VISITING BALI
There were so many places to see in Bali that my friend decided to join the tours to see as much as possible. My friend stayed in Kuta on arrival. He spent the first three days swimming and surfing on Kuta beach. He visited some tour agents and selected two tours. The first one was to Singaraja, the second was to Ubud. On the day of the tour, he was ready.
My friend and his group drove on through mountains. Singaraja is a city of about 90 thousands people. It is a busy but quiet town. The street are lined with trees and there are many old Dutch houses. Then they returned very late in the evening to Kuta.
The second tour to Ubud was a very different tour. It was not to see the scenery but to see the art and the craft of the island. The first stop was at Batubulan, a center of stone sculpture. There my friend watched young boys were carving away at big blocks of stone. The next stop was Celuk, a cente for silversmiths and goldensmiths. After that he stopped a little while for lunch at Sukawati and on to mass. Mass is a tourist center My friend ten-day-stay ended very quickly beside his two tour, all his day was spent on the beach. He went sailing or surfboarding every day. He was quiet satisfied.
R.A. KARTINI
Every april 21 people in indonesia commemorate the kartini day. It is beautiful day for the woman because we celebrate the birth of great lady R.A. Kartini. Everyone knows who kartini is. she is our national heroine and a great lady with the bright idea.
Kartini was born in 1879 april 21 in mayong jepara. Her father was Rama Sosroningrat Wedana (assistant of head of regency) in mayong. her mother, Ma Ngasirah was a girl from Teluk Awur village in Jepara as the daughter of a noble family, she felt luck because she got more than the ordinary people got. She got better education than other children in november 12 1903 she married adipati djoyodiningrat, the head of rembang regency. According to javanese tradition Kartini had to follow her husband. then she moved to rembang.
In september 13 1904 she gave a birth to her son. his name was singgih. but after giving birth to a son, her condition was getting worse and she finally passed away on september 17 1904 on her 25 years old.
Now kartini has gone. but her spirit and dream will always be in our heart. nowadays indonesian women progress is influenced by kartini's spirit stated on collection of letter habis gelap terbitlah terang from the dusk to the dawn.
VACATION TO LONDON
Mr. Richard’s family was on vacation. They are Mr. and Mrs. Richard with two sons. They went to London. They saw their travel agent and booked their tickets. They went to the British Embassy to get visas to enter Britain. They had booked fourteen days tour. This includes travel and accommodation. They also included tours around London. They boarded a large Boeing flight. The flight was nearly fourteen hours.
On the plane the cabin crews were very friendly. They gave them news paper and magazine to read. They gave them food and drink. There was a film for their entertainment. They had a very pleasant flight. They slept part of the way.
On arrival at Heathrow Airport, they had to go to Customs and Immigration. The officers were pleasant. They checked the document carefully but their manners were very polite. Mr. Richard and his family collected their bags and went to London Welcome Desk. They arranged the transfer to a hotel.
The hotel was a well-known four-star hotel. The room had perfect view of the park. The room had its own bathroom and toilet. Instead of keys for the room, they inserted a key-card to open the door. On the third floor, there was a restaurant serving Asian and European food. They had variety of food.
The two week in London went by fast. At the end of the 14-day, they were quite tired but they felt very happy.
PANGANDARAN BEACH
The tour to Pangandaran Beach started on holiday last semester. We decided to go to Pangandaran Beach by our motorbike. That was very interesting tour. Riding a motorbike from my hometown, Cirebon, to Pangandaran Beach with my best friends made me feel exited.
The tour to Pangandaran Beach began at 09.00 a.m. in the morning and it took 5 hours riding to Pangandaran Beach. There were so many story that my friends and I got when we were in the tour such as there was my friend who got lost, ran out of fuel in the middle of jungle, and so forth. But it was interesting, because it was the first moment that I ever had in touring.
We arrived at Pangandaran Beach at 02.00 p.m. and we stright to move to the beach. At beach we just lied down there to stretch our muscle because of 5 hours riding. We also had a lunch there by eating some foods that we brought from Cirebon. That was very nice moment when we shared our own food to others.
