Back to Our Hometown

When I first arrived in Surabaya, I told my sisters how beautiful Perth is! They looked enthusiastic and be anxious to find out by themselves. They asked me a lot until my voice became husky. They asked about the environment, the school, the weather, the house-family, the teachers, the lessons, the food, the culture, friends, and so on.

Sesampainya di sekolah, they gave me alot of homeworks, and tests. Saya harus berusaha agar tidak ketinggalan pelajaran. Saya harus belajar lebih keras karena saya sudah kelas 12! But I do not regret that I had had a trip in Perth. It was a very very very nice experience. Saya tidak akan pernah melupakan pengalaman itu.

Thank you for Surabaya Government who had given this chance to us. Also for Melville Senior High School who had become a host school for us.

Thank you.

What my Surabaya friends say

A few comments about Melville SHS from my Surabaya friends:

1. Seragam Melville SHS bagus sekali (this is compared to our national uniform -white shirt TUCKED into grey skirt/pants, then add a belt- which is quite boring, I think.. karena seragam itu harus dipakai di seluruh sekolah di Indonesia)
2. Pelajarannya asyik.. (i think the best thing is that you can study science, social, language and vocational subjects altogether in Australia.. kalau di Indonesia, ada jurusannya sendiri-sendiri)
3. Sekolahnya keren! (agreed.)
4. Cowoknya cakep-cakep ya? (okay.. no comments untuk yang ini)
5. Hebat, ada komputer berinternet di setiap kelas! (yay! but no myspace, friendster etc. ^^)

Black Sheets by Birds of Tokyo

The song "Black Sheets" by Birds of Tokyo, the Perth band, is my instant favourite! I first heard the song when I was sitting in band after school, but I didn't know what song it was.

Kemarin saya dan host family saya bertukar lagu. Saya memberi beberapa lagu Indonesia dan lagu Jepang favorit saya serta lagu band saya. Kemudian mereka memberi saya lagu-lagu yang dibawakan oleh band-band Western Australia (the most isolated state on earth?). Salah satunya adalah Black Sheets yang dibawakan oleh Birds of Tokyo.

I LOVE that song!!!

Salah satu lagu lain yang keren berjudul "I'm a Sucker, a Doormat" yang dibawakan oleh Red Jezebel.

Coming soon: band Indonesia yang tidak kalah keren!

No Hands Waving

The wind blows so fast...
Carving an empty space inside...

I asked what it is...
Nobody answered...
I asked why it is there...
Nobody heard...

The warmth is starting to fade...
I dont want my tear drops fall...

Mengapa?
Engkau bertanya mengapa?

Coz, I never wanted the stars...
I never shout for the moon...
I like them right where they are...
All I wanted was to be here...

As long as i can..

Is this goodbye...
I might as well just die...
Dont care of what draws near...
All I wanted was to be here....

One Night in Indonesian Consulate

Thursday, 9th August 2007 we came to Wisma Indonesia to have a dinner and perform traditional dances and some Indonesian songs. We performed Remo dance, welcoming dance from Surabaya, and Jejer dance, the dance from Banyuwangi-East Java. We were really happy and proud because we got lots of applause from the guests who were not only Indonesian people who live in Australia but also some Australians. Almost all of the guests wore Batik because it was the dresscode for the dinner.

Rasa rindu kami terpuaskan oleh makanan yang disajikan malam tersebut. Sangat Indonesia. Setelah makan malam yang sangat lezat, kami dan para tamu bersama-sama menyanyikan lagu 'Surabaya' serta 'Rek, Ayo Rek' diiringi piano yang dimainkan oleh salah seorang tamu. Kami sangat bangga dan terharu sebab meskipun tengah berada di negara orang, kami seolah berada di negara sendiri.

We could share our culture to another people in another country. We really proud of that. That was a beautiful night. The night we will never forget...

WAAPA Open Day

Hari minggu 12/08/07 kemarin, saya dan host family saya mengunjungi WAAPA (Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts) Open Day. WAAPA adalah akademi seni yang memiliki tiga departemen, yaitu musik, tari, dan drama, yang masing-masing memiliki beberapa cabang. Dalam kurun sekali setahun, WAAPA mengadakan pameran pendidikan yang bertujuan menarik para calon mahasiswa peminat seni di Perth.

