Tuesday, June 22, 2010
June 6-12th, 2010
Windy Gap Camp
Weaverville, North Carolina
USA
Hellooo everybody! I'm going to share a story about the best week of my Life! Windy Gap!
Apa sih Windy Gap? Windy Gap itu summer camp yang diadain oleh sebuah organisasi bernama Young Life, yg sebenernya adalah organisasi kristen. Aku kan udah pernah ke spring retreat-nya gereja tetangga aku, aku awalnya takuuuuuuut bgt windy gap bakal terlalu kristen dan ga rame. Mana host mom aku selalu bilang, disana Jesus pasti banyak banget disebut-sebut. Asalnya aku gak akan ikutan camp itu, tapi aku kan tinggal di South, di South itu ada 3 pilihan untuk mengisi summer break. Satu, Ikutan acara-acara Kristen (Orang orang South super religius, church dimana-mana dan adaaa aja kegiatan yang diadain Church). Dua, Hang Out sama temen-temen, pesta-pesta, belanja, dll. Hmm itu agak sulit untuk dilakuin, gara2 temen2 aku pada keluar kota, pada ikutan governor school, etc. Pesta sih gak aku banget. Belanja? hmm bisa bisa bangkrut belanja terus sebulaneun. Pilihan ketiga, diem di rumah gak ngapa-ngapain. Hyaah pasti bosen banget tuh. Jadinya aja aku milih ikut Windy Gap, selain karena aku udah dibayarin $400, aku akhirnya milih untuk pergi gara-gara aku udah pernah dateng ke acara Young Life yang biasanya diadain setiap senin malem, dan Young Life tuh beda bgt sama gereja. Yang kita lakuin di Young Life tuh nyanyi lagu lagu populer, main game, terus ada Skit(Role play) yang dilakuin sama Leader Young Life, baru habis itu mereka nyanyi 2-3 lagu kristen, dan habis itu ada leader yang ngasih ceramah singkat. Jadi aku yakin Windy Gap gak akan parah parah amat. Ahaha. Daaaan sampailah aku di Windy Gap! Subhanallah lokasinya baguuuus banget. Lokasi Windy Gap itu di kaki bukit-bukit, ada danau, kolam renang, lapangan voli pantai, basketball indoor dan outdoor, kabin kabin buat kita nginep, ada dining hall, dan itupun belum semuanya! Ternyata Windy Gap camp itu luasnya 2400 acre! Subhanallah! Orang orang bilang Windy Gap itu adalah minggu terbaik dalam hidupmu! Dan ternyata bener bgt! Awalnya aku khawatir bakal banyak banget kegiatan2 bertema Kristen, tapi ternyata gak banyak sama sekali! Setiap hari banyaknya waktu bebas buat kita seneng-seneng. Free time was soo much fun! Mereka punya banyak banget kegiatan2 yang bisa kita lakuin selama free time. Ada Blobbing,which is a big kinda balloon on the lake, to blob we have to jum and land on it, and then we crawl to the end of the balloon and sit, then somebody else will jump to the other end of the ballon so it will be like jungkat jungkit, you know, tapi bedanya sewaktu orang lain loncat, orang yang duduk di sisi lain bakal literally terbang terus kejebur ke danau. Rame pisan lah! Terus ada semacam Flying fox tapi bedanya kita mendarat di danau! Ada juga semacam perosotan ke danau. Dan yang paling serem tapi seru itu Swing, jadi itu kayak ayunan tapi ayunannya tuh diantara 2 phon, dan berfungsinya kayak ketapel, ayunannya ditarik sampe maksimal, terus waktu dilepas kita berayun2 di udara gtu! Susah ngedeskripsiinnya tapi ntar aku coba upload foto foto pas aku swing. Selain itu ada juga neskart, kayak bom bom car gtu tapi kita bisa nyetir sendiri kayak F1 mini gtu. Ada juga Horseback riding, Rock climbing, Ropes course (kita gelantungan di jaring2 gtu dan coba nyebrang jembatan tali, dll), pokoknya semua kegiatan bebasnya seru-seru!
