What makes a Solo Traveller

Dari dulu ngakunya suka jalan-jalan, tapi sampe sekarang ngga pernah yang namanya planning agenda jalan-jalan. Nah, sekarang ada acara seminar luring di Malang, jadi mau ngga mau harus mikir gimana caranya ke sana sampe bisa balik lagi ke Jakarta.

Kalau mau cara gampangnya, tinggal telepon kakak tersayang dan bilang mau ke Malang. Voila! Bakal langsung dikirimin tiket pergi dan pulang. Ngga usah nyari mana yang lebih murah etc.

Kali ini, mikirin buat travelling ini, seharian rasanya abis. Mulai dari mau pake moda transport apa, di sana mau nginep dimana, mau ngapain aja. Belum lama ini ke Jepang dan ngerasa semua tempat itu reachable dengan transportasi umum. Apalah itu mobil dan motor pribadi. Bahkan pulang ke Jakarta, nyobain janjian ketemu temen dan pulangnya naik transportasi umum. Dari MRT terus lanjut naik angkot. It was so much fun! Tapi, mungkin karena bukan di rush hour ya. Kalau di rush hour, belum kebayang sih.

Dari Jepang, sekarang ke Malang. Udah liat2 apa yang ada di sana. Jadi bukannya persiapan buat ikut seminar, malah persiapan jalan2. Hahaha. Persiapan ikut seminar di H-1 aja, sementara persiapan jalan2 kudu H-7. Ternyata, Malang banyak banget destinasi alamnya. Bahkan baru ngeh kalau ternyata Bromo yang terkenal itu kurang dari 2 jam dari pusat kota Malang. AGGGHH, tau gitu pulangnya diundur, biar bisa naik Bromo dulu. Karena sampai sekarang, belum pernah naik Bromo 😦

Tapi karena tiket pesawat udah di-booking jadi ya udah, maybe next time naik Bromo-nya. Lagian tadi ngeliat paket buat naik Bromo, serem juga kalau ngga ada temen ya. Akhirnya lirik2 yang lain, yang jadi kepengen sekarang liat hutan pinus. Ternyata cakep2 hutan pinus di Malang. Atau ada juga air terjun. Tapi serem kalau kepleset ntar malu, gak ada yang nolongin. Ternyata banyak yang harus dipikirin kalau solo travelling. Kayanya ngeliat orang solo travelling enak2 aja, mungkin ini terlalu banyak hal yang dipikirin ya.

Untuk pertama kalinya, travel by train sendirian. Jakarta ke Malang bisa aja naik pesawat ya, tapi buat perginya pengen eksplor naik kereta. Tadinya pulang juga mau naik kereta. Tapi karena jam selesai seminar itu sampai setengah 6 sore lebih, sementara kereta eksekutif cuma sampai setengah 5, sisanya kereta ekonomi, jadi mikir 2x buat pulang naik kereta. Sebenernya nanya ke beberapa temen yang sering naik kereta, mereka pada bilang aman sih. Tapi karena kebanyakan pikiran dan terus nanya suami gimana enaknya, lebih baik cari yang aman aja, jadinya naik pesawat di hari berikutnya. Jadi ada seperempat hari tambahan di Malang! Dan syukurlah bisa cari perayaan ekaristi di sana.

Nah, buat milih keretanya itu ada 2 doang pilihannya: Gajayana (GY) dan Brawijaya (BJ). Tapi buat milihnya, cukup panjang alur pikirnya sampai akhirnya beli tiket. Nah, kalau liat keretanya dari foto2 di search engine, lebih menarik GY. Rute? Lebih menarik GY, karena lewatin Purwokerto dan Jogja, jadi jalurnya sampai 900km lebih. Kalau BJ langsung ke Madiun, jadi jalurnya juga hanya sekitar 800km lebih. Tapi GY berangkatnya malem jam 18.40, kalau dipikir2, ya ngga keliatan juga sih. Sementara BJ berangkatnya sore, jam 15.40. Jadi pasti bisa lebih lihat pemandangan di BJ. Tapi BJ ini sampai di Malang jam 5 pagi, kan bingung mau ngapain di sana jam 5 pagi. Tapi soal harga, lebih menarik BJ. Tau ngga kalau kereta itu dijual dengan harga berbeda untuk fasilitas yang sama? Ada harga yang lebih murah itu kelas I, J, X, dan ada harga yang lebih mahal, itu kelas A sama AA (si paling mahal). Padahal, gerbongnya sama. Jadi cepet2an aja yang dapet kelas mana. Nah, si GJ ini sisa kelas AA, sementara BJ bahkan masih ada kelas I.

Tapi setelah menimbang2, terus googling cerita orang pengalaman naik GY sama BJ, kayanya lebih menarik GY. Bahkan baca sejarahnya dulu loh, hahaha. GY itu dari tahun 1999 tapi gerbong yang ada sekarang itu buatan tahun 2016-2017, sementara BJ itu malah baru beroperasi tahun 2021 buat bantuin rute GY. Tapi ada yang cerita di BJ ngga ada selimut hangat, padahal dia naik GJ ada. Karena paling ngga tahan dingin, jadilah mungkin ini alasan kuat, akhirnya pilih Kereta Eksekutif Gajayana dibandingkan Brawijaya. Milih kereta aja pertimbangannya banyak pake banget ya, tapi it’s fun to do. Dan karena baru pertama kalinya bikin kayak gini, jadi pengen inget gimana rasanya, apa aja pertimbangannya. Jadilah merasa ini sebuah pengalaman yang harus ditulis.

Lanjut ke milih hotel. This was easy. Pengen satu venue sama tempat seminarnya, terus ya udahlah ngga pake mikir banyak. Yang agak dipikirin tadi itu adalah hari terakhir dari Minggu ke Senin, apa sebaiknya di tempat yang sama atau pindah biar lebih deket ke bandara. Karena flight balik Jakarta itu pagi jam 9.15, dan ngga tau gimana traffic kota Malang, jadi kepikir apa amannya pindah hotel ya. Tapi karena mau ikut perayaan ekaristi, dan setelah dipikir lagi tentu saja ngga ada yang ngalahin traffic-nya Jakarta, akhirnya ngga jadi pindah deh.

Terus mikir hari Jumat kan hari pendek karena ikut workshop cuma sampe siang, itu mau dipake ke mana. Terus Sabtu sama Minggu malem mau kemana. Dan cara ke sananya gimana. Karena ngga punya temen orang Malang, jadi apa2 tentu harus sendiri. Ada sebenernya kenalan di Malang, tapi para Romo. Sebagai umat dari paroki Karmel, tentu harus menjenguk pusat Karmel di Indonesia, yang mana itu di Malang (semoga bener ya, antara di Malang atau di Maumere, tapi kayanya bener di Malang). Sama ada sepupu juga di sana, tapi ibu rumah tangga, takutnya malah ngerecokin. Tapi tentu juga mau ngejenguk.

Sambil nge-list mau ini mau itu, terus bikin itinerary, hubungin orangnya, janjian ketemu, terus sambil googling di maps masing2 tempat, wahhhh, ternyata merencanakan perjalanan itu seru! Selama ini ngga pernah mau repot, maunya terima jadi. Tinggal pegang tiket dan nanya what’s next. Ternyata oh ternyata… kemana aja saya selama ini. Tapi yang ngga enak adalah, kebanyakan yang dipikirin jadinya buang waktu. It took me almost a day to plan this trip. Tapi memang harus ngaku, the fun was worth it. Jadi ngga sabar mau solo travelling. Tadinya mikir mau nulis sejarah Jepang dulu karena kemarin perjalanan ke Jepang itu juga perjalanan yang sangat menyenangkan, tapi akhirnya malah nulis persiapan solo travelling duluan ya. Yang awalnya sempet bingung gimana ini mau jalan sendirian karena suami dan kakak ngga bisa nemenin, malah jadi seru sendiri. Unik ya manusia!

It’s time to write (again)!

