Dreams

To dream anything that you want to dream. That’s the beauty of the human mind. To do anything that you want to do. That is the strength of the human will. To trust yourself to test your limits. That is the courage to succeed. Bernard Edmonds

I should be sleeping right now, but I am just so excited with what God’s doing and what He gave for us.  I was laying in bed, trying to sleep, but all I could do was remember my dreams and future plans and struggles and praise God’s eternal grace and love and mercy to humans. Basically it all started from my counseling class, we were talking about dreams. I could simply jump to a conclusion “no pain no gain”. It leaves me broken. It brings me to tears and motivates me to action. It instills in me a passion to pursue my dreams, a passion that is overwhelming.

Have you ever had a dream until you got shaken up? Things that you really want so bad? Things that you’ve always dreamed about? Dreams are golden. Dreams are free. I can’t imagine if humans stop having dreams. Everything begins with a dream.

Recently, I was asked about my future plans and dreams. I could simply say that I want to be an environmental scientist. I could see that they respected my dreams but I do believe that somewhere inside they might make fun of it. I remember having school enrollment test in a well-known Elementary School in my town, they failed me cause they thought I had some down syndrome and above average IQ. I would likely to admit that I maybe a slow person. I was not born brilliant, I’m a slow learner but I’m willing to learn, to study, to strive. I’ve been living with a shadow overhead, it was like nothing even mattered but crap. I was not sure what I wanted to become, yet I’m not sure what I want to become but whatever it is, I want to do everything that I love. I think  in everything we do, we must put our heart on it so our work would result into positive one. Not that just we do things for money but also for passion. When you’re doing what you love to do, the money comes naturally, I guess.

Maybe you thought that you’re not one of those people who are bound to be rich and great. Maybe you think you have done everything you could and still can’t see any noticeable changes in your life, but instead, life is getting harder and harder everyday. God gave us 5 billion brain cells but we only use like 5 percent of it. I was literally shaking and, you wouldn’t imagine how excited i was. I had to share everything so I decided to write on my blog. It motivates me to pursue my dreams. Pursuing dream is a part of life mission.

If you have a dream, go get it. Success demands discipline and commitment. There is also cost and risks. Sometimes struggles are exactly what we need in our life. If we were to go through our life without any obstacles, we would be crippled.

I thank God for each and every one of you and that I go to Alfa Centauri High School. I love seeing the students and teachers at my school passionate about something. We’re sharing the same struggles. I’m so blessed to have great teachers and great friends. Even though my school gives me a ton of never-ending homework and exercises and crazy regulations which I think sometimes they are not rational, yet I still complain a lot about it. Apart from that, I’m glad that my school is crazy. By crazy here, I mean giving students a lot of homework and very difficult tests and a lot of math and science classes more than 30 hours a week. I know that I will be thankful someday for it. When I come back to Alfa Centauri in 5 or 10 years, I can see how strong the foundation they have built, not only just in formal education but also life in general. They have always challenged us to live a life that matters. To be a light in the darkness.

I just was so excited about all of this. Hard to imagine, I know, but I’m entirely excited to continue struggling together with you guys and bonding and sharing my struggles. I think now I can go to sleep…maybe. I love all of you guys. I love my school. I love God. And I hope you are affected by this.

Can Money Buy Happiness?

Can money buy happiness? My answer to that one would be negative.  I bet you have heard many people saying that money can buy anything. This question is one of the hardest and researched questions of all time. The problem with the connection between money and happiness is that it isn’t a straight line. Money is essential to survive but you don’t need it to be happy.  Money improves our ability to seek happiness up to a certain point, and that point is different for all of us.

Now, let’s put things in perspective. If you think that money doesn’t make you happy, try living on the street begging for food while starving.  Take a look at African kids. Why is it that most poor slum kids are so much happier than rich people living in rich countries? Cause they can appreciate what they’ve got. Today’s society is basically based on money, but it’s still possible to appreciate life’s best sides, which rarely has anything to do with money. Money doesn’t make you happy if you already have enough. In fact, nothing makes you significantly happier if your needs are already met.

