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,

More about EF International Academy

These are just several videos I got in youtube for EF International Academy. I'm so glad that there are actually many students from Indonesia who are also helping to support the Indonesian students to come and experience life in every EF International Academy campuses, everywhere, whether it'd be New York, Oxford, or Torbay.

These are the official videos made by EF. To be honest, at first I was very very doubtful about my decision to study abroad, but when I watched these videos, there was this spark inside of my saying "what are you waiting for? This is a really good chance. Get out! Go get a taste of the world." 

These ones, if I'm not mistaken, were made by one of the many Indonesian students who are currently studying in New York and Torbay. 

This is a video they made in the New York campus, Tarrytown. I saw the girl at the beginning in one of the EF International Academy seminars. She was pretty nice and I think she really do have fun studying in New York.

Well congratulations, you made me even more excited now xD

I love that part where one of the students said "Come to EF! Come to EF!"

Another one was made by the Indonesian students in the Torbay campus, the admission people showed me this video once. From the video, I assume that Torbay itself is quiet a good city when it comes to studying there.

 Unlike London, which is the capital of the UK, it tend to be a bit noisy I guess (no really, I have this... particular issue when it comes to capital cities) and maybe the possibilities of me getting lost in the big city and traveling constantly instead of studying... would be big. I guess. Ahahaha...

If some of you wanted to know more about EF International Academy, this is the official website for EF International Academy:

www.ef.com/academy

That's it for now, I hope by reading this post some of you would like to join EF International Academy too. Get to experience live in another country and live in an international environment really makes you feel proud of your own country and heritage (personally, I will be really missing the Indonesian traditional cuisines, because this is 'not the Netherlands', I mean this is the UK. So... yeah.).

Especially since we are going to be in another country, we will get to experience how life is, when it's just 'us.' As in everything in our life is being managed by us, no parents, no family, just us. 

Then you're also going to take responsibility to be one of the many representatives of your country, because people would automatically judge your country by your own behaviours there.

Everyone will be different in their very own ways. I guarantee you will want more, more, and even more of it.

Dadah

-Nibras Sakkir

Author Diterima!! -- I Got Accepted!!

A few months ago I received an email from my mama, and it said this:


My reaction towards it:

So I got accepted in a school in the UK, in Devon to be exact, a county in the Southwest of England. It is one of the many programs held by EF (Education First), perhaps some of you may heard about this "EF" company who specializes in language training and other educational programs for children, teenagers, and adults, especially when it comes to facing international environments and providing us chances to be able to experience life in other countries.

I did some research about the city, other than being located in Devon, it also received another nickname as the "English Riviera."

Any guess?

In Devon

Started with "T"

English Riviera

T-t-t-


Ok. Enough. It's Torbay.

Torbay is actually the borough, the city I will go to is Torquay.

To make it easy for me to emphasis the difference between "Torquay" and "Torbay" is:

Torquay + bay = Torbay #slapped

Okay, back to the main topic now. In Indonesia, EF has a pretty great reputation being a company who is famous for its great English course and home stay program (my visit to Oxford last year was also managed by EF). My mama was invited in one of their many seminars, she suddenly spotted an EF International Academy stall and decided to take a look. That's the beginning of how I started to be keened on EF International Academy.

At first I was going to apply for Oxford, but then the admission people said that the age requirement for Oxford is rather high (If I'm not mistaken, the Oxford campus would only accept students age 16+ and I guess they don't have any program for International GCSE) and the only possible campus I can attend to in the UK is the one in Torbay, in Devon.

EF actually has three campuses, two in the UK (Oxford & Torbay) and another one is in New York, but I heard that they are going to open another campus in Vancouver, so I think that makes two campuses in North America.

I'm going to attend International GCSE program, I think it's some kind of a preparatory program before I attend the 'actual' high school (I don't know though, this is just based on my own interpretation about IGCSE since the program itself is very different from a regular Indonesian school program). Then after I finished my IGCSE program, I'm going to chose between two programs, which are IB (abbreviation for "International Baccalaureate") and A-level.

I'm aiming for A-level though, (again this is based on my very own interpretation) A-level is a program for schools in the UK that is only focusing on what you're aiming for college (as in 'what major you are going to take'). So the subjects you're going to take tend to be just a little than what you used to take (I heard that you could even just get about 4 subjects) but then you have to 'decrease' it as you reached another grade, then when you reach your final year you're going to face some dilemmatic problem for choosing between two subjects that you're going to take in college.

