A Wonderful Trip to Yogyakarta

I went to Yogyakarta for study tour with all of English Department lecturers, Chinese lecturers and friends last Friday. We departed from Ma Chung University at 8 P.M. by bus. We were very excited because we have waited this trip for about two weeks. We expressed our happiness by singing many songs, from Indonesian songs until mandarin songs. We stopped for having Dinner at 11 P.M at Ngawi. We arrived at Sejahtera Family Hotel and Apartment at 4 A.M. Then we went to our room to prepare our visit to Sanata Dharma and UGM. We had breakfast at 8 A.M. before we went to Sanata Dharma (Sadhar).
We went to Sadhar by taking a walk because the University is very near from our hotel. My Chinese lecturer said that she likes to take a walk because it is healthy. My friends and I took a picture with my Chinese lecturers in front of Sadhar. Then we went inside. People from Sadhar were welcoming us. They were very friendly and they took us to see their campus. I really impressed with their facilities, especially the micro teaching lab. After we were looking around, my friends performed music and drama. They were amazing. The students from Sadhar also performed something.

The second place that we visited is UGM. In UGM, my friends and junior also performed some music and drama. I tried ‘Taeko’ drumming that was taught by an American, Ms. Maya. It was very interesting. She said that playing ‘Taeko’ can reduce stress and I thought it is true when I was trying it.

Next, we went back to the hotel because we were very tired. Then we must say goodbye to Mr. Handiyo, one of our lecturers, because he went back to Malang. After taking a rest for some time, we were preparing ourselves to go for dinner. We when to Djava first to see people made ‘bakpia pathok’. Then we went to eat ‘Gudeg’, a special food from Yogyakarta, but my friends and I consider it was too sweet.

We continued our plan to Malioboro. We were shopping there for an hour. First, I looked for some shirt. The seller said that a shirt cost Rp25.000,-. Wow! It is too expensive, but I can bargain it. Finally, he gave me Rp25.000,- for 2 shirts. I walked with Reki, Imawan, Liong, Grace, and Yemima at first. Then we were separated. I met laoshi and we walked together. Actually, we still want to shop, but Malioboro closed at 9 P.M. So, we must go back to the hotel.

I still haven’t felt sleepy when I was reaching hotel. So, after brushing my teeth and washing my face, I had a chat with Yemima and Ami. Then I want to see the 7th floor. So, I went upstairs. There I met Shanty, Ardine, Lilian, Merry, and Thomas. Finally I sat there with them. We were enjoying the night scenery. We were singing and chatting. We went sleep at 12.30 P.M.

The next morning it was raining. We went to Kasongan. We could find ‘gerabah’ there. After that we went to Kota Gede to see people made silver and ‘wayang kulit’. Then we went to Bringharjo market for shopping again. We had lunch at 3 P.M. at ‘Moro Seneng’ restaurant. My friend said that although the scenery was not as good as the picture, he was really ‘Moro Seneng’ because he was very hungry.

We continued our trip to ‘Borobudur’, the largest Bhuddist temple in the world. It was really a great temple I have ever seen. My Chinese lecturer was also very happy to see Borobudur temple. Reki, Sasha and I had a plan to talk in Japanese language when the souvenir seller came to us. We thought, in that way, the souvenir seller would not disturb us. Unfortunately, Imawan ruined our plan by speaking Indonesian language. So, the souvenir seller was still following us.

In the bus, Mr. Ginting asked lecturers and the student’s representative to give comment on our trip. Many said that our trip was very exciting. “Feichang hao!” said the Chinese lecturers. Thanks to Mr. Ginting who has planned very well for our trip. We reached Malang at 4 A.M. Some were stopped at certain places. Some were picked up at MCU.

(Indeed, I just want to say that this was a wonderful trip and I really enjoyed it. I am looking forward to our next trip (to Bandung if possible)….=p See you on the next study tour

Sample of Recount

My Holiday at Sawiran

Last week my friends and I went to the camping ground at Sawiran. We went camping because we got bored with other activities that we used to do when we were still at Junior High School, such as window shopping, going to the cinema, playing games, etc.

We went to Sawiran by car. We brought a lot of stuff. At the first day we arrived at the camping ground, we made our own tent. There were many people also made their tent. After that, we cooked for our lunch. I was not good at cooking, so I just helped my friend by preparing the ingredients and cutting vegetables. I was quite good at cutting vegetables. We played several games in the afternoon and made barbecue in the evening. It was very cold at night, that’s why I brought my sleeping bag.

Second day, we did out-bond. That was very interesting. My friends and I enjoyed it very much. One of my friends was afraid of height, so that she couldn’t do flying fox. I thought flying fox was the best part of out-bond. We joined ‘jurit malam’ at night. I was afraid of darkness, so I couldn’t enjoy it very much. I preferred bonfire that was held at the camping ground than ‘jurit malam’.