Setiap malem ada yang namanya Young Life Club. Di Club kita awalnya nyanyi bareng2 lagu lagu biasa, misalnya lagu It's my Life, Don't Stop Believing, Viva La Vida, pokoknya lagu pop atau rock. Terus, ada Skit yang selalu aja bodor, semacam komedi gtu. Habis itu baru mereka nyanyi lagu lagu kristen, which of course I didn't sing at all. Dan habis itu ada Ceramah, dan Untungnya ceramah mereka kebanyakan tentang God, bukan tentang Jesus. Well, mungkin bagi mereka Jesus itu God, tapi bagi aku, klo mereka nyebutin God, aku langsung kepikiran Allah. Jadi supaya aku gak sengsara, aku ngubah pola pikir aku, klo mereka nyebutin God, aku mikirnya Allah, klo mereka nyebutin tentang Jesus dan gimana dia nyelamatin nasib manusia, aku mikirin tentang cerita cerita nabi Muhammad sebagai distraction dari cerita Jesus, hhe. hahaha. Dan waktu mereka ngasih waktu 20 menit untuk duduk sendiri dan merenung tentang pertanyaan mereka apakah kamu bersedia untuk membangun relationship dengan God, aku bener bener merenung tentang Allah swt. Aku inget bgt, 20 menit itu aku duduk di jembatan, ngedengerin gemercik air di sungai, aku menatap langit, subhanallah langitnya penuh bintang, dan aku lihat sekeliling subhanallah Gunung gunung terbentang luas di sekitar Windy Gap, 20 menit itu aku bisa merasakan Allah was reaching out to me, He wanted to tell me, He was there, with me, proved by His creation, and He will always be there, with me, anytime, anywhere. I sat there still, I couldn't deny his existence. He was everywhere, all around me. Tiba tiba aku merasakan bahwa selama aku jarang berkomunikasi sama Beliau, aku Solat, baca Qur'an, dan segala macem tapi aku gak pernah bener bener have a conversation with God. Dan di Windy Gap mereka bilang bahwa selama ini, kita selalu coba untuk menjalani hidup dan mencoba segala cara to make life works by depending on ourselves, by depending on friends, but still life doesn't work that well. We still always long for something more, we are never satisfied Why? Because deep in our heart we know that we need God,there is this space in our heart that can never be filled with earthly things, only God can fill it. Dan sehabis merenung, aku jadi sadar, aku butuh Allah, Aku butuh Allah disampingku untuk menghabiskan sisa hidupku, or else life will be meaningless and has no point. Aku jadi sadar bahwa I need Allah to depend on, dan tiba tiba aku jadi ngerasa PLONG. Serasa beban berat telah diangkat dari pundakku. Aku jadi percaya diri, aku jadi ngerasa aku bisa mengatasi masalah apapun, karena aku tau bahwa ada seseorang yang akan selalu berada di sampingku, yaitu Allah selalu akan ada di sisiku menemaniku, dan membantuku menjalani hidup. I'll never be alone anymore!
Haha i don't know how but suddenly Windy Gap has turned out to be a Pesantren Kilat yang super duper fun for me, meski sebenernya itu adalah acara kristen. Hmm, interesting isn't it how our mind can turn things differently? Anyway, I'm just thankful that I was able to be at Windy Gap, it was such a wonderful week!
a moment of my life, 9:01 AM.
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
May 1st
Nashville, TN
USA
That day was Saturday. It had been raining so much since really early in the morning. On the rainy days I never had anything to do, so all I did was watching Gilmore Girls (I love that show so much! Once I started I can't stop!). But I finished the whole season and got bored eventually. So In the morning I texted my friend, Kira, that lends me her Gilmore Girls third season DVD that I finished watching it. She replied and said that she was sorry that her parent was still watching the fourth season so she can't lend it to me. After a while she texted me again and invited me to come over to her house to kinda hang out. But I already planned with my mom to shop cosmetics for prom make-up in the afternoon, so I said to her I would come over after I shopped. Unexpectedly, she asked me to spend the night also, and of course I accepted the offer! So I packed everything for the sleep over. When I was packing the rain got heavier and heavier, and suddenly my dad called to tell me to get my sisters and go to the basement because there was a tornado warning! I was so panicked and I rushed to get my sisters and my stuffs to the basement. We spread our blanket on the floor and I just read the whole time and the tornado never came. Thank God. Soon my mom came home and took me to Green Hills Mall to buy cosmetics.I got what I needed, and it was quite expensive so my mom helped me pay for some of them, which was very nice of her. I felt so thankful for her!After that we headed to a fabric store to get a long piece of fabric for the accessory for my head scarf. I didn't get anything because there was nothing that match.Because we were short on time (my family had to go to church that night), I asked my friend if she could pick me up at the house and she said she has to ask her dad first, and her dad said that if it's possible and the roads are clear enough he could pick me up. So we back tracked to our house, on the way home we saw a house in our neighborhood that was totally surrounded by water! And the empty lots around that house were flooded too, it looked like a big swamp! We were wondering if there were more houses that were flooded too. We arrived home, my friend picked me up there. Fortunately, the roads to my house wasn't flooded . Some of the roads were covered by water but it wasn't too high.When we were on the way to my friend's house her mom called her and told her that Interstate 24 and roads in Antioch, TN was completely flooded and now a BUILDING was on the interstate. We didn't exactly know how there was a building on an interstate, I thought the building was carried by the flow of the flood and crashed there, but we really wished it was just a building that was carried by a truck and it fell or something. Because of the really bad news we were so worried that something worse might happen if the rain didn't end. And sadly our worry became a reality, something worse did happen, but not at that time. We still didn't know what was going to happen ahead of us. All we knew was some roads were flooded, we didn't really know it was worse than that. Since we didn't know, we just had fun,we made pizza, we playedthe sims 2 for the most time, and we watched gilmore girls (of course). But because it had been raining for the whole day, the rain made the atmosphere kinda gloomy and it made us felt so tired and spiritless you know, so we fell asleep really early. And what happened the next morning was really the worst nightmare we could have ever imagined to ever happen here in Nashville, TN.
