I want food--I want food--I want food...

Sebutin apa yang kamu inget dengan tempat2 di bawah ini.

1.McD:
Anywhere but Indonesia, McD is a place where I go to when I'm hungry but have no money :P how sad...

2. KFC:
favorite fast food, kudos to the chicken! When I live in DC, I have to make sure I know where the nearest KFC is

3. Wendy's
Mmm.. not so much a big fan of Wendy's. Can't think of a particular entrée

4. Pizza Hut:
I thought Pizza Hut was the place to eat pizza, after discovering Emma's Pizza and Upper Crust, plus the delicious Argentine pizza (tho I have to go to Boston/NYC to fulfill my craving)... I haven't been to Pizza Hut since :P

5. Popeye's:
the first time I went to Mas Yogi's house, his mum took me to Popeye's for dinner :)

6. Platinum:
What is this place??!!

7. Burger King:
For some reason, I associated Burger King with A&W :p hehhee... Gosh, I miss A&W's burger :(

8. Subway:
Every Subway's commercial portrays their sandwiches as "healthy, veggies everywhere, better than McD." Mmm.. I don't know about that.

9. Hokben:
Waaa.. the best Japanese fast food restaurant ever :p

10. Oh La La:
Good chocolate shakes, yuuuuuuuuummmm... A little expensive, no?

11. Starbucks:
I like their mocca latte, their seasonal drink with mint during xmas. Mmmm...

12. Baskin:
Gosh, I remember craving for it when I was so little. I had my first Baskin's ice cream in Bandung :P how odd that i still remember this

13.blenger burger
Not sure what this is. It better be good coz it makes you "blenger":P

14.Fiesta steak
I have no idea what this place is (does this signify the needs to go home and "explore Jakarta?" considering that the route I took last summer was only home--Limau--Pancoran--home and it repeats >_<

15.Blok m plaza
Miss Mbak Wati!

16.PIM
Which one? Never ate at the new section of the mall, so expensive!

prácticalo

Estos días me dí cuenta que ya no hablo castellano bien como antes porque ya no lo usé. El semestre pasado, porque trabajé en una clase bilingüe, casi todos los días tenía que usar en castellano con mis estudiantes. Por eso no hablé bien en japones. Y ahora es el revés! No tengo muchas oportunidades de usar castellano, y pienso que hablo MAL :( huuuaaaa... Cuando quiero decir algo en castellano, todo lo que está en mi cabeza es en el japones. Es difícil >_< hix hix.. que hago??!!

Voy a escribir una carta a Gilda. Me escribió una carta cuando estaba en Nueva York y todavía no le contesté. Voy a decirle que encontré un trabajo y seré una maestra! hehehhe... Bueno bueno, voy a practicar castellano mucho más que antes para que no olvidar cómo hablar bien en castellano :)

april mop

En general, "april mop" no es un día especial, a mí no me importa (casí nunca hago una burla a nadie :p) por eso nada interesante ocurre en ese día. Pero este año, hay algo diferente ocurrá en 1 de abril del 2007... en este día él se casará...

Aunque nada pasó entre nosotros, no puedo dejar pensar en lo que sería pasar después de todo este. Le dije que algunas cosas cambiarán... nosotros no seremos "así." Siempre, tan pronto como llego en la casa, él es las personas primeras con quien yo hablo. Quiero decirle que "estoy acá." Durante la vacación pasada, nosotros salimos juntos algunas veces y hablamos mucho en el teléfono. Pero... pienso que después de se case, no puedo hacer todo eso como siempre. él no será el hombre que yo conozco...

él no me dijo nada sobre el casamiento; alguien me lo dijo... él nunca me dice nada--ni su casamiento, ni su compromiso, ni su graduación (me dijo que era nada importante. Hah? Uno se gradúa una vez sola en su vida!). Ahora ya sé sobre el casamiento y me siento un poco rara. Quiero llamarlo y decir "felicitaciones por el casamiento, espero que sean felices por siempre" pero no creo que puedo decirlo sin sentirme nada.

