Untuk menutup tahun ini, tiba-tiba saya teringat sama blog yang saya dan teman-teman sejawat di AFS buat setahun yang lalu. Isinya kurang lebih sharing pengalaman dari keluarga di sana sampe curhatan. Sayang, maintenance kita kurang banget buat ngerawat blognya jadi postnya berhenti sekitar bulan April.
Awal tujuan kita sih sebenernya pure pengalaman aja, karena kan gak semua yang ikut program punya blog untuk cerita-cerita. Terlebih sih, kita promosi kecil-kecilan biar banyak yang termotivasi untuk ikut program AFS. Link untuk blognya : klik disini
Sesuai judulnya, saya biarkan post kali ini tanpa judul. Titling makes use some energy that I can't afford right now. So leave it just the way it is.
Semester pertama di tahun keempat saya di SMA sudah menemukan ujungnya, tepatnya seminggu yang lalu. Bisa dibilang performa saya di bidang akademis pada semester ini cenderung menurun. Tentu saya lelah beralasan mengenai perjalanan saya di tahun keempat yang sulit karena adanya gap dari tahun sebelumnya. Tapi saya punya determinasi kuat untuk berubah. Yes, I am eager to change, please somebody read this carefully that I solemnly swear to change my way of doing things, a lot of them. Full stop.
Menutup semester ini saya sedikit merenung tentang beberapa hal, terutama masalah tujuan saya di penghujung tahun ajaran. Pertanyaannya sederhana tapi menggelitik, “Saya mau ke mana?”. Opsi sudah bertebaran di mana-mana. Mereka berbaris membuat saf berhadapan dengan saya. Tapi menentukan pilihan tak semudah melempar telunjuk di jendela toko yang menjajakan barang dagangan. Ada yang saya pertaruhkan di sini. Masa depan.
Pernah terlintas di pikiran saya untuk memantapkan langkah menuju bidang kedokteran. Dalam beberapa bulan, saya menimbang lagi lebih jauh keputusan ini dan saya dengan lantang bersuara tidak. Seiring dengan keputusan itu, tentu harus ada pilihan lain. Lagi, saya membuka ruang untuk berpikir dan akhirnya pilihan merujuk kepada satu hal : take a step to go abroad.
Sampai titik ini, saya masih berusaha keras untuk mencapai keinginan ini. Doain aja semoga pilihan-pilihan yang sekiranya tadi dan saat ini berbaris bisa saya pilah dan pada akhirnya, gerbang kampus apapun nanti dapat tersenyum menyambut saya.
Saya lalai. Harusnya menjadi wordsmith itu bukan sebagai kewajiban tapi sebagai ketertarikan. Entah kenapa selama berbulan-bulan ini saya cenderung untuk meninggalkan beberapa hal yang saya anggap 'kurang' perlu. Soon, regret ate me alone, alive. Saya menyesal sudah membiarkan ruangan ini jadi berdebu dan dijangkit jaring laba-laba. Saya gak mau sesumbar lagi bakal ini itu, mau posting tiap periode tertentu. Guess I'll be happy with just letting this nifty occasional journal in its flow, ayt?
Kalo ditanya apa kabar saya hari ini, jawabannya masih sama. Jadi siswa SMA lagi. Getting back behind the desk and do so much tasks and subjects all the time, 'till we graduate for sure. Saya gak menyesal kok, cuma kadang-kadang selentingan pikiran kecil suka bikin hati mandek plus kecewa ngeliat used-to-be friend of mine udah jadi mahasiswa, pake baju bebas ke sekolah -kampus, red- etc etc etc. Huh, semuanya emang pahit kalo gak ada yang namanya syukur.
Sekarang saya sedang berjuang buat ujian akhir semester. Berhubung ini ujian semester terakhir sebelum saya perang di ranah pertempuran, jadi ha-rus-nya saya lagi belajar, tapi kenyataannya jari-jari saya gak berhenti loncat-loncat di keyboard dan nerjemahin kode-kode kecil ini ke blog. Nevertheless, welcome here a lovely procrastinator.
