My winter break :D

What do I do during holiday???


Before holiday, I got a lot of presents from my club

The first holiday, I spent my time to volunteer for people with special needs and helped them to decorate the room. And we had party at night

then, during holiday I usually stay at home and spend my day with crocheting and knitting...
well, on December 25th I got big surprise from my host family, a  big suitcase because my old suitcase was broken

then, finally we ate turkey at night :D Yummy!!!!

Happy December!!!

Hello! Hello! Hello Amigos! :D

Happy December!!!

Yap, it's almost five months I spend my exchange year in USA. Time runs so fast, doesn't it? And now is December when almost every building here are decorated by red, white, and green color... They are ready for Christmas. Almost everybody celebrate Christmas here. Alright, it's really different with Christmas celebration in Indonesia. During my observation, people celebrate Christmas here as part of their culture. So I sometimes find although they are not Christian or Catholic but they celebrate Christmas. Christmas cards and presents are everywhere.

And last December, 7 2012, we all exchange students had meeting in Thai Restaurant, Raleigh. It was Christmas meeting. I came at the meeting in order to respect them and also hanged out with other exchange students, made new friends.^^ Santa also came at our meeting. He was one of host family who tried to make us happy by dressing as Santa Claus. It was the first time for me to see Santa for real because I usually find it in the movies only. -___-

We love North Carolina!

Action with Santa :D

Cheers before eating!!!

We are YES students :)

Exchange students are cool!

Me, Miriam, and Santa

December is also familiar with holiday and snow. Well, my placement is in Smithfield, NC. Because NC is almost in the south, so it might be snow this year. I hope! I really wait for snow. But still, whatever the condition, I really grateful with what Allah has given to me. This opportunities and experiences will be very meaningful in my life. and I'll always remember it. Warm regards from Smithfield :)

Subhanallah! I got it!!!

Subhanallah! Alhamdulillah Ya Rabb! :)

This morning I received a great email. Guess what? It was about the announcement of the essay contest winner. ^^ Alhamdulillah once again, I was one of four winners for Thanksgiving Essay. Thanks God! I know YOU never sleep. The winner will earn free trip to Orlando, Florida to attend Better Understanding for Better World (BUBW) conference. The place of the conference will be in Disney World Resort and we will be given chance to visit Masjid, Synagogue, and Church to understand more about different religion in order to make better understanding. Piece! Thanks for everybody who always support me, thanks for my beloved parents, my host family, teachers, and friends. Thank you so much for this opportunity. Hopefully this conference will be useful for me to build and spread information I got to my community. Thanks for YES and CIEE. I Love Indonesia! I love USA! I love this world!

Hello Everyone,

On behalf of the CIEE Grants Team, I’d like to thank everyone for the contest submissions for the Thanksgiving Essay Contest.  It is great to see how much you are thankful for and are actively giving back to your communities.  We were very impressed with the entries and it was extremely difficult to choose the winners. 

Congratulations to the following students:

Lea Haberlandt from Germany

Maryna Mykhaylenko from Ukraine

Elena Petrova from Macedonia

Intan Shafirra from Indonesia

They have earned a trip to Orlando, Florida to participate in the Better Understanding for a Better World (BUBW) Conference in February.

Please stay tuned for upcoming contests and opportunities to attend one of the other two conferences that will take place in March and April.  Flyers for those conferences are attached.

Warm Regards and Happy Holidays,

CIEE Grants Team

Explore More About North America's History

Wright Brother Memorials

Ready for the first flight!

Beside the first plane (tiruan)

How beautiful the view in Kitty Hawk, NC

Monument of the first place to flight

Cape Hatteras, the highest light house in USA

Sand Dunes (Padang Pasir) ala NC

near the NC beach

Sat in front of the door of Cape Hatteras

On the Ferry, Pacific Ocean

My Dedication for Indonesia, My Thankful for United States of America And My Spirit to Make the World Better

Standing beside map of Indonesia

            Happy International Education Week! It was special week for me and other exchange students because that was the time for us to share everything about our home country. In this memorable week, I had planned to do some presentations about Indonesia in my school. A month ago, I went from one class to another class to make some appointments with teachers I knew. My host mother also helped me to find some places outside the school. Finally, I was called by Public Library of Johnston County on November 8, to give my presentation to the kids and their parents. And I definitely arranged my schedule to give presentations about Indonesia in 9 classes. Not only that, I also planned to take some videos about people’s opinion of Indonesia and exchange program. I also planned to make motivation letters and video presented by students of Smithfield Selma Senior High School to encourage Indonesian kids in staying at school for their best education and encourage them to learn more about English and the world overall.

