It was the year 2000 when I first met Ibu Ida as my teacher in UI’s English Department and never had I had before a teacher that was as seemingly demanding and ‘killing’ as her. That was at least my first impression about her. But, it turned out that her standards made me exceed my own expectations and saved me from the dark hole of other classes that I almost failed. Most of the reasons for that failure were simply because the English Department was not my first choice. But, she opened my eyes to the fact that I should not see the window that had already closed but that I should live up to the present that I had.
I had never imagined that four years later I would become her teaching assistant. She showed me in class how she was never reluctant to say thanks to the students when she learned something new from them. But, being her assistant was special because she taught me a lot more than just linguistics subjects and teaching methods. Every time we met, she always shared whatever lessons she learned that day. She also taught me to learn from and appreciate even little mundane things in life. Once, I saw her from afar standing alone under a rubber tree collecting the seeds. The next day, I followed her taking one seed and tried to see what I ‘could’ see there. It eventually helped me to understand what she had been teaching me about life. This is her reply when I texted her how thankful I was to be able to learn from a rubber seed:
“Dear Rianne, am glad the buah karet opened up your eyes into more intense awareness of the secrets of joy in life …. Be rich!” (06/14/2006, 11:56 am)
Every full moon, Ibu Ida also never forgot to text me to enjoy the full moon and the Kejora star, my favorite star. This is one of her texts:
“Dear Rianne, enjoy the almost full moon and the bintang Kejora (?) …… God bless all the living things on earth.” (05/12/2006, 8:22 pm)
Besides her wise and motherly being, Ibu Ida sometimes could also be as playful as a child. On her birthday last year, I wished her a happy birthday through a text message and in order to save the space I wrote continuously without any spaces between the words. She then replied this way:
“Thankyouforyoursweetprayersdearriannewilldomybestestbestesteverymomentofmylifegbu.” (05/20/2006, 6:43 am)
For me, Ibu Ida never meant to change me, but she did and always will. She is my role model who enjoys her present to the fullest and lets things freely go. Everything that she has taught me leads me everywhere I go. She has been the torch that inspires every single step I take.
For all her students, I believe she has been an ‘imperishable’ teacher that always convinced us to believe that we can reach the moon if we want. She makes us keep the faith in ourselves.
We all agree that people come and go. But, Ibu Ida came and never goes… she stays there in our hearts because she touched us from her heart…
Brooklyn, August 27 '07