I get so sad when I see people who are blind about money. I get sad when people have to achieve this moment of happiness by drugging themselves and changing who they are cause they think that money can lead them to anything they want to be; great education, luxurious homes and it’s very ironic how they think that money does really matter. They just don’t feel real things. It’s an impure, artificial feeling.

What is the definition of happiness? It is the define line of pursing the inner acceptance and connection within your knowingness and abilities. To purse something yet, how can you purse something if you don’t know who you are, how can you find the pursuit of happiness? It is about firstly accepting who you are, your abilities, your talents, what your dislikes and likes are, your environmental and mostly who you have been all your life, who you are in the present.

Happiness just lies within when you trust and respect who you are. You can buy all of the luxurious cars, cool gadgets, jewelries you want, but at the end of the day you’re going to be the same person, just with some more stuff.  You find the happiness in the things that are mostly important to you, that you know what make you happy others might not. People tend to get higher levels of satisfaction after spending money on experiences rather than things. For example, purchasing tickets to a movie with a group of friends is likely to make you feel better than impulsively buying a dress at the mall.

So I’ve come to conclusion that while having very little money can make you very unhappy, having lots of it does not necessarily make you very happy. Once you have enough of it to live comfortably, the money equals happiness equation is immaterial.

Joy of Speaking English

Alright, this is probably the last post that will be corrected and be given comment by Mr. Ihsan, I’m finishing my final test which is blogging. When Mr. Ihsan gave the whole class a questionnaire about E-club including what final test that we would like to choose, I couldn’t think of anything else just online blog. I knew I would write fine entries, but in the other hand, I regretted over it because it was not that challenging. I’m way better at writing, so I didn’t want to take a risk to take difficult test. I didn’t have guts enough to improve other English skills such as speaking, listening, etc. As time goes by, I find writing is not that easy though so it’s okay, I’ve come this far. I have to say, taking online blog as my final test brings a big impact for me. I learned so many precious things. First thing, as you might have noticed, my writing skill probably is getting better.

I have to tell something. I was an English dummy. I remember being yelled at by my English teacher in 7^th grade because I was so incapable of speaking English. Okay maybe I shouldn’t have taken it personally, I was in junior high school anyway but what hurt the most was my teacher kept on telling me that I was a dummy even though she didn’t say it directly but I knew for sure what her point was. Since then I knew, she never liked me. And I hated English with a burning passion. If I could have a chance to see her someday, I’d like to tell her how mad I am about English now. I don’t think she would care about it anyway. Neither would the rest of my English teacher at Junior High School. It feels like I never existed.

As time went by, I had to face UN. I was in progress to my grades, I needed to be better. I took extra math, biology, physic, English cause they were the subjects that would be tested on UN. My dad recommended me to have English course with my uncle. My uncle who speaks English fluently, graduated from Delft University in Netherland. First time I learned English with him, I adored his English skills. He knows exactly how to say things, he knows the way native English speakers speak. I think he’s well experienced, indeed. He was so patient teaching me English, that’s how I began to know English, he taught me English from basic in details and how to use English in all its glorious facets. And it worked. I improved my English grades.

Oh, I’m so crazy about internet and stuff so I ‘met’ some foreign friends. They really helped me in improving my English. Yet, I’m still talking to some. I don’t think I will stop talking to them because it wouldn’t have worked if I hadn’t talked to them, I mean we have to use English and have a partner, that’s what we should do to speak English fluently. During my senior year at Junior High, my teacher suggested me to write a letter to foreign embassy to get extra score. Then I wrote it in English, for sure, I felt like it. I thought they would more understand if I wrote it in English. I got very well response. They returned my letters. They were delivered to the embassy of Brunei Darussalam. embassy of United States and the embassy of Iran. Since that day and on, I loved English more and more.

