I'm Moving to Tumblr Goiz

Yep. As the title above.

Sorry blogger, it's been fun with you.

I gained a new light in my blogging life though.

Dadah.

INA in Less Than 1 Month

I had my very first mid-term test in England and it was... unexpected.

Starting from the question papers in here, mostly--no, all of them, are essays. It made things became harder when my teacher said "use bullet points, okay, but don't expect me to give you the perfect score for that question." Hurrrrr....

In Indonesia, in every school I encountered multiple choices seemed to be in every tiny bit of the country. When I think about it again, that could actually increase chances of student cheating. But in an essay, who'd bother to cheat when you're writing very very long answer?

As the IGCSEs finished the tests, the next day all of us got appointments with out tutors respectively. I thought I was about to party with A's.... it turned out I was partying with B's instead. Ha. Ha. Ha.

Then when my parents called, they started blaming on fencing. Oh bugger...

Hmph. The perks of being an international student/fencer.

Time flew by fast and now it's nearly in the middle of November, by December I will be back to Indonesia for 2 weeks. My lovely hostfamily is also arranging some sort of a Christmas shopping session for the students in their house and we're going to eat dinner outside together. Here I am thinking would it be like when you go shopping for Eid or something? Heheh.

Nadi Kota

This is prove that I procrastinate a lot.

And in just two days I'll be starting my very first mid-term exam in Torquay.

Psh... the perks of being an IGCSE student.

**

I've been hearing this song a lot as of recently. Well actually I just discovered it this morning, it's Malaysian though. Albeit the fact that it is in Malay I just couldn't help it but to have this image of the typical Jakarta traffic at night, the blazing sun that made the water sparkly for the Bunderan HI fountain, the classiness of Museum Fatahillah, and my typical practising routine in Senayan with the rest of my DKI Fencing comrades... good times, good times...

Instead of revising for Business or Math or even Science, I did some little Indonesian films marathon in Youtube. I discovered some amazingly undervalued Indonesian movies, they are including "Di Timur Matahari (To The East of The Sun)," "Tanah Surga... Katanya (Land of Paradise... They Said)," and... well it's just those two really. Heh.

To sum it up, all I did today was just doing the infamous art of procrastination.

SINDROM HOMESICK MENYERANG NANANANANA~

Dadah,

Merantau

So, it's been quite a tiring journey from Indonesia to the United Kingdom on September 1st. I am now officially a part of the international community in Torquay.

I got jet lag. It's now 2:26 AM here in Torquay while it's already about 8:26 AM in Indonesia, so I'm pretty much wide awake right now and couldn't sleep at all.

So glad that I am finally got acquainted with my host family. They are the Coopers, Joan and John Coopers. Both are now considered as my very own grandparents and that I'm very much grateful for them to have me here. Even though I've only been here for a day I could see that their house is filled with this peculiar warm euphoria.

I'm currently alone in my room, in my host family's house. This week they said, I'm the first one on their list to arrive in Torquay so I haven't had the chance to officially get acquainted with my international roommates. Yet.

My parents are staying in a hotel, it's still in the same road with the Coppers' house, which is the St. Marrychurch road I suppose.

Talk about parents, since my Dad couldn't barely speak English at all, I think he was a bit nervous about this journey he's taking because it's going to be his first time in an English-speaking country. But overall, I think he's also satisfied for the fact that he is also able to get acquainted with my host family.

I said to John "He's not very much speaking English" then he said, "Not speaking English? That's just even better!" And so the two men just laughed about it. From that, my Dad began to think, "Oh look, you got a great host parents I think they could really take care of you well so I need not to worry about anything now. You're in great hands Nibras."

The irony was that yesterday, when we had lunch together in McDonalds (seriously, that's the only restaurant we could think of that time) somehow, he... cried.

It's not like he was sobbing but I could see the tears that formed in his eyes. Then when he got caught by my Mum and I, he quickly wiped it away.

Oh my, now I'm crying writing this. He said that he remembered those times where he used to go overseas alone when he was about my age.

My Dad, is not originally from Jakarta. He is originally from this rather rural area in the province of South Sulawesi called Pinrang. Or I think in Indonesia, you could say that he's from a kampong.

As a child, he went to school by making money on his own for the school's tuition. Often, he would go outside of his home to travel alone when he was my age. We would call this as 'merantau' in Indonesian.

