My WORLD through WORDS

Lagi Pengen Nulis

2009-10-12T07:42:00.003-05:00

Hi There!

Hwah, udah lama banget aku gak update blog gak jelas ini. Lamaaaaa banget *lebai. Sebenernya banyak banget yang pengen aku tulis di sini. Ada hari-hari terakhirku di Amerika, perjalanan pulang ke Indonesia yang melelahkan dan tak terlupakan, insiden Flu Babi yang membuatku diisolasi, kangen-kangenan sama temen-temen tercinta, pertemuan dengan temen-temen baru, asik enggaknya jadi seorang seniornya senior di sekolah, reverse homesickness, laptop baru, kegiatan sekolah yang seabrek, sampe tentang 'butterfly' in my chest. Tapi oh tapi, kenyataan yang aku alami tidak mengijinkanku untuk berleha-leha di depan komputer sambil merekam memori-memori menyenangkan di blog ini. Oh well, mau gimana lagi? Namanya juga anak kelas 12...

Nah, kalo nyatanya aku lagi sibuk, kenapa sekarang aku bisa nulis postingan ini? Yah, inilah yang disebut dengan perencanaan skala prioritas yang buruk. Seharusnya sekarang ini aku sedang berada di kamar, berkutat dengan LKS Matematika, Worksheet Biologi, dan tugas gambar perspektif. Tapi, aku menerima panggilan jiwa *halah*, so here I am, trying to sum up my feelings.

nah lo, sekarang bingung mau nulis apa.....

...................

oia, aku sedang dilanda virus 'senior year'; yaitu virus kebingungan dan kehilangan arah. Seperti halnya kebanyakan anak-anak kelas 12 yang lain, aku pun masih bingung untuk menentukan kemanakah aku akan melanjutkan studi setelah lulus SMA. Keinginan masih banyak dan menyebar, ada pula keinginan yang bertentangan dengan orang tua. Teknik Industri, Teknik Kimia, Teknik Elektro, Kedokteran, atau malah Hubungan Internasional? Kemarin aku udah nyoba mencoret beberapa option dan menyisakan dua pilihan, yaitu Teknik Industri dan Teknik Kimia, tapi.... aku takut kalo suatu saat berubah lagi. Well, nggak perlu takut sih sebenernya, tapi aku emang gitu... Sering kehilangan arah, susah memutuskan sesuatu, dan takut gagal.

Oh iya, sekarang aku juga lagi nyari-nyari info beasiswa di luar negeri, doain yaa... Kata orang-orang sih, beasiswa S1 tuh jarang, tapi ya siapa tau...

Hmm...sebenernya masih banyak yang pengen kutulis, tapi... udah jam 8 nih, tugas-tugas menunggu!

Btw, lewat postingan ini aku juga pengen menyebar semangat (ini kayak judul majalah basa Jawa aja, *Panjebar Semangat*) kepada semua siswa kelas 12 di Indonesia, terutama para Pejuang Bhawikarsu.. Smangat rek!!! We'll get through this!!! Semoga kita lulus 100%!!! Let's do our best and God will do the rest ;)

Jangan lupa awali semuanya dengan doa....

Wish you luck!

A Thousand Miles

2009-06-28T22:22:00.003-05:00

Makin' my way downtown, walkin' fast

Faces pass, and I'm homebound

Staring blankly ahead just makin' a way

Makin' my through the crowd

And I need you and I miss you

And now I wonder if I could fall into the sky

Do yo think time would pass me by

Cause you know I'd walk a thousand miles

If I could just see you tonight

It's always times like these when I think of you

And I wonder if you ever think of me

Cause everything's so wrong and I don't belong

livin' in your precious memory

Cause I need you and I miss you

And now I wonder if I could fall into the sky

Do yo think time would pass me by

Cause you know I'd walk a thousand miles

If I could just see you tonight

I, I don't wanna let you know

I, I drown in your memory

I, I don't wanna let this show

I, I don'tMakin' my way downtown,

Walkin' fast, faces pass, and I'm homebound

Staring blankly ahead, just makin' a way

Makin' my through the crowd

And I still need you I still miss you

And now I wonder if I could fall into the sky

Do yo think time would pass us by

Cause you know I'd walk a thousand miles

If I could just see you

Oh oh oh

If I could fall into the sky

Do you think time would pass me by

Coz you know I'd walk a thousand miles

If I could just see youIf I could just hold you tonight

~Sang beautifully by an angel~

I've Fallen in Love with This City of Million Faces

2009-06-12T22:19:00.004-05:00

New York City, April 27th 2009

"Rainbow"

2009-05-26T14:03:00.010-05:00

I have been thinking about homosexuality for a long time. Not that I am becoming a lesbian or something...I just want to understand how different people in the world see it. I had a wicked long email thread with my American friend about this issue. Apparently, we have a slightly different point of view about this. If someone who happens to read this post is a gay or lesbian or anybody else , don't be offended, I'm just a confused kid who is trying to understand the world ;)

So, here is how I think about homosexuality... Based on my background culture and religion, I would say that homosexuality is not "normal". I put "quotes" on it because normality is very relative, depending on people's perspective, culture, religion, and commonness. Commonness, is that a word?

Well, anyway, I say that homosexuality is not normal because I grew up in a community where homosexuality is not exposed. Frankly, I have never known any homosexual people before I came to America. Second, I grew up in a religious community. I remember that Quran mentions the indecency between two men, but I don't know exactly how are we suppose to interpret it. Click here for some more Quran quotes about homosexuality.

My friend agrees about the relativity of normality, but she said "Not normal doesn't mean it's wrong." Well, I am not sure I agree with this. I mean, what is it that make you say something is wrong? It is (again) different in different culture and custom.

I am sorry, but I think being homosexual is against the nature. I mean... men are created to be with women, water is created to overcome fire, etc etc. But, when I think about it... I realize, homosexuality comes naturally. You cannot choose who are you going to fall in love with. If you happen to fall in love with someone with the same gender, what can you do?

I was being so insensitive when I told my friend that I believe that gay people can "change" their homosexuality. My friend was outraged, I guess. She said that it's hurtful to even say that. She said that it's so hateful when people say that "straight" is normal and everyone who is not straight has to change themselves. She doesn't believe that people can truly change being gay. They can oppress and supress it until they drive themseves crazy, but someday they will act out of it. She said, "People are people, just because someone is against it, or disagrees with gay marriage, or gay people in general doesn't mean they should make them, or even tell them that they can "change". it's ridiculous to even say that"

Oooh...I got slapped in my face. When I said that, I don't mean that I want to make them change or anything. I just believe that they can. I am not a preacher or something, I have no power to tell people what to do; I dont' even want to.

I don't know...I am so sad to see how the way I think is so hurtful for other people...but what am I supposed to do? This is how I believe it...

I am probably now being so conservative, but I am trying my best to be open-minded. I know that nobody cares about my opinion or what I think about something, so I just say what I have in my mind.

So, after a long thought, I came to a personal conclusion. If someday I ever fall in love with a girl, I would try my best to fall out of love (even if people say it's impossible). But, I will never be a homophobic person. I totally respect all people regardless their point of view about everything, including homosexuality.

As I wrote on my previous post "Day of Silence", I hate people who discriminate gay or lesbian. I respect their choice and I don't want to hurt their feelings.

Well, yeah...that's a bit of my confusion..
God... please help me fathom this...

---------------------------------------------------------------

O yeah... related to the topic, I have a little story and pictures to share ;)

Last month, I had a trip with other NH exchangies to Provincetown, MA. Provincetown (P-town for instance) is a very neat and pretty town. It is not big but lovely. It's so nice just to walk downtown and go to the stores. P-town is wellknown as a big community of gay-lesbian. Yeah, it is very obvious. Beside there are many couples that you can meet, there are many gay-pride-flags being displayed in P-town stores and homes.

I found this eccentric fountain in front of a bauty salon (if I'm not mistaken). At first, I only found it interesting because of the barbies. Then, when I saw the picture I took, I noticed that there is the more interesting thing about the barbies. Can you see it? Ah, P-town is soo unique ^^

Yup, there are many many accesories with rainbow colors on it. As you can read on the picture, the rainbow is a symbol of gay pride. Oh yeah...and I bought a postcard with rainbow on it...for souvenir ;)

photo courtesy of sfPhotocraft

A picture of rainbow flag on one of P-town's store

So much things to tell, so little time to write

2009-05-24T14:49:00.004-05:00

I can't explain how I feel right now. I feel everything. Sad, happy, excited, gloomy, whatever.

These last two weeks were very hectic. I had so much things to do, mostly schoolworks. I had so many things to write here, including my trip to Provincetown, MA and New York City, also my intense e-conversation with Lucy. I just don't have enough time to do that.

Now.. Theresia just left for Germany. T-T

I don't know when can we meet again. Probably not at all... but I really hope we will someday.

This makes me think how soon I am going to leave. A lil bit more than a month. Jade and Pato are gonna leave before me. And next week is the last meeting with NH exchangies. Everybody is gonna leave real soon. We don't know if we ever get a chance to meet each other again. To think about goodbyes are just painful.

My goodbyes are not gonna stop there. When I get back home, there will be a farewell party for my friends who are graduating from high school. I just get back to see them, and I have to see them leave! They're my besties,, and my school days are gonna be different without them T-T

I hope everything will be alright...

A Post When I am Mentally TIRED T-T

2009-05-14T20:22:00.002-05:00

Capek...capek...capek...

Haduh...rasanya pengen bobok seharian penuh. Udah dari seminggu yang lalu aku pengen ngepost cerita2 dari spring break yang sangat menyenangkan itu...tapi apa daya, those damned homeworks were waiting to be done. Kalo udah soal peer, aku jadi nggak tahan. Pengennya dikerjain dulu, baru seneng-seneng. Tapi kok sampe sekarang belom seneng-seneng juga??? Sabaaar... soalnya besok aku bakal have fun juga.

Hff...ini aku baru nyeleseiin Newsletter buat Bina Antarbudaya sama POW buat math class-ku. Sebenernya masih ada satu tugas lagi: English creative writing. Kalo itu bisa nunggu dikit lah...soalnya aku belum ada inspirasi.

Ngomong2 soal mentally exhausted...aku jadi mikir, ntar kalo masuk kelas 3 apa aku kuat ya? Les, bimbel di skolah, pr, tugas, ujian praktek, UAS, UNAS, PMB, SNMPTN....what the hell?? Akhir akhir ini, di Facebook temenku pada rame soal PMB unair dan ITB plus SNMPTN. Ada beberapa temenku yang berhasil tembus PMB (congratulationS!!), tapi ada juga beberapa temenku yang harus ikut SNMPTN karena nggak diterima PMB. Aku juga baca notes mereka yang saling menyemangati satu sama lain. Hh...rek, aku bangga sama kalian semua T-T

Btw, aku harus nyiapin diri sebelum masuk kelas 3. Harus nyiapin diri karena aku bakal punya temen-temen baru (semoga mereka bakal sekeren dan se-nyenengin temen2ku yang sekarang)...harus nyiapin diri buat nerima ekspektasi tinggi dari ortu dan keluarga... dan yang paling penting, nyiapin diri untuk ngeluarin tenaga habis-habisan buat belajar, berusaha, dan berdoa. Yup, taun depan akan jadi taun yang penting buat aku.

Tahun lalu, sewaktu aku di Jakarta buat orientasi Nasional, aku dijemput Om Uki. Beliau tuh sepupunya papaku. Di mobil, beliau bilang, "Semoga eki nanti bisa jadi orang sukses pertama di keluarganya Eyang Yunus ya.." Orang sukses pertama? Yup, karena aku cucu pertamanya eyang. Pastinya, ortuku dan keluargaku berharap banyak dari aku, apalagi setelah exchange year-ku di USA ini.

hmm...burden? yes. Motivation? yes.

Eki Semangaaaat!!!

^,^9

btw, besok aku berangkat ke Cape Cod... trus minggu depan, di skolah ada Carnival Week..

Smoga bisa memulihkan otakku yang lagi lesu ini..

Ganbatte!!

?!?!?!?!?

2009-05-11T17:11:00.002-05:00

Who could believe that I am the only one who got an A of English Paper in my class????
I couldn't.
but I am...
Thanks to Owen Meany, LOL

Happy 5th of May!

2009-05-05T09:27:00.004-05:00

photo courtesy of IceCreamRawrness

Fifth of May has always been a memorable day in my life. I share this happy day with two people: My lovely cousin, Mas Irfan and my friend Terra. Happy Birthday for both of you!! ^,^

I got a message from my friend back home who is also an AFS-er,, she said:

"TANJOUBI OMEDETOU,,EKI-CHAN!!!!!
wish this adventure will give you a lasting memories,
that gives you strength to face challenges,
that gives you gratefulness of what you have,
that gives your heart a warmth when outside feels so cold,
that gives you spirit to keep going on,
and give you a highway to His blessings!!!
amiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii

iiiiiiiiiiiiin,,,

wish you all the best,,
really I do.
=D"

I would say that this whole set of journey is the greatest birthday present for me. I am so grateful for that, alhamdulillah...
^,^

I was half-dead, but how about them?

2009-04-23T17:27:00.006-05:00

Two days ago, I was dying! I'm telling you...track practice two days ago was killing me! Tearing my pleuras apart from my lungs, trying to blow my heart away like a grenade, and pulling off my legs and breaking the ligaments.

Okay, I was exaggerating. But still, it was the hardest practice I've ever been in. First, it was pouring and cold. Second, we had to run like a horse.

We warmed up and jogged for 20 minutes, it was not bad. But then, we had to run uphill 6 times 200 meters. Uphill! Yes, uphill.
For my friends, probably those exercises are okay. But, my friends in track team are BEASTS!!! O yeah...they are so good at that stuff. Running, jumping, throwing...and they've got good endurance too.
But for me....ahahaha...I don't need to mention how much I suffered during that 1,5 hours torment.

Anyhow, my friend's awesome strength and endurance already made me gape. But, I saw another thing that made me gape even larger.
Yes, those REAL runner!

On Monday, High Schoolers had a field trip to Boston Marathon. We just basically sat there and cheered for the runners. It sounds boring, but it wasn't. I mean, it's really cool to see those participants to run, and some of them are just really fast that could make me go "WOW" for 30 seconds.
The marathon is pretty much the same with the one we have in Indonesia. Well, I actually know only one marathon in Indonesia; Malang-Tumpang Marathon.
The Boston marathon went from a town called Popkinton to downtown Boston, which was 26 miles. Twenty miles...yeah, I could never ever ever run for twenty miles!
There are several kinds of event in this marathon; men, women, and the one that mesmerized me most -- disabled people.

I saw them there, driving their arms to spin the wheel faster and faster. When the road goes uphill, I could see them breathing so hard and pushing themselves further and further. Twenty miles is not a long road, it is a wicked long road. I was just hypnotized how they could keep on going for such a long time. You know, HOW did they gain the endurance?

Anyway, there were more 'exciting' participants in the marathon. Some of them were doing the marathon to prove their athletic ability, some of them just doing it for fun, some were doing it to attract people's attention (you'll see why), and some were doing it for charity! What a group of people!