I had never thought that God would take me at Alfa Centauri High School, I complained too much. I didn’t like going to this school at first. But then for some reasons I realized that, being a Centaurian is the best thing ever happened in my life. This school which I call my second home is very strict somehow the right place to make me a better person and I think I’m way better than I was before. Writing this entry really makes me realize how many fond memories I have of this past year and half. Although it was grueling and difficult at times, I feel like I have matured and learned about myself during this past year and half. I remember how Miss Nurhayati told me that I was a good writer and she encouraged me to use English more often. I really thank her for signing me up for some English competitions and I won some. It amazes me how the whole school knows as ‘Master English’ (Though I don’t quite agree with them ‘cause I don’t think I’m that good, I still need to learn a lot more). The best thing I love about Alfa Centauri is, E-Club. It’s the coolest subject ever! I enjoy every second of it. I always wanted to say it, it’s such an honor to have this wonderful guy, Mr. Ihsan as my teacher, I’ve been a fan of him. He rocks at English, he speaks fluently and what matters the most, he always encourages his students including me to speak English more. From drama, how he encourages us to work as a team, how he always gives good comments about it, his comments on my writings. Oh, I’m truly inspired and I wish one day I could be as fluent as him in speaking English. And I’d like to say thank you to Miss Osi. She’s a great English teacher as well. I love her. Sometimes she always comes up with critics and negative comments. I don’t mind, really. Because I know they are good barometer of my English skills. I know her purpose: to give her students more perspective and make them better. She’s a good partner to speak English with, I would say.  Even though it’s only through facebook, I appreciate how she cares about my posts and everything.

Well, probably it’s the longest entry ever made, it’s mad long I’m sorry if I bore you with this. I just needed to pour it out. Look at me, it’s my confession… I’m Muthiya Alfah, was an English dummy and today I am so grateful that I was that girl who got free ticket to Singapore (runner up of Alfa Centauri Spelling bee), I was that girl who won Grammar Contest at STBA. I don’t want to sound so boastful or something, but I have proven that an English dummy could come out to be someone better. At least I’m so grateful today that I’m dependable, people ask for my help or advices or stuff when it comes to English thing. Knowing that I’m needed, I can’t think of any greater pleasure. English has changed my life, I can see how people I care the most are proud of me. I wouldn’t trade it, I love English so very much! Thank you for reading.

Learning to Live (Again)

I have been meaning to write this blog but I have been so busy. I apologize.

First of all, last week I had school exam. It was miserable, seriously I made it through the hell. Secondly I have been busy with drama rehearsal and concentrating on it. I enjoy every second of it but sometimes it’s hell cause I have to bring laptop everyday, don’t you think it’s heavy? Oh yes it is.  But it’s totally fine.

And oh yeah I’ve been so whiny, grumpy and moody lately. Sometimes I feel like I don’t even know myself. I don’t get it. I really really don’t. Or maybe my grades are failing (including English, the only subject I rock at), dealing with remedial tests, or I’ve been spending my time on PC so I feel all alone, no friends, no life, etc. I don’t get why most people think that they’re the most miserable people when something bad happens to us. I need to make myself feel better. I need to make something happen,and I’m really sorry to all my friends, because I’ve been weird and not myself and mean and bitchy and unhappy lately!

A lot of times people have this misconception that their plan A, and only plan, is just to go out and live life. I agree with that plan fully.  And I’m realizing so many things. I’m just seeing God and Beauty everywhere I go. After reading “History of Prayer” I too just wanted to go out and live in meaningful ways and be grateful for everything that comes into my life. But the more I’m living, the more I’m seeing that you have to “live your life”.

