Wednesday, December 17, 2014

Video Conference

Actually when my english class threw Video Conference, i was doing my tasks. So i didn't join. I had thought fisrt there would only regular learning activity, so i chose to do my tasks because it was too many, and close to the deadline. After i had done some percent of my tasks, i went back to school and suddenly my english classmate told me that Video Conference had been held. So i felt regret. I had never joined some Video Conference. I thought it would be exciting. 

T.... TA..... TAS..... TASK...... TASKS....... TASK....... TAS....... TA....... T........ TI..... TIR.... TIRE..... 
TIRED!!!!!!!!!!

At that time was so close to semseter examination, there were so many assignments that had to be done quickly. So teachers could input the score to the report card. Because assignment really influence the grade, so i did my assignments with all of my skill and creativity, in case hoping i would get good score.

I hope in next time teachers will not give the students too many assigments. We need to rest, and feel our teenage moment


Tuesday, December 16, 2014

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Every religion or culture all over the world has their own way to define and celebrate their new year. For example, the Chinese have the Imlek year and to celebrate it, have, as they called it in their own language, "Gong Xi Fat Choy". The Moslem societies have their Muharam year, and any of the people over the world using the Gregorian calendar, celebrate the New Year on January 1st.



The same thing also occurs in Bali, however the Balinese use many different calendar systems. They have adopted the Gregorian calendar for business and government purposes. But for the endless procession of holy days, temple anniversaries, celebrations, sacred dances, building houses, wedding ceremonies, death and cremation processes and other activities that define Balinese life, they have two calendar systems. The first is the Pawukon (from the word Wuku which means week) and Sasih (which is means month). Wuku consists of 30 items starting from Sinta, the first Wuku and end up with the Watugunung the last one. The Pawukon, a 210-day ritual calendar brought over from Java in the 14th century, is a complex cycle of numerological conjunctions that provides the basic schedule for ritual activities on Bali. Sasih, a parallel system of Indian origin, is a twelve month lunar calendar that starts with the vernal equinox and is equally important in determining when to pay respect to the Gods.
Westerners open the New Year in revelry, however, in contrast, the Balinese open their New Year in silence. This is called Nyepi Day, the Balinese day of Silence, which falls on the day following the dark moon of the spring equinox, and opens a new year of the Saka Hindu era which began in 78 A.D.


Nyepi is a day to make and keep the balance of nature. It is based on the story of when King Kaniska I of India was chosen in 78 A.D. The King was famous for his wisdom and tolerance for the Hinduism and Buddhism societies. In that age, Aji Saka did Dharma Yatra (the missionary tour to promote and spread Hinduism) to Indonesia and introduce the Saka year.


The lead upto Nyepi day is as follows:

  • Melasti or Mekiyis or Melis (three days before Nyepi)
    Melasti is meant to clean the pratima or arca or pralingga (statue), with symbols that help to concentrate the mind in order to become closer to God. The ceremony is aimed to clean all nature and its content, and also to take the Amerta (the source for eternal life) from the ocean or other water resources (ie lake, river, etc). Three days before Nyepi, all the effigies of the Gods from all the village temples are taken to the river in long and colourful ceremonies. There, they have are bathed by the Neptune of the Balinese Lord, the God Baruna, before being taken back home to their shrines.
  • Tawur Kesanga (the day before Nyepi)
    Exactly one day before Nyepi, all villages in Bali hold a large exorcism ceremony at the main village cross road, the meeting place of demons. They usually make Ogoh-ogoh (the fantastic monsters or evil spirits or the Butha Kala made of bamboo) for carnival purposes. The Ogoh-ogoh monsters symbolize the evil spirits surrounding our environment which have to be got rid of from our lives . The carnivals themselves are held all over Bali following sunset. Bleganjur, a Balinese gamelan