Well, it’s been a long time, isn’t it. It’s been too long since I pictured myself sitting down and starting this blog again. Finally! I managed to sit and do it today. But it happened that when you’re up in the morning or in the middle of the shower, your thought could be filled with this or that, write this, or write that. And then when you sit up in front of your desk, turning on your laptop, and wanted to write….. nothing.

Where the hell were my thoughts? I should’ve written it as it popped out in my mind. So pardon me, it’s me typing without knowing exactly what I wanted to say or write. What is more hmmm, unprepared, than typing aimlessly in the WordPress just because you feel like you have to write (again).

But as I typed so far, nothing came in my mind. Oh!!!!! But I have something to share. Ready?

So.

I dislike smoking. very much. I don’t know why smokers are killing themselves. *Apologize to all the smokers in the world, but I really hate the smoke. But then, I read the book of Edward Suhadi, a book titled ‘Mulai Mengerti’ (Start to Understand – maybe that’s not the best translation but yeah more or less that’s the meaning). There’s a chapter, where he wrote that, ‘don’t hate something, but get to know it.’

I am a pediatrician. And in the name of the sake of all of those little humans, I would mumble every negativity about smoking to the smoking parents. But, when I get to know it in more detail, I realized that they felt powerless, they can’t help it. They are addicted to it. Their brain keeps asking for it. That’s something that nicotine does to the smoker.

Early this year, I just moved into a new apartment. There were still things need to be fixed here and there. So, today, there someone come to help repair things. His name is Bambang, 33 years old, he lived in Bintaro – area near Jakarta but took hours thanks to the traffic. He has already married and has a son, 2,5 years old. But his son lived almost 600 km away from him (for you who don’t use the metric system, it’s around 370 miles).

He is very polite and well-mannered. When he repair the electricity, I ask him a couple of questions. Turns out, he only graduated from junior high school. But he self-thought electricity from his friend who loves to take apart electronics and repair them. But, when I ask him about this electricity thing, he could explain it to me very well so that I could understand it. Well, I learned something new today. Do you know that electricity had 3 components? They were called phase, neutral, and grounding. The good plug is the one that has some grounding, you could tell there were strips between the 2 plugs (I’m sorry, English is not my first language, but I hope you know what I mean). And then if you have a special plug, it’s better to have the 3 holes rather than 2 holes (again, I hope you know what I mean, but let me just show you later).

_intermezzo: so why did I write in English, because in almost the last 5 years, the statistic showed that most of the readers are not from Indonesia. Well, it’s not an impressive count of statistics, but still. Thank you, guys.

Back to the topic.

I really like it when someone could explain complex things so that I could understand them. He really got the talent, I think. And aside from electricity stuff, he is also able to do some mechanics stuff, like installing the shelf, nailing, and repairing the furniture. Multitalented, I must say. But, I realized he was a smoker from his darkening lips. Then, I start the conversation, asking him directly is he a smoker. He admitted that he is a smoker and started to smoke when he was in 6th grade. I was like, ‘what?!’

He was a very open person, and the conversation last for more than 30 minutes, that I learned he spares 60-70% of his income for his wife and child, 20-30% for himself, and the last 10% for saving. I even admired how he already know to save. One thing also that also make me amazed about him was when I offered him a drink, he chose warm water. Wow, he was also a warm water drinker! It’s really rare to meet someone who likes to drink warm water (we are often thought of as weird).

However, when I ask him do you realize you burn your money, he answered that he only buy cheap tobacco (it made me sad actually) to manage to meet the needs of his family but still also met his need to smoke. How cheap? Well, if the cost of a regular cigarette box from a convenience store could last for a day, with his cheap tobacco, it could last for 2 weeks. So, he even saved for smoking. He admitted there were times when he want a regular or expensive cigarette, but he only bought him once in a while. Well, I respect him for his intention to save, but I really think he’s an idiot for disregarding his own health. But he defended himself that he also lives a healthy lifestyle apart from smoking.

But I said, “Do you know how I know you are a smoker? From your darkened lips. You realize right, the lips of smokers are getting darkened. So accept it or not, smoking does make changes to your body.”

Then he asked me directly, “Are you a doctor, mam?” That time, I took it as an alert. Smokers never believe the doctor, don’t they? But, I keep asking him questions and he keeps answering (for the sake of politeness, I assume). He said smoking is powering up his mind. When he smoked, he got new ideas. I replied, ‘do you know that nicotine actually enhances your ability to think by speeding up brain networking. It’s not surprising if you know how nicotine work. But you should be surprised when a study compares the IQ of adolescents who smoke and those who don’t…”

If I asked you this question. I have told you before, that nicotine is a mind enhancer. Who you would think get a higher IQ, the smoker or the non-smoker?

You guess right (or don’t you haha). The NON-SMOKERS get HIGHER IQ.

Bambang nodded his head. His reaction was surprising me actually. He then said that he couldn’t think clearly and started to be more forgetful. And he does believe it’s not about the age (he’s still young, still 33!). I ended up the conversation by asking him to try to stop smoking for the sake of his child. He said that he never smoke in front of his child (and yeah, I told him about the third hand smoker and tell him to wash everything, from showering, washing hair, changing outfit and brush his teeth, before he hold his child). He then told me, once he wanted to stop smoking, and only last for 2 weeks. After he started again, it seems he was much worse addicted to the smoke.

Well, there always a possibility to stop, even you tried and fail.

In the end, he asked my permission to smoke outdoor in the balcoon area.

I was thinking like, ‘Are you kidding me?’ Definitely I would forbid him to smoke. So, I ask him to go to have lunch. but he said he wasn’t hungry. So I challenge him, “Use your common sense. I would give you money so you could fill your stomach with real food, or you prefer to smoke and fill your stomach with yeah the smoke, and skip some extra tips. That extra tips must go for lunch.” He finally chose the first one, thanks to his common sense. When he came back later, I could know that he didn’t smoke. And believe me, I am proudly a smoke detector.

So, yeah…. thank God for today’s talk with him. Here’s Bambang when he helped me install the cross. He even commented that the cross should be in the center and seen by people. Woah, he’s also open and respectful to other religions (he’s a Moeslem). I admire him, and I hope he could stop smoking for his own good sake and his family’s.

This is special plug with 3 holes that I talked about before

Plug with ground in the middle of the…. stick? or what is it I don’t know

Plug without ground in the middle of the, you know.. it’s not as good as the one with the ground

Thankyou for reading!

What I learned from purchasing a hairdryer

It’s a bit early in the day, but I am awake already. Have done some research on hair dryer and made a purchase of one hairdryer. I already want to but a new hairdryer for a long time before, maybe more than 1 year. And just last night, I finally did the research and have just bought it. It made me feel excited, yes. After having a bit though week of sleep deprivation and stress of academic presentation, I thought I deserve a hairdryer. After going through some references from website magazines, beauty blogger on youtube, I decided to buy that one hairdryer. It didn’t make any list of best hair dryer though. But considering the price, access to the product, and things that were shared from websites which post criteria to be considered before buying a hairdryer, I think the best for me is this hairdryer. And then I realised, there was no such thing as being the best of the best. But it is more finding the best for me, for the needs that might be differed from the others.

And maybe that is too, happens in this life. Not to find the best of all, but to find the best for every one of us, for every different needs of us. One thing that is best for me may not be the best for others too.

So yeah, that’s the beauty of life, a journey to find the best for ourselves. And before finding that, we then first must know ourselves. And that’s another journey too.

That’s what I learned from buying a hair dryer – that life is a journey knowing ourselves, and finding what is the best for ourselves.

And some tips for buying the hairdryer is, do the research of things to consider before buying a hairdryer, get to know the product, find the review, and compare it with other product, and make a judgment. There’s a hairdryer that always make the list of best hairdryers. Yes, EVERY list I found put in in their list. That product has also won many awards. But knowing what I want to find in a hairdryer, and I think I already find that in this hairdryer, I finally but the one that meet my expectation. Had already buy it and waiting for it.

Menyambut Flu dan Musim Hujan

Melihat hujan turun secara merata hari ini rasanya senang sekali, apalagi beberapa hari ini Jakarta panasnya minta ampun. Mungkin benar ramalan BMG bahwa musim hujan akan mampir di pertengahan hingga akhir November ini.