After we had enough rest, we began to explore Pangandaran Beach. Started by exploring the beach, and the sea using rented boat. Then we went to dive by renting some diving equipment. We could see many coral there. We just had 2 hours to enjoy Pangandaran Beach because we had to come back to Cirebon.
We came back to Cirebon at 04.00 p.m. It was imposible to ride in the night, so we just decided to stay over in our friend house in Ciamis and we started to come back in the morning. That was very nice experience that I and my friends ever had. We would never forget that moment.
MY GRANDPA’S FUNERAL IN TORAJA
Last month my family and I went to Toraja to attend Grandpa’s funeral. It was my first time to go to such a ceremony. We gathered there with our kin in the ceremony.
Overall, the ceremony was quite elaborate. It took about a week. Several days before the ceremony was done, grandpa’s body was kept in a series of houses arranged in a circular row around an open field called tongkonan. His corpse was dressed in a fi ne wearing.
The funeral was performed in two phases. First, we slaughtered the pigs and buffaloes, and then moved the corpse to face north. In this ceremony we wore black clothes. After that, the corpse was placed in a sandal wood coffin. Then, it was brought out of the house and placed on an open platform beneath the granary. Meanwhile, my uncle, my brother, and I prepared the wooden puppet and a funeral tower called lakian. The next phase of the ceremony was held in this place. The coffin is borne from the house and placed in the lakian. During the day, there were also buffalo matches. They were great matches. In the night, we were feasting, chanting, and dancing.
On the last day, the grandpa’s coffin were lowered from the funeral tower and brought up to the mountain side family graveyard. It was followed by great shouting and excitement from the relatives and the guests. Finally, we installed the wooden puppet on a high balcony where other puppets representing the members of a whole family were already there. The funeral ceremonies made my family and me tired. However, we were grateful because it ran smoothly.
MY FIRST EXPERIENCE TO BE AN ALONE BACKPACKER
I like to go out to find a new place.
When I was in second semester, I went to Bekasi alone to visit my friend. I built my strenght to go there without knowing anything.
Firstly, I went to Terboyo to find Sinar Jaya bus to Bekasi. Unfortunately, there was no Sinar Jaya bus. A man in a locket told me to go to someone who could bring me to Bekasi. I felt so happy bacause my planning would be happen. I just payed money and got the bus. Everything was gonna be alright until the bus came to Tegal.
In Tegal bus station, a man in the bus asked me go out from the bus because that bus would bus come to Bandung.,not Jakarta ones. I felt so confused because there were so many strange men around me. After they talked for several hours, i was brought to a new one. I tried to adapt in that bus. People around me said that was true bus to Bekasi. I could not guess what I felt. The bus walked so fast until in Cikampek. When the bus was in Cikampek subway, someone told me that the bus did not pass Cikarang, so when I wanted to go tehre, I had to take off in Lippo.
Fortunately, a man told me that he had the same destination with me. I felt so happy. I could not imagine if there was not that man.
A STUDY TOUR TO BALI
I was in senior high school when at the first time I went to Bali Island. I went there with my teachers and my friends. It was a study tour actually. My teacher, me class friends, and I were in the same bus. We left our school at 8 a.m.
The journey from Pati to Bali took a day. I was so exhausted because I had to sit along the journey. Actually, it was a funny journey because I spent all of my time with my friends, like playing games, laughing, and kidding. But I felt that all of my tiredness gone all of sudden when we arrived at the Sanur Beach. It was still morning, I saw a sun rise which was so beautiful. Then we were drove to the hotel to take a rest and had meals. After that, we went to the Nusa Dua Beach. There were so many activities to do there. We could play parasailing, banana boat, and so on. But I chose to go to a little island which had a lot of reptile there. There were snake, turtles, etc. The scenery was so beautiful because I was in the middle of the sea! Next, we went to Garuda Wisnu Kencana (GWK). There were two statues which were so big. They were Wisnu and his bird, called Garuda. I was interested in its relief on the rock but, actually, I did not know the story on it. At last, we went to the Sosro Company. We learned a lot of things there from the first step till the end of making a tea. After that, we went back to Pati.