This man was fast!

This is a charity group (I forget what did they call themcelves)

Wonder woman! I wonder if it's hot to wear that outfit for running :p

Red 'afro', I suppose? :p

Hmm...this post is kinda pointless, haha. I just want to show my appreciation upon the athletes, especially the disabled athletes. I just want to let them know (by any chance) that they're awesome! :D

PS: I'll post some more picture later, cuz I don't have it right now.

ta ta for now :)

Nangis Darah T.T

2009-04-23T09:54:00.002-05:00

Huhuhuhu

kenapa oh kenapa???

David bakalan ngadain konser di Manchester, NH...
this is what I've been waiting for...
Tapi...
Hiks...konsernya tanggal 24 Agustus!
HUAAAAAA...

aku udah gak di NH dodol!!
*sebel sama yg bikin konser

"I Went to Boston and Now I Can't Speak"

2009-04-19T15:10:00.002-05:00

That's how Lew put my illness into words, hahaha

Yesterday I went to Boston. During the day, my flu spread out. In the morning, the problem was only my runny nose. In the end of the day, I couldn't speak anymore. Uhmm...not really. Let's put it this way: it hurts when I speak , hahaha.

Get well soon, eki!

Let's Unveil the Beauty

2009-04-19T12:33:00.002-05:00

Yerterday, I went to New England Aquarium with my hostfamily. Before we entered the aquarium, we watched a 3D movie about Underwater World in IMax. The movie was great because of its awesome effect and more importantly, the scenes took place in Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, and Australian waters. The narration that began with, "In the lands of Papua New Guinea and Indonesia..." made me more excited. The entire movie shows the beauty of the seawater world in the Coral Triangle and the Great Barrier Reef. Does it look familiar to me? Uhmm...not really.

I think Indonesia should've been more popular than it is now. Just look at what title it posseses:

1) the 4th most populous country which equals the combined population of all other South East Asian countries.

2) the world's largest archipelagic country

3) the country that has about 75% of all volcanoes in the world

4) the variety of ethnic groups in Indonesia is unparalleled anywhere else in the world (316 ethnic groups).

5) Indonesia is home of the biggest Buddhist temple in the world

6) Indonesia is home of the world's largest lizard

7) There are many more stuff but I can't remember them

The fact is, there are many people who still wondering, "Where is Indonesia?" of those who say nothing when they are asked about what they know about Indonesia.

It's not their fault that they know nothing about Indonesia.

The point is, we, as Indonesians, did not do enough to develop our country's potential. That is why nobody knows about Indonesia's potential and beauty, because we did not unveil it yet.

Now, the biggest power to develop Indonesia lays on Indosian youth's hands. It's us! This is the time to use our utmost potential to develop our country. Ten years from now, I hope we can make a change.

WE CAN DO IT!!!

April 17, 2009: Day of Silence

2009-04-17T20:40:00.005-05:00

Today, in the computer lab when I asked Rachel about our semi-formal dance, she didn't answer.

Me: Oh, you can't speak? Are you sick?

Rachel: (shook her head)

Me: (Tilting my head ~ didn't understand what's going on)

Then, Rachel opened Microsoft Words and started to type up her answer.

Rachel: [I'm doing the silence protest]

Me: For what?

Rachel: [Against anti-gay people that continue to bully gays]

Me: Why? (stupid question)

Rachel: [Because at schools there are many students who were bullied by others because they're gay, but the teachers did absolutely nothing]

Me: Really? (I was thinking that she was talking about OUR school. I couldn't believe that there are many anti-gay people in our school)

Rachel: [Yes. There is one 12 years old kid who was killed because his friends always harass him. He was not even gay, but his friends thought that he was]

Me: Killed??? Are you serious?

Rachel: (shook her head) [He killed himself]

Me: ooh. Who is he? (I was still thinking that this poor kid is from our school)

Rachel: (opened some website and showed me an article about that kid)

Me: Oooh...ok!

Frankly, I am impressed by Rachel's dedication about this case. I mean, it's hard not to talk for one day. Even though it won't make a big change, at least this action can open people's eyes and even slap them in the head, just like me.

I'm not a bully, that's for sure. I hate to hurt people's feeling. However, sometimes my words can be offensive to some people, even though I didn't mean to offend them.

Sometimes, when my friends and I were fooling around, they would imitate girlish boy's gesture, then I would say, "Oh my God, You look so gay!"

That's a common joke for me, that means I say it a lot. Now I realize that what I say is not appropriate. I can imagine if a gay person hear me say that. It would probably feels like if someone was joking around me and say to his friend, "OMG, you look like an Asian!" or "Hey, you look like a Moslem!"

I would probably say, "What's wrong with that?"

Back home, my friends also say this kind of joke. They would call each other "Bencong" which means a transgender person. If a transgender person hear them saying that, they'll be hurt too.

This is not about right or wrong, because it's relative and different in every culture. This is all about respecting others.

PS: For more stories about Day of Silence, please visit:

www.dayofsilence.org/ and

http://www.glsen.org/cgi-bin/iowa/all/news/record/2400.html

EDITED:
I found this cool picture of Dougie Poynter (McFly)

Straight A's

2009-04-16T09:39:00.002-05:00

Yesterday, I got my 3rd quarter report card. The feeling of getting a report card here and back home is totally different. Back home, we have a special day after final exam when our parents come to school to receive our grades. It is such a big deal. We also have ranks in our class. I always feel nervous in that particular day. I have three ways of spending the day:

1) Watching tv at home without paying attention at what I am watching cuz I get to go pee so often.

2) Go to school and hang around with my friends while my parents are having 'bussiness' with my teacher (read: go to the bathroom together with my friends pretty often)

3) Help around with Journalistic team to give school magazines to every single class. Sometimes, my teacher ask me to put the magazine inside the file folder where our grades are kept. I like this part, cuz I get to see my grades too, hahaha.

Here, report card is not as big deal. The teachers just give the card to us in the library at lunch. If we don't show up, they will come to us and hand the card. Simple, huh?

Back home, we like to see each others grade, we compare our report cards. But here, such a thing is not common, and it's considered to be impolite if you ask someone's grades.

Anyhoo...I was so thrilled to see the first page of my report cards. It's my grade in Junior English. What did I get? A- Yaaay!!! Last quarter I only got B, so....I'm improved, ain't I? ;)

The thrilling past is...I get all A's for the rest of the subjects I take!

OHOHOHO

US History = A+

Math = A

Chemistry = A

Adv Biology = A-

This is as thrilling as last year when I got the 9th academic rank out of 280 eleventh graders in my school.

Now, I feel like studying...

I wanna go home, start my senior year, and off to college as soon as possible....

GANBATTE!!!

^^9

APRIL 15th

2009-04-16T09:37:00.001-05:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MY SIZT!!!

have an awesome one!! :D

I have a present for you, but I'll give it to you when I get home, ok?

*lama amat...

hahaha

Gosip masa SMA dan Obsesi Berat

2009-04-15T20:55:00.006-05:00

Waktu jaman-jaman kelas dua dulu, aku sering banget nggosip bareng temen-temenku. Nggosip disini bukan berarti berghibah tentang kejelekan orang lain lho. Itu mah dosa! Nggosip yang udah jadi bagian dari hari-hari kita itu (halah) adalah berbagi cerita tentang hasil observasi kita terhadap lingkungan sekitar (kok jadi kayak biologi?)

Anyhooo...contohnya nih:

Aku: Eh, ada gosip gak?

Temen 1: Ada!

Aku: Apa? Apa? (smangat membara)
Temen 1: Kmaren si X sama si Y bertengkar hebat. Kayaknya mreka mau putus deh. Trus si Y crita ke aku blablablabla....
Aku: (menyimak baik-baik)
Temen 1: Tuh kan! Pacaran nggak enak juga kan...

PS: Obrolan diatas adalah obrolan orang-orang jomblo yang ngaku-ngaku bahagia,, tp emang bahagia kok... (apaan sih?)

Anyhow, kita sering banget ngobrolin kisah-kisah cinta temen-temen di skolah. Sebenernya nggak cuma kisah-kisah cinta sih, kita juga sering ngobrolin guru-guru dan yang lebih sophisticated, cita-cita kita, hahha. Nah, anehnya, kita sendiri gak punya cerita romantis yang bisa digosipin sama orang2. Hahaha...melas amat, lol. Kadang-kadang obrolan kita langsung berubah jadi gini

Temen 1: udahan deh ngobrolin orangnya. Kamu sendiri gimana? pernah suka sm seseorang ga?
Aku: Hmm...pernah sih, tp ceritanya biasa2 aja...gak intense. Kamu?
Temen 1: Pernah sih, pas SD...
*hening*

Hahaha...ngobrolin orang emang lebih gampang.

Btw, bukannya mrasa sok penting sampe nyebar-nyebarin cerita pribadi lewat socialnetworking (padahal selama ini crita-crita pengalama pribadi mulu, haha), tapi aku emang gak pernah ngerasa gimanaaaa gitu sama seseorang. Rasa suka paling cuma lewat doang, ntar kalo udah pindah skolah, rasa sukanya pindah juga, hehehe. Berdasarkan cerita-cerita yang sering kita gosipin sih, keliatan banget kalo kisah-kisah temen-temen lain tuh intense banget. Macem-macem, colorful, kadang-kadang juga emosional. Dalam hati pengen juga sih punya pengalaman smacam itu...lumayan lah buat bahan cerita anak-cucu (lho?)

anyhooo...sebenernya ada sih satu orang yang bisa bikin aku melting sampe brasa kayak jeli (halah...)
Clue: dia imut banget, senyumnya bikin smua orang pengen senyum, rendah hati banget, lucu walaupun lagi gak ngelucu, dan yang paling penting....suaranya kayak malaikat yang lagi nyanyi sambil nabur-naburin uang ke bumi (baca: merdu dan bikin hati seneng)
So, who is this almost-perfect-and-angelic boy?

Tararaaam!

David Archuleta!!! (Runner up American Idol Season 7)

Nah, ini versinya David Archuleta yang lagi pake baju Malay pas doi ngadain konser di Malaysia. Kayak habis sunatan, ya? Tapi tetep imut sih, hihihi
*Jadi pengen nyuruh David pake blangkon sm jarik neh.. :P

Btw, ini nih performance pertamanya David yang bikin aku membeku di depan tipi sampe 10 menit setelah acara Idol selesai (lebai ah)

*melting lagi

aku obsesi ya?
~pertanyaan retoris~

2nd Track Meet

2009-04-15T20:30:00.002-05:00

Yesterday I had my second track meet in Interlakes High School.
First thing I noticed: the track is awesome! hahaha (comparing to the one we have in our school ;p)
Anyway, I did 100 M and 200 M this time. My shin is waay better than last week, so, probably I can run better...and yes I could! :D
The last meet, I did 100 M in 21 seconds (soo baaad!!)
Afif said that I should make it to 15 seconds. Hahaha...it's gonna take time for me. But yesterday....I improved! I did it in 18 seconds! hahaha
3 more seconds to go!
It's too bad that Scott (my coach) didn't record my 200 M race...

anyhow, tomorrow I'll have another meet in Gilford. Hopefully I can do better.
Today, since we didn't have practice, Scott asked us to jog for 30 minutes and stretch for 20 minutes. It sounds intense for me. Moreover, the streets around my neighborhood are going up and down. Sooo...I only did 20 minutes running instead, hahaha. A lil bit cheating is ok ;)
In terms of running, tho...
A lil bit of corruption is not ok...

*what am I talking about?
~slapped in the head~

The City is Where the Heart is

2009-04-08T15:36:00.004-05:00

With map in my hand, I'm ready to go

People walking by

Skyscrapers standing still, boasting their power

Faces in the crowd ignoring each other

The speed of the city life

Busy Bostonians

The way they keep themselves entertained

The place where people have some fun

Yes, the city is where my heart is :D

First Track Meet

2009-04-08T15:18:00.004-05:00

If I can resume my first track meet in two words, that would be: Cold and Intimidating

COLD:

Yesterday was freaking cold. I even brought my winter jacket. It's been raining these past few days, that is why the field were wet and the field event was canceled. Thus, we only had track event. I only did 100 M because my shin still hurts. The bad news is: meet lasts 2,5 hours. We had to wait in this freezing spring weather. We snuggled up under winter jacket and blanket while we were cheering for the racer. Comfy, huh?

INTIMIDATING:

the people were wicked fast!! No wonder I came out as the last one in the finish line, lol.

The next meet is gonna be next Tuesday. Hopefully, my shin is gonna be better by then :)

btw, atlit2 cowok dari skolah lain yang dateng ke track meet kmaren tuh sumpah-bikin-melting-banget! Nggak semuanya sih, ada juga yang berewokan dan berbadan subur, hahaha

Mimpi

2009-04-07T08:39:00.004-05:00

Duh,, belakangan ini aku mimpi-mimpi aneh mulu...

ada yang serem, menyedihkan, ada pula yang bikin seneng...

Kemarin aku mimpi didatengin setan, aku lupa wujudnya gimana. Yang jelas, waktu bangun, aku langsung keringetan dan deg-degan banget. Hiyy...

Tiga hari yang lalu, aku juga mimpi serem. Critanya, aku udah balik ke Indonesia. Nah, setelah nyampe, aku dikabari kalo papaku meninggal dunia. Astaghfirullah...

Aku syok banget. Apalagi setelah diceritain kalo beliau meninggal dengan tragis. :(

Dalam mimpi, papa kena serangan jantung. Semua orang mikir kalo beliau udah meninggal. Akhirnya beliau segera dimakamkan.

Setelah dimakamkan, ternyata beliau hidup lagi. Orang2 nyoba menggali makam beliau, tapi semuanya udah terlambat. Beliau meninggal karena kehabisan oksigen di dalam tanah.

Duhh,,, serem banget kan mimpinya?? The freakiest dream I've ever had deh...

Semoga mimpi itu nggak bakalan jadi kenyataan...amiiin

*waktu aku nulis posting ini, aku jadi deg-degan lagi*

The second freakiest dream I've ever had is...waktu di kompleks tempat aku tinggal ada wabah pocong. Setiap malam, banyak pocong berkeliaran. Nah, ceritanya gerombolan pocong itu punya Chief gitu... Ketua RT-ku akhirnya berunding dengan Chief pocong tersebut. Si Chief pocong bilang bahwa mereka bisa meninggalkan kompleks kami kalau kami mempersembahkan sesajian tertentu. Merekapun setuju.

Malam berikutnya, ketua RT sudah mempersiapkan sesajian yang diperlukan. The thing is, mereka butuh seseorang yang bersedia untuk memberikan sesajian itu kepada para gerombolan pocong. Gak jelas juga sih kenapa pak RT nggak mau nyerahin sesajian itu.

Akhirnya, pak RT nunjuk aku deh (aneh ya?). Gak tau kenapa, dalam mimpi aku berani banget. Padahal, biasanya kalo ada sesuatu yang berhubungan dengan pocong, aku langsung keder2 nggak karuan gitu.

