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!!!!