam mentah satu kilo masih $2.60, tempe satu kotak juga masih $2.50, teh kotak 200 mL $1.10. Sydney Opera House dan Sydney Harbour Bridge juga masih semegah sebelumnya. ...

Aussie has special day for almost everything. Here we have Father's Day, Library Lover's Day, Red Nose Day, National Tree Day, Daffodil Day, Sorry Day, etc. Today is a Jeans Day . You are expected to wear jeans to school or work and gives small donation, say $1. The money goes to charity. Unfortunately, I can't fit in my old jeans, yet. *sigh* A.K. Me in my jeans, 2006  

I don't know how she does it. Aussie Mom I mean, juggling between the baby and household chores, all by herself (no pembantu, no granny and no 'busybody' neighbours). In the first two weeks having Ayesha, I felt helpless. It's like I threw all my energy for her and nothing left for myself and the house. It's more looked like a shipwreck than a house. Yes, I have a wonderful husband, he's so helpful, changing nappies and all, but still... Not that Ayesha cried all the time, but we needed to carry her if she started crying. She didn't like to be left alone in the cot, even when she just finished her milk and had a dry, clean bottom. Sometime Nino put her on his lap while he worked on his laptop. Sometime I carried her with "Jarik". That's how my Mom would do to settle the baby. It seemed normal to be tired carrying the baby. But I thought, if only there was a way... I found the answer when I paid a visit to my neighbour. She's a Balinese who...

I got my first salary this week. Yipeee! Yes, it is in dolar (double yipeee), and yes, it's my first salary ever. Well, I got money from writing book, but we call it a royalty. And I also got money from my previous business, and we call it a share. Mine is not that big compare to other worker, cause it is just as the award rate (or UMR* in our country). What surprised me is the tax rate. They cut almost 29% of my salary for the tax. Now I am a very generous person 'to donate' this wealthy country from one-third of my money. That's just great! Here, a temporary resident (or what we call it expat) pays higher tax than a citizen or a permanent resident. Argh, at least I know where the money goes. It goes to the comfy trains and buses. It goes to the parks (with the free barbecue stand) and playgrounds. It goes to the free education for my kid. It goes to the library with thousands books to read and hundreds DVDs to see. As a good citizen (of our beloved country), I also p...

"Hi, how are you?" That's a standard question when aussie meets each other. When somebody asks you this, you are expected to answer: either Good or Fine (even if you are not in that mood). Sometimes, saying "good, thanks" plus a smile is easy when I'm really in a good mood. But sometime I just say "ehm" to asnwer that robotic question from the tired supermarket cashiers, or ignorant takeaway waiters. They don't expect your answer anyway. In Indonesia, the most common question beside "apa kabar?" is "mau kemana?" (where are you going?). The western found this question very annoying. I read this fact in LonelyPlanet Indonesia book. Ugh, like they don't have those irritating ones. More about irritating questions: Basa-Basi by Niken 8 Pertanyaan Selama Anda Hidup by Hormon Pertanyaan Wajib untuk TwentySomething by Dian Ina A.K. ps: annoying questions in this very moment: 1. have you got the job yet? 2. when will Didi get ...

Lamington is a traditional Aussie cake that they love so much. It is like a sponge cake, coated with chocolate (or lemon) icing and desiccated coconut. At first glance, I thought it was like wajik or jadah (our beloved traditional cake from sticky rice). But then I was wrong. Come on, Aussie would not bother with sticky rice. This cake becomes a symbol of Aussie. At Australian Day, January 26th, which is also Nindipong's birthday, they decorated lamington with green and yellow icing. I don't know where the 'green and yellow' come from, as their national flag is blue and red (look at Nindi's tatto at her right hand). But they use green and yellow as their sport team uniform, as in cricket, soccer and football. A.K.

Aussie love to party, especially in summer. They love to entertain friends and family with a barbie (BBQ). I live near Mc Neilly park which has a barbie tool. All you have to do are bringing some marinated meat and inviting some friends. The council will pay for the gas (or is it electricity?). That's why we're also partying hard like most aussie. We had party at lebaran day, somebody's birthday, new year, idul adha, and hijryah new year. And maybe we will arrange one at next chinese new year. Who cares about the occasion? Hehehe.  Tomorrow, I will be the host for my daughter's birthday party. Just like me, Nindi loves to party. We have managed to buy party's property such as ballons, birthday banner, paper hats, plates and bowls, forks and spoon, plastic glass, birthday cake, poppers, and goodie bags. She even bought a tiara to match her pretty princess dress. Uhuy! One things that I'm worried so much: can I cook proper meals for the guests? A.K.

What's the best way to celebrate new year? A new haircut will cost me an arm and a leg. Hehehe, just kidding, but, really, $30 for a haircut is out of question. A firework? Good idea. If we didn't have to spent the entire day waiting with bunch of stupid drunken guys. But we did it anyway. We went to Mrs Macquarie's chair to see the biggest and the most beautiful firework on earth ever (as they said in the paper). The firework itself was spectacular, although I didn't see it from the best spot -which was already taken by them who waiting from 10 am. At 9 pm, they launched the family firework from several point in the sydney harbour. Amazing enough for the warm up. They hoped family with little children were satisfied enough with this 'little' firework, and went home. But we didn't. We waited for another 3 hours among the drunken, party goers and noisy Aussie. Not a wise parent, huh? My friend said, "Mumpung gak ketahuan kakek neneknya." Hahaha. I c...

