INDONESIAN ARE TERRORIST?

            Hello, people around the world. Today, I want to share as Muslim Indonesian, the truth about who we are. Okay this topic seems hard for everybody to accept but I just want to tell a slice of truth who we are. And I'm really sick of these with the whole statement and question in here when I said I'm Muslim. And people comes with lot of judgement and sentiment. I know in here, America, they have a really high racism about this, religion, where the woman wear hijab and the man have a thick beard. And every September 11 all of the school play 9/11 movies and another students start staring on us and petrify that we are on of them.

            Guys, are you kidding me? We even as an Indonesian really hate terrorist. Okay you might not interesting what I said but I will show you numbers and facts that your media told to you about the real us.

Indonesia, the home of Islam Nusantara, widely seen as one of the most progressive Islamic movements in the world. The movement - its name is Indonesian for 'East Indies Islam' - dates back more than 500 years and promotes a spiritual interpretation of Islam that stresses nonviolence, inclusiveness and acceptance of other religions.

Analysts say the theology developed organically in a place where Hinduism and Buddhism were the primary religions before Islam arrived around the 13th century. Indonesian Islam blended with local religious beliefs and traditions, creating a pluralistic society despite having a Muslim majority.

Indonesia today has more than 190 million Muslims, but also has a secular governement and influental Christian, Hindu and Buddhist minoroties. 

New York Times

            The campaign by Nahdlatul Ulama, known as NU, for a liberal, pluralistic Islam also comes at a time when Islam is at war with itself over central theological questions of how the faith is defined in the modern era.

            NU has established a nonprofit organization, Bayt Ar-Rahmah, in Winston-Salem, NC., which will be the hub for international activities including conferences and seminars to promote Indonesia's tradition of nonviolent, pluralistic Islam, 

Mr. Yahya

            NU is also working with the University of Vienna in Austria, which collects and analyzes ISIS propaganda, to prepare responses to those messages, which NU will disseminate online and at conferences.

We are directly challenging the idea of ISIS, which wants Islam to be uniform, meaning that if there is any other idea of Islam that is not following their ideas, those people are infidels who must be killed. We will show that is not the case with Islam.

- Yahya Cholil Staquf, general secretary to the NU supreme council

            And if you keep saying that we are terrorist. FYI. We also got suffered several deadly terrorist attacks by Islamic militants in recent years that have killed hundreds, including bombings on the resort island of Bali in 2002 and 2005 and at five star international Hotels in Jakarta in 2003 and 2009. Did you know that before? I bet mostly you will say no. And another truth, we had jihadi groups before, Jemaah Islamiyah but we also crushed them.

            Now, open your mind, are you keep saying that terrorist are the real Muslim if they also attack us, Indonesia as the country that has a largest Muslim population than any other country in the world.

            Hey guys, remember this, Muslim Indonesian is different from what you thought, we live so peacefully with another religions. You will be surprised when I told you that we have almost 18000 island, 742 languages, around 300 ethnicity and 6 religions. We all unite together. Only with this number, we can show how happy we are. If you keep saying all of the Muslim are terrorist, please don't be stupid. I know you are really smart. It's like when you go to school and learn Science, Mathematics, Language or Social Studies. If you never learn them before, and you just heard how bad it is or how hard it is from another people you will never know how beautiful or easy they are.

            And the way we show the right Islam is that we flood the space, as I said in my last post about Indonesian is a social freak, we flood the space and telling the truth, explaining and showing the facts.

            Hadieh Mirahmadi, president of the World Organization for Resource Development and Education, an organization based in Washington that works to combat extremism, said that,

according to open source data, supporters of the Islamic State were sending an average of 2.8 million messages a  day to their followers on Twitter. 

"Who's going to counter that?"

"It's what they are doing in Indonesia, it's hat we are doing in the US and in other places. You flood the space and you hope people get the right messages."

            Look, we are Islamic and we have several values, but we also respect local cultures. You can not say that we are the same Islam like the others. And I can say that we respect local cultures because as a fact, we have the biggest Buddhist Temple in the world (Borobudur) and we have a lot of Buddhist and Hinduism temples and I'm so proud of those and I also love to go there because its beauty. Not only temples, we have another religion heritage that I always proud of.

            Thank you and I hope you have a better understanding about us.