  • music accompanies the procession. Some are giants taken from classical Balinese lore. All have fangs, bulging eyes and scary hair and are illuminated by torches.The procession is usually organised by the Seka Teruna, the youth organisation of Banjar. When Ogoh-ogoh is being played by the Seka Teruna, everyone enjoys the carnival. In order to make a harmonic relation between human being and God, human and human, and human and their environments, Tawur Kesanga is performed in every level of society, from the people's house. In the evening, the Hindus celebrating Ngerupuk, start making noises and light burning torches and set fire to the Ogoh-ogoh in order to get the Bhuta Kala, evil spirits, out of our lives.
  • Nyepi
    On Nyepi day itself, every street is quiet - there are nobody doing their normal daily activities. There is usually Pecalangs (traditional Balinese security man) who controls and checks for street security. Pecalang wear a black uniform and a Udeng or Destar (a Balinese traditional "hat" that is usually used in ceremony). The Pecalangs main task is not only to control the security of the street but also to stop any activities that disturb Nyepi. No traffic is allowed, not only cars but also people, who have to stay in their own houses. Light is kept to a minimum or not at all, the radio or TV is turned down and, of course, no one works. Even love making, this ultimate activity of all leisure times, is not supposed to take place, nor even attempted. The whole day is simply filled with the barking of a few dogs, the shrill of insect and is a simple long quiet day in the calendar of this otherwise hectic island. On Nyepi the world expected to be clean and everything starts anew, with Man showing his symbolic control over himself and the "force" of the World, hence the mandatory religious control.
  • Ngembak Geni (the day after Nyepi)
    Ngembak is the day when Catur Berata Penyepian is over and Hindus societies usually visit to forgive each other and doing the Dharma Canthi. Dharma Canthi are activities of reading Sloka, Kekidung, Kekawin, etc.(ancient scripts containing songs and lyrics).



From the religious and philosophy point of view, Nyepi is meant to be a day of self introspection to decide on values, eg humanity, love, patience, kindness, etc., that should kept forever. Balinese Hindus have many kind of celebrations (some sacred days) but Nyepi is, perhaps the most important of the island's religious days and the prohibitions are taken seriously, particularly in villages outside of Bali's southern tourist belt. Hotels are exempt from Nyepi's rigorous practices but streets outside will be closed to both pedestrians and vehicles (except for airport shuttles or emergency vehicles) and village wardens (Pecalang) will be posted to keep people off the beach. So wherever you happen to be staying on Nyepi Day in Bali, this will be a good day to spend indoors. Indeed Nyepi day has made Bali a unique island.

(same with Mikail Ilham)

Thursday, December 4, 2014

Bakti Desa 2014

Now I will tell you about my experience: bakti desa 32016
It was enjoy, heart-touching, great, and full-experience. I won’t ever forget it. By the way what is bakdes? Bakdes is short of Bakti Desa. It’s an activity such a kind of KKN, but it is just for SMA 3. Because it was held by SMA 3 as a requirement for graduated. But, it’s not pure like KKN actually, because all the students only concentrated to feel how unlucky people lives, and to do their sacrifice to fulfill their needs. But every class have to throw some charity activity too, and make some report at he end. Okay, let’s begin the story…….
One day before bakdes, all the students were at old-AULA. We did some technical meeting. There we were told; what we have to do there, what we need, what we’re going to do. And then, some alumnus came and gave us some information about local disease such diarrhea, dengue-fever, and bloody dengue-fever. And after that, every class got their living area. Every class would live apart from other class. So we couldn’t meet, except we accidentally met in same occasion.
My class got living area in Desa Joglo, but some of my friends were in Desa Cinengkelan. And then, every students of the class were divided again into some group. Every groups got different family and house to live. I was with Monica Serena, Nada Afina, and Nuraulia Mugniza. We got Mr. H. Aceng’s family house in Desa Joglo 01/03.


After technical meeting, my mother took me to super market to buy some needs for bakdes. I bought a lot of snacks, waters, soap, and some foods, etc. And I went home, then packed my bag with clothes, and the other needs. I brought two bags.
I slept not earlier, because packing is my wasting time ever! I can’t ever do it so quick, I need some hours to do it. And my mother helped me.

October 23, 2014 I woke up, not easily. I still felt sleepy, but I forced myself to prepare the day. At 5.30 AM I was ready, and my mother drove me to my school. When I arrived, I said goodbye to my mother, and ask her to pray me.

First, we gathered at Balai Desa, and then we sat to do an Opening of Bakti Desa. In the opening, our headmaster, Mr. Encang, spoke and gave us a speech about this program. After that, the Mayor of the village was also gave us a speech. After that, we lunch at Balai Desa with the buffet menu. After we finished eating, we went to our house in the village.

On the second day, my house-parents woke us up at 6.00 am. But before we work, we had our breakfast first. We ate "bala-bala" and many kind of food. The taste was really delicious. So, after we had breakfast we went straight to the field. The walk to the field was so far, but it was hilly and a bit muddy. We met our friend from other.

Last day on Bakdes, after 2 days living in here, came the day that we have to comeback to our home. We woke up at 4.30 a.m. After that we had breakfast like the day before and just relax in the morning. At 7 a.m. as the agreement the day before we gathered at the mosque. We threw "pengajian". And then we took some picture with our house-parents. Before we went to Bandung, our haose-parents gave us many vegetables and fruit as a gift from Cinengkelan. And finally we went to Bandung.