Third day, we climbed the mountain there. The mountain was not very high. But my friends and I were pretty exhausted when we were climbing the mountain. We were very satisfied when we reached the top of the mountain. We saw beautiful scenery, and we could feel the fresh air. Suddenly, our tiredness was gone. There was very quite, so we could feel peace.

We went home in the next morning. We were tired because we couldn’t sleep well, but we were very happy. We sang a song during our trip to our home. It took one and a half hour to reach our home. When I arrived at home, I went to my lovely bedroom and fell asleep.

The most part I like from camping is the barbecue and the bonfire. Besides that, after camping my friends and I can be closer than before.

How Should Education be given?

Family is very important for us. We get our first education from family. That’s why, if parents give the wrong education from the very first time will affect badly to their children. The wrong education will make a child do something wrong continuously. It isn’t easy to change the bad habit because it already set in our unconscious mind.
In many countries we are facing a lot of divorces, broken home, violence, etc. This condition has an extremely effect for children. There is a joke: In ancient times, a family has a lot of children. Nowadays, children have a lot of parents (many fathers and mothers). This condition can change children’s personality. Maybe this child can’t believe in love anymore. The worst thing, he can’t believe in God anymore. He might have this kind of think: No body cares about me, all my family just know their business. God leaves me. I’m alone. PLEASE give ME more attention! (But his family never realized his condition. This child was so pity and he needs someone always beside him to courage him and to lead him into the right way).
Family should give a balance education between physically and spiritually. Parents must build a good personality to their children. They should make children love God, their family, their surroundings, their lessons, etc (any positive things). Both educations are very important to give in balance. One isn’t complete without another one.
Some parents are too protective to their children. All activities arrange by parents, children just do it. This is not good for them. It will make children can’t speak up their idea. It will make children depend on their parents and they don’t have their own mind. Parents should think: How can my children continue their life without me?
Parents should lead their children to the right way and help them if they can’t solve their serious problem by themselves. NOT always dictate them to do something.
Our second education is from school/college. Parents should choose a good school for their children because children will learn a social life (interaction with friends, teachers, and others) and do almost 60% of their activities at school. Some parents never care their children’s social life at school. They just care about children’s marks at school. They asked children to study hard and be the best. Some children can accept their parent’s will. But not a few that can accept it. It will make children stress, depression, and introvert. This kind of child needs a lot of attention (from parents, teachers, or friends). Some children might have problems with their social life. For example: he doesn’t have so many friends, he hates one of their teacher or friend, etc. This child needs an extra care.
In Indonesia, there are still so many kids who can’t receive a good education. There are so many factors: they don’t have enough money to pay school fee, parents thought that girl no need to go to the school, schools are too far from their home, etc.
Peoples must realize that our nation’s future depends on “Young Generation”. Anyone who has money should give a contribution to increase education. Anyone who is still productive should help to build our nation. Young generation should gain the highest education and eager to learn something new.
After we get enough education, we enter a new world. We have to work and start a social life. We are still has to learn a lot of things. Education is never STOP! We have to study as long as we can.

Singapore City

 I visited Singapore for my internship at the M hotel (Millenium and Copthorne Hotel Company) last year from March 2006 to September 2006. Although I just stayed there for 6 month, I visited a lot of interesting places. The first place that I visited is Orchard Road.

There are a lot of place to shop along the road. This place has a lot of shopping centre or mall. For example, there are Wisma Atria which has a unique architecture than another shopping centre along Orchard Road, Takashimaya which is the red building and inside got a lot of branded things, Tang buliding which its shape like a pagoda, etc. Here also got a building named Cathay Cineleisure that has 10 floor. Inside Cathay Cineleisure got E-Games, K-Box(for Karaoke), accessories sites, and theatre (from the 6th to 9th floor). The theater open midnight on Saturday. Almost all places in Singapore got mall. Inside the mall, usually you can find Baleno, Giordano, Kevin and James to buy clothes. You also can find Seven Eleven, the 24hours mini-market. Then you can find Burger King, Pizza Hut, Mac Donald, KFC, or Starbucks. Along the road you can buy Lakchi or Old Chang Kee as a snack. You also can buy 1dollar ice cream.
In Singapore you also can find a traditional market, but it is very clean there. Sometimes you can see a fat cat over there. I’ve never seen a skinny cat in the market. It seems that all the cats are fat and healthy. The food in market are cheaper and it has the same taste with the food we eat at food centre. I ussualy eat Nasi lemak,Nasi Briyani, Mee Rebus, Mee Soto, Char shew, or Pork chop. For appetizer you can try Carrot cake. For drinks you can try Sugar cane, Ice Kachang, Aloe Vera or Jellygrass.

