Misses Everything on Perth

This is my second week on Surabaya. I don't know what happened with me. I felt something strange with my room at my first day in my room on Surabaya. There's no heater like usual in my room on Karen's house. And I miss chips at Perth. I think Surabaya doesn't have chips as big as chips on Australia. And I miss Smiggle, which place that sell cute stationary (not like in Surabaya).

Beside that, I miss all people on Perth. I miss my friends on Melville Senior High School, thanks for your hospitality,Ms. Bina Kadaba, thanks for your kindness,Mr. Phillip White, thanks for let us to studied at Melville and make connection between Surabaya, Indonesia with Melville, Western Australia,and my host family , thanks for everything(and I'll never to forget this one).

Semoga dengan persahabatan dan persaudaraan kita ini akan selalu terjaga sampai kapanpun.
Amin

THANK YOU FOR DELAYING US FOR 3 HOURS

After waiting about 1 hour at the waiting room Intan text me a message "she bosen, main yuk", then i replyed "ayo, beli kartu trus main ceblek nyamuk yuk :D". after that short text me and Intan looked each other and smiling like we've found something really briliant.

After we both bought two pack of re-mi cards. we decided to play setan-setanan for the first time and anyone who loose must choose between truth or dare, and oh-my-god i am loosing this first game, then i choose dare. everyone thinking a lot of crazy things that i have to done, at last after having short meeting (lebay dikit) they decided me to get one foreign people signature, that's so embarrassing :l, after i got it they all laugh really loud and made those waiting room noisy.

For the second time the announcer said that the plane delayed (again) for about 1 and a half hour, that's worse for bu Oke because i can see at her face that she was really home sick, but not for us, that announcement made us thinking about what to do next, we really wanted to made our last time together gratify, then this crazy things began we called this game "smash the musquitos" its a kind of traditional game that most of Indonesian people will knowing it. After having our hand smashed by the other we got the looser for this second game, it's Sevian our group leader (LOL) we dared him to follow everything that Mr. Joe (our coordinator from Surabaya government) do at that time, and he really do it very well. Then we all made a lots of laugh until i can felt my stomach sick because to much laughing.

Terimakasih teman-teman seperjuangan dari yang paling muda tapi nggak keliatan muda Almer yang sering melakukan hal-hal gila di luar normal, dan Sasha yang has dengan cara bicaranya yang mantap, dan Winnie teman satu kamar saya selama di rumah Noone, terimakasih untuk semangatnya, sharing, dan ngehibur satu sama lain, dan Sevian yang seharusnya memimpin kita tapi terkadang bisa sangat menjengkelkan(jokes), selalu bermain sportif, yang pertama terlihat sangat innocent yang lama-lama akhirnya berhasil kita kontaminasi( :D ), dan Intan yang walaupun badannya kecil tapi pengetahuannya di bidang tari sangat luas, yang menyelamatkan penampilan cewek-cewek dalam tari Punjari, yang sarat akan ide-ide segar dan terkadang "gila", dan Musa yang pertama terlihat begitu pendiam, dan lagi-lagi akhirnya kita berhasil mengkontaminasi dia untuk berbuat gila seperti kita, dan Roby cowok paling jangkung antara yang lain, yang juga sarat akan ide-ide membangun, dan Jessica wanita yang sangat berbakat dalam bermain flute, yang kaya akan jokes-jokes.

Thanks guys for all those (crazy) things that we had done together. I am going to miss you all :)

Why.....????

