SKIING!

My first time skiing

my first experience in skiing was so fun and also exhausting! It’s so difficult to keep the balance and maintain the speed, not being too fast. I took a lesson of skiing, and my host mom and host sister helped me to learn more about skiing. I fell so many times, but that’s alrite I need to have a perseverance to achieve what i want to do. It's kinda I have to push my limit to be able to do something that you never imagined tht before. great thanks to my host mom, because of her patience in teaching and accompanying me when i was skiing. my first and second time of skiing was in Connecticut and my third time was in New York. Oh my,,, I wish i could continue skiing back home. haha.

Sing Along^^ @coffee house "Stand Up for Love"

Heyyy...yesterday, 31st january I was performing in coffee house in my school. basically it's an event that held by Tri M National Honor society. I tried out a week ago, and I'm in it. All the Performers are awesoooomee. proud of them. I was singing stand up for love by destiny's child, and my pianist did really great job! i wish we could do tht again next time. I was too nervous at that time. but just let it ouut. haha. big thanks to kaitlin's dad who took this video and also big thanks to all of you guys who appreciate me so much. >3

My 2nd Newsletter!! :) 5 months in USA

SNOW! It’s one of exciting part of my exchange year. Salah satu hal yang saya alami selama stay saya disini adalah “weather shock” selain “culture shock” yang pasti akan dialami setiap foreign exchange student. Sebelum berbicara tentang snow, let’s take a look about my experience in previous season! Masih teringat di benak saya bagaimana reaksi saya seketika awal kedatangan saya di Amerika. Bisa dibilang lebih tepatnya saat saya pertama datang di Pennsylvania, karena saat saya di Washington DC untuk “Departure Orientation” saya nggak terlalu merasakan panasnya summer di Amerika. It was really humid and hot at that time. Walaupun Indonesia adalah tropical country yong notabene panas terus. Tapi saat awal Agustus 2013 masih teringat betapa panas dan humid nya Amerika saat itu. Terasa lebih panas dari hometown saya, Malang, Jawa Timur. Hehe.

Tidak terlalu lama dari awal kedatangan saya, sekitar bulan Oktober “Autumn is begin!”. Musim gugur adalah musim yang pas buat saya. Nggak panas panas banget tapi juga nggak dingin dingin banget hehe. Pretty and colorful leaves everywhere! Memang kebanyakan flora disini adalah Pohon Pinus dan Maple.  Semuanya mulai berubah warna, dan hanya sampai kurang lebih satu bulan kemudian daun-daun itu berguguran. Itulah mengapa disebut dengan musim gugur. Sebenarnya di penghujung bulan Oktober suhu sudah mulai dingin menurut standard saya hehe. Teman teman dan host family agak khawatir apakah saya bisa survive saat winter nanti. Alhamdulilah kenyataanya saya surviveJ Ngomong ngomong akhir bulan Oktober tepatnya pada tanggal 31 Oktober, We had Halloween! Itu adalah salah satu bagian dari American culture. “Trick or Treat” adalah salah satu tradisi yang dilakukan oleh orang Amerika setiap Halloween. Biasanya yang melakukan”Trick or Treat-ing” itu hanya anak-anak kecil. Tapi sering juga saya temui Teenagers yang ikutan melakukan tradisi tersebut. Pada intinya mereka dressed-up memakai kostum karakter, seperti kostum penyihir, super hero, animal, ghost atau bahkan Cartoon character. Saat Halloween saya pergi ke main street di Hummelstown dengan salah satu teman saya untuk melihat Halloween Parade yang selalu diselenggarakan setiap tahun untuk merayakan Halloween.  Semua peserta memilki tema tersendiri yang terlihat dari kostum mereka dan atribut yang mereka bawa.  Host school saya, Lower Dauphin High School juga turut berpartsipasi dalam parade tersebut. Marching band, Field Hockey team sekolah turut memeriahkan parade tersebut. Selain itu, saya juga diundang ke Halloween party di salah satu rumah teman saya. Semua nya adalah senior, nambah temen juga hanging out in her party. Party itu berada di Horse barn teman saya but all of them were decorated with lights and stuff. Interesting! Kami semua memakai kostum, saya berkostum sebagai Cat Women hehe. Teman saya membantu membuat wajah saya  to be really look like a cat. It was so much fun celebrating Halloween with the seniors.

