SPRING BREAK = NO BREAK BUT HEART BREAK

Hi folks,
It's been a long time since my last post. Now, I will tell you what's happened to me during my spring break. By the way, did you enjoy your break? (sounds cliche, huh?). Well, I believe that spring break (or other breaks) is something that the students are waiting for. I was thinking the same thing as I have bunches of plan on what to do during the break. I search the net about Megabus, which I think would be able to take me to Chicago. I also tried to book the International Youth Hostel where I might be able to spend the nights there. Whoo Hoo........!!!!!That's going to be one of the nicest vacations I had for my entire life!!
Cinderella had a happy ending.....lived happily ever after.... But not to me...My plan ended to misery (hehehehehehe not the serious one, though). As I looked again my weekly schedule, I was surprised that I must have my internship at Lakewood High School. There were six of us who were assigned to go to Lakewood as one of the requirements for the ILEP. Never mind, at least we had another experience about America's educational system, observed how teachers taught their students, as well as, you know... how those students behaved and acted.
Well, finally it's not that sad, yet fantastic!! So, instead of dreaming for not having the break, I tried to entertain myself by saying; EVERYDAY IS HOLIDAY!!!!
Okay guys, see you on the next break! (if there is any) and sorry for not adding picture as there isn't any picture depicting this experience.

WHAT'S YOUR SCHOOL LIKE?

During our study at Kent, he had an oppportunity to visit some schools. The first one was Islamic Academy in Akron (one building with the great Mosque). This school is privately run and funded. We had a chance to see the classes (which are colorful, because this is K-8 school. The principal is Ms. Fauzia, she is originally from India and moved here in 2000. Due to the limitation of the number of the students, each class only consists of 5-10 students. Even sometimes one class is used by two different groups.

I was in front of the Great Mosque, Akron

The journey continued to Stow Munroe Falls City School. This school is amazing, with a simple gate but very clean environment inside. when we were there, the students were having a break time, so we could see them in the huge hall while waiting for the next class. We were welcomed by the school principal, the superintendent and some other key persons of that school. We had lunch at Joshua's cafe, a cafe operated by the students as a "class". The food was fantastic!! Then we walked around the school seeing one class to another, and finally we got at the music class. That was great as we participate in the singing (I was thinking, can I be the next American Idol?)

In front of students' hall at Stow Munroe

Now, let's talk about my school. What does it look like? Well, the name of the school where I teach is TARUNA NUSANTARA. It's a boarding school with around 920 high school students from all over Indonesia. They live there, and so do the teachers. The students live in dormitory and we call it as GRAHA (house:Javanese). Like other schools, we applied the national curriculum, and so on and so forth. What makes this different is that the emotional bound between teachers and students is very strong as we are their "parents". Maybe some of you don't believe that they still kiss our hand when they come to our house!!But that's the truth. Even though they are in the boarding school, they have a high creativity, beyond teacher's imagination! I just can't wait going home to see them again, oh.....guys...I miss you...(busting your mobile phone, yelling for having meals, catching the escapers.....) Just wait and see, okay?

Balairung Pancasila (The most sacred building)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!!!!!!

I don't want to be sentimental...but.....maybe this is one of the best gifts I get for my birthday...Linda and her staff has planned a birthday party for us who were born in January and February (Fahmida, Mary, Noureddine, and I)...hikhikhikhikhik.... so touching........ even though that was a small party, but .... I know the spirit within!Thanks Linda, Jennifer, Rose, my fellow teachers especially Abdessalam who (on behalf on other teachers, I guess) has given me a meaningful present: A note book!!! (I must study harder. Am I correct, Abdessalam?)

Fahmida, I, Noureddine, and Marry held the birthday cake

Okay, let's move on to the next project...sorry...the new story. Mmmmm...we have a chance of becoming guests stars (I don't know the term) for Global Tourism Class under Prof. Wang. This class' objective is to recognize the world's tourism resorts and thaat was our job to introduce our beloved country to them. We were grouped and three students were assigned to gather info from us. That was nice "chat" as we did it while enjoying some pizza, coke, and chinese food. Yummy........!That's pretty cool, though. We can share anything as they listened carefully.