Here is some part of History of Prayer:

“I asked for strength and God gave me difficulties to make me strong. I asked for wisdom and God gave me problems to solve. I asked for prosperity and God gave me brain and brawn to work. I asked for courage and God gave me danger to overcome. I asked for love and God gave me troubled people to help. I asked for favors and God gave me opportunities. I received nothing I wanted but I RECEIVED EVERYTHING I NEEDED”

So I jump to conclusion that I need to grow as a person for myself, I need to see God in life, and I need to learn. I need to learn about life and God. We’re called as humans to learn. From the moment we come out of the womb it’s a learning process. It seems like a ridiculous concept really, I don’t know. We have to take this thing that’s been living, breathing, growing, and surviving out of you, so it can live, breathe, grow, and survive, but we learned that’s what we have to do, and then when we’re born we learn to breath again, to live again. That’s what I’m doing now. I’m learning to live again, and it’s beautiful.

Let’s open our eyes and see the beauty that’s right in front of us. Let’s learn to see God through the boarded up windows.

Some Lessons From THIS IS IT THE MOVIE

I hadn’t really planned to see This Is IT on Wednesday but Mr. Ihsan gave me a free ticket to watch this movie because I won Michael Jackson Spelling Bee (which you may wonder what it is).  He told us we should watch this movie to give us inspirations about Michael Jackson just in case XI-IPA C is working on drama about him.  So yeah there we went! We got to see This Is It. Oh I missed EF class

It was both incredibly wonderful and incredibly painful to watch.  I was really surprised at how good it was. It impressed me how the director arranged the rehearsals. He allowed MJ to control most of the process. I was very impressed with the manner of Michael Jackson too. In a great scene toward the end, Michael thanks his musicians and dancers for bringing their best, and says, “I love you all.” I also remember Michael Jackson loves saying “I love you” and “God bless you”. It is s a message, message of love.  It shows MJ as he really is, he’s really humble and really dedicated to the fans even though he’s the King of Pop. He wanted everything perfect and that it was, seriously.  Let me tell you first, I’m not such a big fan of Michael Jackson. But this man is truly a true icon, a musical genius, the Moonwalker and great entertainer yet he inspires me and so many people.  So my point is; fan or not, you can view this movie and appreciate his talent and he had it. It was painful to watch though. Why? ‘Cause the whole movie just made me feel so bad for all of the people involved in that concert, because they had been working so hard to do it and they never got to do a show. That really sucks. I think it would have been an incredible show.

I have to say that the performances are remarkable. Musically and visually I was really impressed and came away singing all the songs. The dancing is rewarding. The backup dancers are great in the usual way; they are the best in the world, probably.  I saw the tryouts, and the announcements of the winners. The dancers, guitarist, backing vocalists, director, etc, they are truly extraordinary people. Each time I see them, they are working hard as if their lives depended on it. It encourages me so much that I have to work as hard as those extraordinary people.

Among those incredible scenes in this movie, my favorite parts in the movie are when he is talking about the Earth Song and his concerns with environment. It was so touching I almost cried. You know, in many ways I am truly pursuing my dream to be an environmental scientist. I want to heal the earth and help make it a better place for future somehow to save the earth from what humans have done to this planet. It’s scientifically proven that scientists agree 97 percent humans play a role in global warming. I don’t want those beautiful forests to be ‘once upon a time’. Michael Jackson created an amazing song with lyrically deep and melodically simple. He sent a truly meaningful message from this song that as humans we have to take care and take responsibility about the future of this planet.  It inspires me so much how MJ was truly concerned with the environment.

Makes sense huh?

Okay. So it’s probably Mr. Ihsan’s expectation, XI IPA C should perform a better drama plays after watching This Is It. As a music director, I learned so many things from this movie. The music, the songs, sound effects, all the things, they’re just perfect. I’m working on to be a better music director, I promise. Because I want to be good in every role I play, I want to work professionally even though it’s not my kind of thing. But yeah as a team, I’m doing it for XI IPA C. Say it loud say it proud, GO XI IPA C!!!!!!

Love? What a word!

I’ve got some thoughts and I’m trying to turn it into words ’cause it’s the best thing that I can do. The reason for my sudden thoughts come from my viewing of 500 Days of Summer. Not actually, I have seen some kind of love movies. I guess it’s half  from my jealousy of my friends and my grown up perspective. I suppose it’s just the questioning of ever actually being loved, or just thinking you are and receiving an artificial feeling that is shaped to appear like love. Love? What a word.

