Oh well, break is not a break after all. This weekend starting on Thursday, I'm deeply involved in Jana's and Pieter's wedding preparation. Here's a quick list of my part:
Thursday : Thanksgiving lunch with Vaughn family (this is Jana's great grandparent), song practice
Friday: Campus tour (to Pieter's friends from D.C), rehearsal dinner at Bali Satay
Saturday: Wedding ceremony and reception (I'll be the song leader, poem reader, and personal attendant)
Got to run, another tour to do!
Friday, November 26, 2004
Tuesday, November 23, 2004
Tuesday in Thanksgiving is .... talking about my own country
So...here's the second day of thanksgiving break? Me? Doing my assignments? Nooooooo....not me :P
As usual, every break that I have so far in the US, be it Thanksgiving or Spring break, I am always involved in International Friendship Fair by YWCA. In this program, we visit elementary schools around Ames, to talk about our country. I, being a very gooooooooddddd ambassador of my country Indonesia and as a very highly motivated Fulbrighter, will not miss any chances to present my country!
Today, I woke up at 6 AM *which is verrrrryyyyyy earlyyyyyyy in this cold morning of Iowan Fall*, called Yudi *kind of giving a report of where I'm going to do today*, and got ready. I have prepared a poster with various postcards depicting Indonesian sceneries, two CDs of Indonesian traditional music, a batik material, a Sumba scarf, four shadow puppets characters *Bima, Arjuna, Semar and Anoman*, and a big map of Indonesia. And off I went!
We went to Franklin elementary school in Boone, Iowa. Boone is 30 miles West of Ames and it took about 30 minutes to the school. We rode a yellow school bus. Yes! A school bus! First time for me and for most of us! There were eleven countries present: Canada, Costarica, Nepal, Indonesia, Peru, Uruguay, India, Jordan, Latvia, Spain and Ecuador. The school itself is a 400-students school consisting of 3, 4 and 5 grades. I was scheduled to give a 30 minutes presentation to five 5 graders.
Of course, I talked about the 13,000 islands that we have, 300 something languages that we speak, the puppet shadow, the school system, the weather and my favorite one: playing elephant, human and ant finger game! *it's like paper, rock and scissor here*.
Fun, fun, fun...I always love doing IFF and I definitely will do it again in Spring!
As usual, every break that I have so far in the US, be it Thanksgiving or Spring break, I am always involved in International Friendship Fair by YWCA. In this program, we visit elementary schools around Ames, to talk about our country. I, being a very gooooooooddddd ambassador of my country Indonesia and as a very highly motivated Fulbrighter, will not miss any chances to present my country!
Today, I woke up at 6 AM *which is verrrrryyyyyy earlyyyyyyy in this cold morning of Iowan Fall*, called Yudi *kind of giving a report of where I'm going to do today*, and got ready. I have prepared a poster with various postcards depicting Indonesian sceneries, two CDs of Indonesian traditional music, a batik material, a Sumba scarf, four shadow puppets characters *Bima, Arjuna, Semar and Anoman*, and a big map of Indonesia. And off I went!
We went to Franklin elementary school in Boone, Iowa. Boone is 30 miles West of Ames and it took about 30 minutes to the school. We rode a yellow school bus. Yes! A school bus! First time for me and for most of us! There were eleven countries present: Canada, Costarica, Nepal, Indonesia, Peru, Uruguay, India, Jordan, Latvia, Spain and Ecuador. The school itself is a 400-students school consisting of 3, 4 and 5 grades. I was scheduled to give a 30 minutes presentation to five 5 graders.
Of course, I talked about the 13,000 islands that we have, 300 something languages that we speak, the puppet shadow, the school system, the weather and my favorite one: playing elephant, human and ant finger game! *it's like paper, rock and scissor here*.
Fun, fun, fun...I always love doing IFF and I definitely will do it again in Spring!
Friday, November 19, 2004
Assignments and stuffs
To do list:
1/ English 517 Annotated Bibliography --- 15 readings and summaries!
2/ English 516 Final project --- The different use of "under" and "below" from the perspective of Corpus-based Grammar and Functional Systemic Grammar
3/ English 528 Final Project --- English for Mexican Restaurant Waiters
4/ English 588 --- Practicum Final Report, Reflections, and Portfolio
5/ Thesis --- Proposal, POS forms
6/ PhD Application --- Statement of Purpose, Research Proposal, documents (meaning contacting Indonesia, professors, etc)
7/ TESOL conference --- Case Study, Paper, Presentation
8/ TESOL Electronic Village Seminars --- Proposal
9/ Women around the World Panel Discussion --- Presentation
10/ Permias --- Ideas for Indo Night Event
11/ Fulbright Association --- Contact National Association, Fulbright alumni
12/ others??????
