.. to omoimasu

My new english teacher, Andy seems (to me) to be the perfect example of how narrow-minded Americans can be. Perhaps it’s because he’s still young (he’s actually younger than me!! <gasp>) and he’s never been out of America before.

Now, why did I say he’s narrow-minded? Because he thought (or maybe he still does) that all Moslem women that wear headscarves are being repressed. When the class ends, he said “Next time, we’re going to discuss women who are repressed in their society” and then looked at us (me and my friend who is also wearing a headscarf). I was like, “What’s with the look??”.

Then on the next class, long story short, he responded to  my friend (an Indonesian) by saying, “And women should not vote, they should not drive, right? (he’s being sarcastic to what my friend said )”. What?? Where did you get the idea?? So naturally, I retorted,

“FYI, we CAN vote in Indonesia. We are also allowed to drive, to have a driver’s license.”

“REALLY??”

Ya elah deee ni orang… 

So for those of you reading these hoping to read a Moslem women lamenting her repressed life.. let me tell you something. It doesn’t happen in Indonesia. MOSLEM WOMEN ARE NOT REPRESSED IN INDONESIA. AND HEADSCARF IS NOT A FORM OF REPRESSION. Though I must say that this does not include Arabian women. Since I have no idea how it works there.

All this time I had always been puzzled on the usage of possibility and probability. I didn’t know exactly when to use which. I thought it was clear how to use them, but then I read Agatha Christie’s Death In The Clouds during my high school (which means I had been in the dark for around eight years?? Very stupid of me ) and I was stumped. In the book, they were talking about the possibility AND the probability of each of the suspects in carrying out the crime. How this guy is possible but not probable and that guy is the opposite. THEN my head began to spin (lebay ). And only tonight did I have the brilliant idea to google “difference between possibility and probability”.

And what do you know? There it was, my way to enlightenment. In fact, there were more than one very helpful links. I actually found a site on “The Introduction of Philosophy” and there was a lengthy (and sometimes difficult) explanation on possibilities and probabilities. Ergo, I am enlightened. And I can proudly say, that Agatha Christie was wrong in her usage of possibility and probability. ASSUMING I remember her story correctly, that is.

PS: Yes, I admit, I had been very stupid for this whole eight years. But it’s never too late to learn, right?

How many of you Indonesians make it a habit to check out the weather forecast everyday? I don’t. Because I don’t think it really affects me whether it’s raining or not. If it’s the rainy season then I’ll always bring my umbrella with me. If it’s the dry season then I won’t. It’s always been that simple. Back in Indonesia, it seems to me that the weather has always been out of the picture when planning something, or anything for that matter (even when you’re holding a wedding party, cause most Indonesians will just hire a pawang. lol).

However,  during one of my conversation class (the one I described lovingly in the previous post ) we were having “weather” as the topic and I was asked one question, “How does the weather affect your lifestyle?”. I was like, “Affect my lifestyle? How CAN a weather affect my lifestyle??”. And Michael (for those of you who forgot, Michael’s the teacher’s name) was like, “Are you telling me you have never been affected by the weather all your life? Didn’t you consider of what the weather would be while making plans??”. I answered with a simple “No” and then he had this incredulous look on his face. He said, “For example, where I come from, the whole town could shut down because of a snowstorm. And when you open the door you see that snow has blocked your doorway up to the roof.” So I answered, “Well, Indonesia has only two season and they are not very different. The only difference is the amount and frequency of the rain. Which means you have to bring umbrella during the rainy season. That’s all. We don’t have four seasons, where the weather goes to the extremes.” And he had this you-guys-have-it-easy-there-huh look on his face that all the Indonesians (merasa dianggap remeh ) quickly replied,

“But during the dry season it gets really hot.”

“How hot? What’s the highest temperature it gets in Indonesia?”

“Umm 34? 35 degree Celcius?”. And then I added, “It was so hot that I’d get headache”

“In Canada, during the summer the temperature might reach 45 degree Celcius.”

And we were all like, “WHATT??!!” and were so embarrassed for saying 34 degree celcius is really hot…  

So, moral of the story, bersyukurlah kita, orang Indonesia, berada di khatulistiwa with its moderate climate. Musim kita gak aneh-aneh. Gak ada musim dingin yang dingin menusuk tulang ataupun musim panas yang kayaknya betul-betul bisa bikin mati kepanasan. Dah gitu gak ada angin topan, tornado, hujan badai. Tapi kalo gitu berarti Filipina kasian kali ya. Udah cuman dua musim, sering kena topan pula. Huehehee