I have to say this is so funny.

I got this from www.9gag.com, "If only history had Facebook..."

LOL LOL LOL

Stay cool,
Tami

Gelas, Air, Tuhan

Suatu malam di sebuah gerbong restorasi kereta, saya dan seorang teman sedang duduk memandang jendela yang gelap gulita, tidak terlihat apa-apa. Kami duduk, di atas meja tangan kami memegang erat gelas masing-masing yang berisi air. Memecah kesunyian lantas saya bertanya,

"Mungkin saja dunia kita seperti air dalam gelas ini, dan kita manusia adalah partikel-partikel air di dalamnya. Berenang-renang kesana kemari, bertanya ada apa di luar sana. Mungkin Tuhan sama seperti kita, diluar sana dia juga sedang duduk memandang kegelapan di dalam sebuah kereta. Peduli tidak dengan air yang dia minum, sedangkan di dalam sana air-air pusing bertanya mereka siapa." 

NORGE

When you really want something so bad, the world will conspire to make it comes true.

I forgot the quotee, but that's one of few quotes that I really do believe in. You dont know how, but it just happens that way. If you want something so much, and you keep on thinking about it, there is always a way. Always.  This story is one my experience.

Fjords, aurora borealis, Svalbard, Nobel Peace Prize, Kings of Convenience, Jostein Gaarder, Alexander Rybak, Vikings are things that may come to your mind once you hear the word "Norway". Indeed, its natural beauty made me put that country into my bucketlist. Last February, I had the chance to finally fulfill one of my life-time dream, stepping my feet in Norwaaay!

Attending International Student Festival in Trondheim, Norway, i flew half of the globe up to this cold small country in northern Europe. When I was changing the flight in Frankfurt, Germany, I met the other participant from Zimbabwe who turned out to take the same flight with me to Oslo. When the plane was landing in Oslo, i thought "where the hell am i? is it in north pole already?", since everything was vastly white and all i could see along the horizon was this plain white terrain....... Butterfly flew in my stomachs. Once I arrived in Oslo, it was pretty weird cause there was no immigration booth or anything. Me and that Zimbabwean guy named Jimmy wondered if we could just enter this country without any security checks or anything. But turn out that there really wasnt any (This country really has issue on trust -_-). 

The airport was small and filled with other ISFiT participants, youths coming from every corners of the earth, even from countries you might havent even heard of. But we came here not to represent our countries, races, beliefs, or universities, we came here because we are youths, students, who believed that our voices should be heard. ISFiT is the biggest thematic student festival in the world, and this year's theme was Globalize this: Health.

Me, Jimmy and 2 of my new friends from Puerto Rico and China decided to take a walk around the city, before leaving to Trondheim in a 7hours bus-ride. Well, I didnt wear any socks inside my boots that day, cause i didnt know that it would be THAT cold. Walking around the city, we were freeeezed out. Every five minutes walking, we stepped inside a minimart to warm our selves up and continued walking. The city of Oslo was still packed even when the snow was falling in cold February winter. Oslo was more of a traditional mixed with modern kind of city. The architecture was this typical conventional European city. We also visited the parliament building, and the Nobel Peace Center. 

After couple of hours sightseeing in Oslo, we went back to the airport, took the ISFiT bus to Trondheim for 7 hours. Trondheim, in fact, was the Jogjakarta of Norway. It is the city of students, city of art, traditional mixed with the modern sophisticates. My host family were 4 students, all girls, 2 were sisters. They lived in this very comfy red wooden house, typical Norwegian house. The first night there I was welcomed with a dinner and we had a taco-night! (Taco is like 'mie-instant'nya Norwegian students)

In the morning, the participants were divided into several workshops and I got into literature workshop. During the workshop there would be games, discussion, activities, dancing, debates, coffee breaktime, etc. I had 30 something workshop friends coming all the way from Nigeria, Guatemala, Tanzania, Brunei, Iran, South Africa, Moldova, Georgia, Canada, Bosnia, Croatia, Serbia, Mexico, Belarusia, Finland, Japan, Romania, Argentina, Pakistan, Brazil, India, Bulgaria, Denmark. They were all very amazing people, journalists, scriptwriters, poets, some of them already had their own anthologies, or at least they were on social project, people who really dedicate their lives to open the world's eyes through their writings and words. I felt like i was just a living chunk of meat interfering the brainy discussions............ although im meatless t(-_-t)

After the workshop, we usually spend time strolling around the town, buying souvenirs, sightseeing until night came and it was time for plenary session. In that session, all participants would gather in the big hall in STUDENTESAMFUNDET (Student Center) and there would be some famous speaker presenting their thoughts and ideas. In this year's ISFiT, we had His Royal Highness Crown Prince Haakon of Norway, Student Peace Prize Laureate Dusko Kostic, Winner of the Asia Democracy and Human Rights Award of 2008, Dr. Sima Samar, Vice President of the International Association for Suicide Prevention Dr. Viljayakumar, Foreign Minister of Norway Mr. Gahr Støre, and  two of the world's decidedly most knowledgeable men when it comes to global health:  Sir Michael Marmot and Hans Rosling. In their previous festivals they succeeded in bringin Desmond Tutu, Dalai Lama, former Director-General of WHO Dr Gro Harlem Brundtland, Jose Ramos Horta even former US president Bill Clinton through video conference!  


