Author: Tata Soesetyo

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Uncategorized

Kasus COVID-19 Kembali Meningkat, Apa Yang Harus Kita Lakukan?

Kurang lebih satu setengah bulan yang lalu, kita merayakan Idul Fitri. Banyak pihak yang khawatir akan meningkatnya kembali kasus COVID-19 di Indonesia. Kekhawatiran ini kemudian terbukti selama satu minggu belakangan, di mana tercatat puluhan ribu kasus (terbanyak jatuh pada hari Kamis lalu dengan 20,574 kasus positif) setiap harinya. Apa yang terjadi, mengapa semua ini terjadi, dan bagaimana herd stupidity kita sangat terkait dengan penambahan kasus yang masif?

Sambil belajar membaca dalam bahasa Inggris, yuk kita kupas apa yang terjadi selama seminggu terakhir di Indonesia lewat rangkuman berikut. Jangan lupa juga baca ulasan kita soal kosakata penyakit yaa sebelum membaca rangkuman di bawah!

It Re-Escalated Quickly: Cases Are Everywhere!

Several areas, such as DKI Jakarta and the West, Central, and East Java reported the surge of cases in the past week. In Bekasi, for example, it is reported that public hospitals are fully occupied, and in the past two days, emergency tents have been built in response to the hospitals’ full capacity. In DKI Jakarta, Wisma Atlet Emergency Hospital is almost full of patients until the government would like to open a new isolation center. Moreover, it is also reported that Central Java ran out of oxygen tubes, despite the assurance that the stock is enough by their Health Department.


(Graph source: Berita Satu)

A record number of coronavirus cases have been reached in the past few days. Prior to this writing, when we look at the graphics above, we have reached a record number of 20,574 positive cases last Thursday, and 18,872 positive cases as of yesterday. The CovidAnalytics Team from MIT projected the Indonesian COVID-19 cases will escalate further in the next few months, predicting 24,619 as the peak number of cases by July 16, 2021. Hence, this possibly created a new wave of coronavirus infections in Indonesia.

UPDATE: Per the first publication of this writing, the daily record of cases broke again (Saturday, June 26, 2021) by reaching 21,905 cases, with all COVID variants around the world has reached Jakarta.

Despite the official reports and CovidAnalytics’ projections, the US-based Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) Washington University cited the deaths until mid-May was 2,5 times more than the reported numbers, hence Indonesia ranked the 17th with the most coronavirus deaths.

The Factors of the Upsurging Cases, the Delta Variant, and Herd Stupidity

There are two main concerns why COVID-19 cases climbed dramatically in Indonesia, mainly because of high mobility (despite the implementation of Mudik Ban) and lesser people compliance to the health protocols, citing the reasons of getting tired of the pandemic itself, going angry at the government’s restriction implementation inconsistencies, and as a result of the confusion, ignoring the health protocols altogether in the end. This is affirmed by Dicky Chresthover Pelupessy, Ph.D. (social psychologist from Universitas Indonesia), citing the term herd stupidity “is harsh, but has to be said” since it relevantly depicts our current situation. He stated both the people and the government contributed to the herd stupidity. He took an example during Mudik Ban when people should have been banned from making their Eid homecomings, the government did not impose tougher mechanisms to enforce the ban, which “allowed” the people to come home in various ways possible.

At the same time, there are concerns about the spread of the Delta variant, which spreads faster than any other variant. The symptoms are more severe in the Delta variant, including the increased likelihood of hearing loss, severe stomach pains, and nausea, which increases the chance of people being hospitalized or requiring oxygen treatments/enduring other complications. Furthermore, the infodemic (information pandemic) can also contribute to the worsening COVID-19 in Indonesia by the overwhelming spread of false information regarding the pandemic, as exemplified by someone who went angry because he believed coronavirus does not exist during a patrol in West Sulawesi.

Lockdown vs. PPKM Mikro Question

As a response to the rising coronavirus cases in Indonesia, there are two competing mechanisms being raised: a nationwide lockdown or the emphasis of the Micro-Scale Restriction on Public Activities (PPKM Mikro) implementation. There are two main ways to assess these possible solutions: economically and socio-culturally, which possibly contrast each other.

Economically, according to Bhima Yudhistira, an economist from the Institute of Development on Economics and Finance (INDEF), were national lockdowns be implemented around two weeks from now (for 14 days, at least until the beginning of July), the government would spend between 11-25 trillion rupiahs while losing the gross domestic income (GDI) of 77-308 trillion rupiahs compared to the GDI loss of 463-848 trillion rupiahs without the nationwide lockdown. However, people’s non-compliance to health protocols, as well as most people working in informal sectors, were brought to attention during the decision-making process.

The lockdown discourse has been brought by the Governor of Yogyakarta, Sri Sultan Hamengkubuwono X, who considered the total lockdown in Yogyakarta is necesssary because of the soaring cases and to enable their healthcare system to recover. This proposal then received support from the Chief of COVID-19 Task Force from the Indonesian Medical Association (IDI), Prof. Zubaidi Djoerban, who urged the national government to implement a 2-weeks lockdown to slow down the COVID-19 spread and statistically flatten the curve.

However, the Yogyakarta plan to locally lockdown then foiled because of the inability to fund the affected people, while five provinces already declared themselves to be against the total lockdown option due to it not in line with the Micro-Scale Restrictions on Public Activities (PPKM Mikro) policy conducted by the national government. Then, how does the national government respond to the discussion?

The Indonesian President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) insisted that he will not impose a nationwide lockdown, but rather told the regional governments to impose stricter restrictions using PPKM Mikro in their respective regions under the same essential: restricting public activities to flatten the curve. Not only that previously the Presidential Spokesperson, Fadjroel Rahman, cited the PPKM Mikro‘s success to combat COVID-19, but also citing the non-compliance and affected sectors reasoning against the national lockdown. Having studied the nationwide lockdowns in various countries, the implementation of nationwide lockdown is also seen as “not fitting” to the Indonesian society for the aforementioned reasons.

Moving Forward

When it comes to the policies, the member of the 11th Commission of the House of Representatives (DPR), Rahmad Handoyo, argued that “no matter which policy is implemented at the end of the day, the keys are the implementation and enforcement of those measures instead of the type of the measure.” He then added that “as long as PPKM Mikro is implemented strictly and firmly, it will be effective.”

Having witnessed the skyrocketing coronavirus cases (once again) in Indonesia, what we can do is to follow health protocols and comply with the restrictions made by the government by knowing our DVD (distance, ventilation, duration) as also reminded by the President. At the same time, we also have to combat the infodemic by sharing only trustable news and sources, while protecting our loved ones back home.

Stay safe, stay cautious, and stay healthy everyone! Hope we can return to the life before the pandemic as soon as this is over.

Vocab Corner

(the words are listed in alphabetical order)

English wordBahasa Indonesia
AffirmedDitekankan
AforementionedTersebut
AssuranceJaminan
DepictsMenggambarkan
DiscourseDiskursus, wacana
EmphasisPenekanan
EnforceMenegakkan
ExemplifiedDicontohkan
FirmlyDengan tegas
FoiledDibatalkan, tidak jadi
Gross domestic income (GDI)Pendapatan domestik bruto (PDB)
HarshKeras
Health DepartmentDinas Kesehatan
Healthcare systemSistem kesehatan
Herd stupidityKebodohan komunal
HomecomingsMudik
Hospitalized (or UK: hospitalised)Dilarikan ke rumah sakit
ImposeMenekankan
Indonesian Medical AssociationIkatan Dokter Indonesia (IDI)
Micro-Scale Restrictions on Public ActivitiesPemberlakuan Pembatasan Kegiatan Masyarakat (PPKM) Mikro
NauseaMual
Non-complianceKetidakpatuhan
Oxygen tubesTabung oksigen

Quiz

Since the blog is in English, try to also answer these questions in English!