Indonesia is the Winner for This

       Maybe if you are not Indonesian, you don't know that Indonesian is a social freak. We all love to talk and being connected. Why I can say Indonesian is a social freak even though we all know in another country people like to talk. Indonesian also has a lot like a LOT of Social Media in our phone. And I can't deny I have almost ten social media in my phone. And in another side when I'm here in America all of my friends just use Text, Snapchat and Twitter. But we, as Indonesian we use more, because we always says 'we want more'. Okay kidding. We use WhatsApp, Line, Path, Foursquare, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr, Kaskus, G+ and so on. At least in each Indonesian phone we have five social media. 
       
       Then, a lot of people asked me, what language do you guys speak? Well, I can't tell you specifically as general because we all mixed up. Even Wikipedia said that... 

Most Indonesians speak at least one of the several hundred local languages and dialects, often as their first language. And there are around 300 distinct native ethnic groups in Indonesia, and 742 different languages and dialects.

But, BHINNEKA TUNGGAL IKA, our motto does exist. Unity in Diversity. 

Even though we have 6 religions, 300 ethnics, 742 native languages, we all unite as Indonesian an speak Indonesian. So, if you ask Indonesian, what languages that you speak, me personally would say I speak Indonesian, Javanese and English. But, in Indonesia if we go travelling to another island or another city, we likely to learn a couple sentences to get a cheaper prices when we want to buy souvenir in traditional market.

       Well, lets go back to the topic. What Indonesia win in this topic. We speak more than one language or two language, mostly we speak 3+ languages. And if you check on Google Translate, Javanese already go to International, Guys! This research conduct by SwiftKey Keyboard Application that gave us a fantastic information what the different languages their users are typing in. 

       So, hello Indonesian out there. Hello from the other side. We should be proud as Indonesian. Why? Look how rich we are. We have a lot of heritage, beauty of ethnicity, gorgeous view and amazing diversity, we should be more proud and happy. I know we all are happy already but let's show what we have and what we can do. Stop complaining and do our best to make our name get bigger and bigger. I'm blessed being Indonesian and Damn! I love Indonesia.

Source: Wow Shack

Jadi begini....

Aku Nelva, bocah remaja yang sudah menjalani kehidupan sebagai bocah remaja berumur tujuh belas tahun selama 3 bulan lebih. Sekarang aku sedang menempuh kehidupan sebagai siswa pertukaran pelajar di daerah yang terkenal banyak koboynya dan salah satu nama restoran di Indonesia yang menjual ayam dan nasi. Yap, Texas.

Aku belajar untuk menjadi pribadi yang lebih baik berawal dari Ibu. Kurang rasanya tanpa k, Ibuk. Jadi begini, post ini ditujukan khusus untuk Ibu saya tercinta, tersayang, teryahud dan terasik.

Halo Ibuk. Cieileh dibuka postnya. Buk, aku kangen. Kangen bangeeet pake anget. Ibu gak kangen ta? Kangen kan ya, ngehe. Buk selamat hari ibu ya. Gak tau mau ngasih apa dari sini. Kalau kue tart lagi, nanti kayak dulu waktu ulang tahun ibuk, pesen kue tart dari Texas dikirim ke rumah Surabaya yang bayar jadinya ibu bapak wkwk. Lolog

Buk, makasih ya udah jadi ibu(k) terasik sedunia. Asik diajak curhat, jalan-jalan, nongki sana sini dan nonton meskipun ujung-ujungnya bobok. Buk, aku puitis dikit ya.

Buk, maaf ya selama ini aku sibuk sendiri jadi bocah remaja. Keluyur sana sini sama temen, ngerjain tugas di luar rumah, dulu mondar-mandir urus osis, ekskul sekolah, afs, sampe hari sabtu minggu jadi jarang jalan-jalan sama ibuk bapak kayak biasanya.

Apalagi sekarang disini, di negeri Paman Sam. Jauuuh banget kerasa bedanya. Jadi kangen waktu salim, meluk, nyium Ibu. Bentar lagi balik. Buk tau gak setiap hari aku mikirin nanti kalau waktu balik terus ketemu ibuk bapak kudu gimana. Lempar koper, lari, meluk, nyium terus terbang bareng atau gimana.

Ohya puitisnya belom. Bu, makasih ya selama ini sudah sabaaar banget nanggepin anak semata wayang ini yang super duper bandel, manja dan susah diatur. Makasih ya bu yang selalu doain aku jadi anak yang selalu beruntung dan tambah sholehah. Doa ibu manjur. Nel kamu sholehah?

Bu, semoga Ibu di Indonesia baik-baik selalu ya. Semoga sehat selalu, rezekinya lancar jaya dan semoga Ibu bahagia punya keluarga teryahud sedunia. Udahan ya Bu aku nangis ini, nanti lama-lama rumah host family banjir tangisan anak irit.