Udah ah daripada makin ngelantur, untuk selanjutnya doakan aja supaya blog ini masih bisa keurus dan bisa disapu, dipel dan make-up sesering mungkin.
So, this is it. Saya kembali ke Jakarta dan sudah berada disini sekitar ummm... Dua bulan. It's been a long time. Not. Karena saya punya 17 tahun ke belakang yang sebagian saya perjuangkan dan sebagian lagi...saya acuhkan, seperti blog ini.
Saya berjanji untuk rajin nge-blog lagi. Mungkin kelihatannya lucu, baru dua bulan absen dari kegiatan menulis di blog, ujug-ujug dateng dengan semangat berkobar dan yang lebih aneh lagi, saya mencoba menggunakan bahasa Indonesia yang baik dan benar diselingi bumbu bahasa Inggris. Everybody's noticing at all?
Yeah, hardly trying I to make this blog upgraded into the next step. Not to mention what I've already done was just nothing. But hey don't be satisfy enough with what you've got, be like Apple that has never stop making them sophisticated gadgets (damn I'm drooling for their brand new iTouch).
Well anyway....it is what it is :) my new style of writing was born. Then soon I'll be getting some spices to touch my blog up. See you soon with a lot of catch ups.
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As I already put on the previous post in a little inset about graduation and senior all night party. Here it was, the longest night I've ever had in my high school career.
It was the tenth of this month (June), ten o'clock in the morning when we, the Seniors, had a practice for our graduation. Yeah, that is our final year in our public school career and school as the home for us to gain any knowledge, formulas and also "drama", celebrated our final moment with having such a wonderful graduation. That was pretty much what our principal told us three weeks prior to the Seniors to encourage us to get so much things and works done.
Walking on the stage, rehearse the march in and out, and the ceremony itself were pretty much pictured what we've been doing in the Allen Park Municipal Building to prepare us for the a beginning of a new journey that will start in about seven hours. The rehearsal went for two hours, with the whole practice from the beginning of ceremony until the end of it. Thank God, the video presentation about our four years journey (mine was a year) kept us entertained in the end of the rehearsal.
Five o'clock in the afternoon, my exchangee friends came from Ohio to attend my graduation yet they coming earlier to hang out a little bit at my house and went to the place where the graduation held. Pronto, I was changed in another form of me. Yeah I was covered by white shirt + black tie and black pants, a requirement if you willing to be graduated. Then I was packed my cap and gown in my drawstring bag. All my bag is packed, I'm ready to walk on the stage. Woohoo.
Those blue and gold sets of cap and gown colored every corner of the building when our name be called to fetch our "fake" folder of diplomas. My family and I were split, they were going to the front of the building while I went for my crowd and clique at the back (side actually) of the building. Oh the ceremony went very delicious and way very legit with three speeches from the valedictorian, which is a who get the highest cumulative grades on four years. Then there was salutatorian, which is the second highest GPA holders among other graduates. Those were Justis Cummins and Alicia Sevon. There was another speech also from our class president, Chelsea von Pagels. The rest of the speeches from these guys were hell boring.
Every touching speech always said our greatest-hearted buddy who already left us in this harsh world to face the Owner of this Universe. He is James Bartle, if you wanna know who he was, simply click over here. I always remember him with his great smile in front me every school day on MP2 until the unexpected Sunday night which just used up our days in grief and deep tears afterward. He was supposed to celebrate this breath-taking moment with us, ya he was supposed to.
Speeches done and the time for walking on the stage, it's not a problem if you're not a model, singer, actor, or anything that appertain to act-staging professions. Diploma on right hand, the other pair shook with our principal's and superintendent's. Almost half an hour ended with diploma handing and with little speech from Mr. Scott, our principal, the tassel that hung on our cap could be officially moved to the left side. How relieve!
