The Wish Jobs

what an experience!
this three wonderful months soon will be over. even i don't want it but it must to be over. ugh.

on my 10th week, all my wish jobs is finally come true, of course except Olinda. ugh but yeah!

i worked as a Kitchen Coordination. i really want to do this job because it looks more challenging and Pablo always tease me when i worked as a breakfast and tea team. haha! we have to gathered on 10 o'clock, do the preparation for the food stuff: prepare the rice, opening the cans, put it all into boxes, and send it to Kitchen Cooking team and they will cook it all. we're finish approx. 45 minutes everyday, break for one hour, then we have to gathered again at 12 o'clock to prepare the line and put stuffs on top of the tables : tablets, plates, spoons, bowls, desserts, and main course. after that, two people have to stay to guard the food while the others go to Midday Prayer. in the Midday Prayer, when the brothers stand up, we have to run like a horse to Big Kitchen, to gathered enough volunteers to distribute the food, check the Big Washing Up and Small Washing Up team. then the Big Distribution begins. after that, the work is quite same like Breakfast and Tea Team: guard the Big Distribution, clean up the floor, then take lunch together with the team.

what i thought it's more challenging, the fact is this job is not quite challenging. haha. i don't know it's because on that week there was only 300 people on the field so we only have to prepare 2 lines. the preparation thing and the Big Distribution didn't take so much ime and there was not so much to do during the Big Distribution. i mean, it's not so hectic like Breakfast and Tea Team during the week with 3000 people on the field. haha.but overall, i like this work, it's soething new for me and we have special lunch for the team: with a lot of fruit yoghurt! haha!

ah, my Kitchen Coordination team is Mattieu (the coordinator), Jose Ignacio (Chile), Vivi (Chile), and Isabel (Colombia).

and my work at the afternoon is working in the church as a cleaning team. i worked with Karel (Indonesia), Shrinivas (India), Jose Manuel (Honduras), and Frederick (Uganda). There's a different kind of work to do in everyday, but there's some of the same work to do, such as organize the books or organize the brother's benches (i always did this kind of work). the other work is vacuum cleaning, cleaning the candle glasses, and sometimes help Br. Acildes with his inventory job.

it's a nice and very relaxing job. it needs more patience than energy and power. and this work is really fit (at least for me) after did the Kitchen Coordination work. and maybe i like it because i love to be inside the church. it was a very nice to spend a lot of time inside the church. and we have to whisper when we want to talk to each other. haha!

so, that's my wish jobs, which finally come true on my second last week. i'm so grateful for that, it's like the brothers can read my mind even i never told about my wish job to the one of the brothers.

so, see you on my last week in Taize!

Silence

on my 11th weeks in Taize, i'm in silence for one week. it's a usual program in Taize that every people who come to Taize can take this silence program, either they who stay for one week or stay longer. usually for people who stay longer (permanents) take their silence week on their last week. but for me, i want my last 2 weeks for preparing my departure and saying goodbye to all my friends. so i take a silence week on my 10th weeks of my three months staying in the hill.

Br. Andras, my contact brother already give me some briefs about how to spend a week in silence. he said, just consider urself as a children, who always joyful and respect anything that u see. don't think too much , don't write too much. just bless the Lord. so it's important to who spend a week in silence to take a long walk, to enjoy the nature. so that's what i'm gonna do on my silence week.

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every morning on 10 o'clock we have bible introduction in Le Puits (the silence house) with brother. and for this first day of silence, the brother gave us some briefs how to spend this week in silence. he just said that silence week is like take a holiday with God. it's like how u take ur holiday with ur family. so it's important to take some distance from other people.
today i don't take a walk cause i'm quite tired. so i just take an afternoon sleep.
and from bible introduction in the morning, i make a note:

rejoice joyfully!

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today i take a long walk, to Cormatin. it takes one hour to go there and one hour to go back. at Cormatin, i visit the Roman Church there, pray, and take some photos.
from the bible introduction, i make a note:

forgive & love each other.

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today i take a very long walk to Malay, a village after Cormatin. it takes one hour and a half to go there. on the way i met a Romanian guy who wants to go to the post office in Cormatin but he doesn't know the direction. i help him. but the problem is he can't speak English. he just speak Romanian (of course) and French. which i can't speak French much. so while we walking, we speak each other through body language and some words in English and French.
arrived in Malay, i visited a Roman Church there. there's nobody, it's really quiet, and like other Roman church, it's surround by a lot of tomb. that perfect situation makes me quite scare. but i entered the church, pray, and take some photos.
from the bible introduction, i make a note:

God already forgiven us. so why not we forgive each other?

from my long walk, i make a note:

there's no human's creation can purely documentate God's creation.

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today i decided to go to Flagy, via TGV rail. just 45 minutes a walk. and the Roman Church is beautiful.
from the bible introduction, i make some notes:

rejoice!
do not be afraid!
here I am, servant of God. Oh let it be with me according to Your word...

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today i really tired and i can't feel my leg. so i've decided to take some sleep in the afternoon.
from the bible introduction i make a note:

pour out your complain to God.