Since my Dad is a Buginese, t's a typical thing for someone so young like that to do merantau alone. Bugis people in Indonesia are very much famous for journeying around the world with their Phinisi boat. Yes, they are also a bunch of great sailors, that's what I heard. Usually, this merantau thing is done by people in order to search for better life opportunities in another place. Far from his home.

Dad's merantau process wasn't as easy as my merantau process. He went to Jakarta to enroll in the University of Indonesia with loads of limitations I suppose... Then, he met my Mum.

Sorry guys, I just... got carried away like that.

Oh and another thing, I stupidly just decided to bring this fencing bag of mine. I was just going to bring a sing;e-weapon bag one but, Dad insisted.

The sad thing is, I still haven't find any fencing club around... but I believe there is just a way to fencing here. I just know. I mean, this is England after all. Different from Indonesia, the must have loads of clubs scattered around.

I guess that's it for now. Bye, I need to be in school for my induction week in the morning.

Dadah,

Fasting + Practice = Makes You Hardcore

Why hello there.

Apparently this month is the fasting month for Muslims. Which means we are going to refrain ourselves in doing any act dealing with letting out desires especially refraining desires to devour foods. This way we would learn how it feels to be like our brothers and sisters out there who don't even have any penny for buying edibles.

Not devouring foods, it's fine with me, but my world evolves around fencing and I just need to go to practice.

Practice. Practice. Practice.

Some people are complaining and ended up making "Lagi puasa (is currently fasting)" as the top excuse for the month. Yet, once all the hard work is done during fasting, it would feel like conquering the entire universe already.

You. Yes you. Stop right there.

In London 2012, Egypt made its first history to gain a fencing medal from the olympics. Not only Egypt was involved in this peculiar phenomenon, but the entire Africa too. 

In fact, Africa gained its very first fencing medal from all the hard works done by the 22 year old, Abouelkassem.

The Egyptian student literally beat the legendary Andrea Cassara of Italy before ended up losing to China's Lei Sheng in the gold medal bout.

I recall clearly that time, around July - August 2012, it was the fasting month for Muslims.

"I'm from Africa and nobody thought I could win." Said Abouelkassem (via Bloomberg).

It turns out that no matter where you are from, what blade you are holding, how old you are or what title you are holding, nothing beats hard work and will power.

Good job Abouelkassem, you are a true inspiration.

Dadah,

Unchivalrous Douchebaggery Acts

I was browsing through fencing.net's articles and came through an article concerning a sportsmanship-related experience that was written by a coach. The article was written by Mr. Damien Lehfeldt about his experience in encountering his student's behaviour towards a ref during a competition. Do read the article in here, it immediately became a reflection for me towards my behaviours all the time during practices and competitions.

Back in the regionals, although I had so much fun in competing in it, I remember that I cussed towards one of the referees there.

Oddly enough, he did not give me any card or even warning for my ignorant behaviour towards him (any methods regarding scornful abuse towards the referee is supposed to be fined by card... right?). Instead, he just took everything like there was nothing happened. I clearly remember the ref seemed to be smiling by himself after I cussed at him. I was so overwhelmed by my own emotions I ended being reckless, it was a complete idiotic act that I just did.

Yes it might look like something trivial but now, after I read the article made by Mr. Lehfeldt, I'm feeling so aroused by my own behaviour during the regionals.

And so I began to act all-awkward every time I came across the ref because it turned out that, he was one of the coaches for the Jakarta Fencing Team.

Fencing may be a sport and I do find letting out stresses and emotions after one intense period as reviving but... I don't find cussing as a chivalrous act, I mean, was there even any dignified knight back in the Middle Ages who was actually cussing because he couldn't defeat his opponent?

One of my teammates (left) with our coach.

Friends', coaches', and parents' involvements in developing the future seedlings of fencing regarding sportsmanships are very much important. Our sport is not made to be some sort of a gala to show who's more superior than who, who's got the most medals, who's got the most touches, and the like.

"The real difference between what makes a good fencer and a world-class fencer is how they are able to control their emotions." - Jed Dupree, "Olympic Fencing Prodigy: Race Imboden" by THNKR

"Everything is Better in Hijab"

Before I moved to sabre, I discovered this particular athlete from google images. At first I was quite ecstatic about my new discovery. This lady has a rather 'peculiar' way of dressing but it seems that coincidentally, fencing is actually accommodating her needs in terms of dressing.

Yep, Ibtihaj Muhammad lately has been gaining reputation as the first Muslim woman to represent the US in fencing. Her headscarf makes her noticeable among her comrades. They are none other than the 2008 olympics medalist, Mariel Zagunis, and Dagmara Wozniak.