As we marched out from the building, crowd bursts into laughter, tears, excitements, smiles and even something that you think it never showed until this 'moment'. Flashes showering among us and I don't know for how many yotabytes used up for pictured this event.
John Tamas lifted me up :o
At last, I thanked Annapolis High School for the hospitality for this entire year, or even less. This place witnessed my journey from being a timid lonely student, to be at least stand out among the crowd for little message so-called 'peace' within warm company from teachers, beloved friends and everybody that I couldn't really mention one by one. Though it never crossed my mind at all, I should say. Farewell, we finally made it :)
Hey, I just found myself really obliged to update my drama thingy (I mean, not "drama") goes, so you'll stop thinking that the drama would last forever. Seriously, it was from a month ago approximately, way before my graduation party was held. As I posted here that I was performed the play two days in a row (5/14-15). So umm.. after couple days of another "drama" with our director and set people against the actors, we stayed cool and try to build a better relationship between each other in order to make the play a real success.
I know my part wasn't that long, probably just 15 minutes or so upon stage, but people said I was a good actor actually. I was really flattered and glad because they still appreciate my deeds thought it wasn't that big. Then, after second day performance (5/15) we went Applebees to celebrate our play. It's gonna be sad, because the Seniors actors and crew would be leaving Annapolis HS including me and hopefully they (Seniors) can still help the play in the future. For me, I just wish.
LOL
In regards to the Seniors that would leaving the Annapolis Drama Club, the officer made the cast party to for us, seniors. Actually that was a lot of fun, not to mention in the end we ended up having a little fight between two actors, but actually we had fun with improvisations, ate bunch of foods (Jessica made me and Kortnie tanned sandwiches, because we're the only two colored participants. LOL). I always had a good time with my drama club. I wish I can pack them in my suitcases and bring 'em home so they can still talk and play with me.
Those are need to be packed on my suitcase
*Tonight is my graduation. This is just overwhelmingly awesome because it would be followed by Senior All Night Party, though I know it would be our last event ever. Hey no goodbyes allow whatsoever!*
Sebenernya ini udah lebih dari dua minggu yang lalu pengen di update di blog, but seriously PARDON MY LAZY BUTT NOWADAYS! I don't know where do I get this symptom anyway, so keep it shut and don't bring it up unless I said so. So, kronologi graduation party dimulai kira-kira bulan April, perjalanan pulang dari Banana Reeves ke rumah (I'm gonna post about Banana Reeves too, maybe later). Di Amerika, yang namanya graduation itu adalah hal yang sifatnya gede-gedean, dan harus dirayain besar-besaran juga.
Lalu hostparents gue merencanakan graduation party sebelum bulan Juni. Kenapa? Alasan pertama karena udah summer, most of Americans will go at least for couple days to go somewhere to fill their summer break. Yang kedua, habis wisuda (6/10) pasti semua orang bakal ngadain hal yang serupa -graduation party- dan banyak kemungkinan beberapa dari mereka punya hari dan jam party yang sama. Maka dari itu kita buatnya sebelum bulan Juni untuk menghindari hal-hal yang sangat tidak diinginkan.
Sekitar seminggu gue pribadi mikir tanggal berapa yang pas buat grad party, sampai akhirnya gue dan hostdad gue menentukan kalo tanggal 22 Mei, mempertimbangkan kalu seminggu setelahnya 29 Mei bakal ada Memorial Day yaitu libur panjang dari Jum'at-Senin yang kemungkinan bakal sedikit tamu yang dateng. Well yeah, at first I felt uncomfortable with the date because that was still too early to having a graduation party since I'll get out from school two weeks afterward and graduate a week after we get out.
Setelah tanggal dipersiapkan, gue buat maneuver dengan buat invitation di facebook. Tentu aja. gue yang pertama buat di facebook di antara anak-anak lain di AHS. Untuk formal invitationnya gue buat di kelas printing dan ini kebetulan banget. Jadi project kita waktu itu greeting cards, tapi kata Mr. Kvamme gak apa-apa kalo seniors buat grad party invitation. Great project in decent amount of time. gue buat sekitar 100 undangan dan kira-kira disebar ke sekitar 70an orang mulai dari keluarga, temen dan guru-guru.