Thanksgiving break??? Do I have thanksgiving break??? Help!!!!
1/ English 517 Annotated Bibliography --- 15 readings and summaries!
2/ English 516 Final project --- The different use of "under" and "below" from the perspective of Corpus-based Grammar and Functional Systemic Grammar
3/ English 528 Final Project --- English for Mexican Restaurant Waiters
4/ English 588 --- Practicum Final Report, Reflections, and Portfolio
5/ Thesis --- Proposal, POS forms
6/ PhD Application --- Statement of Purpose, Research Proposal, documents (meaning contacting Indonesia, professors, etc)
7/ TESOL conference --- Case Study, Paper, Presentation
8/ TESOL Electronic Village Seminars --- Proposal
9/ Women around the World Panel Discussion --- Presentation
10/ Permias --- Ideas for Indo Night Event
11/ Fulbright Association --- Contact National Association, Fulbright alumni
12/ others??????
Thanksgiving break??? Do I have thanksgiving break??? Help!!!!
Sunday, November 14, 2004
Lebaran di Ames....
OK, apakah bedanya lebaran di Amerika Serikat dengan lebaran di Indonesia?
1/ Sholat Ied
Saya mengikuti sholat ied di masjid Darul Arqum di kota Ames dan tentu saja tidak ada yg namanya sholat di lapangan! Pasalnya, bulan ini sudah memasuki musim gugur dan bahkan sudah hampir musim dingin. Jadi...kalau harus sholat di lapangan para jemaah akan jadi es batu dengan sukses! (suhunya nih sekitar 4-7 derajat Celcius) Makanya, kami sholat ied di dalam masjid dan sholat dimulai jam 8.45 pagi! Eng, ing, eng...padahal kalau di Indonesia biasanya sholat sudah dimulai jam 7 pagi. Maklum, di sini kayaknya jam saya jadi muter-muter gak karuan karena harus menyesuaikan jam berapa matahari terbit dan tenggelam.
Jemaah sholat juga bermacam-macam alias internasional. Ada yg dari Pakistan dan pake baju sari warna-warni. Ada yg dari negara-negara Afrika dengan jilbab yang aduhai cantiknya. Ada yg dari negara-negara Timur tengah dengan jubah panjang-panjang. Dan ada juga yg 'nyempil' dari Indonesia, pakai baju koko dan kopiah!
Sehabis acara sholat ied, biasanya kalau di Indonesia saya akan langsung ngabur pulang mencari ketupat dan opor ayam, tapi di Ames, kami bisa makan kue donat dan juice jeruk yang disediakan oleh masjid. Yum! *tapi masih kangen ketupattttttt*
2/ Kumpul-kumpul
Yang namanya lebaran, pasti identik dengan kumpul-kumpul. Nah, di Ames ini, sehabis dari masjid, komunitas Indonesia juga bikin acara kumpul-kumpul dan makan-makan. Kalau di Indonesia (atau di Salatiga, tempat kelahiran saya), makanannya pasti gak jauh-jauh dari menu ketupat, opor ayam dan sambel goreng.
Di Ames? Ketupat sih ada, tapi bikinnya nggak pake janur, karena di Ames sini (yg fyi di Iowa, di tengah-tengah Amerika, jauh dari pantai) nggak ada daun janur! Ketupat harus dibikin dengan cara yang kreatif, alias pake kantong plastik! Plus opor ayam, tidak perlu bikin dari bumbu-bumbu dasar soalnya susah nyari bumbunya. Kami memanfaatkan tehnologi bumbu jadi! Hidup bumbu cap Bamboe!!!! Selain opor ayam, ada juga yg bikin semur, rendang, sampai risoles, kue kastengel, dan krupuk udang. Pokoknya, asal menunya Indonesia, menu lebaran kami cukup bervariasi. Hmm, jadi kangen rumah!
3/ Abis kumpul-kumpul
Di Indonesia, biasanya ada tradisi pergi ke makam atau pergi ke rumah tetangga (untuk bermaaf-maafan, atau mengganyang lebih banyak makanan, hueheheh). Di sini? Hmm, sehabis kumpul-kumpul, saya balik ke apartment, mulai meneruskan kerjaan saya yang masih bertumpuk! Hiks..hiks...
Apapun bentuk lebarannya, yang pasti saya selalu lebih kangen lebaran di Indonesia. Suasananya, makanannya, semua lebih terasa berarti kalau saya ada di Indonesia, bersama keluarga besar saya. Tapi...yang penting intinya lebaran adalah merayakan hari kemenangan setelah sebulan penuh berpuasa dan saling bermaaf-maafan dengan orang-orang terdekat kita. Jadi bersama posting ini, di mana pun Anda, ijinkan saya meminta maaf atas segala kesalahan yang telah saya perbuat baik sengaja mau pun tidak disengaja.