However, akhirnya, aku yang didampingi oleh papaku berangkat untuk mempersembahkan sesajian itu. Kami pergi ke kolong jembatan di dekat kompleks rumah. Di sana sudah ada beberapa pocong yang menunggu kedatangan kami. Aku memberanikan diri untuk mendekati mereka. Hwii...face-to-face sama pocong!

Setelah urusan selesai, aku buru-buru ngibrit soalnya nggak tahan ngeliat mukanya si pocong.

Dan, believe it or not...aku sudah dua kali dapet mimpi yang sama...

Creepy banget nggak sih?

Well, aku bukan tipe orang yang percaya sama mimpi. Tapi, bagaimanapun juga, mimpi tetep ngasi efek dalam keseharianku. Kalo malemnya mimpi buruk, seharian aku jadi rada nervous gitu. Kalo mimpinya menyenangkan, seharian aku bisa blushing terus. Haha...what a freak!

Speaking about pleasant dream, I just had one two days ago :)
Ceritanya, David Archuleta di-host di rumah hostfamily-ku! Hahaha...
Mimpinya panjang banget and it felt so real! Bangun tidur aku langung merengut, "Hiks, kok cuma mimpi sih??"

Great News!

2009-04-03T12:48:00.002-05:00

I'm so excited right now...

My friend back home just told me that she got accepted in her favorite university. It's been a long journey for her. She is currently in Science class, but the major that she applied is in social studies field, so...it's been so hard.
I was soo happy to hear her news, I was almost screaming ;D

anyway, congratulation for Galuh who got accepted in Accounting Major of University of Indonesia!!!
I'm so happy for you!

and congratulation also for:
1. Bagus and Amik who got accepted in Medical Faculty of UNS
2. Idul and Mbak Dita who got accepted in Nanyang University, Singapore
3. Aga who got accepted in Dentistry of Gajah Mada University
4. Benny, Ardha, and Terra who got accepted in Akamigas Balongan

when most of seniors are still waiting for final exam, you are already accepted in your preferred school...
YOU GUYS ROCK!!!
I'm so proud of you all!!!
:D

I want to be with you

2009-04-03T10:35:00.001-05:00

I've been alone so many nights now
And I've been waiting for the stars to fall
I keep holding out for what I don't know
To be with you
Just to be with you

So here I am, staring at the moon tonight
Wondering how you look in this light
Maybe you're somewhere thinking about me, too
To be with you, there's nothing I wouldn't do

And I can imagine two worlds spinning apart
Come together eventually
And when we finally meet I'll know it's right
I'll be at the end of my restless road
But this journey, it was worth the fight
To be with you

Just to be holding you for the very first time
Never letting go
What I wouldn't give to feel that way

Oh, to be with you
And I can imagine two worlds spinning apart
Come together eventually

And when you're standing here in front of me
That's when I know that God does exist
'Cause he will have answered every single prayer
To be with you

--David Archuleta--

hmm...aku kangen....

LAUGH :D

2009-03-31T20:20:00.004-05:00

Laugh makes you live longer...

is that true? True or not, I don't care, I love to laugh anyway...
Like today at school...I laughed A LOT!
:D

It began in Chemistry class...
I sat with 4 other people in that class, just say they are T, J, D, and E
J was next to me and T was in front of me.
In the middle of the class, T whispered to J, but it was loud enough for me to hear what he was saying.
T (a boy) : hey J, I can see your nipples!
J (a girl) : what the heck T!!
T : hey D (a boy too), I can see her nipples!
D : *nodding*
J : Stop it!!! (grabbed a notebook and cover her chest with it)
E (a girl) : you guys are so mean!
D : Hmm...(looking at E's boobs)

HUAHAHAHAHA
Thank God I was not involved in the conversation, LOL
PS: they were jus kidding. I could not see anyone's nipples. Hahaha

In the same class, my teacher talked about how alcoholic drink affect your body and the process till you get drunk. He made up a story about party and he made himself a model of a drunk young girl who dance on table. Oh gosh...I couldn't explain exactly what he did, but it was wicked funny :p

In the next class, IMP (Interactive Math Program), the laughter continued. We were talking about artblocks that we take, and one of my friend explained how stupid his artblock is -- just watching a movie about Mother Teresa. And then, one of my other friend asked innocently, "What's the difference between Mother Teresa and Hellen Keller?"
HUAHAHAHAHA
All of us burst in laughter. After we're done laughing, we explained to him how Mother Teresa and Hellen Keller has nothing to do with each other.
My friend said, "Oh, I've always thought that Mother Teresa is blind and has a relationship with Hellen Keller. I'm glad I asked."
Oh my Gosh, that was so adorable...hahaha

In the same class, JP (my teacher) asked about one mathematical term. He always do hangman game everytime he wants us to come up with a math term. It begins with D. Here are some guesses:
My friend : Distribution
My other fried : Distributive
My other other friend : Dammit!

LMAO :D

Situ Gintung

2009-03-31T08:38:00.002-05:00

Innalillahi wainnailaihi roji'un....

hari Jumat kemarin, Jade bilang kalo dia baru baca di BBC.com yang meliput musibah banjir di Indonesia. Langsung aku buka internet buat ngecek. BAM! Bendungan jebol di Tangerang. Waduh, deg-degan nih jadinya. Pasalnya, aku punya sodara yang tinggal di Tangerang. Aku langsung kirim email ke mama buat nanyain kabar sodara di Tangerang itu.
Hari berikutnya, mama ngebales, katanya sodara2 di sana alhamdulillah nggak kena musibah. Fffiiuh...

Kemarin aku iseng2 baca Kompas.com dan menemukan banyak artikel tentang musibah ini. Salah satu artikel yang bikin aku merinding itu berjudul "Semoga Mama masuk surga ya?"
T.T
Hiks...aku gak tau gimana rasanya kehilangan orang2 tersayang, apalagi orang tua. Dan aku belum mau tahu. Keluarga adalah satu hal yang worth dying for. Kalo aku bisa milih kapan aku bisa mati, aku mungkin bakalan milih mati sebelum orangtuaku dipanggil Allah SWT.

Anyway, aku turut berduka cita atas musibah yang menimpa sodara2 di Tangerang. Semoga arwah mereka diterima di sisi Allah SWT..... dan bagi keluarga yang ditinggalkan, semoga mereka mendapatkan ketabahan....

"Sesungguhnya kita ini adalah kepunyaan Allah dan kepadaNyalah kita akan dikembalikan"

Postponed Posting = Random Stuff

2009-03-29T20:08:00.005-05:00

Hi there!!
.....................
.....................
....................
haha...I forgot what I wanna say :p

What I clearly remember now is the fact that my limbs are so sore, down from my butt until above my ankles. Track practice is killing me slowly, but I'm thrilled cuz I seemed to survive these first 4 days' torment.

O yeah...I started to remember what I wanted to write...

1. Shiori's back to Japan T.T. Yeah...last Friday was her last day in school. She went to my hostfam's house on Saturday but I wasn't there. So, Friday afternoon on the bus was the last time I saw her. This past seven months, we had good times together. Ice cream time, gossip time, shopping time, biking and golfing in Florida, and many other stuff we did together. Some other time she also annoyed me and I annoyed her, but it doesn't matter at all, cuz every relationship has that 'sour' part. Anyway, I'm gonna miss her so much. She said that she's gonna come to Bali this August. I really want to see her there...I hope I'll have time to go since my school will start in August.
By the way, she just sent me a message in Facebook that said there was an airplane accident in Narita Airport right before the plane she was in landed. I'm glad she's okay...
Oh, by the way, before Shiori left, she had a presentation about kimono in Concord. She was planning to show how to wear a kimono. And she made me a model when she was practicing. Here is me in Japanese style:

I realized how short I am -_-!

Shiori and I in 3D theatre, Busch Gardens

2. I had a ski trip to Waterville Valley, NH last weekend. I expected the snow would be so icy and hard to ski on. But, it seems that Waterville's people have got a techineque to keep their customer happy during the last weeks of the season :)
However, I was not very lucky that day. When I tried to warm up and and recall how I usually ski downhill, I fell down so hard because I was going too fast. BAM! My ski fell off. And whoops! there's something wrong about it. The thingy that keeps my feet on the ski dangled hopelessly. It's screws must have been fallen off and gone when I fell down. Darn it!

A crew that happened to be next to me at that moment suggested that I should go to the repair shop. In the shop, I figured out that I need 20 bucks to fix my ski! Yeah...20 bucks to screw back my ski! -_-
The thing was...I only had 7 bucks with me. I went out of the shop and tried to find Linda (my friend's hostmom). But I couldn't find her. I had no choice, so I interrupted Ferdaous who was having a ski lesson to lend 20 bucks. 20 minutes later...I had my skis back. Fffiuuh -_-! I don't know what my hostmom gonna say if I came back with broken skis. She's not gonna kill me or make me pay for that, but she'll be ticked for sure.
Anyhow...skiing was pretty good that day. Even though I didn't get to go up to the top of the mountain (because I didn't have guts for that ;p), I was quite satisfied of myself ;)

After dinner on the same day, Dolores announced that scholarship students had to stay to watch a movie. It was mandatory. Our agency wanted us to watch that movie because we didn't pay for our trip, they paid for us. Well, the movie was probably the thing that they want us to pay back. Anyhow, it was just a movie, no big deal. There were 3 choices of movies: Hotel Rwanda, Osama, and I forget the other one. Hmm...they want us too watch THIS KIND of movie...lol
Dolores told us the duration of each movie, and we picked the shortest one, which happened to be Osama. It was not about Osama bin Ladden, but it has something to do with him since the setting in Afghanistan. The story was about a little girl that was in disguised of being a boy in order to get a job. At that time in Afghanistan (probably ot is right now), women can't work. The girl's father had died, and she only had her mother and grandmother left. Her mother forced her to conceal herself in boy's outfit so she can work for her family. The story was all about her struggle to keep the secret. It was so depressing so I wouldn't tell you what it was. The point is, she ended up being sold to an oldman.
After we watched the movie, Dolores brought up a topic to discuss. My friends from mid-east started to explain how untrue the movie in reality was. There is nothing like that in their country, they said. Yeah..it's true, because this movie is about Afghanistan, and it doesn't represent other Moslem country at all. And then, they started to discuss stereotypes about Moslem. I'm sorry I didn't participate as I was supposed to, cuz I was not in the mood to talk about religion and stuff. You know, talking about it is not comfortable at all. I already got many chance to talk about those stuff in English class and in Senior's religion class. So, yeah, I wouldn't recommend that movie to anybody.

OSAMA: the movie we watched

Back to my ski trip... Waterville Valley is a really cool place to stay during winter time. It reminds me of villages in England, which are so peaceful for me (hahaha...I'm saying it as if I've been to England, which I have not).

On Sunday we're supposed to go skiing again, but I couldn't, cuz the person who gave me a ride needed to go home early. It's ok for me, cuz I didn't lose any money to go home earlier :p
When Kunzang and I loaded the car with our stuff, it was snowing. It was in the parking lot when I saw snowflakes on Kunzang's hair. Waw!! I was soo thrilled to be able to see those pretty flakes again. It could be the last time I saw snowflakes before I go home, that's why I urged Kunzang to stay still while I observe the flakes. Hahha...what a nerd! lol

Before I broke my ski xp

Moosin' around in Waterville Valley: that's exactly what we were doin'

I felt like I'm in an English Village...hahaha *sotoy

Snowflake on my sleeve >.<

3. This week is the first week of track and field. Bwah...it's killing me! If I list what we did in practice, it may not seem that hard, but doing it non-stop without a break can really tear my lungs apart (hyperbole, haha). On the first day we did 10 minutes running without walking, and we raised the time each day, and tomorrow we're gonna run for 20 minutes. I wonder how long we're gonna run in the end of the season.

4. My friends back home are working on their (technically, our) yearbook. The theme is a crowd. So, they would stand in the crowd and someone will take a picture of them. Then, they edit the picture, they will wash out the backgroudn (or probably make it black and white) so the person will be the one in color. My friends took pictures in railway station, downtown Malang, in the middle of an avenue, stadium, etc. Since I can't be there to take picture for yearbook, then I have to take a picture by myself and send it to one of my friend. Even though the result is not as good as my friends', at least I will be on the yearbook :p. I also need to send my baby picture, which happened to be this one:

ain't I cute? :D

5. Pato broke his wrist when he went snowboarding. Gosh, that's what I'm afraid of when I go skiing. Moreover, jade told me that Liam Neeson's (Bryan's cast in Taken the movie) wife has died because she hit her head when she went skiing. She did not wear a helmet at that time. Once, I fell on my head really badly, but --thanks to helmet's inventor -- I'm okay :)

Anyway...Pato is going to have a surgery tomorrow. He said that he wants to see the surgery process, that means he wants to stay awake during the process. Urgh...I wonder how it fells to see someone dig on your flesh, fix your bones, and sew your skin. Gross...

However, get well soon, Pato!

Mud and snow

2009-03-20T10:54:00.003-05:00

Wow...there are many things to catch up with...

There's been a lot happening these three days and I didn't have any time to record them here. And I won't have any time this weekend either. After school today, I will go to a ski trip with NH exchangies to Waterville Valley. I don't know how is it like in the mountain. It's been so warm this week, and I bet the surface's gonna be so icy and not fun to ski on. Oh, well...

Anyway, spring is coming...

and I'm not excited -_-!

The picture of spring in my head before I came to NH is a land full of fresh green grass and colorful flowers; the bird will come out from its winter nest and the bears will come back from their hibernation. Shortly, the picture is nice and pretty.

But...what I found so far is mud, mud, and mud. The melting snow mixed with dirt and sand created yucky mud, especially in my school that is located in the middle of nowhere. Hhh...it's been frustrating.

And, honestly...I want more snow...

It might sound crazy because all the people around me are already sick of snow. But, you know...I'm a 'tropical kid', and snow is a greatest thing I've ever seen. I don't know when I'll be able to see snow again. Not anytime soon, for sure... But, I hope this is not the last time...

Please let it snow more...

30 DAYS of Being Stereotyped

2009-03-15T13:35:00.003-05:00

Last night when I wanted to go to sleep after watching some cute reality show on TV, I was tempted to go through all channels to see what's on. Zip! I got on the right channel. On that channel, I saw a white man wearing an islamic dress plus the hat. It got my attention, so, instead of going to bed, I watched TV for one more hour.

This show is called 30 Days. It's basically giving someone 30 days to try something new, in this case, the show was giving a chance for a Christian man from West Virginia to live as a Moslem with Moslem host family in Michigan. That man, David, wanted to see how is it like to be a Moslem, to learn about the religion, and to prove that the stereotype is wrong.

His journey began in his home state. On his departure day, he wore an Islamic suit to the airport. He confessed that it was the first time he got stares from people. Moreover, he was stopped by the airport security, and they opened and checked his carry-on bags. Again, it was his first time.

In Michigan, he lived with young Pakistani family in an area called Dearborn. One third of the population in that city are Moslem. No wonder if there are 30 mosques in that area.

In the meantime, there was a crew who was walking on the street asking people some question. He asked people about what they have in mind when he say a word. Here are some result from different person:

"Terrorist?" --> "Moslem"

"Moslem?" --> "Terrorist"

"Islam?" --> "Scared"

not impressive...

