Selasa, 14 September 2010

Letters to Ken - Week #1

Horas! :)

Temans...
Sejak aku sampe di SF aku belum sempat ngapdet blog ini. Banyak PR gw! :(
Salah satu PR ku adalah bikin catatan harian alias diary yang kudu dilaporin sama Koordinatorku di sini. Nah, gw pikir, kenapa ga sekalian gw post ajah di sini jadi weekly update gw? Iya kan, iya dong, iya kan???? Hehehe... OK deh! Enjoy!

Week #1

Hi Ken,
This is my first week daily dairy assignment.. :)
I am really sorry to send it now, because I don't have a laptop yet, so I only got this chance when my friend is not using his laptop. :)
So, here it is...

I had a very long and tiring 2 days flight from my country to San Francisco... I was exhausted and HUNGRY!!!! hahahahaha... I stepped my feet on San Francisco soil on August 1st. I couldn't see the view of San Francisco from the plan because I got the worst seat!!! After get off the plane, I ran quickly to avoid the long immigration queue. I thought that the immigration process would run smoothly. There was this nice Chinese officer. He looks really patient and seemed really easy on all passenger he interviewed. Thus, I chose him to interview me. The first question he asked was, "Is this your first time visiting America?" and I answered proudly, "Yes Sir!". Then he continues, "I'm afraid you'll have to go through a serial of procedures for NSEERS process. You may go to our office over there." WHAT????? NO!!!! But, I went there anyway. I got to. Haahahaha.. It took me approximately 1 hor to complete the process. The officers are very kind and nice. However, the process was a bit slow cause one of the officers was still new. I went straight to the baggage claim and found my two giant suitcase laid there. yay! I didn't have to go to the Lost and Found Department to pick them up. As I passing through the exit door, I look around to see anybody who holds a paper with my name on it. I was worried because there was no one there. But when I look to my left, I saw Ken and Chandan and I was so relieved. When I first see the city of San Francisco on my way to our homestay, I found the city surprisingly GREEN!!! The City is very very beautiful. The weather was colder than I imagined, but I like it. The roads are super clean, unlike the streets in my country. Hahahaha... And the houses are very artistic and unique. I arrived home safely and went straight to sleep. I woke up the next day at 9.45 am and we are suppose to have this meeting at school at 10:00!!! I'm Super late!!! hahahaha...

Turned out, my fellow homestay from the same program, Chandan was also overslept! Hahaha.. So we both took a quick bath (of course in different bathroom hahahaha) and went to the school riding a muni. That was my first time riding a hybrid electric bus. We don't have that kind of vehicle back home. :)...

We ran to the room where we suppose to meet. I saw you've been waiting for us. I thought that we were the last students that arrive. Turned out, we were the firsts. The girls were late.
I think the school is pretty large. I saw some new buildings and also some old ones. The people are nice and the classes size was not too big. I like it.

I feel so happy when I finally got to meet the other participants from different countries. They are all great!
We went to the italian part of the town to have some pizza after the meeting. We were celebrating the birthday of two of our friends. The pizza was goooooooooooood. We also had some ice cream and we ate it in our beloved coordinator's apartment Ken... :)

I feel great that day because I was introduced to so many things about the city and I got three free brand new jacket from you!! Yay!!!!

I spent the rest of the week exploring the city with Chandan and Wasim. We went to the GOolden gate park, Golden Gate Bridge, Fisherman Wharf, and some parks. We also explore the downtown area. I shopped at Marshall and Ross. We had buffet lunch in Indian restaurants, and I went to church on Sunday in China Town. People there were very welcoming.

All in all, my first week in San Francisco was GREAT! So far, I haven't find any significant difficulties in adapting to the lifestyle here. Ups, other than the foods we have for dinner at our house. Hahahaha... But, I am still tying to love it.

Senin, 14 Juni 2010

My story


Najis ga sih judulnya? Hahahaha… (Bangettt!!) Eh, tapi judul itu gw pilih karena kemarin pas gw nonton di bioskop, gw sempat baca satu tag line di sebuah film yang bilang gini,”The greatest story ever told is your own story.” Bener banget ga sih? No matter se-dramatis atau se-heroik atau se-sedih apapun cerita hidup orang lain, we don’t live in their stories but ours. Jadi, satu satunya cerita paling real adalah cerita hidup kita sendiri. Iya ga? Karena itu, gw mau nyeritain hidup gw melalui blog ini.
Ok. Gw lahir dengan nama Darmadi Veterando Sipayung pada tanggal 21 September 1986. I guess that makes me 23 years OLD! Yeah! I am OLD! Orang rumah manggil gw Ando. Waktu SD gw dipanggil Darmadi; SMP gw dipanggil Darmandi; di SMA gw dipanggil Darmadi lagi, tapi pas kuliah gw udah malas dipanggil dengan Darmadi, makanya gw mutusin buat nyingkat nama gw dari DArmadi VEterando Jadi Dave. Hahahaha…. And you know what? I think it suits me best! Hahahahaha! Now, even my mother calls me Dave.