  1. Berapa kata berbeda yang kalian bisa temukan selain increase untuk peningkatan? Sebutkan kata-kata tersebut!
  2. Menurut teks tadi, apa sajakah yang menjadi penyebab meningkatnya kasus COVID-19 di Indonesia dan apa sajakah opsi dalam mengatasinya?
Categories
Break the News

Break the News: Omnibus Law Has Passed!

Airlangga Hartarto (right) is seen handing the government’s view of the Omnibus Law to Puan Maharani (left), who serves as the Speaker of the House of Representatives on Monday (Oct 6) (Picture source: Liputan 6, 6 Oct 2020).

Omnibus Law telah menjadi kontroversi setahun belakangan ini. UU yang dikenal sebagai UU Cipta Kerja ini tiba-tiba saja disahkan pada hari Senin (5 Oktober) lalu, sehingga menimbulkan demo di berbagai wilayah Indonesia selama 2 hari belakangan. Lalu, apa sih sebenarnya Omnibus Law ini? Kenapa sih dikatakan Omnibus? Dari mana sih asal mulanya? Kenapa sih bisa merugikan buruh? Ikuti blog ini untuk lebih lengkapnya!

Artikel ini selanjutnya akan ditulis dalam bahasa Inggris. Kok gitu? Untuk meningkatkan kemampuan membaca kalian dalam bahasa Inggris, tentunya. Salah satunya yaa… lewat baca berita. Tipe bacaan ini juga dibahas loh dalam EOS ActiveRL, biar kalian gak kaget!

What is Omnibus?

Before we talk about anything else, let’s talk about the origin of Omnibus. In the legal context, according to the Merriam-Webster, omnibus comes from a Latin word omnibus that means “for all.” Omnibus, however, is the dative plural of omnis, which means “all” in Latin. Sounds a bit like an omnivore, a living creature that eats both flesh and plants, right?

Then, this word came into French. Back then, it meant “long, horse-drawn vehicles that transported people along the main thoroughfares of Paris,” before becoming English.

Just for your information, the “omnibus bill” was the equivalence for “a bus loaded with people.” This is because the bill contains numerous provisions. In the end of the day, Omnibus Law is understood as “the rule of the rules,” in which more than one aspects are conjoined to become a legislation.

The Start of Omnibus Law

Many of you guys then asked, how did the Omnibus Law start? Because of that reason, I’m going to cover the start of the Omnibus Law until becoming a legislation we know today.

During his second-term presidential inauguration on October 20, 2019, Jokowi proposed two legislations: UU Cipta Kerja (Job Creation Bill) & UU Pemberdayaan UMKM (SME Empowerment Bill). In his speech, he told the public that these bills will not only revise several bills, but also dozens of bills. He hoped to simplify the rules in quantity and in terms of the ruling so it will be on target.

There are 11 sectors that are covered by the Omnibus Law, such as:

  • The simplification of land permits (penyederhanaan perizinan tanah)
  • Investment criteria (persyaratan investasi)
  • Employment (ketenagakerjaan)
  • The ease and the protection of SMEs (kemudahan dan perlindungan UMKM)
  • The ease to start a business (kemudahan berusaha)
  • The support to do research and innovation (dukungan riset dan investasi)
  • Governmental administration (administrasi pemerintahan)
  • Sanction-imposing (pengenaan sanksi)
  • Land-controlling (pengendalian lahan)
  • The ease of governmental projects (kemudahan proyek pemerintah)
  • Special Economic Zone (Kawasan Ekonomi Khusus/KEK)

Additionally, these 6 sectors regarding taxation are covered:

  • Investment funding (pendanaan investasi)
  • Territorial system (sistem teritori)
  • Individual taxpayer (subjek pajak orang pribadi)
  • Taxpayer compliance (kepatuhan wajib pajak)
  • Business climate fairness (keadilan iklim berusaha)
  • Facilities (fasilitas)

The Debacle Between the Government and the People

Those discussions above cause a debacle within the people. Especially, the Job Creation discussion of the Omnibus Law looked done in haste in the House of Representatives without involving the people. How could it be? Isn’t the House represent us the people? Here’s the explanation.

If we refer to the House of Representatives’ official website, the House has the power to create legislation. A legislation can firstly come from the President, the Regional Representative Council (DPD) regarding the regional autonomy, or the House itself, which will be sorted in a National Legislation Program (Prolegnas). Then, the draft that has been agreed within the House and the President will be promulgated as a legislation.

Unfortunately, this is not the case with the Omnibus Law. In comparison to the previous legislation, the people felt the discussion inside the government has been conducted in haste despite the pandemic. For example, the mayor of Bogor, Bima Arya, criticized the discussion process was in a hurry on why it has to be targeted to be done in 100 days. He stressed several crucial points that need to be discussed openly with the people and the regional government to ensure transparency, more participation, and inclusion.

This is an infographic from tirto.id on the points raised by the people.

Those points raised by the people are mostly within the export-import and the employment sector, which they deem harmful. Summarized by Kompas, supported by Tirto in the aforementioned infographic, those are:

  1. The abolition of the citywide minimum wage (Upah Minimum Kota/Kabupaten or UMK), replaced by the province-wide minimum wage (Upah Minimum Provinsi or UMR).
  2. Increased overtime hours, from a maximum of 3 hours to 4 hours daily, and from a maximum of 14 hours to 18 hours weekly.
  3. Lifetime contract and vulnerability to work termination.
  4. The reduction of time-off, from only one day per six working days, and the abolishment of the two months per six months’ sabbatical.
  5. The ease of foreign workers’ recruitment.
A picture of one of the demonstrations happened in Binjai, North Sumatera (Source: Tribun Medan, 9 October 2020).

Aftermath

Since the Omnibus Law first discussed, it received backlash against the House in form of various demonstrations. One notable demonstration was from March 2020, when the workers’ union demonstrated against the Omnibus Law draft. They demanded for the employment-related rulings to stick to the status quo on the Employment Act number 13/2003 over the above reasons. The chief of the Indonesian Trade Union Confederation, Said Iqbal, said that Jokowi’s intention to attract foreign investments to create a working field doesn’t mean the government has to sacrifice the workers’ rights.

As a result, according to the Secretary of the Coordinating Ministry for Economic Affairs, Susiwijono, every economical stakeholder would be involved in the discussion, as ordered by the President. He continued that a roadshow would be held to accommodate people’s aspirations in the law’s creation. On the contrary, according to the member of Gerakan untuk Indonesia Adil dan Demokratis (Movement for Fair and Democratic Indonesia/GIAD), Jeirry Sumampow, the government should have postponed the Omnibus Law discussion in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic.

During the process, Covid-19 strikes the world (causing lockdown in various countries ranging from the Netherlands to Canada) and Indonesia is also affected. With people questioning how the Indonesian government handled the coronavirus, they came up with the hashtag Atasi Virus Cabut Omnibus (Overcome the Virus, Repeal the Omnibus) to demand the government to solve the never-ending first wave of coronavirus in Indonesia.