Sharing in the Global Tourism Class

Then.......tratatatatatatatatatatatatatata...... One of the most exciting moments came!!! We went ice-skating!! It was Saturday morning when we headed to AKRON Ice rink arena. We paid $2 for renting a pair of skating boot. I was so nervous as I heve never done it before!! But that's okay, at least there is always the first thing for everything, right? I started walking by holding the fence!!(what a shame...) I saw soooo......many little kids skated freely (another "what a shame")..but, minutes later.....ready...get set...gOOOO...... gedubraakkkkk, fell down (the third "what a shame"). Practice makes perfect, guys...and finally... I made it...... I could skate on thick ice....like a professional.....huakakakakakak. You know what? Several times I fell down and it felf hurt all over my body until the next morning....Ouch! At least I learn on how to skate, you know?

Ice skating...unforgettable experience

Suharyadi "Harry Potter" is in action ready to rumble!!

One more thing, the hottest issue in the US right now is....... the General Election. The candidates are racing neck to neck to be nominated for the presidency! Awesome! Democrats comes with OBAMA and CLINTON, Republican with John McCain, Huckabee, and Paul. CNN is the most concerned TV station on this issue. So far, Obama is the front runner for democrats, while McCain is for Republican. What's going on in the future.....Which one do you prefer?????Obama, Clinton, or McCain? Wait till November 08!

Change we can believe in (Obama's motto)

ENJOYING NEW LIFE

Pheewww.....

Never have I been so tired like this.....so many assignments, homework, and also projects that must be done. But it's okay...everything has its own consequences and at least I still got the power to let my story flow through this blog.

Okay....where was I?..mmmmm oh ya the activities were just like what I wanted to do. Because every Saturday we have no class, sometimes we use Friday evening to relax. The first thing to do on the first Friday evening was watching movie. It was funny and so touching...the title was (if I'm not mistaken) "Car, Train, and aeroplane". two thumbs up!!!!!!! It can make us laugh or cry.......huakakakakakakak....hikhikhikhikhik

Watching movie at White Hall

Another activity was.......oh ya...I got an opportunity to have dinner with some brother moslem at Masjid of Kent. This happened because my advisor (DR. Rafa M. Kasim) is a moslem and he invited me to join the dinner. I met a lot of people (mostly from Arabic speaking countries) who studied at KSU. That was amazing that I can be the guest for that dinner.

In front of Masjed of Kent after ashar prayer

Having dinner with some brothers at Masjed of Kent

Beside that, I also had an opportunity to attend Teacher of the Year Conference with Andrea Peterson as the teacher of the year. she shared everything about teaching including 5 things young generation doesn't possess: critical thinking, hardworking, discipline, teamwork, and leadership. Do Indonesian youths suffer from the same problem?? I think so......

With Andrea Peterson (National Teacher of the Year)

We also had a chance to visit Wellness and Recreation Center (simply called the Rec Center) with Dr. Marty Jencius (Harry's advisor). It was awesome.....one building complete with all kinds and types of exercise that you want....baskeball, wallclimbing, swimming pool, gym, jogging track, racket ball, futsal...all are in one building!!!!!!!! I can't believe that!

Nuraini, Dr. Jencius, and I (Harry was taking the picture) in front of the Rec Center

You too......take a deep breath coz more amazing moments will come up after the break!!!!

I WILL SURVIVE!

Hi all,

Sorry for not posting any news due to piles of assignment. But it's okay, I 'll continue my story. Ohio was getting colder and colder and yes, the warmest thing in Ohio was the "Welcome". The thing that I mentioned before finally fell down. THE SNOW!! January 14th 2008 was the first time I touch the snow, and just like a little boy, I played with it outside the apartment. That was also the first time we had a special seminar class with Dr. Linda Robertson (later on I'll just mention Linda)

Linda and I for the first special seminar

THE SNOW!!!!! Look cool, huh (or cold??)