Me and Students of Leadership class

My first day of presentation :)

Actually, I started my presentation on November 8, 2012 in the public library. I started my program at 5.00 pm sharp with for about 20 attendees. There were some kids who came with their parents. By wearing my traditional clothes, I did traditional dance which is called as “Jejer Jaran Dhawuk” to open my presentation. I also delivered an original story from Indonesia called “The Legend of Surabaya”. I made my own character from papers, cardboard, and sticks. After that, I continued to present about tourism places and some cultures from Indonesia. I closed my presentation with danced and sang a traditional song “Manuk Dadali”.

Tari Jejer Jaran Dhawuk

            Then, International Education Week came and I started it by sharing about different ways of using bathroom between Indonesia and USA with my host family. Because on Monday was Veteran’s Holiday, so I spent my time at home with my host family. At that time we had a big discussion about religion and bathroom. Although it was a simple thing to do, but it really open our mind about differences of lifestyle in other places. 

On Tuesday to Friday, I had a whole day of presentations in 9 classes in Smithfield Selma Senior High School. I was very nervous actually, because I thought they would not care about my presentation. But in the fact, they were really excited and attracted with my presentation. I explained them about the location of Indonesia because most of them did not know where Indonesia is. Then I explained about the geographical condition of Indonesia that causes we had two seasons (dry and rainy season). I made my power point about Indonesia that cover all information included general information, education, tourism places, cuisines, cultures and transportation. I also brought map of Indonesia, flag of Indonesia, some handicrafts from Indonesia and traditional clothes from Indonesia. Before I came here, I had made two books that contain pictures and simple explanation about Indonesia’s tourism places, traditions and cuisines. I wanted to make attractive presentation, so I showed them traditional dances and original music from Indonesia. After that, I challenged them to dance with me. I was very glad because they were very enthusiastic to know about Indonesian cultures. My teacher also danced together with us. In English class, I taught them little bit about Bahasa Indonesia and “Aksara Jawa” (Javanese Letter).  Besides present about Indonesia, I told them about every steps and processes I faced to be selected in this exchange program. I also gave them some questions about Indonesia to make it interactive. Then I gave them souvenirs such as key chains from Indonesia to appreciate their enthusiasm.

I explained them about geographical condition of Indonesia

My friends are holding Indonesia's money "Rupiah"

Explaining about Indonesia generally

It's time to interactive quiz :D

Lidya and friend tried to read Indonesian newspaper

More question after presentation

I'm in the middle of my friends :D

It's time to dance Indonesian traditional dance with Alex 

Letter from Tempe for Indonesian kids

Prince with "Udeng Bali"

 

Brionna gives her opinion about Indonesia

 

Tory's opinion about Indonesia

 

"Alamat palsu" Dangdut -Music of indonesia-

During my presentation, I gave them freedom to ask as many as questions they wanted to know about Indonesia. Some of them, they asked me about teenager’s life, Islam, my daily life, about cost of things in Indonesia and so on. In the leadership class, I asked them to write motivation letters for Indonesian kids and encourage them to have higher education and learn more about English. I would give the letters to Indonesian kids especially who don’t go to school because of economic problem in their family. It might a simple thing for us but it will be great thing for them because they get supports from friends from other country, United States of America. Besides letter, I also took videos of my friends. They were from India and they usually speak Punjabi as their first language. In the video, they spoke to encourage Indonesian kids to speak English as our second language. Because the biggest problem most of us face about English is we lack of willingness to speak. Even though we can do writing test of English, but it’s difficult for us to speak. I hope this video can help them although this is only the simple thing I can do for them. Here is the video :)

Message from Navneek for Indonesian students

Avneek spoke for Indonesian kids :D

After my presentation, I also took some videos from my teacher and my friends about their opinion about Indonesia. I hope these can make better understanding between Indonesian and American. By having these presentations, I got many new friends and my teacher also wanted to introduce me to dancing teacher from other schools in order to let me teach Indonesia’s traditional dances in their school. Moreover other teachers also ask me to give other presentation in their classes. I did this as the beginning for me to make piece and better understanding in the world. Although International Education Week had been over, but I will continue to share everything about my culture and learn American culture. Because for me every day is International Education Week.  J

It just like a dream...

