Life's tests

Do you know that life will give you a test that will gets harder and harder along the way?

When you had accomplished one test, you will be able to handle it in case it comes back. So the second time the test comes back, it is not a test for you anymore. Because it's easy for you to get through it. A test is when you find it hard to stand up and sometimes you may feel like giving up.

So, eventually you will get a harder test, which means, you're 'UP' one level. You'll realized that the test is so hard which somewhat impossible to be existed, but it did. And it's there for you to solve it. If you think that it's so hard, take a minute to look back in the past. Recall everything you've been through. Then you'll realized that you've been through a lot, which proves that you're strong enough to handle another test.

And yes, now I'm in the middle of a hard test. I have to step back from something and someone I like, when 'that things' are keep on coming at me. This will not be hard when I don't like it, so it's easy for me to step back. Or even when I like it, but it doesn't like me back, it's also easy to look forward and forget about it. 

But now, when I want to look away, it always coming back at me, makes me weak and holding me from stepping back. I know I need to be strong to fight with my own feelings, which is not easy at all. I am trying to always keep my faith, be patient and pray :). Hopefully I can hang on until it's done.

'Things will be perfect at a perfect time'

Ever heard that notion? or not exactly like that but has the same meaning. I guess everybody ever heard it before. This words - or you can call it quotes - are used to motivate people when bad things are happening to them. It gives them the strength to let go and wish that there are something better for them in the near future.

I don't know if it works, but sometimes it does works for me. It makes me stop worrying and keep positive about what's happening. And actually here, I want to share that, this quote is really true.

It started when I was in my last year of primary school. I wish two things about how my junior high school life would be: part of an organization, and/or part of a dance club. Well, things turned out differently. There are no dance club and I didn't have a chance to be in an organization, because the teacher should recommend you to get in the organization. So then I let go of my dream and pass it for the senior high school. I wasn't mad, I enjoyed myself learning until I got top position in class.

In senior high school, I moved to Hong Kong. So instead of join any extracurricular activities, I learn my ass off to adapt and graduate in one and a half year. Again, I pass my dream to college.

I was putting a high expectation into college life. Since I'm back into my home town, so no adaption needed and college students are mature enough to make decision about organization. So I expected to have a high chance of making a dream come true. But life does not always giving what you want. The selection to be in an organization is that you need to join a-3-days-2 nights-outside-the-campus- camp. Since in Indonesia is not that safe, I'm a girl and there are no teacher supervising the camp, I'm not allowed to go, which means I'm not be able to join the organization. The same thing happens for the dance club. Life's bitter, I know. And I was thinking that life's not fair. I was kinda mad and blaming the situation, because I was thinking that college is my last chance to make it all happen.

Life is unpredictable, I would say. My plans for getting my master degree was changed, from getting it in Jakarta to Taipei. And surprisingly, in the place where I study now (NTUST) has lots and lots of Indonesian people, which makes it possible to form an Indonesian Student Association (ISA). There's no specific requirement to be a member, so I join it directly, without hesitation. Another blessing is that I was offered to dance Saman. And there are a lot of performing, which I - of course - really enjoyed it.

Now, in my second year, I'm a secretary in NTUST-ISA, a legislative board of ISA in Taiwan and a coordinator of Saman dance club. There goes my dream come true. I'll never imagine any other possible situation that is better that this. I really thank God for all these opportunities and I won't take any of these for granted.

See? It's really happening. As long as you keep trying and not wasting any chances you've got, things will be really perfect at a perfect time.

Second Destination: National Taiwan Science Education Center

It's been a long time since the first time I wrote about my summer vacation. Oh well, now I'll continue. We went to this museum on the third day, because the second day we were too tired. It was Wednesday afternoon, we took a bus from in front of Miramar Mall in Jiannan Rd MRT station to Jiantan MRT station. That bus arrived in every 10 minutes and it is free! After get off the bus, we took MRT to Shilin station. Actually, the place was in between Jiantan and Shilin, but when I saw the map, it is nearer to Shilin station. And well, my choice is correct. It only took few minutes walking and there we are! This time I was so happy and proud to myself that we were finally get to the museum without getting lost or taking an hour walking.

We get there at 3 pm and it is closed at 5 pm. Since it has 6 Floor of exhibition, so we needed to be hurry. You need to pay to come inside. I forget how much, but it's cheap for what you'll get inside. It's totally worth it. They also have a discount fora student in Taipei and a little kid. The ticket fare is different between the weekends and weekday. So when you don't have anything to do, it's better to go in weekday. There will be less people also, so you can look around and play more freely.

We looked around, amazed and took photos as much as we could. There are lots of things that we can play around with. Not only to play with it, but also to learn what is really going on with those simulation and games. It's more like learning while playing. They have English description too, so it's really convenient. It's also really complete, they have all parts of science: Biology, Physics, Chemistry. Everything you want to know about science. Since we have a little amount of time to look every floor, so we plan to go there again. And the next time will be with our parents. Because there are things that we want to share and ask for more explanation. It's so much fun if you go with your family. There are many interesting things to do. The next trip we spent more time and go to the part that we haven't got a chance to go there in the first time.