Anyway, kalo misalnya gw ditanya, “siapa sih seorang Dave itu”, gw pasti bingung. Soalnya, kadang2 gw juga ga ngerti sama diri gw sendiri. You know what I mean? Kadang kita ga tau kenapa kita berbuat sesuatu atau mustusin sesuatu atau memilih sesuatu. Jadi kalo orang nanya siapa gw, paling gw cuma bisa balik nanya, “Menurut lw?” Hahaha…
Nah, abis nanya gitu (Who am I) ke teman2 gw, jenis kepribadian yang sering mereka lontarkan adalah
Orang gila
Fun
Moody
Manja
Keras kepala
Periang
Baik (huweekk)
Asik diajak ngobrol
Ambisius (seriously?)
Dst dst… (banyak bow!)

Dan semua yang di atas itu benar. Yes, I am a lot of things. I’m actually a very complicated person with complicated problems. However, the smile that I always have on my face, bisa jadi topeng yang nutupin betapa rumitnya jalan hidup yang harus aku jalani (cieeeeeeeeeeeeeeee….bokis banget!).

Hidup kita masing masing emang beda. Gw paling demen deh menganalogikan semua hal dengan makanan. Jadi, seandainya hidup ini adalah sebuah restaurant, kita ini adalah menunya. Tiap tiap menu (baca: nasib hidup seseorang) diramu dengan bumbu yang berbeda sama si chef (baca: Tuhan). Nah, karena semua pake bumbu dan bahan yang beda, otomatis rasanya juga beda beda. Sering kali kita suka minder sama hidup orang lain yang menurut kita lebih wah. Misalnya nih kita tercipta sebagai mie rebus jawa yang harganya murah, bumbunya ga ribet, trus dijual di warung warung kaki lima.

Sedangkan kita punya temen pasta Italia yang dilumuri keju dan saos yang mewah, djual dengan harga mahal di restaurant restaurant yang mahal pula. Sebenarnya mending yang mana sih?


Kalau pake contoh makanan gini jadi mudah kan? Ga seribet kalo kita bandingin hidup orang per orang. Kesimpulannya, semua baik. Tergantung siapa yang makan (baca: ngejalanin). Sometimes, kita prefer untuk makan mie rebus jawa yang walaupun murah dan tempat makannya ga nyaman, tapi tetep lezat dan ngenyangin banget karena porsinya gede. Lain halnya kalo kita makan pasta di restaurant yang mewah dan bersih tapi buat beli (baca: ngerasain) itu semua kita harus merogoh kantong cukup dalam.

Karena semua menu (nasib/kehidupan) dasarnya baik, semuanya tergantung dengan selera (pilihan hidup) kita saja.Jadi dengan memahami hal ini, kita akan lebih tau siapa diri kita, hidup seperti apa yang kita mau, dan pastinya kita akan lebih bisa mensyukuri hidup kita saat ini. Betul ga?

Hmm…bentar bentar… Kok gw jadi ngomongin makanan yak?? LOL. Back to the topic. Sekarang tentang keluarga gw. Masa kecil gw sebenarnya bahagia banget. Gw punya nyokap yang smart, baik, tegas dan berjiwa pemimpin. Sedangkan bokap gw adalah seorang guru yang penyabar, pengasih, suka mendongeng, chef yang handal dan sangat bijaksana. For me, mereka tuh the best of the best deh.


We lost our father to heart disease on October 2008, nearly two years ago. Pagi itu gw lagi nyetrika toga gw pas gw ditepon sodara jauh gw di Jakarta dan bilang kalo gw dah ga punya bokap lagi. I was torn. Gw shock banget. They are supposed to be arrived at the same day in Jakarta to attend my graduation ceremony on the next day. The death was so sudden. Nobody expected it. Jadinya, gw ga jadi deh wisudaan. Instead gw kudu balik ke kampung dan ngadepin kenyataan bahwa sekarang gw udah yatim. Hari itu, gw dipaksa buat makan menu yang rasanya pahit banget kaya empedu.