After a very long journey, through the land and the sea, I learned something about nature and human products. Although it took a lot of my energy, I felt so happy because I spent all of my time with my friends.
MY BUSY HOLIDAY
On April 16th, 2010, I thought this would be a great holiday for me because that was the holy day for Hindhu people . I was so tired about the study, so I guessed this time I could get full refresh anyway. However, the fact said the other way.
First like an ordinary daughter, I had to get up early morning helping my mother, of course after I prayed. Then I did my chores, cleaned up my room, and spread out my bed under the sun ray. I was really in danger if my mom knew that my room was messy. So, I made it as soon as possible. Second, my aunts called me in the afternoon. I did not meet them for a long time, that was the way I kept for hours to talk with them. After that, unpredictable my neighbor visited me. She asked my help finishing her homework. At last, the time was running and I just remembered that I had a lot of homework. I got mad, confused and regretful why I did not check my homework before. Therefore, I did my homework until 2:00 a.m. the next morning.
I did not feel this was holiday instead of I had to work hard and got a long ship with my homework.
THE FLOOD
One Christmas in 2007, I was joining a final test try out at school. It was held from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. One of my schoolmates, Rini, asked me for accompanying her to the bus stop. When we arrived there, suddenly the heavy rain fell down from the sky. Rini suggested me to go home soon while she was entering the bus.
It was still raining when I was home. The rain did not stop and became bigger when the night had come. People were standing in front of their house, hoping that the flood would not come. In the middle of the night, I got news that South Purwodadi had been drowned.
The next day, Purwodadi had become a flood area. All activities were paralyzed. No one went for work or school because the land had been covered by flood. However, I thank God for not allowing the flood entered my house. Even my house had been changed into an emergency kitchen. It was so crowded there. I and my father took a walk around the center market and Central Purwodadi. All that we could see was water and water. At night, the flood looked like a beautiful ocean with the moonlight on it. I felt as if I was one of the passengers of Titanic who was sailing on the sea.
Finally, the flood was starting to decrease in the next morning. I and my family cleaned our front yard together. That was the greatest flood that I had ever experienced in my hometown.
MY VACATION WITH MY BELOVED SISTER AND BOYFRIEND
One day, my sister said to me that she really wanted to go to the beach. So I promised her that the next day we would go to Maron beach in Semarang.
The next day, we prepared many things in the morning. We brought some foods and beverages, such as fried rice, chocolate wafers, potato chips, water and orange juice. Before going to the beach, I ask my boyfriend, Kiki, to join us going to the beach. He agreed to join and he came to my house. After that, we went to the beach. We went there by motorbike. It took 25 minutes to arrive there. Then, we bought tickets in the entrance gate. Before swimming, we changed our clothes first. We swam there for more than one hour. We felt so tired that we decided to eat the foods that we had brought. Next, my boyfriend and I created a very big sand castle, while my sister continued swimming. After that, we decided to go home because it was getting dark.
On the way home, we still felt hungry. So we stopped at a Javanese restaurant to eat something. I ordered gudeg, while my boyfriend and my sister ordered rames rice. After finished eating, we paid our bills. Then, we went home. We arrived at home at 6 o’clock and we were absolutely exhausted.
That was a very exhausting day, but I felt so happy that I could have a vacation with my sister and my boyfriend.
MY BUSY DAY
Last Monday was a busy day for me. I spent my time to do a lot of activities from college to my home.
First, at the morning, I did my presentation's assignment with my partner, she was Nurhidayah. It took 3 hours. And then we went to the campus for joining lecture. But, the lecturer said that our presentation would be started next week. It made us disappointed. The class was finished at 12.30.
After that, I had to go home because my grandmother was in a bad condition. She was hospitalized. So, it was a must for me to back home at that time. When I got there, there were so many members of my family. There were about 10 people. My aunt, my niece, my uncle and some of my cousins. We all hoped that our grandmother would get better soon.