Rasanya baru kemarin kami tiba di sini
Mengapa kami sudah harus mengucapkan
selamat tinggal kepada keluarga kami di sini
Keluarga yang selama ini merawat kami
Keluarga yang selama ini menghibur kami
sewaktu kami rindu tanah air
Keluarga yang selalu berusaha membuat kami senang
Keluarga tempat kami berbagi cerita selama di sini
Keluarga yang selalu membimbing kami

It felt like we have just arrived here yesterday
Why we already have to say goodbye to our friends here
Our friends who gave us hospitality here
Our friends who have become our place to share stories
Our friends who showed us many new things
Our friends who made us felt like being home

Why do we have to say goodbye
Why do we have to leave them
Why do we leave when we have just felt like being home
Why do we have to leave our families and our friends
We don't want this moment to be our last meeting with our friends and families here

Kami akan selalu merindukanmu
Kami akan selalu mengingat mu
Mengingat masa-masa selama kita bersama
Kami tidak akan melupakan kamu....

Friendship and our love will never die...

Surabaya Deltgation 2009

masih kangen?

Sekarang saya duduk di kursi di ruang makan saya, bukan lagi di kursi rumah makan keluarga Noone lagi. Kalau mengingat seminggu yang lalu, rasnya ingin kembali ke tanggal 17-08-2009. tanggal itu termasuk tanggal sepesial bagi kami delegasi Surabaya, karena hari itu kami merayakan hari kemerdekaan Indonesia di kedutaan besar Indonesia di Perth, WA.
Kami telah melalui hari-hari yang sangat menyenangkan di sekolah Melville, di rumah host parents masing-masing, di waktu-waktu yang kita habiskan bersama.

Rasanya aneh di kamar sendiri, biasanya tidur sama Winnie, biasanya kita di kasih hot water bottle sebelum tidur, biasanya kita selalu sharing hari-hari di sekolah di kelas tadi pagi nya (saya kangen Winnie dan Noone family :( ), biasanya kalau tidur selalu kedinginan, tapi sekarang harus mendhidupkan AC untuk terjaga dari kepanasan.
Sudah tidak ada yang akan berkata "how's your school today?" atau "which do you want for lunch Sheny?" atau gurauan anak-anak dan cara tertawa masing-masing. benar-benar membuat warna tersendiri di trip ini.

Bagaimanapun tugas kita telah selesai, tapi hubungan kita tidak akan pernah selesai.
Sekarang harus berpikir ke depan, masih banyak yang harus di laksanakan di Surabaya. Presentasi, dan tanggung jawab di depan wali kota. dan lain-lain.

Terimakasih untuk pemerintah Surabaya, koordinator Melville SHS bu Bina Kadaba yang telah memberikan kita waktu untuk merasakan pengalaman sangat, sangat berkesan di Melville, Perth, WA.

A Walk to Remember

A Walk to Remember-Looking for the Future

The only thing that I know well is we will miss Perth and all of memories on it. Especially I like to thank the Surabaya Government that gave us the chance to go here (and so Bu Yohana and Pak Jo-the persons from Educational Department of Surabaya Government), the principal of Melville Senior High School, Mr Phillip White for your kindness to let us came and learnt to study in Melville, Mrs Bina Kadaba for all of your contribution from the beginning to the end, our home stay family, the Rodgers family.. Oh I'm really grateful to be part of your family (so does Intan even I still don't ask her but I have a feeling that my guess is true), Mrs Leonie Southwell and Mrs Penny Coutas... thanks a lot for all your teaching about making blog and the ESL(we really enjoyed it.. thanks), and all my friends in Melville (thanks for everything)

From the first week, started to make our blog, looked for the name of the blog, learnt English.. with the help from Ibu Penny (for blog) and Ibu Leonie (for ESL). My first weekend was watching netball, going to Armadale Reptile Park, watching basketball, and taking a picture of wild kangaroo and the tame kangaroo with it kids. It was a wonderful experience. The second week was our first performance at Attedale Primary School and Melville Primary School. It was little scary for the first time because I was getting nervous at that time but all went well at that time. For the weekend, I spent it by watching the band and orchestra festival, visiting the King's Park, Taking tram around the city and going to Marapana Wildlife Park to watch, feed, and play with the animals. The last week was my unforgettable memories. Last performance at Palmayra
Primary and farewell dinner at Indonesian Restaurant. A really touching moment that we WILL always remember.