I’ve learned from past experience. I believe that people make themselves stuck on a person, somehow creating the belief that that one person is their true love. You show your love hyperbolically, show it through facebook or other social networking sites. Well it just disgusts me so much. I don’t know.  You say all these unbelievable things about somebody, making yourself think that they’re your one and only, when in the end, somebody else comes along and erases all of that and changes your mind.  It’s ridiculous, I know.

I’m like a seven year old in a grocery store. Because there’s your mom pushing you around the store the whole time, so you’ve got her, but you don’t even count her because she’s always there. Then you see all the cereal including Choco Crunch. Then you go through the fruit aisle and you’re like oh I love fruit, then you see vegetables but you disregard them because they seem to taste so gross, but then later you realize some are actually delicious, then there’s chocolate, and you start flipping out over chocolate, but then the chocolate is either way too much expensive and overrated, or too cheap and makes you sick. Everything is so just beautiful and you love it all but then you don’t really get too much at all and it’s gone so quickly and then you’re mad at your mom because she didn’t let you get Choco Crunch this time but you’re getting chubby anyway so you should probably be thanking her.

I’m sorry if this analogy doesn’t make sense, well it does to me.   So all I’m asking now is  how do you determine the difference between real love or puppy love?  I believe that sometimes it’s best to rely on your gut instincts and pure feelings, but sometimes facts have to play a part in it too because love is something that, no matter what surrounds it, can’t go away.

Enough said, I’m sorry if I bore you.

Happy Heroes’ Day!

As we all know today, 10^th of November is Indonesia Heroes’ Day, exact 64 years ago, thousands of Indonesian resistances soldiers died during Battle of Surabaya at the height of National Revolution. Today is a remembrance day to commemorate those brave people who crumbled inch by inch to get Independence.  Our heroes, who fought our way into the light were the people who sacrificed themselves for this country. As a nation we should understand and appreciate these sacrifices. Obviously it was not easy because I have always wondered what it takes for a person to be willing to die for the flag.

Every year we commemorate the struggles of the heroes. But it feels the quality of the remembrance of heroes has been decreasing from year to year. Remembrance of heroes that we celebrate now tends to be a merely ceremonial. Indeed we do not have to come to sacrifice lives like the fighters in Surabaya at that time.

I have always wondered what it means to be a hero. What does a hero mean to me?

When I was a kid I was inspired by stories of courageous men or women who did wonderful things such supermen, knights, etc. I also learn history at school, I’m taught to appreciate what they did for this nation. I admire their bravery and dedication. And they inspire me to be courageous as they are. I think the truth is that we look up to people who make a difference to our lives to achieve goals. That’s a definition of hero in general.

So all I’m asking now is, who’s your hero now?

Being hero isn’t about achievement only. Being hero isn’t also about willing to die for the flag only. It’s the effect that their achievement has on us and what we can learn from the struggle and hardship. They are what we could call exemplars; they bring positive impacts into our lives. For example, it could be athletes, artists, or film characters. They are people who demonstrate high standards of character and dedication to achieve something.

However, being hero is not always front pages news. As Mariah Carey says in her song that a hero lies in all of you, it simply explains that we could be a hero. So you can achieve great things like win an Olympic gold or at least become an icon in your society. I think parents should be heroes too. They are two amazing people who have risked or sacrificed their lives for their children. My parents are my heroes, I would say. My mom brought me into this world and I know for sure that giving birth is not as easy as you reserve side of your hand. My dad strives hard all night and day to feed his children earn enough to send us to school or college later so that we can have a better future than him had at his age.

Not everyone has the same idea of a hero. A hero could be someone who makes you happy when you’re upset. That’s the simplest thing that we can do to be a hero. You could be a hero for your friends, siblings, or your society. You just need to do wonderful things for them and always be there when they need you to be and make them to be themselves; or make someone smile on his or her worst day, that’s a simple definition of a hero.

