Day #15 Of Social Distancing In The Time Of Covid-19

Hello, dearest! I hope everyone is doing okay in this trying time. Alhamdulillah I am doing good, just been very busy lately with all the chaos that is Covid-19.  Here's a quick recap of this month.

In the first week of March, the government finally announced the first two cases of Covid-19 in the country. The patients were admitted to isolation rooms, and the government said that it was tracking the people who had been in contact with the first two cases. The government appointed Achmad Yurianto as spokesperson for Covid-19.

Several new cases were announced in the second week of March, but still there were no drastic prevention measures from the government. While many people started to feel unease, many others remain oblivious to the threat. The government so far instructed people to wash their hands and avoid crowds, also #SocialDistancing term was introduced. However, on this week, the first death of Covid-19 was also announced: Patient #25, a British national who was on vacation in Bali. Another shocking news this week: a Telkom staff, who was said to be negative on Covid-19 earlier, was announced as Covid-19 positive this week. Said staff had died and had previously been admitted to several hospitals, including a hospital in Bekasi, before taken to his hometown in Cianjur, West Java. The government said that the Covid-19 test could not be done all at once. The whole nation was like...what the hell???

In the third week of March, the Jakarta administration applied Work From Home and Study From Home, starting from March 16. The administration also asked people to pray from home. While all schools were closed at once, not all companies obeyed the instruction and the mass prayers were still conducted. As a freelancer, I have been working from home. So the new policy does not have any significant impact to my daily schedule. My neighborhood was still doing its regular activities. I even saw the mothers having volleyball match this week. Meanwhile, the number of cases and deaths started to rise. I read news of dead doctors at least once a day during this week, and it really broke my heart. One of the ministers was tested positive on Covid-19.

The cases began to show up in other cities outside Jabodetabek. As patients flooded the hospitals, the medical workers were asking for more personal protection equipment (PPE). The central government prepared three emergency hospitals in Jakarta and claimed that it would hold rapid test across the country. People also started donation to help the medical workers, those affected with the WFH policy (such as GoJek drivers, people who make a living day to day, and the poor).

Things began to get serious in the fourth week of March. At least, in my neighborhood. The mosque near my home announced on Hindu's Day of Silence (March 25) that it would stop all activities: daily mass prayers, Jumat mass prayers and the al Quran study sessions. News on regions conducting local lockdown started to pop out. I think the first region I heard doing lockdown was Tegal, Central Java. The roads in my neighborhood started to become empty. With more news about the outbreak, people has finally gotten a grasp on the enormity of the problem. 

Today is Day #15 of Social Distancing in the time of Covid-19. The number of people tested positive was 1,414, and the number of deaths was 122. The administration announced it would extend WFH and SFH policy. Let's hope that everything will turn out okay. For Indonesia. For the world.

Big Bad Wolf 2020, A Book Fair Before All Things Going Covid-19

Today the Jakarta administration started the #SocialDistancing policy, which includes work from home, study from home and pray from home, to curb down the Covid-19 outbreak. But before things started to look grim in the weeks to come, allow me to bring you some photos and stories from my latest trip to Big Bad Wolf 2020 (BBW 2020), a book fair held in ICE BSD. I went to BBW 2020 on March 14, two days before the Social Distancing policy was implemented.

Cisauk train station has modern architecture style

I went there with Mbak Elly, a journo friend, last weekend. We met in Cisauk train station, walked to Modern Market to have breakfast and lunch, and hopped on a shuttle bus from the bus terminal. The train station, the market and the bus terminal are located within a walk's distance.

Nasi Langgi at Pasar Modern Cisauk

Overlooking the atrium with live music performance

Rows of food vendors

I think I will come back again to this market

We discussed the Covid-19 and the best strategies to search the books without getting in contact with other people as we walked to the BBW. Although several friends said that it was reckless of me to go to BBW in this Covid-19, I believed the crowds in BBW were different than, let's say, rock music concert or religious group meeting. Bookpeople are usually logical, read many information, and not walking in big groups. Well, maybe just me. I could be wrong, though.

Although the lines were rather long to enter ICE, once we were inside, the BBW ground was quite empty compared to last year's BBW 

We arrived at ICE BSD and found very long lines of people. We got our temperature checked before entering the building, then we were asked to use hand sanitizer. BBW has always been crowded, and although we still saw many people, there were not as many crowds as I had seen in the past BBW. The people checked the books individually, not in groups, giving a proper distance to other people. Many people wore masks.

The piles of books

This one brought memories of journo days :)

Too many choices

A gentle reminder during the time of Covid-19

This year, I found dining area inside the BBW, which was great because it meant we did not have to leave the area to get food and drink. Two years ago, I had to leave the expo area to get food and then faced another long line to get inside. The prayer area was still located outside of the expo area, though.