Another way to go there is to stop by in Jiantan station and walk straight ahead. It's a little further than walking from Shilin station, but if you don't mind walking, then it's a better way, since Jiantan station is nearer to the main city than Shilin station.

Indonesian Culture Exhibition 2012

Last 2-3 weeks, me and other Indonesian friends in NTUST (National Taiwan University of Science and Technology) was so busy preparing this event. It is all about Indonesian culture. We want others to know more about Indonesia and we might even attract tourists to go to Indonesia. For committee, this is the way we can get together as a team to do something nice for our country, to appreciate and remind us how beautiful our culture is. This event was held on 5-7 March 2012.

On the first and the second day (5th - 6th March), we were having an Exhibition. We have 8 booths which represents 6 biggest islands in Indonesia (Sumatra, Kalimatan, Jawa, Bali, Sulawesi and Papua), Edutainment and Culinary. In each island booth, visitors are given the brief information about that island - the traditional clothes and music - and each island has their own unique interactive way. In Edutainment, visitors can take a picture with traditional Indonesian costume, play traditional games, learn how to make "batik" and how to make "ketupat". In Culinary stand, we have lots of Indonesian foods and snacks, such as: "soto", "nasi kuning", "wajik" and others.

On the third day (7th March), in evening, we were having a cultural performance. We gave the audience a story about "The Journey of Gadjah Mada to Unify Nusantara" which we put traditional dances (Jathilan Dance, Saman Dance, Papua Dance, Kecak Dance, Janger Dance and Kayau Dance), choir and "pencak silat" inside the story and in the end, we have a modern dance.

What makes this ICE 2012 different from previous ICE? We have our own theme song originally written by our friend! How nice! I'm really proud of her. The song called "We are Proud Student of Indonesia".

After the performance, we were beyond happy to receive many great compliments, such as: outstanding performance, best performance ever and I'm proud of you guys.
We were really doing a great job. And yes, our 5 months preparation was finally paid off. We were all satisfied, the committee, the performer and the audience. Even though we were far beyond perfect, but we did our best and we reach our target of more than a thousands visitors!

We were really making it happen. We did it! I'm so proud being a part of ICE 2012 team! I'm proud to be Indonesian that has many beautiful and unique culture inside.

The four of us :)

Recently, I have 3 close friends to hang out with. We're about in the same age, but with different background and personality. But when we come together, everything fits. We have a lots of fun together. We can talk and laugh about anything. And with them, I forget about all my sadness. All I can do is just have fun!

There are two kinds of friends: the one who listens and gives you advice and the one who doesn't know about your problems, but they can cheer you up. Sometimes a best friend can do both, giving advice and cheering. But some of them can only do one. Like the four of us.

You can't say that they're my best friends, because we barely know each other, but we're close enough to spend the whole two days in a row together :)

And last time, I just realize that actually each one of us has a problem, especially about love, but no one bring it up. No one wants to talk about their problem and neither asking about it. Even when we want to talk about it we're simply saying it with no emotion attach. Then we forget about it and have fun! or sometimes, we're making fun of it, so we can laugh at our own sad stories. Together, we are really good at building a positive energy surround us. We turn everything into something we can laugh about.

These friends tell me that everyone has their own problem. But it doesn't mean you have to be sad all the time. Sometimes you have to put your problems behind and have fun. When you're happy, you can think and act positively, so then you can solve your problem. Like the advice from my previous post: throw away the things that can hurt you and be happy!

I would like to thank them for being around when my days are going down. They help me to go through the path that I used to go with him. So now I'm walking down that road with a smile on my face. Because, the memories about him is no longer exist, it replaced by them :)

A Simple Advice

This is from my friend's blog. She wrote an advice from one of the greatest women in Indonesia, Fahmi Idris. The advice is simple, I bet everyone already know it. But it really helps when you're down. This advice successfully calms me down and so does my friend. Here's the advice. I'm sorry it is in Indonesian.

Kita wajib mendapatkan kebahagian karena kebahagiaan itu adalah milik kita. Jangan pernah mengantungkan kebahagiaan itu kepada orang lain. Buang jauh-jauh segala sesuatu yang akan membuat kita merasa sakit dan menderita, lupakan dan biarkan dia pergi. Serahkan semua urusan kepada-NYA, karena DIA-lah Tuhan yang maha segalanya.

I try to translate it in English, tho' I'm afraid the meaning change.

We deserve to be happy and we're the one who live our life, so don't put your happiness on someone else hands. Throw away the things that can hurt you, just forget it and let it go. Let God do the rest.

My advice, when you don't know which one is right or wrong, do what makes you happy. It's all that matter. As long as you're happy, you'll be safe. At least, you won't regret your choice that makes you happy.

(My friend's blog: http://tunsriana.wordpress.com/)

My Best Friends!

In this winter vacation, I go back to Indonesia, my home country. My purpose is to go Umrah, go to my grandma's place, buy some Indonesian traditional things for our up coming event and meet my best friends! I'm so happy, because all the plan went smooth and I almost finish with the list!

