Dewa Athena

Hi everyone!

This time, I would like to tell you about an event that happened at my school.

Last Saturday, on the 25^th of March 2017, my school held a sporting event called Dewa Athena at Lapangan Bali. It is an annual competitive sporting event between classes. Everyone has to participate in at least one of the activities. There were many sports competition, starting from badminton, soccer, basketball, dodge ball, volley, tug of war, estafet, gobak sodor, and many more.

The opening ceremony for the event started at half past seven in the morning. Then, each class attended their respective sports category according to their scheduled time. My class, X Science 3, started with gobak sodor, which is a traditional sport game that includes two teams and ropes to mark the territory of each team. The objective of the game is to get past the other team without getting touched by them. For this game, my class lost. After gobak sodor, it was time for the boy’s basketball competition, but unfortunately we lost this one aswell.

Sadly, I didn’t attend the whole event because at 9 a.m. I had to practice angklung at school. Because of this, I left Lapangan Bali right after the boy’s basketball competition, collected my angklung, and gathered at XII Science 5 class. My day continued just like any other practice day, which consists of song practices and flow practice. The reason why it was very important that we had to attend practice that Saturday was because it was the second last evaluation before our concert.

I was pretty disappointed that I didn’t get to see my class fight their way to the finals. I was also sad because I couldn’t be there to support my teammates. However, I realized that no matter how hard I tried, I could never attend both at the same time. I had to choose between either one, and even though I didn’t attend the first day of Dewa Athena, I can support my class on the second day which will be held the following Saturday.

Learning From Nature

Nature is all around us. It is there wherever we go, not only in big aspects but also in the smallest form. There is a wide range of different conception and opinion people have on this critical subject matter. Some describe nature as the physical world and everything in it such as plants, animal, land, air, water, mountains, etc. It is also sometimes described as the phenomena of the physical world collectively, including features and products of the earth, as opposed to man-made or human creations.

We as humans know what nature is, but somehow we rarely take it into account. Sometimes humans are too busy in their modern and civilized world that they forget the basic yet vital aspect they need in their life. Even though there are countless ways we can get in touch with nature and all its components, we don’t take that in our advantage. Before technology, all humans had was nature and the environment around their living area. As time passed and more advanced living skills were adapted into daily activities, we somehow forget about the simple but important aspect in our life, which is nature.

Although the application and use of nature in this era, the globalization era, is much different than that of the historical era, it is still of much use to every living thing especially humans. Hundreds of years ago, nature benefits the people by providing all kinds of things such as food, shelter, tools and knick-knacks, weapons, and more. Back then, they had no clue of what anything was and so they had to make use of their minds and figure out how to live by accepting and using what they had then. Humans now should take the good example of cavemen then. There are lots of aspects of nature and ways we can take advantage of it in our lives.

Nature as beautiful as it is has always inspired human progeny for years and years and continues to inspire up until now as well. One of the things that can inspire us from nature is the beautiful rising sun that shines and paints the sky form dawn till dusk. When it appears, there is a sense of optimism and happiness in the air. The mere coming up of the sun and the bright shine it lets out not only rejuvenates us but also makes us ready for the day ahead. However dark the night was, there will be always be light the next day. From this, we learn that if nothing goes well, there will always be a bright side to it.

Another aspect of nature is the river that gushes down toward the sea awaiting its unison. Well aware of the intricate path, it continues to flow. Human nature has always been evident of choosing their own path, which often has less obstacles and efforts. The lesson we can take from rivers would be to face every difficulty with equal energy and flow with whatever the outcome is.

Each season nature brings has its own message for us. Winter brings cozy chills, while spring gets us jolly blossoms. Summer brings us warmth, while wet monsoon brings us sweet fragrance. It is important for us to decipher this message however we feel as long as it brings goodness to us.

There are so much more things we can learn from nature. We might not always feel it, but by learning from nature’s aspects, we can shape ourselves to be a better individual.

CROSSWORD PUZZLE

DOWN

1.       (adj) Moving with great speed.

2.       One of the expanded, usually green organs bome by the plant stem

3.       The juice or vital circulating fluid of a plant

4.       Colorless, odorless, gaseous element that we breath

5.       Rapidity of motion or operation

6.       (adj) Threatened with extinction

7.       A person who forecast the weather

8.       An Eskimo house

9.       Large, edible, tropical fruit of the melberry family

10.   (Pronoun) Used to represent an inanimate thing

11.   Expression affected by unhappiness

ACROSS

12.   The liquid content of a river

13.   The wife of the king

14.   A woodwind instrument with a slender conical, tubular body and a double-reed mouthpiece

15.   Objective case of we

16.   A small, round blemish

17.   A stiped, black and white mammal

18.   A compound tissue in vascular plant that help provide water and nutrient

19.   The colour that blue and green makes

20.   (adj) To posses or to emphasize the idea of ownership

21.   A period of dry weather

22.   To provide support

23.   Gone by or elapsed in time

24.   The colored portion of the eye

25.   (adj) Not bright

Knows No Weariness

As a human being, we can’t live alone. We need others in our life to help us with some things that we can’t do ourselves. There’s no limit as to who may help you and what they may help you with. It might be a kid below your age or even an elderly.