Nashville, TN
USA
That day was Saturday. It had been raining so much since really early in the morning. On the rainy days I never had anything to do, so all I did was watching Gilmore Girls (I love that show so much! Once I started I can't stop!). But I finished the whole season and got bored eventually. So In the morning I texted my friend, Kira, that lends me her Gilmore Girls third season DVD that I finished watching it. She replied and said that she was sorry that her parent was still watching the fourth season so she can't lend it to me. After a while she texted me again and invited me to come over to her house to kinda hang out. But I already planned with my mom to shop cosmetics for prom make-up in the afternoon, so I said to her I would come over after I shopped. Unexpectedly, she asked me to spend the night also, and of course I accepted the offer! So I packed everything for the sleep over. When I was packing the rain got heavier and heavier, and suddenly my dad called to tell me to get my sisters and go to the basement because there was a tornado warning! I was so panicked and I rushed to get my sisters and my stuffs to the basement. We spread our blanket on the floor and I just read the whole time and the tornado never came. Thank God. Soon my mom came home and took me to Green Hills Mall to buy cosmetics.I got what I needed, and it was quite expensive so my mom helped me pay for some of them, which was very nice of her. I felt so thankful for her!After that we headed to a fabric store to get a long piece of fabric for the accessory for my head scarf. I didn't get anything because there was nothing that match.Because we were short on time (my family had to go to church that night), I asked my friend if she could pick me up at the house and she said she has to ask her dad first, and her dad said that if it's possible and the roads are clear enough he could pick me up. So we back tracked to our house, on the way home we saw a house in our neighborhood that was totally surrounded by water! And the empty lots around that house were flooded too, it looked like a big swamp! We were wondering if there were more houses that were flooded too. We arrived home, my friend picked me up there. Fortunately, the roads to my house wasn't flooded . Some of the roads were covered by water but it wasn't too high.When we were on the way to my friend's house her mom called her and told her that Interstate 24 and roads in Antioch, TN was completely flooded and now a BUILDING was on the interstate. We didn't exactly know how there was a building on an interstate, I thought the building was carried by the flow of the flood and crashed there, but we really wished it was just a building that was carried by a truck and it fell or something. Because of the really bad news we were so worried that something worse might happen if the rain didn't end. And sadly our worry became a reality, something worse did happen, but not at that time. We still didn't know what was going to happen ahead of us. All we knew was some roads were flooded, we didn't really know it was worse than that. Since we didn't know, we just had fun,we made pizza, we played
a moment of my life, 9:22 PM.
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Time is really relative
I'm in US government class right now, and we're supposed to make a power point presentation based on the topic that we choose. I choose Civil Rights. I chose it because it sounds interesting. But when I start to make the power point, I realized the topic is sooooo broad. So I have to look for so many sources to get what I exactly want to be presented. Now I'm tired of researching. And it feels like the class is long, like I've been in the library forever. haha. Anyway, sorry for the unimportant update. I'll update more later
I'm in US government class right now, and we're supposed to make a power point presentation based on the topic that we choose. I choose Civil Rights. I chose it because it sounds interesting. But when I start to make the power point, I realized the topic is sooooo broad. So I have to look for so many sources to get what I exactly want to be presented. Now I'm tired of researching. And it feels like the class is long, like I've been in the library forever. haha. Anyway, sorry for the unimportant update. I'll update more later
a moment of my life, 1:39 PM.