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saturday is the day for workshop. so i don't take a walk because i don't know where to go. so i attended the workshop of Chile, Kenya, and China. and that's a wonderful workshop!
from the bible introduction, i make a note:

stay in Me and I will stay in you

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at the breakfast, we have a sharing between the silence boys. and that's a wonderful sharing. i share about my thought of this silence week. i said,

this week it's like my three months in Taize. silence week it's like take some distance from the world, and have some times with the Creator. that's exactly what i feel about my three months of staying in Taize.

Deux Mois

It seems that summer begins to an end. the sun is not so bright anymore. most of the time, the weather is cloudy or raining. even yesterday at the morning, we were surprised because of the fog. that's the first time I experience the fog also. hehe.

sometimes, the weather is very cold and I have to wear the double trouser (wear training trouser inside my jeans). but today, whe weather suddenly get hot. leaves from some of the trees already fall at the silence area, Source St. Etienne.

my work is getting easier. or maybe it's just my feeling because of the two hectic weeks on my 6th and 7th week. hehe. last week (8th week), I got a group animation job for all day. in this job, i have to be a contact person for a small group of 15-16 years. contact person more less is lika a moderator who facilitate the sharing sessions. i've got 8 teenagers in my group - 5 Germans and 3 Portugueses. and only 3-4 people who can speak English very well. rest of them, need their friend to translate what they want to say. the difficult part is on the Portugueses people because all of them can't speak English quite well. so if their turn to share something, it tooks several minutes to wait them for discuss the translation. but overall, my group is good. all of them want tho share what their feels, their thought. but sometimes what their thought is quite naive that i have to guide them to think the other way.

at this week, i tried to learn Deutsch and my groupmates are very cooperative. but i realized that Deutsch is too difficult for my tounge. and for my throat. ;p

my work on my 9th week is work with Br. Francesco (one of the brothers from Indonesia) in the morning. Br. Francesco especially asks me to become a translator for his mother who come and stay for a month. she wants to join the bible introduction on her last week but she's not speak and understand English. so this kind of job is very interesting for me because it's very challenging. it's doesn't need power at all but i have to ise all of the capacity of my brain. at the first time, it's a little bit difficult because the method of bible introduction is like the brother speak for one sentence then the other language translate what he speaks about. for me, it's difficult to translate it sentence by sentence to Indonesian because otherwise the meaning will be quite weird. so i tried my own way, to translate it by "paragraph" - after i get the meaning, then i translate it. and it feels good when i get the rhythm.

at the afternoon, i work at Economat Big Kitchen. it's similar with Economat El Abiodh, the differences is that Big Kitchen have a wider area and more tools than El Abiodh. and everyday we have to do different kind of job, such as organize the stock room and move some things to other places, washing the big rubbush bins, cleaning Bread Barrack, cleaning the drain, cleaning washing up pots, etc. and it's just only took one hour to finish our work.
next week, i gonna be in silence for a week.

this week, i met many interesting people. beside had a more close relationship with Br. Francesco's mother, i met Mark who came from Bonn, Germany but he can speak Indonesia very fluently because he already stay in Jogjakarta, Indonesia for 9 months. then i also met one guy from Bantul, Middle Java, Indonesia, who already married with a German woman and has been stayed in Germany for one year. also i met an 18 years old girl who come from Germany and he already stay in Jogjakarta, Indonesia for 1 year so she can speak Indonesia and Javanese very fluently.

Missing in Action

Nokia N-70 milik Timotius Eshadyan Prassanto.
Hilang dalam tugas di Taize, Perancis.
Terakhir terlihat pada hari Sabtu, 6 September 2008 pukul 08.15 waktu Perancis, ketika bangun pagi dan langsung dimasukkan ke dalam tas kecil yang selalu dibawa oleh korban.
Siang hari sekitar pukul 13.00 waktu Perancis, korban berniat untuk mendengarkan musik di kamar. Korban mencoba merogoh hape yang ada di dalam tas tetapi ternyata tidak ada. Korban mencoba mengobrak-ngabrik kamar tetapi hape tidak juga ditemukan. Sampai satu jam kemudian, hape dinyatakan HILANG DALAM TUGAS.

Kronologi pada hari Sabtu, 6 September 2008 tersebut adalah:
08.05 : bangun, matikan alarm dari Nokia N-70, masukkan hape ke tas
08.10 : sikat gigi dan cuci muka
08.15 : ambil tas, jalan ke gereja. eh hujan, masuk ke kamar lagi, taro tas dalem lemari, jalan ke gereja pake jas hujan.
09.15 : sarapan
09.30 : ke kamar, ambil tas dari dalam lemari, berangkat kerja
12.20 : doa siang. tas masih menjadi bagian dari tubuh korban.
13.00 : makan siang. sampai saat ini korban masih belum mengecek hape dari tas.
13.45 : selesai makan, korban taruh tas di kamar lalu pergi ke Common Room
13.46 : korban kembali ke kamar dan mengambil hape dari tas. tapi ternyata hape tidak ada.
14.46 : hape dinyatakan HILANG DALAM TUGAS.

Nomer XL dari korban sedang diusahakan untuk dihidupkan kembali oleh kakak korban yang berada di Jakarta. Maka untuk sementara, nomer XL korban tidak dapat dihubungi sampai korban kembali ke Jakarta pada tanggal 5 Oktober 2008.

