“Part of the journey in life is slipping and falling along the way; in these times true friends are the ones who pick you up and dust you off.” ― Ken Poirot

Last year, 2015, was one of hardest parts of my life; there were so many things happened in my life. At that time, there were times when I thought about my life; I thought that I should not be here; I had chosen a wrong path for my life. I was so drown in the dark at that time, until a friend of mine talked to me and I shared my stories with her.

Indri, that is how I call that good friend of mine; I know her since I was in college. She was not my college friend actually; she was a friend of my next door when I lived in dorm. My next door introduced her to me since we have same interest at that time. Since then, Indri and I became friend; we talked about many things, mostly about English because Indri was an English teacher and I was English learner.

Indri is a positive person, even though sometimes she could be a complainer also but mostly I see her as a positive person. In New Year’ Eve last year when I was so lost; I have a sleep over in Indri place. We spent the night by watching some movies and sharing about our life stories; that time I really glad I was there and shared my stories with her because she gave me a really good ear to listen to all of my complaining about life. The next morning she dragged me to run in the neighborhood. She said, “Sometimes, when we feel so lost we need to refresh our mind to think back about life, and one of the easiest ways to refresh our mind is by breath fresh air in the morning”. Sometimes, when we have a problem in life all we need are a good friend to listen to us, fresh air to breath and run as fast as we can to chase what we have left. I am really grateful to have a good positive friend with me. 

Yesterday, I run with her again after a long time. She asked about my life these past days and I said to her that now, I have a big dream that I really want to chase; I want to continue my study. When she heard I said those with serious tone she just smile over me; and when I said that I will find her if I face a problem in the future because I need her ear to listen to my complaint suddenly her smile become a laugh out loud. 

I believe in this saying “A true friend is someone you can count on no matter what” by Bohdi Sanders

Everybody is a writer and every single day is a new chapter of life that is waiting to be written. 

Like a novel, every life in this world has their own story, their own chapter of the book of life. Sad, happy, desperate, motivated, brokenhearted or a lovey dovey one; this story will continue until one day we leave this world

Last ramadhan would be the most memorable ramadhan ever for my big family. It was three days before Lebaran when everybody busied with Lebaran preparation, new clothes, cookies, everything; overwhelming happiness is everywhere and something unexpected happened in my big family

It was when my sister and I had breakfast while watching some television programs; my cell phone rang out loud several times. When I checked my cell phone there were several missed calls from my mother. My mother is not a type of a persistent person, once she called and there was no answer she would call again several hours later, or even the next day or someday when she remembers. It was really suspicious that my mother gave so many calls in a night. With overwhelming happiness I called my mother back. Tut…tut...tut. And there, she picked my call up and to my surprise my mother picked the call up with a trembling voice, I could feel that she was trying so hard not to cry at that moment.

Later I knew that giving a call to my mother that night was not a bad idea. Because of calling my mother that night I knew that something happened to my cousin. That night, three days before Lebaran, where everybody was overwhelmed with happiness welcoming Lebaran, my cousin got into an accident; the whole family was in a fire and the entire family members were rushed to the hospital.

The following day my sister and I visited my cousin in Adam Malik Hospital, it was really a heartbreaking view to see. The entire family members were hurt but the worst were the first child and the third child; both of them had 90% and 85% burns. Seeing those little girls that should be wearing their most cheerful smiles on that day to welcome Lebaran; sleeping in the bedroom with bandages all over their bodies and barely able to move their bodies was really a heartbreaking sight. At that time when we visited my cousin, she did nothing but cry. She cried so hard all the time there was no single word uttered from her mouth but crying. It must be the hardest moment ever in her life.

Lebaran came and everybody celebrated it with the most beautiful smile on their faces but for my big family it was not complete, there was something heavy in our heart. That night, the news that we never want to hear came, the eldest child had passed away. Lebaran, a moment where everybody should be laughing and smiling all the time, was replaced with tears. At that time I saw my cousin, she was really different from the last time I saw her in the hospital; there was no tears in her eyes, not even a single tear fell from her eyes. “I pray to God for the best way for us and this is His answer, I have to be strong for my family, for the children who are still with me because I am the mother”, she said to me.

That is how she writes her book of life, to be a strong mother for the family. How about us? How do we write our book of life?

In this life there are things that we can not change, things that out of our control. However, it is depend on our self of how we want to live our life. We rule our own life; write our own book of life. I believe every single person in this world has their own wonderful story because everybody is a writer and every single day is a new chapter of life that is waiting to be written, the book of life.

Thank you so much for reading ^^

A father should be his son's first hero, and his daughters’ first love...

If you are asked; with whom you prefer to share your daily stories with, mother or father? For me, it would be mother; because mother is more like a friend for me. Then, what about a father? For me father is the guardian of the whole family.