Those activities made my day busy.
MY UNFORTUNATES
Last weekend was my luckiest day ever. Many good things were coming toward me.
When the morning broke in Sunday morning, I woke up and planned to jog around the neighborhood. So I changed my clothes and went to the bathroom to wash my sleepy face. As I stepped in the bathroom, I landed my foot on a soap in the floor and feel down. A perfect morning hi for me. Next, I began my jogging and saw my gorgeous neighbor, jogging to. I though it was a good fortune to omit the gap between us. So I jogged to him and say hello. But, how poor of me, it was not him. It just someone I never met before who looked like to him. I was going home with people laugh at me along side of the street.
When I got home, the breakfast already settled and I immediately spooned a big portion of rice and ate. After I have done my breakfast my mother came up and said that the meal have not ready yet and she said that I may have a stomachache if I ate it. It was proven, I had a stomachache for the next three days.
I past my weekend lie down on me bed and be served as a queen. That was not really bad, wasn't it.
A PAGE FROM A GIRL'S DIARY
Tuesday, September 30th, 2008
It was takbiran night. It was also my birthday, and nothing happened. Or I had thought nothing would happen, but I was wrong.
That night, I was watching television with my family when I heard someone lit fireworks in my front yard. I peeped trough my window glass but could see nothing. It was very dark outside. Then I thought it had to be my cousins who lit the fireworks. Then I plopped down on my sofa again and tried to concentrate on the television since my mind raced with disappointment that no one gave something special on my birthday. I shrugged, it was almost the end of the day and I became pessimist. Five minutes later my mobile beeped. It was a text from my friend asking me to come out. Wondering what was going on, I grabbed my jacket and hurried to the front door. I was surprised to see her bring a bag full of firework and fire drills. Next I was surprised to see my other friend come out from the darkness. She brought a beautiful birthday cake on her hands. Oh my God! I shrieked. Then they gave the cake to me who was too stunned to say anything. I realized I was blushing furiously because my whole family was watching. Not to mention my neighbors too!
A plain day, or I thought it was before, turned out to be one of the greatest moment in my life. I didn’t even know how to describe what I felt. Happy was the simplest word.
MY FIRST EXPERIENCE TO RIDE MOTORCYCLE
One day, when I was ten years old, my father bought an old motorcycle. That was " Honda 75". I think it was small light object and easy to ride it. I persuaded my father to teach me to ride " Honda 75 ". Firstly, my father refused my request and promised that he would teach me two or three years later, but I still whimpered. Finally, my father surrendered and promised to teach me.
He began to teach me riding the motorcycle around a field in my village. My father was very patient to give me some directions. I was very happy when I realized my ability to ride a motorcycle. " Yes, I can ".
One day later, when I was alone at home, I intended to try my riding ability. So, myself tried bravely. All ran fluently in the beginning, but when I was going back to my home and I must passed through a narrow slippery street, I got nervous. I lost my control and I fell to the ditch.
After that, I told my father about the last accident. I imagined my father would be angry and never let me ride again. But the reality is exactly on the contrary, my father was very proud of me. He just gave me some advices and since that accident, I got my father's permission to ride motorcycle.
A Beautiful Day at Jogja
Last week, my friends and I went to Jogja. We visited many places.
First, we visited Parangtritis beach. The sun shone brightly and the scenery was very beautiful there. We felt the wind blew across to us. We also saw a lot of people in that beach. There werw many birds flew in the sky. Also, there were many sellers who sold many kinds of souvenirs. Second, we visited Gembira Loka Zoo. We saw many kinds of animals there such as monkeys, tigers, crocodiles, snakes, etc. We looked around in that Zoo, and also took pictures of those animals. Then, we felt hungry, so we went to a restaurant. As soon as we finished our lunc, we decided to go home.
For me, that was a beautiful day. we really enjoyed it, and I hope I could visit Jogja again.