Aussie celebrates Boxing Day every December, 26th. But it has nothing to do with what Mike Tyson does for living. Boxing here means put something in a box, as a gift. Traditionally, they give charity in boxes to the poor, one day after Christmas. Similar as giving zakat in Islam, perhaps. Nowadays, they celebrate Boxing Day with... SHOPPING!!! No wonder because there were biggest sale of the year. Almost every shop made clearance sale and offered 50% discount. People rushed in to city. Even, they stayed in line from 6 am before the shop was opened. The situation was similar to one day before lebaran in Indonesia, when everybody gets crazy. Like there will be no other day. Nino, Nindi and I also joined the crowd. We headed into Myer, the famous departement store in the city. But, then, it was too crowded to shop around. Maybe, I should leave my child - and my husband - at home next boxing day. A.K.  

Rumah-tepatnya apartemen-kami, ada di suburb, sekitar 5 km sebelah barat kampus Nino (Sydney Uni) dan 30 menit dari kota(pakai mobil, bukan jalan kaki). Daerah ini, Dulwich Hill, banyak dihuni orang-orang Yunani. Selain itu, banyak juga orang-orang Vietnam, China (yep, they are everywhere), Libanon, Turki, Portugis. Pertama jalan-jalan di daerah ini, kami sama sekali nggak lihat ada bule. Nino bilang, "Tinggal di sini kayak tinggal di Denpasar aja. Orang-orangnya mirip orang Asia juga, kalau beruntung, baru bisa ketemu bule, hehehe." Untuk pergi ke kampus, kami naik bus. Dari rumah, jalan sekitar 7 menit (udah dengan Didi) ke bus stop. Bis di Sydney cukup nyaman, tapi emang mahal. Untuk ke kampus, aku harus bayar $2.8 sekali jalan. Biar lebih hemat, aku bisa beli travel ten, tiket bis untuk 10 kali pakai. Biar lebih hemat lagi, ya nggak usah pergi2, hehehe. Sementara Nino dapat consession(diskon) karena dia student, separuh harga. Didi masih gratis naik bisnya (thanks God). M...

Kita belum 'resmi' berada di Sydney kalau belum ada foto di depan opera house atau Sydney Bridge. Minggu kemarin, 23 Juli, Nino, Didi, Irene (Nino's cousin) n I jalan2 lihat kota. Sejak kedatanganku hari Jumat minggu sebelumnya, aku dan Didi emang belum jalan-jalan ke kota. Kami baru jalan2 ke sekitar rumah dan ke Sydney Uni. Kebetulan Irene, sepupu Nino yang memang tinggal di Aussie ngajak kami jalan2. Pucuk dicinta ulam tiba. Irene jemput kami dengan mobil di Dulwich Hill, 30 menit dari kota. Kami meluncur ke kota. Didi dan aku terheran2 lihat gedung2 tinggi (hehehe, ndeso-nya keluar). Kami juga lewat jembatan yg terkenal itu loh. Didi was very excited. Kami ke apartemen Irine di North Sydney dulu untuk markir mobil. Whua, apartemen nya di pinggir laut, view dari atas keren bgt. Dari apartemen Irene kami jalan ke Mc Mahon Point untuk catch ferry ke Circular Quay. CQ ini dock yg ada opera house nya itu loh. Maksudnya ya cuma nyebrang bentar lewat bawah jembatan. Di Circula...

Tiap hari Selasa malam di chanel 7 ada acara reality show "Border Security". It claimed to be the number one reality show in aussie. Isinya tentang orang-orang yang ketangkap di custom bandara, either di bandara Sydney atau bandara internasional lain di aussie. fyi, aussie emang ketat sekali untuk urusan 'barang-barang' yg boleh di bawa masuk ke sini. Liat aja brosur Quarantine mereka: Declare or Beware! wah, nadanya mengancam. Intinya, kalau masuk aussie kita gak boleh bawa makanan mentah atau raw material, apalagi tanaman yg masih bisa hidup dan juga biji2an dan dairy. Makanan yg boleh dibawa adalah yg udah dipak, instant atau dalam kemasan. Jangan sampai bawa terasi atau petis dalam bungkus daun pisang deh, bisa kenak denda $200 ntar, berabe kan? Setiap akan melewati Custom (bea cukai) kita disuruh mengisi passenger card, u declare barang2 yg kita bawa. Untuk lebih amannya, mending thick yes semua di 11 pertanyaan itu, karena kalau ternyata kita bawa barang yg mere...

I'll depart to Sydney this afternoon. I intend to stay there for 2 years, accompanying Nino to take his master degree at Sydney University. I feel excited and worried. Excited to meet my husband soon (desperately missing him), to visit new place (sst, I've never gone abroad before, hiks). But worried, can I do that? Crossing continent, bringing a 4-year-old girl and 3 giant suitcase?  Doain selamat sampai tujuan yah... Please notice: This is an official 'pamitan' letter untuk temen2 yg belom kukirimin sms or email. sorry banget, pulsanya limited edition. Keep in touch yaa! Jauh di mata, dekat di blog, hehehe... A.K.