Work Hard Is Not Enough

Sorry for the lack post I haven’t blogged lately. I feel so rusty. I cry every single time, it’s rueful. My life has been up and down. I know I’m being such a whinny baby. I’m lost, I’m scared, I’m screwed. There’s so much on my mind. So today I got completely exhausted. I’ve studied so hard and got so far but in the end it doesn’t really matter. I’ve changed a lot, I’ve been working on to be a better person but it seems not enough. But this time I feel like there’s no point of me trying. Well you have no idea I’m taking so many courses. Chemistry on Monday, Bimbel on Tuesday, on Wednesday I have to go to English First, on Thursday I have physic course. Friday, I have Bimbel and English First class at the same day. Saturday I still have to go to math course. And even though its Sunday, I have to take extra math occasionally.

I’m trying to figure out..

People say that hard-work can give you the success you want. Life has taught people that hard work is not enough. My dad told me that it’s wrong. Why? He said hard work is only driving force towards our goal but a lot depends on other factors which we can’t control. No matter how hard one strives, there are so many principles that must be understood. My dad always said that working hard is not always enough but you have to work smart, too. It means that work smart is more important than working hard. So I think there must be something wrong either with my strategy, time management and efficiency.

I realized that work smart is important than working hard. Why? Work smart is to become more organized so that each task you have to do takes less time and less steps. It takes preparation and organization. Therefore you won’t work hard. And other factor is luckiness. It has something to so with humans relationship and God. I mean by praying to God it makes us more peaceful so God will make everything easier. And helping as many people as you possibly can. There is always a reward for hard work, the reward comes one way or the other. So struggle to live, God won’t put something on us more than you can’t handle.

Trip to Jakarta

Last weekend was so fun. My dad, my mom, my brother and I went to Jakarta to see the first Bazaar Art Jakarta 2009 at Pacific Place, Ritz Carlton. Bazaar Art Jakarta is a magnificent bazaar which give the opportunity for galleries, art communities, artists and visitors to express artsy painting, drawing, photograph, drawing, sculpture and other form of arts works. It provides a different kind of arts; Indonesia Contemporary Arts and Islamic Arts. This event is a right place to spread the art, especially from Indonesia, all over the world. I’m very proud that one of my Dad’s painting was displayed at this exhibition. It’s one of his greatest joy in his life as well as his achievement for his art career. People saw his painting, and for me the response was great. At times, he works in our house for several hours straight.  Above all his strives to achieve a great painting and an emotional response from the viewer, finally all his work hard has paid off. But I know he won’t stop after this, I know he will always be a working artist.

I was freaked out by extensive Ritz Carlton Security, it’s so tight and it’s considered as the tightest security in Jakarta. The Pacific Place – Ritz Carlton is awesome, it’s so freaking huge and tall. I bet you’ll get tired if you walk around the building. From Ritz Carlton, we decided to go to Museum Fathahilah but too bad it had closed. It was 14.30 WIB so we went to Istiqlal to pray Dhuzur. My dad wanted us to wait up there to pray Ashar Jama’ah so we had to stay for a while. A couple hours later, on our way to get home, we had to “buka puasa” at the rest area yeah it was Maghrib though. So we ordered meals from KFC. It was not that good, we didn’t like it but I had no choice. I share this story today because it is one of the best experience as well as my dad’s. It was such a fun family trip. I enjoyed this trip so much.

Amazing Three Days in Singapore

To start off, I want to thank Allah SWT for making everything that comes my way, thanks for your help with anything and everything. Secondly I would like to say thank you for Mr. Sonny Sugema (Idea person, the head of Taqwa, Cerdas, Kreatif foundation); Mr. Ihsan, Miss Osi, Miss Nurhayati (my great English teachers); Ibu Mia (my superb concelling teacher, tour guide as well) and those of you who have already contributed to the first Alfa Centauri Annual Spelling Bee. and all those Alfa Centauri Spelling Bee participants who fought hard in this competition.

