FALCONS!

FALCONS! It's part of high school thing in america,, "Football!!". Yeah. It was my first time watchin high school football. and the LD student call us as "Falcon nation".They usually have certain dresscode to wear. I'm a senior in LD and really excited to join the graduation as an experience hehe. well because as i come back i gotta be a senior again in my home school. But every thing that I've experienced here is worth it thou. so grateful being part of LD although just a year. 1 year to be remembered foreverrrr!!!! :)

We do respect each other! :)

Hey guys,,I would like to share about my experience being a moslem in my host country. I'm really grateful getting this chance to study abroad to the country where not so many people are moslem here. It's kind of cool when you experience to be a minority. Alhamdulilah, what i had experience, it makes me even more faithful and respectful to others. When I was at home I usually pray in my own room. and my host family always respect me and understand whenever I need to pray. Well I don't really have a problem with that when I was at home. But what if when I was at school or when i had  a vacation?  So, I always check islamicfinder.org to know about my prayer time. In my first coming, I didn't really have a problem to do my prayer especially dhuhur prayer. Because it's still possible for me to take dhuhur prayer( noon prayer) after school, around 3.30 p.m. at that time the ashar ( afternoon prayer) started from 5.30 p.m. But in the end of Autumn, the time has changed 1 hour earlier than before, and it turned out the prayer times changed either. So my prayer times are based on the sun. and I pray 5 times a day (Morning(subuh prayer),Noon(dhuhur prayer),Afternoon(ashar prayer),Dusk(maghrib prayer),Night(Isya' prayer). Since that time I wasn't able to do my dhuhur prayer after school. So, I have to do that prayer at school. Do you know what?? at that time i was talking to my german teacher about that. Because i think she is the closest teacher that I had at school. So I asked her"Is that possible for me to have a prayer at school ?" and  i explained the reason why . and oh my goodness, what a nice of her! she sent email to the principal, and exactly the next day I met the principal and he said that I definitely could do that! Subhanallah:""). and fortunately I have Lunch C which is perfect to take dhuhur prayer. I always tried to have lunch as fast as possible and then do my prayer. So, where do I pray at school?? I pray in the nurse office at school, and there is a nice room that they provide that for me to pray. I got really close to the nurse there thou. Of course! because I always go there every day. hehe. and because there isn't any place for  wudlu' so what i always do here is wudlu' by using water from the sink hehe. and fortunately there is a private bathroom in the nurse office which makes me much more comfortable with that. hehe. And what I'll do when i was away from home. when it's pretty urgent, I'll pray in the car. So, I do really often pray in the car whenever my host family and I were going on vacation. At least I always try the best I can do, i just don't wanna miss my prayer. And Alhamdulillah I always find the way to do that and people around me always respect and let me to do that.
In my international education week, I also delivered my presentation in my host family' church. I talked about interesting facts and s lot of things about Indonesia. In addition, I also share about being a moslem in Indonesia. Pretty much bridging understanding between moslem and christian. I'm really grateful because beside of being a representative at least i could be the one that answer their question about islam:) It's my pleasure to share and they'r all open minded and really respect me as a moslem. So don't prejudice somethin easily, please don't judge the religion because of only one person. Living with thousand of differences is awesome and challenging. well actually i don't have to go overseas to feel the differences, in my home country there are thousand of differences either. Being positive is the thing that we should do to face the differences. I do respect them and alhamdulillah they do respect me as well. Thank you YES program:) I learned so many things from every single moment or experience that I had here!:)

WE ARE...PENN STATE!!

Hey Everyone! this is one of american thing which is football. Because I'm hosted in Pennsylvania, so the PA' football team is Penn state. The supporter always yell "We are.... PENN STATE!". That was my first experience to watch football game. in the first time, I don't really know about the rule or what's going on during the game. But my host mom was kinda tell me everything that happened hehe. So, at least i knew the reason why people cheered and what "Touchdown" actually means. It was at Beaver Stadium which is the 4th largest stadium in USA. Tons of people came to support Penn state. So far, I went to Penn state football game twice and the volleyball game once. So yeah, from now on I'm a Penn stater. hehe Lol.

and for this one, this was my first hockey game ever. So basically, the player have to skate on ice and try to put the ball in. i found it's kinda funny when they started fighting with the opponents and all the audience start to make a noise and find it as a funny thing to watch. haha. but it's pretty common happened in every game. so it wasn't a big deal. after all i do really enjoy the game. COOL!

Having Indonesian Meal! YUMM

                                                Nasi kuning, Sambal Terong dan Ikan Bakar
                                                (Yellow rice, Eggplant sambal and grilled fish)

This is my first time to cook a complicated indonesian meal. haha. well it's not really hard actually. My host mom helped me to cook Indonesian meal which is " Nasi kuning(Yellow rice) and the grilled fish, Eggplant sambal( Sambal Terong)" for dinner. Actually this was also for cooking competition that held by CIEE(my placement organization) But I didn't win it. hehe. that's okay. Experiencing to cook your home country' meal with your host family is an unforgettable moment! and you know what, here there is "grounded turmeric" or i could say "kunir/kunyit" in bahasa indonesia, so I don't need to grate turmeric to make yellow rice. I was really impressed. It wasn't as hard as the time I made yellow rice back home:p Finally I learn how to cook because back home I don't really cook by my self hehe. yay! I finally at least learn how to cook, not to be afraid of knife, hehe. It was really good time having indonesian meal with my host family:)

                     My host brother and my host mom were enjoying their Nasi Goreng(Fried rice).

At that time I also put "Bon cabe" on top of it. haha. They thought that I always put spices in every meal. 1 bottle of "Bon cabe" for one family and for a year. Great!! my mom back home send me several kind of instant food and spices that make me not becoming "food-sick"anymore. hehe

                                                                Yummy Nasi goreng!

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.