The String of Demonstrations

Within seven months, the string of demonstrations continue, with the most notable coming within October 6-8, 2020 – the days when the House scheduled to meet over Omnibus Law. Suddenly, the House fast-forwarded the discussions to October 5, 2020, and officially promulgated the law, resulting in demonstrations in 18 provinces, which mostly ended up violently. Only two political parties opposed this law, which is the Democratic Party (Partai Demokrat) and the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS).

Several days after most demonstrations, Dradjad H. Wibowo, an INDEF economist, admitted that the House of Representatives passed an incomplete draft. One main reason is because the team in charge of formulating the law hasn’t yet to finish the draft. According to the constitutional law expert, Faiz Rahman of Gadjah Mada University (UGM), it was strange that the lawmakers had claimed not to receive a draft during the plenary session–because each member should’ve been given and read the final draft before passed into law. This caused another uproar from the people continuing the protest until the Omnibus Law is repealed.

Vocab Corner

The vocabulary is listed in alphabetical order of the English words/phrases used in this reading.

WORD/PHRASEINDONESIAN TRANSLATION
abolitionpenghapusan
backlashpertentangan
conjoineddijadikan satu
Coordinating Ministry for Economic AffairsMenteri Koordinator Bidang Perekonomian
DebaclePergolakan
Employment ActUU Ketenagakerjaan
House of RepresentativesDewan Perwakilan Rakyat (DPR)
Indonesian Trade Union ConfederationKonfederasi Serikat Pekerja Indonesia (KSPI)
in hastesecara terburu-buru
legislationUndang-Undang (UU)
lifetimeseumur hidup
National Legislation ProgramProgram Legislasi Nasional (Prolegnas)
overtimelembur
plenary sessionpersidangan
Presidential inaugurationpelantikan Presiden
raiseddiangkat
Regional governmentPemerintah daerah
Regional Representative CouncilDewan Perwakilan Daerah (DPD)
repealmencabut
sabbaticalcuti panjang
stick to the status quotetap di keadaan sekarang
time-offwaktu istirahat
uproarkegemparan
workers’ unionserikat buruh
Work terminationPemutusan Hubungan Kerja (PHK)

Stay tuned for our next blog post talking about the vocabulary used when talking about Omnibus Law!

Quiz

  1. There are two words that can be able to describe “mengesahkan (hukum).” What are the words?
  2. These are the tax-related sectors covered in the Omnibus Law, except:
    • Territorial system
    • Individual taxpayer
    • Sanction-imposing
    • Taxpayer compliance
  3. What happened after the string of demonstrations happened within October 6-8, 2020?

Categories
Around the World English Reading What's On

Austria: On Flattening the Curve & English-Learning Journey

This is how Austria gets ready to lift the lockdown and face new normal (Source: Business Insider).

Seri #AcrossTheGlobe kali ini kembali dengan pembahasan kehidupan pasca-Covid 19, terkhusus tentang flattening the curve. Bila sebelumnya kita membahas bagaimana new normal diterapkan di Amerika Serikat, dalam Instagram live minggu lalu, Elisa berkesempatan untuk mewawancarai Arla terkait bagaimana Austria berhasil flattening the curve dalam menangani Covid-19. Tidak hanya itu, Arla sempat membagikan tidak hanya terkait cara mendapatkan beasiswa di luar negeri, tetapi juga tentang English learning journey-nya, yakni terkait tips dan triknya selama mempelajari bahasa Inggris.

Arla saat ini sedang menempuh jenjang doktoral Teknik Kimia di Wina (Austria). Sebelumnya, Arla menempuh jenjang S1 di Bandung, dan berhasil mendapatkan beasiswa Erasmus Mundus untuk menempuh jenjang magister di tiga negara Eropa (Perancis, Polandia, dan Spanyol).

So, without further ado, let’s check it out!

That De-Escalated Quickly

In Austria, the first case of Covid-19 was confirmed on February 25 in Tyrol, which resulted in a nationwide lockdown on March 16, shortly after Italy. However, the hot spot was not in Vienna, but in the ski resort where tourists spent their winter there–hence the government locked down the resort only instead of the whole nation.

Furthermore, Austria implemented an exit restriction (instead of national lockdown), where people weren’t allowed to go outside except for essential work, or to help others, e.g. to help older/sick people and exercise (e.g. jogging, biking, etc., but calling a friend to jog together is prohibited). On March 17, the Austrian government announced the closure of the shopping malls, schools, and the unessential (non-basic) shops, only grocery stores, and pharmacies are allowed to open.

How about the new normal in Austria? Stores in Austria have gradually reopened starting from the middle of April. For example, schools are open and students are divided into two shifts: half of the class goes to school every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, whereby students must wear masks and bring their own hand sanitisers. Restaurants also reopen, with a restriction on how many people can stay inside (e.g. 10 people).

Then, in order to flatten the curve in Indonesia, what can we learn from Austria? Arla shared two things:

  • The government’s fast response: Since it is the scientists and the government that hold the data, they’re responsible to communicate what society has to do. For example, even though wearing masks was forbidden in Austria–it is now obligatory.
  • The obedient society: If there’s a regulation, we have to obey it. Austrian society sets a good example of being obedient to the regulations imposed by the government.

In Indonesia, several regions have started the so-called new normal, although positive cases are still increasing. Discipline and obedience is the key in this new normal to flatten the curve. If not us, who else can flatten the curve?

On English Learning: Mistakes Are Fine!

Take a look: this is what Arla shared on how you can improve your English conversation skills!

In Arla’s career as a scientist/researcher, English is her working language. That means, she has to write papers, communicate, even read scientific papers in English. This is important especially in the international environment where she’s in.

Moreover, she has several tips on how to improve our English, such as:

  • Keep practicing! Practice makes perfect. You can practice pronunciation with a native speaker, for example, or have your English teacher (if any) correct your grammar if you’re making a mistake. It’s okay to make mistakes because we can learn and improve from our mistakes, right?
  • Join English clubs: English clubs consist of those like-minded people who’d like to improve their English skills. Ms Elisa, the founder of Engliven, was also actively involved in an English club during her undergraduate study in Jakarta. At English clubs, you could talk about any topics in English, join competitions and the board of Management, etc. So don’t hesitate to join if there’s one in your environment!
  • Immerse yourself in the English language. This means you have to get exposed to English as much as possible, such as reading this blog, listening to your favourite music/podcast in English, or even Netflix and chill with your favourite English series.

The good news is, Engliven provides various learning opportunities to practice your English. A lot of Indonesians are concerned on grammar, so we help you tackle this by conducting Engliven Online Series: Grammar Fix (#EOSGrammarFix) which is going to be held in July-September 2020, with Live Zoom lessons (not pre-recorded) by Ms Elisa, Q&A sessions, and most importantly, guides and tips to kickstart your self-learning.

Not only will you get the basic functions of all English tenses, but you’ll also learn Indonesians’ common mistakes when making sentences in English. You’ll get materials from British English curriculum with new friends in the next three weeks on a WhatsApp group. Therefore, you’re not practicing alone – but it’s only for 50 people! Go sign up before it’s too late.

To support our students and followers, Engliven gives away 1 free access to either one of the Online Series mentioned earlier to 1 winner of #BeraniSalahInggris challenge, in which you can make a sentence out of a subject and a verb, before throwing a pair of different subject and verb to your friends. The message of the challenge is, again, “don’t be afraid of making mistakes as we all can learn from it!” Win the challenge and make as creative video as possible: because the sky’s the limit!

