Back to the Original Javanese

I couldn’t sleep last night. After two days (and still) having a bad cold, my emotions were kind of fragile. I don’t usually get insomniacs, but the sickness had a role in it, I guess. So I spent my night reading Rina’s roman novel until 5 o’clock. Then I walked out of the room and got my dirty clothes soaked in a pail of water with detergent (I felt sorta hyperactive at that time). I let it soak for an hour and in the mean time I got online and checked my emails.

At 6 I started washing and when I was done around an hour later I took a nap. I woke up at 9. That made me sleep only 2 hours that day, cause afterwards I didn’t have the chance to go back to sleep again.

I brushed my teeth and changed clothes and went to Pasar Pagi (the morning traditional market) nearby. I’d made a list of a lot of things to buy and I came home around 2 hours later with 4 big plastic bags full of vegetables, rice, all kinds of spices and chicken. Everyone was laughing at me for they thought that it was too much. I thought that, too. But if it could prevent me from doing shopping in a hot market too often, it surely was a plus thing to do. That way I might not have to go back there in a few weeks. :D

What was fun was the fact that I was trying to speak in Javanese with all the sellers. As a Surabayan, we had Javanese language taught for 9 years at school as an alternative course. And though my father was a pure Javanese man, we never really spoke in Javanese at home (or anywhere else, even in public places; Surabayan people are quite used to having non-Javanese speakers), so I’m not well-trained. I understand most of it, but it’s really hard to build a sentence as a reply. This morning, however, I was trying hard. I think it’s better to speak in Javanese with those people rather than in Indonesian for A. cities in Central Java are way more into Javanese cultures and B. I don’t wanna get cheated when I buy something just because they know that I’m not a local. That way, I hoped, I could get more respect and normal price from them. I succeeded with some vendors and failed with the other vendors. It didn’t take a genius that I couldn’t construct the best sentences or even phrases in Javanese. But I think they appreciated me.

I don’t know why. But I now would like to re-learn the language again from the beginning. I don’t know yet how to do that, but I’ll find a way. I may just naturally enquire it from the daily life here.

It’s a fantastic feeling