Dengan ini, saya menyatakan duka cita yang mendalam kepada korban.
Semoga arwah dari Nokia N-70 dapat diterima di sisi Yang Maha Kuasa.
Amin!

Breakfast and Tea

"GOOD MORNING TAIZE! WE NEED MORE VOLUNTEERS TO SERVING THE BREAKFAST!"

every morning, the chief of the breakfast and tea team has to shout out like that if they need more volunteers to distribute the breakfast, such as choco drink or tea, butter, choco stick, bread, and cup. standing on the top of one of the line barrier, facing thousands of young people.
at my earlier time in Taize, when I saw one of my friend do the shouting like that, I always thinking that I wanna do like that. and suddenly, start from my 6th week, I stand up on the top of the one of the line barrier, facing two thousands of young people, it's feels like I'm standing on the stage in front of thousands audience. and I can see all their faces, their expressions, their reaction when they saw me do the shouting.

yes, my 6th and 7th week, I've got a work in Breakfast and Tea Team as a coordinator. we are four of us and we have to work for two weeks. on my first week, me and Lucas (Germany) was trained by Sandipan (India) - the chief and Washington (Brazil). and on my second week, we've got two new coordinators, Francisco (Chile) and Callistus (Tanzania), and they were trained by me and Lucas. and so on and so on. that's how the coordinator thing works.
so, how to do this kind of work?

early at the morning, at 07.00 sharp, we have to be gathered with the Morning Team at Big Kitchen. we have our own room, sometimes its called Breakfast Barrack or Breakfast Kitchen.
the instruction of this work is very simple, at the morning, we have to prepare breakfast for Small Groups (work groups such as Cadole, Rubbish Collection, Kitchen Coordination, Night Welcome, etc) and for the Big Distribution (breakfast for the field people). after the Big Distribution is finish, we have to prepare Tea after 11 o'clock for the Small Groups because they need tea after the finish their work.

at the afternoon, we have to gathered with the Afternoon Team at 15.00 sharp. we only have to prepare tea for the Small Groups and Big Distribution.

how to make tea or choco drink for thousands of people? this is when the magic happens.
we have a special big pot for making either tea or choco drink. fill it with the water, cold or hot water. then put the packages of tea or choco drink. and then, voila! tea for 250 people is served in one big pot!

usually it's only took less than a minute to make tea or choco drink in one big pot. so, it's only took less than 10 minutes to satisfied around two thousands people with tea or choco drink.

tea pot, one funny thing happens to me about this kind of tool. when i bring the empty tea pot into the Big Washing Up area, one of my friend who responsible for the Big Washing Up start to shout "oh my goodness, another TEA POT!!" when he saw me bring that tea pot. and i replied, "not tea pot! but TEA MO (timo)!!" kyahahahahaha....

in my opinion, this kind of job is a challenging work. because to do this work, we not only need power such as to lift up the pot to on the top of the table. but, especially as a coordinator, we also have to make a quick decision when exactly we have to close the line, or which line is have to be close first, etc. because when the Big Distribution is already begin, we have only a little time to solve the problem that happens. and also we have to organize our team member to do the job very well and eficient.

i think this is one of the best job in Taize i've ever had. on my 8th week, i start to missed this job.

haha!

Tree of Dream

in one day at the afternoon, i involved in the simple conversation with my roommate who come from Guatemala...

Me : how are you, carlos?
Carlos: fine, thank you...hey Timo, do you know what? i'm crying last night
Me : you are crying? wow... why??
Carlos: it's because...oh i don't know... it's because i'm feeling lucky
being here, in this place. you know, in my country, the situation is
very difficult. but here, in Taize, it's very very peaceful. and i
efperienced all these things, it's very very lucky for me...

and that conversation is like a justification of what i'm thinking about lately, when i spent my time in Taize. even when i was received announcement which tells that i pass the recruitment to be a volunteer to Taize. i realized, it's not only about fulfiling a dream. but it's like a multiplying a dream. it's like a tree and i'm walking through it's branches. and there's a lot of branches that looks like its never finished.

the branches starts with my arrival into this "Zion". meet with a lot of people from all around the world. make friends from different countries and continents. living in one room with 3 boys which come from 3 different countries and continents, and in fact we speak with 3 different mother language.

then this branch goes to another branch.

i just realized that Tilleul boys have some kind of special treatments than the Neva boys. for the supper, Neva boys always have their meals on the Big Kitchen with the field people (but sometimes the have their meals in their house). but Tilleul boys always have the supper with the
brothers of Taize in the community (and also with the La Morada boys). sitting next to the long table with the other 80 poeple, we always have a appetizer (different kind of soup everyday), then the main course (different menu everyday, but always "Taize Pizza" on Sunday), then the
desert (mostly yoghurt, but sometimes we have fruit cocktail).

