Walking in the Rain

I felt stranger when I used a set of raincoat and walked in the rain from my boarding house to college.

Is it sound peculiar?

Hahaha…

Indeed. This afternoon felt different for me. I’m like one of seven sleepers who had just woke up from my so-long-sleeping. Yeah, because, more than 12 hours I spent in my boarding house without going out. I wake up so late this morning. Then, washed my laundries and prepare my noodle-breakfast. Oh, I found no rice in the jar. Damnit!

But, I have to thanks to God due to His blessing for me. I’m still alive! I’m still breathing. I’m still able to hear, see, and taste. It’s really enough, isn’it?

Well, I think this intro is too long to tell.

I want to jump to the main topic as the title of this blog. Walkpacking-point-of-view.

Some messages came into inbox. It’s from my college friend, Hariyono. He told me my METAN mark. Alhamdulillah, I got “B”. I was really happy for that. It is not so bad, I think. Only Rani in my class who got “A”. Jamal, the smartest student I so-far-known was just got “AB”. Oh, you know what? METAN is the most difficult subject I faced in this odd semester.

Then we talked about SUSI application forms. Yeah, surely I had completed all of requirements needed. Though, I still was waiting for recommendation letter from my Dean, Mr. I Basis Susilo, but I thought I had to send the application today. I don’t want to wait till tomorrow. Because, I felt bored to go to college everyday in this holidays time.

“I will go to college at 3 p.m.” I said to Hariyono.

“Why?” He asked.

“I don’t want to be captivated by free-internet-access in college that made me has to be sitting down for long hours. I also am reading my books!”

After praying ashar, I fulfilled my promise to come to the college. I saw the sky was so cloudy. “Well, it is gonna be heavy rain!” I said to myself. “But, hey! I have to go to college. I need free-internet-access. I want to check some of my accounts. And, the most pivotal thing is sending my application form!” Hahaha…

I knew that my laugh is unreasonable. Several seconds later, I heard the “tik-tik-tik” of rain’s sounds at the roof of my boarding house. I immediately looked for an umbrella, but I didn’t. “Yes, I have to go!” I yelled to myself.

So, I took raincoat that hung up in the wall.

I wore it and felt it was fit for my skinny body.

And I started to walk in the heavy rain.

Some children who were playing in path way-front of their houses, looked at me with peculiar sight.

When I passed them, I know one of them was following my steps. I did not want to turned my body back. Yeah, I thought that child was just do it for fun. Meanwhile, when I passed in front of some adults I found in the way, I did not want to see them. Yeah, I could felt the strange-sight-seeing from them. So, I did not need to look at them back. I straight to walk and walk in the rain with my blue and gray raincoat and also my blue-plastic sandals. Hehehe… They were totally match!

I walked and walked while enjoying the rain. It was not heavy anymore. So, I don’t need to be trapped in a very wet condition. Some drops of the rain spotted to my face. I enjoyed its freshnes.

Truly, when people looked at me, I felt I wore a miss-costume. I also felt not comfortable, actually. Furthermore, my side-bag seemed swollen in my right side of my skinny body. Oh… really, I did not ready to be famous! Hahaha…

But, I made myself tougher and tougher. And when I saw some men and women wore such-kind-of same raincoat, I felt more OK. Yeah, I have twins! Hahaha…

15 minutes then, I arrived at my college.

But, the problem relate to my confidence was not finished yet.

So, I immediately walked to behind of Building D of FISIP and took off my raincoat and put it into the red plastic bag I have prepared from boarding house.

Yes, finally my problem is finish!

Now, I can breathe comfortably!

*picture is taken from http://trackmixes.blogspot.com/*

Flash Back

I'm trying and still learning write in English. So, if in the midst of my writing you find something disturb you or make you nod your head, just please apologize me :) I will never know my English writing skill until trying it.

Here, I will tell you several of my walkpacking experiences. I will write them just like flash back and brief stories, so here we go...

I started seriously (?) walking when I had just been in junior high school. At that time, I had to walk about more than 1 km from home to my school, SMPN 1 Selong. Actually, my older brothers can deliver me by motorcycle, but yeah...my relation with them was just like ice. Frozen. I also wanted to prove that I was enough independent to go to school by myself. Though, when I arrived at home in the daylight's end (I school at noon), I used to have dinner first and got sleep.