Anak terindah uopose,

Ajeng/Nelva/Pang

Ibu kangen kan, ini bonus foto terbaru pake hijab disini. Semoga pakai hijab sampai seterusnya ya.

[INSPIRASI INDONESIA] TULISAN DARI PAK ANIES BASWEDAN

Assalamu’alaikum wr wb

Saya menulis email ini dalam perjalanan kembali dari Tokyo ke Jakarta. Senang sekali bisa berdiskusi dengan teman-teman di PPI kemarin. Setiap kali perjalanan pulang sesudah berdiskusi dengan teman-teman mahasiswa yang sedang belajar di luar negeri, ada kenangan yang khusus.

Diskusi di Kobe kemarin malam mengingatkan saya pada masa-masa kuliah dulu. Saat itu setiap kali ada dialog dengan siapa saja yang datang dari tanah air tercinta, maka banyak urusan di kampus saya jadwal ulang agar bisa pergi ke pertemuan, sekadar untuk mendengar kabar terbaru dari tanah air dan berdiskusi tentang Indonesia kita.

Memang waktu saya kuliah itupun sudah ada internet, sudah ada kabar terbaru yang real-time tetapi tetap saja sebuah tatap muka itu adalah obat kangen kampung halaman.

Pesawat terbang memang sanggup menerbangkan badan kita ke negeri yang jauh, tapi ia takkan pernah berhasil membawa pergi hati dan pikiran dari Indonesia. Sejauh apapun badan pergi, hatinya, pikirannya selalu tertinggal di Indonesia.

Dalam diskusi PPI malam itu saya tersadarkan lagi bahwa sedang bertemu dan menyaksikan sebuah generasi baru, generasi amat terdidik. Anda semua mewakili sebuah generasi baru Indonesia yang akan ikut mendorong perubahan.

Seperti saya katakan malam itu, kalau diukur maka hitungan kilometer jarak anda dengan Indonesia amat-amat jauh. Tapi saya yakin sekali Indonesia kita ada amat dekat dengan benak, dengan hati dan dengan semangat anda.

Selama ini hampir seluruh energi dan perhatian anda dipakai untuk belajar, meneliti atau menulis tapi saya amat yakin bahwa cahaya Indonesia itu selalu hidup di dada anda.

Anda sesungguhnya sedang mewakili kita semua untuk meraih ilmu pengetahuan, mengambil best-practice dari manapun. Setiap hari senin jutaan anak-anak sekolah mengucapkan Pembukaan UUD 1945, sesungguhnya mereka sedang menyebutkan tentang anda dan kita semua.

Republik ini berjanji akan mencerdaskan dan mensejahterakan. Sebagian dari kita sudah mendapatkan janji itu. Anda yang saat ini sedang belajar di negeri-negeri termaju di dunia ini sesungguhnya adalah anak-anak bangsa yang kepadanya janji kemerdekaan itu sudah dibayar lunas: telah tercerdaskan, tersejahterakan, telah menjadi bagian dari dunia yang amat raya dan tentu terlindungi.

Bagi kita yang sudah merasakan janji kemerdekaan, rasanya tidak pantas lagi untuk sekadar mengidentifikasi dan mendiskusikan apalagi mengutuk terus kekurangan bangsa kita.

Daftar kekurangan kita panjang. Tapi ingat, semua bangsa yang maju hari ini dulunya juga pernah tertinggal. Hanya lewat usaha kolektif yang serius dan dimulai dengan mengubah kualitas manusianya maka mereka bisa meraih kemajuan seperti sekarang.

Mengubah Indonesia itu sesungguhnya mengubah manusia Indonesia. Manusia Indonesia yang terdidik dan tercerahkan adalah kunci untuk mempercepat pelunasan semua Janji Kemerdekaan kita.Kita yang sudah merasakan manfaat pendidikan ini tidak boleh menjadi beban bagi republik, sebaliknya kita harus menjadi motor pendorong. Jangan pilih lipat tangan tapi pilih turun tangan untuk membenahi Indonesia kita.

Seperti saya sampaikan kemarin bahwa iuran terbesar untuk pendidikan itu bukan bea-siswa, bukan buku, bukan fasilitas belajar tapi iuran kehadiran. Kehadiran anda sebagai inspirasi adalah iuran terbesar. Anda memang tinggal jauh dari Indonesia tapi hadirkan diri anda di kelas-kelas tempat dulu anda pernah belajar. Jadikan diri anda yang sudah mendapatkan kesempatan untuk belajar di kampus-kampus terkemuka ini sebagai inspirasi. Sama sekali bukan untuk menyombongkan diri, tetapi untuk menanamkan bibit mimpi, iuntuk menjadi motivasi bagi adik-adik sebangsa.