Snapshot of my Grad Party's page on world's biggest social network
Actual invitation that I made in Printing Class :)
Hari yang ditunggu-tunggu dateng. My graduation party is about to roll, though I don't have my cap and gown yet or even my diploma either. Alhamdulillah tamu yang dateng lumayan banyak dan tergolong sangat banyak mulai dari temen-temen gue, Indonesian friends nya hostmom gue, my wholly hostfamily, tapi sayang gak ada guru yang dateng kemaren, tapi itu gak mengurangi hecticnya party kemaren.
Gue sempet dikerjain DUA KALI, yang pertama pas lagi ngobrol sama temen-temen gue, tiba-tiba hostbro gue sama temennya nyemongin muka gue pake kue. Yang kedua, ini sih udah kerasa banget sama gue, karena awalnya randomly ada temen gue minjem kamera gue, hostmom gue minta iPod gue dan hostbro gue minta hape gue. Gue ada firasat ga enak tuh. Eh terus ketahuan di bawah meja ada dua ember air. Akhirnya gue dengan rela, ngasih barang-barang itu dan byurrrrr....... I was wet like a hippo. But that was really cute slash annoying. haha.
1st Prank
2nd Prank with two buckets of water
Partynya dimulai jam dua siang dan berakhir jam sebelas malem. Semuanya sesuai dengan rencana yang ada. Ada performance dari Joe dan Chris, dua kawan Amerika saya yang piawai bernyanyi. Hehe. Mereka nyanyi Weightless - ATL, Nine in The Afternoon - P!ATD dan Dear Maria Count Me in - ATL. Semua lagunya adalah pesenan dari gue. Alhamdulillah dapet banyak kartu ucapan dan hadiah dan ummm.... dollar. Sebenernya kartu ucapannya mau gue foto, tapi udah masuk koper dan gue gak mau ngerombak koper gue lagi buat nyari kartu-kartu ucapan itu. Haha. I put some pictures so that I hope your gonna enjoy :)
Those were us
My American fam
My drama family :)
Indonesians
Tableful of presents. greeting cards and slide show
Hey, gue kembali dari panjangnya rutinitas di sini. Can't you see this is the last month that I have left? Well, you may understand my circumstance that I'm in right now. Gue gak bakal ngitung berapa hari lagi gue akan berada disini, karena worthless kalo ngitung hari tanpa seize the sconds you make here. Who knows it would be my last time ever been to USA.
Sekolah gue officially bubar tanggal 3 Juni kemarin dan dilanjutin prom malemnya. Promnya, too good to be poured into words. Tapi intinya sehari semalem kita menari dan bersenang-senang merayakan kebebasan kita dari sekolah. Well, I personally don't celebrate it as I suppose to be, hey dudes I have to redo my senior back home! But anyway, I please for myself and my friends as well. Congratulation to make it through these four years guys, you deserve what you've struggled with. You guys'll be missed ;')) ANYWAY.........
Karena udah lama gak catch up sama blog gue apa aja yang udah gue lakukan dari sekitar 4 minggu yang lalu, approx. sebulan yang lalu. Here's the recap, only for wonderers :
1. Chicago-Indiana Trip
Finally, I went to one of the greatest downtowns in USA, Chicago *wink*. That was alright though the crappy weather was chasing us on the day we explored the city. Downtownnya keren banget, kita explore ke millenium yang terkenal dengan Big Beannya -monumen besar dari besi/kromium/aluminum/apalah yang bentuknya kayak kacang-, terus ke Navy Pier walaupun kita gak masuk dan cuma keliling-keliling aja. Alhamdulillah jadi pas pulang gak bakal ngeces gara-gara gak kesampean ke Chicago.