I did this more than one year. Yet, it was not fully like that. Sometimes, if I felt I would be late, I asked my big bro to deliver me. Hehe...

Second, I did serious walkpacking when I have just accepted to study in Malang, a cool city in East Java. I didn't bring my motorcycle from Lombok. It caused by so many consideration. One of them was because I was newbie in Malang. I still did not know many aspects about Malang. So, it made me take decision to stay near from my small campus in Jalan Pekalongan Dalam. So, I just need 5-7 minutes to walk there.

*well, I have to skip my note because the library keeper command me to stop netting* hehehe

Alright, after many hours I have been hibernating myself at my private room, now I would like to continue this note.

During I had been in Malang, I used to go everywhere on foot. But, if the destination is far enough, I used public transportation which called "LYN". While, for some of my favorite place, such as Malang Town Square, Brawijaya University (just looked around there), or my very lovely book store: Togamas in Dieng, I used to walk. Not only to save my money that I used to buy food or books, but also I wanted to enjoy my journey. It surely could erased my crowded mind which fulled by courses at my campus.

Yeah, I think my experience in walking when I was in Malang was not as interesting as in Surabaya. Why?

I will tell it in another time.

So, I'm leaving now.

Thanks for reading.

I'm happy if you're not mind to leave comments here.... :)


*picture is taken from http://www.clker.com/clipart-9664.html*

Kenapa Walkpacking?

Istilah yang baru kita dengar atau baca, seringkali membuat kening berkerut dan bertanya-tanya, "Ini artinya, apa?" atau "Maksudnya?". Namun, bagi Anda yang gemar bermain kata, mencoba menerka sebuah istilah baru, sungguh mengasyikkan. Nah, kalau begitu, bisa Anda artikan kan walkpacking itu, apa?

Yang suka traveling atau backpacking pasti sudah bisa menemukan artinya. Yup, walkpacking merupakan gabungan dari dua kata: 'walk' dan 'packing'. Walk berarti, berjalan. Packing berarti, menyiapkan barang-barang di tas. Singkatnya, walkpacking artinya berjalan-jalan (kaki) dengan bawaan. Halah. Kacau nih interpretasi saya. Hehehe...

Yang membedakannya dengan backpacking, apa? Ada dong! Kalau backpacking, biasanya bepergian ke suatu tempat (biasanya situs wisata) dengan ciri-ciri: ransel di punggung, bisa jalan kaki atau dengan kendaraan umum tertentu asalkan ekonomis, dan biasanya sih murah meriah. Backpacking sedang jadi 'demam' sekarang. Ngetren. Tengok saja buku-buku yang mengisahkan para backpacker yang sekarang punya rak khusus sendiri di toko-toko buku. Setelah itu, muncul gelombang orang-orang yang juga ingin melakukan backpacking. Termasuk saya! :)

Lantas, karena hingga saat ini, jejak rekam backpacking saya masih belum begitu banyak, maka penamaan itu pun saya ganti dengan walkpacking. Mengapa? Sebab, saya lebih sering melakukan aktivitas ini. Berjalan kaki, bukan untuk ke situs-situs wisata, melainkan terkadang untuk sesuatu yang tidak jelas. Ya, sekadar berjalan kaki saja. Saya pun sepertinya perlu berterima kasih pada Hariyono, teman saya, yang telah menginspirasi dengan membuat istilah ini :)

Kenapa walkpacking?

Karen saya suka jalan-jalan (kaki). Seperti yang telah saya jelaskan pada tulisan sebelumnya. Saya menyukai aktivitas ini dengan 'terpaksa' sejak kuliah di Tanah Jawa. Kok, bisa? Ya, karena saya memang tidak diberikan izin oleh bapak untuk membawa sepeda motor. Bisa saja saya memaksa sehingga hati bapak luluh dan izin pun keluar. Tapi, saya mulai berpikir ulang mengenai resiko, biaya, sampai akhirnya pada pertimbangan lingkungan (lebih tepatnya, isu pemanasan global). Akhirnya, saya pun tidak 'ngebet' agar dikirimkan sepeda motor. Justru, saya ingin bersepeda ontel saya. Hingga menunggu dana terkumpul, ya...cukup berjalan kaki saja.

Kenapa walkpacking?

