First of all, I dedicate this post to my family and all of
my friends at PDKK Binus.
Since the past year, I’ve been dealing with many things with
my newest chapter in life, which is college. I am currently majoring in
Interior design, and it has been enjoyable but hectic at the same time due to
the amount of assignments that we were given every week. Before college, I was
not someone who was active in religious communities/organizations, even though
my parents are very active and they serve God through their respective
communities. I honestly didn’t remember why I wanted to join a religious
community, but I did anyway. The community started their weekly service 3-4
weeks before classes actually started, which meant I was not in the dorms yet.
Despite the heavy traffic and it was quite a distance from my home to college
(around 20 km) yet I came to just join their weekly service. Since I was new,
but then familiar with the Catholic Charismatic Movement, I felt a sort of
fondness and wanted to return the following week. When I first started coming,
I only had 1-2 friends of the same entry year who I still stayed in contact
till today. Then when weeks went by, I met more wonderful people who are also
of the same entry year, who now have become the closest people around me. I
made friends with seniors too along the way, I was scared at first, but then
due to their kindness, I felt comfortable and became fonder of the community.
2 weeks before December of 2017, the leader of the
community, asked my friends and I if we could make time on the weekends for a
retreat that is part of our initiation if we wanted to serve God through that
community. I was really happy about that, but then I was not allowed to go
because I had classes on Saturday. I ended up not going and I was filled with
sadness and at that time, also with envy because all my friends who came after
me went to the retreat, and I was the only one who didn’t. Even though I didn’t
end up going, I was initiated to serve there, as one of the main committees, I
was the only exception. I was really thankful to God for that, but then, the
“not-going-to-team-retreat” was all over my head and it made me feel lonely
because I felt a distance (or maybe made myself a distance) from my friends. The
first few months were rough for me because I was new, I did not pray that much
(I am sorry), but then when I finally had the courage to forgive myself for my
condition, to accept how the system works and to be thankful for how God
allowed me to serve even with my shortcomings, I felt the weight on my
shoulders start to decrease bit by bit, because I know nothing in this world
can be received instantly. I was involved in a short relationship but then
somehow it crushed me after it ended. I hit rock bottom, and I was back to when
I can’t forgive myself, which took a toll on everyone. I was a very angry
person; I couldn’t see the good in anything.
I was given the chance to go to God’s Holy land, and through
that trip, I started to open my heart to forgive. That was not the only
blessing that God gave me; God placed such great people around me, who kept on
reminding that God never leaves us, and that God’s plan is always the best one,
but we have to be patient and to never stop believing in Him. I couldn’t see it
back then, since at difficult times, it’s hard to focus on our blessings
instead of our problems.But now when I
look back, I couldn’t be more grateful for what God has given me. When I feel
down again, I like to think of a blessing as something to hang on to, a
reminder that God loves me. I have served God through PDKK Binus for almost a
year now, and I have decided to serve Him for another year and many more years
to come. I am grateful for all my friends in PDKK Binus who has become my inner
circle throughout this entire year. This community not only teaches me how to
partake in an organization, but also to value family, friendship, and also to
love God with all of your heart. Through PDKK Binus, my relationship with my
family gets better day by day, and I am very grateful for my family’s
never-ending support for me to continue serving God through PDKK Binus. Even
though we sometimes have misunderstandings, in the end we are still a family!
I’ve always wondered why I didn’t want to serve God through
the church that was located near my house. But when I think again, I guess that’s
how God called me, not to be somewhere near my comfort zone, but then in the
middle of my hectic schedule, to see if I would want to make time for Him or
not.
Thank you so much for this year PDKK Binus, my second
family! Let’s serve God together next year and many years to come. <3
I love you guys so much! <3 please
continue to pray for me, as your prayers have also helped me get through
everything with God. J
Yesterday I went to a theme park in Jakarta called Dufan
(Dunia Fantasi) with some of my orientation friends and with the seniors too!
We met up at 10 a.m.
in front of Ancol’s entry gate and went in together. The first ride we rode was
called “Kora Kora”; which is a ship that is swayed (extremely). The last time I’ve
been to Dufan was around 12 years ago so I was still unable to ride those rides
and I forgot what Dufan was like back then, so this is entirely new to me. I
was not scared, but you know you can’t contain the adrenaline so you scream.