Selain waktunya berdoa semoga bencana asap segera reda dengan datangnya hujan, mulai menyiapkan payung di tas, sekarang juga sudah waktunya berjaga dengan musim flu.

Sebenarnya di daerah tropis, kejadian flu cenderung stabil sepanjang tahun. Tapi berhubung musim kemarau tahun ini sangat kering, musim hujan yang lembab bisa jadi meningkatkan angka kejadian flu, terutama hingga kuartal awal tahun depan.

daerah wilayah tropis – sumber: theconversation.com

Biasanya, mereka yang kena flu tidak segan-segan meminta antibiotik pada saat mereka berobat, dan beberapa biasa membeli sendiri di apotek atau toko obat. Praktik antibiotik terlalu dini ini sudah mulai dilakukan dari awal sejak Alexander Flemming menemukan antibiotik pertama di dunia. Penemuan penicilin tahun 1928 langsung memperbaiki angka kematian dan kesakitan dari banyak penyakit yang dahulu memang didominasi oleh penyakit infeksi bakteri. Sayangnya, lama-lama antibiotik menjadi obat wajib karena banyak yang merasa belum ‘sah’ kalau belum dapat antibiotik waktu berobat.

Percaya atau tidak, Flemming sendiri sudah memprediksikan akan datang saatnya dimana obat yang ditemukannya akan kehilangan efek terhadap infeksi bakteri. Karena bakteri akan ‘mempelajari’ cara kerja antibiotik dan berevolusi untuk mengatasinya. Artinya, bakteri memiliki bakat untuk menjadi kebal terhadap antibiotik. Dan benar saja, dengan praktik antibiotik yang sekedar menjadi obat rutin, sekarang sudah banyak bakteri yang mengalami resistensi atau kekebalan terhadap berbagai antibiotik.

Percaya atau tidak lagi, berbagai penelitian sudah dilakukan untuk meneliti efek antibiotik terhadap penyakit flu atau infeksi saluran pernafasan atas yang beken dengan sebutan ISPA, atau batuk pilek. Dan semua menyimpulkan bahwa tidak pada tempatnya antibiotik diberikan terlalu awal dalam perjalanan penyakit flu. Kesimpulan lain adalah tidak ditemukan perbedaan dari lama gejala flu antara mereka yang diberikan antibiotik dengan mereka yang tidak.

Alasan utama adalah karena hampir semua flu disebabkan oleh virus, bukan bakteri. Dan antibiotik memiliki efek hanya terhadap bakteri, tidak ada efek terhadap virus. Ada beberapa orang yang mengaku bahwa kalau flu, dengan minum antibiotik rasanya lebih cepat sembuh. Sekali lagi, sudah ada penelitian yang mempelajari ribuan pasien; dan hasil yang didapat adalah tidak ada cukup bukti bahwa pemberian antibiotik memiliki manfaat terhadap perjalanan penyakit flu, baik kepada dewasa atau anak-anak. Selain itu, malah ada peningkatan efek samping yang signifikan terkait dengan pemberian antibiotik.

Karena flu sudah biasa, beberapa orang merasa aneh dan lemah rasanya kalau sampai harus istirahat total (bedrest) dan absen dari pekerjaan atau sekolah hanya karena flu, padahal memang mereka benar-benar merasa sakit. Yang lain malah memanfaatkan flu sebagai alasan untuk istirahat walaupun sebenarnya gejala yang ada sekedar meler dan gatal di tenggorokan.

Memang ada 2 tipe flu: tipe common cold dan flu yang sebenarnya/influenza.

• Tipe common cold kadang disebut sebagai selesma. Gejalanya antara lain meler, hidung tersumbat, batuk-batuk, gatal atau sakit tenggorokan, badan terasa agak hangat, sama pegal-pegal di badan dan anggota gerak. Ada lebih dari 250 virus yang sudah terbukti dapat menimbulkan common cold. Gejala penyakit ini biasanya timbul secara perlahan dan akan sembuh sendiri dalam kurun waktu 10 hari. Virus MERS yang sempat mewabah di Korea Selatan tahun ini sebenarnya termasuk kelompok virus yang dapat menimbulkan common cold.
• Sedangkan flu yang sebenarnya (influenza) disebabkan oleh hanya 1 keluarga virus, yaitu virus influenza, ada tipe A, tipe B, dan tipe C. Namun tipe C tidak pernah menimbulkan wabah flu sehingga banyak dikatakan penyebab flu adalah 2 tipe virus yaitu Virus Influenza tipe A atau tipe B. Wabah flu yang pernah ada di dunia, seperti flu babi adalah sub tipe dari tipe A virus Influenza.
  

  sumber: drbrianbenedict.files.wordpress.com

Untuk tipe flu yang sebenarnya ini, gejalanya kurang lebih sama seperti common cold tapi munculnya lebih mendadak. Baru satu dua hari, sudah berat gejalanya. Selain itu panasnya cenderung lebih tinggi dibanding common cold (bisa lebih dari 39°C). Untuk flu ini, memang harus pakai istirahat. Pada individu yang sehat, sebenarnya penyakit ini juga akan sembuh sendiri, tetapi pada mereka yang daya tahan tubuhnya lemah karena beberapa penyakit tertentu seperti HIV/AIDS, kencing manis, atau penyakit kronis lainnya, atau sudah ada masalah pada paru-paru sebelumnya, flu ini dapat berakibat fatal.

Nah, buat yang daya tahan tubuhnya normal, karena antara common cold dan flu akan sembuh sendiri, cukup minum obat untuk mengurangi gejala tanpa minum antibiotik kecuali ada indikasi yang mendukung. Minum obat pun harus disesuaikan dengan gejala yang ada. Kalau tidak ada batuk, jangan minum kemasan obat flu yang ada obat batuknya.

sumber: abcnews.go.com

Obat-obat flu biasanya dapat dibeli bebas di apotek, tapi tidak diperbolehkan untuk anak di bawah umur 2 tahun. Di Amerika, pada tahun 2007, FDA (semacam badan POM di sana) menarik obat-obat flu untuk bayi dari pasaran OTC / over the counter (obat bebas). Obat flu untuk dewasa dan anak-anak pun diberi label peringatan agar tidak diberikan pada mereka yang di bawah 2 tahun, karena efek samping yang dapat berakibat fatal seperti kelainan irama jantung, kejang, penurunan kesadaran, bahkan sampai kematian.

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Nah, sering denger saran untuk konsumsi vitamin C atau Echinacea saat flu demi mengurangi tingkat keparahan flu dan mempercepat penyembuhan?

Perdebatan vitamin C dapat mencegah dan meringankan penyakit flu sudah terjadi lebih dari 70 tahun. Sementara Echinacea sendiri sebenarnya adalah herbal yang turun temurun digunakan oleh suku Indian Amerika asli untuk pengobatan gejala pernafasan. Tahun 1916 sampai 1950, Echinacea sempat resmi masuk ke dalam formularium (daftar obat nasional resmi) Amerika. Tetapi dengan penemuan antibiotik dan kurang bukti klinis untuk khasiat herbal ini, popularitasnya mulai turun. Sekarang, banyak orang mulai melirik lagi karena fakta bahwa antibiotik tidak membantu perjalanan penyakit flu.

sumber: pharmapoli.com

Sekarang ini, sudah cukup banyak studi klinis yang mempelajari efek keduanya.  Walaupun masih ada simpang siur hasil yang didapatkan antar studi, beberapa penelitian maupun guideline merekomendasikan penggunaan keduanya dengan beberapa catatan tertentu. Untuk vitamin C, dalam studi bertahun-tahun melibatkan ribuan peserta, setelah menganalisis hasil yang ada serta fakta bahwa vitamin C tidak mahal dan relatif aman, penggunaan vitamin C pun mendapat rekomendasi. Tapi efek vitamin C yang positif dapat dinikmati bila dikonsumsi secara rutin, baik pada dewasa maupun pada anak-anak usia 4 tahun ke atas. Efek positifnya konsumsi rutin dapat memperpendek lama gejala flu. Guideline kedokteran keluarga di Amerika tahun 2012 merekomendasi konsumsi sekitar 40 hari hingga 28 minggu. Jadi kalau mendadak flu lalu baru minum vitamin C, ngga akan ada pengaruhnya menurut studi ilmiah. Nah, untuk menyambut musim flu, ada baiknya yang ngga biasa minum vitamin C, bisa coba minum vitamin C.  Dosis yang dianjurkan untuk pencegahan pada dewasa adalah 250 – 1000 mg/hari. Tidak direkomendasikan lebih dari itu, dan batas maksimum adalah 2000 mg/hari.

