Mensa

Part 1

Di postingan yang lain (Koki Dadakan (Pelarian atau Nasionalisme?)) saya pernah menulis tentang alasan mahasiswa indonesia yang sedang sekolah di luar negeri mutusin buat masak. Kalau saya sendiri awalnya masuk ke kategori nasionalisme. Lebih tepatnya sih karena lidah ndeso dan sama sekali belum terbiasa sama makanan internasional ala eropa gitu. Rasanya kok aneh di lidah ya. Buat saya waktu itu, kalo masakan gak pedas ya bukan makanan lah itu namanya. Terlebih di awal pas saya baru nyampe di Jerman ini. Salah satu dari sedikit makanan yang bisa ditolerir sama lidah saya yaitu Döner (Makanan Turki). Kalo pesan saya selalu minta yang sehr sehr scharf alias extra pedas. Alhasil warung döner Turki sang penyelamat jiwa pun jadi idola baru waktu itu hehe. Tapi maslahnya kalau makan di luar terus kan gak mungkin ya, muahal mas brooo. Jauh lebih murah kalo masak sendiri.

In another post (Sudden Chef (Escape or Nationalism?)) I once wrote about the reasons why Indonesian students who are studying abroad prefer to cook their own foods. At the beginning I actually fell into the category of nationalism. More precisely because of my non-international taste and I was not used to the European/international food. It tasted really weird in my mouth. I was always thinking that a perfect dish should be spicy, so when the food is not spicy then it is not a dish at all to me. That kind of thought really affected the way I deal with the food and especially in the early phase when I just arrived in Germany. One of the few foods that I could tolerate was Döner. Every time I ordered it I would ask the seller to make the Döner ’’sehr sehr scharf’’ or extra spicy. As a result Turkish döner stalls became my new idol. But the thing is, I could not afford to buy it all the time and acted like I have a lot of money to spend. Surely it would be so expensive and in fact I was only a university student with limited monthly budget. Poor me… So, cooking my own meals was a good option and it was much cheaper.

Karena alasan lebih murah itu dan juga bisa disesuaikan sama lidah akhirnya saya putusin buat masak sendiri. Tapi masalahnya masak itu time consuming banget, benar benar makan waktu. Sebenarnya sih gak gitu juga kalau masaknya yang simpel simpel aja. Tapi karena dasar saya orangnya ribet, ya akhirnya masak pun jadi yang aneh aneh dan sama sekali ga simpel. Misal, saya lebih milih masak gulai nangka atau rebung daripada tumis sayuran semacam brokoli yang pastinya jauh lebih simpel. Lebih mau repot repot masak kuah tumeh ikan (khas aceh) daripada sayur lodeh yang bumbu siap sajinya bisa dibeli di toko Asia. Pokoknya lebih ribet dari ibu ibu PKK yang mau ikut lomba masak dan akibatnya setelah berjam jam saya masih aja di dapur…hadeuhh.

Since it was much cheaper and also I could adjust the flavor to my taste, I decided to cook my own food. The problem was cooking is so time consuming. Really, really time consuming. Well, it should not be the case if only I prepared and cooked something simple. But basically I am always a complicated person in many ways. So I ended up cooking traditional, serious and complicated dish. Not simple at all. For example, I prefer to cook young jackfruit or bamboo curry than stir-fry vegetables such as broccoli which is certainly much more simple. Other time, I would bother myself cooking Kuah Tumeh (Aceh typical fish curry) from scratch than cooking Sayur Lodeh (Java typical vegetables dish) which ready-use seasoning is available and can be purchased in Asian stores. That’s how complicated I was that sometimes I feel like an old lady who wanted to join the cooking contest. As predicted, I could stay in the kitchen for hours and hours… gosh.

(src: google image)

Beban perkuliahan yang makin berat dan jumlah mata kuliah yang lebih banyak gak lulusnya daripada yang lulus akhirnya memaksa saya untuk benar benar fokus di kampus. Masalah lidah yang gak cocok sama makanan diabaikan aja dulu deh, yang penting makan asal kenyang aja. Akhirnya saya mutusin untuk makan siang di Mensa (kantin kampus) dan kebetulan Mensa pun memang cuma buka selama waktu makan siang aja. Kalau untuk sarapan dan makan malam sih apa aja deh asal gampang dan cepat saji. Misal: roti, susu plus sereal, indomie, telur, buah atau apapun yang praktis.

The burden of lectures that are getting harder and the more subjects that I could not pass forced me to really focus on the campus and all the tasks. I started to ignore the issue I have with food and just eat anything available as long as it makes me full. Finally I decided to eat my lunch at Mensa (campus canteen) and it indeed opens only during lunch. For breakfast and dinner I ate any simple and easy-prepared foods. For instance: breads, cereals, milk, noodles, eggs, fruits or anything practical.