Mee Rebus

You can try Chili Crab at East Coast, the original food from Singapore. It is very delicious, but it’s very expensive. East Coast is a place near to the beach. You can see Johor Baru from East Coast. It is an interesting place to see the beach and play in-line skate or ride a bycicle. There is a special place to play in-line skate or ride a bycicle or just for jogging. You can held a barbercue party here. At night there are a lot of couple come here to see the beach and take a walk or eat the food.
If you like to see animals, you can visit Singapore Zoo at daytime or Night Zoo at night. Actually the place is same, the different is just the time to visit. You also can visit Jurong Birds Park. They have more than 1,000 collection of birds there. You can take a picture with animals, you can see animal’s attractions (Sealion, racoon, birds, etc) at Singapore Zoo. You must come in the morning so that you can enjoy all the attraction and see all the animals there. Night Zoo also nice to visit. Sometimes we can see a night animals here. Singapore Zoo is so big, but we don’t need to take a walk all the time, we also can take a tram. We can enjoy foods also and we can buy souvenir here.
If you visit City Hall, don’t forget to visit The Fountain of Wealth. This fountain was built depend on fengshui. If you come at daytime and circle the fountain three times and ask for a wish, your wish will come true. If you touch the fountain you will have a good luck throughout the year. If you come at night, you can’t circle the fountain, but you can send a message to your boyfriend/ girlfriend, and it will appear in the fountain. It lights by a laser. It is very nice whether you come at daytime or night. You also can see the original Merlion (statue or symbol of Singapore) here. You also can visit The Esplanade (a theatre which its shape like Durian). You can watch any performances (musical or drama performance) here.
The best place for people who want to enjoy his/her holiday is Sentosa Island. This island is near to Singapore and it’s belong to Singapore. You can take a ferry, bus or cable car to go there. In Sentosa Island you can play on the beach or visit The Underwater World (you can see any fish and pink dolphin here), Buterfly and Insects Park, 3D Magics Movie, Carlsberg Tower, Merlion Walk, Images of Singapore, Fort Siloso (here you can see statue of soldiers, cannon and tunnel), Orchids Garden, etc. The most favourite show is Musical Fountain and it’s free. If you come late, u can’t enter and can’t enjoy the show. You must come at least half an hour before the show begins or you will not get a place to sit. You can stay in Shangrila Hotel if you visit Sentosa Island.
If you like to enjoy drinks and band performance or go for dance at night, you can visit Clarke Quay or Boat Quay. There are a lot of bars and night clubs. The most popular night club near Clarke Quay is MOS. The most popular night club near Grand Copthorne Waterfall is ZOUK.
If you want to see the Indian ethnics, you can visit Little India. Here got shopping centre that is selling cosmetics, perfumes, bags, and ‘Sari’ clothes for cheap price. You can also enjoy Indian foods like Roti Prata, Curry rice, etc. You must try ‘Teh Tarik’ or ‘Milo Dinasaur’ as your drink. If you are looking for Chinese products, you can visit Chinatown. You can see many lanterns on ‘Moon Cake Festival’. You can enjoy Hainanese Chicken Rice, Bak Kut Teh and ‘Sup Organ Dalam’. You can drink Oolong tea or Chinese tea.
You can visit Chinese and Japanese Garden at Jurong East. There you can see a pagoda and twins turtle which have one ‘home’. They attract people by swimming in different directions and back to its ‘home’ at the same time.
I like to stay in Singapore because there is clean and safe. We can easily go to anywhere in Singapore. We can take MRT (underground train) or SBS (bus). We can use Ez-Link or one way ticket to take the train and bus.

Sample of Description (English Writing)

This is a sample of free-writing and descriptive:

My Friend

I have a beautiful friend. I met her when I started my English course at Ma Chung University. She has a long black hair. She is slim and tall. She has beautiful brown eyes. She is nice and friendly. Many people like her. She has beautiful voice so that she can join Ma Chung Voice. She also likes to dance. Every one always enjoy seeing her performance. She always performs at campus. She is a good dancer. I always see her performance and take her pictures.

She has a unique hobby. Her hobby is to make something from garbage to be useful. She is very creative to turn garbage into something new. Yesterday she made a beautiful mask from cans. Most of my friends like her creation. She made money from selling her creation. Sometimes I help her to create something. She is also very good at cooking. She always bring me a delicious food and snacks. I learn cooking from her. Last time I didn’t like to cook at all. She makes cooking my favorite hobby.

I’m very lucky to have a talented friend like her.

Welcome to My World

For sure, i still confused what to write in my blog... I haven't found a topic.
But I know that my blog is all about learning English and using English.
I hope someday, this blog will be useful for everybody....^^
I will receive any comments or even critique. I will be happy to receive it.^^
Thank You....and welcome to my blog...
GBU