I still feel my life is just like a dream. Honestly. I never imagine that I can be in Uncle Sam country right now. Moreover, it happened when I and other exchange students went to Washington, DC to visit historical places in United States of America. It was one of wonderful journey I've ever had in my life.

We started our journey on October. 12th with two cars from North Carolina. It needed for about 5 hours to arrive in Washington, DC. There were 10 exchange students included me at that time. Miriam & Justine (Germany), Tasmiha (Bangladesh), Jenalli (China), Laurie (Brazil), Shah (Pakistan), Ana (Spain), Elizabeth (Ghana) and Silje (Norway). We went with my Local Coordinator (Julie Taylor), Amber Johnson and Kate (Julie's daughter). We departed from Julie's house for about 08.00 a.m. That morning was so cold, and it would be colder when we were in DC. I sat in Amber's car with Tasmiha, Ana, Silje, Shah and Elizabeth. We were so excited until we danced and sang inside the car. How crazy we were! Until suddenly the cops stop our cars. He made everybody scared. He talked to Amber and Julie and said that they drove too fast and close. It happened in Virginia. Amber kept close to Julie's car because she didn't want we got separated. Moreover, they haven't been in DC before. The funniest sentence form the cops is "if Julie jump to the beach, will you jump to the beach also?". It sounds as funny question. Lol

We arrived at Washington, DC by 1.30 p.m. Then, we continued our journey on the Metro Train. Wow, it was the first time for me to know Metro physically in front of my eyes. I felt like a dream. We spent for about 30 minutes on the Metro. Finally, we arrived at downtown Washington. Subhanallah! The town views were so wonderful. I kept admiring every high building with old styles and every clean road.Perfect! The weather was so cold. Although I wore my coat, but I still felt the air entered my deepest breathe. Then we checked in to the Harrington Hotel and dropped our stuffs.Oh, unfortunately we missed Capitol tour because we came late to the hotel. It would not distract our journey, though. We were still happy...

Then, we walked along Washington and went to the Washington Monument. The monument was so high. When I saw the monument, I remembered Monas (National Monument) in Indonesia. Squirrel were everywhere. It was awesome. Again, I felt like a dream. I said to Julie "I still can't believe I can be here right now. Everything is just like a dream". Suddenly, I remembered the title of Athok's story "The Miracle of Journey". We continued our journey by visiting Lincoln Memorial Park. And we went back to the hotel at night.

In the early morning, all of us went to the White House. Subhanallah! Everything is just like a dream. I used to watch White House only from TV or Internet. But now, I could see it directly in front of my eyes. Although we could walk around the garden only, but I still felt grateful. Thank Ya Allah for opportunities You've given to me. Then. we walked to the Smithsonian Museum (Air and Space). Many people visited that place because it was weekend. After that, we had dinner in Hard Rock Cafe. I never imagine before, because Hard Rock Cafe is famous with its expensive prices in Indonesia. I danced with Kate and Julie in Hard Rock Cafe. We had so much fun there. :)

At the last day of our stay in Washington, DC, we visited The Smithsonian Museum (National Art). The place was so huge. I was attracted on one sculpture. It was about women who uses veil. Overall, I saw many wonderful arts created by all artists around the world. For about 12.00, we were ready to go back to North Carolina. We arrived at NC for about at 07.00 p.m. I never forget this journey with some exchange students from NC :D

Homecoming

Keep spartan calm and on!