Saturday, April 24, 2010
04/24/2010
Nashville, TN
USA
Wow, i can't believe April is almost over! My time here in the US is almost up, i only have 2 months 3 days left here. Wow. But that doesn't mean my mission here is over, though. The fact is, i'm still doing my mission! I've been doing sooooo many presentations about Indonesia lately. The latest ones were International Day and Presentation @ TSU. International Day was so much fun, I had an Indonesian booth, I had a poster about Indonesia displayed(well the making of the poster wasn't fun), I danced twice, the first dance was during the transition of 2nd and 3rd period class so not too many people were watching, but people liked my dance! When I was dancing people cheered so loud, I was so happy! I was nervous before I danced because that was the first time I danced in front of so many people. And I learned the dance just weeks before I came here to the US, so i thought I couldn't dance really well. I was so glad people liked it. And then I thought I wouldn't be asked to dance again so I changed my dance costume to my traditional clothes, which was Kebaya (a traditional shirt and a batik skirt), and people said, "Oh I love your shirt, it's so pretty!' It made me even happier! But unexpectedly, the coordinator asked me to dance again but I was already changed, I wasn't in my dance costume anymore! The coordinator said nobody will notice that so I agreed to dance again. The second one there were some part that I forgot and I wasn't in my costume, but as my coordinator said, nobody noticed! They still cheered! Even days after the international day, people still come to me and said that I was the one that danced in the international day and they told me they liked my dance, although I don't know them. Oh and people liked the food too! I shopped at International market because I was planning to cook some Indonesian food but I was too busy making my poster and my other works so I called my friend's mom who is Indonesian to cook Indonesian food. It was such a short notice so she couldn't bring the food in the morning, but she would bring the food at 11 or so. That was totally fine for me, but unfortunately, the teacher that made a kind of assignment paper for students that visit International day put a question that asks Indonesian food that was served! We were so unlucky, out of every cultural question the teacher might ask, he/she picked question about Indonesian food, which hadn't even been served yet! because i had to dance and stuffs that i couldn't stay the whole day in my booth, so I just wrote, "Food is not here yet, but the name is Sate (it's like a kabobs with peanut sauce, and it's really really good)" It was totally embarassing. Soon enough, the food came, and guess what? The food was so delicious, it was gone just 20 minutes after it arrived. And the next day in my Pre-Cal class my friend told people that and Indonesia had such a good food. I was so happy I felt like flying. I will tell you the story about my presentation @ TSU later because I have bunch of homework to catch up with.
Nashville, TN
USA
Wow, i can't believe April is almost over! My time here in the US is almost up, i only have 2 months 3 days left here. Wow. But that doesn't mean my mission here is over, though. The fact is, i'm still doing my mission! I've been doing sooooo many presentations about Indonesia lately. The latest ones were International Day and Presentation @ TSU. International Day was so much fun, I had an Indonesian booth, I had a poster about Indonesia displayed(well the making of the poster wasn't fun), I danced twice, the first dance was during the transition of 2nd and 3rd period class so not too many people were watching, but people liked my dance! When I was dancing people cheered so loud, I was so happy! I was nervous before I danced because that was the first time I danced in front of so many people. And I learned the dance just weeks before I came here to the US, so i thought I couldn't dance really well. I was so glad people liked it. And then I thought I wouldn't be asked to dance again so I changed my dance costume to my traditional clothes, which was Kebaya (a traditional shirt and a batik skirt), and people said, "Oh I love your shirt, it's so pretty!' It made me even happier! But unexpectedly, the coordinator asked me to dance again but I was already changed, I wasn't in my dance costume anymore! The coordinator said nobody will notice that so I agreed to dance again. The second one there were some part that I forgot and I wasn't in my costume, but as my coordinator said, nobody noticed! They still cheered! Even days after the international day, people still come to me and said that I was the one that danced in the international day and they told me they liked my dance, although I don't know them. Oh and people liked the food too! I shopped at International market because I was planning to cook some Indonesian food but I was too busy making my poster and my other works so I called my friend's mom who is Indonesian to cook Indonesian food. It was such a short notice so she couldn't bring the food in the morning, but she would bring the food at 11 or so. That was totally fine for me, but unfortunately, the teacher that made a kind of assignment paper for students that visit International day put a question that asks Indonesian food that was served! We were so unlucky, out of every cultural question the teacher might ask, he/she picked question about Indonesian food, which hadn't even been served yet! because i had to dance and stuffs that i couldn't stay the whole day in my booth, so I just wrote, "Food is not here yet, but the name is Sate (it's like a kabobs with peanut sauce, and it's really really good)" It was totally embarassing. Soon enough, the food came, and guess what? The food was so delicious, it was gone just 20 minutes after it arrived. And the next day in my Pre-Cal class my friend told people that and Indonesia had such a good food. I was so happy I felt like flying. I will tell you the story about my presentation @ TSU later because I have bunch of homework to catch up with.
a moment of my life, 8:20 PM.