The really funny thing that happened during this ride is that one of my seniors
kept screaming explicit stuff (I will not mention it because I want to keep
this post PG.), which made me laugh throughout the entire ride. HAHAHAHA
After the ride, some of us ate lunch, some of us just
snacked, some of us continued to ride other rides and some just sat. I was not
able to eat well because I just got braces last Monday :(. After the ones that ate finished, we proceeded
to our next ride which is called “Ontang Anting” which is a kind of swing but
then it goes around in circles, pretty high too. This ride was relaxing at
first, but as it continues to spin in kind of made me dizzy and pretty bored
too… HAHAHAHA I was kind of scared that my feet might crash into the trees or a
random decorative building because I was sitting of the outside part of the
ride. I felt kind of nauseous after the ride, but being the dumb person I am, I
proceeded to ride the roller coaster. I have never ridden a roller coaster with
a loop, until yesterday. It was a long queue, so my headache and nauseated self
has calmed down a bit before riding it. The roller coaster was short, but It
was the best ride out of all the rides I rode that day. I sat beside a senior
during the ride and she was surprised that I laughed during the ride. Why
though? I had so much fun, I wanted to ride it again if the queue wasn’t long,
but it was :(. After the roller coaster we went to a doll house (maybe) but we
go around using a boat. I honestly think the dolls are kind of creepy, even
though that ride was meant for kids. But it was good to sit down and relax
without feeling nauseated, even though the place kind of smells bad in my
opinion. There was Air Conditioning in that ride so it was also great to cool down
a bit since it was very hot outside.
After the creepy doll house some of us went to an Ice Age
ride and I did not know where the others went LOL. I did not know that this
ride involved splashing and getting wet, so I just went for it. I just realized
that water was involved when we were inside… HAHAHA but I still rode the ride
and got half wet since I sat at the very right side. The ride was actually fun,
excluding the part where water splashed EVERYWHERE. After the ride we dried up
a bit and then we rode the Ferris wheel. The view up there was really beautiful; I took
plenty of panoramic pictures. The
highlight of the experience is when one of my friends started screaming because
he was afraid of heights… HAHAHA (sorry dude). It was the last ride for me
because I felt tired, I did not know for the others. Before leaving the theme
park we took pictures, and then some went home, some went to the beach. One of
my friends (the one who was scared of heights) had his birthday, so we gave him
a surprise. I did not take photos of that sadly. I went back home feeling
tired, but extremely happy.
I want to thank everyone who went on the trip yesterday, it
felt really nice and heartwarming, it made me feel that we got even closer,
like a family. This trip is something that I’ll never forget in terms of the
rides and the interactions between all of us. I got to know some people that I
was not close with during orientation. I hope we all can meet again very soon,
despite being in different majors! I love all of you and I won’t forget you all.
<3 *cries loudly* I’m honestly still dazed by the experience… It feels like
a dream, a very good one!
Today, I participated in an annual marathon that was hosted by OMK Gereja Santo Yakobus, for the first time. The
name of the event was “FunRun”. I’m honestly not a fan of exercising,
especially in the morning. People who know me know that I’m a VERY lazy person.
(Probably that’s why my stomach and my thighs are a bit over-sized, LOL.) So
that might be why I, myself didn’t know why I wanted to participate in this event.
It all started during orientation, one of my best friends asked me if I wanted
to go on a marathon, and to ask my brother if he wants to join or not. THEN I
SURPRISINGLY AGREED. WHAT HAVE I GOTTEN MYSELF INTO? :( HAHAHAHA I felt dead
inside, after realizing what I’ve done, but oh well.
We had to pick up our shirts for
the run the day before, but I was unable to so I asked my friend to take it for
me first, and give it on the day. The event started really early in the
morning, around 5 a.m., according to my friend. So I came there even earlier.
My friends are such punctual people (sarcasm included) so they arrived past 5
a.m., leaving me looking like an idiot who waited since 4.30 a.m., thank you
very much. XD We started the event with warm ups, and then the marathon starts.
The marathon was 5 km long, not that long but I felt like a lost person roaming
on other people’s neighborhood, HAHAHA. The funny thing is that my friends and
I did not run throughout the marathon, but just small jogs in between walks… we
are surely lazy people. After the marathon, we were given snacks and drinks.