It reminds me of the magnificent Jakarta. I think that's close. LOL
Tapi tuh yang fatal dari Chicago, PARKIRANNYA, gak nanggung-nanggung $25 setiap kali parkir. Jadi daripada gue sekeluarga ngabisin duit di parking lot, mendingan kita jalan di sekitar Michigan Avenue. Satu hal lagi sih sebenernya yang ngeganjel dalam perjalanan kita ke Chicago yaitu mahluk putih yang suka menggonggong milik hostfam gue, ya, anjing kami, Jose/Jozie/"whatever you call him". Rata-rata taman atau tempat khusus disini gak menerima anjing, apalagi di Millenium Park lagi ada festival waktu itu. Jadinya hostparents gue tuker giliran buat jagain anjing dan sisanya hunting tempat dan foto-foto.
I love Jozie, but he sometimes drives us nuts
@ Millenium Park
The windy city breezes me out!
Besoknya kita pulang dari Chicago setelah menikmati indahnya downtown hari sebelumnya. Terus kita buat rencana mendadak buat ke dunes/pasir putihnya Indiana, masih tetep di pinggir Lake Michigan. Setelah nyasar akhirnya kita sampe di Indiana Dunes.
When I can't stand still, I jump. Common pose.
Little retard tried to explain something for you
2. Grad Party
Well, I will tell you guys later about this event. That was ecstatic, though I’ll describe it in details on next post.
3. Last days at school
Hari hari terakhir di sekolah cukup asik. Rangkaiannya dimulai last pep rally buat Seniors, kita semua gandengan masuk ke gym, sambil lari. Well, gue jadi inget pas masih jadi calon anggota / anggota PK saat haru bayar seri dengan lari gandeng. Both were sweet memories with their own laughs and bruises :)
Beberapa hari setelahnya, Seniors melakukan final exam. Kita (seniors) diberi waktu final exam lebih cepat dari underclassmen, because we’re gonna get out of there earlier obviously. Jujur aja, di final exam gue tidak merasa akan mendapat nilai bagus, kecuali di math class. Untuk kebanyakan mata pelajaran selain math, gue tidak belajar. But I glanced on some papers once at least, though I wasn’t really that focused on it, but hey I try my very best!
Anyway final examnya dibagi jadi tiga hari. Untuk 6th Hour, finalnya hari Selasa, (6/1). Buat 5th dan 4th Hour, finalnya Rabu (6/2) dan 1st-2nd Hour Final hari Kamis (6/3). Kenapa gak ada 3rd? 3rd gue adalah MP2, alias kelas senang-senang. Hari terakhir MP2 kita potong kue dan merayakan keluarnya kami dari AnnapolisHigh School. Ms. Gratton-Clark, guru MP2 kita, ngasih masing-masing anak 2 GB flashdisk. Simply because she wants everybody to use it for college, saving their files and stuffs. How sweet of her! sama 4 Hour? Iyap, 3
The frosting was good.
Malemnya Ms. Gratton-Clark ngadain dinner di Mongolian Grill. That was a great delicacy for us. Kita membahas banyak hal mulai dari kejadian-kejadian dari 4 tahun yang lalu saat mereka (not me) masih freshman sampe wisuda. Jujur gue akan rindu sama MP2 class. Karena disana kita gak perlu mikir ruwet-ruwet, karena kita emang ga belajar yang serius. Kita lebih banyak sosialisasi di sana dan kadang-kadang di formal day kita belajar table manner, cara mengikat dasi (haha), nulis cek dan segala hal yang gak akan kita dapet di kelas lain. Umm… I already miss it.
Our MP2 Dinner
Ms. Clark's MP2 Class of 2006-2010
3. Prom
Ya…ya…ya… ini mungkin klimaksnya perjalanan murid-murid AnnapolisHigh School selama empat tahun ke belakang, buat gue sih setahun ke belakang. Sharp tuxes, pretty dresses, shutters clicking, flashes blazing, luxury limousine, and dance ‘till drop. Mungkin itu yang bias gue gambarin dari promnya AnnpolisHigh School. At last, I had no date, though it was a blast and a bless at the same time because I had big opportunity to dance with everybody with no exception. Haha. See the picture, tell whadya think!