Ibtihaj Muhammad began to fence as a cadet, based on several articles that I read about her, Ibti's mum managed to get her daughter to take a glimpse at fencing as she said "I don't know what that is, but when you get to high school, you're doing it." Also, she managed to went through some sort of a rather awkward demo fencing session after her coach asked for her father's permission "if he could touch her" in order to correct her.

Ibti would gradually become a trigger for Muslim women to achieve what they want without letting their faith to compromise them. I, for one, am really motivated by her and she became my rolemodel instantly after I discovered her.

 I think Ibti should really come to Indonesia one day and see how many girls who have the same 'appearance' as she is. Seeing that the numbers of hijabi fencers are gradually increasing too in Indonesia. It's just that I think she is a little bit underestimated by the world, because I personally think that our fencing seedlings are still in need of influential individuals like Ibti.

Diversity is the thing that makes us stronger, we may be a bunch of individualists on the piste but in reality we are one big family because we have the same passion. If we managed to overcome that  particular barrier, then our bonds will just become even stronger than ever.

Pictures don't belong to me, they belong to their respective owners.

Dadah,

Derping Around in The Regionals

I squealed. Everywhere I saw athletes. Everywhere I saw awesomeness.

Thank you for Athaya Harwig, for taking all of these amazing pictures.

Politics Are Evil

So apparently I got qualified to play in the Nationals as I had won a medal in the Regionals, but that's just because of the fact that for Cadet Women's Sabre, there were only 2 candidates in the whole Jakarta. I don't quite know why girls aren't so particularly interested in sabre but the competition only left one of my teammate and I to reach the final instantly in the Cadet Women's Sabre.

But I am so gutted right now.

Maybe because of the fact that the original Jakarta Fencing Team stepped down from the Nationals.

Which means my very first Nationals was a complete fail.

The technical meeting was in June 22nd, I remember we were all waiting for the outcomes of the technical meeting when suddenly I heard people around began to speak of 'another' team that was going to represent Jakarta. 

I, for one, was present in the Regionals, it was June 15th and 16th in Senayan (some sort of a famous sport centre in Jakarta). This so called 'Jakarta Fencing Team' was clearly not signed up for the Regionals but somehow they just got the opportunity to hold their very own Regionals. This is where everything is getting so complicated. No one even knew where these people of the fake 'Jakarta Fencing Team' did their practices.

My coach, being the person who knows his fencing comrades in Jakarta and all that jazz, decided to abandon the invitation sent to him by this fake 'Jakarta Fencing Team.'

Clearly the original Jakarta Fencing Team who always held the practices in Senayan outnumbered the athletes of this fake 'Jakarta Fencing Team.' Not only that,  the original Jakarta Fencing Team outnumbered the fake 'Jakarta Fencing Team' in terms of athletes whom constantly represent Indonesia in international-rank tournaments. In short WE are far more superior than they are.

I heard that the head of this fake 'Jakarta Fencing Team' had once associated herself with the All Indonesian Fencing Association (IKASI). From this, I just had the feeling that politics would be involving in this sort of matter. It is always like that in Indonesia no wonder everything we do in sport is always so shitty.

The head of the original Jakarta Fencing Team told us that they offered us some bargain about sharing a half of our athletes to them so we would still be representing Jakarta. But no.

Sometimes in fencing, fencers who would win the medals would be the one who got the first, second, third, and fourth place. Making the bronze medals to be gained by two people. In this case, if they offered us to share a half of our athletes to them that means 4 divided by 2. They would take the skillful ones and use them to 'represent' Jakarta.

Then left the other 2 who had done their very best in winning a place on the top 4 to mourn.

That is not All for One and One for All.

Now please die IKASI. You are useless after all.

Wait. That rhymes. I guess.

Dadah,

Regional Championship

Hullo everybody.

Been a long time ever since I updated this blog. Well time went pretty fast and tomorrow will be the very first regional championship I will participate in. Yes. In other words, the infamous kejurda. I will participate in women's sabre for cadet since I am still in middle school and this will also be my first time in using my sabre in a competition.

I shall now go to bed because if I came late tomorrow I will be shredded by my coach.

Dadah,

"Panggil Akoe Kartini Sadja" - Kartini Day Appreciation Post

"Kartini's hart sloeg warm de toekomst tegen,

Aan't garen van blemen, haar zielgewijd,

Reikhalzend uit teedere droomen ontwakend,

Tot heil van heel haar zachte volk,

In lijden en strijden met velen verbonden,

Na duisternis wijzend naar 'schemerend licht,

In blij ontluikenden morgenstond."