Selamat Idul Fitri!
Yudi, Jalu, selamat idul fitri, sayangku! Maafkan Ibu yg jauh dari kalian di saat-saat penting untuk keluarga kita....
Wednesday, November 10, 2004
Yudi sakit
When
you're
lying
helpless
in
sickness
I wish
to stretch
my wings
and comfort
you
in
my
thoughts.
If only....
you're
lying
helpless
in
sickness
I wish
to stretch
my wings
and comfort
you
in
my
thoughts.
If only....
Monday, November 08, 2004
Friday performance: awesome!
Oh well, did I always say that I love performing with my band! Yeah, our band rocks!
We did International Dance, Food and Fashion on Friday evening and it was really good! I did a fashion show. Unbelievable! I am always a tomboy girl and I felt so awkward of walking on the runway like a professional model! Geesss! But the crowd went crazy, probably because most of the my friends, classmates and students were among the crowd and they never saw me that beautiful *narcistic mode ON!*
We performed two medleys of Indonesian traditional songs: Paris Barantai + Ampar-Ampar Pisang and Suwe Ora Jamu + Gundul-Gundul Pacul + Cublak-Cublak Suweng and one Indonesian pop song: Melompat Lebih Tinggi by Sheila on 7. As usual, I always tried to communicate with the crowd *which was a missing point throughout the show, as the MC did not really communicate with the audience and of course in dance performance they merely performed*. I did crazy jumping around with the song, taught the crowd how to say "pisang" *"OK, I'm going to teach you an Indonesian word. Everybody repeat after me 'pisang'!" and the crowd obediently said the word "Good work, you're officially accepted in Indonesian community!"*, and the crowd went mad! :D
After the night was over, I received at least a dozen of congratulations. One guy even asked "are you the girl who was singing? That was cool!" *wadowwwwww...kepala jadi gede!* And people commented on the kain that I was wearing as being exotic and unique. Well, I'm proud to be an Indonesian that night and I will always be!
More on the coverage of the night by Iowa State Daily here.
We did International Dance, Food and Fashion on Friday evening and it was really good! I did a fashion show. Unbelievable! I am always a tomboy girl and I felt so awkward of walking on the runway like a professional model! Geesss! But the crowd went crazy, probably because most of the my friends, classmates and students were among the crowd and they never saw me that beautiful *narcistic mode ON!*
We performed two medleys of Indonesian traditional songs: Paris Barantai + Ampar-Ampar Pisang and Suwe Ora Jamu + Gundul-Gundul Pacul + Cublak-Cublak Suweng and one Indonesian pop song: Melompat Lebih Tinggi by Sheila on 7. As usual, I always tried to communicate with the crowd *which was a missing point throughout the show, as the MC did not really communicate with the audience and of course in dance performance they merely performed*. I did crazy jumping around with the song, taught the crowd how to say "pisang" *"OK, I'm going to teach you an Indonesian word. Everybody repeat after me 'pisang'!" and the crowd obediently said the word "Good work, you're officially accepted in Indonesian community!"*, and the crowd went mad! :D
After the night was over, I received at least a dozen of congratulations. One guy even asked "are you the girl who was singing? That was cool!" *wadowwwwww...kepala jadi gede!* And people commented on the kain that I was wearing as being exotic and unique. Well, I'm proud to be an Indonesian that night and I will always be!
More on the coverage of the night by Iowa State Daily here.
Sunday, November 07, 2004
My son is so cute!
Yes, you can sense that I'm always a proud mother of my son Jalu! :P
We chatted last night for an hour through webcam and he's so cuteeeeee....He showed me that he knows how to count with his fingers. Smart kid! And he continually said "yes, Ibu *Ibu means Mom*" just like an adult hanging on to conversation. And he showed his favorite face, grinning. Hihihihihi...I love you, Jalu!
This morning, when I called again, he told me "Ibu, I saw you on the computer earlier!" Man...it was awesome feeling that he remembered me. Then he gave the phone to his dad, saying "Ayah, it's Ibu on the phone." He's surely growing up before my eyes.
I miss him terribly!!!!!
We chatted last night for an hour through webcam and he's so cuteeeeee....He showed me that he knows how to count with his fingers. Smart kid! And he continually said "yes, Ibu *Ibu means Mom*" just like an adult hanging on to conversation. And he showed his favorite face, grinning. Hihihihihi...I love you, Jalu!
This morning, when I called again, he told me "Ibu, I saw you on the computer earlier!" Man...it was awesome feeling that he remembered me. Then he gave the phone to his dad, saying "Ayah, it's Ibu on the phone." He's surely growing up before my eyes.
I miss him terribly!!!!!
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