Sedangkan untuk Echinacea, masih belum ada kesepakatan resmi, tetapi memang banyak studi ilmiah menyebutkan bahwa konsumsi Echinacea di awal perjalanan penyakit, dalam arti saat gejala baru muncul dapat menurunkan tingkat keparahan gejala. Namun resminya, semua masih menyimpulkan masih belum ada cukup bukti klinis untuk merekomendasikan Echinacea.

Dan yang juga sedang banyak dipromosikan adalah vaksin influenza. Sejak virus influenza ditemukan tahun 1933, sejak tahun 1942 vaksin untuk influenza sudah mulai diperkenalkan. Dan tahun 1973 WHO mulai merekomendasikan vaksin influenza setahun sekali, karena ada perbedaan penyebab flu  oleh tipe virus Influenza dan galurnya yang selalu berganti tiap tahun. Tahun 2010, CDC merekomendasikan vaksinasi flu secara universal di Amerika bagi mereka yang berusia 6 bulan ke atas, terutama bagi mereka yang lanjut usia, mengalami penurunan daya tahan tubuh, dan ada penyakit paru sebelumnya. Bagaimana di Indonesia? Masih belum ada rekomendasi resmi dari berbagai institusi resmi, tetapi ikatan dokter anak Indonesia (IDAI) mulai memberikan edukasi mengenai vaksinasi untuk influenza sebagai rekomendasi optional, bukan wajib.

sumber: sharpschool.com

Yang sudah divaksinasi flu, mungkin masih bisa mengalami gejala flu ringan, karena vaksin tersebut tidak melindungi terhadap 250 virus yang dapat menyebabkan common cold.

Flu memang dapat diobati sendiri, tapi kalau sudah ada gejala seperti ini, lebih baik langsung memeriksakan diri ke dokter, antara lain

• panas lebih dari 38.4°C tidak membaik dengan obat penurun panas lebih dari 3 hari
• hidung tersumbat lebih dari 2 minggu
• tidak bisa makan dan minum
• sesak atau dan nyeri dada
• telinga sakit, terasa
• ada gejala lain di luar gejala flu

Terutama untuk bayi, bila sudah malas minum, segera dibawa ke dokter. Pada anak-anak di bawah 2 tahun, jangan diberikan obat untuk flu secara bebas. Pemberian minum juga secukupnya saja, jangan berlebihan karena pada beberapa kasus dapat menimbulkan hiponatremia (salah satu kelainan elektrolit dalam darah).

Sudah cukup panjang ya tentang flu, semoga dapat bermanfaat. Pencegahan selalu lebih baik, antara lain dengan menutup hidung saat batuk atau bersin, (bila memungkinkan) mengurangi kontak dengan yang sedang sakit atau mengenakan masker, tidak memegang hidung dan muka sembarangan, dan mencuci tangan setelah dari luar rumah. Tolong diingat juga tidak usah buru-buru minta antibiotik kalau ke dokter.

Catatan terakhir, info ini tidak untuk menggantikan praktik kedokteran. Bila hendak mengkonsumsi vitamin C atau Echinacea dan ada obat lain yang diminum, silakan konsultasi lebih dulu ke dokter atau apoteker.

Terima kasih sudah membaca sampai akhir 🙂

Selamat menjelang musim hujan, semoga tetap sehat selalu!

Sumber penelitian antibiotik tidak direkomendasikan (bahasa Inggris): http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12137610)

Sumber rekomendasi OTC tidak untuk anak bawah 2 tahun (bahasa Inggris): http://www.fda.gov/ForConsumers/ConsumerUpdates/ucm048682.htm

Sumber penelitian dan rekomendasi vitamin C (bahasa Inggris):

1. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23440782
2. http://www.aafp.org/afp/2012/0715/p153.html

Sumber penelitian Echinacea (bahasa Inggris): https://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/druginfo/natural/981.html

Sumber rekomendasi vaksin influenza (bahasa Inggris dan bahasa Indonesia):

1. http://www.cdc.gov/flu/protect/keyfacts.htm
2. http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/812621
3. http://idai.or.id/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/IVO-Influenza-.pdf

Lilin untuk Angelin – 1

Izinkan saya membagi apa yang saya lihat malam ini. Mungkin semua media digital malam ini sudah menuliskannya. Karena saat saya berada di bundaran HI, banyak yang menenteng kamera  digital maupun video kelas kakap.

Saat kemarin mendapat terusan berita bahwa akan diadakan gerakan 1000 lilin untuk anak Indonesia, saya sempat ragu. Apakah gerakan ini mampu menjangkau hati berlapis-lapis masyarakat, dan membawa perubahan? Atau hanya menjadi target media dan kemudian memberikan pekerjaan tambahan untuk membersihkan noda lilin dari bundaran HI.

Syukurlah saya bisa ikut merapat ke bundaran HI saat acara dilangsungkan. Lalu, entah bagaimana, saya baru sadar bahwa ternyata diri sendiri pun begitu. Sibuk mendokumentasikan lilin-lilin dan orang-orang yang berkumpul. Juga karangan bunga yang telah terangkai indah.

 

Baru sadar bahwa saya ingin pasang di Instagram, ingin membagi di Facebook. Dalam hati, mengincar jumlah acungan jempol untuk tampilan foto yang saya unggah. Baru kemudian saya sadar, bahwa saya datang untuk sebuah alasan lain. Untuk ikut menyalakan lilin buat Angelin.

Di situ baru saya kemudian bisa benar-benar menghayati malam di bundaran HI. Saat semua orang dari berbagai organisasi, berbagai golongan, datang. Bergantian berdoa. Dimulai dari pak Ustad yang membacakan doa, dan diikuti oleh seorang Pendeta yang juga memanjatkan doa. Yang menarik adalah saat seseorang mendaraskan lagu “Pujilah Tuhan… pujilah nama-Nya… Praise the Lord, my soul, and praise His Holly Name…”

Lagu Taize yang cukup familier membuat saya mengambil kesimpulan bahwa bapak yang menyanyikan lagu ini adalah seorang Katolik. Yang saya kaget adalah ketika melihat sang Ustad ikut bernyanyi lagu taize tersebut bersama si bapak Katolik. Dari gerakan bibirnya yang tidak penuh ragu, rasanya ia sudah mengenal lagu itu. Sungguh indah menyaksikan golongan-golongan yang berbeda bisa saling menikmati keberadaan satu sama lain demi tujuan yang baik.

Sayang saya tidak bisa lama berada di sana. Tapi ketika saya berbalik untuk mulai meninggalkan bundaran HI, disitulah saya mendapat banyak pelajaran. Saya melihat 3 orang laki-laki jangkung. Muka mereka dingin. Dengan penampilannya, bisa jadi mereka preman. Tapi begitu melihat air muka mereka, saya tahu mereka sedang memberikan penghormatan. Mata saya menyapu lagi kerumunan yang akan saya tinggalkan. Kali ini saya melihat seorang bule datang dengan baju dan celana warna hitam, tanda berkabung.

Angin malam itu membuat beberapa kali lilin-lilin ini padam. Berulang kali lilin harus dinyalakan kembali dengan meminjam bara dari lilin di sebelahnya yang masih terus bernyala.

Baru saya sadari apa arti ini semua, saat saya hendak pergi.

Bahwa gerakan 1000 lilin untuk anak Indonesia tidak sekedar menyalakan lilin dengan korek dan menyusunnya saja. Kita lah sang lilin. Kita, yang menyalakan lilin, adalah sang lilin.