That is what Smithfield Selma Senior High School slogan for homecoming week. Yap! we had homecoming in the first week of October. Honestly this is the first time for me to have homecoming. Maklum, di Indonesia nggak ada.. Hehehe. My drama teacher told me that the history of homecoming began from alumni who want to visit their college (bisa dibilang reunian gitu). And now, homecoming is celebrated by almost all high schools and colleges in USA. Some of them also have homecoming dance which gives opportunity for students to bring their couple and just hang out there. But not for my host school. My school didn't held homecoming dance. We still have football game in the last day, though. Alright, the main event of homecoming is football game. ^^

Homecoming in my school was celebrated with different themes every day. Here is the list:
Day 1 => Celebrity day
Day 2 => Tacky day
Day 3 => Class colors day
Day 4 => Pirates and sailors day
Day 5 => Blue and gold day

It was sound funny, right! In each day, students were suggested to dress based on themes. All of students were very creative with their own clothes. But my favorite day is tacky day, in which I didn't stop laughing on that day because all of my friends dressed so funny. Kalau dibilang pakai Bahasa Indonesia sih "kostumnya banyak yang nabrak". Jadi mereka bener-bener pakai baju yang "gila" abis, alias asal nyampur warna. Or we can say it didn't match at all. Ada yang pakai rambut kribo palsu, dasi dipakai di kepala. Gila, gokil abis pokoknya. But overall, I love homecoming.

At the last day, there was pep-rally in gym room. All of students start from freshmen to senior (9-12) gathered in gym room. There was dance competition (battle dance). But the representatives were only two from each grades. Every body yelled on their own class. 2013! 2014! 2015! 2016! And I'm in class of 2014 now because I'm junior. Ini nih videonya buat opening and battle dance:

Rame banget kan ya! Honestly, I cried in that event. Because suddenly, I remembered all of my friends in Sampoerna Academy Malang. Masih teringat jelas dalam pikiranku ketika seluruh kelas XI memberi semangat ke XI Sc 3 waktu class meeting. Keramaian dan kenangan bersama mereka juga akan selalu terkenang dalam benakku. Love you all guys! :)

International Festival

"Every countries are beautiful". It was a sentence I've heard from an old man from Iran. Yeah, I met him at International Festival last September (09/30) in Raleigh. It was an awesome event. In my opinion, that event is one of many ways to promote a lot of interesting cultures from many countries in the world. Moreover it could create piece in the world. I went there with my Local Coordinator, Julie and other exchange students to represent our organization, CIEE.

Here we go! Mrs. Joy from CIEE told every exchange students hosted in North Carolina to do presentation about our countries. We were from Indonesia (me ^^), Germany (Miriam and Hannah), Pakistan (Shah), Spain (Anna), Jenya (Ukraine), South Korea, China and Brazil (Peder). I was attracted with different cultures I heard. We represented our countries proudly.I wore "kebayak" and "batik" skirt when I went there. I also brought my big paper contained many pictures that showed "Indonesia is amazing". I told them about tourism places in Indonesia, Indonesia's tradition and Indonesia's cuisine. It was about 5 minutes. Absolutely, the audiences was so interested especially when I turned my paper and showed them "Ote-Ote" (makanan lezat dari Jawa timur). Mrs. Julie said "Ote-ote makes me hungry". It was so funny. hahaha.

Miriam, Anna, Kate and I walked around the festival. I visited stands from Swiss, Iran, China, Poland and other countries. The place was so big but I didn't feel tired anymore because we really enjoyed that time. Miriam and I also ate Italian pizza. It was very delicious. Since I arrived here, I started to love pizza. Yummy! Then I walked around again and stopped at AFS stands. I met Mr. James, one of host families. He hosted a girl from Canada. We had fun conversation. He also knew my friend, Yamin from Indonesia (hosted in Chapell Hill). I had made appointment with Yamin to meet in the festival. But he just came at 01.30 p.m (30 minutes before I left). I met Yamin and I was really happy because I could meet Indonesian. I missed speaking Bahasa Indonesia. We went to a stand from Immigrant Association. We wrote some sentences about our goals in USA.We just wanted to show that we did good in America. This organization was created in order to erase miss understands of American to people come from another countries.

Meraih Asa di Negeri Paman Sam (school report)

Tidak terasa sudah 1 bulan rombongan Youth Exchange and Study berkelana mencari pengalaman di United States of America. Begitu banyak pengalaman yang kami dapat selama sebulan ini, khususnya ketika menjadi minoritas di negeri yang terkenal dengan "freedom of speech" ini. Memang banyak hal yang berbeda antara Indonesia dan USA. Mulai dari makanan, budaya, kebiasaan hingga sistem pendidikan.

