my first experience with coffee shop

I made another record for my (so-called) ‘cultural adventure:’ together with several Pintu colleagues, I went to a coffee shop. Yes, I did, Baby! For you who are used to living an urban life, there might be nothing particular with visiting a café or coffee shop. But for me? It’s surely a whole lot of new experience.

Grandong, who had lived a strict life as a santri or Islamic boarding school student since primary to high school and is now enjoying a freedom ^^ as an ordinary college student, said, “As far as I can remember you are the first lady in large headscarf visiting this place.”

I looked around and said, “Wah, petualangan budaya banget nih buat saya” (Wow, it’s definitely a cultural adventure for me).

Suddenly all those boys stared at me in amazement. Apparently the phrase ‘cultural adventure’ sounded bizarrely funny for them. I sounded like an adventure-show host on TV or something. Shaking his head, Penya said to me, “Nek udu kancaku, wis takkamplengi lho kowe, Mbak!” (If you’re not my friend, I’d really get you beaten black and blue) (It was just a joke). Everybody laughed again, particularly after I said, “And how stupid. I go to a coffee shop but I’m ordering a glass of sweet tea?” I even drank it up that one of them said again, “She’s definitely a newbie.” He explained that when drinking in a coffee shop he’d sip it slowly and little by little so that the process of drinking last longer as he had a chat with his friends. Well, that explained why their cups, which were smaller than my glass, were still filled with coffee while my own glass was draining out (I suddenly felt like a thirsty camel)..

Later on, I finally decided to try the black coffee some of those boys were drinking. And, for God’s sake, what’s that? It tasted really bitter with coffee grounds floating. Now I understood why they sipped it little by little.^^

We had a discussion until it was really late and the place was about to close. The waiter finally approached us and politely requested us to go. Since there were few things we still needed to discuss, we moved to another place. And guess where we were headed. In the pavement in front of a closed store! As the store’s sliding door was filled with graffiti, someone said to me, “Maybe you should bring a Pylox and add some more.” I can’t imagine it.

I’m enjoying it all as much as I can. Several days ago my uncle said that somebody wanted to rent the room my sister and I were staying in. Suddenly it sounded like a polite request to go. I know it might sound weird that an uncle would do that. Frankly, my sister and I don’t get along pretty well with my uncle’s family. A cousin once used the form “cah ndesa kae” or “that rural kid” to refer to me and sometimes mentions that they’ve done us a favor that we should behave well. I’m not angry or sad (or worse: acting as if I were a new version of miserable Cinderella in one of those soaps called the Millennium Cinderella, whose only business is sobbing all night long for all the despair and bothers the entire neighborhood that they all gather and yell: shut up, Cinderella. You’re bothering our peaceful sleep. Get a life, will you?). I’m just used to it all. I’m just worried that if I really have to go back to my home in Bantul, I wouldn’t have the chance to enjoy all these. No more Pintu, no more Maiyah, no more theatre, no more late discussion, no more riding on my bicycle at night. So, in the time being, I’m really enjoying it as much as I can just in case they do a brutal action of asking us to go out of the house.

Anyway, I got a job. Well, not quite a ‘real’ job that requires me to go to office every morning. A fellow Pintu working as a co-editor in a publisher in Yogya offered me a translation job. I immediately replied, “Ho’oh, ho’oh, gelem biyanget aku!” (Yes, I’m taking it). The job is to translate 160-page-long book and should be done within a month. If I’m good at it, they might consider giving me another job. Sounded tough, but I’ll give it a shot. So yesterday morning I went to the office, carrying a sample of my translation work. I gave the chief editor the translation of two pages of Gorky’s “Creatures That Once Were Men,” from my e-book collection. He looked satisfied and gave the job for me. And, hey, it was such a sexy book^^ that I already got infatuated with it.

Someone I regard as alter ego replied my e-mail, after one long week. Makes me wanna scream out aloud right in his ear for making me wait too long >.<. But considering the gallantry of his well-composed letters, alright, he’s forgiven.

I’m happy, I’m so fine. Life is not really that bad. You just have to hold on a little longer. Hell yeah, Baby.