From all the moments that all of you can see above, those are the reasons why I won't forget Perth and actually those are the reasons why I don't want to come back to Indonesia but we must back to finish our real duty, to help making Surabaya be a better city just what we have experienced in Perth. So, I don't want to say goodbye right now because someday, I believe that we will meet each again and I will try my best to go Perth again by looking for scholarship. I hope the bond of friendship between us won't be break. I miss you all.

I'm not feeel good tonight

Tonight, Friday night, 21 August 2009, we had farewell dinner. It was so nice dinner because all families were came together. We ate some fried rice, beef rendang, fried noodles, etc. My hostparent, Jill Rodgers like beef rendang, that is why she was very happy when she looked some beef rendang on the table. I like to saw her ate that rendang. After that we were taking photoes of all families. It was nice too because I can know the other hostparent that my friends have.

And then Mrs. Mey Chong ask us to sing a song. But we sang two songs. The first song is Rujak Uleg and the second song is Laskar Pelangi. They were very excited with our singing. Me and sheny cried when we sang "Perpisahan" song because we've felt that tomorrow we'll leave our new family. And then one by one family was leave the restaurant, but before that we had warm hug each another. We cried again. Why it was been too fast? THREE WEEKS.

Goodbye everyone. Good bye Western Australia. Good bye Melville. Good bye Rodgers family.

What's Going on Band Festival

Saturday, 15Th of August 2009. I got a chance to see how is the band festival look like. The Melville Concert Band were playing 3 songs. There were Fire Dance, Misty Rain, Crime busters. They were playing very good and it was amazing. Keep it up, Melville! But the other school bands were doing great job too. The festival was also well organized. From where's the school band/orchestra should store the musical instrument cases and practice before gave their best shot and the committee done a very good job guiding the visitors. And I'm really like that, it can improve musicality each school by competing each others.

Hal seperti ini perlu diterapkan di Indonesia khususnya Surabaya. Acara seperti ini selain dapat membantu mengasah bakat dan minat tiap siswa juga bisa menjadi hiburan tersendiri bagi wisatawan ataupun penikmat musik. Karena band tidak harus selalu beraliran rock, metal, dll. dan hanya terdiri oleh sedikit orang (guitarist, keyboardist, singer, drummer). Karena yang terjadi di Perth ini adalah band dapat berbentuk seperti mini-orchestra/ensamble. Pemain tidak hanya memainkan alat musik yang lazim dipakai oleh band di Indonesia tetapi juga banyak menggunakan alat musik tiup, alat musik gesek, dll. Ini akan menambah kekayaan suara dalam sebuah komposisi.

So, why I said that we should hold a festival like this in routine because it is a good program that has a lot of benefits. They can improve their skill so they can be better than before. I'm just suggesting that Surabaya has one festival like this. It would be great!

Independence Day in Perth

Monday, August 17 2009, we went to the Indonesian Consulate for the Indepence Day of Indonesia. We joined the Flag Raising Ceremony in the consulate. Many of Indonesian people that live in Perth joined the ceremony too. We can see a lot of students from many school in Perth that studied Indonesia. The teacher told us to talk with the students to practice their Indonesian language. In the consulate we saw a lot of culture performance from Indonesia and we sing "Laskar Pelangi" too there. Actually there are no different between ceremony in consulate in Perth with ceremony in Indonesia but, I want to give short comment about the ceremony.

First, I thought that in the ceremony there are no flagforce team so, just like a party. In fact there was a flagforce team in the consulate but, Sevian and Robi commented them because, Sevian and Robi usually can do the better movement than the flagforce team in the consulate. Secondly, I taught that the consulate will give us lunch meal but, they just gave us snack we must bring our own lunch meal. That was weird for Indonesian people because usually the host prepare the lunch but, in western culture usually each guest bring their own food. We must adapted with the environment here but, I like the ceremony at all.