My father is a teacher, math teacher. When you look at my father with his short curly hair, sharp eyes and his goatee, you may think that my father is a killer math teacher. But no, my father is not a typical killer math teacher at home. In my life until me 25 years old I only once seen my father really got mad; it was a long time ago because of my elder brother who was still in high school come home at a very late night;  my father really angry at that time. He never really gets angry to his family, most of the time when he angry he will do it in joke. And when he really, really angry he will just keep silent. If my father silent it means that he is angry.

Myfather is a democratic leader, he never force us to something; most of the timewe discuss about things before it decided. We talk about things when wegathered in the living room while watching television. But my father is aperson who his decision is hard to change; when he already decided somethingeven the world stop spinning he will never change his decision. If he says “NO”to something it means “NO”, no matter what happen.

Myfather just like any other fathers in the world is a shy man. He is an uneasyperson to express his feeling. Just like on his birthday when all of us, thefamily members, sing “happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happybirthday dear father, and happy birthday to you” song to him. He will justlaugh and smile at us. But we can see his happiness trough his eyes. My father neversay “I love you” to us, he rarely said that he miss us. But we know that healways love us and care about us.

 I remember that day was another fine day. That day was Monday, May 30 2005. That day was a very special day for me, because that day was the first day of my final test in high school. It means that after the exam finished, I would no longer a high school student.

Likealways, I went to school with my father. My father drove me to school beforewent to his work. My father is a teacher in other school.

My test began at 8 am in sharp, and that day we only had one subject to be tested.It was 8 am already and the test was about to begun. When a teacher came to my class and called me to go out, I was wondered why did my teacher ask me to go out? Did I do something wrong? At the hall I saw my father was there, I wondered why my father at my school at this hour? I came to him, “You forgot your pencils dear” said my father while letting out some pencils from his bag.At that time I realized that my father worried about me, felt so guilty to my father because I made him come back to my school just for some pencils that actually I didn't really need since I already brought my own pencils for the test.

Father will always be a father; a guardian of the family. Even you never told him your daily stories; even you never heard him say that he loves you. A father will always be the one who worry about you and will always be there to support you.

So,how about you? How do you express your love to your father? ^^

Grandparents make the world ... a little softer, a little kinder, and a little warmer.

My dear friends,

My grandfather was a lovely friend of mine. Since I was a child I spent most of my childhood days in my grandparents' place. I spent more time in my grandparents' house than in mine. My house and my grandparents' house were in the same neighborhood. Every day when everybody was busy with their daily life activities, my parents would leave me to my grandparents care. I love my grandfather the most; he always spent his time accompanying me playing. When he was reading a newspaper or magazine or when he was watching television, he always put me on his lap. I liked that the most. He was the one who always spoilt me. Even though sometime he was teasing me, he still was my favorite.

With my grandfather, I could share everything; he was a smart grandfather. He checked the report cards of all of his grandchildren at school. He also listens to our problems in our school; we discussed many things. He, my grandfather, seldom scolded his grandchild; he was more like a friend to us, his grandchildren. Even sometimes, we, grandchildren and grandfather, were teasing our grandmother together and then we would be scolded together too by our grandmother..

When I was in my second year of my junior high school my grandmother passed away, I knew that was a very hard time for my grandfather. My grandfather who was full of happiness and cheerful, but now I couldn't see his smile as cheerful as before. He must have really loved my grandmother.

When I was in high school, I couldn't spend much time visiting my grandfather. Before, I could spend all of my days at my grandfather's house. I only visited him once a while on Sunday, since our house is not in his neighborhood any more.

One Saturday afternoon, my uncle who lives with my grandfather came to our house and informed us that my grandfather was hospitalized. Me and my parents were shocked. It had been a while since the last time I met my grandfather. I did not know that he was sick. My parents said that we would visit him tomorrow morning, but I would have a test in my cram school the next day. The next day, we came to the hospital to visit my grandfather and then I went to my cram school test.

It was a heavy rainy Sunday, the test already done by 5pm but I decided to wait until the result of the test announced. The result was announced by 7pm and the happiest thing was that I got the first rank of the test; I was really happy and really could not wait to tell my mother that I was the first rank. That evening, passing through the flood cause by heavy rain I went back to the hospital because my parents still there.  I ran on the road as fast as I could to tell my parents my happiness but I was stunned when I was in front of my grandfather's room. There, in my grandfather's room there were so many people with sad eyes, I heard sadly crying. I did not know what was going on in there. I was so afraid. I decided to wait in the lobby with some relatives. In the night, when some relatives went home already, my aunt asked me to stay with her in the hospital but I refused because I had to go to school the next morning and I had my cram school after that, I explained. Because I did not want to stay in the hospital, my father decided to stay to accompany my aunt.