The best part is that, some people brought their pet dogs with them.
The sight
of dogs just revives my strained soul completely XD.
Since 2 days ago was the 72th
year of Indonesia’s Independence Day, the event was not only a marathon, but
also a couple of classic Independence Day games. We were divided into groups
and we had to compete with one another. I honestly know almost know no one
there. I only know my friends and a friend’s brother… kind of sad actually,
HAHAHA. The games were fun, till the hunger kicks in. I had breakfast but then
I got hungry again. I thought about going home earlier but then I stayed till
the end. I do not remember if our group won or not, but we got a box of snacks
from the committee XD. My friends and I got McDonalds after that. Thank you to
my friend’s father for treating us lunch apparently! :).
I am terribly sorry for this very
short post, because the event was only a few hours. Here are some photos from the event!
POODLES ARE LIFE
Throwing sponges all over the place~
HI DOGGOS
opening the box of snacks :)
As always, thank you for reading!
:)
Thank you to the friends who were with me during the event! :)
I just got back from my college orientation which happened
throughout the whole of last week. Like every other person, I felt very nervous
because you know anything could just go wrong at the most unpredictable time,
so I decided to not speak a lot to maintain my image but it turns out that made
me unrecognized by people in my orientation group… HAHAHAHA :( but actually it’s because I’m not really good
at speaking in Indonesian. I don’t want to embarrass myself, also because I do
not have that much confidence.
I’ve lived in Jakarta my whole life but because life likes
pulling my leg so I registered to a college that is located at the other side
of Jakarta, which forcefully made me have to move because I can’t drive and I
do not tolerate traffic jams(I am a very impatient person so yeah). I stayed in
the college dorm throughout orientation and will be staying there for my first
year in college. The day I moved into the dorm, I got dorm anxiety. I was
scared that my roommate might snore, or be a secret drug dealer or whatsoever.
I was being so paranoid about it. When I met my roommate we were not DIRECTLY
friends because I am not someone who makes friends quickly, so in the beginning
it was only small talk. We found out we were in the same major and orientation
class, which made it easier for us to plan when we wake up without disturbing
one another. I thought everyone was grouped like that until we met another
friend in my orientation class who is in the dorm too but her roommate is from
a different class. People in my orientation class may see me as a quiet person but
my dorm mates know me as an exceptionally (or a very) loud person who laughs
like a horse. (My image in front of them is ruined:(.)
I have a friend from high school who entered the same
college as I did, so during the first day of orientation I vented my emotional
concerns to my friend who was actually sleepy because he goes back and forth
from college and his house XD (he lives in the same area as I am so serves you
right my friend.:) When it was finally time to go to the class and then introduce ourselves, my
body quivered with fear and my body heat rose, I do not know why. But the
seniors are very nice! There was one senior that left a deep impression on me
and made me question my confidence so much. When he entered he was like: “GOOD
MORNING GUYS!!! MOVE TO THE FRONT PLEASE IT’S OKAY WE WON’T BITE!” Because we
all sat at the back rows, we just got off high school and as you know high school
students dislike sitting on the front row HAHAHA. But seriously, how can he be
so confident? Another senior left an impression on me as being the tough one XD.
I thought she was strict but she was very nice. I am not mentioning names
because if they read this I would be heavily embarrassed. The seniors were all
very nice, to the point of me questioning if I am asleep or not because I am so
not used to being surrounded by very nice people! The first day was still quite awkward for the
people in my class so I don’t think we got our real personalities out yet.
The third day was really short and relaxing for us. We came
at 10 a.m. and went home at 2 p.m. In the morning we practiced our theme, which
was so quick because we learned it within 2 days. I was proud but the quiet
proud because as I already said in the beginning, I was very quiet throughout
orientation. I actually forgot what happened after that because I am kind of
forgetful and my brain does not remember important things. I remember unimportant and embarrassing things
only because those things keep me alive *insert evil laugh* Now I remember… we
submitted things we needed to donate. Practically it was hard to look for the
expiry date on cooking oil that I became an expert at it XD. See now? I
remember how to look at cooking oil expiry dates but I can’t remember the basic
rules of binomial expansions during high school XD. After we came back to our
dorm after the end of orientation activities for the day I asked my roommate if
she wants to go to the dorm gym to work out because my mom told me to stop
swimming on the bed and exercise…yeah. We went to the gym but when we entered,
the treadmill was broken T-T. I ended up dancing at the gym and my roommate lifted
weights. It’s totally not embarrassing.