On Tuesday evening I met my very best friend in university, with an initial 'P'. She's working now, so I got to meet her in the evening. Actually it's not enough, because I can't stay out late. Well, the time will never be enough with me and her. We always have something to share with. So at that night, in our-precious-3-hour-time, each of us pick one important subject to share in details, then we gave comment and inside joke. It's nice to know that she doesn't change. She's still a girl I always run into when I have a problem and always will, I guess. After a nice chat, we walked around, we commented on everything we saw, clothes, necklace, everything. And again, her taste doesn't change either. The last stop was a photobox booth, we took the photo packages two times. Why? because of our silliness! and yes that is the same kind of silliness we did back there. Even though we had a limited time, but I'm satisfied, I'm so happy to meet her :)

I have another best friend in university and I was hoping to meet her at the same time with 'P'. But because of the time, I did not set it up. So I met her on Thursday, instead. Call her 'R'. She's also working, but with her family in her hometown. And she's here, back to town. So this time I can meet up early. We met around noon. I accompanied her to an English test preparation, then went to EX. We had lunch in Chinese restaurant, but before, my friend thought it was a Japanese restaurant, haha. And we spent 3 hours in that restaurant! We talked about everything. First about guys then about ourselves, our future. We seldom talk about the future, and at that time we also don't know why we end up talking about it. But it was a fun conversation. When we want to pay the bill, we kinda surprised, because it was more than 200 thousands rupiah! It is because they don't put the price on the menu, so we didn't know how much it costs. And finally we get out from that restaurant, and I just realized that the waitress shift is changed! haha well, that explains how long we've stayed there. Then we look around the mall and we moved to GI. She's looking for a shirt, a stripe shirt and yes, the same kind of shirt she used to wear. But after 1,5 hours walking around, she didn't found any shirt she likes. Then we had a lite dinner at KFC, we took photos afterward and went back home.

I'm really happy, cause I can spent a quality time together with my best friends. Even though the three of us can't meet together, but we still had so much fun together. Friends are one of the best thing you ever have in your live. So when you have a best friends, keep them and don't take them for granted :)

Lesson Learned

Last week me and my family went Umrah. It is when Muslims visit Saudi Arabia to perform Tawaf and Sa'i. There are many history and meanings behind everything we did and I wrote down some of them that really catch my attention.

1. Tawaf.

It is where we should walk circling around Ka'bah 7 times while praying. This demonstrate that we should keep on praying to Allah while going through our daily lives. Never forget to pray, no matter what happened.

2. Sa'i

It is where we should walk back and forth from Al-Shafa hill to Al-Marwah hill. In history, Ibrahim's wife (Siti Hajar) and his son (Ismail) were in the desert. So Siti Hajar searched a water for her son. She left his son in the ground, in front of Ka'bah. First, she search it in Al-Shafa hill, when it is nothing there, she try to search in Al-Marwah hill. She went back and forth 7 times until finally Allah gave her a water. The water didn't come from either hills, it came from the place where Ismail laid down. That water is called Zamzam water, it is pure and we can drink it directly. What's more amazing is that water is still available until now, even though millions of people in Makkah drink it and some people bring it back to their own country.

What we learn from the history is that sometimes Allah doesn't give what we wanted and doesn't answer your pray straight away. But don't use it as an excuse to walk away and give up. Instead, you should keep on praying and have a faith, because Allah knows what's best for you and He will give it to you in the right time.

3. Qurban

Actually this is the activity where you do it in Hajj. But last time I went to that place and being told about the history. Allah asked Ibrahim to kill his only son and the one that have been waited for 10 years. But in the name of Allah, Ibrahim agreed. When the time to kill his son, Allah change his son into a goat. The purpose was Allah just wanted to test Ibrahim's loyalty. So this story proves how loyal Ibrahim is. He is ready to give everything in the name of Allah. Today we have to give a goat or a cow in every year, to remember that history and learn the lesson.

Everything that has been given to us will be taken back by Allah. Sooner or later we have to let go everything that He asks for. If it is the best for you, Allah will give it back to you. If He doesn't give it back, it means He will give a better one for you.

Knowing all these history and lessons calms me down. I have nothing to fear. Everything that happened is part of Allah's plan. I just have to ride it with my greatest effort and let Allah do the rest :)

the story of a little fish

Once upon a time, there's a little fish swimming around freely in the sea. There's also a man with a net who just lost his fish. His friends are telling him to catch this fish. At first, the fish hesitate, whether to go into the net or not. But finally, the fish get in, and being caught by that net. After a while, for some reason, that man put the fish back into the sea. The fish feels so sad. But this little fish will stay close, just in case someday, that man will catch this fish again :)

Letting go, accepting bad things and waiting patiently are the hardest things to do. But once you can handle it, you own the world. If this life is a game, those things are the obstacles in the top level, the one we're supposed to kill the giant king. When it's done, you'll win with the great score. Same thing in real life. After successfully going through those problems, everything seems brighter and you'll be so much happier than ever.

It needs a process. No one said it would be easy, but they said it would be worth it :)
Have a faith, do it and good luck!