Buatlah rekaman movie singkat tentang kegiatan anda. Gambaran saat belajar, saat di laboratorium, di kelas, di perpustakaan, di kampus dan di mana saja tempat sekarang anda menuntut ilmu. Jelaskan itu semua sebagai cerita, sebagai narasi kegiatan anda. Lalu kirimkan rekaman itu ke SD, SMP atau SMA anda atau yang lain. Jangan takut dianggap menyombongkan diri, tegaskan bahwa rekaman ini anda kirimkan untuk adik-adik sebangsa agar mereka kelak bisa melampaui keberhasilan anda.

Anda kirimkan rekaman ini sebagai iuran anda untuk menghadirkan mimpi di kelas-kelas di kampung halaman anda dan di manapun di negeri tercinta ini. Titipkan pesan disana bahwa Anda jauh dari tanah air tapi tidak pernah lupa dan akan selalu mendorong kemajuan bagi Indonesia.

Perjalanan anda di Kobe dan di manapun anda belajar tidak akan terlupakan. Jadikan masa di “pengasingan” ini sebagai masa membawa bekal ilmu sebesar-besarnya untuk memberikan makna pada saudara sebangsa.

Jika anda telah selesai belajar, anda tidak harus pulang cepat-cepat. Selesai kuliah langsung pulang itu baik-baik saja, tapi sesungguhnya pulang sesaat sesudah lulus membuat anda hanya bisa membawa pulang ilmu dari kampus dan selembar ijazah bukti telah tamat.

Menurut saya, jika usia masih muda apalagi jika belum ada kewajiban yang harus ditunaikan di tanah air maka akan lebih baik jika anda bisa mencari peluang untuk bekerja dan mencari pengalaman dahulu. Bekerja di institusi yang bagus di negeri maju bisa meluaskan wawasan, menambah jaringan di bidang anda.

Dengan begitu kelak saat pulang anda bisa membawa juga pengalaman bekerja dengan standard profesionlisme yang tinggi dan membawa jaringan yang anda bangun selama bekerja. Kehadiran anda di Indonesia kelak akan lebih berpotensi untuk memberikan manfaat dan makna yang jauh lebih besar. Silahkan anda pertimbangan sesuai dengan kondisi dan situasi yang anda hadapi.

Selamat belajar, selamat meneruskan perjalanan mulia di tempat-tempat jauh. Kemarin malam saat anda semua memperkenalkan diri, saya perhatikan wajah anda anda satu per satu. Saya menyaksikan anak-anak bangsa yang sedang jauh dari rumah asalnya, jauh dari keluarganya.

Setiap anda menyebutkan bidang ilmu yang sedang dipelajari, dalam hati saya mengatakan pada anda terdapat tanda akumulasi pahala dan didikan yang luar biasa dari orang-tua, dari para guru dan dari lingkungan tempat anda tumbuh.

Kini Anda sedang jauh dari mereka semua untuk meraih ilmu pengetahuan, pengalaman; ya anda pergi jauh untuk belajar, untuk menjawab tantangan zaman dengan mempelajari ilmu-ilmu termutakhir di bidangnya.

Anda sedang melewati jalan mulia. Jaga stamina: stamina fisik, stamina intelektual dan stamina moral. InsyaAllah anda kelak akan meraih kemuliaan.

Keluarga di tanah air tentu bangga dengan keberhasilan studi Anda, tapi saya yakin mereka akan lebih bangga saat keberhasilan studi itu menjadi awal baru kiprah anda untuk tetap memberikan makna pada saudara sebangsa.

Salam hangat dari tanah ibu.

Anies Baswedan

AKU MUDA, AKU BISA!
#INDONESIABISA

Keberangkatan dari Indonesia ke Washington

Berikut video yang saya buat sebagai siswa pertukaran pelajar AFS YES Bina AntarBudaya ke Texas.

Link video

Humanity Problem

          Nowadays, in this world we have a lot of crisis problem. Not only about loss of natural resources, but also about another God's creature, human. Yes, we have a crisis problem about humanity. Bomb, terror, judging, killing, bullying and so on make us afraid of people, distrust, anger without knowing the real facts. The facts what is true and what is not. And choose to isolate themselves and and saying I'm the right one and their mind said I do not want to tolerate any other opinion because of judgement.

          Why? Why it should be happen? I thought Albert Einstein quote that says remember your humanity and forget the rest still does exist. Being selfish and arguing to whom we should stand, won't fix anything. We just makes it worse.