Hhhmmmm... ya sé que ese día sería venir... en un mes y poco él será cambiar a ???? no sé. ojala que cambie a alguien que yo conociera hace 5 años

just a thought

Ass.wr.wb

mama, kemaren ya.. aku khan makan malem sama temen2 aku, and one of my good friends from Thailand said that she got a job offer from the office where she's interning this summer. I know bbrp org pun have gotten offers dr boss mrk. It struck me a bit and made me realized even more kalau aku dah gak bisa ongkang-ongkang kaki cuma mikir kelas apa yang mau aku ambil during the semester. Yaa.. aku tahu that my first priority now is to get through the semester in NY dengan baik... tp what I heard last night made me thought kalau aku harus lebih tegar dan tawakal...

hari sabtu malem mas yogi and I had a looooooooooooooooong discussion. mnrt dia, belakangan ini aku slalu terlihat punya beban gede banget that i wasnt able to have fun >_< pas aku brng org2 aku sih gpp, but as soon as everyone leaves the room, aku kepikiran lg, and you know what it was about.
Ma, selama ini buanyak bgt yg aku syukuri... I'm blessed with a wonderful family who always supports me... ada mas yogi yang has contributed a lot smenjak aku ada di wes... org2 di sekeliling aku dr aku kecil, baik itu guru2 maupun temen2, mrk ada u/ ngedukung aku in various ways. dari aku kecil, Alhamdullillah Allah ngasih kelancaran dalam macem2 kegiatan aku, ya sekolah, excul, AFS.. macem2 hal aku jalani dengan bantuan Allah and I'm happy and proud of all of the things I've done in the past.

trs mas Yogi nanya, then what are you afraid of? why are you so worried about what's coming ahead of you?
mungkin krn smuanya trasa campur aduk bgt jdnya aku gak tahu mesti gimana >_< sometimes I think if I had done the NY program earlier in my junior year, things would have been different. yaa.. mungkin aja, like there'll be a less pressure , aku gak se-chicken sekarang... tp NY is coming up and ntah knp aku gak pd, takut, worried, gak jlas gt jd aku mikir smuanya :( it's annoying to see myself like this, worried, anxious everyday!

So i told mas yogi (and sort of to myself also since i've been asking that question myself over and over) that aku kyk gini skrg coz mmm... "i think i have a lot of passion in education and i'm pursuing one of them soon. I'm afraid that i wont be good at it and/or I wont like it. if this is so, then what would I do next???!!!"
it sounds so pathetic right? musuh belom keliatan dah mundur perang! >_< then i realized kalau aku sm skali gak boleh mikir kyk gt. Wesleyan, AFS, tarq, smuanya gak akan ada tanpa bantuan Allah... gak tahu knp aku tiba2 ngrasa gak pd akan kemampuan aku, and more so akan kuasa Allah yang slalu memberi yang terbaik kepada umatNya. Aku inget apa kata mama kalau apa yang diberi Allah ke kita itu adalah yang terbaik bagi kita, meski kita gak bisa langsung melihat/merasakan hikmahnya... semester depan memang a big deal for me, tp bukan berarti it's the last choice i have. i have some small experience teaching and i have always enjoyed teaching. semester depan it's another experience buat aku yang Insya Allah bisa ngebantu aku di masa yang akan datang, amin. emang kedengarannya gak gampang di NY nanti, tp hey... life has more and more challenges for me to face from now on and i'm sure klo ini akan jd pengalaman yang bagus buat aku, right, right?

after a long talk filled wth tears (hehehhe...), i feel that i have to gain back PD aku, di segala hal... and about getting job bla bla bla... I'LL DO MY BEST! temen2 aku ya temen2 aku, mereka bukan aku and i'm not them, jadi ya... apa yang kita dapat pasti akan beda2, ya gak??

smalem aku bilang sm mas Yogi.. "mas, 3 tahun yang lalu kamu senior, pertama kali ketemu aku yang masih "lugu" (hahhaha). but now, aku yang senior..." duuu.. gak krasa ya ma, aku almost complete my wesleyan journey. koq ya cepet bgt ya???!!! aku hrs look forward with a big smile dan niat yang baik for hal2 di depan aku... Insya Allah, aku akan dituntun ke jalan yang penuh dengan hal-hal yang terbaik untuk aku... Amin.
no more excessive tears (heheh.. i cant say no more tears :p) berjuang, berjuang!

i love you,
-tia-

this is what happens when you have nothing to do at home equipped with internet

FIVE YEARS AGO...