Kent State University is a great university with 35.000 students, and hundreds of buildings. My first class took place in Gerald R. Read, White Hall. Mr. Read was, according to Linda's info, excellent person as he devoted his life to intercultural exchange activities. My whole program was actually under the College of Education, Health, and Human Services (EHHS) and mainly handled by the Center for International and Intercultural Exchange (CIIE). The first seminar is about Cross Cultural Communication, continued with introduction to the faculty members during lunch time.

Welcome Luncheon. Sitting in the middle is Dr. Joane Arhar (a professor whose expertise is in research), next to me is Saji (India), Mary Chan (Malaysia) and Abdessalam (Marocco)

In front of White Hall, KSU

From the first time I knew that I would have a lot of activities to accomplish, so no matter what, I will survive. One of the ways to survive is actually adjusting my tongue. As you know, there is no spicy food in Kent, so we decided to cook Indonesian food.(Sounds silly, right?) But that's also one of the ways we saved our money (so that there will be billions to take home........just kidding!)

Bon Appetite! Indonesian food ala Kent State! Looks yummy.........

In this program, we were assigned to choose two visiting classes. I myself chose Design Multi Media Instruction and Research: Second Language Pedagogy (I'll show you my project later, okay?) The rest will be advanced technology, ESL, and some leadership and teaching seminars. (I think enough talking serious stuffs!!!!!)

Ooopss, I almost forget to let you all know that we were acknowledged as Kent State University "students", therefore we have student card number called "FLASFCARD" funcioning as our ATM, and sometimes for free pass for some entertainment events! Isn't that great?

Inside the Kent State Student Center for taking the FLASHCARD

What else should I tell you? Is this not enough? Don't worry....Isna's blog will be right back after these commercial break!

Cheers!!!!!

THE NEXT STOP IS OHIO!

Dear friends,
Having three days orientation in Washington DC seemed not enough. WE WANT MORE... WE WANT MORE...WE WANT MORE... but it's okay, at least we have explored some parts of it. By the way, the last day in WDC we had a chance to have Friday prayer inside the Capitol building. Can you imagine this rare opportunity? INSIDE THE CAPITOL BUILDING!!!!!!

On friday afternoon we departed to three different places. Some went to Missouri, some others went to Gerogia and the rest (including me) went to Kent, Ohio. We are scheduled to have a 16.25 flight from Ronald Reagan International Airport using jetplane. Amazing!! The sun shone so brightly but the weather was very cold! After a-one-and-a-half hour journey, we arrived in Cleveland (The city of Rock and Roll) It was much colder than I expected even though there was no snow yet!And then we continued our journey by van and it took around 1 hour to get to the university Inn (which will be our "home" for the rest of 5 months) I got a single apartment complete with bathroom and kitchen. PERFECT! oooppss I forgot to tell you that the one who worked very hard for this was Dr. Linda F. Robertson Ph.D, the Director of Gerald H. Read Center for International and Intercultural Education, Kent state Univerity. She was exellent. she helped us from Washington to Ohio by herself.

This is Linda and I in front of the Capitol Building
The next morning was getting settled. We went to Acme for buying groceries, Wal-Mart to buy some items we might need during the program, and also we went to Evergreen Buffet where we can spoil our tongue with Asian cuisine with a low price ($6 eat till you drop!),
After lunch with Nuraini, Nurhalis, Rose (Linda's Assisstant)
and aslo to GOODWILL where we can buy super duper cheap clothes. However, the thing that we are waiting hasn't showed up yet. The SNOW!!!!!!! I just can't wait. As the day gone so fast, finally we managed to make ourselves at home, here in Kent, especially in our new home called "UNIVERITY INN".

In front of the room in the University Inn

Wanna more news? Just wait, okay?

EXPLORING WASHINGTON (PART 2)

I was wondering why Washington DC ( A famous city in the world) is not as hectic as I thought before! The streets are sooooo.... quite.... No traffic jam at all, even it seems for me there is no life in Washington (Where are those guys????) But I know that those people actually working in their offices...or maybe just hang around in Starbucks Coffee (Which is like mushroom there and I went there couples of times hehehe... pretend to be an American!)

