Falling in love with Germans

Sebagai orang Indonesia, kita selalu dibilang sebagai bangsa yang ramah dan murah senyum, tapi ketika melihat ada yang butuh bantuan, hanya ada sedikit orang yang mau membantu. Bertolak belakang dengan orang Jerman, yang katanya dingin, selalu cemberut, ga ramah, pemarah, dan lain-lain.. tapi ketika ada yang butuh bantuan (di jalan, di stasiun bus, di stasiun kereta) aku selalu melihat ada yang mau membantu.

Pertama kali nyampe di Jerman, aku dibantu oleh cewek-cewek usia belasan tahun (kalo di indonesia typical yang lagi gaul-gaulnya) untuk ngangkat koper isi 30kg pas naik kereta, terus nyampe di stasiun kereta di kota tempat aku tinggal, ada cewek yang ngasih tebengan diantar ke rumah, karna udah jam 12 malam, kayaknya dia kasian ngeliat aku dengan koper segede itu. Aku juga pernah ngeliat cewek yang lari-lari untuk pencet tombol pintu kereta buat orang lain, kalo ga.. keretanya keburu jalan dan si orang ini harus nunggu kereta selanjutnya, pernah juga ngeliat ibu-ibu dan bapak-bapak yang bantuin seorang ibu dengan kereta bayi pas lagi turun tangga.

Terus, ada juga nenek-nenek yang ngasih uang ke temenku.. waktu itu dia belum dapat Student Card (semester ticket), jadi kalo naik bus biasanya bisa nunjukin LOA aja, tapi itu juga tergantung supir bus-nya. Pas hari itu supir busnya ga mau, tetep kekeuh kalo temenku ini harus bayar, akhirnya dia bayar.. terus nenek yang ada di bus itu marah ke supirnya dan dia ngasih uang ke temenku buat gantiin ongkos bus tadi, dikasihnya lebih lagi, hehe..

Pernah juga pas aku naik bus waktu pindahan, ada anak SD (cowok)  yang nawarin tempat duduk ke aku.. katanya "möchten Sie sitzen?" sambil dianya berdiri, terus aku senyum dan bilang "Nein, danke.", terus dia duduk lagi. sumpah ga nyangka anak SD bisa sepeduli ini ke orang yang dia ga kenal.

Yang aku suka.. hal-hal kayak gini udah jadi hal yang biasa bagi mereka, itu bukan sesuatu yang wah lagi, dari anak kecil sampai orang tua bersikap saling membantu. remaja-remaja nya juga kayak gitu, mereka haha hihi, tapi gitu ngeliat ada yang butuh bantuan, langsung dibantu..

Dan.. Anak-anaknya juga mandiri banget, masih SD udah naik kereta dan bus sendirian (bus umum, bukan bus sekolah), mungkin karna tingkat kriminalnya rendah ya, jadi orangtuanya ga harus antar jemput anak.

Mereka juga disiplin, bukan hanya dalam hal kerjaan.. tapi juga di kegiatan sehari-hari, kayak naik turun kereta dan bus. kalo di Spanyol, Belanda, Prancis (baru ke Paris doank sih), kalo kita mau turun kereta.. pasti tabrak-tabrakan sama orang yang mau naik, tapi kalo di Jerman, yang mau naik biasanya nunggu di samping, ngasih jalan buat orang yang mau turun dulu, setelah semuanya keluar.. baru deh mereka naik. 

Orang Jerman patuh banget sama lampu lalu lintas dan kalo kita mau nyebrang di tempat penyebrangan yang ga ada lampu lalu lintasnya (di tempat ini pejalan kaki boleh nyebrang kapan aja), yang naik mobil pasti bakalan berhenti, kadang-kadang atau sering malah.. kita masih 2 meter lagi ke tempat penyebrangan, mereka udah berhenti duluan. Nah di negara-negara yang aku sebutin tadi.. rata-rata pada ga peduli sama lampu lalu lintas. Bukannya mau sombong, tapi gitu nyampe Paris, Amsterdam, Barcelona, Madrid, dll.. berasa pusiiing banget

Pastilah ya ga 100% masyarakat Jerman kayak gitu, tapi aku berani bilang mayoritasnya iya.

Banyak yang bilang orang jerman itu kaku, ga bisa melucu, ga tau gimana caranya bersenang-senang. Banyak orang yang ga suka dengan karakter orang Jerman, tapi aku bukan salah satunya.. aku bahkan jatuh cinta dengan karakter mereka.

Living in Germany makes me realize there are still some people out there who are willing to help other people (on the street, bus station, train station) who are completely strangers to them. German education system is difficult, like... very difficult, especially for those who get used to American system. But if I have an opportunity to choose all over again, I'd still choose Germany.

I always thought I was "I like books more than I like people" kind of person, but now I'm not so sure anymore.. sometimes people aren't that bad.

Sometimes I fall in love with people, with their character, with their kindness, with their thoughts.

I haven't wrote anything since almost forever, and when I decided to post something.. it's just a quote by my favorite author. I love it.

"It is sometimes a mistake to climb. It is always a mistake never even to make the attempt."

"If you do not climb you will not fall. This is true. But is it that bad to fall, that hard to fall? Sometimes you wake, and sometimes, yes, you die. But there is a third alternative."

"Sometimes you wake up. Sometimes the fall kills you. And sometimes, when you fall, you fly."

(Neil Gaiman - The Sandman, Vol. 6: Fables and Reflections)

No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted

When people don't care about other people, about society, I'm okay with that.. nobody can push anybody to care and help. But when they said "it's bullshit" to people who really want to help other people, I'm totally not okay with that. Not because I‘m in this Unicef group at our university, but because there are a lot of people out there who really need help. 

Guy: "oh you're in that Unicef bullshit."

Me: "It's not bullshit."

Guy: "Yes it is."

Me: "No it's not."

Another guy: "Yes it is."

Me: "Well everybody has their own opinion."

Guy: "What do you do?"

Me: "We had presentations (spread the news, trying to make students care about social condition), and we collect donation."

Guy: "Where does the donation go to?"

Me: "To the kids."

Guy: "In Africa?"

Me: "No, in the refugee camps, but since you said it's bullshit, so.."

Guy: "Oh you're offended."

Me: "Nope!"

I don't know what he mean by "bullshit", helping children.. or children's sad condition. Seriously, I'm not offended by this, I get angry though, because there are actually some people who really need help, there are a lot of refugees from Syria, they live in camps, they don't get enough food, they don't get enough warm clothes for winter. and the kids, do you even see them? Do you even know about this condition? they are right in front of our eyes, and some people just ignore them and some others just hate them. 

I was kinda happy at the university today when I saw some students who actually care about society, only a few though, but still it was very nice to be around people who have the same vision with us. some of them focus on helping children, some focus on violence. And some people in my house think it's bullshit, wow! unbelievable! what do they know about life when they spend every cent of their money to buy some weeds? when they don't even bother to read news, or ask other students about the real situation in their country. I don't know if what we did today will help those people in need, I don't know if it will make any change. I'm still trying to stop complaining and start doing something.. whatever I can do. I always believe, "No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted."