THE OTHER SIDE OF TRADITION

Some traditions are good but some traditions are only spend much money and burden the people. Moreover, some traditions are against religion.

Just like an archaeologist

Batak is one of the tribes in Indonesia. It has tradition which is similar to what the archaeologists do. Batak people have family names and every family name have to make their forefathers monument.

For example : The family name is Tobing. The people who have Tobing as their last name gather in their forefather cemeteries. They dig the cemeteries and take the forefather bones. The bones are carried to the place where they will set up a monument. They do ceremony and dance traditional dance. All these process take one or two weeks and spent much money. Why do they do this? Because they think their forefather are able to give blessings. I disagree with this opinion.

Son is more special than daughter.

There is an opinion among Batak people that son is more special than daughter. This opinion exist because a son will generate whereas daughter not. If a woman can not give birth a son, the people think the woman is not perfect as a woman. I think a woman can not choose to give birth a girl or a boy.This opinion become tradition.

Wedding party or death ceremony.

The people who are not from batak culture will be confused to see these two traditions.

“Is it a wedding party?” But I read ‘Condolence’ in the flowered board,” said a woman to her husband while they were passing a batak death ceremony(before the funeral).

“No, it’s a death ceremony. All the people are wearing black dress,”replied her husband .

At a glance, wedding party and death ceremony in Batak are similar. There are a group of music, traditional dance and dishes in both of these two events. But, the most confusing thing is the tradition to serve people who come to the death ceremony with some dishes.The dishes are similar to the dishes in wedding party. It means the family of the dead person still be burdened by the tradition to serve some dishes in their sorrow.

Nova

FREE 100 SMS IN A DAY

Short Message Service is the text communication service component of phone, web or mobile communication systems. We usually shorten the words that we want to send.The charge for one message is different from two messages. So, the shorter words we send, the cheaper we will be charged.

How many messages do you send to other persons in a day? Are you able to send 100 messages in a day? Here, the cellular operator companies compete to offer the best service for their customers. They want to persuade the people to use their card by giving free SMS in a day. They give ‘Free 100 SMS in a day’.

Sending SMS

I was questioned, how did they spend the 100 SMS in a day? I think my fingers will be twisted to type 100 messages in a day. My friends spend these free messages to send others wise words and humours. Some of messages they send me are :

Receipes for a bowl of success in life :

Put a spoon of love, add a spoon of passion + a spoon of effort + a spoon of patience + a spoon of knowledges + a spoon of happiness. And, don’t forget to put a spoon of prayer. Stir well. Then, you are ready to enjoy A bowl of success in life.

Lord is the one who makes us :

ABLE to smile even when we are crying

ABLE to stand when we want to give up

ABLE to pray when we run out of words to say

ABLE to love when our heart break many times

ABLE to understand although we don’t get want we want.

Happy Sunday…..

Smile makes you more beautiful

Pray makes you stronger

Give makes you richer

Love makes your heart peacefull

Good night…

Beside the wise words and humour messages, I also received threatened messages from unknown person.In the end of the messages, written : “send this message to 10 persons. If you don’t send this message, the bad thing will befall on you in three days!” I never obey this kind of messages.

My friend and I also received the same messages from unknown person. It says “Congratulation! You are the lucky person to win Mercedes Benz. For more info, please contact 0812xxxxx” I ignore this message but my friend reply this message by saying

“Thank you, but my garage is full now. I have many cars because I am a rich person. So, you had better take the car for you. I already have the Mercedez Benz .I don’t need it!”

Actually, she doesn’t have a car.

Some people spend the messages to motivate others by sending wise words.Whereas other use it only to fool and frighten others. Let’s use the good opportunity to the good thing.

Nova

(Picture taken from Google.com)

BEAUTY, BRAIN, BEHAVIOUR OR BEHAVIOUR, BRAIN, BEAUTY.

One of the outstanding beauty contest in this world is Miss Universe. It needs three criterias that is 3B : Beauty, Brain and Behavior. More than 50 women from more than 50 countries join this contest, including a woman from Indonesia.

In Indonesia, this contest always become controversial among the people who pro and contra. Most of Muslim in Indonesia doesn’t allow Indonesia send one of the Indonesian woman to compete in this contest. They do demonstration, they don’t agree with the swimsuit contest. They say it is against of their religion and against of our culture. They say there are still many ways to promote Indonesia to the whole world instead of joining this contest.

Miss Universe 2009

Last year, i watch this contest on TV. There was a judges who asked one of the top 5 women ; she asked “what is your comment if there’s a country in this world which doesn’t allow their contestant to wear swimsuit in this contest?” then the woman answer “ I disagree with that prohibition because you are beautiful and show your beauty to the whole world.” That’s only a little information. But, i am not interested to talk about swimsuit.
I am interested to these three criteria. Women, we don’t have to be a Miss Universe to have these criteria! Whoever we are, we can have these criteria(beauty,brain,behavior) in ourselves.Because of this is a beauty contest,so it’s ok if the first criteria is beauty. But honestly, in our life the 3B formation should be changed become behavior, brain and beauty.
The most important thing that a woman should have is a good behavior/manner. Beauty without a good behavior/manner is nothing. Yes, it’s normal if the first thing that we see from a woman is her beauty physicaly. But then , we will be disappointed if she doesn’t have a good behavior/manner when we get closer or have a friendship with her.
The second is Brain. It’s better if a woman is a genious. But, it’s not a must. It’s enough if a woman has wide knowledges and want to learn something to make her brighter.
The last is Beauty. If we have a good behavior + brain = the beauty will appear itself in ourselves.
Nova
(Picture added from Google.com)

EVERYDAY IS A REVISION

I visited a library and i found two books. I was holding two books in my hand. One was in my right hand and another one was in my left hand. Both of them have the same cover. But then, I noticed something different between them. I read the word ‘Revision Edition’ on the book in my right hand which I didn’t see on the book in my left hand.

I was interested to these two books so I took a seat and read them. The content of the two books are almost same. There are only several parts which I found in Revision book but I didn’t find in old book.

After publishing a book, some writers still doing research. During his research, he finds new things which should be added to his old book or something should be omitted or substituted from his old book.Book is one of source information. But, book itself need a revision. We also do revision everyday. Perhaps there are things that should be added to ourselves, or there are things that should be omitted or substitutes from ourselves.

Writing the revision

All my writings also need a revision. Thank you for the corrections. I confess sometimes I am careless.The careless behavior should be omitted (I hope). Nobody is perfect. We all have weakness, but by doing research, we will know our weakness and try to decrease it even omit it from ourselves.

Nova

(Picture added from Google.com)

THE PRAYER OF A LITTLE GIRL

All the national school in Indonesia have religion subject. Even, when you go to college or university, religion subject always exist for all majorities. Religion subject is a MUST subject to be learned at school until university here. If you are christian, you go to christian class. If you are Muslim, you go to Islam class and so on.

There was a little girl, aged about 7 years old. She was in primary school. Before the class started, one of the students had to come to the front of the class and lead the prayer.

“Rita, you lead our prayer now!” ordered the teacher.

Then, the little girl came to the front of class cheerfully and stood in front of all the students. “Let’s pray,” she said. The teacher and all the students closed their eyes.

“Dear Lord. We thank you for your blessing and we thank you for all the foods in front of us. We are going to eat, please be blessed all these foods. In the name of Jesus, we pray. Amen.”

Praying

When this little girl open her eyes, she saw some of her friends smiling. The teacher began to asked this girl, “Dear Rita, do you see some foods here?”

“No, Mam,”answered the girl innocently.

“And, are we going to eat now?” asked the teacher again. “No, Mam.”

“So, why did you pray like that? It’s a prayer when you are going to eat. Now, we are going to study not eating,” explained the teacher.

“That’s the only prayer that I know, Mam. My father always pray like that when we are going to have dinner,” said the girl.

“Tomorrow, you have to lead the prayer again and change your pray!” said the teacher.

This little girl is my aunt’s neighbour. When I heard this story, I smiled because I did the same thing. But, the difference is I memorized my teacher prayer and pray it at home in front of my grandmother and my older sister. Of course, they smiled after I said Amen.

The prayer of this little girl is not fit to the condition, but she come cheerfully to the front class to lead the prayer. I believe Our Father accept her prayer because we know the first thing which God see when we come to Him is our heart not our sweet nice prayer.

Nova

(picture added from Google.com)

THE MATURITY IN ONESELF

People say love can't be bought by money.There is other things which can’t be bought by money, that is maturity. We only can buy maturity by experiences in life. Both good and bad experiences influence the maturity in oneself. We will be mature persons If we react positively to any conditions.

Mature person

I ever met a young lady. She is so mature. I was amazed by her. She was able to think positively when she was facing good and bad conditions . At first, I thought she was as old as me. But, I couldn’t believe when I knew she was 19 years old. She is a supervisor of education in a school. Great young lady!

The maturity in everyone is different. It’s not only depend on the age. There are some people who are mature in early age. In the other hand, there are some people who still immature even though the age increased every year. There is a sentence says “If you want to see the maturity in oneself, see when she /he is facing a problem. If they can think positively when facing the problem, it means they are mature persons.”

Nova

HOW THE HOROSCOPES INFLUENCE YOU

“Use it as your guidance along this week.” This is a statement written on zodiac/horoscope column in an International woman magazine. Many magazines never fail to publish about horoscopes especially in woman magazines(local/international woman magazines).

Do many people still believe in horoscopes?

“I read horoscopes only for fun/pleasure. If my zodiac tells me the good things, I will believe it but if it doesn’t, I will not believe it,” said one of my friend.

“Sometimes what the zodiac says is right but sometimes no,” said another friend of mine.

Whether it is for pleasure/fun, as long as the horoscopes column still exists, it means there are still many people believe it.

VIRGO WOMAN

Do something that will pleased you.

Carier : Warning! There’s someone who want to defeat you in your office.

Financial : Get some ‘extra money’.

Romance : He is hiding something from you. Be carefull!

There’s a woman who believes in horoscopes. When she read about Carier she directly think of someone. “Yes, it is right. It must be her! She often feel jealous when my boss praise my work. She think she can defeat me? ” said this woman in resentful face. She continued to read about financial . She smiled while reading it. She thought no need to worry about finance,it’s a good news. Her temper arouse when she was reading about romance. “Yes, she is hiding something. That’s why he often refuse if I ask him to go out lately. I’m afraid he has a new woman.”

She is in anger because of reading the bad news of her horoscope

This woman believes in horoscopes. She connected her life with the horoscope. She can be relieved when she get good news but when she get bad news, she tended to think others badly. She can be have a row with her colleague or she can be break up with her man because of her bad thought.

It’s only prediction. So, do you still believe in horoscopes to guide your life?

Nova

(Picture added from Google.com)

CHOICES IN LIFE

When I was at school, I hated going to school. I was bored to study all the subjects. I only like Composition subject and singing/music subject. And, I wished I could say goodbye to the other subjects but I couldn’t. I forced myself to study and going to school because I didn’t want to disapoint my parents.

Although I didn’t like school but I wanted to get good marks in all subjects. I studied every night, even though I didn’t like the subjects.

One day, we had examination. I had studied the subject the night before the exam. When I was doing the exam(essay test), I answered all the questions well except a question, that is number 2. I was thinking hard about the answer then suddenly a boy who sat in front of me turn around towards me and said “Nova, I have the book in my drawer(most of school table here has drawer).Please, let me know in what page is the answer for number 5?”

Feel difficult to answer the question

“OK, open your book!” i said. Then my friend open page by page.

“STOP!!! I got it !” i said. I began to write the answer.

“Is it the answer for number 5?” asked my friend.

“No, it’s for number 2!” I said while copying the answer.

My friend was so confused. He said impatiently “ Hey, I asked you the answer for number 5?”

“Wait ! I will let you know after I finished it! Then, after I finished, I showed the page for the answer number 5 to my friend. He asked again “Nov, where’s the answer? Should I write all the paragraphs in this page?”

“Oh.. My … God ! You never read your book at home??? The answer is in the third paragraph !” He laughed and say ‘thank you’ to me. Fortunately, my teacher didn’t know about our disscussion. Did I get a good mark? Yes, I got A mark BUT I WAS NOT SATTISFIED BECAUSE I CHEATED ONE OF THE ANSWERS!!!

Actually, when my friend said that he had a book, at that time, God gave me two choices ; I kept on doing the straigt thing or I was tempted to cheat. Because I only focused to my problem(answer for no.2) so I accepted the shortcut to cheat. If I had not cheated, I would have been satisfied with my marks(B mark).

Life is full of choices. When we have problem in our life, we are doing examination in life! Choices always come but if we only focused on our problem(how to make it finish as soon as possible), we will take the wrong choice; as the result is unsatisfaction or regret. So, it’s better to stay focused to the right thing.

Nova

(Picture added from Google.com)

THE FAITH OF A FATHER

What would you do if you are a father and your son would be dropped out of school because of unable to follow the lessons?

There is a father who works as a Pastor. He has a son and his son studies in primary school in one of the International School in Indonesia. As we have known, an international school has an excellent standard of education. Most of the teachers and the headmaster of this school are come from advanced western countries.

Suddenly, the headmaster called the Pastor. The headmaster wanted to talk about the Pastor’s son. Then, the Pastor came to the school to meet the headmaster. The headmaster said, “Sir, you know our school, right? It’s an International School. I’m sorry to say that I could not accept your son here anymore. He is so slow to understand the subject. He is always behind his friends! You can send him to other school which can accept him.”

In his heart, the Pastor said, I’m a Pastor but why my son like this? Then, the Pastor said to the headmaster, “Mam, please give my son an opportunity. Give him 6 months to study here again. I’m sure there will be a progress in him in 6 months.” Firstly, the headmaster didn’t agree but because of seeing the passion of the father , finally the headmaster allowed his son to study for 6 months.

What did the Pastor do for his son? Did he pay a well-known a private teacher to teach his son at school? OR Did he send his son to an good extra course? OR Did he himself teach his son all the subjects?

Surprisingly! The father called his son and said,” Son, from now on, we will read the Bible at 5 a.m in the morning.” His son obeyed his words. Every morning, the father guided his son to read Psalm. The Pastor didn’t teach about the subject! He only guided his son to read Bible every morning.

Six months later, all the students got report. The Pastor came to school again and checked his son’s report. He saw his son was in Top Ten rank in his class. Finally, the headmaster said,” Your son may stay study here. He has a good progress now!”

Based on true story that I heard from a Pastor. After I heard this story last year, there were two questions appeared in my mind.

Is it because of the faith of the father so his son got a good progress OR Is it because reading Bible will open someone’s mind so he can understand the other things well?
I THINK BOTH OF THEM MAKES THE SON HAS A GOOD PROGRESS AND BOTH OF THEM MAKE PEOPLE HAS A GOOD PROGRESS IN LIFE.

I LIKE WHAT YOU HAVE

Ajeng is Indonesian woman. She has a new friend from USA. Her friend’s name is Paula. Paula is spending her holiday in Indonesia. She is staying in a hotel near Ajeng’s house.

Last Saturday afternoon, both of these two ladies went to the beach. When they arrived, lots of people had been there. Some of them were the people from other countries. “Hmm… I like the weather like this. The sun shines brightly, the weather is so hot. It’s the perfect time to lay on the sand and toast my skin,” said Paula excitedly. Ajeng just smiled and they changed their clothes.

Afterward, Paula laid on the sand. She seemed enjoying the sunshines touch her skin. Meanwhile, Ajeng was sitting on the shady spot under a tree. She enjoyed the beauty of the sea from under the tree. Paula saw Ajeng and she approached her.”Hey, why are you sitting here? Let’s enjoy the sunshine on the sea-shore!” persuaded Paula.

“Oh..no..no..! I had better sit here. I’m afraid my skin will be darker,” said Ajeng.

“Ha..ha..ha.., I want my skin to be tan and you are afraid to be brown, said Paula while sitting beside Ajeng.

“Most of women here expect to be white. They use whitening cream and even having white injection to change their skin color to be white. We consider white is more beautiful than other skin color. Some have been bored with brown skin,” explained Ajeng .

Paula smiled. “Most people expect what they don’t have,” she added.

After spending three hours in the beach. Both of these two ladies went back home. Ajeng invited Paula to have dinner with her family. “Paula, would you have a dinner with my family? My mother has cooked some special dishes,” asked Ajeng.

“Yes, with pleasure.”

When they arrived, Ajeng’s mother welcomed Paula warmly. She shook hand with Paula as a greeting. She doesn’t speak a word to Paula because she doesn’t speak English. Ajeng and Paula came into the house.But then, Ajeng’s mother drew Ajeng hand and said, “Ajeng, perhaps Paula doesn’t know that we don’t wear shoes at home. Let her know politely!” Ajeng’s mother said in Bahasa Indonesia.

“I’m sorry Paula, but we don’t put on shoes at home,” said Ajeng. Paula stared at her shoes. “Oh..yeah, I’m sorry. I didn’t know it before.

“That’s ok. Let’s go to the dining room. Ajeng guided Paula to dining room where all the members of Ajeng family had sat there. There are some special dishes at the table. Thay enjoyed the dishes after praying. “What is this green dish? Is it a porridge? Paula asked.

“Oh, no, it’s cassava leaves. We pound it and then we boil it with coconut milk and some spices, “ explained Ajeng .

“I think I’ll try the sattay first.” Paula tasted the sattay, “God, it’s so spicy!” She directly drink the water.

“Sorry, Paula. Most of people here like spicy food so my mother cooks it spicy.

“Never mind, I try this one. Hmm.. it’s nice . By the way, why don’t you put on shoes at home?”asked Paula while enjoying the dishes.

“We think it’s impolite. If we come to our friends’ house but we don’t take off our shoes, the hosts will think we are so arrogant. But, I think it’s because of the weather here. It’s so hot so if we wear shoes at home, it will be uncomfortable,” explained Ajeng .

“Oh… I see. But, I see most of you wear slipper not shoes, don’t you?

“Yes. Paula, is it snowing in your country now?

“No, it’s summer now. Why? Do you want to see the snow?”

“Yes, I expect to see the snow someday.”

“He..he.., I ‘ve been bored with snow,” said Paula .

After finishing dinner, Paula heard Ajeng belching. “Auchh… Ajeng, that’s not good,”said Paula . Ajeng wondered. What’s wrong? I didn’t do anything.

“You just belching, that’s so rude,” said Paula.

“Oh..you mean belching. I’m sorry if it’s not good for you. We often do it here. It means we enjoy the food.

“It’s rude in my country,” said Paula

Both of these two ladies still talking about the different between east and west culture, including the impolite thing to ask an old woman about her age in west culture but it’s an acceptable thing in Ajeng’s country.

The text above is only illustration/fiction but based on little research. Sometiomes something that we posses is the thing that other people like/want. Things that we think good in our environtment is not always good in other places.

IN THE BUS

Bus is a means of transportation to carry people from one place to another place. Not only passangers get on to bus but also thief, robber, and hypnotist.

I got into a bus. A man got into the bus too. He sat in front of me. He was holding a cage covered by a brown paper. We didn’t know what was inside the cage until we heard a bird singing national anthem. All the passangers were surprised. “What a great bird!”

Two passangers (men) seemed interest to the bird. They began to ask the bird owner sort of question as they knew it was a rare and expensive bird. One of these two men wanted to buy the bird but the owner refused it because the bargain price does not suit him. The bird kept on singing with its beautiful voice. It could sing many songs well. I was amazed but I still wondered what kind of bird which could sing so beautiful.

Suddenly, the owner greeted the a passangers (a woman). This woman seemed had just shopped because she carried many shop bags. The owner tried to sell the bird to this woman. He made conversation with this woman until she gave up a lot of her money to buy the bird. After that, the owner got off with the previous two men who interested to the bird. The woman was holding the cage. But, 5 minutes later, we didn’t hear the bird sing anymore. All the passangers asked the woman to open the brown paper.

“What a bird!” said all the passangers. Everyone knew that bird was so cheap. The woman looked so weak and pale because she had spent a lot of money just for a cheap bird who couldn’t sing at all.

When I got off, I still wondered from where was the bird voice. Did he have a cassete on his pocket? What a creative trick! It will be better if he use it to entertain people not for foolin and take away other money. Sometimes, we can get good and bad experience in bus.

THINGS WE CAN LEARN FROM ANIMALS

Have you ever paid attention to a certain animal? Or if you have a pet at home, you can pay attention to it and find something special that you can learn from it.

1. Dog is a very loyal animal to his master.

I have a dog and he liked to go away from home for many days and then come back again. My father was worry that someday the dog went away and never come back anymore because he loves that dog. So, he tried to stop the dog by hurting him. Yes, it worked ( I hope anyone who read this note will not imitate what my father did). Since then, he never go away anymore. But, things that supprised me that is, my dog never hates or afraid to my father. Everytime my father goes home, he always wave his long tail as a symbol of friendship. Then, when my father is sitting, he begins to smell my father’s hand and feet; it’s like saying “are you okay?” or “are you tired?”.

The things that I don’t like from my dog is he has many children from many female dog; in a year he has children from my neighbour’s dog who live in my left house and then the next year he has children from my neighbour’s dog who live in my right house. I can’t imagine if he were a man, he must have much money to fund his two wives.

2. White dove is a loyal animal to his partner.

I ever heard that if one male or a female from a couple of white dove died, the other one will live alone forever without couple because he only have one partner in his life. I know now, why most of the wedding invitations that people had given to my family have pictures of a couple white dove behind it. It’s because of white dove is a symbol of sincere love, so they expect their marriage like white dove (once in a lifetime).

3. Ant is a very deligent or hard worker animal.

I often watch ants and I seldom find them sleeping. They always move here and there to get some food. I think I have to remember ants whenever I am sleepy or lazy to do something.

4. Eagle is a strong bird.

When the strong wind blows, an eagle will not fly low or change his direction, but he keeps on flying; he flies higher. We can learn from an eagle in our life. When we have problems, we tend to be down or change direction(escape from the problem). If we do like the eagle do; when we have problems, we through the problems then we will move up one stage in life (we will be mature one stage in life). I think I have to learn to be an eagle.

That’s all my writing. I hope it will be usefull for anyone who read this note.

Nova

'HAVING CANDLELIGHT DINNER ALMOST EVERYDAY ???'

In my country, especially in my city, we often do candlelight dinner almost everyday. Normally candlelight dinner is covered by a romantic athmosphere.Not so happened in my city! When people have candlelight dinner, they are covered by upset athmosphere ; they scold, they mock, they are angry and they say “ I Always Pay The Electricity Bills On Time But Why Still ‘BLACKOUT’?? Now, we are eating by the candlelight !

I also often see some comments of some Indonesians on facebook about Blackout

1. “Again!!!! Black out in my area !!!”
2. “ What should I do when Blackout??? Everything is dark. I had better go to sleep.”
3. “ I had better do something when Blackout than scolding,mocking or showing my anger?”
4. “It’s raining and it’s blackout!!! So complete !!! “
5. “ I can’t do anything, it’s dark !!! “

Those are some comments that I read on FB. We have been facing the electricity crisis since four years ago. During the last three years, we had black out for 4 or 8 hours a day. Every area had blackout in turn. Many complaints has been delivered to the Electricity Company and the government, but still this problems hasn’t solved yet but thank God now we only have black out for an hour in certain day.

The worst impact is for the students. They want to study ;they want to do their homework but it is hindered by Black out! They can not read clearly in candlelight.

My city is the third biggest cities in Idonesia. I think it breaks the record to save this world from Global Warning. Why ??? Because there’s a day for the people in this whole world to turn out the light for an hour in a day. It aims to save the world from Global Warming! We are here turn out the light almost everyday for 4,8 at least 1 hour. Should I be proud of my city???

Nova

WE ARE A FOOTBALL PLAYER IN LIFE

I love to watch football but only when FIFA World Cup.It means I watch football once in a four years. Even only 32 countries played in the 2010 FIFA World Cup but all over the world watch it and celebrate it. The hottest news in a country can be shifted by The World Cup News because most people talk and talk about football. People gather together in a certain place to watch The World Cup. That’s the spirit of football.

I personally supported German team to win this champion. I was dissapointed when I watch the round quarter final where Germany meet Spain. Spain beat Germany, 1-0. I’m not the football observer, but I can feel and see that German team played as not as good before(when Germany against Argentina). I don’t know the reasons, is it because of one of their striker didn’t play OR because Spain was too strong. Actually, a football team is not only compete with other team but they are also compete with the time.

I noticed something from Spain team (When Spain against Germany in round quarter final). Spain team played as though as they are the winner. They played like a champion. I can feel their spirit. They fell but raised up again; They kicked the ball to the wrong direction or the goal keeper caught the ball but they try and try again. When there was attack from other team, they defense their Goal. They didn’t let other team to possess the ball. And finally, they made a goal and this goal has brought them to the final and become the real champion in FIFA World Cup 2010.

We are like a football player in our life. Every people has a goal in certain aspect of life. We may have a goal in our job, in our study, in the marriage life, in friendships and even in our faith to God. But, sometimes we fall or get attack from others when we want to reach our goal. We can do what a football player do. When we fall, we raise up again.When we try to reach our goal but not yet success, we can try and try again. When other people attack or try to make us down, we can defense ourselves by a positive thinking. Till finally, we can make a goal; then become a champion.

Nova

YOU ARE A WOMAN WARRIOR

WOMAN WARRIOR

Nowadays, a woman warrior does not fight physically but she has weapons. Her weapons are her strength, her spirit, her love, her tenderness, her patience, and her faith to God.

You are a woman warrior if you are a single mother and fight to raise up your children.

You are a woman warrior if you are a widow and fight for your living.

You are a woman warrior if you fight against the disease.

You are a woman warrior if in uncertain condition , you still put your hope to God.

Last week, I got an email from a friend of mine. He says that his friend had a breast cancer. He lead me to a blog which is written by his friend. When I read that blog, I many times brushed my tears away. There’s a sentence which caught my eyes, it is written “it’s ruin my career and life”, I think I can understand her feeling but one thing that I can see from her blog that the cancer does not ruin her spirit/passion to recover. She is an optimistic woman and I know she can through it all. She is one of woman warrior!

My grandmother fought to raise up her five children after her husband passed away and she made it well. She was a good cook and when I asked her to cook, she did it for me. She taught me about faith to God when my parents didn’t do. Every night, I slept with her. I ever asked her ”why do you always sing praise song every evening?” She answer,” I always miss being in church.” She is with our Father now. I will always remember her love, her passion and her hope to God. She is a woman warrior!

A woman warrior is the woman who fight for something by her strength, passion, love, tenderness, patience) and put her hope to God.

Nova

THE SPIRIT OF RED WHITE FLAG

Notes for Readers

August 17^th is the date that will always be memorized by all Indonesians. You can feel the spirit of Red White Flag on this date in Indonesia. INDEPENDENCE DAY!

Besides ceremony that you can see in most of the place here, you can also see many contests and competitions are held here. Some of the competitions are held before August 17^th. This contests and competitions are aimed to grow and show the spirit of Red White Flag. Red means brave and white means holy.

Some contests and competitions which are held in every year are : tug of war, sack race, mounting nut, marble race, cracker eating contest, balloon breaking contest, singing contest, kebaya and batik contest, traditional dance competition, cooking competitions, etc. You can choose some competitions that you are interested in and join it.

Mounting Nut

I was born in the country which has diverse culture and religion. Indonesia has more than thirty tribes and five religions where every culture/tribes has its own language. We live side by side peacefully. I still remember what my primary teacher advised us; she said “THE PERSON WHO OBEY HIS GOD IS THE PERSON WHO RESPECT OTHER RELIGIONS.” Although, there are some arguments and terrorism but so far, we still can hold each other.

I live in Sumatera island, that is in North Sumatera. We still have Kalimantan island, Java island, Sulawesi island, Irian Jaya island and Bali is one of our small island. One thing that I miss to see in my country is the good progress.

Map of Indonesia

If you ask me, “Nova, what have you done for your nation/country?” I only can do a little for my country, I write information about my country so that if there are people who don’t know Indonesia, at least they know it from my writing above. INSPIRING INDONESIA!!

Nova.