Journey of Mi[rna]

It has been a very long day for me.

God, I really need to see a doctor today. I haven’t been feeling well since Saturday, but I had to go to Purwokerto again on Sunday.

What has happened was, the surgery on Monday was not going well, so they couldn’t use the new equipment.
Arrrggghhh…………….I’m tired, that means I have to come here again soon.

I planned to go back to Jakarta on Monday night, but Dr.T asked me to stay and go back the next day morning, in case they have a trauma patient that can use ICP monitor.
So I bought ticket for Sawunggalih train for Tuesday, leaving Purwokerto at 8.52 AM.

I arrived at the station at 7.45 AM, had my breakfast then sat in the waiting lounge.
I heard from other passenger that here has been a train accident (KA Bengawan) at around 3 AM near
the area.
It was 9 AM, we didn’t see our train coming, so we asked the staff there. They told me that  most of the train were delayed or canceled. Mine was
canceled, so I had to change to another train, which was scheduled to
depart on 11.15 AM. It turned out we finally departed at 1 pm from Purwokerto.

I was with this old lady who was going to Jakarta alone, so we sat next to each other.

I started to feel not well again. I didn’t bring any food because the train will provide it.
Train was very sloooowwww…………., and we had to queue when entering several stations.
We got our lunch at 4 PM, just because we were in the same coach with
this police officials and the guard told the waitress that they didn’t
need the food because their group had it before.
I went to the kitchen coach and told them that some of passengers haven’t had any yet.

It was a bumpy rail too………….I have had my headache, had late lunch, and I felt want to vomit.
I just closed my eyes, praying so the pain will stop.

Finally, I arrived at Jakarta at 7.30 PM. So I was on a trip for almost 12 hours!
It was my longest journey ever by train.

I think I will rest tomorrow.

I have to write about this, because I experienced something today on the train that really pissed me off!

Dr.T had schedule another tumor surgery on Monday, Jan 29. So today I’m going to Purwokerto again…………..I took Purwojaya train as usual.

Usually I sit alone, not this time. There’s a young man sitting next to me.

I put my bags in the storage above me, took out two magazines and a newspaper that I bought for reading on this trip, placed them in the pocket of the seat in front of me. I made a phone call to my sister when suddenly this man reached out for my newspaper without asking my permission, looked at it for a moment, then he placed it into the pocket at his side, not mine.

Grrr……. He just pushed my button. I saw that, so I picked my newspaper and put it back into my seat pocket.

It happened two more times, and still, he didn’t ask my permission. My one magazine was still in the plastic, so he couldn’t read it, only stared on the cover.

I was almost burst! I wanted to scold him, to tell him that those magazines have an owner, and he’s got a mouth to say something nice to the owner (which is me!).

But I kept silence. I didn’t want to waste my energy to scold people.

That was an example, how some of people is too lazy to say or doesn’t realize that simple things like asking permission, or say sorry, are important.

Courtesy and manner are important. Never forget about it.

At my younger age, I didn’t pay too much attention to that, but after sometimes, you’ve got nothing to loose to say something nice and mind your manner in front of other people.

My boss emphasized this to us.

Here are more examples of small things that counts:

1. Say "thank you" after someone does something nice to you.

2. Smile and greet to the person you meet. Your smile can brighten his/her day. And smile is "ibadah", do you know that you will get "pahala" out of it?

3. Say "sorry" if you do something wrong.

4. Ask someone’s permission if you need something in public place.

Example: You are in a restaurant with your friends, the chairs were not enough for your group and you need to grab 1 or 2 from other table. If you see there’s people sit next to your table and they have available chairs, you ask their permission, don’t just take the chairs.

5. Pay attention when you make phone calls. There’s an etiquette about it too.

6. When you drive on the street, good attitude is needed.

Any other small things that count? Drop your comment here……………

I only had 2 hours of sleeping this morning, so now………….I feel very sleepy now.

===========================

There has been a change of plan. Dr. T has another surgery but it will be on Monday. I decided to go back to Jakarta first last night by train. The train was very slow, I arrived at home at 3 AM, in a heavy rain, finding my house was leaking!