(Courtesy of "Kartini dari Sisi Lain")

***

Today is the 21st of April, in which Indonesians celebrate one of our most famous national heroines in history; Raden Ajeng Kartini.

To start this, let us all go back to the time where Indonesia was still a part of the Dutch colony, in the 19th century Dutch East Indies.


At that time, inlanders (another term for the native Indonesians in Dutch East Indies) were very much limited from the chance to be well-educated. While some children struggled to work in order to fulfill their family's needs, some inlander children who were recognized as a part of higher society families at least got a bit of chance to be educated. Lady Kartini was one of them.

Kartini, born in Jepara (a region in Central Java) to a noble Javanese family on 21 April 1879, managed to go to a Dutch school. But when she was 12, she was prohibited to continue her education because of her tradition commonly practiced by the Javanese (Indonesian would call this as 'pingit'), in which young girls are to be 'isolated' in order to prepare for their marriage in the future.


In her isolation period, because of her ability to speak Dutch, she then gained several Dutch pen pals. One of them was named Rosa Abendanon. She wrote letters to her regularly and then in the future, someone collected her letters and compiled them into a book called "Habis Gelap Terbitlah Terang" (Out of Dark Comes Light).

Not only that, after her marriage with a Javanese nobleman, Kartini managed to build school for women. It was a kind of school which taught women simple things like how to read, count, and sewing clothes, but it brought great change to a lot of people.

Kartini then was starting to be recognized as the woman who lifted Indonesian women status and taught people that anyone can have education, no matter what gender, race, religion, or even cultural background they have.

It was a sad thing though that Kartini didn't manage to live a long life. She died in the age of 25 after giving birth to her son. After Indonesia independent, Soekarno declared her national day to be set up on 21 April. So that people would never forget how a certain woman could fight to raise her people's status.

***

Talk about Kartini, the Dutch actually also gave some little appreciations for her

(courtesy of www.rnw.nl)

They said that there are several streets that are named after her in several different cities in the Netherlands. What thrilled me is that not only Kartini, but there are several Indonesian heroes names too that are being set up as street names in the Netherlands.

This is beyond amazing.

Dadah

Onkel, You Really Need To Find Another Hobby

Dueling scars are everywhere. You would perhaps think, that these men should get a new hobby.

Allow me to do the honor of introducing,

MENSUR

Mensur has been something that caught my attention for awhile, maybe it was because I was merely browsing cool fencing images in tumblr and suddenly stumbled upon this:

I thought it was some sort of a steampunk fencing art, but I was wrong. It actually seemed to be an old photo of a German mensur enthusiast. I've heard something about akademisches fechten (academic fencing), but I had no idea that it's all about using sharp blades and resulting many scars from constant duels. 

Mensur (literally means 'scale' in German), some sort of a sabre fencing tradition being practiced by German college students. I don't quite know if girls actually participated in mensur, but all I know is that they literally injured their friends with sharp sabres.

What I like from mensur is for the fact that it's not about who the winner or the looser is. It's about taking the pain like a man. The scars there, are actually badges of honor for them.

Oh, and their goggles are pretty cool too.

I suppose it's a bit frightening to imagine myself in that man's position

Another cool fact about mensur is that the thing itself, is still being practiced TODAY.

I think not just any people can actually do this, they are pretty special. To be able to take pain like a man is just something worth to be proud of. I personally consider this as a part of being knightly, as in you know... relating with being chivalrous and all. But I think when it comes to the context of being chivalrous itself is not something that actually relates with manliness. Anyone can be chivalrous, whether you're a woman or a man.

Dadah,

No More Thrusting For Me

Hey you guys, I know it has been quite some times I posted something here. Lately, I've been thinking of taking a 'greater step' in my fencing 'career.'

Anyway

It was all started because of playing a certain game called 'shadow fencing' with my fencing mates. It was all because of one of my coaches who suggested us playing this sort of game to teach us the 'priority (right of way) rule.' Basically, shadow fencing is just an ordinary game of fencing in which we will have a bout with our opponent.

In a shadow fencing bout you WILL NOT need your blades, but you will use gloves instead to replace our sharp and pointy blades. The next step would be the ref shouting "PRET ALLEZ!" and the first one to slap his/her opponent using the glove may get a score. It is optional if you wanted to use a mask or not. I tried not to use masks with my friend and then we had a bout and slapped each other very hard on the face, it awfully stings.