In Indonesia, 9th grade is still counted as middle school, until you managed to pass the national exam in the 9th grade (usually national exams occur in March, April, or May), then you will continue to high school. Same goes for high school, if you managed to pass the national exam in the 12th grade, then you're going to go to college. So in Indonesia we have three years each for middle school and high school.

But in the UK, I think they said something about 9th grade being equivalent to 10th grade.

Well... I guess I'll be taking that as 'accelerating' then.

I'll be leaving for the UK this year in early September. That's another thing about the schools in the UK and Indonesia. Here in Indonesia, we started another new academic year in July, while the UK is somewhere in the early September. Yes. We Indonesians get a rather...... little ration for the holidays. Apparently our government still believes "the more you come to school and have less holidays, the more you will get good marks on your report." Instead of "understanding the process is the fundamental principle, off with the grades. Who cares? It's not all about academics anyway."

I'm planning to take A-level program.

And I'm aiming for biology for my major in college.

I hate math though.

But then again, anthropology seems to be an interesting subject.

Oh the dilemma.


-Dadah

Nibras Sakkir


Note: And if some of you--who are also going to attend EF International Academy in Torbay--are reading this. I would say "Hello (this is a bit awkward somehow)" Hopefully we could meet and possibly become classmates in our school. Cheers :)




Pictures and gif don't belong to me.

Aunty Suu

Before my trip to Oxford, I've never even thought about wanting to know more about this particular lady. A lady who has great sense of justice and democracy, a lady who has sacrificed everything just for her country, a lady... who has the same birthday as I am. That particular lady stands by the name Aung San Suu Kyi.

She was born in 19 June 1945, so am I. You could change the year though, I'm about several decades younger than her. Though I think our birthday might be the only thing that we have in common, I felt we have this really special bond somehow.

Back in Oxford, the name Aung San Suu Kyi somehow was quiet familiar with my ears since I've heard  several news concerning Burma, though I had no idea who exactly is Aung San Suu Kyi. I encountered several things that got the connection with 'The Lady' back in Oxford. I thought these were mere coincidences.

I told my mum about these special encounters and that both Aunty Suu and I have the same birthday, then her answer was "That's what you'd call as fate."

Curiosity was ruling my mind after that, I decided to go and buy:

"Letters From Burma"

As I went through each chapter about Aunty Suu's journey, I felt really close and it's like seeing it more than just  a movie, it felt so real, about her amazing accomplishments in order to help the people of her beloved native land to be able to have the rights that have been taken from them for a long time. 

As a child, Aunty Suu's father was murdered when she was just 2 years old. Her father, Aung San, was one of the many people who helped Burma gaining its independence. Aunty Suu is also a leader of the National League for Democracy (NLD). 

What makes it interesting is how the military government always refused to recognize her party's victory and how Aunty Suu along her comrades stand tall despite the fact that the government (and there are also other associations who are somehow against the NLD) always opposing them in many ways and always looking for chances to embarrass the NLD people. Starting from a plan about throwing the NLD tomatoes in a certain national day in order to make them feel so embarrass (the plan was then canceled for some unknown reason, I laughed at this part) until an anarchy operation against the NLD while soldiers who stand in the corner of the street didn't move an inch at all and just watch.

After reading the book, now I know how the Burmese are so lucky to have such a person leading them to democracy. A lady who has such an amazing passion and charisma.

Aung San is for father,

Kyi is for mother,

The military is such a bother,

I'll support Aunty Suu even further!

Dadah

-Nibras Sakkir

Atas Nama Kenangan

Berawalan dari penulis buku Travellous, Andrei Budiman, aku jadi terinspirasi untuk menulis ini di blog-ku sendiri. Walaupun bukan modal nekat mengikuti perjalanan ini, sepertinya setiap perjalanan memang berkesan bagi para pengelananya dengan caranya sendiri. Jadi...

-oOo-

Sekitar 5 bulan yang lalu waktu liburan kenaikan kelas, aku barus aja sampai dari sebuah perjalanan yang menurutku life-changing.

Mungkin ini karena aku tipe orang yang selalu bertopang dagu dan terkadang melamunkan mimpiku sendiri, bukannya malah berfikir bahwa mimpi itu 10% dan 90% apa yang akan kita lakukan terhadap mimpi itu. Ditambah orangtua pun telah berperan banyak agar aku berkesempatan untuk menginjakkan kakiku di sebuah tempat dimana urbanisasi terjadi, tetapi bukti-bukti sejarahnya masih tersebar dimana-mana.