WAAPA had good programs which encourage performing artists to take a career path in performing arts. They also have very good facilities to support their programs. Being a performing artist myself, I was quite excited to go to the Open Day.

Acara-acara di WAAPA Open Day dipisah sesuai departemen masing-masing. Begitu sampai, saya dan host family saya langsung menuju ke Jazz Studio untuk mendengarkan permainan band jazz WAAPA. Setelah mendengarkan beberapa komposisi jazz, kami menuju auditorium musik untuk mendengarkan beberapa komposisi klasik yang dibawakan baik staf maupun siswa WAAPA.

When we noticed that WAAPA had their own percussion studio, named the Handa Studio, we went straight there. They put on a fantastic show, where four students of WAAPA performed songs on percussions. They were awesome. Then we head back to the music auditorium to listen to a percussive song, written by one of the percussionists!

Saya tidak menyesal datang ke WAAPA Open Day!

Oh, did you know that Hugh "Wolverine" Jackman went to WAAPA?

Shopping Time...!

It was our second weekend in Perth. It felt so fast that we would leave Perth soon. Anyway, on the weekend almost the rest of us were going together to Fremantle to buy some gift for our families and friends back home. One of us said that there was a very cheap shop in Fremantle and the seller was Indonesian people. It was really cheap and they were so amiable to us. We were very happy.

Kita beli banyak sekali oleh-oleh. Mulai dari gantungan kunci, boneka, kaos, jam, dan lain-lain. Kita menghabiskan waktu hampir satu jam hanya untuk berputar-putar dalam toko dan menentukan apa yang ingin kita beli. But, it was really fun! Because most of us were girls and girls love shopping! Well, not all of them.

Tapi kita masih belum menemukan yang kita cari. Kita mencari coklat yang berbagai macam rasa.

We hope we'll find it soon.

Oopsss......She did it again!

There was a proud when we performed traditional dance in consulat. Everyone looked anthusiasm and happy to saw that. In a few minutes, jejer java dancer danced very well in there. She got antention in that even. But, it almost lost when her special hat for dance would fall down. Upsss......she was lucky because her hat didn't fall. Everything were just fine after that and she danced well after that.

Bisa dibayangkan betapa mengerikannya bila ada properti atau bagian kostum dance yang jatuh atau tersangkut ketika menari di depan semua orang. Di hari dimana kunjungan ke Attadle Primary School, penari jejer java dance menjatuhkan kipas tanpa sengaja. wah, untung saja bisa diatasi dengan ekspresi yang baik dan benar.

Memang . . . kehidupan penari itu sangat keras!!!

I saw something new...

thanks Mum...
thanks Dad...
for inviting me to see that concert!

I was really surprised when I saw WA Government School Music Society Concert Series 2007 last night. What a spectacular concert!
Some students from various scools showed their performance there.
They showed their creativities, their talents, their abilities, and the most important thing their courage to showed their performance in front of a lot of people.
The another thing that makes me surprised is the enthusiasm of their families for giving more soul and supports to their beloved performers.

I can't imagine how proud being their parents!

A Thankyou Pantun

There is good, there is evil
There are rythms there are rhymes
Thank you Melville
We had a great time

Its quite nice to be back at home, meet our family and friends, but it really-really hurts to know that we have tons of catching ups to do, including the exams. Its such a nghtmare, but its okay, its a job that we have to do as an Indonesian student.

Jujur saja, kami rindu dengan suasana di Perth, terutama di Melville. Disana kami menemukan kebahagiaan yang hampir tak ada tandinganya, meski ada suka dan sedikit duka, 3 minggu disana terasa sangat enak, tetapi berlalu dengan sangat cepat pula.

Doakan kami agar dapat kembali kesana, so that we can meet and have together once more.