In short. It is a glove-slap duel game.

This game is very useful to practice the infamous 'priority (right of way) rule' in fencing (which I personally found as a huge problem when having a bout). You have to move and think fast, make some analyses about how your opponent is moving. Be the leader of the bout, don't let yourself to be led by your opponent. Be fast, be aggressive. *ahem*beasabreist*ahem*

Since it's all about slapping your opponent with your glove, there will be no such thing as thrusting right? It wil be all about slashing and 'cutting' your opponent <--- both are sabre's things.

I found myself as a very temperamental and impatient foilist I suppose... and so I've been thinking lately of moving... to sabre.

Ugh. The dilemma that I'm going through... it's just horrible.

In my case, it's a foil

I mean I love my foil very much, It's the very first blade that I could handle since fencing had ever been introduced to me. Another thing is because it was my only companion when I faced my very first bout in an official competition. I broke the very end of my foil's blade a few months ago though <--- (result of too much force in thrusting). So children, don't let you emotions get over you when you're fencing because your blades will face the consequences later on.

I've borrowed a sabre from my coach and so I think I'm going to compare it with my foil for some times, just to make sure if this is the right decision that I want.

Have any of you guys experienced what I'm currently experiencing?


As usual, pictures & gifs (and the tumblr post) don't belong to me.


Dadah

How Animation Affected Me

Ever felt wanting to visit a particular destination because of some animation works?

I was merely addicted with Disney Pixar's Brave, and so I fell in love with Scotland immediately.

It all started when I was randomly surfing through tumblr and encountered a page explaining about Disney Pixar's upcoming movie several months ago. When I did some research about it, I finally found out that the movie will be set on Medieval Scotland. The main character in the movie is a girl with an insanely curly red hair called Merida. 

What's interesting about the protagonist is that SHE is playing as the main hero in the movie, replacing the oh-so famous prince charming in several fairytales. 

In summary, Merida is really bold and tomboy and always wanted to be free of her mother's control, a queen in her clan (Clan Dunbroch) and at the same time also being a diplomat for the Clan Dunbroch named Eleanor. Her father, Fergus, is the source of Merida's wittiness and quirkiness. He's the one who taught Merida to use bows and arrows -- which is something that is always being opposed by his wife, thinking that Merida should always be the 'stereotypical' princess.

And nananananana~ #shot okay, that's just about it for the Brave session. The movie is pretty much about relationship between a mother and daughter, and the rest, you have to find out for yourself hohoho...

Anyway, about Scotland, I was thinking aiming Edinburgh University for college.

Concerning my interest in biology, I guess Scotland would be the perfect place. Although I've never been there myself, I heard that the condition there is quiet different from England. Since it is also geographically in the northern Great Britain, so I think the weather would possibly be much colder than in England. 

I've talked about Scotland with several people and many of them mentioned several things about its spectacular landscapes.I like traditional things too, after went to some Highland games event in Jakarta last year, I saw men in kilts everywhere. It was awfully amusing for someone like me who never even saw men dressed in kilts that only reaching their knees along side with their high socks.

But I felt that Indonesia and Scotland could be identical too sometimes.

Yes, kilts and sarongs.

        

Scotland. Scotland is everywhere.

In summary, Brave has pretty much changed my life now. 

Dadah

How I advertise fencing...

ACTUAL FENCERS LOOKING FOR FENCING NOOBS

STOP RIGHT THERE

YES YOU

Just so you know, FENCING IS NOT ALL ABOUT MUSKETEERS AND CHIVALRIES.

And we certainly don’t fight with light sabers.

MPH Building 1, Monday & Wednesday

3.15 PM – finished

                

Or Go to Mr. Sugi (head coach) in PE Room, 
Building 1

We welcome everyone, students, teachers, whoever you are, whatever grade you are in. Publics are also accepted


***


I've always felt that fencing is just one of the many most invisible clubs in my entire school. Football here is too dominating. Therefore the idea of making a poster in order to advertise fencing popped up in my mind.

Sometimes I brought my foil to class and one of my friends asked me "where did you learn to fence?" and then I said that our school has a club for fencing. She was quite shocked about it and admitted that she never heard about fencing ever exist in our school. Hm.

And about publics being accepted in our club, I think it was my head coach's idea. Because when you fence, there's no such thing as barrier.

After all, the more the merrier.

Dadah

-Nibras Sakkir