A free 3-month course? What are you waiting for? Grab your phone and start practicing!

How About Overseas Scholarship?

Aside from English learning, Arla shared how we can get a scholarship to study abroad! Beside preparing for TOEFL/IELTS, she recommends researching the language requirement of the scholarship we’d like to apply for. After knowing your target score, start practising to get that particular TOEFL/IELTS score, as well as preparing the personal statement, academic transcript, and recommendation letter.

Since studying overseas also requires a daily understanding of English, we have to practice every aspect of it; not only speaking but also basic listening and reading. Yes, you will need the practical skills to understand tons of information before you do groceries and make friends with the natives. This is why we are having another Online Series on Active Reading & Listening (#EOSActiveRL) in July until September 2020 to help you get the confidence at least before you start speaking.

So, what are you waiting for? Go sign up and don’t stop practicing!

Vocabulary Corner

  • FLATTEN THE CURVE: Flatten the curve is actually a phrase that means “melandaikan kurva”. The curve itself pertains to the Covid-19 spreading curve, which allows healthcare services to better manage the same volume of patients. This is different with a declining curve, where the Covid-19 cases gradually decrease after time.
  • PROHIBITED: This can also mean forbidden, a.k.a. “dilarang” in Indonesian.
  • THE SKY’S THE LIMIT: This is an English idiom which is equal to “nothing is impossible”. That is to say, there’s particularly no limit to anything. As long as we try, we can make it through.
  • PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT: This idiom means “if you practice, you’ll get better”. Practice requires discipline and makes you improve your skills on a daily basis.

Quiz

  1. In the article, there’s a phrase “… like-minded people”. How do you say liked-minded people in Indonesian?
  2. Translate this sentence into English: Tidak ada yang mustahil bagi kalian untuk mempelajari bahasa Inggris dengan baik.
Categories
Around the World English Reading What's On

Siap Hadapi New Normal? Here Are Tips from the US!

Salah satu cara kita menyambut new normal adalah melalui kelas online. Sudahkah kita siap? (Sumber gambar: dokumentasi pribadi)

Yep, new normal, are we ready to embrace it? Will we get through this? Don’t miss out on it yaa, scroll down for more! No worries, for English readers, you guys can also find it way below!

INDONESIAN

The new normal? Kita sering mendengar di berbagai media bahwa “mau tidak mau Indonesia harus siap dengan new normal,” atau bahkan “pemerintah minta masyarakat membiasakan diri dengan the new normal.” Ini di Indonesia, bagaimana dengan di luar Indonesia?

Di sisi lain, Amerika Serikat adalah negara yang saat ini paling terdampak Covid-19. Sampai tanggal 19 Mei 2020, CDC melaporkan bahwa ada 1.504.830 kasus positif di Amerika Serikat, dengan 90.340 kematian. Dengan demikian, percaya atau tidak percaya, Amerika Serikat harus menyambut yang namanya new normal. Sebetulnya, apa sih new normal itu dan bagaimana cara kita menyikapinya? Dalam Instagram live Senin kemarin, Elisa mengundang sepupunya Tris, yang saat ini tinggal di Chino, California untuk pencerahan lebih lanjut.

Tris sempat bekerja sebagai konselor untuk keluarga, terkhusus pernikahan dan keluarga yang terkait dengan (mantan) narapidana. Pekerjaannya sebetulnya berbeda dengan psikolog, di mana untuk menjadi psikolog diwajibkan untuk memiliki gelar doktor, sementara untuk menjadi konselor diwajibkan untuk memiliki gelar magister. Ia juga membagikan bahwa baik psikolog maupun konselor sangat dibutuhkan di masa-masa sulit seperti ini, khususnya seperti meningkatnya angka pengangguran.

Membiasakan Diri dengan New Normal

Lalu, apa itu new normal? New normal sendiri lebih pada kebiasaan baru, di mana kita menjalankan aktivitas seperti biasa ditambah dengan protokol kesehatan Covid-19 sampai vaksin ditemukan. Itu artinya, kita tetap harus menjalankan physical distancing (memberi jarak dan membatasi kontak fisik), misalnya, kemudian menggunakan masker, menerapkan pola hidup bersih dan sehat (PHBS)–bahkan beberapa sektor dapat tetap bekerja dari rumah.

Terlebih, salah satu caranya untuk menyongsong new normal itu adalah melakukan pertemuan secara online (seperti melalui Zoom, FaceTime), bahkan menerima konsultasi kliennya juga melalui online. Ngomong-ngomong tentang kegiatan offline yang dipindah ke online nih, kita di Engliven juga sudah 100% memindahkan kelas offline ke online! Sebenarnya Engliven sudah mengadakan online class bahkan dari sebelum Corona hadir. Kelas online kami berbasis video call dengan menggunakan Zoom sebagai platformnya–di mana belajar akan menjadi semakin interaktif dan akan berlatih bersama! Kita tidak hanya belajar bersama teman-teman (atau langsung dengan guru, bila privat), tetapi sesuai dengan metode di Engliven (20% Teacher Talk Time & 80% Student Talk Time), semua murid tetap bisa berbicara lebih banyak sambil share screen, annotate, bahkan berbagi file bersama! Dengan begitu, mereka bisa latihan berbicara Bahasa Inggris dengan lebih percaya diri.

Terlebih, ada beberapa keuntungan yang akan kalian dapatkan ketika kursus bahasa Inggris online dengan Engliven, yakni:

  • Materi dan metode pengajarannya disesuaikan dengan tujuan dan kebutuhan kalian (termasuk, cara belajar kalian).
  • Menggunakan kurikulum British English.
  • Ada fleksibilitas dalam belajar, sehingga kalian bisa belajar di mana saja secara online (biasanya face-to-face juga).
  • Tips Belajar Mandiri dari Engliven, jadi ketika sudah selesai pembelajaran dengan Engliven, kalian dapat tetap improve Bahasa Inggris kalian.
  • Komunitas bahasa Inggris: Dengan bergabung dengan kelas Engliven, secara otomatis kalian dapat bergabung dalam komunitas Engliven, di mana kalian akan bertemu teman baru, hang out, belajar bareng, bahkan membangun keluarga baru!

Cuma butuh gadget dan kemauan kalian untuk mengembangkan bahasa Inggris kalian. dan semua sudah siap!

Kapan Ya Semua Ini Selesai?

Tidak hanya melakukan aktivitas online, demi keamanan dirinya, Tris harus tetap di rumah. Bahkan, untuk berbelanja keperluan, ibunya yang akan pergi berbelanja sendiri untuk keluarganya – sehingga Tris tidak perlu mengantarnya dan bisa stay at home saja. Meskipun kondisi di Chino masih bisa dikontrol, Tris belum tahu kapan semua ini akan selesai.

Ketidakpastian ini berdampak begitu besar. Semua akan dibuka kembali secara bertahap, baik di California maupun di Indonesia. Semua akan kembali dibuka dalam berbagai fase berbeda. Sekarang mungkin baru dalam fase ke-2 tapi kita percaya, suatu saat, semuanya akan kembali seperti sediakala–dan mari kita berharap pada hari itu, karena the best is yet to come. Scroll ke bawah untuk lihat versi bahasa Inggris, Vocab Corner serta Quiz!