Free Indonesian Lesson

The first Free Indonesian Lesson was held last tuesday in Bahasa Indonesia room.There were about ten participants .Some students from Surabaya assisted ibu Kate in teaching numbers. They are really great teachers. Ibu Marlina ,a teacher from Surabaya, was also involved in this class. She had the participants practised some indonesian phrases. Some participants had difficulties in pronouncing some Indonesian words such as mengulangi, and maaf. It was really good class. The participants are really eager to learn a language that maybe for some people it is not very important one.

Pelajaran berlangsung dengan penuh canda tawa tapi serius. Sangatlah mengharukan melihat orang asing belajar Bahasa Indonesia dengan sungguh- sungguh. Usia peserta rata- rata diatas 40 tahun , jadi mereka bukanlah iseng- iseng saja. Selamat Ibu Kate anda memang hebat!

How To Play Congklak

Congklak is one of traditional game from Indonesia. It has 12 holes and each hole has 5 beans, except the biggest hole in the end of each side. There should be two players and they have to decide who will go first. These are how to play congklak:

1. You have to be face to face with your opponent and put the congklak board in between.


2. Take the beans from one hole and drop it into the next holes.


3. If you stop in the hole that contains of bean, you may take the beans of that hole and keep going.


4. Don't forget to fill your biggest hole and drop nothing in you opponent's biggest hole.


5. If you stop in your biggest hole, you can take beans from any hole in your side.


6. If you stop in an empty hole in your side and there are beans in your opponent hole, in front of the hole that you stop in, you can take your opponent beans.
   

Anda dapat bermain congklak pada saat Indonesian Lesson bersama Ibu Kate dan Mbak Penny.

Congklak adalah permainan yang sangat terkenal di Indonesia. Bermain congklak sangatlah menyenangkan! Congklak biasanya dimainkan oleh semua kalangan masyarakat.

Ada berbagai macam papan congklak. Ada yang terbuat dari plastik, ada juga yang terbuat dari kayu. Lubang di setiap papan congklak juga bervariasi. Ada yang mempunyai 10 lubang, 12 lubang, dan 16 lubang. Di setiap lubang dapat diisi dengan 4 biji, 5 biji, 7 biji. Hal itu tergantung dari banyak lubang di papan congklak.

Gridline 5, Our First Subjects, Wooohoooo!!!!!

On tuesday 7th Aug, our first period was gridline 5. Each of us has different subjects. Some of us have sports, some of us have dancing class, and some of us have mathematics. As our first time, everything went fine, also, we had our own surprises. Everything was great. Although some of us dont have anything to do on gridline 5, they made a good use of time. They made a few good posts. thats all guys. C U next posts!

songs that we're going to sing

surabaya . . . surabaya

surabaya.....surabaya....oh surabaya....
kota kenangan ....kota kenangan takkan terlupa
disanalah...disanalah....di surabaya
yang pertama...yang pertama kami berjumpa

ku teringat masa yang telah lalu
seribu insan seribu hati bersatu padu
surabaya di tahun 45
kami berjuang.....kami berjuang bertaruh nyawa



rek ayo rek


rek ayo rek
mlaku-mlaku nang tunjungan
rek ayo rek
rame-rame bebarengan

cak ayo cak
sopo gelem melu aku ?
cak ayo cak
golek kenalan cah ayu

jok dipikir yen podo gak duwe sangu
jok dipikir angger podo gelem mlaku
mangan tahu jok dicampur karo timun
malem minggu gak apik digawe nglamun

Ungkapan Hati

Hari ini…….
Aku termenung sendiri
Memandang
indahnya coretan tangan Sang Agung
Ku rasakan alunan merdu
dalam sanubari kahyangan

Hati ini menjerit mengadu
Ku rasakan pelita asing
bersandar dalam bilik yang gelap

Nyanyian tanya.......
nyanyian tangis............
Tak hentinya menari

Sampai kusadari........
Jauh dalam sudut hati ini
menyimpan suatu kenangan
dan ungkapan berharga
yang terkunci dan terkubur
Sampai kuteteskan air mata bahagia
dan kesedihan

Pikiran berjalan di atas awan
tak pernah berhenti untuk diam

dan kutemukan
Pelita hati yang berhenti menjerit....

Itulah ungkapan hati
yang tak pernah mati......


