One day Izmy asked me about my previous school. It was during recess. She asked me about a part of my life that I've left behind, out of the blue. To me, it was a good school up until I realized about my role as a student and began thinking about what other people think about me. But as I said before, it was a part of my life that I wanted to forget about, so for every question she asked me, I answered them shortly and asked her two questions. I got some information about her past and stuff, so thats kinda refreshing. I'm tired of saying, "I stabbed someone, that's how I got here."
Izmiyah Afaf was an Al-Azhar student, and that is a famous Muslim school name in Indonesia. There are many Al-Azhars. All the values that I believed to be in every student that once went there exists in her. Religious, smart, polite, overall she's what you call an honor student, or even more.
Physically speaking, Izmy is a short person. The top of her head might be just over my chest, with a somewhat below average build. Maybe she doesn't exercise much, but she's not fat, instead, she's kinda skinny. I've never seen her face without her jilbab and glasses, and her body, save for her face and hands, are well covered.
Out of all the Muslim friends that I know, including myself, she might be the most religious of them all. But she doesn't talk much about religion, maybe its because she knew people around here aren't that religious. She's also very smart, I could almost say she's mentally gifted even though she's not. She's just really diligent and unbelievably good at every subject. If there's a speech, discussion, or argument simulation, she would play her role with her whole soul. My class even have an inside joke about how Izmy worries about failing a test, even though she never failed any since she first got here, and if a teacher said she failed, they would later say that it was a mistake and she didn't fail.
***
Whenever Izmy talks to anyone, she would speak softly and politely, like a flight attendant. The language she uses is sometimes too formal for regular talks, but mostly she speaks normally. Just for my amusement, whenever we engaged in a conversation, I would try my best to be as formal as she is and pretend as if we're both office workers in an important meeting. It was quite exhausting but very entertaining to me, but perhaps to her it was just a regular everyday talk.
I wrote above that she's like an honor student, right? But its not exactly like that. I'll put an example using anime character archetypes. Excuse my fucking otakuness. Honor students, teacher's pets, student council presidents. These people, and by people I mean girls, are depicted in anime as smart, sexy with a minimal breast size of D cup, and are somehow seductive--if not strict. Izmy is not like that. She's more like the protagonist's nerd-ish love interest, minus the shy part.
Izmy never, ever, ever, EVER got a bad mark. She's like, the most excellent example for academic performance, despite having missed class frequently. I believe this was the trait she inherited from entering Al-Azhar. You see, around my circle of social interaction, this Islamic school has always been associated with good morals and high scores. And because of that, I eventually believe it too. After I graduated elementary school, whenever I don't see anyone I know around, I always ask where they went--which school do they attend to.
Some of the smart Islam students go to Al-Azhar. I never went there myself, but my friends that went there tell me their stories. I cannot say for sure if whatever they said was true because there are various differences in stories that I've heard, but its still interesting. Perhaps each Al-Azhar is different? I don't know.
***
Dillon and I have been close friends for the longest time, longer than anyone I know that isn't blood related. We've been friends since the 3rd grade of elementary school, until now. That's about 8 years, more or less. Sure, as time went by we lost connection, but we still meet up sometimes. In his house, of course.
He attended junior high and highschool in Al-Azhar. His behaviour is consistent with what I believe to be the standard Al-Azhar behavior. Religious, smart, and polite. But he still retains his non responsive attitude. Cool, laid back, and relaxed.
Since I entered my senior year, he would sometimes show me something new about the world whenever I stop by his place. Most of the time, the subject is related to science. If I don't understand, he would explain it to me. To be honest, my pride is sometimes strained during these events. The scientific world explained by a person who delve in social science, politics, and economic studies, to me who studies applied science and the likes of biology and such. But its okay, I like it when he explains stuff. If it was someone else, I'll probably feel annoyed by my own ignorance.
But a different thing happened to Fadil. Fadil is a student from the IPS class. He's not that bright but he's funny as hell. I always thought of him as "the other side of Al-Azhar" because, sure he's religious and all that but he doesn't fit in. He's just passing by before kicking himself out of the school. He's kind of like me, but less of a social outcast.
He was an Al-Azhar student before entering the homeschooling community. The first time I ever met him was at Dillon's house. I've written this before, so I won't tell you again. When Fadil first joined HSKS, he was like a sickly baby. He said there's something wrong with his stomach (ripped insides or something) and it was caused partly from his stress dealing with the people of Al-Azhar. Although I hardly believe his story, I know stress can make you sick so I let his story slide. Whenever I saw him I always thought "That guy is close to dying, seriously." But over time, he gets better and starts laughing.
***
Both Izmy and Fadil told me the people who studied there isn't as good as most people perceive them to be. This part of UntimedOD is supposed to be about those behaviours, but I don't have proof so I can't really say much. But I do know that they weren't lying, because I would realize if they were.
Hm...
In the end, I didn't write anything bad about Al-Azhar's "other side" but I believe someone out there knows the truth. I'm not saying its a universally bad place with a good cover, I'm saying that Al-Azhar isn't all candy and rainbows. There's a bad side to everything, even if its just a little.
-Aex
Wednesday, January
28/01/2015
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