Dan yep, ada teknologi share screen yang memungkinkan kita membagikan apa yang dibahas ke dalam sebuah online class seperti ini! Gambar di atas adalah dokumentasi kelas Codeliven, sebuah pelatihan bahasa Inggris menggunakan agile methodology (Sumber gambar: dokumentasi pribadi).

ENGLISH

The new normal? We’ve heard this term from various media, saying “believe it or not, Indonesia has to embrace this new normal,” or even “the government asks the society to get used to the new normal (by coexist with Covid-19).” This is in Indonesia, what about the other parts of the world?

The United States is currently the country with the highest casualties of Covid-19. Until May 19th, 2020, CDC reported that there were 1,504,830 positive cases in the United States, with 90,439 deaths. In that sense, believe it or not, the United States also has to embrace the new normal.

But actually, what is the new normal, and how we can embrace it? On last Monday’s Instagram live, Elisa invited her cousin that currently lives in Chino, California, Tris, for further insights.

Tris used to work as a counselor for families, specifically marriage and family purpose that relates to the (former) inmates. What she does actually differs from a psychologist, because it requires a doctoral degree compared to a counselor like her who requires a master’s degree. She shared to us that both psychologists and counselors are necessary during these difficult times, because of the rising unemployment rates, for example.

Getting Used to New Normal

What is new normal? New normal is actually a new habit, where we are doing our activities that incorporate the Covid-19 health protocol until a vaccine has been found. That means we still have to do physical distancing (including reducing physical contacts), wear a mask when going outside, practice a healthy lifestyle–even several sectors can work from home. Furthermore, one of the ways Tris embraced the new normal in her job is by having online meetings (like using Zoom and FaceTime), even to talk with her clients.

Well, talking about moving offline activities online, Engliven is also doing the same, us in Engliven 100% moved our classes from offline to online! Actually, Engliven held online classes even before covid began. Our online classes are video-call based using Zoom as the platform, where learning can be more interactive so we all can practice together–where we can learn not only with our peers (or directly with the teacher, if private), but according to Engliven methods (20% teacher talk time and 80% student talk time), every student can talk more while sharing and annotating their screen, plus even sharing files with the teachers! The 80% student talk time is literally legit, so we can maximise our time to practice speaking English confidently!

Moreover, there are several benefits you’ll enjoy when enrolling to Engliven’s online English classes, such as:

  • Personalisation of the materials and methods to your goals and needs (and learning styles).
  • Using British English curriculum.
  • Flexibility of learning, because you can learn from anywhere with online classes (and usually, face-to-face classes).
  • Engliven Self-Learning Tips on learning English, so after concluding the lessons, the student can improve their English bigger and better.
  • English community: By enrolling for Engliven’s classes, you’ll also join the Engliven community that consists of Engliven’s students from various backgrounds. This is where you can meet new friends, hang out, learn together, and even build a new family!

Just prepare your gadgets and willingness to improve your English, and we’re good to go!

When Will We Get Over This?

Aside from doing online activities, to keep herself safe, Tris has to stay home. Even her mother has to do the grocery shopping for her family–without Tris’s assistance as a chauffeur and she could just stay at home. Moreover, even though the situation in Chino is controllable, Tris doesn’t know yet when the physical distancing will be over.

This uncertainty hits us hard. Everything will gradually be reopened, in California, as well as Indonesia. Everything will reopen, in different phases. Maybe we’re now in the second phase, but trust us, one day, we’re going back to normality–and let’s hope for that day because the best is yet to come. Scroll below to see the vocabulary corner and the quiz!

VOCABULARY CORNER

American English is way different than British English that we’ve covered on one of the #AcrossTheGlobe series. Especially if you read the English section of this blog, you’ll notice there are several differences coming from American and British English.

  • INMATES: In this context, inmates are those people who kept in prison, which is actually similar to a prisoner. You can use this word if you’d like to say narapidana in English.
  • CHAUFFEUR: It is actually another word for a driver–especially when driving luxury cars. Mind the pronunciation because this word is derived from French. And yes, this is also a way to say supir (mobil mewah) in English.
  • GRADUALLY: This is similar to “bertahap” in Indonesian. It’s something that is slow but sure but over a period of time.
  • LEGIT: Similar to Canadian English, and also short for “legitimate,” you can say legit for something that is real. Beneran lah bahasa Indonesianya. This word is also commonly used in the United States, so it also counts as American English for sure.

QUIZ

  1. Tadi di artikel sempat disebutkan “pola hidup bersih dan sehat.” What is “pola hidup bersih dan sehat” in English?
  2. Ada idiom dalam bahasa Inggris tadi kalau “the best is yet to come.” How do you say it in Indonesian?
Categories
Around the World English Reading What's On

Lockdown in Canada & Unique English Vocab

TORONTO, ON- MARCH 30 - The signs in Yonge Dundas Square show COVID-19 messaging during the COVID-19 pandemic as only essential industries are open as the province shut down non-essential services and industries to help slow the spread of COVID-19 in Toronto. March 30, 2020. (Steve Russell/Toronto Star via Getty Images)
This is how the lockdown in Victoria (British Columbia) looked like (Source: National Post, April 3, 2020).

Back with me again, after talking about the situations in the Netherlands, Spain, and the United Kingdom, the #AcrossTheGlobe series has come to an end for now. In the latest Instagram Live, Elisa invited her friend, Diana, to talk about the situation in Canada. Diana is an Indonesian who currently works in Toronto as a UI Developer and has lived in Canada for 11 years.

According to the government, coronavirus cases in Canada have reached 40,179 (as of Apr 22, 2020 7pm local time)–and one of them is the wife of the Canadian Prime Minister, Sophie Trudeau. Thankfully, like Boris, she recovered after 14 days.

All right, without further ado, let’s take a look on the latest info on coronavirus from Canada below!

Lockdown or PSBB in Canada?

Good question! Diana shared to us that it’s not technically a lockdown in Toronto. It looks like Pembatasan Sosial Berskala Besar (PSBB) in Indonesian–such as but not limited to banning large gatherings, doing physical distancing, and restricting a number of people inside a grocery store. When I checked the news, Toronto Mayor John Tory said on a statement that “there’s no end to the lockdown yet“. This means people don’t know when the lockdown will end, and the local government takes measures very carefully for safety.

Furthermore, the Canadian government started a program where they’re providing emergency benefit to the people affected by Covid-19. Those affected people are mostly those non-essential workers, such as but not limited to retailers. And yes, it’s legit: the government transferred the notes sent to their bank account–which is similar to the grants given by the British government.

Introducing Canadian English

We’ve previously talked about British English and many articles discuss about American English too. How about Canadian English then?

There are some vocabulary that are distinct to the English used in Canada (yep, jadi Bahasa Inggris di Kanada sedikit lebih berbeda dibandingkan British, ataupun American) we’ve discovered during the live, such as:

  • COP: If you want to look for “polisi in English,” you might remember there’s police. There’s another term that’s equivalent to police, which is cop, and it is usually used in America too.
  • TOWNHOUSE: A townhouse is a house that is attached to another similar house. Townhouses are owned by individual tenants and have their own entrances. Well, it’s not exactly like perumahan (cluster) or rusun dalam bahasa Inggris as some townhouses are located by the main streets but townhouse can be a way to say perumahan in English.
Well, this is what actually a townhouse looked like in Westhaven, Toronto (Source: BuzzBuzzHome)
  • LEGIT: It’s actually short for legitimate, or legitimately. In Indonesian, you can say that as “bener banget.” Or at least, it’s equivalent to true.
  • NOTES: If you’re asking “uang kertas dalam bahasa Inggris”, it’s actually money. But did you know there’s another word to say paper money? One of them is notes, which is commonly used in the UK, but not in the US as Americans say ‘bills’ instead.
  • LOOT: Loot can pertain to stealing essential things from markets, in a massive way. This is how you say menjarah dalam bahasa Inggris.
  • WASHROOM: Toilet dalam bahasa Inggris can also mean toilet, which is particularly common in British English. In Canada, however, people usually say washroom instead of toilet! We find this interesting as there is barely any country that uses washroom as Australians like to use ‘loo’ and Americans say ‘bathroom’.