We spent around 7-8 hours in the BBW. Mbak Elly got several adult coloring books and Tudor period novels that she was searching. I got my fair share of books too. This year's BBW had more classic novels than the previous as I saw novels by the Brontes, Jane Eyre, and Louisa May Alcott. I even found Gabriel Garcia Marquez's Love in The Time of Cholera. I thought, how apt was this, and bought the novel.

So here they were, the pile of books to get me through Covid-19, lockdown, and lonely nights in my 40s. Many people may be hoarding foods, hand sanitizer, or multivitamins for Covid-19. This girl feels complete with any books worth reading and a cup of tea.

Travel Wish List (For The 40s)

I went back into the archives of this blogs and found this post. Of all the countries in the list, only China, Japan and Korea were visited and I was quite bummed to see that. However, traveling is not cheap, and I was struggling to balance work and life in my 30s, so I'm happy enough with the results. 

Just for fun, let's make the list again. Here they are in continental and alphabetical order:

Africa

Let's blame it on Disney, but apart from Tanzania (that I have yet to cross out from my previous list), I want to visit Madagascar. Other African countries that I also want to visit are Morocco in the north and South Africa.

Asia

As a Southeast Asian, I want to complete my ASEAN tour. I still have the Philippines, Laos and Myanmar in the list. I have friends in the Philippines and Myanmar, and I really hope I can make it one day.

Apart from Southeast Asia region, I also want to visit Central Asia, aka the -stan countries, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Afghanistan. There is another -stan country, Pakistan, but I think it falls under the South Asia category. Oh, I still want to visit India, too.

And of course, I want to visit the Gulf region, particularly Mekkah and Madinah for haj. May God grant me this travel wish list in the next few years.

Australia and the Pacific

Australia is not just a continent, it's one country, a very large one. I don't know where to start, but I really want to see Melbourne, which everyone calls as an artsy city.

Instead of Australia, I actually want to visit New Zealand, the country where Middle Earth is located, Lord of The Rings once reigned and Jacinda Ardern rules. 

Europe

It's hard to pick just one country in the Blue Continent. France still ranks first, though, but being a tropical animal, I think I will enjoy the southern Europe countries (Greece, Italy and Spain) more as they have warmer climate.

The Americas

I've been to Peru in South America, so for the next travel in this continent, I want to see the northern regions. If it's the US, I want to visit New York. If it's Canada, I want to visit Justin Trudeau (wait, what?), LOL.

Somewhere in between

The fun side of geography is there will always be parts of the world where a country is located in between the continents. Some of such countries are Turkey and Russia (between Asia and Europe), and Egypt (between Asia and Africa).

All of those are currently just wishful thinkings, but we will never know what the future holds. Let's work hard, save some money and search for cheap tickets, shall we?

Yang Patah Tumbuh, Yang Hilang Berganti

A lovely song from Banda Neira, because today is an extra day :)

[Weekender] Photography Discussion, Book Fair And All That Jazz

From here

After all the floods we had in Jakarta and its surrounding areas in the past few days, we all deserve some relaxation this weekend.  

A friend informed me about a photography discussion #SnatcherClass that will be held at Titik Temu MBlocSpace on Feb. 29 at 10 am (for more info, check IG @arieslukman). I also saw another photography talk with Darwis Triadi on the same day (Feb. 29) at National Museum at 3 pm (for more info, check IG @museum_nasional_indonesia). Hmmm, how about coming to both events?

If you are in the mood for some Islamic reading materials, come and grab the books at Islamic Book Fair 2020, held at JCC until March 1.

Jakarta International Java Jazz Festival is coming to J-town! The three-day jazz festival will be held from Feb. 28 (yes, tonight) to March 1 at Jakarta International Expo.

There is also Plaza Indonesia Film Festival (PIFF) 2020, with movie screening held on Feb. 24-28 (today is the last day, though) with 'The Lighthouse', 'Honeyland', 'The Science of Fictions' and other movies in the lineup. For more information, check IG @plazaindonesia.

Wishing you a dry, safe and peaceful weekend!

I Got Another Freelance Job On The Topic That I Love

Before resigning from one of the jobs last year, I thought I would slow down this year. But an ex boss contacted me in early December 2019 and asked if I could help him out with a new project coming. He knew I worked for a Singapore-based media research company, and he was making a similar entity, so he thought I would be a good fit in his team. I went to his office and meet the other team members, had discussion about my daily schedule (aka my other jobs) and how we could turn the wheels around because we wanted this to work out well. 

That meeting happened in early December, and he told me to wait. So I waited, and resigned from that job. Resigning from that one was never meant to put all hopes on this job. I just wanted to leave things that no longer make me happy anymore. December and January passed without any progress from this project. Then early this month, the ex boss called again to inform that I should start working the next day.