Hopefully, through program or activity like this we can make a good connection between Indonesia and Australia , like our program objective that we must promote Surabaya and make a good connection between Surabaya and Perth.

I Don't Wanna Go Home :(

I has been more than 2 weeks since my arriving in this lovely city, Perth. And now, there are only 3 days left before my flight to Surabaya. I had this horrible dream last night, about what will happen to me when i go back to Indonesia. I'll leave my beloved family here - Brian , Maria, Conor, Aoise, Lady and Finn. All my friends in Melville Senior High School, and Perth with all its lovely places. I hope that it isn't real, but it is.

Isn't that horrible ? I don't wanna go home :'(

Benar-benar tidak disangka waktu berlalu begitu cepat, sekarang kami sudah memasuki hari-hari terakhir kami di Perth. Hanya tinggal hitungan hari kami akan berkemas dan meninggalkan Perth, kembali ke Surabaya. Kami sudah melewati hari-hari bersama di Melville, menuntut ilmu, dan mencari pengalaman disini. Sungguh menyedihkan harus meninggalkan keluarga saya. Tapi saya benar-benar bersyukur bisa mendapat kesempatan menuntut ilmu disini, Pemerintah Kota Surabaya memang luar biasa. Saya harap suatu hari nanti saya bisa kembali kesini, mengunjungi keluarga dan kawan-kawan saya disini.

Winnie :(

Perfomance at Melville Primary School

On 13th of august we had our second perfomance at Melville Primary School. The first one was in Attadel Primary School. As usuall, we performed 3 dances and 2 songs.

The first dance was "Lenggang Dance" which was performed by Intan Puspa Kirana. The other performance was played in a group. Boys group (Almer, Shevian, Musa, and Robi) performed "Reog Ganongan Dance" from Ponorogo. Girls group (Intan, Sheny, Winnie, Sasha, except Jessica) performed "Punjari Dance". And then, we had to songs to be performed. They were "Rujak Uleg". It is a traditional song from Surabaya. The second song is "Laskar Pelangi". The performance in this concert is not only from us but also from the children. Such as song "Satu Dua", dances, and music performance.

At the end of the concert, we sang Indonesian National Anthem "Indonesia Raya". At all of our performance we always sing "Indonesia Raya", and the audience or the children sing Australian Anthem. We felt so proud when we sang Indonesia Raya. Just to remember and think that the main goal of being here is to make Indonesia, my country become known and better at the future. Jaya Terus Indonesia, Maju Arek-arek Suroboyo!

Learn Indonesian With Ibu O'Loughlin And Melville Students

All About Bali

Today, we (Natasha, Winnie, Almer) learnt Indonesian with Ibu O'Loughlin and Melville students. She told us about Bali and many places in Bali like Batur Lake, Kuta Beach, Lovina Beach, Tanah Lot Beach, Garuda Wisnu Kencana statue (GWK), and Bomb Memoriam Monument. She also told us about people in Indonesia especially the children and tourist in Bali. Many tourist in Bali are from Australia. We also saw tourist who drank coconut water. I am proud because there are many students at Melville followed Indonesian.I learnt that I have to learn more about Indonesia. So, I can share my knowledges about Indonesia for my friends in another country and they know all about Indonesia.

Written by : Natasha

It's a Nice Class :)

NICE CLASS :)

Today is the first day i join classes in Melville SHS. I joined the Year 9 Class, with Natasha and Almer. I got Indonesian Class in the first and the fifth period. The Indonesian teacher here is Mrs. O'Loughlin. She is a nice and friendly teacher. Today, she showed us some pics of her holiday in Bali and told us her amazing holiday in Bali. She rent a room in Ubud and it was very cheap, only AUD 20 per night. She also showed us the pics of Batur Lake and Garuda Wisnu Kencana statue. The pics of some tourists who drank coconut milk directly from the coconut, it was really funny. And it was really nice to heard her story :)

Anyway, the class here is much more relax than my class in Surabaya. And te students are really nice, they are all friendly to us. I really enjoyed this class!