Hari minggu dua minggu yang lalu (susah amet), semua anak ACES di cluster gue ngadain acara farewell trip di Put in Bay Island, Ohio. Minggu pagi gue ke rumah Val dan kita berangkat dari sana kurang lebih jam 10 pagi. Gue numpang keluarganya Jason buat ke sana karena hostfamily gabisa ikut.
Perjalanan dari rumah Val ke Put in Bay cuma 45 menit. Abis ngitung orang yang dateng, Val beli tiketnya, karena harus pas soalnya kita bakalan naik feri buat ke pulaunya, yeah literally that's Put in Bay Island, ISLAND! Rombongan dibagi jadi dua kloter buat naik feri, karena cluster di bawah Jeff dateng juga, jadinya makin rame. Perjalanan dari feri ke pulaunya gak nyampe 15 menit. Hari itu sebenernya mendung sih, tipikal spring disini. Shower everywhere, water spill there.
view from the deck
Rasanya super sekali turun dari feri, dan untung aja gue lagi gak mabok laut waktu itu. Nah ini bagian yang paling gue gemari, naik golf cart. Jadinya ceritanya, di pulau ini, transportasi yang umum itu : mobil, golf cart dan sepeda. Karena pulaunya kecil banget, jadinya lebih banyak penduduknya naik golf cart dan rata-rata masing-masing rumah punya at least satu golf cart. How sweet! Anyway, kelompok golf cart gue dapet 8 seated cart, yang artinya bisa muat 8 orang. Itu ukuran terbesar yang ada. Yang nyupirin kita namanya Sara, chaperone dari Rossford HS.
Basically, we were just having a round trip, which is literally ROUND! Kenapa? sekali lagi ini pulau kecil dan ke mana-mana pasti ke situ lagi nongolnya. Put in Bay menurut gue convenient sih, ada downtown, walaupun seiprit, terus menaranya yang katanya kalo kita bisa naik ke puncak bisa ngeliat Kanada dari situ. Tapi pas gue kesana lagi gak ada reenactment dan menaranya ditutup. Sebenernya penasaran liat isinya sih karena dibangunnya dari tahun 1912.
in front of the tower
Siangnya kita lunch di Frosty Pizza di downtown Put in Bay. Pizzanya masyaAllah enak!,crustnya tipis banget dan crunchy. Lalu Val ngasih kita sertifikat yang menyatakan bahwa kita lulus sebagai ACES exchange student. Banyak yang berubah sih sebenernya sejak gue ikut pertukaran pelajar ini. Pertama, gue jauh lebih toleran, karena gue tinggal sama keluarga baru, dapet temen baru dan lingkungan yang super brand new. Kedua, try to stand up in a crowd when you have and suppose to, karena gak selamanya orang akan ngerti apa yang kita mau dan kita maksud, jadi intinya sih sebenernya speak up, tapi lebih asertif bukan agresif. Banyak lagi sebenernya hal-hal yang sudah gue dapet, mungkin gak berubah tapi improved.
the Asians after eating pizzas
tower
random old cars we saw
Yup, trip kemarin sebenernya jadi refleksi apa yang udah gue lakukan 10 bulan terakhir ini. Everything turned out in one phrase, all-round-exciting. I will end up with a sentence : "I love this country as much as I love my home country. But nothing, just nothing can compare both of them."
In this remaining trimester, I was engaging printing class as my 4th hour. As you guys noticed, in printing we always made something that obviously can be printed such, photograph, letterhead, memo pad, business card, greeting card, etc. Well currently I'm making greeting card, yet since I don't have something to be greet for somebody else, I'm just making graduation party invitations for myself which is more practical.