Tak tahu apa banyak orang yang mungkin seumuran aku akan berpikiran seperti ini jika melewatinya, atau mungkin mereka hanya menganggapnya sebagai sebuah liburan yang berkesan dan yang tak dapat semua orang bisa raih dalam hidupnya. 

Atau ternyata aku yang terlalu serius?

Intinya, 5 bulan yang lalu aku telah mencoba apa itu rasanya berkelana di tempat yang nun jauh dari rumah, dengan bantuan organisasi yang bernama EF (English First). Di sini kemandirian dan keberanianku diuji, Bahasa Inggrisku pun apa lagi. Tapi pasti mungkin banyak yang pernah dengar dengan kata student exchange atau mungkin home stay?

Destinasi yang waktu itu aku pilih adalah kota dengan nama Oxford.

Lelucon yang menarik untuk kota yang terkenal akan universitasnya yang prestigius

Memang kota itu terkenal dengan universitasnya yang prestigius dan kuno (kalau nggak salah Oxford telah melahirkan sekitar 26 perdana menteri Inggris), bangunan-bangunan yang juga terkenal sama kunonya juga berkumpulan di Oxford, terkadang ketika aku berjalan di sektiar jalan setapaknya aku juga merasa seperti sedang time-traveling. Ok ironis.

Untuk pengalamanku ini, aku ditempati di rumah nenek-nenek asing yang paling gaul yang pernah aku temui, umurnya 70 tahun dan penggila olahraga, terutama bola. Kebetulan waktu itu sedang musim-musim Euro cup jadi di rumah ribut soal bola itu non-stop.

Namanya Kathleen Smith. Walaupun gaul,  Kath wataknya juga tegas (korban pernah dimarahin sama Kath karena pulang terlambat dan nggak ngasih kabar apa-apa ke dia) dan selalu bisa menjadi nenek yang tepat bagi siapa saja. 

Tempat souvenir pun menjadi tempat penjual atribut untuk Euro 2012

Restauran yang juga memasang bendera-bendera untuk Euro 2012

Ngomong-ngomong di dalam rumah nenek-nenek gaul ini nggak cuma aku doang yang dirawat dia selama 2 minggu tinggal di Oxford, rumahnya juga ditempati salah satu temanku yang berasal dari Indonesia, lalu ada 2 orang yang satu berasal dari Italia dan yang satu lagi dari Spanyol.

Oke, kombinasi yang pas karena kedua teman asingku itu dari negara yang terkenal dengan tim-tim bolanya yang kuat, ditambah lagi pengetahuan mereka tentang bola yang nggak sedangkal punyaku, lalu teman Indonesiaku ini juga gila bola, sepertinya aku doang ya yang gila anggar #ApaPula

Sarah (Kiri), teman serumahku yang dari Indonesia

Tapi di balik semua itu kita juga berhadapan dengan namanya perbedaan budaya, dan satu-satunya cara menghadapinya adalah dengan toleransi dan respek.

Teman Italiaku ini adalah seorang ateis, teman Indonesiaku ini yang kebetulan berasal dari Bali adalah seorang nasrani, Kath juga. Tetapi aku kurang tahu untuk teman Spanyolku, dan sepertinya itu semua menjadikan aku satu-satunya anak yang beragama Islam di rumah Kath.

Tapi aku sudah merasa mereka semua sebagai keluarga, awalnya sulit untuk membayangkan hanya dalam jangka waktu 2 minggu, dengan perbedaan-perbedaan yang bisa dibilang berbeda 180˚, kita semua sudah merasa seperti mengenal satu sama lain dengan dekat.

Nuria (kanan) & Kath

Temanku yang seorang Italia, bernama Nuria (eh ritmenya jadi keren tiba-tiba #plak) pernah bilang sesuatu yang kira-kira seperti ini bunyinya,

"Nini (panggilan sayangku #eh) , hurry up. You must pray first and after that go get to sleep!"

Dan disini semua memori tentang kelalaianku terhadap sholat-sholatku sejenak berkumpul.

Lalu berfikir, perbedaan itu sesuatu yang sangat indah ya... 

Dadah

Nibras Sakkir

-oOo-

Di atas langit Rusia/Ukraina aku merenung, apa ini mimpi? 