The fourth day of orientation was totally emotional for me
because I was too tired to deal with anything. We started the day with a
session in an auditorium. After the auditorium session we had another session,
where we learned about stuff I actually already forgot, but on the rundown it
said it was about the rules and the campus environment. After that session
ended, because I was in the dorm, I joined another session about the dorm, and
missed the 4 p.m. shuttle. I was very cranky because Mother Nature was visiting
me, and is still here when I am writing this post. I bought tea (again) and
waited for the shuttle with my dorm mates. The random senior who we met on the
second day came up to us and introduced me and my dorm mates to a senior of the
same major. My roommate, my dorm friend and I are in the same major, so
it helped us a lot. We asked the senior on what supplies we needed because we
know she totally knows a lot better than we do, and the supplies list is just
too difficult to get by. Thanks to her, we finally know what we should buy. A dorm friend from another class got an
assignment which is writing letters to our seniors to show gratitude. I thought
we were not going to get that assignment so I laughed at him.
I was wrong.
On the fifth day of orientation, we started it with distributing
our alma mater jackets, and then we were sent to another room for a session
called Community Service Camp, where we are assigned to retype a few pages of a
book so that it could be converted into Braille. When we were about to get our
assigned pages, the seniors wrote the assignment on the board, which is the
exact same assignment that I laughed at my friend for. I felt weak all of a
sudden because we were going to go back at 5.15 p.m. because of the bus, go out
to buy supplies, have dinner, shower and other stuff. I slept at half past
midnight, not finished with the assignment, woke up at 4 to finish one letter,
and again at 6 to finish the last letter. We had to make 9 letters in total
because there were 9 seniors who guided us. It was tiring, but it was worth it.
I really enjoyed writing to them and I hope they enjoyed reading the letters
too, and please don’t throw them out T-T. I wrote those till my hands quivered
HAHAHA.
The last day of orientation has come and we were supposed to
choose a club to enter so that we can get student activity points. I entered 2
clubs but I do not know if I can remain active in both or not. The club expo
was so loud; I lost all my energy by noon, and unconsciously broke a rule by
eating first XD AHAHAHA. I got caught by a senior, I felt so stressed
afterwards because I was scared of my points being deducted. (I apologize sincerely
to the senior that caught me, please forgive me.) After the club expo we were
introduced to the main organization of our respective majors. I am currently in
a huge dilemma of joining the organization or not, because I have really no clue
of what it’s going to be like in college, are the activities going to stack up
against each other or not. After the introduction, we were offered to buy a
bunch of merchandise from the organization. I ended up spending my money on a
sticker, a pouch and a name tag. The last activity was the closing event, where
all classes were gathered in the hall to perform their theme songs. Being the
arrogant person I am of course I am going to say that my class was the best,
even though most of us lost our voices XD. I was sad that orientation ended,
because the scarier phase is coming; actual college life, but I don’t want more
orientation because I missed my home XD.
I would like to thank the people of my orientation class for
being such nice, fun, happy, and creative people. You guys totally lifted up my
spirits indirectly even though I was already sick of not being able to sleep
well because of loud motorcycles (Only my roommate knows this) and Mother
Nature’s early visit this month. I would also like to thank the seniors that
guided us throughout orientation, thank you for sharing your experiences with
us so that would not feel as nervous and clueless during actual college life. I
will always remember the moments of the orientation for the rest of my life.
Thank you so much for reading! Here are some pictures from
my orientation:
1st class photo XD
Last day :(
Lookin' good!
Our beloved seniors :) HEHEHE
no wonder we are like this... our seniors started it XD
One of the seniors made a video of our activities since day one! Here's the link:
Thank you ko KJ for the video and for sharing the photos of the seniors! :) I'm really sorry to say this but the beginning of the video should be: "What are you waiting for?" not "What do you waiting for?" HEHEHEHE #annoyinggrammarnazi