Friday, April 16, 2010
Wow. I can't believe it's already halfway through April. Even more than halfway! God, this year has been so fast i can't even believe it. it seems that it was just yesterday when i arrived here in the USA. And now, it's almost time for me to go home! Things have been great lately i've been enjoying here too much, i sometimes feel like i really want to stay here, but i really want to go home too. what a sick feeling. Anyway, did i tell you that i've been soooo busy lately? I have Young life(its like a club at school where we hang out, sing, play games, just a club to have fun! it's basically christian but so far it never felt like christian club at all. idk how to describe it but no worries, ok?), i've had frisbee, and so many other things. Because i've been busy that it feels like time just flies by, i decided to take some rest. Yesterday, instead of doing something after school, as I usually do, I chose to go home. Gosh, it felt so weird to be home that early. It just felt not right to be home at 2.50, u know... I didn't know what to do at home so i just watched DVD! Gilmore girls 2nd season DVD, actually. I looooove that show, so much! Lately I've been seeing that series even during school days. I sneaks out to the movie room, and watch it at night when my sisters are in bed! I like it so much i feel like i can't stop watching it! hahaha. Surprisingly I didn't get to the internet yesterday! Idk why, i tried to but after a few minutes, i got bored. Weird,huh?
And not only yesterday i chose to rest. I'm resting today too! So, this morning I went to my sister's school, Currey Ingram academy, because they had this pancake breakfast thing for a fundraising. It ended around 7.40ish and we dropped my other sisters at their school, and on our way home to grab stuffs i needed for school, i just had this crazy idea of staying at home and not going to school at all. I was already late, anyway. Waaaaay late. And more surprisingly my parents said, "Fine!" So they allowed me to stay! They said i've been a good sudent lately, just skipping school for a day won't hurt. Yippee. I was soo happy, until i figured out i didn't have anything to do at home, alone! So, instead of taking a lazy nap, I cleaned up my entire messy room, i cleaned every corner of it! even my bathroom and my balcony. It's so neat now so i feel good. it finished earlier than i expected to so i ended up watching dvd again. I enjoyed it. what a wonderful day doing literally nothing instead of doing everything. This kind of day doesn't happen a lot so I'm trying my best to relax and take a rest.
And not only yesterday i chose to rest. I'm resting today too! So, this morning I went to my sister's school, Currey Ingram academy, because they had this pancake breakfast thing for a fundraising. It ended around 7.40ish and we dropped my other sisters at their school, and on our way home to grab stuffs i needed for school, i just had this crazy idea of staying at home and not going to school at all. I was already late, anyway. Waaaaay late. And more surprisingly my parents said, "Fine!" So they allowed me to stay! They said i've been a good sudent lately, just skipping school for a day won't hurt. Yippee. I was soo happy, until i figured out i didn't have anything to do at home, alone! So, instead of taking a lazy nap, I cleaned up my entire messy room, i cleaned every corner of it! even my bathroom and my balcony. It's so neat now so i feel good. it finished earlier than i expected to so i ended up watching dvd again. I enjoyed it. what a wonderful day doing literally nothing instead of doing everything. This kind of day doesn't happen a lot so I'm trying my best to relax and take a rest.
a moment of my life, 3:09 PM.
Sunday, April 4, 2010
Ok..let's continue the story about spring break
and her the 2nd part begin...
Tuesday March 16th to Saturday March 20th Morning
We left Savannah on Tuesday morning. We took a walk around the town and the town was so historic and gorgeous. I learned that Savannah was the city where Methodist church was found in US. It also has history about Revolutionary War all around the city. I wish we walked a little longer but the Smith kids started to whine "My feet hurts, I wanna go back to the car!", etc, so we hurried up and left Savannah around 10 in the morning to go to Amelia Island, Florida. We arrived there in the afternoon, we went to the beach but it was so cold and windy so we stayed there only for a little while, then we went to the neighborhood swimming pool. I never like to get wet in the cold weather so I decided not to swim, but the Smith girls wanted to swim whether it's cold or not. It was so funny when they touched the water and said, "Oh, the water is not that cold!" so Tennent jumped to the water! And guess what happened after that! She froze to death! Not literally, but the water was really cold so she ran out of the pool and we almost ran home because Tennent was really freezing. We headed to the home where we stay in Florida. it was a house of a friend of my Mom. The family was very nice to give us a place to stay, they rent some movies for us to watch, they let me use the single bed room because I needed privacy and space, they even gave us prizes like green hair and beaded necklace for St Patrick's day, and an Easter bunny stuffed animal which is sooo cute! They took us to the beach several times in the afternoons because they work in the day. It was too cold to swim or sun bathe but all I did was looking for Shark tooth. I heard it's very easy to find shark tooth there but it's not true. There were so many shells so it's hard to tell which one is the real shark tooth and which one is not. But after struggling for several days, I finally found one on Friday, my last day there! The last day there was so perfect, it was sunny but it wasn't hot. It was a little bit High Tide and I wore jeans (I think) but I didn't care that I got wet as long as I found a shark tooth. I was very happy when I found one. I wanted to look for more to give to my sisters and friends back in Indonesia as souvenir but I ran out of time.