How old were you?:
16

Where did you go to school?:
half time in Tarq and the other half in Oosaki HS, Tokyo

Where did you work?:
not yet lha

Where did you live?:
my parents' + Nagasawa's

Where did you hang out?:
game centre taking purikura :p

How was your hair style?:
had my first rebonding!

Who was your best friend?:
Ayumi and my host mum

Who was your regular-person crush?:
hmmm....

How many tattoos did you have?:
ZERO

How many piercings did you have?:
had my third one

What was your favorite band/group:
Chemistry

What was your worst fear?:
losing the best moments with my host family and friends

Had you smoked a cigarette yet?:
nope

Had you gotten drunk?:
naaa...

Had you been arrested?
duuu... I was a good girl

Had you been to a real party yet?
yeah

Had your heart broken?
thank God no

**HA HA HA!!! LETS SEE WHAT YOU ARE
NOW !!!!!**

_____________________________________
_____
_________

August 2006

How old are you?:
21

What grade are you in?:
a senior at Wesleyan University

Where do you go to school?:
Next semester will be in NY for the Urban Education Sem

Where do you work?:
depending where people need me

Where do you live?:
in a lot of places

Where do you hang out?:
wherever I like

Do you have braces?:
nope

Do you wear glasses?:
yep..

Who are your best friends?:
the same old dudes...

Still talk to any of your old friends?
definitely

Who is your celebrity crush?
George Clooney???!!

How many piercings do you have?:
I still have 3, but I dont wear earrings anymore

How many tattoos?:
none

What is your favorite band/group?
Radja!!! AdaBand!!! Samsons!!!

What is your biggest fear?
Well, now... mmm... facing a lot of uncertainty

Have you gotten drunk?
NO!

Have you been arrested since if so how many
times total?
Mmm...

Has your heart been broken?
don't wanna talk about it!

school shouldn't be a burden to any student

I was very suprised when I found out that Ozza, my cousin who is only 5 years old,goes to school everyday from 7ish till 3 in the evening! that's almost 8 hours of school... OMG, I was having so much fun when I was at her age; I'd come home before lunch time, I remember how I usually slept in the school van and had to make the driver piggied back me coz I wouldnt wake up once the van got into my house >_<
As far as I remember, I didnt have an 8-hour of school until I was in my last year of junior high, and simply because everyone had to take prep classes... But definitely not when I was 5 years old! I cant believe that kids are experiencing such a school life at a very young age.

Living in Jakarta is a huge battle to get from one place to another. Since most schools start at 7ish in the morning, I bet most kids must ben out of their houses by 6, or perhaps earlier to avoid the damn traffic :( and what...now they have to spend time at school till late?? what time would they get home? regardless of whether they get zero or 100 homeworks to do at home, the point is that they're extremely exhausted by the time thy reach home >_<

Well, I wont blame parents who want to send their kids to the "best school" so that their kids would earn the "best education." It's every parents' dream to see their kids have a bright future... BUT is sending your kids to school that eats up most of your kids' daytime and leaves them no energy a good way to lead your kids to a successful path???? I dont think so!

No wonder if many kids think that school is such a big burden for them... it's hard to feel the happy atmosphere when I'm around kids. I dont know how many of them think that school is a great place to be... Ozza has begun to say that she didnt want to go to school because she's tired! OMG, she's only 5 and she has said those things... what would happen when she gets older and school gets tougher in senior high???!!!

it shouldnt be this way! Aaaaaaarrrgggghhh, how messed up education is right now??? what'll my kids have later??? maybe I should just homeschool them :p hahahaha....

WHAT????