Keadaan yang memaksa bikin lidah pun mau gak mau harus beradaptasi sama makanan yang ada di Mensa. Awalnya sih ada aja yang gak pas tapi lama lama malah ketagihan. Di hari libur kampus pun kadang kadang pengen makan di Mensa, ya jelas gak buka donk. Menu disini selalu berbeda setiap hari dan setiap minggu. Baru akan ketemu lagi menu yang sama beberapa minggu kedepan. Pokoknya selalu ada yang baru. Entah itu menu utama atau dessert-nya. Kalo salad sih gak terlalu sering diganti. Sesuai kupon/paket yang kita beli di counter sebelum masuk, ada 4 seksi dan 1 seksi tambahan di Mensa utama Univ. Siegen untuk bagian mahasiswa. Waloupun sering juga yang bukan mahasiswa makan disini. Kalo bagian yang khusus ditujukan untuk dosen dan karyawan sih saya gak tau pasti, tapi sepertinya gak pake metode kupon. Mereka ambil makanan apa aja lalu dihitung secara terpisah untuk setiap jenis makanan yang diambil.

Whether I enjoyed it or not, all the circumstances forced me to quickly adapt with the food in Mensa. At the beginning, there is always something not really fit to my taste but by the time I got used to it and even got addicted with the foods in Mensa, weird huh. Surprisingly, I even miss the foods during weekends or holidays too and obviously it did not open. The menu were always different each day and every week. You will find the same menu again a few weeks ahead. Basically, there's always something new. Whether it's the main menu or the dessert. As for salad it did not change too often. Based on coupons/packages we purchased at the counter before entering, there are 4 sections and 1 additional section in main Mensa of Siegen University in the student section. However, not only students who eat here on daily basis but also employees or members of the university. I am not really sure how it works for the section specifically intended for lecturers and employees, but it seems like they do not use the coupon system. They take any food they like and then will be calculated separately for each type of food taken.

(src: google image)

Paket yang tersedia sesuai seksi masing-masing yaitu: 1. Stammessen, 2. Eintopf, 3. Vegetarisches Menü, 4. Menü, dan tambahan 5. Grill und Wok. Tiap paket ini terdiri dari menu yang berbeda dan tentu beda pula harganya. Harga yang dibayar oleh mahasiswa dan non mahasiswa juga gak sama. Mahasiswa dapat potongan sekitar 50% asal waktu beli kuponnya bisa nunjukkin kartu mahasiswa. Kisaran harga rata rata yang dibayar mahasiswa jadinya yaitu antara 1,5 – 2,5 Euro per paket. Ini berlaku bukan cuma untuk mahasiswa dari Univ. Siegen tapi untuk mahasiswa dari seluruh kampus yang ad di Bundesland/provinsi NRW. Khusus untuk kupon Grill und Wok ga ada potongan sama sekali, jadi mahasiswa pun harus bayar dengan harga normal. Untuk semua paket kita boleh ambil air mineral gratis cuma satu gelas, kalo lebih harus bayar extra. Apalagi kalo ambilnya jus, ya jelas harus bayar tambahan hehe. Air mineralnya bisa pilih yang biasa atau yang bersoda/gas. Awalnya saya gak terlalu suka yang bersoda karena pas diminum tenggorakan rasanya kayak digorok, gasnya terlalu nendang. Tapi lama kelamaan justru kecewa berat kalo pas ambil air minum ternyata yang bersoda udah habis.

Packages are available according to each section namely: 1.Stammessen, 2.Eintopf, 3.Vegetarisches Menü, 4.Menü, and one additional package, 5.Grill und Wok. Each package consists of different menus and of course different prices. Prices paid by students and non-students are also different. Students can deduct about 50% of the normal price if they can show their student card when they buy the coupon. The average price range paid by the student would be between 1.5 - 2.5 Euro per package. This applies not only for students from Siegen University but also for students from all campuses/universities in NRW states/Bundesland. Particularly for Grill und Wok coupons students get no deduction at all, so the students had to pay at normal prices. For each of the package you can take a glass of free mineral water and must pay if you want to get more. If you take the juices then obviously you have to pay extra money for that. There are two types of mineral water that you can choose from, regular mineral water or sparkling one. At first I was not too fond of the sparkling mineral water. It was too strong that I felt like it slashed my throat. But by the time I enjoyed it so much and got disappointed every time it out of stock.

(src: google image)

Note:
Karena sedikit panjang ceritanya saya bagi jadi 2 bagian ya guys. Bagian 2 menyusul...
Since the story is a little longer so it will be divided into 2 parts. Part 2 will be here soon ... :)