[Say whaaat???]

Boy, I am grateful that I have a strong heart. Otherwise, I could have a heart attack right there. The boss put me in touch with one of the team members, who gave me the step-by-step SOP for the daily report. The first day was a mess. But we are learning to find our dynamics as a team, and so far we are doing good. It has been three weeks and I am starting to enjoy this new project. 

So, what is the project about? In general, it's also a media monitoring job, with the topic of environment, which was broken down to seven subtopics: direct mention of the client's name, climate change, forestry, lowlands, one map, palm oil, coastal&ocean, and biodiversity. I love the topics, which was why I said yes to this project in the first place.

The team provided the links for online news, while I have to scour six e-paper (Kompas, Bisnis Indonesia, Investor Daily, Tempo, Media Indonesia and The Jakarta Post) every morning. They gave me the passwords to the e-paper. Wow, this job is like a custom-made project for a person who loves to read newspaper and environment issues (read: me). All e-paper are already available at 3 am, except for Tempo (5 am), while I start working on the SG job at 5.20 am. 

Basically, I have to finish 80 percent of this environmental medmon project before 5.20 am. I can edit and finish the remaining of the report while working on the SG reports. Fortunately, the team members have been very helpful and they adjusted the schedule to make things working out for me to finish the report on time. I think what makes me liking the project is the trust the boss gives to the team members, me included.

I will work on this project until February 2021. It's not even a month has passed, and I really hope it will be extended. 

[Movie] SEMES7A, A Movie About Indonesia, Environment And People Who Are Trying To Save Both

From here

2019 | Director: Chairun Nissa |

I got a free ticket to watch this movie through a giveaway contest. I have barely won any giveaway, so I was very excited when I got it.

The documentary tells seven areas across Indonesia and seven people who are trying to save the environment using the local wisdom and the belief system they hold onto. Watching this movie will remind you that Indonesia is more than just beautiful natural resources, but this equatorial jewel also has rich culture and kind people.

First to be featured in the movie is Bali, a predominantly Hindu community in a predominantly Muslim country. The Hindu community in Bali celebrates Nyepi, Day of Silence, when people are not allowed to light up fire or electronic devices and talk or make any sound. A report says that Nyepi cut 30,000 cubic meter carbon.

From Bali, the film moves to Sungai Utik, West Kalimantan, where a Dayak community tries to guard the forest using the local wisdom that has been passed for generations. For example, in one year, an adult can only cut down three trees (CMIIW). They only hunt boars, and leave the orangutans at peace. 

Meanwhile, a community in Pameu, Aceh faces challenge in their life as the wild elephants destroyed the paddy field. Some consider killing or poisoning the elephants, but some others decide to take a step back and let the elephants to roam the land. As Aceh is called the terrace of Mecca, the Islamic cleric gives sermon that emphasizes the importance of maintaining harmony with the environment,

An effort to restore micro hydro power plant in Ruteng, Flores, East Nusa Tenggara is featured in the movie. The Catholic priest leads the community to generate electricity from the rivers, and when a recent flood destroys the turbine house and the levee, the community decides to chip in to bring back the clean energy to their village.

Another local wisdom is shown by the mothers community in Kapatcol, Raja Ampat, Papua as theyput a sasi (a ban to fish or take anything from a certain sea area for a certain period of time) to protect the sea. [Tangent: sasi is a common practice in Maluku and Papua, I once saw similar procession in Kei Kecil island, Maluku.] After the sasi is lifted, the mothers harvest the sea products, only take the big ones and return the small ones back into the sea.

The movie takes us to Yogyakarta, where Bumi Langit is located. The permaculture farming and food forest run by Iskandar Waworuntu and his family teaches audience that there is an alternative for better agriculture system that does not destroy the environment.

Kebun Kumara in Jakarta is the last story to close the movie. Founded by young couple Sandra and Dhira, Kebun Kumara tries to bring the greenery back into urban areas through urban farming. [Tangent: I went here last year for a gardening class, you can check their activity on IG @kebunkumara] 

There was a movie discussion after the screening with the director explaining on the process, the challenge and the hope for the movie. Ilun, as the director often called, explained that the movie featured seven communities and seven people due to the movie duration. So it was all about practicality, not lucky number. 

She ties in the seven stories by moving from one island community (Bali) to a tribe (West Kalimantan) to a village (Aceh) to a hamlet (East Nusa Tenggara) to a community (Papua) to a family (Yogyakarta) and to a young couple (Jakarta). Apart from the environment issue, she also features religion as one of the main themes, to show that all religions teach humans to take care of the environment, not destroy it.

It is an interesting movie to watch. Go and watch this if you have the opportunity.