I spent a good amount of time writing one entry... and it's 90% gone! OMG... I dont know how come it wont show up properly no matter how many times I've refreshed the page >_<

Aaaaarrrggghhh... I dont think I'm in the mood of re-writing the entry...

A thousand coaches around you

While counting down how many hours I had left until my flight landed in JFK, I watched a kids movie called Akeela and the Bee. It's about an "ordinary" girl struggling to win the Scripps National Spelling Bee competition. Speaking about that competition, I watched one of them on tv last June and it's so damn tough! the kids had to know the word origin, meaning before they could guess the giant jargons that I dont think I would ever encounter... ever... in my entire life.

Anyway, there was an interesting quotation ("just another simple quotation" back then...). When the girl lost her confidence when her spelling bee coach refused to continue coaching her for the national championship round. Her mum said, "there are thousands of coaches around you whom you could learn from. So be strong!"

These days I have been producing excessive tears a.k.a I've been crying a lot... Huuuuaaaa... Simply just by thinking of "el futuro que parece muy lejos desde donde estoy," I cried. Hix..hix.. While I was in Indonesia for the past 2 months, people asked me "the questions:" when are you going to graduate? AND you know what would come next... yeah... what are you going to do afterwards? I managed to pull through every single time the latter question came up by giving the some diplomatic answers (of course with a big smile on my face) while hoping for the conversation to end...

While I was home, I had some interesting conversations with great people--kak Jasmin, Tante Lilik, Feliz, Elok... hearing their stories, especially those whom I look up to made me realized that I'm not the only human being on this earth who's going through this phase of life right now... confused, uncertainty, worried, curiousity... After listening to their stories and asking for their advices, I was very surprised how I was able to learn a lot from them.

Klo bahasa Indonesianya, ada hikmah dibalik smua percapakapan dan pengalaman orang di sekitar kita yang bisa kita jadikan pelajaran berharga bagi kita. Perjuangan dan semangat mas Yogi tahun 2004 setelah graduation, pengalaman kak jasmin dan tante lilik yang jadi inspirasi aku, jutaan saran dan doa dari mama dan papa... adalah my weapons to be strong always in facing "el futuro que (todavia) parece lejos desde donde estoy..."

things to do while I'm home

not in order of priority (yet)

1. Learn Chinese... I should enroll myself ASAP at ILP Pancoran Mandarin class.. Or should I do a private lesson? Mmmm... let's see how big the class at ILP is

2. AFS-AFS-AFS: I'm going to surprise everyone on Sunday. I hope I get away for a couple of hours to visit my AFS friends while they're having the second round of selection. I might not get permission to do things with AFS (again... hix..hix..), I'll try to spend sometime with Tomy and friends :)

3. meet the girls: I think I'm going to do another Bandung trip to hang out with my high school friends who are in Bandung. I dont know how many of them are going back to Jakarta...

4. Volunteer in Yogya... Mmmm... i dont know where should I start off. But since I got many information about the possible organizations that I could volunteer at, it shouldn't be a problem. Plus, Selina and Jenna (hopefully) are going to go with me too... I hope to be able to do this in Indonesia; it'll be a new experience

5. give Freeman scholarship info sessions in Jakarta, primarily: mmm.. where should I go? I dont think people in Tarq are really appreciative about this kinda thing. So I'd better go o schools like 8, 70, 74, mmm... CC, Ursula, SMUK(s)... I'm kinda excited about this tho :P

6. more to come in a couple of hours. I need to pack up first for tomorrow's flight!

My life had I not gone to Wesleyan... mmm.. I wonder... (part1)

I believe it was Sunday afternoon when I was interviewed by the Freemans and John Driscoll at Shangri-La hotel. I was there for the Freeman scholarship interview that would get me a four-year education at one of America’s top liberal arts colleges.