For the last four weeks, we already been made three printing products, e.g. letterheads, memo pads and business cards, plus that one I'm currently making. Frankly, I'm freaking excited once I got my products printed, not just because I know how to make it, but it much more because those were originally made by me. Well yeah, I'm so obnoxiously proud of myself for this reason. Pardon me!
So here's my printing products I've been made so far :
Letterheads with fake address and phone #, so nobody can track me anyway :p
The memo pads, one for school's memo pad, and another for soon-I-wish my travel agency's memo pad
The business cards that I guess the address and cell phone # will no longer available by the beginning of July :'(
I send big happiness and congratulations for those my buddies who pass the national exam back home. Though I heard a whisper said some of guys didn't pass it (yet). Well you guys soon to be passed I believe. God never sleep for who doesn't know that. My thoughts and prays always be with you.
As I told you in the advance post about my play thingy. Here is what I got!
Bulan lalu, atau mungkin bulan sebelumnya, gue ikutan audisi buat ikutan drama sekolah. Kalo dibilang sih gue gak jelek-jelek amat aktingnya, tapi pas di formulir gue tulis kegiatan apa yang mungkin di antisipasi dan konflik sama latihan drama, karena latihan dramanya bakal setiap hari pas pulang sekolah. Karena waktu itu gue bakal ikut tryout buat baseball jadi gue tulis aja baseball practice. Dua hari setelahnya langsung pengumuman. Ternyata nama gue gak ada di jajaran aktor. Nama gue ditulis di bagian property.
Di minggu yang sama gue ikutan tryout baseball. It wasn't smooth as I guessed in advance. I can't help the endurance built there. Bukan karena alasan itu aja sih sebenernya, karena tyrout baseballnya dua hari, hari keduanya gue gak bisa dateng gara-gara hostbrother gue, Jordan, ulangtahun. Early party sih sebenernya, karena pas dia ulangtahun kita bakal pergi ke Washington. Jadi gue gagal di dua bidang sekaligus. Hari terakhir sebelum gue ke Washington, temen gue, Andrew, bilang kalo tryoutnya extended jadi 3 hari dan gue masih ada harapan buat masuk tim. Well, you know the third day of tryout was my departure to Washington. FML.
Singkat cerita, abis gue pulang dari Washington, temen gue, Joe, bilang kalo salah satu aktor di drama ada yang mengundurkan diri. Sebenernya yang ditawarin untuk ngegantiin aktor ini si Joe, tapi karena dia dapet kerja dan it'd be overwhelming to somebody has two deeds at the same time every single day. Jadi dia nawarin perannya ke gue. Golden egg should be caught and I catch it! Well, perannya sih gak gede-gede, mungkin gue tampil cuma 5 menit. But you know what, having a new network in a new field is worth trying and it's ideal.
Me and Chris, partner in tumults
CJ, Me and Hannah
Lena and Chris
Shayla
Lena and Jessica
Chris, Clare and Joe
Fabulous Crew
Jadi sekarang kesibukan gue bertambah dengan ikut drama ini. Kenalan sama aktor-aktor yang lain, crew, belajar tentang tata panggung dan lain-lain. Dan FYI guys, gue juga bantu-bantu buat publicity dramanya lewat bikin pictures buat showcase sama bikin trailer. Dramanya sih bakal perform 14-15 Mei di sekolah. It should be ecstatic. Anyway, gue baru dapet kabar kalo Local Coordinator gue bakal ngajak anak-anak YES dari cluster gue buat ke Niagara Falls bulan Juni, 2 minggu sebelum kita balik ke negara masing-masing. Dream would be accomplished soon. I'll catch you later :)
Akhirnya dari beberapa minggu lalu nunda-nunda terus untuk update blog, kesampean juga sekarang. Alhamdulillah, disini semakin panas hangat karena udah masuk Spring. Kehidupan sekolah masih oke dan kehidupan di rumah sini juga selalu oke dengan ups and downs nya.