Bahwa gerakan untuk perlindungan anak perlu datang dari setiap lapisan, golongan, dan organisasi masyarakat. Bahwa siapapun bisa jadi tergerak untuk bergerak.

Bahwa gerakan ini bisa kembali padam dan tidak membawa perubahan apa pun. Bahwa saat kita tergerak, kita perlu menularkannya kembali kepada yang lain. Agar semua peduli. Agar semua lilin tetap bernyala.

 

Jadi, semoga tulisan ini dapat menjadi refleksi nyala lilin untuk Angelin…

 

 

 

Iman Katolik dan Kasih

Setelah menjadi seorang Katolik selama 28 tahun, baru sekarang tergugah hati dan pikiran. Bahwa iman yang saya yakini lahir dari sebuah kematian.

Dulu kematian di kayu salib dianggap nista, tapi sekarang dianggap agung. Ekstrim sekali peristiwa kematian nista kemudian membuahkan keagungan. Hanya satu yang dapat melakukannya, dan itu adalah kasih.

Hari Kamis Putih mengenang Yesus yang membasuh kaki para Rasul dan mengadakan Perjamuan Terakhir. Padahal Ia sudah tahu bahwa ajal-Nya hampir tiba. Lalu terpikir, tertanya, dan terjawab. Saya yang sekarang tidak akan bisa seperti itu. Kalau ajal sudah dekat, saya ingin berada dekat dengan keluarga dan orang-orang terdekat. Mungkin makan bersama, atau mengobrol bersama. Minta dukungan. Bukan malah melayani.

Hari Jumat Agung mengenang Yesus yang merelakan diri disiksa habis-habisan sampai akhirnya habis nafas-Nya. Dekat detik terakhir-Nya, Ia malah mengampuni dan mendoakan orang-orang yang habis-habisan menyiksa-Nya. Sangat menantang batas sifat manusia. Pintu maaf yang ada batasnya dan doa yang masih diutamakan untuk diri sendiri, keluarga, dan teman.

Yesus selalu membicarakan kasih, bukan untung rugi. Tapi bagaimana Yesus bisa memiliki kasih sedemikian besar? Baru saya sadari, bahwa kasih bukanlah karakter Yesus, tapi pribadi Yesus sendiri. Dimana ada kasih, disitu ada Yesus. Dimana Yesus ada, disitu ada kasih.

Lalu mengapa Yesus mengajak manusia untuk mengasihi? Dan mengapa manusia butuh mengasihi?
Mungkin itulah perjalanan ziarah yang harus dilewati seorang manusia untuk menemui Allahnya. Ujung jalan yang akan diketahuinya nanti.

Perjalanan kasih menjadi hal pribadi yang dialami secara berbeda oleh tiap manusia. Tidak tergantung pada Allahnya, tapi pada manusianya.

Sekarang, momen mengenang peristiwa Paskah hampir menuju puncaknya. Momen ulang tahun iman yang lahir dari sebuah kematian. Momentum untuk mengingat kembali jalan peziarahan kita selama ini. Untuk kembali lagi berbuat dan berbuah kasih.

Selamat merayakan Paskah…

Story of AYD 2014: a Journey to be proud as an Asian Catholic – part 1

Catholic is a minority in Asia, except in Philippine. For me, a part of me being an Asian never help me much to be a Catholic. Christianity and Asia was not related together that much, that was my opinion.

But yet, Asia has stepped up together and held Asian Youth Day, and this year, is the 6^th Asian Youth Day.

Youth Day – in general

First time I heard about youth day was in 2008 – the World Youth Day in Sidney. I had no clue about what was that, what were we going to do, and I was not interested at all – I am young and Catholic, and so what?

But when a friend ask me to join a world youth day, my first youth day, this time my curiosity failed my ignorance. It was World Youth Day 2013 in Rio, Brasil. The impression left in my heart is I am not alone. Millions of youth being Catholic made me realize we are His beloved church. This is time for the youth to do something for God, to go and try to make disciples of Him. The spirit I felt that time was: what I am going to do?

Before world youth day, I never knew that a youth day could change myself into the way I felt after. Maybe it was the spirit of new friends who pray in the same way around the world, one of a kind experience to be meeting many cultures to be joined in one faith. It was a glorious time in my life.

Asian youth day after world youth day making me questioning what is the difference? But visiting a new country seemed interesting, and Korea has always been a dream country to be visited in my list, so I applied.

Ten days in this 6^th Asian Youth Day has changed me again. This time, is not only about how I see next thing to do – my future as a Catholic, but also about how I see things that happened previously – history of me being Catholic.

Preparation of 6^th Asian Youth Day

A lot of briefings to be attended, tasks to be completed, preparation to be done, and challenges to be passed made me taking note – going to AYD is harder than WYD. I remembered stressed out one time because I had to googling here and there searching for facts about Catholic in Kazakhstan for my assignment.

Four times briefing, about 10 assignments, visa problems, and also performance preparation to welcome Pope are things we had to go through before we could pack up and flied to the land of the morning calm (I’ve checked, that is a nickname for Korea).

1st briefing

2nd briefing

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3rd briefing

last briefing

 

 

 

 

 

 

the Indonesian Pilgrims had finished the briefings! 😀

 

All Indonesian participants also gathered in Electric Museum in Taman Mini Indonesia Indah, East Jakarta, before heading to Incheon. We spent a special day reviewing back our preparation, what we had learned so far, rehearsed the special performance, and got to know each other deeper. Yes, there were 74 of us, from all around Indonesia. But it took no sweat to become close to each other.

That night, we ended the day by lenten mediation to contemplate the last 7 words of Jesus. I heard it so well and stucked in my heart, the saying of Father who lead the mediation (I tried to translate it):

“I am proud, that Jesus finished His struggle by death on the cross, and not by jumping off the cross to show His power and honor. As He died on the cross, the church instead lives and exists until now. He stood the suffering until the last breath, and inspired His disciples that martyrdom always brings hope instead of death. Yes, there’s always hope in martyrdom.”

It completely answered my wonders and questions. If God is so powerful, why wouldn’t He showed that to the world? But then I know, jump off from the cross would be a shortcut and showed no hope.

Thanks to the assignments by the committee, I became knowledgable about stories of martyrs in Indonesia and in some Asian countries. Therefore, before I had a chance to complain about the assignments, it soon came to me that I am aware more about Catholic by completing them.

I realized, there was a high price had been paid for us to be Catholic, to pray and worship as Catholic peacefully. There were those people – who paid by their blood and sacrificed by their lives for us so we could make cross sign begining from our forehead, shoulders, and ends in middle chest, without threat to be killed. They became martyr hundred and even thousand years ago so the church they had faith on would be continue; Faith, that has been started since Jesus was crossed, died, and then be risen.

And now, it’s our turn to flash back and recalled their scarification, to learn from them who gave their lives for God, and to continue their example. To wake up, and to see the glory of martyrs shines on us.

Days In Diocese: “You are lucky”

Before the main event, every participant in Asian Youth Day would experience 4 days 3 nights with Korean family. We called this as “Days in Diocese”, where we spend our days in Korean culture, seeing places representing the beauty of Korea with its historical value, and making friends from different countries and different cultures.

I had a very special experience in the day when I arrived in Korea. I got Jeju for my days in diocese group, so after arriving in Incheon, I have to transfer to Gimpo Airport to continue to Jeju.

When I arrived at Incheon, there’s someone who told me: “You are very lucky to get Jeju. It’s very beautiful.” I felt so happy and thankful.

Then, when I was arrived in Gimpo and ready to board to Jeju, another Korean who became a volunteer told me, “You are very lucky, Jeju is very beautiful.” Second time hearing that, I was amazed and felt even more thankful.

And when I landed in Jeju, I met a sister. As we shook hand, she said: “You are very lucky.”

This time, I felt a struck and for a second I got such a warm feeling surrounded me that made me captivated. I could only say, “thank you” to the sister. Deep inside, I thanked Jesus. I heard it like He told me by Himselves, that I am lucky, that I am blessed.

That night I remembered times when I questioning Him about life, about things I’ve done wrong and felt sorry, about times when I wanted to avoid everything, and to hide.