But, the thing is, i think that the Indonesian students here still used more English than Indonesian to speak in their Indonesian Class. So, I hope that they will learn more about Indonesian Language and have more practice their Indonesian.

Winnie :D

Australia students want to learn Indonesian. Why not??

Monday, August 10 2009, we started our lesson in Melville SHS. We were very happy to start the lesson in Melville SHS. Winnie, Natasha, and me studied together in many classes. We found that a lot of differences in Australia if we compare to the process of learning and teaching in Indonesia.



Melville SHS is a unique school. We found that students here have a lot of practice than the theory and Melville SHS just has 5 periods. When we came to Indonesian class , we saw a lot of poster tell about Indonesia. First,we started the Indonesian subject with introduction. The Indonesian teachers were Pak Bobby and Ibu Loughlin That was a cool experience when the other students introduced themselves.Secondly, we saw the pictures that told about Bali, that was a good picture but, once more, why there are no pictures tell about Surabaya. That,s a big problem.



Anyway, that was a great experience to learn Indonesian with the students from Melville SHS who studied Indonesian.. Australia students want to learn about Indonesia. Why not??

dress-code :)

Some schools have their own dress code and some schools don't. But how about Melville SHS? Do they have their own dress code? The answer is yes, they do. Melville have their own dress code for the students, but not for teachers.

Surabaya Senior High Schools' Uniform

Melville SHS dress code

For the students' shirt, they have plain white polo shirt with black collar and MSHS logo, an aviation polo shirt with MSHS logo and a Music Department polo shirt with MSHS logo. For girls who wants to wear skirt, they must wear black or bottle green skirt, not to be longer than mid-calf and must not to be shorter than mid thigh. And for boys and girls who wear shorts/pants, they wear black or bottle green pants, not jeans. For students' windcheater, they have green hooded windcheater with MSHS logo. Also, they have a Physical Education dress code, which is a bottle green polo with gold and white stripe. Last but not least, for footwear, it closed in shoes only, NO thongs, slides or ugg boots.
And usually, there are some students that have their hair dyed, but it doest matter to have our hair dyed in Melville SHS.
So Melville has a casual uniform for students and I think it looks really comfy to wear it. Not like the one we have in Surabaya, a formal uniform.

Also, I want to discover more about it, like why do they have uniform for students and not for Teacher's. And maybe, I can find out who is the designer of their uniform. Who knows?

Winnie :D

Sense of Self and Space

Today, I learnt many topics with Ibu Penny. And now, I want to tell you about sense of self and space in Australia and what I have seen . When we meet some people here, usually we have eye contact and shake hands. Sometimes we introduce ourselves too. In a few of people, they usually say, 'Hi, Mate!'. I saw that some people in Australia have their own personal space. But, sometime they don't have personal space with everyone! And in Australia many children have their own bedroom, example: my houseparent's daughter .Maybe they or their parent want to building their independent. Not only that, sometimes they have private room or bathroom (of course!)

By: Natasha

What is normal?

Things considered normal at Melville that I consider unusual:

• Sit on the table(in the classroom)
• The student talk when the teacher still keep talking
• Drinking from the tap
• Value time

Australian have different norms with Indonesian, that is why many things that considered normal in Australia, especially Melville are unusual for me. Like the students sit on the table when study at the classroom with the teacher. I have been see it, when Ibu Peni explain something in the library, then someone come and sit on the table.

Sit on the table is fine in Australia but not polite in Indonesia. In Indonesia, students must sit on the chair if the teacher come into the classroom and explain about the subject. That is to respect the teacher who give something important to us.

Values of Time

Time is very important to all people. Some people think that time is more valuable than anything. They manage their time and try to use it effectively.