still about "special treatments". boys permanent sometime have a meeting with out prier of Taize, Brother Alois. why i called it "special"? after the evening prayer is finished, some of the brothers always stand at the several spots inside the church to listen and talk with people, include Br. Alois. but because many people want to talk or just want to be blessed by Br. Alois, usually many people make a que at the Br. Alois spot. but the permanent boys don't have to wait in a que to talk with Br. Alois. sometimes we have a meeting with Br. Alois to share and talk each other. for me, i've been twice to attend for this kind of meeting. the first time, we have a meeting between Br. Alois and all the permanent boys. and how lucky i am because one of the brothers told me to sit exactly next to the left side of Br. Alois. the second time, the meeting just for the Asian permanent boys and girls.

yes, than the others, maybe we have more close relationship to the brothers. and maybe because of that, i'd invited (twice) by one of the brothers (which come from Indonesia) to become one of the speakers for the workshops about "How to Sharing Life With Moslem Believers). speaking and sharing about my experience in front of hundreds people which come from different countries.

still about workshop, every Wednesday we have a workshop that shows the culture and the way of living in different countries and continents. ussualy 2 countries from each Asia, Africa, and Latin America. for people who live for 1 week, they can learn the culture and the way of living of six different countries. but for the permanents, such as me (and this is my 7th weeks, and there are 5 weeks more), yeah you can do the count how many countries that i can learn about.

still about "special treatments". boys permanent sometime have a meeting with out prier of Taize, Brother Alois. why i called it "special"? after the evening prayer is finished, some of the brothers always stand at the several spots inside the church to listen and talk with people, include Br. Alois. but because many people want to talk or just want to be blessed by Br. Alois, usually many people make a que at the Br. Alois spot. but the permanent boys don't have to wait in a que to talk with Br. Alois. sometimes we have a meeting with Br. Alois to share and talk each other. for me, i've been twice to attend for this kind of meeting. the first time, we have a meeting between Br. Alois and all the permanent boys. and how lucky i am because one of the brothers told me to sit exactly next to the left side of Br. Alois. the second time, the meeting just for the Asian permanent boys and girls.

then after those branches, i don't know what kind of branches that i should face in the future. i just wait it till its comes to me.


NB: i start to learn to write my blog in English, because many people
here want to read my blog. but because here in Taize, we use another
kind of English, it's called "Taize English" (because a lot of people
here doesn't speak English in their mother tounge). so here in this
post, i show you this kind of language that we use in Taize. hope you
can understand what i want to share in this post. and please give me
some feedback. thx!

10 Fourre Chocolat Rond

"this is a horrible place"

kira-kira begitu kalimat yang gue ucapkan ke salah satu teman gue disini. "it's like yesterday you say 'Hello', then tomorrow you say 'Goodbye' to the same person...", lanjut gue. gue ngomong kaya gitu bukan tanpa maksud. tapi emank bener sering banget kejadian kaya gitu disini. in one day, lo akan bertemu dan berkenalan dengan orang-orang baru, and in the another day, lo akan mengucapkan salam perpisahan buat mereka. apalagi kalo lo harus mengucapkan salam perpisahan untuk orang-orang yang udah cukup dekat sama lo. ironisnya, terkadang lo bisa menjalin kedekatan dengan seseorang dalam waktu yang singkat, and suddenly you have to say goodbye to them.

tujuh minggu gue disini, mungkin gue udah 'say goodbye' sama banyaknya dengan gue 'say hello' ke orang-orang. tapi ada satu 'say goodbye' yang paling berkesan buat gue. lumayan berkesan sampe ngebuat gue mati-matian nahan diri untuk ga nangis dan mayan ngebuat mood gue down selama setengah hari.

minggu lalu (minggu ke-enam) dan minggu ini, gue kerja jadi Breakfast & Tea Team. ada empat koordinator yang semuanya permanen cowo dan salah satunya adalah gue. kami punya dua macam tim, Morning Team dan Afternoon Team. rata-rata orang yang gabung di tim kami adalah orang-orang yang tinggal selama satu minggu. kadang-kadang ada juga permanen cewe yang gabung. tugas kami adalah untuk menyiapkan segala keperluan untuk breakfast, tea after 11 o'clock, dan tea at the afternoon.

di Afternoon Team kami, ada satu cewe 19 tahun asal Lithuania yang lagi ngejalanin minggu kedua dan terakhirnya di Taize. dia ini suka banget sama salah satu dari beberapa jenis biskuit yang kami bagikan setiap harinya. Fourre Chocolat Rond, dua biskuit bundar yang menjepit lapisan coklat di tengah-tengahnya, dengan dua biskuit per-bungkusnya. menu biskuit ini cuma jatuh pada hari Sabtu.

nah pada hari Sabtu itu, setelah selesai kerja, dia minta sama gue sisa
biskuit yang ada. sayangnya tinggal satu bungkus. gue bercandain deh seolah-olah gue juga mau banget sama biskuit itu. akhirnya gue ma dia sepakat buat ngebagi biskuit itu, satu buat gue dan satu buat dia.

