This semester I am happy to finally learn about “Cross-Cultural Understanding”. I have put big interest on that issue since I was a junior high school student. My lecturer asked the students to read the book titled “Multicultural Manners” that suddenly I enjoy reading. Some stories in the book reminded me of what I experienced in my intercultural volunteering program three weeks ago.
Even I only went to Thailand which is still an Asian country adopting almost the same custom, I still got so many cultures shocked in the new diverse community. What I didn’t expect is I met a Vietnamese woman that is currently pursuing a master degree scholarship program at UNY and fluent speaking Bahasa. We didn’t have a language barrier. This helps us to communicate and understand each other. Her name’s spelling is Ai Nhung but we pronounce it “Ainun”. Here I list some “awkward” moments with her that at last, I feel lucky to experience those as a matter of fact I know more and learn something.
She eats a lot.
On the first day, I encouraged myself to make a friend. In dinner time, I saw her eating alone. Then, I initiated myself to eat with her. She ate a lot and took rice and side dish three times while I didn’t really enjoy the food especially the rice. That was the first time I encountered with Thai food and I found myself unfavourable into Thai’s food.
I heard from other friends that she was doing fasting on that day. She would break the fasting at dusk time. I conclude that she was a very good Moslem. “Amazing! She is fasting when she is travelling abroad. She can stand with it. Oh Fatiha, what have you done in this life?”
Yet, I was doubt to my conclusion because she didn’t wear a veil (what I see from a sunnah-fasting-Moslem is someone that has a strong principle within herself, but why not hijab?) Then, she looked very typical Chinese. The fact that she is from Vietnam still made me confused about what religion she believed.
I was afraid to ask what religion she believed because we just met, didn’t us? I thought that it was not a proper question to be asked.
After I knew that she was breaking the fast, I could understand why she ate a lot and still has a slim body hehe.
She borrows my Qur’an to be read every Subuh time (around 5.30 AM)
After I performed Subuh prayer, I would recite Qur’an in the bedroom where the volunteer girl slept together. I did this habit when I was far from home, actually.
Since day 3, Ainun asked very polite permission to borrow my Qur’an.
“Fatiha, kamu sudah selesai baca Qur’annya? Apakah saya boleh pinjam?”
(Fatiha, have you done reading the Koran? Could I borrow?)
I shocked. Oh, she was indeed very good Moslem. Not only did she fast but also read Qur’an. I thought she wanted to borrow mine because she might forget not to bring herself. I was totally okay about it.
“Iya, gapapa kok, Kak Ainun.”
(No problem at all, Kak Ainun)
She read it not recited it. She read silently. I concluded that she hadn’t been able to read Arabic yet. I still appreciated her effort to worship God, in my feeling.
She did meditation as a prayer.
“Fatiha, apakah sudah selesai di sini? Saya ingin meditasi dulu. Maaf ya, Fatiha. Maaf sekali.”
(Fatiha, is there anything else? I want to meditate first. I am sorry (to ruin your relax time here). I am so sorry.)
After we got back from teaching agenda, I decided to relax in the open living room because I felt so hot inside the bedroom. I found Ainun sitting on the wooden bench swing. I followed her. I started to ask a lot of questions to Ainun about Vietnam. Then, I started to ask a private question after I had confidence that I made a good friend with her. What I meant by the private question is the reason why she does fasting. My intention was actually to know what sunnah fasting she performed. Turned out, I found she did fasting for 3 months and would break the fasting as same as Muslim in the Maghrib time. February is her second month.
Ummm, wait. This is not how Muslims perform fasting. At that time, I realized confidently that she was not Moslem. She is either Hinduist or Buddhist. I didn’t ask but I was sure it was between those options.