          Many students try to study abroad or adults who works in different taste of the sea salt try to bridging the gap, try to telling the truth and try to be patient about what they say and do to us. But, it just come back and say hello to zero when human have no more tolerance, no more trust and forget the humanity.

          I'm Muslim, and do I stand for terrorist? Of course no. Who starts the bomb in this world, not us. Everyone can say Allahu Akbar. Everyone can say everything in social media and say it's Muslim who said that. And you just believe that? I don't understand when people say that people who believe in God are brainwashed with their book (such as Al-Qur'an or bible) but many people brainwashed by media.

          Now, whatever our religion is, our races or ethnic is, let's stand for humanity, stand for peace and don't let the media fool you.

          I'm Muslim but ISIS? #NotInMyName

Exchange Year as an Exchange Student

Exchange is change rapid, brutal, beautiful, hurtful, colourful, amazing, unexpected, overwhelming and most of all constant change. 

         

          Change in lifestyle, country, language, friends, parents, houses, school, simply everything. Exchange is realizing that everything they told you beforehand is wrong, but also right in a way.
Exchange is going from thinking you know who you are, to having no idea who you are anymore to being someone new. But not entirely new. You are still the person you were before but you jumped into that ice cold lake. You know how it feels like to be on your own. Away from home, with no one you really know. And you find out that you can actually do it.

          Exchange is thinking. All the time. About everything. Thinking about those strange costumes, the strange food, the strange language. About why you’re here and not back home. About how it’s going to be like once you come back home. How that boy is going to react when you see her again. About who’s hanging out where this weekend. At first who’s inviting you at all. And in the end where you’re supposed to go, when you’re invited to ten different things. About how everybody at home is doing. About how stupid this whole time-zone thing is. Not only because of home, but also because the tv ads for shows keep confusing you.

          Exchange is people. Those incredibly strange people, who look at you like you’re an alien. Those people who are too afraid to talk to you. And those people who actually talk to you. Those people who know your name, even though you have never met them. Those people, who tell you who to stay away from. Those people who talk about you behind your back, those people who make fun of your country. All those people, who aren’t worth your giving a damn. Those people you ignore. And those people who invite you to their homes. Who keep you sane. Who become your friends.

          Exchange is uncomfortable. It’s feeling out of place, like a fifth wheel. It’s talking to people you don’t like. It’s trying to be nice all the time. It’s bugs.. and bears. It’s cold, freezing cold. It’s homesickness, it’s awkward silence and its feeling guilty because you didn’t talk to someone at home. Or feeling guilty because you missed something because you were talking on Skype.

          Exchange is great. It’s feeling the connection between you and your host parents grow. It’s knowing in which cupboard the peanut butter is. It’s meeting people from all over the world. It’s having a place to stay in almost every country of the world. Exchange is exchange students. The most amazing people in the whole wide world. Those people from everywhere who know exactly how you feel and those people who become your absolute best friends even though you only see most of them 3 or 4 times during your year. The people, who take almost an hour to say their final goodbyes to each other. Those people with the jackets full of pins. All over the world. Exchange is falling in love with this amazing, wild, beautiful country. And with your home country.

          Exchange is frustrating. Things you can’t do, things you don’t understand. Things you say, that mean the exact opposite of what you meant to say. Or even worse…

Exchange is understanding.

Exchange is unbelievable.

Exchange is not a year in your life.

It’s a life in one year. 

Exchange is nothing like you expected it to be, and everything you wanted it to be

          Exchange is the best year of your life so far. Without a doubt. And it’s also the worst. Without a doubt. Exchange is something you will never forget, something that will always be a part of you. It is something no one back at home will ever truly understand.
       

          Exchange is growing up, realizing that everybody is the same, no matter where they’re from. That there is great people and douche bags everywhere. And that it only depends on you how good or bad your day is going to be. Or the whole year. And it is realizing that you can be on your own, that you are an independent person. Finally. And it’s trying to explain that to your parents.

          Exchange is dancing in the rain for no reason

Crying without a reason

Laughing at the same time

It’s a turmoil of every emotion possible

Exchange is everything

And exchange is something you can’t understand unless you’ve been through it!

#LangkahAnakBangsa

credit: someone who type the text

Is there anyone have change for 5?

            It's like everyday my friends ask everybody this question. Literally it's not this question but these are questions. It's not a bad thing, it just funny.

            We always feel starving because we only have one lunch time for each student. But generally we have three lunch times and I'm in the C Lunch. Which is the last one, with no fresh food and full of starving people in line to get lunch.