Oh anyway beside going to beach, in Florida we went to the downtown to buy the famous fudge and Ice cream, to see the Pier, to take pictures, to buy souvenirs (I got tons of them, some my host fam paid for but some I paid by myself). And we went to Jacksonville Zoo, and it was fun. It's kinda childish but i tried to enjoy it. I think it was the best zoo so far because we can see the animals from any side and we were not too far to see the animals. And I don't remember what day, we took a little trip around Amelia Island and then had a very short ferry boat trip. It was fuuuun. we got Popsicles afterward. Mine fell,tho. haha.
Shortly, my spring break was sooo long but it was fun. We always had something to do. We kinda skip cities so we could visit many cities. That made my spring break!
and her the 2nd part begin...
Tuesday March 16th to Saturday March 20th Morning
We left Savannah on Tuesday morning. We took a walk around the town and the town was so historic and gorgeous. I learned that Savannah was the city where Methodist church was found in US. It also has history about Revolutionary War all around the city. I wish we walked a little longer but the Smith kids started to whine "My feet hurts, I wanna go back to the car!", etc, so we hurried up and left Savannah around 10 in the morning to go to Amelia Island, Florida. We arrived there in the afternoon, we went to the beach but it was so cold and windy so we stayed there only for a little while, then we went to the neighborhood swimming pool. I never like to get wet in the cold weather so I decided not to swim, but the Smith girls wanted to swim whether it's cold or not. It was so funny when they touched the water and said, "Oh, the water is not that cold!" so Tennent jumped to the water! And guess what happened after that! She froze to death! Not literally, but the water was really cold so she ran out of the pool and we almost ran home because Tennent was really freezing. We headed to the home where we stay in Florida. it was a house of a friend of my Mom. The family was very nice to give us a place to stay, they rent some movies for us to watch, they let me use the single bed room because I needed privacy and space, they even gave us prizes like green hair and beaded necklace for St Patrick's day, and an Easter bunny stuffed animal which is sooo cute! They took us to the beach several times in the afternoons because they work in the day. It was too cold to swim or sun bathe but all I did was looking for Shark tooth. I heard it's very easy to find shark tooth there but it's not true. There were so many shells so it's hard to tell which one is the real shark tooth and which one is not. But after struggling for several days, I finally found one on Friday, my last day there! The last day there was so perfect, it was sunny but it wasn't hot. It was a little bit High Tide and I wore jeans (I think) but I didn't care that I got wet as long as I found a shark tooth. I was very happy when I found one. I wanted to look for more to give to my sisters and friends back in Indonesia as souvenir but I ran out of time.
Oh anyway beside going to beach, in Florida we went to the downtown to buy the famous fudge and Ice cream, to see the Pier, to take pictures, to buy souvenirs (I got tons of them, some my host fam paid for but some I paid by myself). And we went to Jacksonville Zoo, and it was fun. It's kinda childish but i tried to enjoy it. I think it was the best zoo so far because we can see the animals from any side and we were not too far to see the animals. And I don't remember what day, we took a little trip around Amelia Island and then had a very short ferry boat trip. It was fuuuun. we got Popsicles afterward. Mine fell,tho. haha.
Shortly, my spring break was sooo long but it was fun. We always had something to do. We kinda skip cities so we could visit many cities. That made my spring break!
a moment of my life, 9:04 PM.
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Helloooooooooooooooooo, everybody!
I haven't written for a long time, have I?
So, I'll tell you what's been going on for this past month. Omigod,a month has passed already! time just fly by while i'm here,huh? Oh well, as time pass by, a lot of thing has been going on lately. I started to play Ultimate Frisbee (wooohoo) at school, although it's dominated by boys, and there are only 2 other girls (which don't actually play), but it's fine. It's really interesting. I thought it would be easy but it actually is not (at least for me). I'll not give up this time though. I want to continue until it ends. haha. So, that's a school news, now it's time for you to hear about my spring break story! It will be a long story, but stay tune, because i will make it sounds as interesting as possible.