Anyhow, during David's stay in Michigan, he learned a lot about Islam. An Imam taught him how Christianity, Judaism, and Islam are from the same root; and how Islam believe that Jesus and Abraham are prophets, but not Son of God.

He also learned about some basic custom about politeness, and also basic restriction. He had a small argument with the imam about the prohibition of alcoholic drink. David said that people think that once you drink beer than you'll get drunk rightaway, which is wrong in his opinion. He also said that by drinking alcoholic drinks you cannot harm yourself and other people; so why is it restricted?

The Imam answered that alcoholic drink is addictive; it might leads you from the first glass to the second, from the second to the third, and so on. By the time you're drunk, you don't know what you're doing and you can harm other people without knowing what you do. He also said that you can harm yourself because you break the law of God. I don't agree in that point. You can't say that it's harmful to break God's law to people who doesn't believe in your God or faith. He could have said that alcohol is dangerous for our body if it's consumed in a big amount. It is actually.

David also learned how to pray. He read a praying guide . However, he never really prayed in a correct way. He confessed, "Everytime I tried to pray in Islamic way, I always feel that I betray my religion and family. I feel like praying to another God and turning my back to my God." I think he's a very good Christian.

In the same time, there was another crew walking on the street asking people's opinion. This time it's about prayer calls or adzan. Since there are many mosque in that area, when the pray times come, there would be many praying calls baing broadcasted. The crew wanted to know how non-moslem residents response about this issue.

There is this angry-looking lady who said, "I'm pissed. Our Church's bell doesn't put words to our ears, unlike this praying calls."

They also showed a graffiti in a wall that says, "Religion is a fraud."

Hmm...

David got a chance to have a party with his new Moslem friends. He admitted that he was surprised how these people defined party. David defines party as music, people, food, and beers. But that Moslem community defines party as an activity to get together, in David's case, there was no women and beer. They were just playing basketball together, eating, and also praying.

In David's last days, he got a final project. He had to go to the street and ask people to sign a petition. I didn't get what was the petition about, but I guess it was about a promise not to stereotype certain people, not only Moslem. It was the hardest time for David because people kept reject his petition. He even had an argument with a man on the street about stereotyping people. David tried to explain how you can't stereoptype a big amount of people just because of a few people's action. That man on the street ended his argument with, "Ok, who are the terrorist today? Moslem."

However, the whole 30 days of experiencing a new life makes David have a better idea about Islam and Moslem. The people he met during his stay is far from the stereotype. Thus, in the end of the show, he said, "You can't stereotype 1.5 billion of people for an action of five."

I hope for those who still see things from one single perspective can get an enlightment about how things really are.

Courts, Lawyer, and Cold Weather

2009-03-13T19:15:00.005-05:00

Hey, what's up people?

I'm hungry....

anyway...

I've got tons to write. Yesterday I came home at about 4 o'clock, and then I did stuff I don't remember until 10.30 pm, worked on US History homework, took a shower, and took off to my dream, so I didn't have time to write anything about what had happened on the day.

I skipped school today (yay!) because I had a field trip to NH Supreme Court with scholarship exchangies. I stayed over Mariya's house the night before because my hostmom couldn't take me to Concord in the morning. In Thursday morning, Debra (Mariya's cool host aunt) dropped us off in the supreme court. The thing is, there are 2 supreme courts in Concord, Federal Supreme Court and non-federal one. We didn't know which one we were supposed to be cuz Dolores didn't give us any clue about that. There we are, in a wicked cold morning that could stab your throat, without any shelter, and no one was coming. We asked the security guy but he didn't have any idea about the field trip we mentioned. We panicked. I insisted that we should wait a little bit more but Mariya wanted to go to her high school to call Dolore (both of us don't have cell phone). Since no one showed up, I agreed to go to the high school. It was a 15 minutes walk. It would no be bad at all if there was no freezing wind that peel your skin off. Ugh, it was terrible!

So, we called Dolores multiple times but she didn't pick it up. We assumed that she was already in the court session. Then, Mariya called her hostmom and she gave Mariya the court's phone number. I happened to call the court and ask if I can talk to Dolores. And yes I could. Hhh...I was so relieved to find out that Dolores is gonna pick us up after the session is over. But when is it exactly gonna be? She was not sure.

We were supposed to meet her in a pizzeria in front of the school, but the sign says that it is closed until 1o am. We waited inside the school and walked around the school.

At 10.05 we came back to the pizzeria but it was still closed. We waited for about 10 minutes until a man came to us and said that it opens at 11. Dammit!! Why the hell did you write that it opens at 10 when it opens at 11???

I was so pissed. I wanna come back to the school but Mariya said we'd better not because we're gonna miss Dolores otherwise.

After 15 minutes waiting in Artic, somebody (Dolores' friend) came and took us away from that condemned pizzeria. Thank God, she's the woman of the day!

Inside the court

In front of New Hampshire Supreme Court

With the judges

Well, today was pretty fun and boring in some part (in the session ;P)

If I can pick something that I learned today, I will say:

I don't wanna be a lawyer, hahaha

a little announcement

2009-03-09T20:13:00.002-05:00

Today, we're having an additional family member: Teresia from Germany!
She's 25 years old and is joining a teacher internship...

Wish you having a great time here with us =)

MyPersonality.info Badge

2009-03-08T00:16:00.001-05:00

I'm Saving My Day

2009-03-07T23:18:00.002-05:00

SAVE THE DAY - David Archuleta

Tied to the tracks and I hear you call

Your voice is shaking

The train is coming faster than you thought

and there's no escaping it

And you think that you know

How the end of the story goes

That's the page I re-wrote

And I've taken away the ropes

There's more hope than you'll ever know

So keep breathing, I say that I'd always be there

Now I mean it more than ever before

There's a future worth fighting for

So don't be scared

I know how you must be feeling

With no one to help you carry the pain

I'm coming to save the day

Hands on the clock are standing still

But your heart is racing

You're loosing your grip on the window sill

Going down by the weight of it

And you pray for belief

As you lie on the bathroom floor

As you wait you can see

There's a light underneath it all

This is the day you've been waiting for

So keep breathing, I say that I'd always be there

Now I mean it more than ever before

There's a future worth fighting for

So don't be scared

I know how you must be feeling

With no one to help you carry the pain

We're finally breaking into the daylight

In the warmth of the sun

I will stand by your side

Till your fear passes on

So just look in my eyes

And baby try to hold on

And you find it won't be long

So keep breathing, I say that I'd always be there

Now I mean it more than ever before

There's a future worth fighting for

So don't be scared

I know how you must be feeling

With no one to help you carry the pain

I'm coming to save the day

Coming to save the day

There's a future worth fighting for

So don't be scared

I know how you must be feeling

With no one to help you carry the pain

It won't be long

Tied to the tracks and I hear you call

Your voice is shaking ..

Eki is Home and Upset

2009-03-07T00:17:00.004-05:00

Finally I'm back in New Hampsha...

I was surprised to see how much snow fell down while we're gone...it's a lot!!

The path to our front door is now narrower and the snow in both sides are now in the same height of my hip.

Btw, I am so upset right now. I walked into my room and found a messy and dirty room that I did not leave the other day. I left my room clean and the bed was made, but now the blanket is all over the place and the pillows are on the floor and there are many dirt on my carpet. Who the hell did this???

My hostmom said that it could be her assisstants daugthers who did this. She was not sure about that, but who else could it be? She is gonna find it out tomorrow...

Let's see who is the asshole...

Florida Day 13: Time to go :(

2009-03-05T23:30:00.004-05:00

This is the last night of our vacation in Florida...
I'm so saaaaad :(
It's time to go back to snow and cloudy mood of New Hampsha...
It's time to get a back sore after shoveling snow...
It's time to go back to school (Nooooo!!!!)

By the way, I really want to go swimming for the last time in Florida...
but Zhanar is still talking to her boyfriend on skype and I don't want to go by myself.
Hiks...
T.T

this is the song of the day:
Mcfly- The Last Song

Another Awkward and Confusing Conversation

2009-03-04T23:06:00.002-05:00

Duh, lagi-lagi aku terjebak dalam percakapan yang canggung dan membingungkan. Bukannya aku nggak suka, cuma rasanya awkward aja, apalagi kalo ngomongin sesuatu yang sensitive dengan seseorang yang punya opposite argument. Seperti malam ini...
Aku dan Zhanar jalan-jalan kayak biasanya, menikmati hari-hari terakhir di Florida. Setelah selesai keliling-keliling dan foto-foto, kita mampir ke hot tub, nyamperin Pato and Jade. Kita ngobrol-ngobrol nggak jelas di pinggir hot tub sampe akhirnya para cowok pindah ke hot tub sebelah buat nyamperin cewek-cewek berbikini. Tinggal kita berdua...
Kita ngomongin macem2 sampe akhirnya nyenggol masalah pacaran. Dia nanya gimana pacaran di Indonesia. Ya aku bilang kalo kita punya value-value yang membatasi kita dari pre-marital sex. Trus dia nanya, kalo cium bibir sama pelukan boleh nggak. Aku bilang kalo itu semua berdasarkan pada personal limitation aja. Berdasarkan agama dan budaya kita nggak seharusnya ngelakuin hal-hal yang menjurus ke adultery, nah, soal hal-hal apa sajakah yang masuk kategori itu, semuanya tergantung pada diri masing-masing. Personally, aku mikir kalo aku meluk cowok, itu nggak bakal bikin kita langsung horny dsb. For me, it's fine. Kalo di Indonesia, aku emang nggak sembarangan meluk2 cowok. Tapi, kalo disini ada temen cowok yang mau meluk, aku nggak terlalu keberatan, asal meluknya ringan-ringan aja, nggak yang serem-serem gitu. Asalkan kita tau sikon, menurutku itu nggak masalah. Lagian, arti sebuah pelukan kan berbeda di setiap budaya.
Nah, setelah ada sedikit argumen tentang mengategorikan hal-hal fisik itu baik atau enggak, dia (aku emang menghindari untuk menyebut nama) nanya lagi, gimana bisa kamu pacaran tapi nggak pernah ciuman atau pelukan?
Nah, pertanyaan ini juga pernah dilontarkan hostsisterku yang masih berumur 12 tahun.
Aku bilang...well, di Indonesia juga banyak kok anak-anak muda yang pacaran trus ciuman dan pelukan,, tapi nggak di depan publik. yang perlu digarisbawahi adalah: berdasarkan agama kita nggak seharusnya melakukan itu.
Dia nanya lagi, "ya itulah yang aku pengen tau, gimana caranya kamu bisa pacaran kalo kamu dilarang ciuman en pelukan sama agamamu. Sebenernya pacaran itu boleh nggak sih?"
Aku bilang, "Jujur aku nggak pernah denger ada hukum pasti soal pacaran yang seketat hukum nggak boleh mabok atau makan babi. Asalkan kamu jauh-jauh dari zina sih menurutku oke-oke aja. Soal ciuman dan pelukan, kamu pacaran nggak cuma buat ngedapetin kontak fisik kan?"
Dia nanya lagi, "Lha terus kamu kalo pacaran ngapain aja dong kalo nggak boleh ciuman ma pelukan ma having sex? Terus, apa bedanya dong kamu jalan bareng temen cowokmu sama jalan bareng cowokmu?"
Hmm...aku bingung deh sama cara pikir orang-orang...
"Ya beda lahh...kalo sama temen, kamu kan nggak ada feeling apa-apa...kalo sama pacar kan kamu punya perasaan sayang..."
Dia nambahin, "Tapi sayang itu kan juga bisa tumbuh kalo km pelukan...bisa gandengan tangan. Kalo kamu nggak ngapa-ngapain, gimana kamu bisa suka dan sayang?"
Aku njawab, "Ya kan kamu bisa suka dari personality-nya..."
Aku rada speechless di bagian ini... Sebelum bisa nambahin, dia nanya lagi...
"Trus, kamu kok bisa married sebelum kamu having sex sama dia?"
Nah, lo... Rasanya aku pengen tereak "YA BISA LAAAAH!!!!"
Hh...sabar...sabar...
Aku akhirnya njawab, "Ya kan kamu married karena kamu cinta sama dia, toh pas malam pertama akhirnya kamu bisa berhubungan seks juga kan."
Dia nambahin, "Gimana kalo dia nggak enak diajakin having sex?"
Jreeeeeng....
Mak Erot masi idup kan??

Dia nambahin sebelum aku bisa njawab apa-apa, "Itu kan penting banget..."
Aku bilang, "Masalah begitu kan masi bisa diperbaiki..."
Dia ketawa...
-_-!

Dia nanya lagi, "Trus kalo kamu punya pilihan antara dua cowok buat jadi suamimu, gimana milihnya dong kalo kamu nggak boleh having sex?"
"Ya kan bisa diliat dari personalitynya, penghasilannya, tampangnya, dll. Nggak mesti harus 'nyobain' dulu kan?"
Duh...sumpah deh...masa ya mau milih yang mana yang lebih gede? ckckckck
Aku nambahin, "Back home, seks itu nggak sepenting disini."

What's so wrong about this damn world? Aku-nya yang konservatif atau orang-orang yang berpikiran dangkal?

Temen-temenku di skolah pernah ngomongin siapa aja yang masi virgin, aku cuma mesem-mesem aja. Trus, waktu kita ngisi quiz di internet, ada pertanyaan "Apakah anda berniat untuk berhubungan seks sebelum menikah?", kebanyakan temenku njawab, "Berniat? Oh...sure"

Anybody can give me an answer for these whole damn things?

Florida Day 11: LMAO

2009-03-03T23:01:00.003-05:00

Today when Florian practiced his Bahasa Indonesia for our presentation, he said "Selamat pagi bapak-bapak dan ibu-ibu" (which means 'Good morning ladies and gentlemen').
Hearing those words, Zhanar who was lying down on her bed laughed so bad. "Hihihihihi" was her naughty laugh.
We asked, "What's so funny?"
She replied, "Do you know what 'ibu' means in Russian?"
"What? What?" Florian and I asked.
She continued laughing for several minutes and added, "It's so dirty..."
"In Russian, ibu means 'I'm f*cking".....HUAHAHAHAHAHA
All of us burst in laughter.

Then, if you say Ibu Siti (which means Mrs. Siti in Indonesian), that means "I'm f*cking Siti" in Russian....
Oh, dear...
:p

Masalah Persholatan

2009-03-03T15:26:00.007-05:00

Sholat adalah kebutuhan, bukan kewajiban... Tapi apa jadinya kalo sholatmu itu cuma sebuah kebiasaan?

Sholat di negeri orang emang rada susah, apalagi kalau penduduknya bukan mayoritas Islam. Nggak ada masjid, musholla, ataupun adzan. Kalau lagi nggak pergi kemana-mana sih tinggal ngecek jadwal sholat di islamicfinder.org trus sholat di kamar deh. Tapi kalo lagi travelling seharian mau sholat dimana? Kalo travellingnya sendirian, kita bisa ngecek masjid terdekat lewat internet trus mampir deh. Kalo travellingnya bareng-bareng dan udah dijadwal ketat gimana dong? Mau permisi ke masjid juga nggak enak rasanya, mau nyari tempat yang bisa dipake sholat juga susah, apalagi kalo nggak di kota besar. Hhmm...kalo gitu sih masalah kreativitas aja. Tapi, kira2 Allah maklum gak ya?