            In Indonesia, my home sweet home country, for school we have two lunch times, at 10 and 12 and it's always open even though is not a lunch time. So whenever we are hungry, we can just buy snacks and drinks for a couple minutes before another class start.

            But in my American High School, the cafeteria just open in the lunch time so that's why I heard those questions every time I go to the class.

            Ask for the change and the cafeteria close? How come? Vending machine is our treasure with a secret key called one dollar.

            In here one dollar means only one snack. And if we convert it to my Indonesian money or we call it as IDR (Indonesian Rupiah), one dollar is fourteen thousand and nine hundred rupiahs. And I can just buy seven snacks with the exact brand, taste and size as the snacks that I bought here.

            And that's a piece story of my school year as an exchange student here and i hope you guys can feel more grateful to live in Wonderful Indonesia because you live in the heaven of the world and you have everything and it's cheap!

Don't Let the Label Limit Who You Are

           Kalian pernah merasa sakit hati dengan perkataan orang sekitar? Sakit hati hingga hanya merasa ingin sendiri? Terkucilkan merasa terasingkan dari yang lain?

           

           Label, label mengurung seseorang sehingga diri terpaku dalam label. Bayangkan perkataan buruk yang orang katakan kita anggap sebagai kertas label yang biasanya kita tempel saat kita duduk di bangku sekolah saat ujian sebagai tanda dimana seharusnya kita berada. 

           Ketika label yang sudah kita tidak butuhkan lagi, apakah akan kita biarkan hingga perekat label meninggalkan noda lebih banyak? Itu pilihan. Terkadang label membuat kita menjadi orang yang lebih baik. Tapi terkadang label juga mengurung kita dalam depresi. Disitulah kita harus mengelola label. 

           Untuk apa terjebak dalam ilusi label yang orang lain berikan tanpa benar adanya dalam diri kita? Kita bisa saja kita mencabut label dan menggantinya yang baru dengan yang lebih baik. Atau menambahkan label positif lainnya dalam diri kita. Yuk, semangat! Jangan biarkan label yang orang lain berikan mengurungmu dalam malu.

American High School Education Tools #1

         Study in America as a High School-er is more than I expected. I'm Nelva, I am an exchange student from Indonesia. I thought American school is more like a lot of drama like in mean girls film. But, no. We found drama in any place. And I thought the differences is only the languages and stuffs, but I found that there are a lot of things that I think is way cooler than I thought.

         My opinion is, American School have everything for teaching tools. Starts from reminder for homework, quiz and test until grade book that always update everyday. And now, I let you know about any media that American School use.

         1. Skyward
         
         Skyward is a software that school can use to manage and give information to students, staffs and parents. It's not only showing the grade book that always make me dag dig dug because any score even it's zero, teacher always put it down in the skyward grade book. And also if we late to go to school, we late to go to class, we are not in dress code, we break the rules and so on. It's also shows us the latest information such as football game, volley game, campus visit, home coming, prom, year book and so on. So, I enlist this software because it's a good software that every school should have so it is one of a good motivation to study everyday.

Penampakan

         Nah, this is what skyward look like. I forgot to tell you this skyward also show us some calendar that some teachers put on, like due for homework, quiz, test and some volunteering information.

         2. Remind 101
         
         Like the tittle of this application, remind, yes this application use to remind people to do something. Everyone here use text only for communication. It's not like Asian who use Line, Whatsapp, Path, BBM, Twitter, facebook, Talk, G+, Skype, Facetime, viber, vine and snapchat in the same time and another old school social media that we might forget like plurk, friendster and yahoo koprool. Okay, back to the topic. Because Americans use text for daily communication, this remind 101 send any remind by text.

           
         Usually teacher sent us remind about due homework, quiz, test, warm up key or tutoring schedule. And not only teacher who can use it. Some communities and school activities also use remind 101 to text anybody who register in the class to remind them what to bring or when to meet. Remind 101 not only can send text, but it also can send the pictures that attached in a link so we can save it.

       

Never Exist

       Dua bulan sudah saya berada di Texas. Rasa senang, sedih, bahagia, kecewa, sudah saya lalui. Begitu pula dengan duta cilik lainnya. Meskipun kami sudah berada di titik ini, dimana orang lain mengira menjadi siswa pertukaran pelajar itu hanya bermain, pergi ke pesta, belanja, santai, travel dan kesenangan lainnya. Mungkin ekspektasi kami sebelum berangkat seperti itu. Tapi setelah kami dididik dan diberi pengertian lebih makna program pertukaran pelajar susungguhnya serta diberi nama kecil Young Ambassador. Kami mulai paham, merepresentasikan Indonesia, bangsa kita, itu tidak mudah. Sekecil apapun hal yang kita lakukan, perkataan yang kita ucapkan, berbagai ide yang kita ungkapkan, semuanya merepresentasikan bangsa kita.