That night, my mother and I arrived at home around 10pm. I prepared for everything I needed for school tomorrow, my books, my home works, everything. I went to bed around 11.15pm. That night, when I was about to sleep, I could hear my father's voice clearly calling us out. My mother comes to my room with teary eyes, she was crying, she come to my bed and holds me tight and said that my grandfather had already gone. At that time I did not know if it was just a dream or real but all I knew that I cried so hard. I had lost my last time to spend with my grandfather that I really love.

That night no one knew that I was the first rank in my cram school test, the happiest news that I really wanted to share to my parents and my grandfather. That night I was not only lost my grandfather, but also one of my best friends.  That night, I lost the time when he talked to me softly; I lost the time when he teases me. That night nobody knows how I regret the time that I never shared with my grandfather.

My dear friends,

Time is more precious than gold, more precious than diamonds, more precious than oil or any valuable treasures. Treasure the time that you still have with everyone you love.

Last Saturday we celebrated 14th years anniversary of our English Club "Deli". The theme was "14 Years Old Express Yourself" and the dress code was "Harajuku style". Our meeting room for that day was very special, our meeting room for that day was decor with many sakura flowers, paper crane, balloons and ribbons. We need about 2 hours to prepare the room for the meeting. Some of the attendee was coming with special dress, even some came with their usual dress. That Saturday was very, very special even the birthday cake was very special too.

One of friends said that the cake was too cute to be cut, but still we cut it and it tasted so yummy. That Saturday was the longest meeting we had, we usually end the meeting at 6 PM but that day we end the meeting almost 7 PM but everybody was really happy, we sang and dance together in the meeting room everybody express their 14 years old at that time. That Saturday everybody was 14 years old.

At the end of the meeting, we break the balloons together, take pictures and then clean up the mess we made. It was so fun!Happy birthday to my beloved Deli Toastmasters Club. Let's Learn English More!!!

Last 27th May 2012 was my twin cutes nephews first year birthday. We had a simple celebration for my nephews, some close relatives come to say happy birthday to my beloved nephews. We had a "Akikahan" on that day (it's Islamic tradition). After "Akikahan" my sister in low brought the cake out and we sang Happy Birthday' song together. We all were really happy, even my twin nephews really happy too. When we clap our hands while sang Happy Birthday's song together they clap their hands happily too. They really cute. After sang together we kissed the twins while saying our hope for them and then they look not really like to be kissed but we love to kiss them. Then my sister in low cut the cake and then we ate the cake together. 

That day my nephews got many presents. most of them are pair clothes or car toy. It was a very happy day when all the family member gather to say happy birthday to my beloved nephews. 

My nephews 1 year old already, now they already can crawl everywhere. Now they learn how to walk, actually they already can stand up by their own but they still afraid to make step. 

My nephews happy 1 year old birthday, hope you became lovely child, love your God, your parents, family, grow up became a smart boys, care with your environment.

Over all be lovable child.

 “People like to label somebody else without aware on the effect that might be happen the person or the victim that they labeled with”

“JuGul!!!!!!!!”, My teacher and my classmates have been labeling me with that word when I was in High School. It was the shortening of my name, JUmaida GULtom. One of my teachers created and awarded that name-calling to me. Even it was only the creative shortened of my name; I didn’t like being called “Jugul” at all because it has a bad meaning in Bataknese language. JuGul means a pig headed or bull headed. I was not JuGul at all. Even if, I was Jugul, they did not deserve to insult me in such way. Whatever their reason was, I just didn’t like being labeled as JuGul. My teacher said that it was just for fun to make others laughing and to make the class become more alive. Yes…., they were having fun with it but I felt insulting of it.

I ignored anybody who called me with that name and declared to them all that I would not talk with them as long as they called me “JuGul” but it didn’t work.

One day, the teacher who created that name asked me to go in front of the class to answer his question on the board. Because of he called me “JuGul” instead of Jumaida Gultom. I just kept silent on my seat. All of my classmates stared at me curiously. My teacher approached me to my seat and asked me why I didn’t response on his calling. Simply I replied to him that I didn’t hear my name was called. For my surprised, He laughed at me and wondering why I was still arguing with him about that name. I said to him that I didn't like it because my parents named me Jumaida with a purpose. There was deep meaning on my name, it’s a hope in it to me. Since that time my teacher and friends were no longer called me “JuGul”. but some of them keep calling me “Jugul” until now.