Friday, March 12th
No school that day! It's the beginning of spring break! We started our spring break by going to Mimi(little sister's) school to see her school's concert. Because they are private school so the school was still opened for half day that day. The concert was really cute! I just love to see how kids sing, no matter they are out of tune, they still seemed sooo excited. I enjoyed it very much! After that we had lunch out, then we headed home to start packing and loading the car. We finally left around 2, and we arrived at Chattanooga, Tennessee around 5 or 5.30 (it's actually 4.30 but chattanooga is located in central time which is one hour later than us). We were too tired to go shopping or anything, so we decided to just stay at Aunt Laurie's house. We got to stay at her house since she and her husband was at California, so we didn't have to stay at a hotel, which is nice!
Saturday, March 13th
Today i was supposed to be in Nashville because there was a Habitat for Humanity project going on there. It's a project where we build houses for people that need it but don't have money. I wished i could do that but I was there in Chattanooga with my host family. I was kinda sad, but it didn't last long, because so many great things happened that day. I don't exactly remember the order, but i definitely remember that day, we went to Ruby falls,which is a Water Fall under the ground, and we had to go through a cave to reach there. The tour was so much fun, I always like nature stuffs. And the cave wasn't like a native, classic cave. They have put lights, floor, hand rail, sound system, elevator, even flat screens inside the Cave. I was in United States of America, afterall, no wonder why. The Fall was absolutely gorgeous because of how the lighting changed the color of the fall. It's amazing. And after that we rode an Incline train, a train that goes down an up the mountain, and the rail was really steep! We can see the view of the whole city from there! It's unbelievable. Luckily the train didn't go too fast so it wasn't scary. haha. We also went to the Chattanooga's IMAX theatre to see "African Life" or whatever the title was. We watched it instead of regular movie because that one was safe for my 3 little host sisters to see. When I stepped in, I got the 3d glasses, and it was big. I was wondering why it was big, and when I saw the IMAX screen, I understood why. The screen was gigantic! It was 4 stories tall, and it was as wide and tall as the wall itself! The sound system was great, and because the movie was 3D, so it felt like we were actually involved in the movie. It was unbelievable!
Sunday. March 14th
In the morning, we headed out to Atlanta, Georgia. We had our tickets for Atlanta Aquarium at 12, so we needed to be there that exact time. Luckily we made it on time, it was only 1-2 hours drive from Chattanooga. The Aquarium? I can't describe it by words. It was really Hi-Tech, there was a zone that we stood and the floor moved really slowly so we could stare to the aquarium above us without missing anything. I took a lot of pictures, I will upload them in my facebook because i told you, it's undescribable. haha. I think that was it for the day because we were tired. We didn't go to the Coke Museum (Did u know that Coke was first produced in Atlanta, Georgia?I didn't), which was sad, but I was tired too anyway.
Monday, March 15th
That day we went to the Atlanta Zoo. It was fine, not to exciting, not great, just fine...
It was too cold for the animals, so most of them were sleeping and just lying down, so it was kinda boring. I'm not a zoo-type person either, it was way too childish and silly. That's the consequence of traveling with 3 little kids around. But i enjoyed it a little bit. I got souvenirs(of course), I took a little bit of pictures because my camera's battery died. What was good about the zoo was, there was Orangutans and Komodo dragons there. I'm glad Indonesia is recognized by the world. Not too good though, because we're known by the destroyed forests, the critically endangered wild animals, :'-(
After the Zoo, we wnet on the road again to Savannah, Georgia. I heard it's a place where the people there celebrate St Patrick's day as a very big holiday. People wear green during the week, drink green beer(it's horrible, people drink beer day and night!), and even they turn the fountain's water into green! They would have a great festival or parade on Wednesday, but too bad I didn't get to see it since on Wednesday I would be in Florida, my main destination, eventually. As we arrived we had dinner at the Olde Pink House, the most elegant and expensive restaurant I've ever been. I heard this particular restaurant is really popular and people dressed up to come to this restaurant, which they really did! The food was supposed to be great, but since I'm a moslem that doesn't eat pork and anything with alcohol, My food was just fine because I didn't have the sauce on my fish. It was a great experience, though! We spent the night in the Hampton Inn afterwards
I'm getting tired of writing. I think this is it for today, I will continue the next part as soon as possible.
I haven't written for a long time, have I?
So, I'll tell you what's been going on for this past month. Omigod,a month has passed already! time just fly by while i'm here,huh? Oh well, as time pass by, a lot of thing has been going on lately. I started to play Ultimate Frisbee (wooohoo) at school, although it's dominated by boys, and there are only 2 other girls (which don't actually play), but it's fine. It's really interesting. I thought it would be easy but it actually is not (at least for me). I'll not give up this time though. I want to continue until it ends. haha. So, that's a school news, now it's time for you to hear about my spring break story! It will be a long story, but stay tune, because i will make it sounds as interesting as possible.