QUIZ!

  1. Pay attention to the video above.
    Then, fill in the blanks on what Diana had said on a supermarket mistakenly opened: “…they’re not just taking and _______ it, they’re actually taking it, like…”
  2. Assume that you’re in Canada and you’re going to shop.
    • You’re going to shop to, let’s say pertokoan dalam bahasa Indonesia. If in the UK you can say it as “high street,” how do you say it in Canada?
    • You have to pay before you leave the shop. It’s crowded, so dalam bahasa Indonesia kalian bilang antri. You can say queue, but what’s the another word for queue when you’re in Canada?
Categories
Around the World English Writing What's On

Lockdown in the UK:
Keep Calm and Carry On

This is how the lockdown in Manchester looked like (Source: Rappler, March 29, 2020).

Back with me again, covering the lockdowns all around the world starting from the Netherlands and Spain on our previous posts and Engliven’s Live Story #AcrossTheGlobe edition. Now, I’m going to cover the lockdown situation in the United Kingdom, another country whose Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, tested positive for coronavirus and yet, has just been discharged by the hospital last Monday.

This coverage will feature Fritz, a Filipino-born British who is now a PhD student at the University of Birmingham. He’s currently working on his final research about stem cells and bioprocessing, in which he’s trying to produce lots of stem cells so that in the future we can just buy them off easily. He’s not alone: he was accompanied by Jackie, his flat-mate, a Hongkong-born British who works in retail as a merchandiser. In this coverage, we’re also going to talk about British expressions and slang aside from the lockdown! So let’s check it out!

UK Lockdown Updates

Fritz and Jackie have spent four weeks in quarantine, in which the British government has imposed nationally within the last three weeks, and will extend the lockdown for an additional three weeks (until May). They felt the British government’s lockdown decision was a little bit late (compared to Germany’s), because things also escalated quickly. The cases in the United Kingdom had arisen from three weeks ago, followed by 100 cases per day, and ended up with a lockdown. However, the projection in the UK seemed to be much higher than any other country (trailing behind Italy and Spain).

As a result, everything shut down, including the university lab Fritz used to pursue his research. Fortunately, Britain’s high streets that sell essential things (e.g. pharmacies, groceries) are still open and people have to maintain their physical distancing for up to 2 meters while going out for essential work, walking their pets, or even shopping in one of those high streets (which are guarded). The British people are pretty obedient to these rules, albeit it’s pretty relaxed compared to Spain and Italy, where you have to fill a form on where you’re going. Fines are not as high as theirs too, at 30 and 60-pound sterling (around Rp 590.000-1.178.000) if they’re going out without any valid reason.

One good initiative from the British government is the grants. This is for those who are struggling to pay the rents; the government won’t evict them during the time of quarantine. Moreover, they also help any affected businesses pay 80% of the wages to their employees.

Quarantine Activities

Fritz spends his time in quarantine waking up pretty late, spending half the day cooking, preparing food, trying to do a little work, and even tried to learn Spanish! Aside from those, since he couldn’t get into the lab to pursue his research, he spent the quarantine reading the literature related to his research (well, me too!).

How Fritz spends his time in quarantine is a little bit different from Jackie, though. Jackie is learning new things (such as embroidery), catching up with his favourite TV series along with listening to motivational podcasts (Gary Vee is his favourite podcaster, go check it out here!).

Improve My English

There are several tips as well on how we improve our English shared during Instagram live. I’m going to list them below, as follows:

  • Enjoy the entertainment you like (e.g. watching TV, listening to podcasts) in English. This is where Fritz actually learned the differences between American English and British English. For example, a trash can in the US equals to waste bin in the UK; or sidewalk in the US equals to the pavement in the UK.
  • If you’re going to the UK, especially, don’t hesitate to interact with the locals. You can ask for time, or location or something in the shops, just to get a grasp of the language.

If I can summarize the tips, try to immerse ourselves with the language and its environment. From watching their entertainment (also to learn their culture!), to actively practise speaking (especially if you meet a native!). Mistakes are humane, that’s where we’re going to learn from as well–so don’t be afraid of making mistakes!

By the way, did you practise speaking English at home? Good news for you is, we have this Quick Speak To Spark online session so you can get your speech checked by Engliven’s professional teachers in the fields you need. Click the image below for more information.

British Expressions and Slang

Rather than wondering when all this lockdown ends, let’s have a look at several interesting expressions that we can highlight from the Instagram live, such as:

  • GOBSMACKED: This means “so surprised that you cannot speak.” In Indonesian, it pertains to “terkesima“.
  • SHUT THE FRONT DOOR: This is another word to tell people to shut up in English. Kalo misalnya mau nyuruh orang “diam” dalam bahasa Inggris bisa nih pakai slang ini.
  • BLIMEY: You can say blimey if you’re surprised, which is more into impressed. It is equivalent to “astaga” though in Indonesian, or “oh my” in English.
  • MARDY: This is a British slang for “moody,” in which in Indonesian we can also say as “sikap yang berubah-ubah“.
  • ON MY LARRY: This means “on our own” in English. In Indonesian, we might say “secara mandiri“.
  • BLOODY HELL: This is equivalent to “what the hell,” “what the heck,” in English, or actually “what just happened” in a more polite way. The word bloody itself can be used with any adjectives like blody good or bloody awful. Jadi kalo pengen bilang “anjir” atau “anjrit” dalam bahasa Inggris, bisa tuh pakai bloody hell. Disclaimer: don’t say this slang to your elders.
  • DUDE = MATE = BRO = DUCK = PAL: There are different ways to call your friends (informally) with slight differences, however:
    • You can use dude to call your friends informally, like “mate”, usually towards males. However, bro and dude can be interchangeable, and some people also use both to call someone they just met.
    • Pal is a lot more unisex, maybe more into younger people.
    • Bro is for a closer friend (for male, to a female you can use “girl), though), so does duck (yes, literally that duck) for some Brits in the northern side.
  • I’M JUST PULLING YOUR LEG: If you accuse someone on pullin’ your leg, you mean that you believe someone is joking or teasing you by saying something isn’t true.
  • LET BYGONES BE BYGONES: This is an English proverb, which means “to allow the unpleasant things that have happened in the past be forgotten”. If you’re looking for “yang sudah berlalu biarlah berlalu” in English, this is a good equivalent.
  • BABE = DARLING/DARL: Just like when you say “honey” in English, this is a way to call your loved one(s) more intimately. Jadi, kalau mau memanggil orang tersayangnya “sayang” dalam bahasa Inggris bisa pakai babe atau darling/darl yaa…

Quiz!