Karena saya punya dua kaki yang ingin saya manfaatkan seoptimal mungkin. Saya baru saja teringat untuk menuliskan alasan ini. Namun, sebelum-sebelumnya, ketika saya terserang penyakit malas berjalan (terlebih lagi, malas olahraga) sehingga bergantung pada keberadaan sepeda motor, saya pun berpikir, lama-lama saya tidak akan kuat berjalan. Apalagi karena saya memang memendam cita-cita untuk keliling dunia. Nah, jikalau saya tidak melatih kedua kaki saya untuk berjalan lebih aktif lagi, bisa saja saya akan cepat kelelahan hanya untuk menempuh jarak 2 km. Itu ingin saya hindari.

Kenapa walkpacking?

Ini kegiatan murah meriah. Berjalan kaki. Aktivitas yang remeh kelihatannya, tapi sempat membuat saya bangga oleh iklan sebuah susu formula di televisi. Berjalan kaki 1.000 langkah bisa mengurangi resiko terkena osteoporosis. Yup!!! Saya ingin mencegah hal itu terjadi pada saya, meskipun resiko terbesarnya menyerang perempuan. Tidak ada salahnya. Apalagi ini tidak berbayar. Hanya capek saja? Ya, tapi kan bisa diganti dengan men-charge lewat asupan makanan dan minuman. Kalau misalnya Anda malas berlari-lari atau melakukan kegiatan di gym, berjalan kaki di sekitar kompleks perumahan bisa menjadi solusi.

Kenapa walkpacking?

Anda punya alasan sendiri? Feel free to share here! :)


*gambar dicomot dari http://www.newscientist.com/*

Tinta Pejalan

Saya sengaja membuat blog ini. Khusus untuk menampung catatan perjalanan saya. Yeah, saya memang gandrung jalan-jalan. Meski terkadang, harus menunggu momen tertentu untuk melakukan itu. Sebab, saya juga pecinta ruangan. Apalagi jika telah dibekuk oleh tumpukan buku-buku. Maka, saya pun tertawan, duduk, atau tiduran. Namun, itu juga ampuh membuat semangat saya untuk berjalan-jalan. Mencari angin segar, mencari hingar-bingar, mencari pemandangan yang berbeda, mengusir kebosanan, juga menangkap inspirasi yang berkeliaran.

Memang, tidak semua catatan dalam blog ini akan memuat perjalanan saya yang istimewa. Istimewa dalam artian, perjalanan dengan menggunakan pesawat atau transportasi kelas eksekutif. Namun, saya mencoba menangkap renik-renik, meski itu sekadar berjalan kaki. Mungkin berjalan kaki dari kontrakan ke kampus, berjalan kaki dari kampus ke stasiun, atau berjalan kaki masuk gang keluar gang.

Sebab, perjalanan adalah proses, bukan tujuan...

Nah, dalam proses itu, saya yakin akan banyak hal menarik yang bisa saya dapatkan. Mungkin sehelai inspirasi yang tiba-tiba melayang tatkala saya memandangi titik air yang jatuh dari pinggiran atap rumah penduduk. Mungkin pula sentilan peristiwa masa lalu yang bisa menguatkan saya dalam menghadapi masalah saya saat ini. Atau saya bisa bernostalgia saat melihat anak-anak kecil bermain riang sepanjang gang. Saya anggap itu anugerah. Pemberian yang tak ternilai. Mungkin terlihat sepele, namun saya akan mencoba terus menggalinya lebih dalam lagi. Bukankah, seringkali hal sepele itu jika disepelekan, justru akan menjerumuskan? Nah, sebelum terjerumus, tidak ada salahnya untuk mengikat maknanya dan menggunakannya untuk membebaskan kita dari beragam belenggu?

Saya juga percaya pada adagium 'verba volent scripta manent', bahwa tulisan itu akan lebih mengabadi daripada sekadar ucapan lewat mulut. Tulisan juga harta karun yang dengan pasti bisa saya wariskan pada anak cucu saya. Saya tak bisa menjamin harta kekayaan yang melimpah ruah. Sebaliknya, saya memiliki harta berupa tulisan yang bisa saja digali untuk mendapatkan materi.

Saya, kembali memulai perjalanan khusus itu melalui blog 'walkpacking ink' ini.

Selamat menikmati.


*gambar dipungut dari http://fineartamerica.com*