We go throughout Washington DC (which is nice if we just walk around), took pictures here and there from afternoon till night. The first night I went there with my fellow teacher from malang named Suharyadi (but he prefers being called Harry noy Hairy). washington DC at night was so awsome!!!!!!!! Check the pictures here:

Then, the second night we went to a part of washington DC called Dupont Circle where Indonesian Embassy is. We went there by Metro (a kind of Subway and the ticket is sold electronically). we just insert the money, look for the fare, type where we are going and that's it...the ticket came out and the change as well. We went there with Sean (An English teacher in Lakewood Ohio). He is very nice person (absolutely!!!). he took us to a bookstore where I bought a beautiful map of Washington DC and Sean bought us a novel the title was "The Catcher in the Rye (Which I haven't had a change to read!! oopppsss...)..and then we went to a Pizza restaurant. (It was small but comfortable). There we can see how American people socialize...oh ya we met someone there who can speak in Bahasa Indonesia and she was one of Barrack Obama's Official Supporters. We had a nice chat with her about Barrack Obama. Fantastic!!!!!

After having dinner we went back to the hotel because it was raining and very cold. Unfortunately, we got lost. But thank God someone showed us the way to the hotel. Next??? As you might think! We went to our room and went to bed!! A nice dream comes true.I still have things to share...but it should be done in episodes....

All and all...EVERYTHING WAS AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

AND THE JOURNEY IS ON!!!!!!!

Dear all,...

Finally I went off USA on January 7 2008. The journey was not as frightening as I thought! It went well. The seven of us, depart from Jakarta Intl' Airport at 10.00 using Korean Air. But one of us should take JAL through Narita. While the rest of us flew directly to Incheon Intl' Airport. We arrived at 6 in the morning (Korean time = 2 hours faster than Indonesia)

After waiting for a little while......there was an announcement that the flight to Washington was delayed.... what a shame......but it's not too long (like Indonesian flight hehehehe). The delay was only 10 minutes, and we're off!!!!! GREAT!

That was the biggest plane I've ever seen....with hundreds of passangers in it. As an international flight, the plane is equipped with some sophisticated devices. A touchsecreen monitor in front of us, a remote control, a telephone, and so forth. And we can enjoy tens of entertainment like movies (which is not released in Indonesia yet), games...etc

Finally we got off the plane in Dulles International Airport, Washington, unfortunately one of my luggage was broken because it was overload (but it's okay, at least I arrived in Washington!!). We were welcomed by Annie (A beautiful IREX staff). She's so friendly. She took us directly to the hotel..... HOLIDAY INN Washington (What a great experience as I won't be able to pay for the room by myself!)....It was 10.30 in the morning washington time. And the rest of the day is free. My friends and I explored WDC in a cold weather. Washington was amazing!!!

The rest of the day, is just taking a rest and adjust ourselves to the food, weather, and biological sleeping time!!! (rediculous, huh?)

That's it the first story of WDC

HAPPY AMAZING NEW YEAR!!!

Dear my fellow bloggers,
The title is appropriate to be voiced up knowing that we are now entering 2008

What makes it different is that I inserted the word "amazing" which indicates that I (personally) look forward to having an amazing life.... so why don't we just "be optimistic" rather than getting a one night instant celebration????
No matter where you celebrate the New Year's Eve, how much money you spent, what kind of party you are in... it will be worthless if you are not really ready to face the real challenge in 2008 (Am I too serious? or too 'teachy'?)

This year is totally different from the previous years (of course....). I started this amazing year with my birthday (just one day after the new year ( January 2nd and I don't expect to be born on that day hehehehe). Next, I have a chance to step my feet on the ground of dream called America!!! (Does it belong to the so-called "The Ameriacn Dream"?)No... I dont think so..coz I just visit it for 5 months (it's quite long, I think!!!).. Then.... it seems that God answered my pray because I will have my second kid!!! (Boy or girl...what's the difference!!). If it is football, I am just like Manchester United in 2001 that got treble winner (sorry for the misspelling!!!)

I just can't wait flying to US and share more stories on it!! So guys, once more....Happy Amazing New Year 2008 and LET'S ROCK THE WORLD!!!!