No Need to PANIC

Friday, March 22, 2013 0 comments



Merapi eruption 2010
“There is no need to panic” said Widya, a freshman in UGM

Late October, Merapi, a volcano in Yogyakarta, was erupted. It produced ash plumes, lahars, and pyroclastic flows. It also released sulfur dioxide, which could harm human. Yogyakarta was in terrible situation. It was covered with the grey ashes from Merapi eruption. Even, this eruption was worse than the eruption in 1872. There were many victims at least 151 people were died and hundred thousand people should be evacuated.

Media spread the news of the dangerous Merapi. The condition was dreadful as media emphasized each news. Everyone got panic especially for them who did not know exactly what happened. Many school and University didn’t hold learning activity for a week since the Merapi eruption was getting worse. It affected some students from outside the town deciding to go home as soon as possible. Most of them were panic and went home in hurry. It made Yogya condition getting worse.

“For me, I just need to relax and think positive,” Widya said “being panic will only lead to terrible thing”. She only kept calm and stayed at her boarding house when Merapi was erupted. She didn’t get panic because she believed that everything would be fine. It was weird since she was a freshman and her hometown was not in Jogja, but she was still calm in that horrible condition.

“However”, she added, “thinking positive doesn’t mean you do nothing”. She told me that she had had also plan if the condition getting worse. She watched news to know the development of Merapi condition. Then, she decided to go home tomorrow morning because her parents would get worried of her.

She underlined that being panic in such condition would make everything worse, and having no plan to do was also not a good thing. Therefore, she had made plan to do yet she did it calmly to prevent the terrible thing. 

TALKING TO the B-R-O-O-M

Friday, March 15, 2013 0 comments


            That was a cloudy afternoon in the corner of a classic building –just pretend it as a “classic” building-, I sat down in the black chair day dreaming and waiting for the keyport to open, leading me to the imaginary world. Suddenly, I saw a broom, not an ordinary broom, but BROOM. This Broom was also sitting down in front of me, on the fishpond while looking at the fish. It seemed the Broom wanted to catch the fish and eat it just like Smeagol did. I got my attention to the Broom and I stood up slowly, walked close, and smile. I said a word then, yeaaah I thought it was
            “what are you doing here?”
            I was wondering what Broom did here –in this world-. It is supposed to be in the far far away land, the land of magic. I was so sure that I had left my Broo, there, then why I still could find it here. Ouch gosh! I thought I just missed my school of magic badly, and wanted to get there soon. I kept silent, and suddenly the Broom said
            “Hello my dear Lady! Forgive me if I just remain keep silent and make you wondering of me. I am sorry if I didn’t answer your question, honestly I am so afraid to answer since I am not the member of this world….” the Broom stopped for a while “I mean live in this world, but in different dimension”
            I was so surprised and I got myself back to the chair
“you mean Imaginary world, world of MAGIC?” I said stutteringly
            “yeahh, you guess it”
            I still could not believe it, and I just lost my brain. Maybe I was a patient in asylum or suddenly I just got insane, crazy, mad, or even worse I was dying. I took a deep breath, tried to look around, and I got that I was still in the same place, I was not dying.
            “you can talk?” I was still wondering “but, but this is not in the magic world. How can you do that? I mean how can you talk?”
            “don’t be surprised! I also live in your another world, world of magic too. Yet, you have to know, I am here because of my duty, my obligation, a mission from my king.” The Broom stopped saying again and looked around and then whispered “ I am a spy. I watch one people considered as the member of the ….” The Broom kept silent and looked confused “ yeaaah, I don’t have to tell you about this. I am sorry”
            I was so speechless. Member?? Member of whom? I still could not catch the idea. And if people the Broom mentioned was someone dangerous and I just thought maybe that people was the **** Lord member. Oh NO! it would never be. At least not HERE! Not in this world. I meant who cared of this world. Yeaaah, I was not sure of that. It must be joking.          
         For a first moment I just thought that the Broom was only a broom, then I considered it as a Broom, not ordinary Broom, but flying Broom I had on my own world. And now, none of them were correct. I believed that was not my Broom, it was a B-R-O-O-M, maybe a wizard turning himself into a B-R-O-O-M. yeaaaaah maybe that was the fact.
            “heeey, why do you keep silent? What’s wrong?” asked the Broom
            “No! aaaa I just wonder that you were my Broom, but yeaah now I exactly know that you are not”
            “Well,, maybe this is the right time to tell you the truth. I AM NOT the Broom you have mentioned, but ……………………………………………..”
            I couldn’t catch what the Broom said to me. I could not see it again as the keyport had opened the gate, and then I flied to the other world. Then I still wondered what the Broom tried to say. Deep down in my heart, I just regretted why the keyport was opening when I has to listen to important information. Then yeaaaah, I kept silent again and thought deeper of the broom. I looked at the sky and BIG QUESTION appeared on my mind


“WHO WAS THE BROOM?”

A Grayscale Picture of Malioboro

Thursday, March 7, 2013 0 comments




            The past will not be forgotten. The calm and gentle atmosphere fills the grayscale Malioboro. Every side of the town, you could feel the nature mixing with the town folks. The wind breezed from the tree like the tranquility of this city. The giant trees would protect you from the sun while you walked around. That was the time when Malioboro was still an “untouched place”.

            There were no tall buildings by the road; there were only trees and many spaces for pedestrians to walk on. It seemed as if they were not afraid to walk around, because there were not many vehicles back then. It is so different with the “current” condition where just with one wrong step and a car might hit you, and you will end up in hospital or, even worse, graveyard. Or maybe you might get the second choice, not get hit by a car, but have your leisure pastime of walking around ravaged by the hawking of the vendors. You can call yourself lucky if you could get home with your wallet intact in your pocket.


            
Current condition is not as grayscale as the past. Malioboro is colorful, too colorful, filled by hundred colorful lamps, red, yellow, blue, green, and other color. It seems like they are waving their hand to welcome you and saying “hey, I am Malioboro Mall. Come here!” or just with another word to persuade you come into the place. There is no longer grayscale Malioboro which looks like an “empty” place full of peace and tranquility. This is a place for you to walk around, for shopping, not for having relaxation just like what you got in pastime.
           
            

Before the Journey Begins ...

Saturday, March 2, 2013 0 comments


One Ring

One ring to rule them all, one ring to find them,

One ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them.



Ash nazg durbatulûk, ash nazg gimbatul,
Ash nazg thrakatulûk agh burzum-ishi krimpatul







Three Rings for the Elven-kings under the sky,
Seven for the Dwarf-lords in their halls of stone,
Nine for Mortal Men doomed to die,
One for the Dark Lord on his dark throne
In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.
One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them,
One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them
In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.


Three Rings for the Elven-kings under the sky


Seven for the Dwarf-lords in their halls of stone


Nine for Mortal Men doomed to die

One for the Dark Lord on his dark throne


In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.




Once Upon a Time ...

Friday, March 1, 2013 0 comments


Hello, I am alva, an ordinary girl who lives in ordinary world with flat life, and has no special skill which may attract you. So here, I would bring you to my past, to know deeper about who I am, and to learn how I can have such kind of flat life.. So, what kind of story you wish from an ordinary girl? I guess you wish nothing.

A Little Bit Information

            The story begins with the usual narration just like in the fairy tale. Once upon a time, -not exactly once upon a time, but September 18th 1993- in a really really small village in a small town in the east of Central Java, there was born a little tiny baby who was given name by her beloved parents as Alvanita. Yeaaaah that is my name . Oke, just let me keep telling the story of mine. So, that is the time when I could see the world, and later on I would say how cruel this world is.
            I live in a really small village, surrounded by forest of pines. However, we can see many mountains and hills, such a beautiful sceneries I could say. My father and mother also come from and live in the same village where I live. My grandparents also come from and live in the same village with me. So actually we are all, I mean my family are from the same village. How small my world is, right? and other relatives are also in the same village, even, most of people in the village are my family. I have never been outside my town. Even I never explore my town. I only know my village because I live there, I grow up there, and that is the only place I know. My parents never take me to go a walk to other regency. I only live in this small town which even I still don’t know the regions. I only know the way from my home to my school, to bus station, and of course to the square park . Other side?? I really don’t know because I have never been there.
            So this gonna be a little bit information of me and my beloved family. Well, I don’t live in a rich family who can get everything we want. We need a really hard work to fulfill our needs in our daily life. I have one young brother. He is two years younger than me. My parents don’t work in office. They only ordinary parents, but in my point of view, they are the best parent. My father is a farmer, only a small farmer; cultivate his own land in the village. Every day he goes to farmland, just to find something that he can sell such as some fruits from his farm, or sometimes if we really need a lot of money he will sell some of the big trees in the farm. Oke, and then I will tell you about my mother. My mother is a babysitter. She has got that job since I was in third grade in elementary school. Since that time, I rarely met my mother, maybe only twice a year, or even worse once two year. So at home, I live with my Father and Brother since my mother always get job outside the town. 

My School; Elementary and High Schools

            My schools, all of my schools, were not the famous school. It was only an ordinary school but I was so happy because I could study there and had a lot of friends. I would not tell a lot of my elementary and junior high school. It was quite the same. I was only a stupid student, lazy, and often got punishment because I didn’t finish my homework or sometimes just because I could not understand what my teacher said. I was still young, 4 years old, when I was in first grade of elementary school. Oh yeah, one note, although I was not smart student, I used to get third rank in elementary school. And in junior high school? I never got good rank since I often had bad scores in math and science. The only subject I mastered were Indonesian and English. Well, this was only a little bit information of my elementary and junior high school. Let’s move on to the time I had passed national exam and I had decide to go to High School.

Well, actually I didn’t decide what school I had to choose, because I had no right for it. It was kind of a tradition that I should follow my sister. Maybe I was her follower. I had to go to the same school which my sister attended. And yeah, I was gladly to do that because I had no idea of senior high school. So then, I went to a high school in my town. It was located in village too. Here I was not alone since most of my junior high school friends were attended this school. I was so confident to study there. I felt that this was not a strange place for me because I had a lot of friends, yet I had to still adapt to the new condition and of course to the teachers. This was kind of magic because I always got first rank in my class and I always got good grades in most of my subjects, including math. It was weird since math was my weakness and I never be able to count. Oke then, there was a time for me to decide what department I had to choose for my future. Most of my friends took Science class, and how about me? yeah, since I was first rank and had good scores, so I was able to take science, social, and language. However, I convinced myself to take Language program since I loved to learn language and that was the only subject I mastered well. Well, I know most of people wondered and surprised . My family got angry with me because of my decision. They said it was not a good decision since language was well known as “bad class”, full of rascals, and what I would be in future if I took language. Well, I didn’t care of that. This was my decision. I just didn’t want to be sister follower to take Science Class since I never loved Science. I knew inside myself I loved learning language and culture. And that’s what I got in language class.

                                                                                    
How Do I Get Here?

Yeahh I know you are wondering now how I get here, studying English Literature in a famous university, UGM.

So the story begun when I was in the first semester of third grade’s Senior High School. I always dreamed to go to University, to explore world, and other (seems) impossible things. That was so wonderful for daydreaming, yet I often disappointed to realize that I could not go to university. Fiuuh, then I imagined how pity my life would be if I could not go to university. It meant that I would end up to work in other country as a worker in factory, or maybe I would be a servant. I always cried when I thought of that. My mother never allowed me to go to university because my parent would never be able to afford the fee. Oke, I had to face this problem. I was so hopeless and I always thought what I would do in the future.
One day, a miracle came to me. I had a brilliant idea or I should say crazy idea. If my parent would not pay the fee, I would go to university that would not ask me to pay fee. So, I went to internet cafe and looked for scholarship information. At first, I tried to look some information of studying abroad. Then I just forgot it since there were so many requirements to be fulfilled and it still needed a lot of money. I was not sure my parent would be glad to give me amount of money to study abroad since we only had “limited” money for our daily life. Then I tried to be more rational, and I tried to find scholarship in Indonesia. Finally, I could find one.
The first University (and the only one) was Universitas Gadjah Mada. I chose this one for no special reason. That was the only university on my mind, and I just thought I could fulfill all the requirements. I chose English Literature as my major because this is the only one I knew and I only had one choice. I applied for the scholarship. At first it was called PBUTM. This was only for them who came from low-economy family; they who could not afford collegee’s fees but had desire to study and had achievement. Few months after that, I was so glad to know the result. Thanks God, I was accepted. I never told my mom if I applied to study in university, but when I was accepted I told her, and yeaaaah she was so angry with me. she was so confused how to give me some money so that I could fulfill my daily life since my scholarship was only for my college’s fees not including living cost. Arghh yeah, here was another problem. I was still calm since my father, brother, sister and relatives supported me to study there, however they also were not able to help me to get living cost. Hopeless again… 

“You can do it if you believe you can”  - Napoleon Hill -

well I loved this quote so much and I applied it in my life. I believed I could find a way. And yeaaaahh one day a miracle came again. There was an announcement that PBUTM was changed to Bidik Misi, and those who got that scholarship would get living cost too. Yeeeeeeeaaaaaahh, I was so happy to hear that. And I thanked to God for the help to find me way. I told this to my family and they were so glad and proud of me. And finally, my mom agreed to let me study here.

For (nearly) three years, I still can stand here, studying English Literature as my major, and I still get scholarship. I still can manage it as well as I can and thank God because I can get good scores, although not be the best. Now I am here, I am still an innocent girl from a village who now is wandering in a city, living in a new world, and adapting with new society. Then now, I have to learn a lot of things because there are still many dreams to reach.


So, that is my story. Kind of a long story, not too long, to give you some images who I am, my past and a little bit my present. This is a story to make you know deeper of myself that I am only a little ordinary girl who has dreams. And My life? Yeaaah it is “flat” if you know what I mean. 

 
Story of a Halfling © 2011 | Designed by Interline Cruises, in collaboration with Interline Discounts, Travel Tips and Movie Tickets