Well  I had never expected that I could win a free ticket to Singapore, actually. Because you know sometimes practice is not enough, a half of it is luckiness. Yeah I guess I was lucky. I had never expected some words I spelled would make me go to Singapore.

Singapore is a very small and somewhat clean country that is very strict. Over years, Singapore has earned the name, Fine CITY, yeah because it’s so tiny. I think Singapore is even smaller than DKI Jakarta. I would say Singapore deserves to be called the cleanest city in the world. I was so impressed by the strict rules by the Singapore Government. There are so many tall buildings. The weather is pretty hot, I think it is as hot as Jakarta. There are three major various linguistic groups, they’re Chinese, Malays and Indians but the majority is chinese. I think they don’t really speak straight English I mean they don’t really care about the grammars. I heard they speak Singlish (Singapore English), yeah I kinda agree with that cause I didn’t quite get what they said when they started speaking English. Singapore is unlikie other Asian countries. No crime, no corruption and you are safe even when walking alone at night

The City

The streets are very clean cause there are strict laws against littering of any kind, i think. I didn’t see a beggar sleeping on the streets or holding out hand in cupping position to take mercy on them. Not like Indonesia, you can see some beggars everywhere. But I don’t know exactly cause I didn’t explore all of parts of Singapore. One surprising thing I saw was, singing beggars? Haha yeah I saw two. But the biggest differences, there are more creative than singing beggars in indonesia. They bring their props such keyboard, speakers, violin. And I guess, it’s good to hear, at least better than Indonesian singing beggars.

The Transportations.

Well you know, I didn’t really see so many private cars. Maybe just some, but not as many as in Indonesia. Soo its rarely honks. The drivers were so friendly and nice, they tended to stop their cars then let us cross to the other side. I heard from Bu Mia’s family who live there that owning and driving a private car in Singapore is very costly and the car park charges can be very expensive. Maybe that’s why Singaporeans tend to use public transportation to switch it instead of using private cars. The public transportation in singapore is wonderful. It’s very clean, punctual, comfortable and easy to understand. Some public transportations I experienced were the bus, the train and taxi. As I noticed, there are two major bus operators in Singapore, SBS and SMRT, it’s pretty cool lol the service is good, very comfort, good seats and costs less  than the train or taxi. You can see some advertisments on bus! Adverts are often placed a on the side or front of a bus and they have good designs and pictures, so i think its so eyecatching. And I saw double decker bus for the very first time!! haha you’re free to mock me. Next public transportation is train or MRT (Mass Rapid Transit). It’s faster than SBS or SMRT, of course! I think it only takes 3 minutes to get the next station. It costs more than SBS or SMRT. And I found its pretty cute, we need a self stored value card to get into the train. We have to pay  fares by restricting entry only through the fare gates. We get this ticket from General Ticketing Machine. Yeah it’s comfortable as well but  i think sometimes you might hate it when it comes no seat available and you have to stand for several minutes. I didn’t mind though, it was still nice! I love how singaporeans giving up their seats to those who need it. The last public transportation I experienced was taxi. It’s not really different from the taxis in Indonesia though. Okay it led me to take comparison between public transportation in Singapore (SMRT, SBS, and MRT) and public transportation in Indonesia (DAMRI, KPAD, even busway, KRD, etc). Its a shame on us -_- Its not really safe, uncomfortable, broken seats, arrogant people who don’t wanna give up their seats to those who need it, *bau tujuh rupa* hahaa i don’t wanna translate it to english but yeah its true. I hope Indonesian and especially the government to improve it at least to be better, safe and comfortable.

The food, shopping area, amusement places.

