Joumou Soup!

Really thankful of having such a wonderful and colorful host family:) There are 4 nationalities in our house hehe. Indonesian,Haitian,American,and British. I had Joumou soup for my first time. It's a special food for celebrating Haitian independence day. I learn a lot from the differences. By joining the exchange program, I feel like more open-minded and respectful. "Rainbow will not be interesting if it's just consist of one color". Living in thousand of difference, for me it's like how beautiful rainbow is. We are colorful. Seeing something with different sight, way more positive.Every single ups and downs make me learn something from it. I love my host family. They are still gonna be my family where ever I am. LOVE. 

                        

LET IT SNOW!

One of unforgettable things that i had during my stay here is SNOW! so thankful of experiencing winter here. this is my first snow. and i literally went outside at that time and playing with the snow and taking some photographs. yeah, it's cold and taste like " es serut". hehe. pardon me for tasting it a little bit. i was doing that in purpose hehe. yolo.

my international education week :)

I sang one of javanese song " tembang kinanthi" .I sang this song in my choir class, one of my audience in my international education week. I present all interesting facts about my home country, Indonesia. I presented to 5 classes and my host family' church as well. They were all excited and asked me bunch of question to me. one of funny question that i still remember " Can we ride/ eat komodo"? oo yeah. haha. not a good thing to try guys. haha. I'm glad I could share all about my home country to them.

                                                    "Connecting lives- Sharing culture"

                          I presented my presentation at church, they were asking me about Indonesia and how is it like being a moslem in Indonesia. this is a good way to bridge understanding among people with thousand of differences. so, why not being an exchange student?

I delivered my presentation about Indonesia in my calculus class. Photo credit by Mr. Reigner. hehe. They'r one of my favorite audiences. i teached them some words in Bahasa as well. I was wearing kebaya at that time, showing them about one of indonesian traditional cloth.

A brief story about my exchange year:)

My first and also my last Homecoming

             This is one of american high school event and I had so much fun with my friends. basically, we danced and hanging out with friends. all of us were dressed up, so did I hehe. fortunately i bring one dress here so i don't have to buy it here. i went with one group of my friends, and most of them are my friend in choir class. this is one of unforgettable experience during my stay here.

Halloween Party

Halloween Party with friends, at Liza' house. we had fun, we were all in costume. and I as a wild cat! roar!. this is one of american culture experience that I never had before.

t

            and I went to halloween parade with Heather in downtown Hummelstown

My Thanksgiving, christmas time, and New year

      My exchange year is the most unforgettable moment that I ever had. being in host country, live with host family, having american friends ,exchange student friends and get in touch with communities is such a wonderful time in my life, hehe. I always remember every single moment with them. I'd like to share my experience here. My thanksgiving time was really wonderful. And i do really love turkey with stuffing. OMG! thanksgiving meal is one of my favorite american meal. I had joyful time with my host family. we spent 3 days in my host mom' sister' house in Connecticut. i learned a lot of game and we spent most of the days by playing game. There are Quiddler and Banana Gramm which is playing about word, and these games really help me to increase my english vocabulary. and I also went to Mark Twain's house, which is really awesome! i learned a lot about american history there. He was one of the greatest american author. And we went to Springfield,MA. It's a park with lotta lights along the street. a lot of cartoon character, animals, houses, santa claus and everything were there. After thanksgiving, most of American started to decorate their house, put on xmas tree, listen to xmas song all day long, and all kind of preparation for Christmas day:) 

      I helped my host mom to make some cookies, decorated christmas tree, and we also went shopping for buying presents. In Christmas, we usually have and exchange gifts. and  I got grandma' name and I bought green sweater for her.And Emily, my host sibling's cousin, she got my name. I got tons of gifts from my host family and never expect that many gifts ever. i'm so thankful could be able to spend and enjoy christmas with best host family ever! :). being surrounded with such a lovely people is actually a precious gift for me. The day after Christmas I went to grandma's house in Franklin, Pennsylvania. We stayed there for 3 days and we had an exchange gift there. and yeah, i got more gifts from them. we also spent most of the time by playing games with them and just hanging out with them in family room. and another my favorite game is Headbanz which is really similar to one of Indonesian TV shows that's called " Eat Bulaga". so basically we have to guess what word in your headband by asking people question. and they just could answer yes/no/could be. that was a really fun game!

         And then I went to Colonial Williamsburg and celebrate new year' eve there. Throwback to 1770's when america was still under british' colonist. I learned a lot about american history, we visited the houses, palace, the capital, shops, museum in Williamsburg which really gives you an idea and atmosphere how is it like in that era. Big thanks to my host family who take me there! :)

                                          Colonial Williamsburg,Virginia

                                         Playing Headbanz

                                          Christmas time!

                                        Cutting your own xmas tree!

                                          Springfield,MA

                                          Marktwain's house

                                         Thanksgiving meal

                                           Tons of gifts!!