I took a motor taxi this morning  to office. (A motor taxi is a motorcycle with a rider, ojeg gitu lohh…….).
The rider is a very old thin man (udah kakek kakek). The one that I usually hire wasn’t around, because it was 09.30 AM already.

Just a couple of minutes away from my house, we almost fell because of slippery street, it seemed the rider didn’t have a control on his motor. The rider fell, but I could manage to stood still. I didn’t know why, my mind told me to jump and not stay on the motor, but my hands were grasping the handle behind the saddle, therefore holding the bike. Of course, I couldn’t fall, otherwise my laptop in my backpack could be crashed. I couldn’t let it happened.

The motorcycle was laying down.
When we were on a bigger street, the rider increase the speed, I felt the motor was shaking. I prayed to God, please don’t fall, I didn’t want any accidents this morning. It was a scary ride…………!!!!!

I took a note that I won’t hire him again for the sake of my life.

I took public transportation to get home. I had a dinner first before. I took off my backpack with the laptop inside, I put it next to my seat. After I finished eating and paid the meal, I went out and waited the bus by the road. Suddenly I realized that I didn’t bring my backpack. Straight away I went back to the food place and got my backpack (and laptop!) again. Phew…..! Can’t imagine if I lost it.

=====================================

Now…………Another story.

I had a chat with my old college friend. She’s married with 3.5 years boy, she’s a consultant of accounting software.
We caught up each other, I told her that I’ve got an offer to move to German (ehmm……). I didn’t disclose everything to her of course.

It’s strange that people is never satisfied with what they have.

She told me to go for it while I’m still young and still not married yet. Cos if a woman has married, there will be a limited opportunity for her to grow (it’s a common situation here………).

She’s got many offers to work overseas, Saudi, Vietnam, Dubai, to take part in project implementations. Usually will take 6-12 months. The problem was, her parents and parents-in-law didn’t allow her to go with the reason that her child was still small, and asked her not to pursue high career, the focus should be taking care her family well.

Hmmm…………And what about me? I went overseas, traveling domestically, and I’m complaining that I’m very tired and prefer to settle down, raise a family.

It’s a funny world we live in.

Selasa kemaren gue ke Purwokerto lagi. Soalnya dr.T ada pasien tumor dan mau pake Selector yang baru dibeli.
Pilihan kendaraan: Naek KA Purwojaya. Mendingan itu daripada mesti naek mobil, 8 jam lamanya, mana jalannya lagi jelek, badan bisa sakit kebanting2.
Nah, kalo naek kereta ini, berangkat pkl. 06.50 sampenya tadi 13.00. Tumben on time, biasanya bisa sampai pkl. 14.00. Berarti cuma makan waktu 6 jam di jalan, dan tidurnya bisa tenang.

Kenapa pilih KA? Karena, gue cuma sendirian, jadi bisa hemat cost. Gak perlu pake mobil, yang berarti bakal save cost di bensin, driver, and kamar untuk driver.

Begitu sampe stasiun, gue cari makan siang dulu, biar sampe hotel tenang. Soalnya kalo dah check-in, males keluar lagi dan karena ke hotel naek kendaraan umum ya males aja singgah2 di tempat makan dengan bawaan yang cukup banyak (ransel isi paperwork and laptop, koper kecil isi baju, dan tas tenteng isi catheter untuk dr.T).
Abis makan, naek becak ke hotel. Di stasiun itu pilihannya angkot, ojek, becak, ma omprengan (mobil pribadi di-obyekin), gak ada taksi karena dilarang ma tukang2 angkutan itu.
Jauh juga lho dari stasiun ke hotel, mana yang genjot udah tua.

Sepanjang jalan cuaca mendung. Gak lama masuk kamar, hujan deras banget, sampai gue keluar cari makan malam. Karena masih gerimis ya gue makan di Papa Ron’s aja, cuma beberapa meter dari hotel.