After the plenary session, it was time for leisure, the student lounge or bar in studentesamfundet would be packed with students and participants, sometimes there would be great DJs like Phanta du Prince or some cool indie bands such as "Team Me" playing in the underground club.  The famous "Axis of Evil" comedian, Aaron Kader also enlivened the event I just simply couldnt stop laughing during his stand-up comedy! We also get to watch a circus performance from Circus Khaoom, dancing along during the unique national costumes party, and walked around the town in Walk of Peace.

Besides the plenary session, workshop sessions, sightseeing, parties etc, we also had a chance to try cross-country skiing! That was a real new experience to me, fell twice on my butts! We also did this sleighing thingy and it was so much fun! Many of the participants had never tried skiing before,  it was so funny watching those people kept on falling on their butts! 

ISFiT 2011 in Norway really was one of my life-time most amazing experience, it really has widened my view of the world, opened new perspectives, and ofcourse, new networks! Although the temperature could get til -15 degree celcius, but all the experiences i got there was really worth it. During my night-ride on a bus back to Oslo, i reflected through those 10 days in Trondheim, amazing. As I gazed through the window, the stars were all blinking above, and sometimes the moonlight reflected on the shadowy fjords. It was really a beautiful country, I will definitely come back to Norway somewhen, take my words!

 "If you really want something, the world will conspire to make it comes true" - in this I'll always believe.


Stay cool,
Tami

Gili Nanggu

Right after we climbed up the second highest volcano in Indonesia, we went straight down to the beach baby! Got bored of those 3Gili's, I decided to come up with a new Gili which isnt as famous as those 3Gili's but it's better, it's called Gili Nanggu. Located on south west of Lombok, near the harbour, it isnt main tourist destination. It isnt the place where you go out and drink or dance or party like in Gili Terawangan. It's actually a place for those who wants to hideaway from the hush and rush of the city life, this place is like the antonym of Kuta beach Bali or Lombok's Terawangan or Senggigi, a small stranded private island where you can just lay down on the beach alone, stargaze, and ponder just about anything that crosses your mind.

As far as I can remember I think we went offshore with our rented small boat from a small motel called Dolphin Bay, and once we got ashore, I knew that this place was going to be a great restful place! White sandy beach and turquoise clear water welcomed us, we walked to the receptionist and voila! A small brownish Kintamani dog greeted us! (Im not sure about the breed of the dog though, i think it's kintamani but i dunno) The island was very quite and desolate, and we met only a few other tourists. They only has dozens of cottages run by the island owner and one restaurant in that island.

When the sun was setting, I took a walk by myself around the island, but adorably, this dog (Bintang was his name) kept on following me. Well i thought i could use a company. So we walked along the shoreline, as the sun was setting, reflecting both of our shadows, a girl and a dog. Then we found this huge peculiar flat stone and just sat there.

The sun had set, and I walked back to the restaurant and had dinner there. After a while, me and Aby had some fun talks with the chef and the boys who worked there. There was also a young navy who guarded the island and he was soo hillarious! He told me that it was very peaceful there but too boring and he was hoping to be placed somewhere else. But everytime his commander checked him on that island, all the other workers there told the commander that he had been doing a very good job in guarding the island, thus the boss wouldn't think of placing him somewhere else. Poor navy ahahaha.

After chatting with the guys there, I walked around to find Bintang, they told me that usually at this hour Bintang would be lying down alone on the beach. So there I went, to the beach, and I saw this small cute dog lying down alone on the beach. I lied down and put my arms around him, the water kept on tickling my feet as we both stargazed and just set silent, under the moonlight, listening to the night wind breezing. It was one of my most peaceful moment of my life.

The next morning, it was time for SNORKELLING!! I rent the snorkel mask for 30rb and instantly ran to the beach. The weather, the water, everything was perfect sunny day there! The underwater life was soo amazing,  i just snorkelled near the beach but i could see so many vibrantly colourful fish!

the left one is that foolish navy!

Oh we had one funny incident when we were snorkeling!! I was just calmly snorkeling, watching the fishes moving, feeding the fishes, Aby was just peacefuly kayaking offshore, when suddenly I heard a scream from the water "HELP! HELP! HELP!!" and it was my mom!!! A foreign guy was sitting with his family on the beach when he suddenly ran to the water and helped my mom. I really didnt have any idea what was happening to my mom at that time. But the guy kept on telling her "step on! step on!", and my mom kept yelling "HELP ME! HELP ME! IM DROWNING!" then the guy, "YOU CAN STEP ON!!!". *zap* my mom stepped on the sand..................... HAHAHAHAHA HOW COULD SHE DROWN WHEN THE WATER WAS JUST AS HIGH AS HER KNEE!!! I think she was so embarassed but i just couldnt stop laughin!! Plus she had all the people there panicking. What a very embarrassing moment. I pretended that I didnt know her huahahahaha.

So after staying a night there we, we packed our bags and left that small desolated tranquil island. That was just the best beach I've ever been to! No beach can compare, not even gili terawangan or bali or anywhere I've seen. I am definitely coming back there somewhen, and I hope  Bintang still be there :-)

Stay cool as always,
TAMI!