Yap, banyak banget pertanyaan2 yang muncul di kepala kalo udah nyangkut masalah persholatan. "Gimana", "dimana", "kapan", dan "boleh gak ya" langsung berlompatan di pikiran kita. Keterbatasan ilmu agama yang kita punya sangat mempengaruhi hal-hal seperti ini. Seperti diriku yang dangkal banget ilmu agamanya ini, selalu diserang pertanyaan2 macam itu, tapi selalu berakhir dengan jawaban "Insya Allah gak papa deh, yang penting niatnya baik" Hahaha. Mau gimana lagi dong? -_-!

Aku sering banget dapet masalah persholatan ini selama homestay-ku di Amrik sejauh ini. Hostfam-ku yang non-muslim dan komunitas sekitar yang jarang banget ada orang muslimnya menjadi salah satu alasan. Kalau lagi ada acara bareng Exchangies yang lain, awalnya aku agak lega, kan banyak siswa muslimnya tuh. Tapi, setelah aku mencari tahu, berawal dengan iseng2 nanya ke beberapa siswa muslim, "Eh, kamu sholat gak?" atau langsung to the point, "Eh, sholat yuk!", I finally found out...ternyata mereka gak sholat! Or...not that I know of. Aku juga pernah nginep sama temen muslimku selama 3 hari dan aku gak pernah liat dia sholat.
Malahan, ada temen muslimku yang bilang, "Aku nggak sholat soalnya aku nggak ngerasa pengen dan butuh sholat. Ntar kalo aku udah dewasa dan ngerasa pengen sholat, ya udah aku sholat deh." Well, dia ngomongnya gak persis kayak gitu sih, tapi berdasarkan English comprehensionku ya artinya semacam itu. Aku jadi mikir, jreeng...ada ya hukum kayak gitu?

Anyhow, balik lagi ke masalah persholatanku. Karena susahnya sholat dengan tetap memperhatikan jadwal kegiatan orang-orang sekitar dan keadaan fisik ruangan, aku kadang-kadang memperbolehkan diriku sendiri untuk merangkap sholat walaupun nggak lagi bepergian jauh dan tayammum karena di kamar mandi lagi banyak orang jadi nggak mungkin kalo mau nyelup2in kaki di wastafel. Well...aku list aja deh apa aja yang pernah aku lakuin...

Hostfamku kadang2 suka ngajakin makan di luar. Kita berangkat sebelum maghrib dan pulang pas isya. Akhirnya, aku menjamak sholat padahal jarak rumah-restoran cuma 20 menit perjalanan.
Waktu ikutan high ropes course bareng exchangies yang lain, aku terjebak dalam perlengkapan security yang susah banget makenya. Kegiatan itu dimulai sekitar waktu dhuhur dan berakhir sampe maghrib. Karena aku udah bundled up di tali temali security plus winter jacket, akhirnya aku tayamum deh. Apalagi waktu itu aku baru selesai coursenya pas udah hampir gelap. Jarak antara tempat kita menginap dan tempat course-nya agak jauh. Akhirnya, aku lari-lari di salju yang cukup dalem dan nyamperin lodge kosong terdekat di tengah hutan dan sholat di situ deh...
Christmas party-nya exchangies diadakan di sebuah high school cafetaria. Ketika tiba waktu dhuhur, aku sholat di ruangan penyimpanan bahan makanan (karena kita nggak boleh masuk ke area high school-nya). Sholat dengan dikelilingi tumpukan boks2 berisi tepung dan beras...hahaha, sounds exciting.
Aku sempat diundang ke party-nya temenku, di rumah dia aja sih. Kita nonton film, sledding, sama makan-makan gitu ceritanya. Waktu sholat pun tiba. Aku minta ijin buat sholat di kamarnya. Tapi...aduuh, kamarnya kotor banget buk. Ceritanya, dia animal-lover gitu, jadi di kamarnya ada banyak kandang burung dan kadal. Jadilah banyak pup burung di lantai. Akhirnya aku sholat di kasur deh...karena ngerasa nggak sopan kalo berdiri di kasur, jadilah aku sholat sambil duduk.
Sepulang sekolah, aku selalu naik bus sekolah. Perjalanan yang ditempuh adalah satu jam. Bulan Desember-Januari sempat membawa masalah. Pasalnya, aku sampai di rumah pada jam 4.30 pm, nah...pada bulan Desember-Januari, waktu maghrib adalah sebelum jam 4.30. Aku nggak sempet sholat ashar di sekolah karena sepulang sekolah aku harus ngejar bus. Jadilah, aku sholat di bus.
Hari pertama di Busch Garden aku habiskan tanpa ada halangan, all day fun, karena aku lagi dapet, jadinya gak perlu susah2 nyari tempat sholat. Tapi seminggu kemudian ketika kami semua kembali ke Busch Garden karena dapet tiket gratis, aku udah suci. Jadi, di tengah hari, aku misah sama temen2ku buat nyari tempat sholat. Dan aku berakhir sholat di ruang first aid. Hihihi...untung ibu susternya baik hati. Yah, itulah tips buat temen2 yang mau pergi ke amusement park yang nggak punya musholla: sholat di first aid room aja...nyaman dan sepi, hehehe.

Yah, itulah sebagian cerita yang aku punya. Kadang-kadang aku ngerasa seneng banget setelah melalui berbagai halangan (lebay) sebelum akhirnya bisa sholat, soalnya berasa lega banget. Tapi, masih ada yang mengganjal di hati; sebenernya aku ini sholat karena kebutuhan, kewajiban, atau cuma kebiasaan ya?
Papaku pernah bilang, "Jadikan sholat itu kebutuhanmu" Tapi, sejauh ini aku ngerasa sholat itu kewajiban. Kalo aku nggak sholat, emang merasa berdosa dan ngerasa ada yang ilang, tapi kalo aku mau sholat, aku masih mikir "Aduuh, ntar nggak enak diliatin orang-orang" atau "Aduh, aku males njelasin ke ibu suster itu kalo aku harus sholat 5 kali sehari" atau "Aduh, kalo sholat sekarang, ntar nggak bisa naik roller coaster bareng temen-temen" or so on.
Rasanya susaaaah banget buat mengubah feeling itu. Duh, gimana ya buk? Kasi hidayah dong...
Tapi kata papa hidayah itu untuk dicari, bukan untuk ditunggu...
What should I do?

Florida Day 10: There's nothing better than free stuff ;p

2009-03-02T22:37:00.005-05:00

O yeah...we got free tickets to Busch Garden! The last time we went to Busch Gardens, we found out that we can get a free pass that is valid within 6 days. We took them and used it today. We paid 80 bucks for 2 days...good deal, huh? They also have a non-sense deal though... Their one day pass is 80 bucks but their one YEAR pass is 100 bucks! Whatt?? doesn't make sense at all. If I were a Florida resident, I would buy the year pass in the first place.
Anyway...today was pretty awesome. We went on the roller coasters, the good ones. My favorite is still the 90-degrees-straight-down Sheikra. It was just so awesome. I think I got used to the rides. The last time I went on roller coaster, I screamed so bad. But today, I didn't scream at all, I just laughed loudly (hahaha...it's different, isn't it?)

After that, we went to a water ride. We got soaked (of course). The last time I went on this ride without the boys, I didn't get wet very much, but I don't know why this time the water splashed all over us and we got wet so much. That's so unfortunate, because today is so chilly. It feels like fall in New Hampshire, haha. Speaking about chilly weather, I saw people in the amusement park wearing winter jacket...here, in Florida! Hahaha...it was chilly, but not that cold that it's necessary to wear a heavy jacket ;p
Hahaha...I was like that as well. In fall, I always wear sweatshirt when some other people just wear T-shirt :)

*Before*

*after*

so chilly.... ><

After that, Zhanar, Pato, and I took a ride of Rhino Rally. We went on this truck and get closer to the animals. I would say it was worth waiting, because the rally track is kinda unpredictable. We floated on an artificial river (pretending to be lost) and went on a bumpy road.

In the gorilla preservation.

This is the ending scene of Jungle Musical, Katonga.

Group Picture!!!

I actually still have things to write, but I'm so tired right now...
I'll catch up with the writing later...
*Have a nice sleep, eki!*

Florida Day 9: A lil bit of Childhood Nostalgia

2009-03-01T20:42:00.008-05:00

Last night I went to bed at 2.30 after I watched Crayon Shinchan in Cartoon Network. It's strange to hear Shinchan and all the characters speak English. Moreover, they pronounce Shin like Shane. That's not cute anymore. In Indonesia, the trade mark of Shinchan is when he calls his mom with a deep voice, "Mama mama...". In English when it becomes "Mommy...mommy" in a child voice, it doesn't sound as great. I just looked up Shinchan versions in many languages from youtube. I watched the Indonesian, Malay, Spanish, French, and Hindi versions. In Malay, Hindi, and Spanish versions, Shinchan's voice sounds really like a child, a normal one. In Indonesian version, Shinchan's voice is deep and it sounds like an abnormal child, and it is so great because he is a little bit extraordinary (in a bad way). The one that always makes me laugh so bad is his voice, honestly.

Well, we cannot really decide which version is the best because it all depends on the viewers and their preferred language. I would say that the best version is the original one, which is Japanese. But, I still say that Indonesian version is really good, hahaha. It doesn't matter, anyway...

Anyway, back to Shinchan...although this anime is known as a bad effect for children because of its vulgar scenes and conversations, I still have it in my favorite cartoon list ;)
Until my junior high years, I always watched Shinchan every Sunday morning. I sometimes rent its videos. Watching it last night was kind of a nostalgia of my childhood :)
I have the opening soundtrack video of the show posted, for those who used to watch Shinchan every Sunday morning in their childhood :)
Enjoy!

Mid-Night Bike Riding

2009-03-01T01:06:00.000-05:00

I just came back from midnight bike riding with Zhanar. It was pretty cool to have the whole street for our own, but it's kinda creepy also. I kept thinking about pocong that is hiding behind the palm trees (well, palm trees are too good for pocong, though; and if you don't know what pocong is, google it ;p)

Back home, I would never ever go biking at midnight. I don't know why the atmosphere back home is much creepier than any other place in the world. Here, I don't mind walking around at night, but back home, I get scared really easily. Oh, well....I'm such a pussy...

Florida Day 8: Lazy Day and Bad Luck

2009-02-28T22:08:00.000-05:00

There was not much going on today. I woke up at 12 (haha) then ate a late breakfast and went online. Not long afterwards, I ate lunch (hahaha). Just a typical lazy day. At 2 o' clock, Florian came to my condo to work on our project. Oh well...
After we're done, it was like 4.30. I went biking by myself. Bad luck was on me today. On the half way of biking, the pedal fell off. I did nothing; I didn't fall down or crash or anything; it just fell off. I tried to fix it, but it kept falling off every five seconds. Oh dear...
I had no choice, so I walked my bike home which was like 20 minutes walking :(
By the way, out of the topic, my skin smells like pool water right now...
Yeah, we went to the pool for about 2 hours from 7.30 this evening. Zhanar, Florian, and I kept going up and down the hot tub while Jade and Pato went catching up with the hot chicks ;p

Florida Day 7: wow...it's been a week!

2009-02-28T00:15:00.000-05:00

aargghh... it's a week more before I come back to the freezing New Hampsha...
Well, I love snow and all winter stuff (not including shoveling snow), but I think I will miss sun, the smell of wet lawns, and flip flops... :(

and however, it also means that I also have 7 more days to finish my project; and I'm wicked far from done. Today, I didn't learn any German because Florian didn't want to work on it. That's what is not fun about working with boys :(
Yeah...it happens a lot; for example, I had a group of 3 boys and 2 girls...and the girls ended up working on 90% of the assignment. The only good thing was: we laughed a lot ;)
Hmm...I will miss those moments... Next year when I come back to school, I will not have the same friends since all my friends are going to college. Probably I will not have the same fun. Well, 12th grade is not fun anyway. But hopefully I will have friends as good and fun as my friends right now.
^_^

btw...
I'm tired...

guet nacht!

Florida Day 6: Busch Garden = All Day Fun

2009-02-26T22:50:00.000-05:00

Busch Gardens is basically a common theme park that is located in Tampa Bay, FL. The theme is Africa. They divided the place into regions that are named after some countries in Africa. They also have a big plain for african animals. And the greatest thing is...they have many awesome roller coaster!!! ><

In Egypt region.

Waiting for roller coaster. Oh, I look so horrible in this picture -_-!

They have 7 working roller coaster, and I took the rides ten times! My favorite roller coaster is the one in the picture. As we can see, there is a vertical track. When we were right on the edge between the vertical and horizontal track, they stopped the roller coaster. So, we were sitting there looking hudreds meter down and screaming. The next five second, we were dropped! Oh... what an awesome ride!!!

Group picture!

I like Jade's and Florian's face in this picture! lol. Jade looks like he just took a bitter drug, and Florian was like, "What the eff is wrong with you Jade?"

On the train. Looking at the animals from afar.

Girrafes!!!

Before we watched 4-D pirates movie. After that? we got wet...

Another roller coaster :)

To get out of Busch Gardens' parking lot, we have to walk maybe for 1 mile. We wanted to go to a restaurant just across the street behind this wall. Since we didn't want to walk really far, so...we just climbed the wall!

Thanks Jade! Hahaha...I know I'm heavy...

To get to this restaurant, we had to cross a very busy boulevard. When there was no car nearby, Pato shouted, "RUN!!!" and all six of us run crazily across the street. The good thing is: the food is worth fighting, lol.
What a fun day!!! ;)

Florida Day 5: continuing Schwiizertüütsch and that's about it

2009-02-25T18:57:00.000-05:00

This is my lazy day...
All useful things I did today were just bike-riding, learning Swiss-german for 1 hour and 15 minutes, and eat. I didn't even take any picture! Yeah...that's surprising for me!
.........
.........
.........

ok, steak is waiting!
tschüss!

Florida Day 4: Schwizz and Indonesian

2009-02-24T21:20:00.000-05:00

Today I woke up at 10, had a light breakfast, took a long shower, and got on the computer. Pretty lame, yeah. After a while I got bored, so I went biking for a while. It was not much fun to go biking by myself, because I will look pretty strange and I have to say hi to everyone I meet on the street including some fancy young mothers who blocked a narrow lane by their baby buggies.
However, when I came back to the condo, I found Shiori who wanted to go jogging. So, I followed her jogging with my bike. We went outside of the resort area and found a very interesting track for biking.
We came back exactly at three o'clock...an exact time that Florian promised me to start doing our project. Yeah...this two weeks break is a project period week from our school. All the students are supposed to do a project whatever they want and present it when we get back to school. I decided to learn Florian's language for project, and Florian decided to learn my language as his project. How exciting, hahaha.
So, here we were, in my condo's balcony. I took note of some Swiss-german greetings and expression and he took note of some Indonesians. Learning Swiss-german is pretty hard. They use Swiss-german in speaking only, they do not write in Swiss-german, so there are no exact spelling for the language. I also practiced to pronounce the "kkhhhh" thingy. It is so hard, probably because I'm not used to spit so intensely. The word "zwanzg" took me the longest to pronounce because Florian kept saying that I don't pronounce it correctly.
Florian had a tough time as well. He took longest time to pronounce "ng" and "ngg". He had a hard time to pronounce the word "mendengarkan". It was so funny to hear him speak with his "kkkhhh" accent.