Sebenernya minggu-minggu ke belakang gue lagi sibuk banget sama latihan buat drama, yang bakal gue tulis di post yang laen in two seconds dan sibuk menghitung receh. Ya, ngitung receh! Jadi, di sekolah gue ada yang namanya Penny Wars untuk ngebantu korban genosida di Darfur, Sudan. Keadannya emang parah banget sih kalo ngeliat disini. Penny Wars sendiri bentuknya hampir sama kayak Koin Prita, cuma yang dikhususin disini penny -1 cent- itu sendiri. Persiapannya seminggu buat ngadain ini, mulai dari nempelin flyer tentang fakta-fakta keji tentang genosida di sana, bikin short film tentang Darfur, bikin poster dan bikin bank account buat masukin receh yang nantinya kumpulin.
Poster #1
Poster #2
Kebetulan yang kebagian bikin short film gue. Akhirnya gue research informasi sana sini, dibantuin sama temen-temen yang lain dan Mrs. Fynan, our sponsor. Ngumpulin gambar-gambar penderitaan korban-korban genosida, miris sih ngeliatnya sama fakta-fakta terkini tentang kegiatan genosida disana. Data udah kekumpul, film akhirnya dibuat. Gak nyampe 3 jam, setelah re-read-through sama hostdad gue buat ngecek misgrammatical sentence and misspell, filmnya jadi. Tanggapan dari anak-anak dan gurupun cukup positif.
This short film what they're talking about
Penny Wars diadain selama satu minggu dari 19-26 April, tapi karena banyak jam sekolah yang dipotong sana sini, Penny Warsnya diperpanjang sampe 30 April. Peraturannya, masing-masing kelas harus ngasih penny ke kelas masing-masing dan dibolehin untuk menyabotase dengan masukin dimes -10 cent-, nickel -5 cent-, quarter -25 cent- and bill -$1, $5, $10, $20 and $100- ke kelas lain. Empat uang pecahan terakhir bisa mengurangi point yang didapet satu kelas. Bingung? Gue juga bingung ngejelasinnya. Gigit gue, gigit!
Ternyata persiapannya jauh jauh jauh lebih mudah dari pelaksanaan sesungguhnya, karena puncak dari Penny Wars ini ya ngitung recehnya itu sendiri. This is just pain in the butt crack. Tiap pulang sekolah kita ke kelas Mrs. Fynan buat ngitung receh yang didapet hari itu. Dan dua minggu full kita harus bolak-balik buat ngitung penny. Yang dibutuhin di sini bukannya yang jago ngitung, tapi yang tahan ngitung setoples krupuk receh dan gak boleh salah, karena bakal masuk ke rekening di bank. Tiap hari ada orang baru yang ngebantuin ngitung receh, jadi beban berkurang dari hari ke hari, walaupun pernah satu hari cuma ada 3 orang yang bantuin dan hari itu lagi banyak-banyak receh yang harus diitung. Mabok receh.
Mabok receh #1
Mabok receh #2
Mabok receh #3
Dan hari terakhir kemaren kita ngitung penny, kita berhasil ngumpulin sampe $1,650 atau sekitar 16 juta. Gak sebanding sih sama yang didapet tahun pertama (dua tahun yang lalu), sekitar $4,000-ish atau 40 jutaan. tapi at least yang kita dapet lebih banyak dari tahun lalu yang sekita $800. Itung sendiri ya kalo di kurs. Gampang kok!
We are penny warriors!
L-R (up) : Mrs. Alexander, Mrs. Fynan, Grace and Okaya
L-R (down) : Jake, Me, Shane, Tyler and Jenna
Yang gue dapet disini adalah gimana cara ngumpulin dengan cara yang mudah dan gak harus ngumpulin duit dengan nominal yang besar. Cukup cemplungin koin dan gak ngerasa kita udah ngeluarin uang buat amal. Itulah poinnya. A humongous tree starts from a tiny seed we plant.
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