Friday, March 12th
No school that day! It's the beginning of spring break! We started our spring break by going to Mimi(little sister's) school to see her school's concert. Because they are private school so the school was still opened for half day that day. The concert was really cute! I just love to see how kids sing, no matter they are out of tune, they still seemed sooo excited. I enjoyed it very much! After that we had lunch out, then we headed home to start packing and loading the car. We finally left around 2, and we arrived at Chattanooga, Tennessee around 5 or 5.30 (it's actually 4.30 but chattanooga is located in central time which is one hour later than us). We were too tired to go shopping or anything, so we decided to just stay at Aunt Laurie's house. We got to stay at her house since she and her husband was at California, so we didn't have to stay at a hotel, which is nice!
Saturday, March 13th
Today i was supposed to be in Nashville because there was a Habitat for Humanity project going on there. It's a project where we build houses for people that need it but don't have money. I wished i could do that but I was there in Chattanooga with my host family. I was kinda sad, but it didn't last long, because so many great things happened that day. I don't exactly remember the order, but i definitely remember that day, we went to Ruby falls,which is a Water Fall under the ground, and we had to go through a cave to reach there. The tour was so much fun, I always like nature stuffs. And the cave wasn't like a native, classic cave. They have put lights, floor, hand rail, sound system, elevator, even flat screens inside the Cave. I was in United States of America, afterall, no wonder why. The Fall was absolutely gorgeous because of how the lighting changed the color of the fall. It's amazing. And after that we rode an Incline train, a train that goes down an up the mountain, and the rail was really steep! We can see the view of the whole city from there! It's unbelievable. Luckily the train didn't go too fast so it wasn't scary. haha. We also went to the Chattanooga's IMAX theatre to see "African Life" or whatever the title was. We watched it instead of regular movie because that one was safe for my 3 little host sisters to see. When I stepped in, I got the 3d glasses, and it was big. I was wondering why it was big, and when I saw the IMAX screen, I understood why. The screen was gigantic! It was 4 stories tall, and it was as wide and tall as the wall itself! The sound system was great, and because the movie was 3D, so it felt like we were actually involved in the movie. It was unbelievable!
Sunday. March 14th
In the morning, we headed out to Atlanta, Georgia. We had our tickets for Atlanta Aquarium at 12, so we needed to be there that exact time. Luckily we made it on time, it was only 1-2 hours drive from Chattanooga. The Aquarium? I can't describe it by words. It was really Hi-Tech, there was a zone that we stood and the floor moved really slowly so we could stare to the aquarium above us without missing anything. I took a lot of pictures, I will upload them in my facebook because i told you, it's undescribable. haha. I think that was it for the day because we were tired. We didn't go to the Coke Museum (Did u know that Coke was first produced in Atlanta, Georgia?I didn't), which was sad, but I was tired too anyway.
Monday, March 15th
That day we went to the Atlanta Zoo. It was fine, not to exciting, not great, just fine...
It was too cold for the animals, so most of them were sleeping and just lying down, so it was kinda boring. I'm not a zoo-type person either, it was way too childish and silly. That's the consequence of traveling with 3 little kids around. But i enjoyed it a little bit. I got souvenirs(of course), I took a little bit of pictures because my camera's battery died. What was good about the zoo was, there was Orangutans and Komodo dragons there. I'm glad Indonesia is recognized by the world. Not too good though, because we're known by the destroyed forests, the critically endangered wild animals, :'-(
After the Zoo, we wnet on the road again to Savannah, Georgia. I heard it's a place where the people there celebrate St Patrick's day as a very big holiday. People wear green during the week, drink green beer(it's horrible, people drink beer day and night!), and even they turn the fountain's water into green! They would have a great festival or parade on Wednesday, but too bad I didn't get to see it since on Wednesday I would be in Florida, my main destination, eventually. As we arrived we had dinner at the Olde Pink House, the most elegant and expensive restaurant I've ever been. I heard this particular restaurant is really popular and people dressed up to come to this restaurant, which they really did! The food was supposed to be great, but since I'm a moslem that doesn't eat pork and anything with alcohol, My food was just fine because I didn't have the sauce on my fish. It was a great experience, though! We spent the night in the Hampton Inn afterwards
I'm getting tired of writing. I think this is it for today, I will continue the next part as soon as possible.
a moment of my life, 6:07 PM.