I don’t really know about it. It’s just my experience. Day one, we ate Blackpepper beef, yeah we can find it in Indonesia so its not really unique. Day two, we ate Tom Yam Instant for the breakfast, I didn’t really like it though. For the lunch, Adam and I ate Nasi Kari (Aww actually I wanted Nasi Goreng, as Bu Mia offered us but too pity it was out of order, the only ones who got it were Fathin and Hasna). Gotta say, Nasi Padang is better! hahaa. For the dinner, I tasted Indian food for the first time, I guess. Yucks, sorry my tongue didn’t match with Indians tongues hhehe. We ordered Nasi Briyani. I think its pretty weird, it tastes fine but be careful you may find spices (which I don’t like it at all. I bite one and eww i threw it up). Weird thing, Adam got his plate very clean yeah I mean he ate all of it haha WOW. Day three we ate McDonald’s at airport, it’s not really different from McD in Indonesia, just one thing, I didn’t find rice? Yeah. And you can easily find McDonald’s, starbucks, subway, pizza hut in singapore. Some of them open 24 hours. And if you want to try something different, there are frog legs or pork all over. We stayed near Kallang (Geylang road) and it’s very very nasty. You may smell pork and beer along the street.

Okay that’s all about the food now let’s move on to the shopping area. Main shopping area in Singapore is Orchad road (yeah its very awesome) but the stuff here would be so damn expensive. Yeah we were there but didn’t buy anything hahaha. We bought souvenirs and some stuffs in China Town. Its cheaper, more traditional, you still can try bargaining unless if the price is stuck on the price list and yeah it’s pretty safe and comfortable. We went to Mustafa Centre, luckily. There are some international brands up there such chocolates, snacks,  candies, and other things you find in supermarket. Yeah we bought chocolates!

Amusement places? Well I don’t really know. We just went to Science Centre Nanyang Technology University or NTU (You might think its not amusing but for me it is lol). Science centre is an awesome place with a great architectural that promotes scientific and technological education for public. It reminds me of IPTEK Sundial Kota Baru Parahyangan lol its pretty similar like that but Science Centre is way cooler! Bu Mia said that we need 6 days to explore all of stuff there hahaa WOW. Oh yeah next its about Nanyang. Nanyang is one of the best university in Asia, or maybe the world? It reminds me of David’s Case -_-. Yeah there are plenty people from Indonesia who study there. Nanyang is soo very large!

Lesson from Singapore

I noticed the most was there were no fat people in Singapore, no I’m not kidding. People walk, hard-walking. The motorists are ever mindful of crossings even without the obvious walk sign coming. I was impressed by the posters in buildings and parks telling people what they should do, what they shouldn’t do and I knew I would  be fined if I broke the rules. And It also surprised me.  You know Singapore does not have any natural sources though. In 1965 (if im not mistaken) Indonesia helped Singapore to achieve independence by mobilizing it. Living with no natural resources, now it  has developed the busiest port in the world and become a rich country AND more developed thn Indonesia. The fact is the government have good regulations and strict rules. Well rules will not ever work out if people don’t obey it. I think people there are well educated. They WORK HARD and they’re DISCLIPINED. They have worked for it, they deserve it. Well it’s time to look at our country. There it is over crowded, crime, corruption, pollution, littered, we don’t care about others. Let’s learn from Singapore. Singaporeans are just people like us, we’re as same as in ASEAN. Well its not too late. We can reach out their spirit, satisfication and dedication. Yet there’s difference, THEY OBEY THE LAWS and they’re very DISCLIPINED. I think, disclipine is the key and that all matters.

One precious lesson from this trip, I love the way Bu Mia guide us. She left us, in a place where we have dealt that we would meet again. She wanted us to use our english by inquiring us to interact to people there to know the street or the lift. Or she left us at the airport so we had to get through the gate to the airplane by ourselves. She wanted us to be independent, I guess. I hope someone from Alfa Centauri could study in Nanyang though it’s not me but i do really wish that i could get that gold chance. But “wish” apparently is not enough, I know I have to study extra hard to make it happens, and it’s worth to fight and I am willing to stick to fight!! I would like to say It’s the BEST trip I’ve ever had, and I wouldn’t trade this worth experience to the world.

Thank you.