It was one of a slight example of labeling other just for fun. Let’s see another case. This story came from an anime TV series titled “Detective School Q”, Hoshihiko Kokuo who was known as King Hades, the antagonist in the movie. He was labeled as “the criminal” since he was General High School. He was not a criminal at all and he was a good boy and a type of cheerful student. He was labeled as “Criminal” when his hidden identity was revealed to public that he was a son of a multi-talented genius artist, Takumi Kuzuryu, who well knows as a very genius criminal. All of his artwork masterpieces were created for the crime purposes. Since that time, he was bullied and labeled as a criminal by his classmates and even his teachers too. Hoshihiko felt disappointed and felt like being betrayed by them. He punished them all by secretly putting a chemical substance to set fire in the bathroom and burnt them all. He arranged that incident as if it was just normal accident and then he was scot-free. Dan, Hoshihiko's best friend tried to convince him that he was committing a crime. Hoshihiko said to Dan that both of them couldn't be a friend anymore like before because they both have aimed different goals of life and then he left the school.

Labels are things you stick on something or someone like a Nametag. Sometimes labels can be good which is usually bring a sense of identity to a person and can bring benefits along with it. Other times labels can be bad. It can have long term negative effects to that person.

The use of labels is more than judgmental and hurtful as well. Unfortunately when it comes to labeling, we are more likely to say something unpleasant and insulting over something positive. Labels can be just as damaging, as they are rewarding.

The Given "criminal” label to Hoshihiko Kokuo has made him became the real criminal. We need to stop labeling other people with negative one! We don’t need doing that because we’re all human beings and all of us deserve get respect from others. We will never know how the label could affect somebody's life.

“Please, stop labeling people!”

Last 1^st January 2012 new years’ evening I and my friends went camping; that was my very first time camping. Since I was a child I have never gone camping. My parents never allowed me to go camping; they were too worried about me since I am a girl. We went to Sibolangit. Sibolangit is one of the most popular places for camping; many people go there for camping and hiking.

I went to Sibolangit with 7 of my friends; since that was my very first time camping I was really excited. We went to Sibolangit on Friday, 30 December on bus named Sutra “Sumatra Transport”.  Sibolangit is about 40km away from Medan, my town. We arrived at 21.00pm, to reach our camp location we had to walk about 2 – 3 km. That night the temperature was really cold, rain fell all night long. After walking around for 35 minutes; finally we reached the post for all campers; but we couldn’t set up our tent since the rain was pouring heavily. We waited until the rain stopped to fix our tent to sleep. It was almost 2.00pm when the rain finally stopped; two of our friends went to fix the tent for us. I will never forget the place where I slept in a tent in the forest for the first time that night. I was so tired and sleepy so I fell asleep immediately that night.

The next morning we woke up at 8.00pm. We planned to go to “Dwi Warna” waterfall that day; everybody was so excited with this trip plan. To go to “Dwi Warna” waterfall we needed to hire a guide to guide us. We left for “Dwi Warna” waterfall at 12.30pm, to reach “Dwi Warna” waterfall we need to cross forest and climb a mountain that is why we needed a guide. We spent almost two hours from the post to reach “Dwi Warna” waterfall and the trail was not easy at all. We had to cross forest and the trail was steep. We fell so many times, but that did not discourage us from continuing on to “Dwi Warna” waterfall, our destination. Everybody was so excited, we even sang a song.

We arrived at our destination “Dwi Warna” waterfall at almost 3.00pm. We built a tent there to shelter us from rain. It’s such a beautiful place; we were so excited and took pictures as much as possible even though it was raining. We headed back to our post at 4.00pm.

That night was new years’ evening but rain kept falling.  We could not go back to our tent because water was already stagnating in it; we spent that night in the post. Even though that night it was raining heavily, we still could feel the festive atmosphere of new years’ eve. That night we were still able to watch many fireworks in the sky. It was so beautiful. From that post we could see Medan from afar; Medan from distance is beautiful and full of light. It was like stars in the sky. 

Like the night before, the rain stopped at almost 2.00am but none of us fell asleep that night. We keep chatting to each other and playing cards. After the rain stopped we went back to our tent and we had to fill up on water. In order to have a restful sleep we had to drain our tent; at 03.00am we were finally able to sleep after a long and tiring trip that day.

1^st January 2012 we planned to go back to Medan. At first we planned to go back early but since that day we all woke up late and we planned to have a walk before going; we finally left campground to go back to Medan at 6.20pm. We waited for the bus almost one hour. Finally the bus came and we were able to go back to Medan, but since we had many things with us and we brought big bags we were not allowed to enter the bus. If we wanted to ride with the bus we had to sit on rooftop. Oh my God!

The road was really busy since that day was new years after all. We got stuck in traffic jams several times and the longest one lasted almost one hour. On the way home, I noticed some unique habits from the local ethnic people. They leave their houses on new years and visit graves where they light candles.

Finally I arrived at home at 11.10pm. It’s the most wonderful new years I have ever had. I will never forget it.

Happy new years!

When I read the Analisa Daily on 1st December 2011, I found out that Medan has a clean water crisis problem right now. The clean water crisis problem that is happening in Medan is caused by the growth in population and housing development.