I was still shocked until Ainun said the quote written above. It made me more realized that she was not Moslem. She meditated. I felt very sorryyyy at that time that I disturbed her worshipping time. OMG! :(
She is indeed a very good believer. I really appreciate the hard work from Kak Ainun to worship God while we do so many other things. She put “God first before anything else” principle. She always smiles, helps everyone (I had Kak Ainun wash my clothes), tells good stories, and many other warm attitudes of a believer.
She often prefers walking alone to working in a group. After I knew that she meditates, I think this is the reason why she prefers being alone. She wanted to have private communication time between God and her without other people disturb.
On the other day, I asked why she read Qur’an every morning and from whom she knew Qur’an. She answered that she just loves the messages and who made her know Qur’an was her junior in the dormitory.
The second time we experienced an awkward moment was when we left her alone after teaching time. What a rude majority's character I had!
We would go back to the campsite by car. As we waited for the car, we took photos around the school. We didn’t realize that Ainun was not with us anymore. The car that would take us to Seven Eleven Market came. We hurriedly went to the car.
After we have arrived at Seven Eleven (it took about 15 minutes by car to go there), someone called our LO, Kak Nurul.
“Gimana, Ainun? Kamu masih di sekolah? Loh? Ainun dimana?”
(What happened, Ainun? You are still in school? Hah? How come?)
Kak Nurul was veryyyy shocked. So did us. We laughed our stupidity very hard together. How could this happen? We were also very sorry that we didn’t realize it was her meditation time so she needed a little time to finish before going back to the campsite. She, then, decided to go back to the campsite by foot. Fortunately, she met one of our students who rode a bicycle and offered lift for her to go home with in the middle of her walk.
Another story is when a friend offered her ABON (dried meat)
On day 5, some of us(me counted) could not stand anymore with the Thai’s food. It didn’t raise our appetite. Fortunately, one of our friend from Padang brought Abon. She put it on the dining table means that everyone could take it for free.
We ate happily. My friend next to me would like to share the happiness to Ainun as well.
“Kak Ainun, mau Abon ga? Enak banget loh ini”
(Kak Ainun, do you want Abon? This is very delicious. Trust me.)
“Abon itu apa?”
(What’s Abon?)
“Itu dari daging sapi dikeringin.”
(It made from meat and dried)
“Ah, tidak, tidak. Saya sudah kenyang. Silahkan dimakan saja.”
(No! No! I am full already. Just eat it for yourselves)
“Ayo kak, gapapa kok beneran.”
(C’mon! It’s okay for you to take this)
“Gak usah. Gapapa. Gapapa”
(No problem at all. Just take it with you)
Then, I realized Hinduist/Buddhist don’t eat meat. It is a taboo food for her. Then, I pinched my friend next to me a little and whispered: “dia ga makan itu” (she does not eat that).
We then discussed a lot about how our multicultural manner should be. The moral value is we should understand people’s background well when we live in diversity.
She really appreciates food as the best gift from God
On day 6, we had a banana cooking class. Kak Ainun is a good cook. She cooked us kolak (a traditional Javanese banana dessert, kind of banana flavoured porridge). Kolak is a popular sweet dish for breakfasting in Indonesia. Meanwhile, our LO cooked us “nagasari (nogosari)” (kind of Javanese banana cake). They cooked in the afternoon and they would serve the food for dinner.
I was so happy to finally eat Javanese food. So did my friends, I guessed. We ate a lot. There was no food waste left for the Kolak but not with the Nagasari. There were still some. Ainun suddenly decided to fry them tomorrow in order to not throw away the rest of the food.
“Ini akan enak kok jika digoreng”
(This will be delicious if it is fried)
Fried Nagasari was very weird for me. The next day, I tried it and it was not that bad. I could eat it.
To other served foods, Ainun always maintained that there would be no food waste. She would share it with the whole volunteer members until there was no waste at all.
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| Me with a beautiful mind, heart, and soul (Ai Nhung) |
At last, I thank Allah for meeting me with you, Kak. You are a very good role model. I learn a lot from you. Have a nice day in Yogyakarta. Till we meet again :)
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