trus malemnya, setelah Evening Prayer, seperti biasa gue nongkrong di Point 5. tempat itu setiap malem selalu jadi kaya tempat nongkrong untuk anak-anak permanen karena anak-anak permanen ga boleh pergi ke Oyak (Oyak, semacam tempat hangout dan ada toko yang jual aneka barang kaya makanan, minuman, tapi tempat ini khusus orang-orang yang tinggal selama satu minggu. biasanya tiap malem mereka semua ngumpul disini untuk nyanyi-nyanyi, nari-nari, maen games, dll). nah pas di Point 5 itu, gue liat si cewe ini lagi maen kartu sama temennya. gue gabung deh dan minta diajarin cara maen kartu yang lagi mereka maenin. permainan kartunya ga ada namanya, tapi mereka nyebutnya "Stupid Games" karena emang cara maennya kelewat stupid sih. haha! dari situ, kita jadi ejek-ejekan satu sama lain deh gara-gara saking terpengaruhnya sama Stupid Games itu. kaya kalo misalnya gue salah ngomong trus diceng-cengin ma mereka, gue bilang aja, "sorry, don't you remember? i'm a stupid!". trus mereka jadi keteawa gitu, gue lanjutin aja, "you're laughing! see, you're totally
stupid!". trus mereka ngajarin gue "Stupid Toast", dimana kita tos satu sama lain dengan cara yang bener-bener stupid. haha!

yeah, setelah itu mereka pamit mau tidur karena besoknya mereka musti pulang. mereka berdua bakal numpang (hitchhike) satu orang Perancis yang bawa mobil. so si cewe ini bilang ke gue, "if you wanna say goodbye, meet us tomorrow on 11 o'clock after the Eucharist at Oyak". trus gue bilang deh, "ok, see you tomorrow on 11 o'clock at Oyak. so, good stupid night and have a nice stupid dream..."

besoknya, gue ikut misa seperti biasanya. ternyata lagu penutupnya lagu favorit gue, so gue pengen nyanyiin tu lagu ampe habis. alhasil gue baru keluar dari gereja sekitar jam 11.10. gue ke Oyak, tapi ternyata parkirannya cuma ada bis semua, ga ada mobil pribadi sama sekali. oke gue ngiter-ngiter sapa tau dia belum naek ke mobil ato masih duduk-duduk di sekitar Oyak kan gitu. gue bolah-balik ngiterin Oyak sekitar tiga kali, belum ketemu mereka juga. oh damn, gue pikir gue telat deh, jangan-jangan mereka udah pergi duluan. kan mereka bilang jam 11.00 sedangkan sekarang udah jam 11.15. oke gue memutuskan untuk ngiter sekali lagi, kalo kali ini tetep ga ketemu juga, gue nyerah deh.

gue jalan ke arah jalan keluar dari parkiran, dan disitu ada tiga mobil lagi ngantri mau keluar dari tempat parkir. mata gue nyisir ketiga mobil itu dari mobil pertama. mobil pertama, bukan, dan mobil itu langsung meluncur ke jalanan. dan mobil kedua kebetulan berhenti tepat di depan jalan gue karena banyak orang lagi lewat di depan mobil itu. seketika itu juga gue baru sadar bahwa ternyata yang duduk di jok kanan belakang mobil itu adalah si cewe ini. fiuh! sementara temennya duduk di jok kanan depan (ingat, mobil Eropa setir kiri). saking shocknya, gue cuma
bisa ngasih ekspresi yang seakan mengatakan, "nah! ketemu juga! kmane aje lo?? dari tadi gue udah nyari-nyariin elo, tau ga!?". dan dia membalas dengan ekspresi sumringah plus ketawa kecil dari balik jendela mobil. kemudian gue sadar kalo jendela belakang mobil itu ga bisa dibuka, so gue sodorkan tangan kanan gue lewat jendela depan yang udah kebuka dari tadi ke arah bangku belakang, trus gue jatuhin bungkusan plastik putih yang sedari tadi udah gue bawa di pangkuan dia, sambil ngomong, "this is for you.." ketika dia ngeliat dan megang plastik putih itu dan sadar akan apa yang ada di dalam plastik putih tersebut, seketika itu juga dia nangis... kepalanya nunduk dan telapak tangan kanannya menutup hidung dan mulutnya, sementara matanya tetap memandang isi dari plastik putih itu. gue yang ga nyangka akan reaksi dia, spontan ngelangkah mudur. sempet kepancing pengen ikutan nangis juga, tapi ditahan ati-matian deh.

lalu mobilnya pun mulai jalan karena udah ga ada orang lagi yang nyebrang di depan mobil itu. gue yang udah ga sanggup lagi untuk ngomong "goodbye", cuma bisa melambaikan tangan kanan gue. sementara dia, di balik jendela mobilnya, kepalanya masih nunduk ngeliatin plastik putih di pangkuannya. sebelum mobilnya menjauh dari gue, sekilas dia ngeliat gue trus nunduk lagi.

dan mobil itu pun menghilang dalam perspektif jalanan.