Meanwhile the sources of clean water are limited and the absorption of water is also almost no longer available. Many of the green belt and water catchment areas have been converted into areas for housing, business, and even for industry. Whereas, these green belt and water catchment areas are supposed to be maintained and preserved as the sources of the water for the town. Moreover, global climate change, especially the global warming also has great effects on the water circulation. The environmental damage especially the damage to the forest; impact on the decrease in water supply. Consequently the means for clean water availability is threatened.

The damages to the forest means the environmental damage is getting worse and causes drought and scarcity of clean water in most parts of Indonesia, including Medan. Meanwhile, the forests, as a catchment area of water, are getting less because of many irresponsible people denuding the forests.

The scarcity of water is not only caused by the damages to the forests but also caused by the carelessness of the people with their environment. As is known, the quality of well water, river water and soil water in Medan has been polluted. On the other hand everybody needs water, as much as 90 liters for their life every day. Medan, as the third largest town in Indonesia has a population of around 2.6 million. It means that Medan uses more than 234,000,000 thousand liters every day. Along with the increase in the population the needs for water also increase.

The scarcity of clean water causes many problems in life; one of the problems is the health problem. Many diseases are caused by consuming not good water in daily activity like; cholera, hepatitis, typhoid, dysentery trachoma, scabies, yellow fever, diarrhea, and excreta. It’s going to be another problem that people should think about.

How to prevent our environment from having a scarcity of clean water? The answer is we have to give more care about our environment; because water is one of the most important things in human life, because water is one of the most important things in human life.

People could not live without water.

Last Sunday one of my cousins got married, so we went to her parents’ house where the wedding party was held.  We went to the party together with the other cousins since we didn’t really know where exactly the place was; since we did not get any invention card of the wedding. The entire thing that we knew was the wedding was held in Tandem Hilir; her parents’ house, that’s all. And we never know where Tandem Hilir is, because we never visited her parents’ house before.

We off from Medan to start our journey for that day were at 8am. Before we went to the wedding party, we called another cousin who had already arrived at the venue of the party in order to get the right directions. He said that Tandem Hilir is about 35km away from Medan. He gave us some clues to recognize the place. After the call we start our journey for that Sunday.

When we off from Medan to go the wedding party, we were really happy. We sang a lot of songs. We prepared much food for the journey too. While we sang we ate food. It was a very happy day for a journey. We observed the road that we passed and commented on it. And then we saw there was a big gate said that “Welcome to Tandem Hilir” we were really happy; finally we had arrived at Tandem Hilir. But wait, where’s the wedding party? We didn’t know the exact place. Then we called our cousin again and he said that to follow the road until we arrived at intersection that had a sign with “young coconut leaf” in the left side. But what a surprised, on the entire road we had passed there were so many “young coconut leaf” at the intersection. So, we decided to go on and finally we got lost. We got lost in the sugarcane plantation; all the things that we could see were only the sky and the sugarcane. It was at 12.35pm, the weather was unfriendly. The temperature was about 34C degrees, it was really hot even though we were in the car. We called our cousin again to ask the right direction and then he said that we have to go to Tandem Hilir II and he advised us to ask the locals about that Tandem Hilir II and he will pick us at the intersection of Tandem Hilir II. We were almost 2 hours in that sugarcane plantation.

We asked the locals about Tandem Hilir II and finally we met with our cousin who picked us up; and finally we arrived at the wedding party place. We arrived at 2.30pm.

It’s a long tiring journey.

A few days ago I watched Winnie the Pooh: Piglet big story movie. It has been along time since I watched a Winnie the Pooh movie; Winnie the Pooh is a really famous Disney cartoon. The Winnie the Pooh story is about friendship; Pooh has many friends, they are Tigger, Rabbit, Eeyore, Kanga and Roo, and Christoper Robin, the only human on this story and of course the little pink one Piglet.They are very good friends.

One day Pooh, Rabbit, Eeyore and Tigger wanted to harvest some honey in the forest, but they were not counting on piglet in their planning since piglet was too small to count on. Actually Piglet wanted to have a role too; he wanted to help his friends. Since piglet has no role, when the time to harvest the honey came, he only watched all of his friends doing their plan. But the plan did not go well. When Pooh and friends harvested the honey, all of the bees come out after Pooh and friends. They ran as fast as they could and no one of them realized that Piglet was not there with them anymore. They look for Piglet to Piglet’s home but he was not there. They decided to look for Piglet but they didn’t know where to start. So, they decided to look for Piglet according to the diary.