       Bagiku, hal itu tidaklah mudah. Aku baru sadar, selama di Indonesia, dimana-mana dekat, setiap minggu mau ke mall, mau nonton film, mau makan di restaurant, langsung jalan tanpa rencana. Sedangkan disini, pergi ke mallpun direncanakan seminggu sebelumnya. Selama ini aku terbiasa menjadi anak semata wayang yang kurang mengerti arti berbagi, aku juga terbiasa dengan tatak, sedangkan disini semuanya terencana, baik dari hari ini makan apa sampai mau liburan kemana, terbiasa dengan telat tiga puluh menit yang tidak pernah menjadi masalah dan sekarang telat lima menitpun menjadi tanda tanya, dari yang dulu berangkat ke sekolah tergantung mau berangkat jam berapa sedangkan sekarang harus berada di tempat bis sekolah menunggu tepat waktu, yang dulu sarapan sudah siap sekarang setiap pagi harus kreatif untuk membuat sarapan, tidak hanya sarapan, makan siangpun juga aku siapkan sedari pagi, karena seperti yang kita tahu, rupiah kalah jauh dengan dollar.

       Teringat kata bapak aku, kalau hal baik tidak dimulai sedari sekarang, susahnya akan terasa, kebiasaan tidak mudah untuk diubah. Meskipun hal ini terlihat simple, tapi tetap aku merasakan ini bukan zona nyamanku. Aku kira, selama di Indonesia, mengikuti berbagai aktivitas, menyibukkan diri dengan berbagai hal, merupakan salah satu cara keluar dari zona nyaman dan lebih produktif. Ternyata setelah aku berada disini, aku sadar itu bukanlah apa-apa, mungkin itu masih tiga persen aku jauh dari zona nyamanku. Dan mungkin apa yang aku hadapi sekarang, berarti nothing suatu saat nanti. Tapi dari sini aku belajar, kebiasaan yang kita sepelekan, kebiasaan yang kita pikir bisa berubah dengan bimsalabim selama sekejap, is never exist. 

School Life in American High School

              You must be doing well in American School, it must be so much fun to study there, you must be really popular there, it's easy isn't it?

              People thought that being an exchange student is all about culinary, travel and party. No, it's not. Being an exchange student is just being the normal kids like another kids do. The difference is I'm an alien here. 

              The first time I got here, it was really stressful. You know why. But then, some of my friends asked me to go to hangout somewhere. Now I know that being an exchange student to America and to Indonesia it's different. I knew some exchange student who went to Indonesia they could get friends easily because they are the real alien, they are knowable. But for the exchange student to America, it's so much different. Yes, we are aliens. But we were unknowable, people just didn't care who we are. Because in here, there are a lot of ethnics, from ginger to black hair, from light skin to dark skin or from gold hair to grey hair. People didn't really recognize that we are an exchange student until we introduce ourselves to them. Now I know why we can't compare between my exchange year and another exchange student's exchange year. Even though we are in the same place or the same school, we can't just make ourselves feel bad about what we face on. All we can do is just share our stories, learn how another student can get some friends and ask for help to our friends. There must be a way out.

              We are here for 10 months only, all of us want to have a great exchange year. Great exchange year starts form ourselves, are we gonna survive from these, or we just wanna stay in our comfort zone. It is our choice. Only think and do nothing really wasting our time. If we want to have a good experience by our own we need to use our time wisely and focus. I know it's hard, guys. Let's work hard together and try our best. This is our year, stop wishing and start doing because your future will thank you for what you doing today.

              And now, I want to let you guys sneak peek on my American School, you can easily click on this video below.

Thank you!

Thanks AFS/KL YES - AYUSA - BINA ANTARBUDAYA

School Supplies

              Almost every teacher in my American school asked their students to buy some school supplies. In Indonesia, we can use any school supplies that we want. But here, the teachers has a school supplies for students already. And, if we buy as what the teachers want, we can get a free pass homework or extra credit points. I thought, we must buy all of them, so I bought everything as what they ask. Well, then.  

              Now, for you who planned to study to America as high school students or you just want to buy some school supplies or you just want to read this post or gundam enthusiast. Here we go I write a little review about some school supplies that I bought in Target so you can choose wisely. These are the simple things that sometimes we might don't really care but if we realize that we choose the wrong choice, ugh, it's annoying.