Une Mois

Satu bulan dan dua hari semenjak tulisan ini ditulis.

minggu ini, orang yang dateng ke Taize mulai mengalami penurunan. jumlah untuk minggu ini sekitar 3700-an orang. minggu lalu merupakan puncak kepadatan jumlah pengunjung, yaitu mencapai sekitar 4500-an orang. ternyata setiap musim panas, selalu disediakan tempat tambahan diluar gereja untuk para pengunjung yang ga dapet tempat di dalem gereja, yaitu prayer tent. oya, orang-orang yang berdoa di dalem gereja itu duduknya lesehan. jadi kalo gerejanya penuh, kira-kira 4000-an orang.

kalo dihubungkan ke masalah pekerjaan, buat gue sih ga gitu ngaruh. minggu ini (memasuki minggu kelima gue) gue dapet kerjaan di /Cadole/ (lagi) pas pagi hari. /Cadole/ ini semacam bengkelnya Taize. tenda rusak, bangku rusak, sapu rusak? disini urusannya. kira-kira tiap harinya, tiap orang dapet kerjaan yang beda-beda, sesuai kebutuhan dan sesuai dengan cuaca. hari ini berhubung hujan, gue dan 5 cowo lainnya dapet tugas ngecek dan nutup rapat big blue tents di camping ground Taize.
siangnya gue kerja di /El Abiodh Economat/. /El Abiodh/ ini semacam dapur buat memenuhi kebutuhan makan untuk tempat-tempat tertentu (/Community /(sebutan untuk tempat tinggal para bruder), /Tilleul /(rumah untuk cowo permanen 2-3 bulan), /Neva /(cowo permanen 1 bulan), La /Morada /(cowo permanen 1 tahun), Le /Puits /(silence house), /N'Toumi /(cewe permanen 2-3 bulan), /Madras /(cewe permanen 1 bulan), /Olinda /(tempat buat keluarga dan anak2), trus mana lagi yeh gue lupa deh. nah kalo Economatnya itu semacam divisi khusus bagian gudang penyimpangan makanan dan bagian kebersihan dapurnya El Abiodh. jadi kerjaan gue bersama 3 cowo lainnya adalah tiap hari ngebersihin saluran drainase yang penuh dengan sisa-sisa makanan (iyaks!), bersihin wastafel, ganti kantong sampah, organize gudang, dan lain sebagainya.

nah hari minggu kemarin, gue dapet kerjaan jadi /first welcome/ untuk english speakers. tugasnya kurang lebih adalah ngasih informasi-informasi penting seputar tata cara hidup di Taize. karena manusia yang dateng macam-macam jenisnya, maka dibagi beberapa tim, ada yang /welcoming young adults/, /families with children/, dan /adults/. nah gue kebagian welcoming adults.

ternyata grup pertama yang gue welcoming adalah dua belas orang pendeta dari Papua, Indonesia. wuaaaaaaaaaa...ampe shock berat...soale selama ini kalo ketemu orang Indo di Taize itu paling cuma 1-2 orang doank tiap minggunya. itupun mereka-mereka yang tinggal di luar negeri such as Swiss, Jerman, Australia. lha ini langsung didatangkan dari Indonesia, dua belas orang pula! trus gue yang udah siap mental ngomong pake bahasa Inggris, tiba-tiba harus switch ke bahasa Indonesia. alhasil ada beberapa kata yang gue ga tau bahasa Indonesia apa. hehe.

minggu kemarinnya (minggu keempat gue), gue dapet kerjaan jadi /rubbish collection/ pas pagi hari. instruksinya cukup simpel: ganti kantong sampah yang ada di dalem tong sampah di seluruh area Taize, trus dikumpulin di beberapa drop zone yang udah ditentukan yang akan diangkutoleh rubbish car atau traktor, abis itu ke compactor area untuk naroh2 kantong2 sampah di trailer2 sesuai jenisnya (metal, botol plastik dan kaleng, botol gelas, general rubbish, karton). hehe ga simpel yeh. tapiasik kok. yang menarik dari kerjaan ini adalah teamworknya. ketemu tiap hari dengan orang-orang yang sama, nyanyi-nyanyi sambil kerja. mulai dari nyanyiin lagu2 Taize sampe nyiptain lagu sendiri, "rubbish rap". lucu deh, seru. sampe saat ini gue paling suka ma kerjaan ini.

nah hari minggunya, gue juga jadi /rubbish collection on sunday/. sama instruksinya. beda sampahnya. lebih banyaaaaaaaak. karena biasanya, orang2 sebelum pergi, ngebuang apa aja ke tong sampah. blueh.

minggu lalunya lagi (minggu ketiga gue), gue kerja /removing graffitis/ di pagi hari. cuma berdua, jalan-jalan ngiterin seluruh areal Taize sambil bawa-bawa kertas koran, amplas, ma alkohol untuk ngilangin coret2an (graffities) di bangku, tembok, pintu WC, dll. simpel, tapi
susah kalo ketemu coretan yang susah diilangin. siangnya di /Cadole/.

yeah, itulah kerjaan gue selama sebulan ini di Taize. dan masih banyak jenis pekerjaan lainnya yang ga kalah menariknya. dan gue masih punya sekitar tujuh minggu lagi disini. yihaaa!



NB: oya, maap yah gue ga bisa cantumin poto2...karena kompie disinijadul gitu, ga ada media untuk transfer data...lagipula gue juga cuma dibolehin buka thunderbird ma outlook express untuk cek dan nulis imel aja...untuk blogging ini, metodenya adalah gue ngetik trus kirim via
imel, trus minta tolong temen gue untuk kopi-paste ke blogger gue...mungkin poto2 nyusul, ga tau lewat flickr ato deviantart deh, masih lom kepikiran...tunggu aja pengumumannya...hehe...