Pertama kali tiba di rumah host family, saya merasa sangat bahagia dan terharu. Alhamdulillah saya mendapat placement di Smithfield. North Carolina. Saya tinggal bersama Cox Family yang terdiri dari Alvin Cox (host father), Frances Cox (host mother) dan 3 host siblings Jennifer (28), Christina (11), Ellen (7). Sesuatu hal yang baru untuk saya yang merupakan anak tunggal dari ayah dan ibu saya. Di sini saya harus belajar menjadi seorang kakak dan adik bagi host family saya.

Tahun ini saya juga menjalankan 10 hari terakhir Ramadhan dan merayakan Hari Raya Idul Fitri bersama host family saya yang non-Islam. Dari sinilah saya mengerti benar bahwa betapa besarnya sikap saling menghargai antar umat manusia di America. Karena tidak ada Masjid di Smithfield, seluruh keluarga besar saya rela mengantar saya ke Raleigh (Ibu Kota North Carolina) untuk melaksanakan sholat Eid. Suasana haru menghiasi perasaan saya. Di dalam area sholat Eid, saya melihat sekelompok ibu-ibu yang wajahnya identik dengan orang Indonesia. Saya pun menghampiri mereka dan seketika memeluk Teh Nina dan air mata pun tak tertahankan. Saya benar-benar merasakan betapa berharganya waktu-waktu bersama keluarga, teman-teman dan sanak saudara di Indonesia. Setelah itu, saya diajak ke Farmer Market dan Asian Market untuk mencari "Indomie" di hari yang penuh fitrah itu.

Tepat tanggal 27 Agustus, saya mulai bersekolah di Smithfield-Selma Senior High School yang jaraknya sekitar 3 km dari rumah. Saya pun pergi ke sekolah menggunakan school bus. Saya menjadi minoritas di sekolah saya karena hanya ada 7 Muslim dan hanya 3 orang yang berjilbab. Akan tetapi saya tetap berusaha bergaul dan tersenyum kepada semua orang. Dan ternyata sambutan mereka pun bagus. Mereka selalu bertanya tentang budaya di Indonesia seperti kehidupan remaja, aksara jawa, wayang dan sebagainya. Teman-teman di setiap kelas yang saya ambil pun selalu membantu saya dan uniknya mereka harus susah payah mengucapkan nama saya "Intan".  Untuk semester 1 saya mendapat Theatre Arts II, English III honors, Earth Science honors dan Personal Finance. Untuk selanjutnya US History honors, Algebra II honors, photography dan HN teacher cadet menanti di semester 2. Di SSS, saya juga tergabung dalam beberapa club seperti HOSA (Health Occupation Students of America), Drama dan Interact Club.Di bulan September ini saya juga tergabung dalam Highway Cleaning, Concession Stand di football game dan International Raleigh Festival. Semoga saya mendapat banyak pengalaman yang bermanfaat bukan hanya bagi saya tetapi juga untuk komunitas saya baik di Amerika ataupun Indonesia.  Dan saya berharap program pertukaran pelajar ini mampu menciptakan perdamaian dan sikap saling menghargai antar umat beragama di dunia.

Highway Cleaning and Concession Stand

Cleaned highway, picked up trash :D

Today is a big day for me because this is my first community service in USA. I join HOSA (Health Occupation Students of America) Club in Smithfield Selma Senior High School. I started my day with cooking some eggs and chicken for breakfast this morning. Then, I went to Mrs. Deese house with Mama and Shah at 08.45 sharp. I was very excited because we would clean the highway near Mrs. Deese house. We wore an orange vest and gloves with a trash bag.

Shah, Intan, Ashley, Kate and Miles. Here we go! :)

We walked along the street and took trashes in the sides of street. It was so fun. There were 6 people who cleaning the highway. It was my first role in HOSA. I was so pleasure if I could do something useful for my host community. Actually I saw something different here. I thought the highway was clean enough rather than in Indonesia. But, many people still take care bout that. They want the highway is perfectly clean. I like that kind of habit. Hopefully, Indonesian will do the same thing. I believe there are many Indonesian who still care with our beloved country especially for cleanliness.

Shah, Katheline, Laura, Alex, Intan. We sold foods and drinks. :)

After cleaning the highway, we went to football field at school for having concession stand. I was pleasure to sell hotdog, popcorn, nachos, chips, candies, soda, water. Although I was tired but I didn't feel it. From this activities, I could meet many new people and I wanna get more and more friends. Helping each other is important. Wait for the next community service :)