Di atas Kota London

Bagi para "Potterhead" sepertinya Oxford adalah destinasi yang tepat

AJCFC 2012 Galleries

*Note: not only Asia, but there were also Oceania countries (Australia & New Zealand) joining the competition

-oOo-

GO GO GO GO GO GO Indonesia Men's Epee Team!! 

I love it how people are united with each other with sports.

Santika Hotel, Nusa Dua, Bali.

It wasn't really my first time witnessing an international event like the AJCFC 2012.

The first time I saw fencing as a part of an international event was in SEA Games 2011, back then it was held in Indonesia, I was pretty amazed and at the same time speechless. That time I was still a beginner in fencing (though I must admit until now I even haven't joined in any kinds of competition, yet). I gaped at their banners, I gaped at the athletes, I gaped at their coaches, I gaped at their fast movements, I gaped at how complicated fencing is, practically I was gaping at everything back then.

But somehow a particular feeling in my heart starting to rose suddenly, it was that kind of feeling where you felt like you're just a little drop of water among the vast ocean.

I must say, I think that's what I really felt when I'm in the hall where they held the Men's Individual Foil Event in AJCFC 2012. I saw fencers that aren't that much older than I am, I saw how they are all competitive in what they are doing. One word came into my brain, fencing is their passion alright. Scars may be produced because of their tough battles, but their spirits still burn like an eternal fire.

Today the event was consisting of three events:

9:00 AM --> Men's Individual Foil (I learnt something from this one, considering I'm a foilist ahaha)
10:00 AM --> Women's Individual Epee
11:00 AM --> Women's Individual Sabre (I didn't get to watch this one, though watching sabreurs fighting each others must be one of the most entertaining activities of all time eh... I mean just look at their fast movements!)

I had quiet fun too, I saw athletes from different countries (34 countries are participating in this event if I'm not mistaken) and it wasn't really a usual sight for me, then I got to analyze their skills and learnt some useful techniques too.

This isn't really important for fencers though, but one of my favourite thing from every fencing competitions is that I got to see different fencing suits from many countries (muehehe, I can't help it. Jersey to me seems to be a pretty boring thing and I found fencing suit as one of the most gorgeous clothing I've ever encountered #waitwhat) For example this image below shows Team S. Korea's fencing suit sleeve, it's quiet catchy in my opinion and it really represents their national flag.

Aditya Baskara, the toughest junior Indonesian foilist I've ever known, sadly he's defeated by Hong Kong's Nicholas Edward Choi. 

As for Indonesia, I like our suit for the fact that our national emblem is there (on the sleeve), which is the Garuda Pancasila. From what I've seen, I hardly saw other countries' national emblems on their fencing suits.

Well then I still have tomorrow before I depart to Jakarta, hopefully it would add even more pictures to my AJCFC 2012 gallery.

Dadah.

-Nibras Sakkir

PS: I found out that my coach is actually a pretty well-known fencer by the officials of the event.

Bah, I'm proud of him. Very much.

Soekarno-Hatta Airport, Banten.

To be honest I don't really know how to start this blog.

I can't choose any specific topic for it because ideas are flooding up my mind, somehow in my opinion having only one particular topic for a blog is no fun at all. I failed at maintaining my old blogs because I was too focused on one particular topic, as the result I experienced the infamous hiatus and writer's block (if that's also available in the blogging world) then an idea of having a blog with free topics popped up in my mind.

Just a short explanation though, this blog posts would be available in two languages which are Indonesian & English. English is not my mother tongue so pardon me if I made any mistake in grammars and all that jazz.

I thought fencing as a part of my life (as the matter of fact, right now I'm just about to depart to watch some Asian Fencing Championship which is currently being held in Bali), I love to explore new things and increasing my insights, I love anime and mangas too, and I think being able to be involved in the political world is something remarkable, though I have no intention for being a person that's associated with the political world later on in the future and instead aiming for reaching the world of biology (hehe, zoology or botany to be specific, I haven't really decide between those two things).

I suppose that's it.

I'll be departing to Bali at 18:20 PM though.

Dadah.

-Nibras Sakkir

Yes I know the picture isn't really in a good quality at all and seems to be mirrored. I took it from my laptop's photo booth. The logo on the right is for the FIE (Fédération Internationale d'Escrime) which is the International Fencing Federation and the left one is the Asian Fencing Federation logo.