Thx to:
- Inayah Agustin, atas kerelaannya untuk meng-kopi paste blog gue dari imel ke blogger gue, setidaknya sampai jilid ketiga gue di Taize.
- Lily, atas sms dan dukungannya....
- Mas Jun, atas waktunya untuk membaca blog gue...
- dan teman-teman lain yang telah membaca blog yang lumayan ga penting
ini...hehe...

Vice Versa

minggu kedua di Taize, gue semakin banyak menemukan perbedaan.

tahukah kamu kalau disini, matahari baru menutup matanya pada pukul sepuluh malam? pagi hari sih normal, sunrise jam enam pagi. tapi sunset baru jam sepuluh malam. tapi kayak gini ini yang bikin badan ngerasa cape bener. kerasanya dalam satu hari kok waktu berjalan lambat bener yak, siang mulu gitu kaga malem2...

minggu kedua ini gue ngejalanin (lagi) bible introduction, tapi dengan tema dan grup yang berbeda. hari demi hari berjalan, gue baru tahu ternyata gue yang paling tua di grup gue. yang laen umurnya ga ada yang lewat dari 20 tahun. pantes gue kurang sreg sama jalannya diskusi. kerasa banget betapa keukeuhnya mereka sama pendapat masing-masing. yang kemudian baru gue ketahui adalah rata-rata dari mereka adalah agnostik (mengakui bahwa Tuhan itu ada, tapi tidak percaya kepada-Nya (kalo definisi gue rada salah, silahkeun diperbaiki). yah gue emank uda sering denger bahwa rata-rata orang Eropa tuh berpikiran seperti ini. tapi ngedenger sendiri dari mulut mereka itu cukup membuat jempol kaki gue shock (secara gue ga bisa pasang muka shock, maklum, calon psikolog gitu loh! hehe).

mengetahui hal tersebut, di dalam diri gue ada si insting psikolog yang langsung berdiri dan berkata, "wah, menarik sekali! saya ingin mendalaminya lebih lanjut!". tetapi ada lagi insting yang lain yang berdiri dan berkata, "hih, nista! jangan dekat2 ma mereka deh!". lalu insting tersebut duduk ladi dan berbisik pelan, "nanti ketularan...".

di minggu ketiga, di hari jumat, seorang bruder dari Indonesia meminta gue untuk jadi pembicara (narasumber) di sebuah workshop bertema "how to sharing life with Moslem believers" untuk kedua kalinya (karena minggu lalu gue jadi pembicara juga di workshop yang sama). simpel aja kok, gue cuma nyeritain pengalaman gue selama gue duduk di bangku SMUN 21 yang rata2 Muslim kan, dan i have no problem at all with them.

di workshop yang kedua ini, ada seorang cowo Muslim asal Belgia yang kebetulan datang ke Taize dan ikutan workshop ini. di dalam workshop tersebut, dalam beberapa kali kesempatan, ia ngasih pendapat dan pandangan dari seorang Muslim. luar biasa. pendapat dan pandangannya cukup membuka mata gue akan situasi religi di Eropa.

seusai workshop, besoknya gue ketemu lagi sama orang itu secara ga sengaja, dan kami pun terlibat percakapa yang cukup dalam. yang gue kagum dari orang ini adalah dia begitu terbukanya deengan agama lain. dia cerita bahwa dia punya teman yang cukup dekat, sehingga bisa disebut sebagai guru spiritualnya yang beragama Budha, dia tahu banyak tentang ajaran-ajaran agama Hindu, dan ini adalah ketiga kalinya dia datang ke Taize.

yang membuat gue tersadar adalah, orang itu melakukan lebih dari sekadar menerima perbedaan yang terdapat pada orang (atau agama) lain, yaitu memahami perbedaan tersebut. dia udah ngasih kunci jawaban, bahwa jika kita sudah berhasil memahami perbedaan tersebut lebih dalam, maka kita justru akan menemukan kesamaan antara diri kita dengan perbedaan tersebut. tentu yang lebih penting adalah bukan hasilnya tetapi prosesnya, bagaimana cara untuk mencapai pemahaman akan perbedaan tersebut.

tentunya kalau soal menerima perbedaan, kita semua yang udah masuk usia dewasa muda udah bisa melakukan hal tersebut. bergaul dengan teman-teman yang punya pandangan atau prinsip yang berbeda, hadir dalam rapat dimana banyak perbedaan pendapat, sampai pada pacar yang tentunya kurang lebih punya banyak perbedaan dengan kita. yup, sebagai dewasa kita bisa nerima itu semua. tapi sebagai manusia, bisa ga sih kita memahami perbedaan tersebut? memahami teman-teman yang punya pandangan, prinsip, atau perbedaan yang berbeda, kira2 apa yang membuat mereka seperti itu, memahami perbedaan sang pacar...

tapi satu hal yang pasti adalah, sudah ada satu bukti nyata bahwa ada satu manusia yang gue temui yang mampu memahami perbedaan sesama. dia bisa melakukan hal tersebut. wowh.

gue?

hm, kayaknya disini adalah tempat yang tepat untuk memulainya.