BY: ANA ZAILATUL

Perth-Surabaya

I felt just like in my own country while in here. No, not because of the weather and the environment, but because of the warmness craeted by everyone here. Even though I'm a new comer here, they treated me the same as others. I saw many students come from different countries, also get the same treatment.

Saya sangat kagum dengan cara berpikir mereka. Semua orang adalah sama di sini. "Ibu" saya di sini, sama seperti Ibu saya sendiri. Dia memasak makanan yang enak dan selalu berusaha untuk membuat saya merasa nyaman.

Besides that, even if sometimes I didn't understand what "my family" said and kept on asking, they always explained it clearly and patiently. I'm sure, it must be annoying for us to repeat the word that we have said before for many times. I don't think that I could be that patient once I have the same matter. That's why, I hope my ability in English will be increased day by day because of my lessons at melville. I'm sure Melville could help me!

Dear Sadness, Is There Any Deathwish You Would Like To Say?

Take a step forward
As you see an oasis there
Take a step backward
Hear the cries of sorrow

The cold palm hides
The curious mind explores
Hush my little tears
I shall not face you upon fear

Here,
A huge theme park is where I reside
Pick the flowers under the cool breeze
With the rain that drizzles from above
Menghiasi hari yang cerah

Inilah rumah
Inilah hidup
This happiness liverth for evermore

My Wishes

Di hari ke delapan di Perth, saya minta 3 permintaan pada Tuhan...

1. God, please make my days here go slowly. I don't want my adventure here will be over soon..
2. God, if you make my days here go quickly, please change the program so that I'll have some more days here.
3. God, if you don't grant my 2 wishes before, I have the last one!
   Please...Please...and please... record the lovely smiles of my family, mates, teachers and everyone here, in my mind. So that I can take it home and feel just like they're around me.
   

Semoga saja Tuhan mendengar doa saya.
Amien...

Band Sekolah!

My host family in Perth lives quite far away from Melville Senior High School. My host sister decided to enter Melville SHS because it has a special music program, and for that she has to travel a long way everyday (and, during my stay here in Perth, so do I). But when I came to her music class last week, I knew it was worth it!

Dalam band Melville SHS, terdapat alat-alat musik tiup seperti terompet, saksofon, trombon, dan tuba, juga terdapat bas, gitar elektrik, keyboard, serta drum. Bagi saya waktu itu (dan saya rasa juga bagi semua orang lain yang baru pertama kali melihat band Melville SHS), band tersebut tampak seperti band jazz.

So when the music teacher played a rock tune out of his laptop, I didn't get it. It just didn't make sense (because I thought the band was a jazz band). Then the school band started playing the exact same song, but with all those brass instruments, the song sounded very different. It was awesome.

Benar-benar mengejutkan, karena saya belum pernah melihat band sekolah seperti ini di Surabaya. SMA saya tidak memiliki band sekolah. Beberapa SMA di Surabaya memiliki band sekolah, tapi saya belum pernah melihat band sekolah dengan alat musik tiup yang memainkan musik rock!

Wish I had a really cool school band back home.

Ide baru untuk pelajaran musik di Indonesia, mungkin?

The New Cradle

Kabut-kabut kelabu
Menjauh menindih debu
Darah di tubuh berpacu
Menggetarkan tangan-tanganku

Faced down on the puddle of happines
Reflection smiles upon the face of sadness
Even cold stabs from behind
It's blade shatters when it reaches the inside

Sit back and relax
They carry light and annihilate darkness

Six feet under is still far away

Plundger into warmth of caring and love

Langkah-langkah mulai pasti
Istirahatlah dalam hati

I never think...I'll get the most wonderful thing in my life

The most wonderful thing in my life that I’ve just got is to study in Perth…….
I never think that I’ll get it. I think…it is impossible. But now,I’ve got it. I want to thank God for it…
Now, I’ll try to be a good student in Perth. But all I really want is to be a good person for everything. Everyday in Perth is like a fight for me. A fight that is very hard to pass. Sometimes when I’m in my desperate I try to trust in God will give me a strength.. I think it will need a lot of effort. Someone has told me this words “ No word become sentence without an effort “ That’s true….
My life has changed in Perth. I hope it will be a good experience for me in my life although it need a lot of my tears.
Thanks God, thanks the Government of Surabya, thanks Mom&Dad and thanks for my self……….