Hearing “you are lucky” three times in a day was sensed like Jesus was there, answering all my questions. And He made me to choose to believe in those words. I am lucky, I am blessed.

For sure, I am lucky and blessed to be in Jeju. My family is the loudest one as I had 6 other roommates: 3 girls from Japan, 2 girls from Korea, and my Indonesian friend, Rira. My hostparent also had 4 children: 3 girls and a boy. So there were 13 people under one roof where I stayed. It was such a blast. We would talk about everything until so late, laugh together – and, drink soju together.

family with a blast 🙂

7 of us – Japan – Korea – Indonesia

I also meet wonderful friends in my group. Well, every one I met in Jeju seemed so wonderful. There’s no time to be not thankful. Even all the staff, they were all so kind and wanted to give the best for every one.

Please allow me to pass this story. The first day after we arrived, one of my Indonesian friends got sick and couldn’t eat anything. She seemed to be sick before the departure day to Korea, and got worse that she needed more advance intervention in hospital. So, one staff drove us to the nearest hospital. There, the doctor in charge said that he needed to observe the patient condition and got her some laboratory tests. So, not only the staff drove us there, she also waited and accompanied our sick friend until she could be discharged from the hospital.

Meanwhile, she asked another staff to pick me up and drop me to join my group again for city tour. Moreover, she politely refused when I said Indonesian team wanted to pay the hospital bill. I was speechless about how they showed their care to us…

After leaving hospital, I thought I would catch my group up somewhere in the city. I was told that my group would join other group for today’s city tour because we had only few members. But when I was dropped in a cafe near the church where we had the opening mass, there I knew that they all were waiting for me. Yep, they didn’t go first to somewhere and let me catch them up later; but instead, they waited for me. They even left me a sandwich so I could have lunch. I was more than surprised for all the kindnesses.

But kindness didn’t stop there. That day I had with me a backpack that filled with medicine. A Korean friend in my group, he pointed my backpack and told me to gave it to him. I told him it was okay for me to carry it, but he didn’t take no for answer. And for the whole day, he carried my backpack. Even when he was tired, he said that his shoulder was okay; only his leg that was not okay. But he still didn’t let me to carry my heavy backpack. If I remembered those kindnesses again, I felt God wanted to prove me that I am blessed. That day was a super day that I would never forget.

We went to natural museum, to historical site of former central government office, played Korean traditional game, took a lot of pictures, laughed together, stopping taxi, strolling along the street, ate Korean street food, enjoying ice cream, soaked our feet in cold water, crossing a bridge, relaxed in a small pavilion, and ended our day eating chicken and drinking beer. If it sounded like a perfect day, then yes, it was truly completely a perfect day! 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jeju is famous for its beauty. I could feel that when they showed us around. We went to the famous Seongsan Ilchulbong – a lot of tourists were there although that was not a weekend. But we still could enjoy the site because it was a very big place. And no matter where we looked at, we could only sigh for its beauty and had a good time.

I was impressed a lot with Jeju’s beauty. But on top of all, I mostly touched with their April 3^rd history. The history was about Jeju people wanting unification of both Koreans but the third party that became alliance with each Korea didn’t like the idea. Even government of Korea itself didn’t support them and instead labeling them as red party, and killing them as if they’re something to be  eliminated. It was a complex history that I didn’t really get what was happen actually. And I’m sorry if I have mistaken in retelling the story. When I asked my Korean friends, I understood that April 3^rd was a really really really important part of the history for them.

Jeju April 3 Peace Memorial Park

My deepest sympathy goes for the victims… I learned a lot, particularly from how Jeju’s people accepting the history. It hurt them but didn’t leave them in agony. Instead, it has lead Jeju to be island of peace.

Peace,  that’s what I got during my days in dioceses here. I learned from their history how to appreciate who we are, what we have, and where we come from. Only from accepting those, could we have peace.

Another moment that remained in my heart was the opening mass in Jeju. The gospel was about Jesus calming the storm. And bishop of Jeju who celebrated the opening mass said clearly in his homily: “Remember what Jesus said: have courage”.   Have courage. This 2 words was an alarm ringing in my heart. I used to avoid things that made me not comfortable or trying to please people and instead ended up wanting to shut myself down. Just like Peter, I often met the storm, got afraid, and hide – or run.

I couldn’t solve my issue just like that. But now that I heard the alarm, I guess I could try what Jesus has said to me through the bishop. To have courage to enter the storm so we could have peace – walk up on the storm, and perhaps dancing on it. 🙂

And, speaking about dance… one night in Jeju,we all gather for the culture performance, we all dance together there. It’s amazing to see culture from another country, cheering on them, then performed our own culture and was cheered on. Not only dancing and singing, we also met crazy man who became host the night who made us laugh all night long.  I could feel that fun was really in the air. Every body was having a good time, and all we wanted to do was smiling, laughing, and clapping hands.

A night to be remembered ^^

In Jeju, I met a very special friend. I could sensed that she didn’t speak English very well. But she tried every possibility to communicate with me and every one she met who didn’t speak Korean. I could feel she is so sincere and generous.

I realized, we never know who we will meet, who we will bump into, in this life. But, attending youth day would lead us to meet friends who made us remember Jesus and be thankful for them.  🙂

 

Sawarna + Photographers = Great Holiday Portfolio Guaranteed

Sawarna has been reviewed so many times. Google it and whether we search it in English or Indonesian, we’ll find more than hundreds of result. But here I am, still writing another review, and again, about Sawarna. But please hang on there a while.

For people who are searching Sawarna for techincal references because they will be heading there, may I suggest you to read Wikipedia about Sawarna, Bayah, Lebak (in Indonesian).

Sawarna. In sundanese (local language used by people who live in Bayah districk where Sawarna Beach located), Sawarna means one color. I have no idea and foolish enough not to ask local people why the beach was named Sawarna. But referring to Wikipedia, it is the most beautiful beach among 5 beaches which located in Banten province.

If you have read reviews how to get there before you got here, let me confirmed you one thing: getting there via Serang is more recommended than Pelabuhan Ratu. Yes, it meant there was more distance to drive and not comfortable enough due to bad deterioration of the road. Bright side is: we’ll arrive there stress free from the bad traffic. Plus we’ll experience roller coaster sensation, thanks to the damaged road.

When we go together, let say 5-6 persons – it’s pretty convinient to rather rent a car to reach Sawarna. Plus we can load more things to carry to the beach. If you want to know range of price to rent a car, I might say around 1-2 million Rupiah (price by March 2014).

Ready to depart (it felt like we’re on airport, didn’t we :D)

Another thing:  it is better to leave at night. Sure we will be meeting big trucks along the way there, but the traffic is more friendly than day light, and we will arrive early, ready to explore the beach. Sawarna beach shoreline is quite long enough: about 5 km. Along the shoreline, there are about 11 points that become famous for public amusement.

When we arrived at Sawarna village at 3.30 AM, we were planning to head directly to Legon Pari, one of the points in Sawarna Beach. After waiting for our guide, a local named Saiful, and walking for more than 40 minutes, I arrived with half of my breath. I hold my breath not only because of the strenous route, but also due to the view when we arrived at the beach. It’s before 5 AM so it’s still dark. My night vision only permit me to capture shadows of sands and rocks around me. But when I looked up, the bright stars gather here and there, they hooked me up. Yeah, when we get accostumed by skycraper buildings, a Milky Way will always be a privilege to see…

Arriving at the village @ 4.40 AM. Don’t forget to bring lights or headlamp if you plan to straight ahead to the beach after early arrival

There were many things I want to write here, so let me discuss little more about Sawarna in points:

• Choose neat and comfortable homestay. I bet name of Widi Homestay has been traveled around the travellers. Even the room next to my room was occupied by travellers from France, and they went to Sawarna for surfing (I don’t speak French but I can see the surf board in front of their room). And yes, I really satisfied with their room, their food, and also their price. One person was charged Rp 175.000,- (price by March 2014)

• Sawarna is really a nice place with nice people and nice price. Price of food and snacks in Sawarna Beach wasn’t that pricey like any other tourist attraction. And peopple who live there were so friendly. One example is Saiful, our guide. He offered us to bring our backpack to our homestay. Because cars couldn’t go through the street to the village, we have to walk a bit to reach our homestay. So Saiful brought his motorcycle and try to minimize our load.