Bonjour, revere !

so, here i am. living in my dreams.

ternyata gini toh rasanya ngejalanin mimpi terbesar dalam hidup. awalnya ada ketakutan bahwa setelah mimpi ini terwujud, gue ga ada mimpi lagi untuk disimpan dan diwujudkan. tapi ternyata disini gue mulai menemukan mimpi gue yang baru. apa itu? eits, nanti dulu. let me describe this one at first

Taize, sebuah desa kecil di Perancis yang dapat ditempuh dalam satu jam perjalanan darat dari Lyon. karena gue landing di Charles De Gaulle (CDG), Paris, jadi rada ribet buat gue untuk mencapai Taize. Dari CDG, gue harus naik bus Air France dengan tiket seharga 15 euro (1 euro kurang lebih Rp.14000,-) dan kurang lebih satu jam perjalanan untuk mencapai Gare De Lyon (stasiun kereta api). baru dari situ disambung dengan TGV (semacam Shinkansen-nya Jepang) dengan tiket seharga 53,70 euro (silahkan itung ndiri dalam rupiah) dan kurang lebih satu setengah jam perjalanan. kemudian turun di stasiun Macon-Loche (udah masuk kota Lyon nih). baru dari situ disambung bis dengan tiket 4,80 euro dan kurang lebih satu jam. trus nyampe deh di Taize.

sebelum mulai kerja sebagai volunteer, anak2 yang baru dateng (such as me) harus ngejalanin keseharian sepert orang2 yang datang dan tinggal selama satu minggu. oya, disini kan tempat ziarah dan semacam tempat retret gitu, jadi yang datang dianjurkan untuk tinggal selama satu minggu, dari hari minggu sampai hari minggu. biar lebih afdol gitu deh ziarahnya. kegiatan kesehariannya adalah tiga kali doa harian pagi, siang, dan malam (dimana ini adalah pusat hidup di Taize, jadi penting banget untuk ikut ini), bible introduction atau kerja pagi dan siang, dan tentunya tiga kali makan serta satu kali snack sore.

menurut gue, Taize ini semacam Zion (minjem istilah dari The Matrix Trilogy). kenapa? karena gue bisa ketemu orang-orang hampir dari seluruh dunia. yup, dari berbagai belahan dunia. di dalam dormitory dimana gue tinggal aja, ada dari Laos, Myanmar, Cambodia, India, Czech, Togo, Senegal, Kenya, Madagascar, Chile, El Savador, haduh mana lagi gue lupa. dan gue sekamar dengan satu orang dari Burkina-Fasco dan satu orang dari Guatemala. Yup, dengan ciri-ciri fisik sangat berbeda satu sama lain, kebudayaan yang berbeda, serta bahasa yang tentunya berbeda pula. mostly penunjung yang datang dari Europe sih dan anak2 permanen (begitu sebutannya untuk anak2 yang tinggal selama 1 bulan, 3 bulan, atau 1 tahun) rata2 dari non-Europe. dan mostly bahsa nasional mereka bukan English. jadi kalo mereka ngomong English, dialek dan akesn mereka rada sulit gue pahami (mungkin juga kalo gue ngomong English, mereka juga malah tambah ga ngerti kali yak! hehe...). kalo orang yang bahasa nasionalnya English, gue nangkep banget, kaya teacher gue di EF yang asli Liverpool kan. tapi disini walopun ada beberapa negara yang ngomong English (such as Kenya, India), tapi gue tetep sulit nangkepnya....(apa jangan2 emank gue yang dodol yeh??)

dan kalo gue jalan2 ngiterin Taize, gue selalu berpas2an sama banyak orang. gue suka iseng nyoba ngedengerin percakapan mereka walopun gue ga ngerti. sambil iseng nebak2 itu bahasa apa yah. tapi ndak bisa nebak juga. secara bahasanya beda2 dan gue ga bisa ngebedain mana bahasa jerman, belanda, ceko, polandia. tapi begitu gue masuk dalam gereja untuk berdoa dan bernyanyi, tiba-tiba mereka semua menggunakan bahasa yang sama.

minggu pertama gue kan join bible introduction, pagi dalam kelompok besar, siang dalam kelompok kecil untuk men-sharingkan pertanyaan2 yang didapat pas pagi hari. gue suka banget sama sharing gruop gue. kami ber-11 dengan asal negara yang berbeda2. 3 dari indonesia (termasuk gue), 2 dari Chile, 2 dari Colombia, dan masing2 1 dari Poland, India, dan Hollan. dan setiap harinya kami selalu menghasilkan kesimpulan yang sangat menarik dan sangat dekat dengan konteks keseharian kami. dalam diskusi kami pun, ga ada konflik sama sekali. menurut gue, yang ada malah saling melengkapi.

mungkin banyak yang bilang bahwa hidup damai diantara perbedaan yang ekstrim itu sulit dan bisa dibilang hanyalah mimpi belaka. tapi Taize bisa dan sudah mewujudkan impian itu.

dan gue mewujudkan impian gue di tempat impian yang terwujud ini.

NB: Happy Birthday to Aart Juliady! Maap daku tak bisa hadir untuk merayakan ulang tahunmu, teman.