The Sterile Beauty

I was walking at the stone pier, along the side of Zurich lake where there were landmarks of water fountain and a giant lion statue. It was one of the nicest area here. You could have a walk along a small path with the lake at one side and a very tiny wood and open parks at the other side. There were small openings to the water in between plants and stones where you could just go for swimming. And there were benches everywhere, for you to daydream and to enjoy the lake view quietly, with ice cream stands nearby.

From the giant lion statue, you could have a direct view to Jet d'eau, the miniature copy of the water fountain in Geneva (it's a "miniature" because the one in Geneva is 90m height!), with the the city on hills as the background - the Uetliberg, the Zurichberg, and of course the towers of Fraumunster and St. Peters church at the old town. It was all beautiful, peaceful, very clean and..... sterile. On such a perfect day-for-picnic, things that I felt missing are people's noise and food carriages selling meatball soup and wedang ronde (glutinous rice balls with peanut fillings and ginger drink).

Once my good friend said, she did not wish our country changed to become like Europe. I could not disagree with her. Though the living standard here is perhaps one of the best in the world, why did I seldom see a group of people laughing madly and exchanging crazy jokes? The only drama that I saw on the lake today is a couple of ducks catching each other and quacking happily. It was a perfect beauty and peace on the surface. All sadness, envy, negative feelings; since the people are actually normal human; were hidden underneath. To me it's like a good life missing the life itself.

I am sure my country will not change like this. We have a different character. Warmer, less distance between people, even for the sake of hygiene. Well, perhaps not in big cities. Here on my canteen or food shops, all the assistants are wearing white gloves. Hygiene and protection is very important. I couldn't even borrow my colleagues' waterproof snow gloves because that's not hygienic. I missed my country so much just because of these matters. But when I was in my country on my last holiday and went to Carrefour, they were also wearing white gloves! New imported culture it seems, for whose concern I don't know.

Well, fortunately now, I still can go eating grilled corn on the street in my country :-) And like what my friend said, borrowed from the lyric of Yogyakarta, "Ijinkan aku untuk slalu pulang lagi ke kotaku..."