Udah dua tahun sejak bokap gw meninggal. Nyokap gw yang di tahun pertama jadi fragile banget udah mulai back on her feet. Gw yang dulu have to be strong for her malah suka sedih banget kalo tiba tiba ingat si bokap. Aneh aja gitu kalo tiba tiba nyadar…ih…bokap gw ga ada lagi loh. Damn! I hate those times (termasuk sekarang karena gw jadi sedih lagi!!). Cukup ah! Anyway, katanya sih apa yang ga bisa bikin lw mati, bikin lw jadi makin kuat. Bener banget loh! Gw sekarang udah ga semanja dan setakut jaman dulu. I start to believe in myself and it feels soooooooooo good.

Oh iya, gw punya dua kakak perempuan dan satu adik cowok. Kita semua beda beda deh. Kakak gw yang pertama seorang dokter. Dia tuh cenderung lebih serius dan kurang bisa basa basi. Tapi kadang anaknya suka jahil dan jayus juga.

Kakak gw yang kedua tuh paling gokil di keluarga kami. Seandainya keluarga kita itu makanan, dia tuh udah jadi garamnya deh. Paling penting dan bikin keluarga kita jadi berasa. Oh iya, dia adalah seorang guru matematika. Jelas aja dia jadi guru favorit anak anaknya. Fun banget sih.

Gw anak ke-tiga. Sebenarnya aku tuh yang paling bentar tinggal di rumah dan stay bareng sodara sodara gw. Jadi aku tuh cuma tinggal di rumah sampai umur 12 tahun. Itupun selama 2 tahun yang terakhir gw seringan tinggal bareng opung gw. Dari SMP sampai sekarang gw udah merantau. Jarang banget ada orang sebaya di kampung gw yang kenal sama gw. Paling mereka kenalnya ama sodara2 gw yang lain.
Adik gw masih SMA. Anaknya ga serame gw. Dia agak pendiam dan tertutup. Gw paling salut sekaligus kasihan deh ama dia. Diumurnya yang masih muda banget dia udah harus belajar madiri karena sering ditinggal sendiri ama ortu gw waktu mereka kerja. Ga ada yang jagain dia loh. Kalo kita yang lain mah dulu masih rame di rumah. Tapi pas adik gw, sepi bo! Dia tuh pas kecil udah sering tinggal sendiri di rumah. Sekarang dia udah kelas 2 SMA. Katanya sih dia pengen lanjut kalo bukan jadi secret agent mau jadi pendeta. LOL! Bagus yang mana yah? Apapun cita cita lw bro, gw pasti dukung deh!


Sekarang gw mau cerita tentang masa masa sekolah gw. Gw sekolah si SD tempat bokap dan kakak2 gw dulunya sekolah. Even sampai guru gurunya juga masih sama. Gila kan? Wkwkwkwkwk! Kita sekeluarga termasuk adik gw (kecuali nyokap) sekolah di sana. Trus pas SMP, gw dimasukin ke sekolah katolik berasrama sama nyokap gw. Gw sih berontak. Secara kita tuh kudu tinggal di asrama yang jauh dari kota dan dikarantina. Tapi lama lama gw betah juga sih. Gw juga bisa jadi lebih mandiri karena tinggal di sana.

SMA gw dimasukin lagi ama nyokap gw ke sekolah semi militer dan tinggal di asrama lagi. Buat yang ini, gw lebih berontak lagi. But you know what? At the end, masa masa SMA gw tuh jadi masa masa yang paling berkesan buat gw. Gw juga ga jadi manja lagi karena disekolahin di sana.

Lulus SMA, gw lanjut ke UGM jurusan Hukum. Sebenarnya gw cukup bangga sih masuk situ. Tapi pas waktu gw baru masuk, ortu gw tuh udah mulai sakit2an. So, jadi deh gw punya cerita klasik orang yang terancam putus kuliah karena emang kiriman dari kampung juga udah putus. Gw udah jual Hp gw. Trus duit gw juga udah mau abis. Di kampus, gw sering berantem ama dosen. Wahhh..pokoknya jadi males banget deh. Tapi disaat gw lagi ga jelas gitu, God made a way out for me. Gw dapet Full Scholarship dari President University. Manteb khan? (jumawa mode: ON). Jadi gw dapet S1 setelah tiga tahun kuliah.