Suatu hal yang sangat menakjubkan yang tak pernah terpikirkan.Aku ingin sekali berterima kasih kepada semua orang yang membantuku mendapatkan semua ini.Melalui hal ini aku akan belajar menemukan sesuatu hal yang sama sekali belum aku kenal.Semua hal yang indah dan penuh perjuangan akan mengiringi perjalananku menuju keberhasilan.Aku juga ingin berterima kasih kepada Pemerintah kota Surabaya yang telah menyelenggarakan program ini.Terima kasih Tuhan.......


I Hope I can find something that I really need…..
Special wish……. I never forget……….

How fantastic it is....!!!!

Friday, 3 August 2007

Everyone will say that It was a Great Day for Our life... Why??? Because we turned around Perth city and visited many beautiful places. And of course, we felt so happy....

Friday was our third day in Melville. We've got exciting activity that day because I and my friends went to Mosque in William Street. Some of my friends had to do Friday pray. I was surprised because there were many moslems from other countries and some of them gave us a greeting like Assalamualaikum..... Oh My God! I couldn't believe I will see them...

Tetapi sebelum ke mesjid, kita juga punya pengalaman yang fantastic yakni kita jalan-jalan dulu ke semacam central city, karena dari sana kita bisa melihat suasana perkotaan di Perth. Banyak gedung perkantoran, central kesenian dari Egyptian, Bank West, dll. Saya juga terpukau dengan Stasiun kereta api yang tertata sangat rapi dan terlihat modern.

The one that I missed so much was Indonesian food because we had to eat Australian Food since we arrived in Perth. But sometimes we could eat it in our homestay. Oh... It was very delicious and I love the chicken fried noodles. My friends looked very happy to eat it. Although, some of the food have different taste. It was in Sparrow Indonesian Restaurant in front of William Mosque. After we visited the mosque, we turned around someplaces that made us very surprised.

Tempat yang pertama kali kami kunjungi adalah Kings Park. Oh... Entah apa lagi yang harus kami katakan kecuali Luar biasa... Karena di tempat ini kita bisa melihat pemandangan kota Perth yang sangat indah. Teluk yang melengkung membuat kota ini terlihat begitu fantastik. Pokoknya kita bisa melihat pemandangan Perth secara utuh dari sini. Tentu saja kita semua beraksi disana maksudnya foto-foto gitu deh. 20 menit yang sangat berharga mengunjungi tempat wisata ini dimana terdapat bangunan bersejarah seperti monumen untuk menghargai pahlawan Australia yang gugur di perang dunia ke-2.

And then, we visited Cottesloe Beach about 15 minutes. Oh my God...!!! How beautiful it is!!!!

The beach is very clean and well arrenged. I went close to the beach and felt the water. It was windy and made me so sleepy enough. And once again... We took some pictures there. Maybe it would be more exciting if we could stay longer. But we hoped that we would come back somedays...

At 03.00 p.m we arrived in Melville and we talked many experiences each other. How wonderfull it was.... then, We had ESL lesson with Mrs. Steward. It was a great day.....!!!!

Bye.... Have a nice day...

Love,

Marina.R

An Unforgetable Scene

It was about 4 days ago when we went to Indonesia Consulat. There were a few of 10 year student from Melville S.H.S that coming with us. When we arrived, we saw that there were a few of student from Dale Christian School learned how to played Gamelan. Oh My God! We were really shocked. We never learned how to played Gamelan!!! But then we tried to played gamelan and it was not that hard to learned.

Dari sana kita pergi ke Restoran Indonesia untuk makan siang. Namanya Bentley. Wow, rasanya seperti kembali ke rumah. Makanannya enak-enak. Benar-benar serasa di rumah lagi. Tapi ada kejadian yang nggak terlupakan. Beberapa murid Melville S.H.S makan sambal satu sendok tanpa apa-apa. Bahkan kita orang Indonesia belum pernah melakukan hal itu. Muka mereka memerah karena kepedasan. Bahkan ada yang mengeluarkan air mata.