  1. Although many countries have been on lockdown, Indonesia hasn’t imposed a national lockdown but has recently imposed Pembatasan Sosial Berskala Besar (PSBB) in Jakarta, the capital. How do you say PSBB in English?
  2. Translate this sentence into English: Banyak di antara kita yang menjadi relawan dalam menangani COVID-19 ini selain tenaga medis.
Categories
Around the World English Writing What's On

Lockdown in Spain:
How They Handle It

The atmosphere of an empty beach in Barcelona, Spain, post-lockdown (Source: Liputan6.com, March 6, 2020).

Today, I’m going to take you all to the eastern part of Spain, after the Dutch coverage last week. Yes, we’re going to Barcelona, which has never been this quiet before Covid-19 strikes.

For your information, Spain is currently one of the most affected countries by COVID-19. Spain joined Italy and the US for the most cases outside China, with 85,000 infections at the time of this writing. As a result, Spain imposed tighter lockdown, and even extended it to the next two weeks (April 25, 2020).

For further insight regarding the situation in Spain, last Monday, Elisa invited Ariston, her friend who currently lives in Barcelona, Ariston. Ariston is a master-degree student who currently studies in Polytechnic University of Catalunya, who takes Big Data Management and Analytics program (not far from the IT world).

That Escalated Quickly

Spain is currently the second in the world for the highest confirmed COVID-19 cases with 4,000 confirmed cases per day. The confirmed cases slowed down in the past two days at the time of this writing due to the (extended) lockdown.

In response to the high number of cases, the Spanish government has imposed a total lockdown for the past month, which means people can only go out for important stuff (such as but not limited to doing groceries, going to the pharmacy, or walking their pets). Everyone should carry a document saying where he’s from, where he’s going to, and if he’s caught by the police not going to the place filed in the form, he’ll be fined EUR 6,000 (around Rp 1 million).

But, why things went extremely fast in Spain? Look: from just physical distancing, to a total lockdown in just two or three days? Let’s watch this video for the three reasons Ariston explained to us.

As you’ve heard in the video, the Spanish government measures escalated quickly from only physical distancing, then to closures of public non-essential places, and after that to the total lockdown, which replicates the Italian situation. The reasons are similar:

  • Because people are reckless. This is particularly hard for Europeans who are used to making physical contacts with one another (e.g. hugging, shaking their hands).
  • It’s plausible that the aging population contributes to the dramatically increasing death toll in Spain–just like in Italy.
  • Both the Spanish and Italian governments responded slowly to the virus, resulting to the total lockdown in just a few days.

On Online Learning

On his quarantine days, Ariston has been undertaking online courses, which takes place on various internet platforms (e.g. Google Meet), depending on the professor. He has to attend between one of these types of online classes:

  1. Pre-recorded classes (the students watch a video before the class hence the live session will be dominated by question & answer sessions), and;
  2. Live-video classes, in which he has to attend 2-hour video call sessions with the professor. But, it’s impossible to be active in the class without good speaking, isn’t it? We encourage you to improve your English speaking skills with us so that you’ll be confident when communicating both online and offline 🙂

Other than the lecture, he has to turn in assignments on a given date as most courses there used project-based learning. Comparatively, in Indonesia, we admit that some schools in Indonesia don’t even have the proper online sessions, which is different from the universities (especially in developed countries like Spain), explaining why students are complaining about the assigned workloads to them with very few good lectures or explanations in the pre-recorded videos. Let’s hope the schools can learn from them soon.

Have You Done Your Part?

At the time of this writing, Indonesia has yet to reach the point Spain has. Similar to the tips coming from the previous interview, here are the things Indonesia has to learn from Spain:

  1. Just practice physical distancing, stay at home. It feels hard if we can’t contribute to anything, but it works. This looks annoying, to stay at home and still see other people going out. But, everyone has to do their part, and let’s hope we all can get through this together.
  2. Physical distancing/lockdown will be cyclical. For example, when the situation is better, the lockdown regulations will be relaxed. Otherwise, when the situation worsened, the regulations will be tightened. He also gave us a link to the article here.

Quarantine Tips

Here are the quarantine tips Ariston shared with us during the live. This is similar to the previous interview, but trust us, it’ll work.

  1. Try to make a routine. For example, doing your workouts or doing some hobbies, like catching up on your favourite series, reading a book, and learning languages by podcasts–like Coffee Break Languages.
  2. It’s okay for us to laze around once a week while reading useful articles, which is my type of spending time in quarantine. This enables us to gain more information, as well as increase our knowledge while lying down!
  3. Call your friends. One positive thing from the lockdown is you can catch up with your old friends because listening to somebody is different from texting only. For example, Ariston called his friends in Brussels to play online games together.
  4. Learn cooking. Healthy-cooking, experimental-cooking, you name it.

Stay tuned for more quarantine tips in the next blog article!

VOCABULARY TO LEARN

  • ESCALATED QUICKLY: Describes things that change dramatically, in Indonesian also pertains to “perubahan yang cepat/mendadak.”
  • RECKLESS: Also known as ngeyel in Indonesian, reckless describes someone who does something dangerous but not worrying about the risks and possible results.
  • PLAUSIBLE: Can mean “dapat dipercaya” in Indonesian, plausible describes something that seems true or believable.
  • PROPER: Pertains to “baku” in Indonesian for this context, proper describes something real, satisfactory, suitable, or correct; or something that shows standards of behaviour that are socially or morally acceptable.
  • DO THEIR PART: Pertains to “berperan masing-masing” in Indonesian, this means to do what one is responsible for doing or is able to do.
  • WORKOUT: Can pertain to “olahraga ringan” in Indonesian, a workout is a period of physical exercise. It doesn’t have to be “heavy sports” like football, basketball; but it can be a simple push-up or sit-up.

How to pronounce plausible

For more basic vocabularies related to COVID-19, aside from the Dutch interview, you can go to this post.

Quick Quiz!

  1. In the video above, he mentioned “efek samping” and “apotek” in English. Can you spot the English words?
  2. Translate this sentence into English: Kita semua harus berperan dalam melambatkan kurva penularan Covid-19 ini.
Categories
Around the World English Reading What's On

Lockdown in the Netherlands:
How Does It Look Like?

Intelligent Lockdown in Maastricht, the Netherlands (Source: TODAYOnline, March 24, 2020)

Good day, everyone!
I hope you guys are all fine and safe while still being in the quarantine.

Remember the Instagram Live Elisa did with her friend, Stephen, last Monday, talking about the lockdown in the Netherlands? For those who missed it, no worries: this writing is for you! And this is my coverage of last Monday’s live.

Stephen now works in engineering architecture in one of the most important tech companies (Applied Semi-Conductor Materials and Lithography/ASML), which produces the chips for the computer graphics we used today (Intel/NVIDIA GeForce), which is located in Eindhoven (a city in North Brabant province, the Netherlands). He’s been in the Netherlands for 11 years, and he shared several things regarding the lockdown there.

How Did Most Europeans Respond to Coronavirus?

Europe is the epicentre of the pandemic in the last, at least, 3 weeks. It all started in France, Germany, where one-by-one positive cases (of Covid-19) are confirmed–before in all of a sudden the number of cases dramatically increased in the northern Italy, where most people from Europe (including the Netherlands) spent their paid leave by skiing, then having parties in a packed pub. When Covid-19 first spread in China, most Europeans sort of underestimated the spreading of the virus: they act as they know everything only from reading 1-2 articles–similar to most Indonesians, believe it or not.