And here I am now in Boston watching VH1 for almost 2 hours :p hehehhe… No, I mean, here I am now officially done with my third year at Wesleyan. I have 1 more year to go before earning my Bachelor of Arts degree. I’d start my senior year with a-to-be-interesting-fall semester, studying at the Mecca of school of education, Bank Street College of Education in New York City. Now, if I were to ask for a list of things I have accomplished at Wesleyan, it would take me a long time to make one since I did soooo much since I came to Wesleyan. To name some, mmm… I’m dating a really nice guy for almost 3 years now (I hope to be with you forever, Mas Yogi), thanks to my Spanish professors, I had a fabulous semester in Argentina last fall and I have been taking interesting classes with cool professors!

Sometimes I wonder how my life would have been like if Wesleyan hasn’t chosen me as one of the 2007 Freeman scholars… Well, one thing that I can say for sure is that I would have gone to one of Indonesian public universities, perhaps UGM or UI and still I would have chosen sociology. (I was quite surprise how determined I was in becoming a soc major). Anyway, I remember how lazy I became all of a sudden as soon as I knew that I got accepted at Wesleyan; I didn’t put as much effort as I should have in studying for my final exams and I was having fun all the time afterwards with the AFS dudes (well, basically sneaking behind my parents to be able to hang out with them…). So, if I hadn’t gotten the scholarship, I would have still studied hard for finals and SPMB, the mighty national exam students have to pass to get into public university. I put down sociology and mmm… I think international affairs as my two options on the SPMB registration form. Honestly, I wasn’t confident at all with my ability to get into international affairs, especially UI’s. I don’t want to say that I went safe with sociology coz its passing grade was way lower than international affairs coz I was very interested in soc, but I guess I was kinda anticipating the worst case by choosing something “easy.”

Besides studying hard to get into a public university, I would have worked harder for my finals at school. I was kinda lazy and didn’t care much anymore about UAN, the ultimate exam that determines students’ life—if you fail UAN, you’re doomed no matter how hard you perform in the last 3 years (stupid system!). I was slightly disappointed when I saw my overall grades and compared myself with people like Oenk, Ai and Maria Gita (well, the latter, I kinda always know that she’s damn smart so I never actually wanted to compare myself with her). I knew that I could have studied harder and gotten better grades in my last finals in high school, but… oh well…

Let’s talk about the “present.” Say I got into UI, I would have been in the last chunk of my third year by now. I don’t know if I would have been like my friends who are renting rooms near campus coz commuting everyday is not impossible at all (home-UI, I’d say the most is an hour considering the traffic jam, especially at Pasar Minggu… Aaaarrrggghhh). So, I guess I would still stay at home with my parents. My life style would have been the same more or less like when I was in high school since my parents are quite conservative and sometimes they’re very over-protective (which in most cases turned out to be good things, mmm….). People who know me well have said that I’m a spoiled kid, but I think I’ve outgrown some of “Tia is a spoiled kid” part by living on my own at Wesleyan. I still call my parents every now and then for advices and for the sake of getting pampered over the phone by their comforting words; I call mas Yogi literally everyday and complain about how hard my life is at Wesleyan. But had I stayed with my family at home, I don’t think I could have become the “more mature” Tia. The things that shaped me into the way I am right now are the activities I did here and the people I met. I think I’m stronger when I am alone; when there’s no one whom I could lean on, I would struggle hard to overcome the obstacles and these things made me stronger and more mature…

In terms of education, I really appreciate the opportunities that Wesleyan and this country offer to me. If I hadn’t gone to America, I wouldn’t have thought of taking Spanish and listed Argentina as a country that I’d visit… I don’t think I ever thought of going to Latin America at all; I would have been like any “regular” Asian whose dreams are to go to the U.S. and Europe (how typical!). If I were to stay back home, I would have gotten a less diverse type of education and would have explored fewer chances. I know that I, and my parents, would find different ways to “be different” from the crowd by seeking various opportunities to go abroad, attend conferences and workshops… but those would not compensate the resources that I have at Wesleyan. I have been exposed to many… many… things that help me to find the right things for my future. Things like the CRC is not yet available in many Indonesian schools (they should have this institution. It’s damn useful!). So, I guess if I had been in Indonesia, I would have been less exposed to things that I had never thought of, like going to Argentina. Although I have always wanted to pursue a career in teaching, I would not have known how to do so besides the “traditional” way.