We're gonna continue learning tomorrow.... and tonight I gotta practice how to pronounce "zwanzg" and "lieblingsgetrank"

guet nacht, people!

Florida Day 3: Basketball, Hot Guys, and Alligators

2009-02-23T16:03:00.000-05:00

Today, Zhanar and I went biking together. Zhanar have not been biking for such a long time, so she got freak out and she almost hit an old lady. We passed the same bridge, and we saw an alligator! Finally...The alligator is tanning, lol

and we saw this birdie! and there are a lot of them. I guess it's a heron... I'm not sure...

Zhanar and I played asshole. Hahaha...don't assume anything. Asshole is kind of basketball game. We just shoot the ball and if we didn't get it in we get a letter of the word 'asshole'.
Btw, nice picture, isn't it?

Zhanar and I are not that impressive in basketball. Many times we made the ball stuck in the net. Zhanar tried to kick the ring pillar (or whatever it's called) but most of the time it didn't work. So, we ended up calling a guy to help us. He was tall and looked pretty good, lol. The second time we made the ball stuck, there was another passing-by-hot-guy, so we asked him for help. He was tall and really good at basketball. After he fixed the net, he was just standing there to check whether the net is good enough or not. But, we didn't even get the ball in, so I asked him to try, and he made a perfect three points (clapping hands :p). The third time we made the ball stuck there was no guy around. When one guy passed by, I asked Zhanar, "Hey, ask that guy!" and Zhanar said, "No, he's ugly. Let's wait for the hot one!" Huahahahaha...actually there were many girls passing by, buy we preferred to ask for help to a guy, a hot one, hahahaha. If Sam is reading this; no worry! When I asked Zhanar, "Hey, go look for a hot guy over there!" And she said, "No, I don't need one!" Aw...aw.... :)

When we got tired of messing around with basketball, we sat by the pond. We watched the birdies and even the alligators eyes that emerged and vanished multiple times from the water.

Ch...ch...chilling...

Clear sky and cute girls :p

Florida Day 2: Missing Home, Frog, Toad, and Armadillo

2009-02-22T22:00:00.000-05:00

My bed! This is actually a couch in the livingroom, but we turned it into a bed! yeah...there are only 2 beds in our condo and there are 3 of us...so one of us has to sleep in the livingroom. We take turn for the bed, hahaha

The pond behind our condo. There are some alligators in it, but I've never seen one yet.

The view from our balcony. The whole thing makes me miss home so bad, especially when I hear the sound of bouncing tennisball on the court nearby, I miss my parents so much. Back home, they sometimes take me and my sister to a hotel or resort while they play tennis; the view and feeling is exactly like this.

When Zhanar and I tried to scare Jade (who was still sleeping) in his room, we saw this unnatural looking frog on the door knob. We tried to scare it and even took a picture, but it didn't move, so we thought it's fake. Then Zhanar poked it, and it shocked and moved. We screamed...but Jade didn't wake up at all, hahaha. After that, Zhanar and I argued whether it was a frog or toad. I said it's a toad, but Zhanar was right...it was a frog, hahaha.

Shiori and I went biking when Zhanar tried to tan (it didn't work, though). We passed this pretty pond. There were turtles and weird huge birds that fly very low.

I'm so glad we have bicycles here ^^

Zhanar, Pato, Jade, Florian, and I took a walk at night. This is the same pond that I passed by. It looks so creepy at night.

When we went back to our condos from night walking, we saw an armadillo in someone's front yard. I got so excited, and I yelled, "Look at that thing!!!" At first, I forgot what it's called, but Pato reminded me. When I yelled, the armadillo got scared and run. Pato approached it to take a picture, but the armadillo vanished in the bush. Too bad :(

Florida Day 1: Not only Paris Hilton who can ride a limo

2009-02-21T21:52:00.000-05:00

Waiting to get on the plane in Manchester Airport

Pato, Shiori, and Zhanar....cute picture :)

Frozen lakes :)

This is our ride to the resort!!!! O yeaah!!

There were so many goblets and ice cubes inside the limo, but...

There was no water!

Sherry, Mom, and Greg :)

Look at the lights...

They change colors!!! hahaha

What a Good Day! :D

2009-02-20T19:31:00.000-05:00

Lulu and I were ready to go!

Crammed up in a tiny sled ;)

Little kids heading to the sledding hill

On the way back to school

Do you see why I said this is a good day? :D

This morning, I woke up pretty late, at about 6.15 in the morning. I prayed, and I skipped shower, hahaha. It doesn't matter though, because last night I took a shower before going to bed. Anyway, after I'm good to go to school, Greg paged, "The school is delayed for 2 hours." Dammit! If I had known this, I would have slept longer. But, I came back to sleep anyway, lol.

I woke up at 8.15 and then Mom asked us to clean the snow off the car. No big deal.

PS: we have to clean up 5 cars

The school bus came 15 minutes late. I was expecting it not to come at all though, haha. We arrived at school at 10.25. We had morning session and 2 shortened periods. That means study hall and chemistry for me (yay!). My chemistry teacher was so awesome. We were supposed to have presentation today, but he said, "This morning I shoveled an plowed the snow. After that I played rock music game for an hour. So, how am I supposed to expect you to do more than I did?" Isn't he awesome? So, Instead of having presentations, we watched track and field olympics in Zurich from 7 years ago, hahaha. It's a lot better :D

Soon afterwards, lunch time! After lunch, all school students gathered in studio to watch performances from 3-6th grade. They did pretty good job. The next thing is something that makes me want to go to school today: all-school sledding party! :D

this is one reason why I love my school. Before, I was expecting to enroll in an American public school (that looks like in movies, lol), but I am enrolled in a tiny private school. However, my school always has cool celebration of each holiday, like haloween, Christmas, and this February vacation. Maybe I could explain the details later, ;p

Anyway... all students and staff headed to a hill near the school. This is awesome because my school is located in the middle of nowhere, and it is so beautiful. In a large hill, we all went sledding. It was not a long trail, but it was bumpy, so it was so much fun :)

After about an hour, we headed back to school to have hot coco and cookies, isn't that great? This is like the best school day ever!

And I guess tomorrow is gonna be as fun....

Florida....here I come!!!

^.^

Shuffled Songs Game

2009-02-19T11:15:00.001-05:00

Hi There!

I found this game in my friend's blog, Ririn. Although she didn't tag me to try this game, I tried it anyway, LOL.

So, the rules are:

1. Put your iTunes/Napster/Zune Player/WinAmp/etc on shuffle.

2. For each question, press the next button to get your answer.

3. YOU MUST WRITE THAT SONG NAME DOWN NO MATTER HOW SILLY IT SOUNDS!

4. Tag 10 or more friends who might enjoy doing this as well as the person you got it from.

my playlist is pretty lame because it's not varied at all. Most of them are songs from mcfly and david archuleta...hahaha

but anyway,, here's my result:

IF SOMEONE SAYS “IS THIS OKAY” YOU SAY?

--> Obvious, Westlife

"Oh yeah...that's obviously okay!" LOL

WHAT WOULD BEST DESCRIBE YOUR PERSONALITY?

--> Little Joanna, Mcfly

"The lyrics was ' I could die lying in her arms'. So, I concluded that my personality is likable...HAHAHAHA" --> narcisism

WHAT DO YOU LIKE IN A GUY/GIRL?

-->Obviously, McFly

"Oh, obviously I like a guy!" LOL

HOW DO YOU FEEL TODAY?

-->Star Girl, Mcfly

"Ohh yeah... I feel like a star girl!"

WHAT IS YOUR LIFE’S PURPOSE?

-->Works for Me, David Archuleta... I like this one!

"Life is good as long as it works for me ;)"

WHAT IS YOUR MOTTO?

-->Listen to My Heart, BoA

"Oh yeaah...I always listen to my heart to find a way, hahaha"

WHAT DO YOUR FRIENDS THINK OF YOU?

-->Take Your Sweet Time, Jesse Mccartney

"Well...what does that mean? Mmm...maybe my friends think that I need to take my sweet time ;)"

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR PARENTS?

-->Somebody to Love, Anne Hathaway...aha, I like this!

"That's right, baby! Parents are the ones to love <3"

WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT VERY OFTEN?

-->Everybody Knows, Mcfly

"Everybody knows what I think very often, lol"

WHAT IS 2+2?

-->Goyang Duyu, Project Pop --> that pretty much means 'let's dance first

'"Yeah, when your teacher asks 'what is 2+2 children?'; you should answer, 'let's dance first, sir!' hahaha"

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR BEST FRIEND?

-->Somebody Out There, David Archuleta

"yeah...my friends are out there...very far from me T.T"

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE PERSON YOU LIKE?

-->Happy Birthday, the Click Five

"Well, I don't think the person I like have a birthday this month, LOL"

WHAT IS YOUR LIFE STORY?

-->the Ballad of Paul K, Mcfly

"Oh, god.... This song is about a life story of an old man named Paul who is left by his family and he's very miserable. Noo...I don't want a life story like this!"

WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GROW UP?

-->Konayuki, Ramioromen...means white snow

"Well, I could be a snow white, not a white snow...hahaha"

WHAT DO YOU THINK WHEN YOU SEE THE PERSON YOU LIKE?

-->a Little Too Not Over You, David Archuleta

"Ohh,, so sweet >.<>

WHAT DO YOUR PARENTS THINK OF YOU?

-->Lies, Mcfly...oh my god!!

"My parents think of me as a liar?!?!?"

WHAT WILL YOU DANCE TO AT YOUR WEDDING?

-->I love U, bibeh, the Changcuters...oh yeaaah

"I love you forever and ever, babe! LOL"

WHAT WILL THEY PLAY AT YOUR FUNERAL?

-->5 Colours in Her Hair, Mcfly

"What the heck??"

WHAT IS YOUR HOBBY/INTEREST?

-->Walk Away, Dj Boonie

"I like to take a walk..." ;p

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR FRIENDS?

-->That Girl, Mcfly

"Yes...that girl is my friend."

WHAT´S THE WORST THING THAT COULD HAPPEN?

-->What's Your Name? Jesse Mccartney

"Hahaha...don't ask me my name!! That's the worst thing that could happen!! You'll never know what I'm gonna do to you if you ask."

HOW WILL YOU DIE?

-->at first it came out as David's a Little Too Not Over You, but because I already have that one, so I played next and it came out as..... Right Now, Akon

"Oh MY!! I'm gonna die right now!!"

WHAT IS THE ONE THING YOU REGRET?

-->the Remedy, Jason Mraz

"Remidial test in Physics class always make me regret, LOL"

WHAT MAKES YOU LAUGH?

-->My Hands, David Archuleta

"Hahahahaha.....my hands are so funny! I can't take it anymore!!!" What the heck???

WHAT MAKES YOU CRY?

-->Too Close for Comfort, Mcfly

"Yeah...I'll cry if someone I like doesn't want me to be close to him because it's too close for comfort..." lmao

WILL YOU EVER GET MARRIED?

-->Baby's Coming Back, Mcfly

"Oh yeah... I will get married cuz my baby's coming back....hwahahaha"

WHAT SCARES YOU THE MOST?

-->Bubbly, Colbie Caillat

"I have no clue about this one...hahaha. What's bubbly, anyway?"

DOES ANYONE LIKE YOU?

-->Think of Me, David Archuleta

"I guess they like me if they think about me,, hahaha."

IF YOU COULD GO BACK IN TIME, WHAT WOULD YOU CHANGE?

-->I'll be Ok, Mcfly

"No, I'm OK, I don't need to go back in time, LOL"

WHAT HURTS RIGHT NOW?

-->Walk in the Sun, Mcfly

"Of course....walking in the sun will burn my feet, LOL"

WHAT WILL YOU POST THIS AS?

-->Let Me Go, David Archuleta

"Is This any of your bussiness of knowing about what I'm gonna post this as? Just let me go, ass-*beep* "

Hahaha...I like most of the result ^^

Now, it's your turn!

HERO

2009-02-17T22:04:00.000-05:00

Hero.... That word echoed in my head for several minutes after I watched a performance of Danny Gokey of Americal Idol Who just sang Hero by Mariah Carey. It was so touching to see (or heard) his rough life after he lost his wife and now he is standing on the stage to prove that he can get over it and start living his dreams. I think everybody will reach that moment of life where they get stuck and there's nobody to put their feet back on the ground. At that point, they will search what they really need to keep going on. That is their own inner strength....

There's a hero if you look inside your heart.
You don't have to be afraid of what you are.

There's an answer if you reach into your soul

and the sorrow that you know will melt away.

And then a hero comes along

with the strength to carry on

and you cast your fears aside

and you know you can survive.

So, when you feel like hope is gone

look inside you and be strong

and you'll finally see the truth

that a hero lies in you.

It's a long road when you face the world alone.

No one reaches out a hand for you to hold.

You can find love if you search within yourself

and the emptiness you felt will disappear.

And then a hero comes along

with the strength to carry on

and you cast your fears aside

and you know you can survive.

So, when you feel like hope is gone

look inside you and be strong

and you'll finally see the truth

that a hero lies in you.

Lord knows dreams are hard to follow,

but don't let anyone tear them away.

Hold on, there will be tommorow.

In time you'll find the way.

And then a hero comes along

with the strength to carry on

and you cast your fears aside

and you know you can survive.

So, when you feel like hope is gone

look inside you and be strong

and you'll finally see the truth

that a hero lies in you.

That a hero lies in you,

THAT THE HERO LIES IN YOU....

I feel that I am in that point right now. I am far from those who usually give their hands for me to hold on, from those who devoted their time to hear me whine, shortly, from those whom I love. This is probably not as hard as the experience of those who lost the ones they loved; or those who have to survive among war and violence, or those whom their liberty has been taken away. Comparing to anyone else's tough experiences in the world, my experience is nothing. But, it is hard for me...in the beginning.

Here, I have my second family. They said they are ready to hear my story, happy or sad. But, it's just different. I also make friends, but they are a lot different. Different here is not related to race, nationality, language, or whatever. The difference is just about what I feel about them. I don't have that comfort to tell them my problems, my thoughts, and my experinces. Friends are friends are friends. But in my case, friends here and there are just different.

Realizing these things, I stopped and started to think. I am not gonna have fun if I let this burden sit on my shoulder. I gotta move on.

I listen to my heart, I befriend myself, and I let myself take a rest. That is all what I did, and I feel TONS better now.

I am happy the way I am now cuz I know wherever I go, I'll always have someone to trust and to lean on....

myself...

My English Skill Sucks T.T

2009-02-17T17:38:00.001-05:00

Title explains it all -_-!