Guiding us to the beach, he also offered his hand to bring the tripod. And when we want to go back to Jakarta, our car got stucked in the parking area. He didn’t just leave because the business between us was over. But he also helped pushing the cars blocking our way. He is really nice, isn’t he? Too bad I forgot to take picture with him.

Another kindness from the local was felt when we went to the beach before 5 AM on second day and got hungry. Claudia and I (ladies of the trip) looked for snacks and we’re sorry that we had to wake up the owner of a food stall. But he didn’t looked mind to be awaken, and he sold to us with regular price, not arbitrarily as the consequence for waking him up too early. Yet he offered us his place if we would like to rest before catching the sunrise. Nice… That’s why one of us said that it might be the local people that became the reason why Sawarna keep being a busy and most crowded public attraction in Java. Yeah, I thought so.

• To reach beaches from the village, there were motorcyclists (in Indonesian, we called them as ojek) which could help us get to where we going. We could walk actually, but ojek is simpler and easier way to reach the beach, especially when we bring with us heavy cameras and tripod. And the price, well, was not that pricey. From the village to the Tanjung Layar, a point of the beach, cost us Rp 25.000,- for round trip.

• Be careful when you walk in the shoreline, through the rocks. Please mind your step when you try to step any rocks there, particularly if you bring advanced photography gadgets. The rocks would looked like they were rough, but actually it was so slippery. One of us slipped his step and felt down. But, being photographer, it’s not himself he worried first, but his photography gadgets. Immediately got up, he checked all the gears, then he checked himself. Thanks God that he was okay after being slipped. But unfortunately, one camera lens that he carried was immersed and not functioning well that it needed further repair. So, please be really careful.

• There would be no trash bin anywhere in the beach, so it is recommended to prepare plastic or container to collect our trash so we wouldn’t litter in the coastal environment. And talking about environment, we would see forest whom function has turned into oil palm plantations in some part along the way to the Sawarna. That was so sad, really.

• Taking 6 hours drive time from Jakarta to Sawarna, leaving the capital city in Friday night and come back from the beach in Sunday morning is a perfect weekend gate away. If you  would need Sunday mass, you could take evening mass at 5 PM near Alam Sutra, which is easily accessed after taking exit in BSD from high way from Serang. We were really be thankful that were allowed to make it happen, and to end the holiday with holly eucharist in Sunday mass.

Toghether we will take pictures…

Now after talking about Sawarna, let me explain a bit why I titled this review by Sawarna + Photographers. Well, simply because I went there with the photographers and this trip is dedicated to capture landscape of Sawarna beach. Four photographers, all boys, and two girls (including myself). That’s our gang for the trip. Yes, one thing for sure: group going is always better. We share the price, and the fun. Well, when you go with photographers, there will be a new definition of fun.

The photographers.. these guys are amazing. and there’s one of them who really pro at photography and still available for the girls… I think it’s ok to write it down here like you said, rite TW? haha (“,)V

So here’s something fun that we might get when we go for holiday with photographers:

• Two days in a row, Claudia and I must follow their schedule. First day, we got at the beach at 4.30 AM. Second day, 4.15 AM. So, travelling with photographers means getting up very very early. They hunt down for sunrise and sunset. Unfortunately, we didn’t catch up with a perfect golden sun rise or red sun set when we were there. But that’s okay, beacuse in landscape photography, they were not only looking for sun, but also at the clouds, and the sea waves, and and the rocks, and the colors. And Sawarna beaches provided all of that.

the Sun Rise

There’s no dramatic sunset, but the ambience is dramatic red, I don’t even edit this photo, the color got red from the sunset

• They will not exploring many places. They rather explore few places but deep enough to work on angles, setting up tripod, and looking for perfect scheme for long exposures. From 11 points I mentioned before, we only visited 3 spots: Legon Pari, Karang Taraje, and Tanjung Layar. So they left me and Claudia time to do lot of sitting and ejoying our time while waiting for them in the beach. But hey, they compensate with taking photos of us. Well, getting pictures taken by photographers, by professional  cameras, some girls will kill for that. Haha.

Me and Claudia – she’s really patient and I really like waiting for the photographers with her – cheers Odi… 😀

• They will sometimes forget about their belongings and go hunting, makes us the girls worrying about things in their backpack. Imagine professional cameras with lots of lenses and flash and another camera gears… $$$. But then again, Thanks God for Saiful, our guide/hero, who also helped us to look after our belongings.

• At night, the photographers gathered around, looked at their photos for the day, and joined themselves together for mini workshop of picture editing. But we enjoyed the night, laughing with them, and because we got up very very early, we got sleepy very very quickly.

photo editing sudden workshop; they looked really serious, didn’t they…

taking a rest after editing… makan makan…..

In the end, having holiday in Sawarna with photographers, I must say that Sawarna is famous among the landscaper (photographers that enjoy hunting for pictures in natures). In Legon Pari, there’s a lot of people there with tripod and big cameras, there even was a group that come with yellow uniform.

Being a part of south coast beaches which consist of truss of breathtaking and beautiful beaches, Sawarna beach has a really nice atmosphere, billow (large sea waves) typical of south coast beaches, and big rocks. It was really worth to take a visit there.

The photographers, they had taken many great pictures in Sawarna, and I’ve asked them to choose one photo as their favorite to be shown here. So, let’s take a look; here they are…

Darmawan Junawanto

James Steven

Laurensius Verby

Tirta Winata

Final Note for Indefinitely

I had a bit ambitious plan yesterday: to publish 5 posts in a day. And with this post counted, I published 5 posts today!

Well, what’s the point?

As the blog I declared my own stage, I now want to go off the stage and take a long long pause for an indefinite time. Or not. Haha. But this time, I came to a decision to take my break.

I love to write, to play piano, and a doctor. I really loved to combine those 3 in my life but I really had to choose one I would live. Primarily, maybe I’d choose music. Or writing. But, those years I spent in medicine school is nagging me when I spent more time not on medical stuff.

So, here I am. Bowing down as a writer and a musician I made myself.

I still have debt on my cigarette article (in indonesian), so I knew I would still write again in this stage. That would be the real final post.

I had much fun and joy filling this blog with my thoughts, my stories, and over all, about how I see the world. I really enjoy surfing in the unlimited virtual world hunting for reference I want to talk about. Some would lead me to places made me inspired.  And so is writing the articles, juggling words to deliver my ideas and my thoughts. Finding the right words to express exactly what’s on my mind is hilarious. Not forgetting to mention that fun it is to record myself playing piano, setting up the tripod, measuring its distance to piano to capture my hands and the voice. I’m not a technology junkie with hardcore tools, so I stood with the conventional ways. Memorizing the notes (I don’t like seeing video of one playing piano with the music sheet so I made myself memorizing what I want to play) are challenging, but it was fun at the same time.

Short said, it was a party to me. To share to the world wide web.

Until next time, readers. Thanks for visiting this blog…

Rokok (tidak) Tidak Berbahaya

Sudah beberapa bulan berselang sejak saya mencoba melihat rokok dari segi ekonomi. Kalau mau dilihat dari segi kesehatan, sebenarnya tidak butuh satu artikel untuk memberi tahu bahwa rokok berbahaya. Semua orang sudah tahu bahwa rokok berbahaya. Coba pilih satu orang secara acak yang sedang melintas di stadion Senayan, misalnya. Kalau ditanya apakah rokok itu berbahaya, 99% kemungkinan dia akan mengangguk. Coba tanya lagi, bahayanya apa kira-kira ya pak/buk/mas/mbak/dek? Menurut saya, kemungkinannya lebih dari 50% akan menjawab serangan jantung, kanker, impotensi, gangguan kehamilan dan janin. Bagaimanapun, itu lah yang digembar-gemborkan di setiap bungkus rokok yang dijual.