Piglet wrote all the things that he and his friends do in the diary. Like one day, when they want to built a home for Eeyore since Eeyore lost his home because of a snow storm. That day, they tried to find an idea how to build a home for Eeyore; all of the others ideas were listened, but not Piglet, just because he was too small. Another story was when all of them and Christopher Robin looked for the North Pole. Actually it was not the true North Pole, it was only a game from Christopher Robin. At that time the hyperactive Roo fell into the river and everyone was panicking, but nothing useful could be done to help Roo. Everyone was only busy with themselves; actually they all wanted to help Roo too, but in the end they just make everything more of a ruin. Piglet thought how to help litle Roo. Even Piglet was small, he gave his best effort to help Roo; that time Piglet helped Roo to get out of the river by using a stick as a bridge for Roo so he could get back to the land.

Watching this “Piglet big story” movie made me realize what is the meaning of friendship; friendship is about helping each other, always being there when somebody that we called a friend needs us. No matter how big is your body, it’s all about how big is your heart

heartJust like one of my friends ; she was studying computer engineering. When we have any problem about our computer we will consult to her. She never refused to help. When she said “yes, I will be there to check it tomorrow”, she will be there tomorrow. I always ask her why she wants to spend her day checking people’s computers, since she has her own life too. She said, “Life is about socialization and helping each other, one day I will need the others help too”.

My friends and Piglet remind me about the true meaning of life. That is “helping”.

I wonder how life could be if all the people in the world were having the same thought like the two of them.

Do you guys love boy band? What is your favorite boy band? I think not everybody loves boy band; but I am a boy band lovers. Westlife is one of my favorite boy bands.

In 2000’s, Westlife was really booming; we could heard Westlife’s songs where ever we go. Westlife was really famous and they had a lot of fans all over the world including me. I really love Westlife; I love the entire good looking members and all of their easy listening songs. One of my favorite songs is ‘I Have a Dream’. I have my own story with that song. ‘I Have a Dream’ was the first English song that I learned and I could sing the song without any text.

First of all, I didn’t pay any attention to any English songs; because I didn’t understand what their songs about. I didn’t like it at all. But, my sister persuade me; she made me listened to Westlife’s song everyday; since she was one of the fans too. My sister succeeded; she could make me fell in love with Westlife’s songs. Everyday I listen to Westlife's song, it was very attractive to me; but still i didn't understand what their song was about; since I didn't know English at all..

At that time I convinced myself that I have to learn English so I could understand what their song’s about. The first English song I learned was ‘I Have a Dream’ by Westlife. I listen to that song everyday; I wrote the lyrics by listening to the song. I listened to the song over and over until I could write all of the lyrics. When I listened to the song I prepared myself with a dictionary; so when I heard one word that I didn’t understand I had my dictionary to consult.

I learned English for the first time when I was in junior high school. English is not my mother language, so I thought it could be so hard to learn. I had to give all my effort to learn this language. Some of my school friend went to cram school to learn this language. I was asked my mother too if I could went to cram school like what my friends did. When I asked her, she said “no, you don’t need it because you can learn it by yourself” to me. Yeah, ok fine. Yeah, even I didn’t have any cram school I could do it, I convinced myself. I said “I could do it” to myself.

My sister bought me an English grammar book; that’s my very first English book. I was really happy. When I had my time I read the book; I learned by myself. When I had any problem, I asked my sister (my sister four years older than me) to help me solved the problem. She helps me in English so much; she wrote many English lyrics and my task was to translate the lyrics into Bahasa Indonesia. I like it so much. At school, I gave full of my attention to the teacher’s explanations. Since, the subject was new and I never learn before.

Now, I really fall in to English; I want to improve my English better and better. Thank you so much for Westlife for making me very interest to English at the first place. And now, I still listen to the some English song and write down the lyrics in order to improve my listening skill.

Thank you so much for reading ^^

How many cyber friends that you have? What do you think about making as much as friends in cyber world?

I have some social network accounts and I have around three hundreds cyber friends. Not really much friends, but I really like it so much. My friends are come from different backgrounds. It’s so excited to meet many people, I felt like I could contact with another side of the world. I got much information and many lesson from these friends. I could share all the things on my mind with these friends. I could have much information about my hobbies, my favorite music, the newest drama or movie and the most important I could learn many things from these friends. That’s why I love my cyber friends so much.

With these cyber friends I could talk anything, sometimes talking to somebody who I never meet makes me more comfortable. When somebody gives any respond it makes me really happy. Have these great cyber friends makes me wonder how was the other side of the world look like? Are these cyber friends only my imaginary friends?  I don’t know.

Sometimes my real friends, in my real world said that have cyber friends makes me autism.  It’s like I have my own world with my cyber friends. They said that having cyber friends makes me not sensitive with people around me. I don’t know. I am sorry.

One day, one of my real friends in my real world ever said that how if I lost my connection with the internet in my whole life? What would be happening in my life? I couldn’t answer these questions. I never imagine about that before.