Slow Connection, Procrastinator, and Val's Dance

2009-02-13T17:46:00.000-05:00

Dammit! the internet is sooo freaking slow -_-!

I was gonna open facebook, but it's been loading for 10 minutes or so, and it's not opened yet. Yeah, it is true that you cannot rely on school's internet connection. This reminds me of the internet in my high school back home which is even slower. We have wireless connection too, but you have to be very patient if you want to use it. Fortunately, internet connection in my hostfam's house is pretty fast. They have like 10 computers or so (which are always connected to internet), and the connection is still very good. That makes me very pleased ^^

Anyway, there's nothing important about that. I just want to do something else rather than starting to do my English homework. Yeah, I am such a procrastinator. I am not even gonna deny it.

Now, I am in school with Lulu and Roman (just 3 of us). It is 5.52 now and there is no one else in the school. We are waiting for Valentine's Day Dance. It'll start at 7, but since we don't have a ride home and back to school, so we just wait here. We took the school's van from the ski resort (we're doing ski club every Friday).

So, yeah...one more hour, people!

Later!

Purgatory

2009-02-09T14:46:00.000-05:00

Hi there!

haha... I am gonna write an unimportant news!

in English class, we read Dante's novel of Inferno. Literarily, Inferno means Hell, so the story is all about Dante's trip to hell. He visited all level of Hell, from the worst until the best place in Hell. Today, Brenda, my teacher, asked us to take a quiz related to the novel we are reading.

The quiz will 'predict' which level of hell are you going to. There are many multiple choice and true/false questions to answers. The questions are like "Do you believe in God?" or "Have you engaged an oral sex?" or "Do you think the best way in war is to bomb the hell out of another country?" and dotdotdot.

and my 'fate' has been decided...hahaha

I'm gonna be in PURGATORY, lol

that means a temporary hell. If all my sin has been washed out then I will be able to see God in Paradise. O yeah...

LOL

Once my friend found out that I am being "placed" in purgatory, he said, "Oh, c'mon Eki, you didn't even make it to Hell! All fun people are in Hell!"

Hahahaha...yeah, that is true! lol

Anyway...although I don't take the result of this quiz seriuosly, I often find myself imagining myself being punished in hell, which is horrible. I know that if my sin is all washed out, I'll be able to escape from all the torment, but....the sticky boiling tar and grappling hook that tear your body away sounds really really really terrible.

Ooohh...I am gonna be a better man (or woman) someday, I promise

Forgive me Ya Allah

T.T

Swinging in the air in a freezin' cold day

2009-01-27T10:08:00.000-05:00

Hi there!

ooh...it's been so long since the last time I updated my blog. Last week was so hectic. I've got lots and lots of homework so I didn't have any chance to write my experience from the previous week. Too bad...cuz I've got a ton to tell from the week before.

I actually have a draft of my post when I couldn't finish to write it up, so now I'm gonna finish it.

hwaaah...I'm so happy right now. Last week was awesome. First, I improved in my ski lesson ^^. Second, there was a mid-term meeting from my exchange agency. It was sooo much fun.

I was kinda dissapointed when I had to leave the ski resort earlier. I had a ride for Dolores (my area liaison) in Concord at 4 pm to Peterborough (the meeting venue), so I gotta leave. I was just going to go up to the mountain when my hostmom came and dragged me to the car.

anyway...

We spent the first night of the meeting with eating dinner, having discussion about family issues, and playing card. We played bias,, it was funny.

O yeah, there were two new students that just arrived. They are Fiona from Malaysia (my neighbor!!) and Hugo from Brazil. There were more people that I've never met before. I was excited.

The next day was freeeeezing cold! Unfortunately, that day we had outdoor activity all morning and afternoon. Bwah! In the morning after breakfast, we had some game to warm up. We even played tag ON the POND. Haahaha....technically on the ice that covered with snow, lol. We had some other game, like blindfold dodgeball, lobster baseball (??), etc.

After we had lunch and a bit of warmth, we went outside (again), headed to a lodge in the woods. We were going to do High Ropes Course. Yeahh..I was pumped! lol

Without any doubt, I followed the line to climb the high ropes. Some of my girl friends got freaked out in the middle of the ropes they were walking on. They were like shaking in the air. I was wondering, is it that hard?

After hours and hours of waiting (exaggerating, sorry), then I'ts my turn! Woo...it's harder that I thought it would be! I was shaking like hell on the ropes. I went really slow. But it was worth it... after I reached the third tree, I got a chance to try pendulum.

So, I hold on the rope, then I jumped down, and I started to swing back and forth like a pendulum. Whoooaaa..that was awesooome!

I love the sensation when I jumped down from 10 meters or more high tree. So gooood!

During the course, I was kinda anxious because It's getting dark and I didn't have a chance to pray ashar. It's kinda hard to wash for praying because I was so bundled up in winter jacket and bunch of security equipment. When I'm done with the course (although many of my friends were still not done yet), the sun was like 5 inches from the horizon. So, I decided to run and find a place to pray. The lodge where we were last time was far away, and I didn't have that much time left. So, I just picked a random lodge (it was in the middle of the woods). I did tayammum and started to pray. It was freaking creepy. The woods was dark and I was by myself, and I kept imagining myself hearing strange noises. I imagined that I saw a bearded midget approaches me with an axe in his hand... (wth??)

I could not concentrate in my prayer...but, what could I do?

yeah...it was one of my prayer experience that I will not forget ;p

Actually, I've got many more to write...but I have to finish my Adv. Bio lab about human evolution...

So...

later, people!

The Hope Continues...

2009-01-22T17:44:00.001-05:00

Hi there!

I should have written this post yesterday because the topic's gonna be fresher. But I got too much homework yesterday... Homework sucks -_-

Last Tuesday (Jan 20th) was a historical day. After we celebrated Martin Luther King's day on Monday, we recorded another history. Yeah...it's Obama's inauguration. It was a blast. All students and staffs in my school gathered in school's studio to watch the inauguration. I could see that everyone in the room were into it. We 'boo'ed when Bush showed up (but after that our teacher got mad, lol), we cheered when Obama came out, and we applaud everytime Obama said something astonishing. When everyone in DC sang the national anthem, we stood up and sang (not including me...I don't know the lyrics, hahaha).

There were soooooooo many people watching the inauguration in DC. It's like millions of people. One of my friend that went to DC that day said, "There are many more people that couldn't get in to the mall. There are many more people than you saw on TV"

Wow!!

Anyway, I like the part when Obama staggered when he sworn in. Hahahaha... I thought he was very nervous or something. But my teacher said that the priest (or whoever it was) messed up the oath, so Obama got confused and staggered. The oath is written in the Constitution and I bet Obama remember all the words in his head, so when the priest messed up, he hesitated. The next morning (or maybe later that day, don't remember), they repeated the oath. It was pretty funny...

The amazing part is when my teachers cried after the sworn in. They hugged each other and sobbed. Wow...it must be something they really really want. It must be a great deal for them.

It's just so wonderful to see people happy that day. Hopefully they'll be that happy for the rest of the time.

I noticed in Obama's speech, he mentioned about Moslem world, and how he wants to have a better relationship based on mutual interests and respects. He's pretty brave to say it directly as if one of America's biggest problem is the relationship with Moslem world. Well, it is actually.

I really appreciate his willingness to fix this relationship.

Note: I will not say Islamic World, and I'll use Moslem world instead. Because the whole problem is about Moslems (the people), not the religion (Islam).

But, the thing that I can't understand is the response of some people in Moslem world. I saw in the news that some people in Iran burn the pictures of Obama. Where are their respect?

Well, I say this probably because I don't know how it feels to suffer and trapped in a war like the mid-eastern people feel.

But, anyway, I do hope that Obama will bring a change to the world. And I do hope that the changes will show the world that Americans are not evil, because they are not.

Changes are all we need

Changes are all we're going to work on

The World is a Beautiful Place

2009-01-21T19:57:00.000-05:00

Today in English class we read a poem by Lawrence Ferlinghetti. I really like that poem. Unlike other poems that have too much metaphores and makes me think too much like "What's the relationship between dusk and monkey?", this poem is simple but has a deep meaning. It is about life which sometimes doesn't seem as nice as you expected but it's always been a beautiful place to live in.

The world is a beautiful place

to be born into

if you don't mind happiness

not always beingso very much fun

if you don't mind a touch of hell

now and then

just when everything is fine

because even in heaven

they don't sing all the time

The world is a beautiful place

to be born into

if you don't mind some people dying

all the time

or maybe only starving

some of the time

which isn't half bad

if it isn't you

Oh the world is a beautiful place

to be born into

if you don't much mind

a few dead minds

in the higher places

or a bomb or two

now and then

in your upturned faces

or such other improprieties

as our Name Brand society

is prey to

with its men of distinction

and its men of extinction

and its priests

and other patrolmen

and its various segregations

and congressional investigations

and other constipations

that our fool flesh

is heir to

Yes the world is the best place of all

for a lot of such things

as making the fun scene

and making the love scene

and making the sad scene

and singing low songs and having inspirations

and walking around

looking at everything

and smelling flowers

and goosing statues

and even thinking

and kissing people and

making babies and wearing pants

and waving hats and

dancing

and going swimming in rivers

on picnics

in the middle of the summer

and just generally

'living it up'

Yes

but then right in the middle of it comes the smiling

mortician

Can't Wait to Witness the History Takes Place

2009-01-20T09:42:00.000-05:00

Hi There!

Oooh my God, I am soo excited for Obama's inauguration today. All students and staffs in my school are gonna watch it together at 11.30 in the studio. What could be better??

Now it's 9.45... I have double free period today. Actually I have something else to do in my free period other than writing in my blog. I have to read 4 more chapters of The Scarlet Letter for English class today. The last time I read it, I got completely lost, so now I don't even bothered to get lost one more time. So here I am, killing the time.

Yesterday, I watched CNN and it was all about Obama all day long. They reported live from DC. Many people gathered in the National Mall and cheered. In this point, I am a lil bit envious to my friend, Fitra, who lives in DC. She'd BETTER be there to watch the inauguration now!

But that's allright... I'm gonna watch it from tv anyway...

By the way... from my observation yesterday, people think that Obama is an answer for Martin Luther King's dream. The first black president! Well, it doesn't mean that he is gonna bring so much changes (Although I really hope he does and he will). There are so many things that he has to overcome: Iraq invasion, the falling economy, Guantanamo, and many things else. The huge expectation from everybody may give him a pressure. However, seeing him as an extraordinary person, all of these could be a piece of cake for him. Let's just pray for the best for him. GO OBAMA!

Subhanallah: How Perfect is Allah and Far Above any flaw and association.

2009-01-17T22:10:00.000-05:00

Hi there!!

Soo... it's 10.11 pm now and I'm totally stinky. Pato and I went to Jacquie's birthday party today. Well, it's not like a real party, we were just hanging out, going sledding, having some pizzas, and watching a confusing movie. The best part was sledding. I Love sledding, it was really fun and needs less effort comparing to ice skating and skiing, lol. The trail was really long and pretty steep. We went wicked fast >,<

I wish we had snow in Indonesia T,T

Snow is the coolest thing ever! Maybe for someone who had lived with snow for their entire life, it is not that stunning for them. But, for someone who only have a tiny chance to play with snow like me, it is awesome!

When a light fell on the snow, it will glitters. Sooo beautiful! I can't stop staring at it. However, the best part about snow is the snowflakes.

So, one day after I went ice skating with Zhanar, we had to wait in the parking lot for Greg to pick us. It was slighly snowing. I killed the time by taking random pictures. When I was going to take Zhanar's picture, I saw it. Something on Zhanar's hair...snowflakes!! Oohh...I've never seen snowflakes that big before. They were not huge, but they were big enough for me to see the details. None of them were similar. Well, scientists say that no two snowflakes are alike. Yeah, it's true.

Then, I started to take a picture of Zhanar's hair (the snowflakes, lol). I must have looked so retarded...taking pictures of someone else's hair. People might think that I was observing Zhanar's head lice, LOL.

And here's my shots:

Isn't it cool??

Well, you might not be able to see it clearly from these pictures. But, yeah...it was wicked awesome.

These things that can make you say "wow" sometimes remind you to The One that created this fascinating world. "Thank you" is the one we should say to Him because He gave us two eyes, two ears, one nose, one mouth, and four limbs to enjoy what He had created.

All I could say is "SUBHANALLAH!!!"

PS: if you wanna see more great pictures of snowflakes, you can visit http://www.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1869394,00.html?iid=perma_share

time, the pictures are taken by pro, not an amateurish like me ;)

Learning by Falling

2009-01-13T18:15:00.000-05:00

Hi there!!

In this time I will write in Indonesian, so I'm sorry for my non-Indonesian speaking friends if you got annoyed because you can't read this post. Nothing so important, actually, lol.

Hahaha...kangen nulis pake bahasa Indonesia nih. Niatnya sih pengen nulis blog pake English non-stop, buat ngelatih Bahasa Inggrisku yang setelah tinggal di US selama 6 bulan tapi nggak bgitu berkembang ini. Tapi apa daya... gara2 habis ngebaca blognya Raditya Dika yang nggak lucu tapi bikin ngakak itu, aku jadi tergelitik buat nulis pake bahasa pemersatu bangsa ini.

Yup, hari ini adalah hari selasa yang cukup pendek untuk anak ekuator macam aku ini. Matahari terbit jam 7.16 dan tenggelam jam 4.33 sore. So, aku memutuskan untuk puasa!! hahaha \^,^/

Emang sih hari ini bukan hari terpendek of the year (fyi. hari terpendek jatuh pada tgl 21 atau 20 Desember,, lupa! Sunsetnya jam 4.12), tapi lumayan juga kan buat puasa, hehehe

Apalagi utang puasa Ramadanku nyampe 8 hari : 7 hari karena natural reason, yang sehari gara2 kesiangan, lol.

Jadi, aku bangun jam 4 walaupun sebenernya agak kepagian trus tiptoed to the kitchen. Nggambil makanan apa adanya dari kulkas sama segelas susu coklat. Aku berusaha untuk nggak bikin suara apapun, soalnya kuping hostmomku rada tajem. Bisa2, aku ngejatuhin garpu dikit aja ntar dikirain maling. Yah, akhir-akhir ini hostmomku rada cemas-cemas gitu. Dua tetangga habis disatronin maling waktu mereka lagi tidur. Udah gitu, minggu lalu alarm pintu rumah bunyi padahal kita semua lagi pada di kamar en gak ada yang buka pintu. Yah, jangan kaget kalo aku bilang alarm pintu. Di sini emang setiap pintu dan jendela yang punya akses keluar rumah dipasangin alarm. Jadi tiap kali kita buka pintu, ada mbak-mbak yang bilang "bip bip bip... **** garage door" Yang dibintangin tuh bukan kata kotor, cuma aku nggak tau aja si mbak itu ngomong apa. So, cuma ada dua kemungkinan kenapa alarmnya bunyi tengah malem itu: maling chicken yang begitu alarmnya bunyi langsung ngacir atau super-squirrel bertenaga kuda yang bisa ngebuka pintu (??). Well, di sekitar rumah emang banyak tupai sih.