Memberi tahu rokok itu berbahaya memang mudah. Namun, membuat orang berhenti merokok karena tahu rokok itu berbahaya – itu seperti mengukur jarak dari Sabang sampai Merauke dengan bermodalkan penggaris 30 centimeter. Bukan tidak mungkin. Tapi susahnya minta ampun.  Kenapa susah? Karena lawannya adalah nikotin – zat aktif yang ada di dalam tembakau. Nikotin akan berinteraksi langsung dengan otak, bila dihirup, dalam hitungan detik – tepatnya 7 detik menurut para ahli. Atau, sekitar selama 5 kali detak jantung. Saat saya bilang berinteraksi langsung, hal ini berarti otak terpapar langsung dengan nikotin.

Dalam sekian banyak keajaiban otak, salah satu yang penting adalah bahwa tidak semua zat yang mendekat ke otak dapat berinteraksi langsung dengannya. Di dalam otak, terdapat sistem ketat yang memilah apa saja yang dapat mencapai otak. Beberapa zat yang dapat berinteraksi dengan otak, mereka memiliki jalur khusus, atau dalam istilah yang lebih ilmiah, reseptor. Mereka seperti tamu istimewa yang disambut dengan mobil khusus. Yah, setidaknya, bagi otak, nikotin adalah tamu istimewa. Saat nikotin sudah berinteraksi dengan otak, akan keluarlah zat yang disebut Dopamin. Saat dopamin diproduksi dalam otak, otomatis sang pemilik otak akan merasa bahagia. Dan, semua orang suka menjadi bahagia. Itulah sebabnya sangat susah menyuruh orang berhenti merokok. Dalam istilah lain, bagi para perokok mungkin sama saja dengan menyuruh mereka berhenti bahagia.

Nah, permasalahannya kemudian, seperti banyak jalan menuju Roma, banyak jalan pula menuju bahagia. Ada banyak hal yang dapat menyebabkan dopamin terpancing keluar. Menghisap nikotin bukanlah satu-satunya cara untuk menjadi bahagia. Tapi kenapa setiap perokok merasa berat untuk meninggalkan rokok?

Ada beberapa penelitian yang berusaha menjelaskannya. Saya mencoba untuk membaca dan memahaminya, tetapi bukan tidak mungkin saya ternyata salah menangkap penjelasan dari jurnal yang memuat penelitian tersebut, karena bagi saya penjelasannya terlalu ilmiah dan rumit. Saya sangat menghargai bila ada yang bersedia mengkoreksi pernyataan saya berikut bila ternyata saya salah. Berikut link penelitian yang saya baca:

http://www.jneurosci.org/content/25/23/5563.full

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10336551

Saya sudah mengatakan bahwa ada reseptor untuk nikotin di dalam otak. Ada yang tahu berapa jumlahnya? Saya bertanya karena saya juga tidak tahu. Yang saya tahu, jumlah reseptor nikotin akan meningkat menjadi semakin banyak apabila reseptor tersebut bolak-balik bertemu dengan nikotin. Dan bolak-balik bertemu nikotin ini tak lain tak bukan adalah bolak-balik merokok. Dengan merokok terus-menerus, jumlah reseptor nikotin dalam otak akan meningkat.

Dunia kedokteran tidak pernah mengatakan bahwa otak adalah organ yang sederhana. Jadi mohon maaf kalau bahasa yang saya gunakan pun tak bisa lebih sederhana lagi. Walaupun otak bukan organ terbesar dalam tubuh, tapi pembagiannya adalah yang paling rumit. Yang paling dasar, otak bisa dibagi menjadi otak depan, otak tengah, otak belakang, dan sumsum tulang belakang. Pembagian tersebut pun masih dibagi lagi. Tapi bagian otak yang mana termasuk yang depan, tengah, dan belakang tidak akan saya sebutkan disini karena saya sendiri juga sudah lupa. 😛

Jadi menurut salah satu penelitian yang saya coba baca, peningkatan jumlah reseptor nikotin di daerah otak depan dapat mengubah efek yang dimiliki nikotin terhadap si perokok. Lebih spesifiknya, sel saraf si perokok, sehingga meningkatkan efek stimulan pada sistem saraf (yang berarti dapat meningkatkan performa kerja sistem saraf). Hal ini seperti menambah kecepatan jaringan fiber optic. Transfer data yang menjadi lebih cepat itu ibarat manusia yang dapat berfungsi menjadi lebih cepat dan lebih baik. Namun, penambahan jumlah reseptor ini juga akan mengubah reaksi perokok terhadap si nikotin. Akan terjadi perubahan fisiologis dan psikologis bila tidak mendapat asupan nikotin. Apabila nikotin tidak tersedia, selain sistem saraf yang rasanya bekerja menjadi lebih lamban, badan terasa menjadi tidak enak dan emosi pun berubah.

Sebenarnya, saat dibilang rokok itu berbahaya, yang paling berbahaya bukan nikotin-nya. Tetapi zat-zat lain yang ada di dalam rokok. Pertanyaannya kemudian, apa saja yang ada di dalam rokok? Semua banyak mengatakan ada 4.000 lebih zat kimia berbahaya di dalam rokok, mulai dari yang namanya sedikit familier seperti amonia sampai yang bahkan sulit untuk diucapkan glycyrrhizin.

Tapi menurut saya, yang terdapat di dalam rokok secara gamblang bisa dijawab dengan singkat. Hanya 2. Bukan 4.000, tetapi 2. Baik sebelum dibakar maupun setelahnya, rokok memiliki dua komponen. Sebelum dibakar, 2 komponen tersebut adalah bahan adiktif dan bahan aditif. Walau namanya mirip, tetapi artinya tidak sama. Adiktif – memiliki akar kata Latin dicere yang serupa maknanya dengan diktator atau mendikte. Secara umum, semua orang mengenal arti kata adiktif sebagai sifat kecanduan. Sementara aditif berarti merupakan zat tambahan.

Untuk bahan adiktif, tentu saja pemerannya hanya satu: tembakau yang mengandung nikotin. Sementara untuk bahan aditif, pemerannya macam-macam. Perannya pun macam-macam. Ada yang berperan sebagai pengatur tingkat keasaman rokok (sebagai informasi, rokok yang memiliki tingkat keasaman rendah – dengan kata lain bersifat basa – akan memiliki tingkat nikotin bebas yang lebih tinggi sehingga apabila dibakar dan dihisap, akan terasa lebih ‘nendang’. Peran lainnya yaitu penambah rasa, pemanis, pelembab, pengatur pembakaran (supaya pembakaran tidak terlalu cepat atau lama dan asap yang dihasilkan menjadi lebih halus), pengatur porsi tar dan nikotin, pengawet, pengisi supaya lebih padat, dan pelarut.

Mengapa dibutuhkan begitu banyak zat tambahan? Saya pernah bertanya-tanya demikian. Mungkin, saya ingin menjawab sendiri pertanyaan saya demikian: cara mengkonsumsi rokok adalah dengan membakarnya. Dan bahan-bahan yang dapat dibakar harus mempunyai zat hidrokarbon – senyawa dengan hidrogen dan karbon. Nah, rumus bangun kimia nikotin adalah alkaloid – senyawa dengan hidrogen, karbon, dan nitrogen. Dengan demikian, nikotin mungkin tidak dapat terbakar begitu saja. Dibutuhkan zat lain untuk membantu pembakarannya (mungkin). Dan untuk mengantarkan bahan aktif nikotin yang telah dibakar dan terdispersi ke pembuluh darah, juga dibutuhkan  zat lain. Saya bukan ahli kimia, jadi tidak begitu paham. Hanya mencoba untuk menganalisa mengapa dibutuhkan begitu banyak zat tambahan untuk mengkonsumsi rokok.

Sementara setelah dibakar, rokok akan menghasilkan dua bahan berbahaya: tar dan karbonmonoksida. 

Karena artikel ini menurut saya sudah cukup bikin kepala sedikit berputar bagi saya untuk mengumpulkan bahan, dan mungkin juga bagi yang membaca, mungkin cukup untuk sementara dan akan saya lanjutkan lagi kemudian.