One of the people who have been helping me a lot is my driver. His name is Yana but I usually call him Om Yana. He has been working for my parents on and off for almost 6 years. He works every day except for Sunday, and for most days he works from 5 a.m. until 7 p.m. or even later. His job is very hard because he has to synchronize with the schedule of 5 people with different activities and different needs. My brothers and I get off from school at different times; sometimes early in the afternoon and sometimes late at night. Plus, my mum often has to go to work in Jakarta; therefore he has to wake up very early so that my mum can catch her meeting.

Different from any other driver that have worked at my house, Om Yana is very patient. His patience is often tested whenever any of us has a change of schedule and didn't tell him soon enough. Another example is when he has to wait for hours because we come out of school late. During these 6 years, I've grown very comfortable with his style of driving and time management because he’s very easy to contact whenever I need to be picked up or driven somewhere.

Sometimes I forget to appreciate the little things that happen and also the people who help me. But I know that I would be helpless without him or even with a different driver to help me around. 

A Short, but Meaningful Holiday

The last few weeks leading up to 2017 was a little different than any New Year celebration I've ever encountered. It wasn't as exciting and liberating as the past two years, where I spent the holidays with my extended family. We used to have barbecues, light up fireworks, and blow the silly horns till midnight. But this year, none of that happened. The biggest difference might be the fact that my family wasn't together during that holidays; my dad was in Padang, my older brother was in Bandung, whereas me, my mum, and my little brother were all the way in East Java. It was all one chaotic mess.

My get-away started on the 24th of December when I was dragged along on a field trip with my little brother and around thirty of his friends. We went by train from Bandung to Kediri and it took a long and tiring fourteen hours! Once we got off the train, it was already the next morning. We headed straight to where my brother and his friends would be staying at for the next seven days, which was a small housing unit in Kampung Inggris, in a town called Pare. After dropping them off, me, my mum, and the other chaperone parents headed off to our motel to take a long awaited rest. There wasn't much to do in Kediri, so after a day of lounging around, my mum decided that we should go travel around East Java just to pass the time.

Our first stop was at the great Mt. Bromo where we saw the beautiful sunrise at the very top of the mountain. Later, the guide brought us to the crater, but we were too lazy to go on horseback up the crater, let alone on foot. You could tell we weren't the most adventurous people on earth. After the sporty expedition, we continued our journey to Malang. We went to the city by car. Unfortunately, the car we rented had some trouble with the air conditioning which made the ride very hot and uncomfortable. So, once we checked in to our hotel, we decided to go on foot for the rest of the day. We enjoyed our trip to Malang by trying all the traditional cuisines such as Bakso, Soto, and the famous Toko Oen. After spending the night in Malang, we headed to Batu. The city of Batu is famous for it's Jatim Parks, Museum Angkut, Batu Night Spectacular, and the flower gardens. We visited the Museum Angkut, which was filled with transportation vehicles from all over the world and many as old as our ancestors. Another place we visited while in Batu was the Batu Night Spectacular. There, we saw a beautiful lantern garden and went on many thrilling rides. Apart from those two places, what mesmerized me most was the spectacular view from our resort. We could see the whole city just by standing on the balcony. It was absolutely breath-taking!

After an amazing two days in Batu, it was time to go back to Kediri. We drove for about three hours and finally made it to our motel, which was near to my little brother's home-stay. My mum and I spent our last few days of 2016 relaxing in our room, out of the heat, and connected to Wifi. On the other hand, my brother and his friends were finishing up their English course at the Language Center. After their closing ceremony, twenty of the remaining participants joined us at our motel because their home-stay was far from acceptable.

It was New Year's Eve and our motel seemed quiet, like how it normally is. Very different than how New Year's Eve in big cities are. There were no sounds of fireworks, no trumpet sounds, and no countdown.

On the last day, my mum took the group to Gumul Paradise Island, which is a water park located in the center of Kediri. Unfortunately, I couldn't join in because I was a bit sick that day. However, the ambiance was great and I still had a wonderful time there. One of the things I noticed about Gumul Paradise Island was that the food and beverages they were selling at the food court were very inexpensive, unlike most common theme parks. Their food ranges from Rp. 5.000 - Rp. 20.000, and their drinks were even more affordable.

Once we got back to the motel, it was already noon. We packed all our stuff and got ready to leave for the station. On our way there, we stopped at a restaurant to have lunch and take-away dinner. We arrived at the station a little early and waited for the train which will be taking us to Bandung. At 10 to 7p.m. we boarded the train and I helped the little ones lift their luggage to the cabin. While we were busy helping each other, the train suddenly took off without us even realizing. It turns out, one of the porters who helped my mum's friend with her bags didn't jump off the train soon enough, so he had no other option than to get off at the next station. I felt sad for the old man because now he had to find his way back to Kediri all the way from Nganjuk, which was a whole other city.

Finally, we arrived in Bandung. All of us were really tired even though we weren't doing anything for fourteen hours while on the train.

The whole trip made me realize that even though things weren't so great in the beginning, we could still make it worthwhile. Maybe some things went wrong, but I guess that's the whole point of adventures. I also realized something most of us usually take for granted, which is hard work and effort. In my case, I realized the hard work my mum put in to make the trip happen. She organized a whole field trip for my little brother and thirty of his friends, and while doing that, she managed to make a fun holiday for me and her. All of that she did on such short notice. So, even though I slept through the whole new year's countdown, and my family wasn't totally complete, I am still thankful for everything that has happened.

Thank you, 2016.
Welcome, 2017!