Having many great cyber friends is really wonderful thing. I love my cyber friends. But, I know here in my real life I have many great friends too that always care and love me. I love them too. Having many great cyber friends is like having imaginary friends for me. They are awesome; open my mind to another side of the world; teach me many things.

Thank you so much for being my cyber friends….. ^0^

Today I woke up earlier. Today I woke up at 6 Am; on Sunday I usually wake up at 8 Am. When we wake up earlier than usual, day became longer. At 9 Am, all the things that I had to do were done. Because it’s done earlier than usual; so I and my sister decided to ask our boarding house friends if they have any time go to somewhere today.

When we had agreement from our boarding house friends then we made our journey planned for today. Our journey for today used motor cycle.

Our first destination was ‘Asam Kumbang’. ‘Asam Kumbang’ is a famous crocodile husbandry in my town. Actually it’s not really far from our house; but no one of us knew where is the exactly place of the crocodile husbandry. We were just moving around in the same street. After awhile, finally we decided to give up. We decided to go back and planned a new destination. We decided to go to ‘Cemara Asri’. It’s about one hour away from our last location. The day was really hot, it was about 34 Celsius degree; and we trough it away. It was really hot but we were still happy.

We arrived in the ‘Cemara Asri’ at 12 Pm. ‘Cemara Asri’ is a very beautiful place.

It’s a pleasant place. Many people came there with their family. There’s a green lake with many flamingoes. In the other side of the green lake there’s a beautiful Buddhist Temple.

That Buddhist Temple is one of the biggest ones in the Southeast Asia.

At 1 Pm, we go to the mosque for praying. ‘Cemara Asri’ not only has a big beautiful Buddhist Temple but also a beautiful mosque. The mosque interior is made by woodcut, it’s so beautiful.

After praying we decided to find a place to have lunch. Since, we are strangers in ‘Cemara Asri’; so we decided to have lunch in the other place and away to the next destination. After moving around, we finally decided to have lunch in ‘Joko Solo’; it’s about 45 minutes away from ‘Cemara Asri’. In ‘Joko Solo’ we ate our lunch and planned our next destination. We all ate ‘ayam penyet’; it’s one of the famous foods in my town. We stayed in ‘Joko Solo’ until 4 Pm.

After having lunch, we go to the next destination. This time our destination is a department store because my friends need to bought some things there. It’s one of the biggest department stores in my town ‘Medan Fair Plaza’. The department store was so crowded on Sunday like always.  There, we just take a look and walking around. After awhile we decided to back home.

On the way back home me and my sister stopped in fish shop and bought some fish for dinner. That’s our last destination before arrived at home. We were arrived at home at 7 Pm. It was a long journey, so tired but very fun. This was my first time experienced to go somewhere in my town by motor cycle. I usually use buses.

In the night I and my sister have a phone call with our father to say happy father’s day and said that we always love him, a lot. Actually, we regularly have a phone call with our parents ^^. Since today is father’s day; so today is different. Today is more special. Even we cannot give him any precious things today.

We love you so much father ^^.

Today is another wonderful day. Thanks God ‘Alhamdulillah’ for this wonderful day.

Thank you so much for reading my story ^0^

Last Saturday, I had a very wonderful day.  I had to work hard to fulfill the promise I made. This week, my old friend suddenly called me and he asked me to come to his sister wedding party on June 11st.  Without thinking I said, “Yes, I will be there” to him. Since we are almost more than six years did not meet each other, so I think it’s would be so fun. The wedding party would be held in my village. In the other side, I was forgotten that this Saturday was my English club regular meeting. This week meeting was very special to my club because this Saturday was my club anniversary. My English club is in my town Medan. When Friday come then I got confused, “how will I fill the promises I made?” My village and my town is about 150 km separated.

Friday night, I decided to go back to my village, I arrived at 10.36 pm. It was so tired day and it getting worst when I realized that my cell phone was gone. I was really sad of that.

In the morning, I go to my friend home to fill the promise I made. When I arrived there, the wedding party was not begun yet. I was coming so early. But the point is I could meet him after a long time. It was really fun. After having a conversation about 30 minutes, I decided to go back home in order to go back to my town and attending my club meeting. From my village it’s about 3.5 hours to my town. At 2.35 pm, I finally arrived in my town. Thanks God. I still can go to my club meeting because it starts at 3.00pm. So, I was not coming late. I was really happy.

It was a really great meeting. Since it was my club 13^th anniversary, so the theme for today was ‘Friday the 13^th’. Some of the member dressed like a ghost, even one of the member cried because she was scared of the ghost. At the end of the meeting all of the attendees sang a birthday song together. It was really fun meeting.

But the happiest thing for me was when I could fill all the promises I made. I was really great; I even forgot the sadness about my cell phone. Thanks God.

