Odisseus’ Mom

Dear Ody,

If you read the history book (hopefully you can read it on your elementary school in the next five years), you will find that our nation, , was gaining independence from Dutch on August 17^th 1945 through revolution wars. And the most “exciting” conclusion that our independence was gained by using sharpen bamboo (bambu runcing). Those story was so heroic and sometimes beyond my imagination. So, what your father did was trying to read and discuss what the real reasons of our independence were. And my conclusion, there were at least four reasons why Indonesia exists (and gaining independence): First, The Indonesian existence based on the Dutch colonial or occupation. If there were no Dutch occupation there will be no Indonesia. What we knew in the modern history that Indonesia was consisted thousands independence kingdoms before Cornelius De Houtman occupied the Malacca Strait. Second was the Hitler Factor. In the history, Hitler was known as the most cruel and racist war criminal. However, some nations got the opportunity to get the momentum for their independence from the Hitler Factor. Third was the Japan Factor. If  Japan were not telling Indonesian to fight using gun and modern army organization, would be easier to be occupied after the Second World War by the Dutch. So, Bambu Runcing is just part of the myth that should be rethinking to be deleted. The reason was the most capable in doing the military mission against the re-occupation on the 1945-1946 was Sudirman’s army, which was taught Guerrilla War.   Forth , Sukarno and Hatta, who state the independence to the whole world on August 17^th, 1945.

Enough for the history lesson my son. Let’s start by exploring your father’s discovery  from Holland . There are two cities that very important in Holland . First is the Holland Nation Capital in The Hague (this city almost the same with Washington DC area) and  second is Amsterdam, the business centre of Holland (this city almost the same with New York in US).

The Hague

Actually The Hague or Den Haag in Indonesian is nice and quiet city. The bus, tram, and road are integrated. Using bicycle or walking is one of the best choices for traveling in the The Hague . The reason is this city (not only this city, but most of Holland ) has a flat surface, so using bicycle will be very easy. This city was built in the 13^th century (refer to wikipedia), in we could refer to Singosari and Sriwijaya era. Most of my first and second day used for having “tune in” with this city. Your mother asked me to go some sites: Rembrant Night Watch, the Queen Palace , the Queen Office, and the other ‘site’ were supermarket such as Albert Heijn (like “Hero” in Indonesia ) and book shop De Slegte (like Gramedia in Indonesia ).

Unfortunately during my first 3 days the whether condition was rainy and windy. Your father should use something that he did not like: umbrella for covering from the rain. The problem was the rain came with wind and sometimes the umbrella would automatically bended itself.

Amsterdam

There were three purposes why we went to Amsterdam: first was exploring Amsterdam ; second was the Indonesian Exhibitions: The Discovery of the Past in De Nieuwe Kerk, Dam Amsterdam. Third was going to visit some Indonesian fellows.

We were exploring Amsterdam by walking around centrum. After having bus and train. We walked through the Centrum area. Some interesting places such as former City Hall or Former VOC office, Madame Tussaud Museum. Those places were integrated in a square area.

Discovering from the Past. Actually the information about this exhibition was from a colleague in Indonesia (thanks a lot Mbak). This exhibition explore Indonesian artifact from Indonesia and Leiden Museum (in other Place, probably after Paris Tour). It consists of over 300 masterpieces from the National Museum of Indonesia in Jakarta and the National Museum of Ethnology (Rijksmuseum voor Volkenkunde) in Leiden . On display will be six large sculptures from the Singasari period (13th century), important gold finds and palace treasures from Sulawesi, Lombok and Bali, as well as unique ethnographica from West and East Indonesia, including . Much of the material has never been exhibited before. The recently discovered Wonoboyo gold treasure also receives attention.

The most interesting were the Nandi statue from Singosari era around 13^th century, unfortunately we did not have any acces to the statue photography. The others were Ganeca from Singosari era and Buddha statue that was taken from Borobudur , the largest Buddhist temple in the world around 7-8^th century. 

Visiting Friends in Amsterdam. Actually not in Amsterdam, but in Amstelveen, a small city close to Amsterdam (probably Jakarta and Depok as the comparison). Before reached their place we had a lunch at Leidseplein with the Kebab, one of the halal food made by the Turk person.

We met some colleagues in Amstelveen : Aunti Riva, Uncle Kadek and Cauft. Actually we expected uncle Dhaniel and Dendi, but They did not respond my sms or yahoo messenger. Then we talked about red light , family, study, Ody’s surgery and others typical Indonesian students’ conversation in abroad.