Pada bulan November, salah satu unforgettable experience yang saya alami adalah “International Education Week”. Pada minggu tersebut, saya memberikan presentasi berturut turut ke lima kelas saya dan satu kelas lain request dari salah satu guru saya di sekolah hehe. Saya hanya diberi waktu sekitar 40 menit di setiap kelas, jadi saya harus bisa present dengan singkat, padat, jelas dan menarik. Awalnya sempat nervous karena menghadapi High schooler. Tapi Alhamdulilah, seketika saya memulai presentasi tentang Indonesia, nervous nya langsung hilang dan berjalan secara natural dan seperti cerita cerita gitu sama teman teman. Topik yang ada dalam presentasi saya pada umumnya adalah interesting facts about Indonesia dan saya juga mengajarkan mereka beberapa bahasa Indonesia. Antusias mereka besar banget, dan Alhamdulillah “jayus” saya dianggap lucu sama mereka hehehe. Mereka memberikan  saya banyak pertanyaan di sela sela presentasi maupun di akhir presentasi. Terkadang beberapa pertanyaan konyol muncul, salah satunya “Can we ride or eat komodo?” hahaha. Setiap awal presentasi di setiap kelas saya menampilkan video yang saya buat tentang exchange year saya, saat itu hamper tiga bulan saya berada di United States. Terharu rasanya, teman-teman saya memberikan applause yang meriah dan mengucapkan selamat kepada saya karena saya mendapatkan beasiswa untuk bisa mengalami exchange year disini. Di kelas choir saya juga sempat menampilkan “Nembang Jawa” dan guru choir saya berusaha menirukannya. Mereka sangat antusias mempelajari seni Indonesia dan insya Allah pada Spring concert 2014 kami akan menyanyikan lagu “Janger”. Tepat satu bulan setelah Halloween, pada akhir bulan November we had “Thanksgiving”. Salah satu bagian dari American culture. Tentunya suhu saat itu semakin dingin saja. Saya sudah mulai memakai winter jacket saya yang dibelikan oleh host parents saya saat awal-awal kedatangan saya di Amerika dan it’s made in Indonesia! Hehe. Indonesia rupanya juga mengekspor winter jacket.  Saat Thanksgiving, pada umumnya kami memiliki Thanksgiving break,  kurang lebih selama 5 hari . Saya dan host family saya merayakan Thanksgiving sekeluarga besar di Hartford,Connecticut. Kami stay di rumah host aunty, kakak host mom saya selama kurang lebih tiga hari. Saya suka banget dengan Thanksgiving meal, umumnya we have turkey, cranberry sauce, mashed potato, stuffing, and casseroll. I do really love stuffing! Salah satu American food favorit saya. Thanksgiving time is one of quality time with host family. Bersyukur sekali bisa mempunyai host family sebaik mereka. I’m really blessed of that. Pada waktu thanksgiving break kami juga mengunjungi Springfield, Massachussets dan House of Mark twain, Connecticut. 

Menginjak bulan Desember sudah dingin banget menurut saya,suhu sudah mulai sekitar nol derajat celcius. Tidak terasa sudah di penghujung bulan, banyak momen momen yang menjadi cerita baru di perjalanan exchange year saya. “Every single moment with people around me whether host family, friends, and another communities, it’s gonna be the most memorable part that always bear in my mind” bukan mengunjungi tempat tempat terkenal, tetapi connecting lives dengan orang orang sekitar itulah yang menurut saya paling berharga. Pada tanggal 11 Desember 2013, masih teringat dan saya catat di buku harian saya betapa excited nya saya tentang pengalaman salju pertama bagi saya. Saat itu benar-benar saya langsung keluar rumah, menengadah ke langit, pegang pegang salju, dan bahkan sedikit ngicipin gimana rasanya salju itu hehe. Host sister saya sempat foto saya ketika saya benar benar excited dengan pengalaman salju pertama saya. Selain itu biasanya kami pergi Ice-skating yang juga salah satu pengalaman pertama saya di Amerika. Bukan hal yang mudah buat menjaga keseimbangan berdiri di atas es. Pengalaman pertama saya pergi ice-skating adalah saat perayaan ulang tahun teman sekolah saya disini. Kami pergi ice skating dengan sekelompok teman teman saya dan mereka sabar banget mengajari saya buat menjaga keseimbangan dan slide one ice. Selain itu kami biasanya saat lagi banyak salju, kami melakukan “Sledding” berseluncur di atas tons of snow. Membuat snow man juga salah satu hal yang biasanya kami lakukan saat lagi ada banyak salju.

Bulan Desember bisa dibilang “The most wonderful time of the year”. Setelah Thanksgiving, Christmas spirit sudah mulai menggelora. Christmas song sudah mulai diputar dimana mana. Rumah rumah sudah mulai didekorasi dengan berbagai macam Christmas lights, dan juga decorating Christmas tree.  We got our own live-christmas tree. Jadi seperti potong sendiri, dan dibawa pulang sendiri hehe. Mengingat banyak banget Pines tree disini. Christmas break sekitar sepuluh hari benar benar quality time untuk kumpul kumpul bersama host family. Setiap natal, ada tradisi untuk tukar kado. Baru kali ini saya dapat gifts banyak banget,. Terakhir saya mendapat gifts sebanyak itu ketika ulang tahun yang ke 5 saya hehehe. Christmas day was so great! Seketika saya bangun, sudah ada satu box coklat di depan pintu bertuliskan “From Santa”, tumpukan kado di bawah Christmas tree, dan beberapa stocking dengan setiap nama anggota keluarga yang tergantung di atas fireplace. Kami juga tukar kado dengan seluruh keluarga besar host mom saya. Saya mendapatkan nama grandma, jadi saya harus membeli gift untuk grandma tetapi kami nggak boleh menulis nama pemberi kado. Penerima kado harus menebak siapa yang memberi kado itu, jika berhasil ditebak barulah penerima kado boleh membuka  kado tersebut.  Kami juga mengunjungi Colonial Williamsburg, salah satu kota di Virginia untuk merayakan tahun baru disana. Atmosfer nya memang berasa di tahun 1770 an dimana Amerika masih dibwah kolonial Inggris. Well exactly feels like in the movie. Para karakter yang ada di kompleks tersebut memang seakan akan orang jaman dulu. Saya suka banget living museum semacam itu. Saya belajar banyak tentang sejarah Amerika dengan mengunjungi berbagai tempat bersejarah di Colonial Williamsburg. Time flies so fast, akhirnya sudah memasuki tahun 2014. Alhamdulillah di tahun 2013 dan 2014 ini adalah tahun yang berharga dan tahun pembelajaran bagi saya sebagai foreign exchange student di Amerika. Memang benar exchange year ini adalah life changing experience bagi kami. Have a great exchange year teman teman seperjuangan! :)

  

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!