I was really great but I felt very tired. This Saturday gave a lesson, don’t make any promise easily. If you couldn’t fill it just say ‘no’ at the beginning. Or you must give your best to fill it ^^

Thank you so much for reading ^^

Today, I made a new friend. He is a different kind of boy. He had made a very big choice in his life; he chose to be different from others. He told us that he is a gay and he doesn't believe in God. Well, I’ve ever heard anything like this before but this is the very first time for me to meet someone like him. I was surprised because he told us about his personal life. He said that he wanted to have a real conversation, so he told us about his personal life.

He said that being different from others is not easy; there are many people that cannot accept his decision. But, he said that right now he is in a situation that he could accept all the things in his life; he doesn’t care about what people say about his life. Life is too short to think about what people say. He wants to be happy in this short life in his own way.

For me, I'm not really interested in the lives of others (as long as he doesn't bothering me Its OK for me). Everybody has a right to choose the way they live as long as they don't bother others.

Meeting this guy made me realize that there are many kinds of people in this world and we can’t force somebody to become like us. People are unique. Everybody has their own way to live their life.You can choose your own way to live your life happily as long as you do not bother other people because this life is too short. So, just the way you are (Bruno Mars).

Pematang Siantar is the second big town in my Province. It’s about 45 km away from my village Pematang Bandar and about 150 km from the capital of my Province Medan. The native ethnic of Pematang Siantar is 'Bataknese'. Most of the people who live in Pematang Siantar used Batak language in their life even in the market.

There is a famous traditional market in Pematang Siantar that is Horas Market. The name of the market is taken from the greeting of Bataknese ‘Horas’. In Bataknese when somebody meets the other they will say Horas to each other. Horas Market is located in the center of the town. Horas Market has four main building. The style of the Horas building is very Batak, each building of Horas Market has a gateway with Batak traditional house style.

The other uniqueness of Pematang Siantar is the Pematang Siantar’s tricycle motor.

Pematang Siantar's tricycle motor is an old motorcycle that is BSA (Birmingham Small Arms). According to what I’ve known, in Indonesia this BSA (Birmingham Small Arms) that used as tricycle only find in Pematang Siantar and we can find it in large of mount. This BSA tricycle became the mascot of the Pematang Siantar.

Pematang Siantar is not a really big town but it's still could be a comfortable place to live in. Pematang Siantar has a fresh air and the temperature is not really hot. From Pematang Siantar it's only take 30 minuets to go to the beautiful lake 'Toba Lake'.

When you have time you can visit Pematang Siantar and experience all the uniqueness of Pematang Siantar ^^

Have you ever been rejected by somebody before? How many rejected that you have? Every day I could be rejected many times. 

I work for an Environmental NGO and my position is as a Direct Dialogue Fundraiser.  My duty is to asked people to take more care about our earth and give their support to our NGO. Every day I make a little presentation to people, and make sure that they can catch the idea about what I’ve said. In order to make a little presentation, I have to make some people look at me and stop.

Commonly we are located on the street or we have some venues in the mall. The first time I did this job, I thought this just a piece of cake and every one could do this job. Then I knew this job is not as easy as I thought. It is not that easy to get people to stop and listen to what I want to tell them. I get rejected so many times . Even in one day I could only be rejected, rejected and rejected. Sometimes it is frustrating for me.

As a Direct Dialogue Fundraiser I have a very important message about this fragile mother earth that I have to tell to people, this one of my way to get back my mood. The other is my friends. We Direct Dialogue Fundraiser work in a team, I have so many great teammates. We always support each other. When I feel in such a bad mood, the others will make me feel better by making some jokes or doing something funny.

 I believe that friends could make us always feel better even though we have so many rejection in a day; friends are a part of our life that we can share all the things and of course we must have our own way to take control of our mood.

Have a very nice day everyone ^^

yesterday, i went out of my town by train. this was my very first experience go somewhere by train. i was very afraid at the first time, because the train shaking me too much but then it's going to be a normal for me. i became familiar with the shaking.

in my town train is not a really familiar transportation. if somebody would like to go to somewhere the citizen  mostly choose to go by bus.  because train doesn't cross all over my province, just some part of my province.

i spent 6 hours on the train until i arrived on my destination. when i heard the bell was rang "ting tung, ting tung" and the train was moving, the official check the ticket.

the train stop at all the railway station. when the train stop many of  carry on shoulders come in to the railway coach and offer their merchant to all the passengers and make the railway coach like a traditional market. here, they have any kind of food that you want. so when we go with train we will never feel hungry because there are many food here.

railway transportation in my town is not a new one, the citizen used the train as transportation since 1920. in my province there are 7 railway stations and the central is in my town Medan. the railway station located in the central of the town. the railway station is one of the historical building in my town. the station near the old town of Medan where all the historical building still guarded.

this is my first experience and i feel really happy to go somewhere by railway transpotation, i hope someday i could experience another railway transportation on the other town or country.