The Dutch government did not test everybody in their rapid test: they only test the most critical ones while the young ones are not tested. The province he lives (North Brabant), unfortunately, is the most affected province in the Netherlands. Statistically, the Netherlands and Germany have more than 10,000 positive cases, while Germany has lower case fatality rate (CFR) compared to the Netherlands. Stephen explained why we shouldn’t buy the statistics right away, in two factors:

  1. First, is the reported infected number really an accurate number? In fact, Germany did more testing than the Netherlands, which explains the higher number of infected people in Germany than in the Netherlands, which consequently results in a lower CFR. Back in Indonesia, the real number of infected people is probably larger than the reported number as a lot of people have not been tested either.
  2. Secondly, the Netherlands tried to achieve the controversial herd immunity, but Stephen emphasised it has not been proven scientifically to fight Covid-19 effectively, and even the WHO advised countries against this cruel option. Like other viruses, coronavirus keeps mutating from time to time. Every time we are cured from a certain virus, we’ll be immune, i.e. our antibody will work faster to counter the virus if we ever encounter them again. Loads of scientists have proven that Covid-19 has mutated several times, hence herd immunity might not be working. No wonder people are sceptical about it.

Intelligent Lockdown

Dutch government has imposed intelligent lockdown, a stricter version of physical distancing, since the 2nd week of March (and possibly continues till June). This type of lockdown still allows people to go outside and kids can still play, with no more than 3 people altogether. People can still go to the supermarket without having to file permission to the authorities but mass gatherings like weddings (most of them are postponed), and funerals (usually only attended by close families) are strictly prohibited. This still sounds better than the full lockdown imposed in Wuhan and Italy, where you need to fill out a form and submit to the authorities specifying which supermarket you are going, or else we have to pay a fine. Thankfully, most Dutch people comply these rules because of the heavy fines of around IDR 6 million rupiah although some have been criticizing the effectiveness of this intelligent lockdown with the herd immunity in mind.

Meanwhile, at the time of this writing, some cities in Indoneisa have decided to impose local or regional lockdown (such as but not limited to Solo and Tegal with their total local lockdown, and Jakarta’s is coming soon. When Elisa, the live story host, asked the availability of Personal protective equipment (PPE) or APD (Alat Pelindung Diri) in Indonesian is, Stephen said they’re not scarce, but he admits that at least Indonesia handles it better by covering all parts of their body (from head to toe), comparing to Europeans who still take it very lightly (by only wearing goggles and suits, with heads and necks are still exposed). He thinks, at the very least, the Europeans have more accurate tests with high-tech equipment, than those in Indonesia.

Quarantine Tips

Staying at home must be quite boring for extroverts, because instead of going outside to do our activities, we have to stay at home for an undetermined amount of time. Even for introverts like Stephen, who stayed at home for at least the last 2 weeks and actually prefers that in normal days, feels the need to go out and meet his friends at times, particularly in such good spring weather. Lucky for us, Stephen has several tips to stay active during quarantine days:

  1. Stay active! Go outside every time you can, but still maintain physical distancing, such as but not limited to exercising, sunbathing, etc. Being at home more often means we eat and snack more, and therefore we need to find a way to burn calories. Indeed, Stephen cycles and jogs in the park while maintaining physical distance, which is nice! So, for us Indonesians, don’t waste the opportunity to sunbathe below the scorching Indonesian sun!
  2. Start doing our chores! There are several chores that we don’t do often when we’re not at home often, for example cleaning the house and doing laundry.
  3. Stay social! Physical distancing does not mean that we can’t socially interact with our friends and family. We need to thank the existence of social media, as we can still interact with our friends, even from afar. For instance, most Dutch now do virtual drinks… and yes, it’s online! See how helpful the technology is to connect us together.

Aside of those 3 key tips, another thing that we’ve been discussing is supporting local businesses, which is severely hit by Covid-19 that drives everybody paranoid. Thankfully, the Dutch government has been supportive towards the freelancers and informal workers as to giving certain amounts of subsidies.

After all, stay active, stay healthy, stay safe, and still: stay at home! Trust us, this too shall pass, we are all in this together!

VOCABULARY TO LEARN:

  • EPICENTRE: Also known as episenter, episentrum, or even pusat (pandemi) in Indonesian for this context, epicentre pertains to where the pandemic mostly resides.
  • PAID LEAVE: Also known as cuti, this pertains to the time when you’re allowed to take a break from work, but your salary is still paid as it is. Usually, offices or even countries have their policies of the maximum number of days they can take paid leave. Most companies in the Netherlands give an average of 25 day-paid leave while in Stephen’s office, it’s 40 days!
  • ACT AS THEY KNEW EVERYTHING: Also known as sok tahu or sotoy (slang) in Indonesian, this pertains to someone who thinks he knows everything regarding Covid-19 (suddenly an expert), while in fact, this person is not, because they’re not the real expert (in Indo: bukan ahlinya). In other words, you can also say know it all or highly educated (in a sarcastic way).
  • HERD IMMUNITY: Also known as kekebalan kelompok in Indonesian, in this context, herd immunity refers to a condition where the government allows the majority of their population to be infected with the virus in order for them to form the antibody faster. As an example, let’s assume that a country has a population of 100 million, so in order for a country to benefit fully from this, 60 million people has to be infected first before the rest of the people finally are immune, resulting in a better post-lockdown environment. This means that more people tested positive will be dead, and the question will become “which government wants to sacrifice their own people for the sake of herd immunity?”
  • SCEPTICAL (UK): Also spelt skeptical in the US, and means skeptis in Indonesian, this word pertains to a condition where we are in doubt of something. If I explain it in Indonesian, it pertains to “mempertanyakan sesuatu.”
  • INTELLIGENT LOCKDOWN: Also pertains to pembatasan sosial berskala besar (PSBB) in Indonesian, compared to the total lockdown where you need permission to even go out to a particular supermarket. Intelligent lockdown prohibits mass gatherings of more than a particular number of people (e.g. 3 people in the Netherlands).
  • PERSONAL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT (PPE): Also known as Alat Pelindung Diri (APD) in Indonesian. PPE is the masks, suits, and others the medical team uses to cover themselves, from head to toe, in order to minimize the risk of getting infected after being in contact with the patient.
  • SCARCE: Also known as langka in Indonesian, something is scarce, or scarcity happens, when the demand of the particular thing is high, but unfortunately the stock in reality is low.
  • TAKE IT VERY LIGHTLY: Also known as menganggap enteng or even meremehkan in Indonesian, taking something very lightly pertains to a situation where you’re confident that everything will be fine, easy, while in reality it might be something harder or even problematic.
  • SCORCHING: Also pertains to panas terik menyengat in Indonesian. The sun is scorching when it is extremely hot, mostly in the afternoon (or morning near the afternoon), which is a perfect time for us to sunbathe!
  • CHORES: Also pertains to pekerjaan rumah (tangga) in Indonesian, which consists of such as but not limited to cleaning the house, doing the laundry, and even watering the plants in your home.

How To Pronounce Sceptical

How To Pronounce Scarce

How To Pronounce Scorching

How To Pronounce Quarantine

For other basic vocabulary related to the coronavirus, look at our earlier post.

Quiz!

Answer these questions in the comment section below:

  1. What is “denda” in English?
  2. What is “mematuhi” in English?
  3. Translate this phrase in English: Bila kita tidak mematuhi peraturan pemerintah untuk tinggal di rumah, kita diwajibkan untuk membayar denda.