So, balik lagi ke puasa... habis sahur aku langsung roboh ke tempat tidur. Trus bangun dan mandi tepat waktu sehingga nggak ketinggalan bus sekolah.

Kegiatan di sekolah nggak terlalu menguras energi en nggak bikin keringetan. Secara, suhunya aja dibawah 0 derajat. Jadilah, puasa sama sekali nggak terasa.

Setelah sempet ngiler sewaktu bikin pita bread (smoga bener tulisannya) di kelasnya Debbie, akhirnya tiba saatnya pulang sekolah. Perjalanan satu jam dari sekolah ke rumah dihabiskan dengan : sholat ashar en tidur!

Begitu nyampe rumah,, ehh..udah jam setengah lima! Buka kulkas en langsung buka puasa deh. Senangnyaa.... Jadi inget gimana perjuangan waktu puasa Ramadan kemaren. Buka puasanya jam setengah delapan bok! Mantab abis!

Bedewe, hari ini aku dapet kabar dari sekolah kalau ski club hari jumat minggu ini bakal di-cancel due to a freezing cold temperature yang katanya sampe -10 F. Kecewa berat deh...padahal aku lagi semangat2nya belajar ski T,T. Klub ski minggu lalu bener2 memalukan. Jadi, aku sekelompok sama Elliot, Jade (seumuran), Ila, en Toby (yang anak TK). Ceritanya, kita ini masuk kelompok beginner. Nah, setelah diajari trik2 dasar, kita disuruh nyoba nyeluncur dari bukit yang sama sekali nggak curam. Pertama, Elliot: sukses! Kedua, Ila: dapet pujian bertubi2 dari coachnya. Ketiga, Toby: nyeluncurnya masih nyandet2 tapi lumayan lah. Keempat, eh Jade belom dateng. So, kelima, aku: hwaaa....gak bisa ngerem...gubrak! jatoh deh...susah banget berdirinya...

Bahkan buat jalan pake ski boardnya aja aku kesusahan. Bolak-balik aku tergelincir. Tapi untungnya lama-kalamaan aku jadi kebiasa. Hasilnya: aku bisa jalan pake ski-board yang notabene keliatan kayak orang kena polio.

Step 1: succeed

Step 2: disuruh bikin belokan

Karena aku bukan fast-learner, sampe lessonnya selesai (1 jam) aku belom bisa juga. Setelah coachnya pergi, aku melanjutkan perjuangan. Naek magic mat ke ujung bukitnya barengan anak2 TK, trus nyobain nyeluncur. Lagi, lagi, dan lagi.

30 menit kemudian...

Yay!! bisa belok kanan!

Entah kenapa, buat belok kiri aja susah banget -_-!

Hal yang sama terjadi waktu aku nyobain ice skating. Pertama kalinya aku ice skating, aku pergi bareng Kunzang. Nggak gagal2 amat, soalnya sejam kemudian, aku uda bisa nyeluncur tanpa pegangan (walaupun gak cepet- cepet amat). Tapi tetep....falling down on my butt is a part of it. Kalo nggak salah aku jatuh sampe 6 kali. Sampe diliatin sama anak2 kecil. It's not that bad, tho... mungkin mereka ngira aku ini foreigner dari penampilanku..jadi semoga aja mreka maklum, hehehe

Kedua kalinya ice skating, aku pergi berdua sama Zhanar di ice rink yang berbeda. Jreeeng...aku balik lagi jadi dumb-dumb. Es-nya kerasa beda en lebih keset, jadinya agak susah buat nyeluncur. jadilah Zhanar ngajarin aja mulai dari zero. Ditengah2 private lessonku sama Zhanar, dia bilang, "Hey, look at the guy in the middle! He always here every time I come. And I've been here 10 times. "

She referred to a guy who was spinning like a ballerina in the middle of the rink. Keren banget sih muter2nya...tapi gay banget deh jadinya. Jadi ilfil...

Btw, balik lagi ke ice skating. Selama sejam aku skating, aku nggak berkembang juga. Emang sih, aku udah gak pegangan tembok (tapi pegangan tangannya Zhanar, hehehe)...tapi aku belom bisa ngeluncur dengan mulus gitu. Ujung2nya pasti jatoh lagi. In the end, I found out what my problem was: I'm too scared of falling down. Karena aku takut jatoh, aku cuma ngambil langkah pendek pendek yang menurut Zhanar malah bikin aku kehilangan keseimbangan. Jadinya, my fear of falling down made me fell down.

oke...lain kali aku nyoba lagi deh...

So, my lesson today is: jangan takut jatuh kalo kamu pengen berhasil.

nggak cuma dalam hal ice skating dan skiing aja, dalam kehidupan sehari-hari kita juga menerapkan prinsip itu. Ibaratnya, jangan takut remidi kalo kamu pengen dapet ranking (lho?)

Happy Very Late New Year!! LOL

2009-01-10T14:26:00.000-05:00

Hi there! I'm back...

I didn't have much time and interest to write something in my blog since new year's eve, so here I'm to write what had happened since then...

I was planning to go to Kunzang's house on new year's eve and go to Porstmouth, NH to see fireworks and stuff. But, in the afternoon that day, there was a blizzard so kunzang's mom couldn't pick me up T,T. So here I was, got stuck in the house with nothing more than watching iCarly and Southpark until it's time to see ball dropping in NYC to do. I was expecting something more special, but, well, my hostparents even went to bed early on new year's eve.

However, the important thing about new year is not fireworks, barbeque, or even getting otoushidama (money in Japanese, lol). It's about our new spirit to face the day that getting rougher when we're growing up. I'm not being classical or what, but yeah, it's true, isn't it?

Well, 2008 is an AMAZING year for me!! the most amazing so far. So much unforgettable

things going on. Hopefully this year is gonna be better.

Well, there are things that I gotta do this year (hopefully I WILL do it, hahaha)

*Be Grateful! = a simple thing that will make you feel miserable and really gloomy if you are not.

(sorry bout my awful grammar, I wish you get my message, lol).

*Be Positive! = lately, I've been seeing things in the dark side. I didn't even bother to turn my head and think what's the good side. That made me feel really sad and ungrateful.

*Be more gregarious! I feel a need to be so...

*Think about the future! where do I want to go to college and what do I want to study, and stuff

*Enjoy the day before I come back home and start the most exhausting year of Indonesian High School.

*Be better in ice skating and skiing. My first time doing ice skating and skiing was so embarrasing.

*Play with snow more and more before I come back to the country that has no daylight saving time because it doesn't need one.

*Learn how to cook!

*and...try to run the snowblower. What a usefull skill for me! lol

Just Another Fun Video

2008-12-29T19:08:00.000-05:00

mmm...this is a video of my favorite times in my long kinda boring holiday, lol.

I love sledding...and I hope I can get a chance to try another winter sport ^^

I recorded all failures and trials of mine and my friends ...it was really fun!

Check this one out!

Dec 28th

2008-12-29T00:13:00.000-05:00

Happy Birthday, David Archuleta!
Keep sharing your beautiful voice to the world ^,^

maybe I got a little obsessed about him, LOL

Life is A Mystery

2008-12-28T22:00:00.000-05:00

Today my dad called me from Indonesia. At first he asked me to go online, but then he told me a very bad news. My neighbor passed away yesterday. It really made me shocked. He was our close neighbor who lived 2 houses away from ours. We had a good relationship with him. And he passed away, unpredictably. He was pretty young, maybe 40's. And what makes me really sad is that he has 5 children. His family is not really wealthy, but not poor. He has a small convenient store that probably is his second biggest financial resource after his own job.

So, one night, he went out with his son by a motorcycle. Then, he was crashed by some insane drunk teenagers who was also riding a motorcycle. He is not saved. His son is in the hospital at the moment, he got a really bad injury on his head. I feel really bad about that.

This bad news makes me think...

How simple God can take away our life and how fast it can be. Life it's unpredictable, and that's what makes it challenging (not always in a good way, of course).

I'm not ready to leave or to be left by the loved ones. Not now, and maybe I never will until it really happens.

ROTFL!!!

2008-12-26T17:20:00.000-05:00

This evening, I was praying Maghrib in my room. Katherine (hostsis) and Hayley (hostsis' friend) were there too. In the middle of my pray, Hayley's mom entered the room. My back was facing the door, so when she came in, I was the first person she found. Then, she touch my shoulder and shook it softly. Hayley sad, "Mom, don't!!"

But Sherry (Hayley's mom) kept shaking me. Then, Katherine said, "It's Eki and she's praying."

"Ohh, I didn't realize that!" and Sherry left the room. I could hear her said, "That's why she's so serious!"

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

*sholat jadi nggak khusyuk*

Feeling Lonely in the Crowd

2008-12-26T15:27:00.001-05:00

hmm... I don't know...

In this mansion with 18 people in it, I feel lonely...

maybe I didn't really try to socialize or what...but seems like people are doing their own bussiness, and I don't want to interupt...

I don't know...it's complicated for me...

Midnight Issue

2008-12-25T17:37:00.000-05:00

5 days ago, there was a midnight issue ;p

So, there is this competition:

The 4th Annual Better Understanding for a Better World Conference sponsored by the
Civilizations Exchange & Cooperation Foundation (CECF)

held by PAX and YES

The winners will get a chance to attend the conference in Disney World Resort.

I wanted to apply. Well, I don't really care about the conference. But, hey! Disney World!!

That's what makes me wanna apply, frankly...LOL

So, I have to make an essay about all the community service I've gotten involved so far and a creative piece about "America as a 'melting pot' of culture"

The deadline of the application is Dec 2oth, and the application that comes after 20th will not be accepted. Too bad for me...

actually I got plenty of time to do that... but I have a bad habit that tends to procrastinate.

However, I ended up doing that project in Dec 20th!

at 6pm, I made it to finish the essay (yay!!)

but then, I was distracted by my friend on skype, dinner and cleaning up that took forever.

at 9pm (probably) I started to work on the creative piece (I decided to make a video) while I was still chatting with my friend. I asked him for a suggestion...

While I was making the video, I keep showing my friend my video progress via webcam, and keep sking for suggestion. It was a HUGE help (thanks to Erlangga ^^)

then I finished it at 11.30

I don't know why it took so long... Maybe because I keep distracted by youtube, lol

anyway, I got only 30 minutes left! ahh,, that's easy... sending emails only take 5 minutes.

But, a chaos happened!

Yahoo.com stopped working!

First, it took sooo long to attach the video

Second, sending FAILED!!!

it pissed me off!

then, I tried use my account in santbani.org

It didn't work either!!

I wanted to cry...

at 11.57, I remember that my friend has hotmail account. I jumped on skype, and asked him whether I can use his account of not...

My friend = my angel

he let me!

So, I logged in and attached the file... (3 minutes left!!)

It took so long, but I made it to send them

at 00.11

huaaaaaa!!!

hiks...hiks...

but at least I turned it in...

it's gonna be a big regret for me if spent hours to make them and I can't turn them in. And now...when I can submit them, it's a relief, although the committe might not accept my files...

anyway,,, thanks erlangga!!

and, here is the video that almost make me cry (not because it is sad, but because the struggle to make it), LOL

Christmas Day!

2008-12-25T16:22:00.000-05:00

Christmas in not a new thing for me... Afterall, I always celebrate it every year. Well, not exactly celebrating, because I'm a moslem. However, I have some Christian relatives that always have party every christmas (party here means a lot of food), so I always come to their house and eat, hahaha.

This Christmas is kinda different for me, though, cus I'm in America where Christmas is more like culture than religious event. So, I celebrate it!! I spent a lot for presents. That's for sure, of course... because now there are 20 people in the house!! usually there are only 11 people, but it's christmas! So, people come over.

By the way, I was going to talk about what I've got for Christmas and what I actually wished.

Yesterday, I helped my hostmom to move all the presents from her office to the christmas tree... Holly crap, that's A LOT of presents! I saw my tag more than once.. certainly she gave me more than one present, which made me excited!

This morning, I found out what my presents are:

A cute lion doll
A santa mug
A watch and bracelet
A nail-stencils (athough maybe I'll never use them, cuz I never care of my nails, LOL)
a scarf and gloves
A soft and nice slippers

Those are from my hostmom...

A box of Swiss Chocolate and Swiss Folktale Book (from my Swiss buddy)
An Ecuadorian wallet (from my Ecuadorian buddy)
Two japanese charms and wall decoration (from my Japanese teacher + housemate ^^)
and my favorite is...i-tunes gift card (from my Thai buddy)

I also got a wicked cute lemur doll from my secret santa!!! O yeah, I also got a santa hat and santa doll from yankee swap in NH exchangies party...

Those are all I've got...and I'm happy about that...

But all I wished for Christmas is so simple but hard to get:

Happiness in this 6 months ahead...

No regret when I come back to Indonesia...

and great opportunity...

Happy Holiday, people!

OK, I got it!!

2008-12-25T15:28:00.000-05:00

Hey All!!!

I got it now, although I can't make my picture on the header nicely,, so I just gave it up.

well, I'm gonna introduce myself now...

2 years ago, in a humble community of SMAN 3 Malang, a girl named Eki submitted an AFS application after a hard work of filling it up. A billion years after (seriously, that was a long time), she came to the test venue, and did all her best. The first test was about general knowledge like who is the general secretary of the UN and who got an Oscar of best-actress (who cares bout that??), and stuff like that. It was neither easy not hard...

She had nothing to lose, so when she found out that she passed the test and had to do another one, she was excited.

ok, shortly, there were two more test after the second one, not including the awkward home interview. And YAY!!! she made it through!!!

She knew that she's gonna have a terrific experience by joining this exchange program because even before the exchange year started, she already got a bunch of unforgettable experiences, such as:

Taking a bus from Malang to Jakarta which took 18 hours to get to the test venue that made her butt flattened.
Had lunch with US general consulate and his cute son, lol
Got 4 shots on her butt because the application asked her to do so (it hurts man!!)
Had 3 hours of sleep (or less) each day for a week in the national orientation of AFS student
Danced like crazy in AFS Farewell Party (it was an AWESOME night!).. especially when her picture (when she was dancing, for sure) showed up in a tabloid the next week ^o^
Burst in tears when she had the AFS farewell party and none of her parents come to put the "merah-putih' pin on her chest
Had a surprise farewell party from her classmates ^,^. So, one of her friend invited her to come to his birthday party. It was a normal party, until her friend asked her to come to his room to pick up a good-bye present. Innocently, she just entered the room and approached a box that she thought was a present. Surprisingly, her friend locked the room, and left. when she open a present-like box under the blanket...oh crap! that was a table. For half an hour she waited until her friend's mom opened the door for her and led her downstair. there in the backyards, 30 of her classmates stood in 2 rows singing a good-bye song that they made. Then, she cried...

yeah, those are some unfogettable moments for me...

and I'll continue writing after I pray Ashar!

bye for now ^^

I'm confused -_-!

2008-12-25T15:12:00.000-05:00

hey one and all!!
I'm new in blogging stuff...
I still can't figure out how to make a pretty blog...
even, I can't see my post that I just posted..
I'm pissed..
I need help