Ini hari kedua gue.
Sarapan di kantin RS, gak pusing. Ternyata ada gak enaknya kalo pergi sendirian. Ke RS naek taksi, pulangnya naek taksi juga yang mangkal di depan RS. Lucunya supirnya sama ma yang tadi pagi.
Makan siang bareng dr. T di IBS (instalasi bedah sentral).

Naik taksi di kota kecil ternyata rugi, kita jalan diputar-putar sebelum sampai tujuan supaya argonya dapat banyak, huuuuuuuu…………

Mau jalan-jalan, males gak tau mau naek apa n mau kemana, tapi suntuk juga kalo di kamar hotel melulu, TV kabelnya cuma ada HBO.
Kemarin hujan lebat, eh HBO-nya hilang, hahaha…………

Jadi, kendalanya ya gak bisa ke mana-mana dengan bebas kalo pergi sendiri. Bisa aja naik becak, cuma kan gak tau mau nawar berapa ongkosnya.
Karena gak bisa pergi2, menu makanan jadi terbatas. Ya pilih yang dekat2 hotel aja.
Hotelnya gak ada room service untuk makanan or restaurant.

Gue gak masalah kalo pergi sendirian tapi balik hari, gak perlu pusing mikirin cari makan di mana.

Bingung deh mau makan apa malam ini.

==================================================================

IN SUMMARY:

1. Not driving own car during business trip is a problem because I can’t go to unknown places, therefore……..

2. Causing me difficulties to find varieties of food to eat.

3. Not going somewhere interesting (forgive my unadventurous style….), although there are some options for transportation.

Visiting a new area can be excited and it will be an unforgettable experience.

Yesterday I went with Ronadi to Banjarmasin to offer a neurosurgery equipment to the hospital. This hospital just purchased a new microscope from our company.

We used Lion Air, first flight in the morning, 06.15 am. I had to wake up at 3 am, and Dedy picked me up at 4 am. Then we fetched Ronadi. My my…..I was still very very sleepy. Haven’t had any breakfast yet, and Lion Air only served 1 glass of mineral water.

The airport, Bandara Syamsudin Noor, is a small building, and the airfield arrangement was quite strange because it has another field or plane parking area far from the terminal. So we had to ride bus from the plane to terminal.

From the air, I could see a lot of trees and greeneries below there.

Another scene that was different from the capital city:

There was a group of people of coming home from hajj, the people who picked their family was so crowded. Maybe 1 hajj was picked up by his/her whole family member, hahaha…………

Had a breakfast first before we went to hospital. Food is always expensive at airport.
From airport to Ulin Hospital, we took taxi, it took 45 minutes. What a long trip.

Arrived at the hospital, met some key persons there, introduced myself and had a chit chat with them.

Hungry again, I asked Ronadi what is the specialty here and where was place to eat. He said hospital canteen is on 2nd floor of the building, and another canteen next to the building, near mosque.

Wow, there were lots of grilled fish! Looks tasty with reddish color from the spices (bumbu). I chose "ikan patin bakar" with "urap". Ikan patin doesn’t have many small bones, that’s why I like it, no extra effort to eat it. The sambal was nice, sweet hot sour chilly paste with tomato.

Yum yum……. A nice lunch!!

I don’t know what happened with my stomach since yesterday, today was disturbing too.

Hung out at Jelita Hotel, near the hospital. We still had 1.5 more hours before we can go to airport.  With the tired toes, I preferred sitting in its coffee shop.

Plane got delayed for 30 minutes. Boring, boring……….No executive lounge inside the waiting room. But there’s one outside.

I still had more work to do after arrive in Jakarta.

I’m listing down TV series that tell about life of doctors and hospitals.

There’s E.R.: life in hospital emergency room.
House, on AXN every Monday: an eccentric doctor when diagnoses and treats his patients.
Nip/Tuck, on AXN every Monday: plastic surgeons, can say it relates to my office’s aesthetic dept.

And the latest, series about neurosurgeons! Oh wow, amazing!I will be able to know more about neurosurgeries.
3 lbs on Hallmark Channel, Monday night. You should watch it.

Can you add more TV series that you know about doctors and hospitals?
I’m waiting you……………….