Abis itu gw mulai deh kerja. Kerjaan gw tuh beragam banget. Mulai dari salesman di executive club, kitchen helper/commi (itu loh sejenis pembokatnya chef yang ada di Ratatouile). Trus gw juga pernah kerja jadi student recruitment officer di kampus gw. Gw pernah kerja di Room service, Japanese restaurant, Italian Restaurant, Chinese, Indonesian sampai di coffee shop. Gw juga pernah kerja jadi F&B admin, telephone operator dan business center secretary.

Selama gw kerja di hotel sih hidup gw asik asik ajah. Gw punya teman teman yang super duper fun. Lingkungan kerja yang kekeluargaan; very supportive dan conducive. Saking nyamannya gw jadi ngerasa bosan pas waktu itu. So, seperti kebanyakan ababil (ABG labil) laninnya, gw pun keluar dan mencari tantangan baru. (ceileeeeeeeeeeee)

Keluar dari hotel, gw ketrima di sebah NGO yang pelayanannya fokus sama anak. Gw pertama ditempatin di Sumba Timur. Tempatnya bagus dan beda banget. Mirip sama tempat syuting the Lost World gituh. Enak deh di sana. Dua bulan gw tinggal di desa paling terpencil di sana, gw serasa di-detox dari runyamnya permasalahan warga ibu kota. LOL.


Abis itu, gw ditempatin di Papua, tepatnya di Wamena. Gosh I love Wamena. Buat gw, kota itu the best deh! Gw kerja setahun di sana. Gw terpaksa keluar karena bentar lagi gw udah mau sekolah lagi di Amrik.
Nah, cukup segitu dulu deh ceritanya. Ntar abis ini gw mau cerita tentang perjalanan gw menuju amrik. Okray doray moray syomay??? Bye…. :D

I write (again). Finally!

Hi guys! This is my first writing ever since I graduated from college. This actually is also my first writing that was not taken out from one of my homework at college. I decided to start writing (again) because a friend of mine encouraged me to do so. She said that writing is not something difficult or boring or whatever we (who don’t like to write) want to call it. It’s fun. Really? Well, we’ll get to that.

For me, personally, writing is just like telling how you feel to someone in a less spontaneous but rather structured way. The problem is, I don’t feel like myself when I write something because I have time to think it over and it’ll turn to be something unnatural or staged; and I am not loving that idea. I, as you guys know, am a very spontaneous person and obviously not well organized either. Thus, the idea of writing contradicts with my personality.

However, someone famous (I don’t know his name) said that sometimes human are better in disguise. What’s that suppose to mean? I don’t really know either. Hahaha. But I guess it means humans are afraid and hate to be judged. That’s why, we sometimes feel more comfortable in expressing ourselves by acting like someone who are not us; or more precisely, someone who are not us according to people around us. Writing is an alternative disguise that we can use to express ourselves; to avoid the judgments.

Some (if not all) of you guys might think that I’m crazy to think that writers don’t get judged, cause they certainly do. However, the fact that people are not judging you directly (at least not in front of your face) makes it easier and (I can’t believe I’m actually saying this) fun-ER. How so? Feel free to judge, because I don’t really care. Hahaha!

Jumat, 20 Juni 2008

New post for wine lover!!


This post discuss the Moselle wine. It describes the overview of this brand's products and specifications. This is not a promotion thing that you might think. This is just an information that might broaden our knowledge. Ain't it?!
Download here!

Jumat, 06 Juni 2008

TOURIST VS CULTURE


Hi!!!! This is our new post about the tourism world!!
Here you can see the overview of the TOURISM impact on SOCIO CULTURE..
The content covers the negative and the positive impact of tourism activities in a certain places' cultures. Hope this help you!
Download here!!!

The impact of tourism on socio culture

Sleep Facts


Are you having sleep problems?? This might be your solution. Find out all information about sleep disorders, sleep environment and even sleep myths!!!
Sleep Facts

Kamis, 05 Juni 2008

Our very first upload files!!

hi guys, we've already created a resource site for learning.
Check it out at Creativology's Learning Site

Umbrella: Check my Hotel and Tourism Review Subject>>
banquet business review
Food and Beverage review
Organizational Behavior in the Hospitality

Monon: And also don't forget to check "Introduction of PR" Subject Review>>
Public Relations Review
10 Tips for Prospective PR Professionals
How PR Can Help Your Business

Cheers!!

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