1. Binder

Left $2.47 - Right $3.50

Ring Binder 1

Ring Binder 2

              As we can see the second binder have more some dividers, folder and ruler. But the folder doesn't work really good for me, because it's too thin so its only 10 papers. So, before we choose which binder, besides its color, we also should see what's inside. They are really big and in my first week of school I bought two backpacks because I didn't have a big backpack.

2. Composition Book 

3. Filler Paper

Filler Paper $0.99 - Composition Book $2.29

              They are really important so you don't need to worry are you going to use it or no. But, usually the teachers tell you what they want. Is it binder or composition book, so keep an eye on the list so you don't waste your money and there is no school supplies leftovers.

4. Colored Pencils

5. Dry Erase Marker

6. Mechanic Pencils

Colored Pencils $0.97
Dry Erase Markers $5.89
Mechanic Pencil $1.17

              Again, these stuffs aren't the stationary that I want. I collected all of these to my teachers already. Mine? I didn't buy some pens or pencils for me. I'm an exchange students and I bought some pens from Indonesia. I don't know why I brought a pack of pens. But it's really helpful tho. It's been a month but I still have some. Because in here, we don't write as much as we do in my home country. And sometimes the teachers gives the fun assignment with coloring or gluing the task and they already have some school supplies from students so we don't need to buy anymore. Or when grading, of course we need pen with different color or highlighter, they have some already. So, just bring two pens for school, it's a lazy simple tricks. What about pencil? I'm not a pencil person.

7. Maped Binder

              Well, another binder. But these binders fit better for me. Because this side of binder is thinner than the first binder that I told you. So those two binders fits well in my backpack. I bought two of them with different sizes. The white binder has large enough pocket as we can see in the photos and some colorful dividers. And the black binder has some cool dividers, each divider has its pocket. But, it doesn;t fit well with my filler paper because it's too small. So it just broke my paper.

8. Notebook

9. Blank Journal

Cambridge Notebook $9.99 - Blank Journal $5.49

              I like this big notebook because its cover and we can tear them off easily because it has perforated and we can put them in our binder because it has perforation. And the blank journal actually it's for my planner. It has no date because planner didn't really work with me. Because they already have their own box for date and list to do and description and I just don't like it. So I prefer to use this blank journal because it has small size, it has the book tag and again, its cover. So, I usually write any tasks, assignment, reminder for quizzes or tests and homework that I have or what the teachers gives in one day and usually I use one page for each day and it's pretty simple for me. 

10. Folder Two Pockets

11. Folder with Prong

Folder Two Pocket $ 1.25 - Folder Pocket and Prong $ 1.25

              These are my real binder, now I never bring my binder because they just too big and I still have a big text book to bring. So I just bring these two binders. Folder two pockets has thinner shape but has a bigger pocket and my stuffs easily feel out. And the second one, folder with prong, of course it's thicker because it has prong inside. But I only use this folder for AP Stats because my teacher told us to put our homework in one folder.

              The next stuffs aren't what my teachers ask for. Girls are more emotional than the boys, so pretty things will boost your mood and girls need this.

12. Wall Calendar

13. Scrapbook Sticker

Wall Calendar $9.99 - Scrapbook Sticker $ 2.99

              Sometimes we have fear of missing on something. So cute wall calendar is a good thing to hang on our walls. Scrapbook stickers also a great decoration for our books or you just want to stick them on your stuffs.

14. Scrapbook Embellishment Fabric Flower

Scrapbook Embellishment Fabric Flower $ 6.99

              I like to stick these flowers on my room's door and on the top of my perfume bottle.

15. Glitter Papers

Glitter Papers $5.99

              Easy to cut and wrap. Make any patterns what you want as easy as origami. But of course you don't want to waste your glitter paper easily. You can make a decoration for your composition book or scrapbook.

16. Scotch Craft Tape

17. Scrapbook Paper

Pink Scotch Craft Tape $5.99 - Scrapbook Paper $9.99

              I decorated my composition book by wrap it with scotch craft tape. It has pink color with glitter and it's really sticky. If you like to take a picture and need cute background scrapbook paper can be a good idea. I took some photos with it and it looks pwetty.
              Actually my teachers also ask for tissue and hand sanitizer, but y'all already know lah ya. Semoga jadi pandangan ya untuk kalian yang mau studi ke Amerika.

              Massive thank you 07something.wordpress.com for this precious gundam. Gundam enthusiast? Stay on his blog, he'll do reviews and share his WIPs about this gundam.