In Perth, some people intend to be on time if they have an appointment. It happens not just to the people, but also the public transportation such as Transperth. Transperth is actually run by the government. The government also subsidized Transperth, so the people who wants to ride Transperth can pay less. Transperth , have their own time schedule, and they always keep their time to the schedule. This thing can actually help us to be on time all the times, and to be discipline. This thing is a good start for a person to value their own time.

transperth.wa.gov.au

Transperth has been a good example appreciate the values of time

I will write some more next time...

Learning Process

The Process of Learning at School

The methods of teaching in Australia (from what we see in Melville) are quite different. From the facilities, the classes, the systems, curriculums, etc. Because we do have different ways of thinking. And these are what I've found how the process of learning in Australia (while in Melville).

Students do have a lot of out of school activities. Just like once we have already, the excursion to Indonesian Consulate with year 8 Melville's students who study Indonesian. They experience the real things out there, not just learning from text even though they aren't in vocational schools. Another differences are the system of moving class and choosing only specified subjects that they like or good at it.

I don't know why are they doing like these above so I'd like to find out about it soon enough. Especially what is the advantages of moving class, why they can choose whatever subjects they like and we don't do it in Indonesia, how is the way they prepare for tests, etc. So lot to ask so that's why I can't give you much information that is really needed for improving the education to both of us.

how they communicate each other?

If you want to stay in Perth for quite long time you must know how do they communicate each other, so they wont say that you're wierd bacause using to formal or informal languages.

Photo from http://www.melville.wa.edu.au

Every country had their each style to communicate and languages, so there are many different style to communicate between Indonesian students and Australian students that I know of. The Indonesian student that I know they like to use slang languages as the main language for communicate with the other teenagers today, just the same like mostly Melville student that I know they likely to use slang to talk with another students.

Students in Australia mostly use an informal languages even to communicate with the older people, they likely just call their name without using Ms, Mr, or Mrs, it's different to Indonesian students mostly they call someone older by their title, such like Ibu, Bapak to show their respect to the older people.

Even to their parents most of Australian students just call their parents name, it's going to be not very well mannered to call parents with their name.

-Find Your Own Group-

People all around the world need friends. And they will be a group. Different group, different people, and different characteristics. How can it be?Let's find out.

A group can be defined as two or more humans that interact with one another, accept expectations and obligations as members of the group, and share a common identity. All member of the group have same thing which can connect them. Then, it can make them to feel comfortable in their group. If someone feels comfortable, he/she will enjoy to do everything. That is what everybody looking for, it is "comfortable".

In group, there is a connection and relation between the members. All member are connected to do something together to reach their goal. Although they have different personality it might be make them to complete each other.

In teenager's live, they have their groups. In lunch area, year 8 groups, year 9 groups, or asian, etc. In office, there are production group, promoting group, etc. And many other group to make one goal comes true. It will be a good thing if we can found our group. But, people! Just one message : eventhough you have a group, don't ever think to do something just for your group. Do that for our world where all group live together.

Dinner time

Australian family dinner

from : www.google.com

Australian habits are very interesting to learn well. In this context, about the dinner. Dinner is very important for Australian family. Because that is family time. Time for sharing, eating together, and meeting another one. They share, eat together, meet another one in the dinner time.

The dinner time for Australian people usually be held at 7pm. Depend on the family. They usually do the dinner together at the same table. That's very fun for them. Eat together and finish together too. After that, they usually share about their problem, their story, and etc another one. They usually solve the problem, listen the story together too. So with it, they can know what's the problem with another the family member. That's so useful. As example, in my family homestay, we don't leave the dinner on the table lively. We share together, talk together about our experience. So we can know the others. Actually there are so many type of foods are served in the table when the dinner time. And that can be changed with others in next dinner time.

Is religion so important for us??

I want to tell you about differences and similarities of religion between Indonesia and Australia. Some people very religious but some people just use the religion as a lifestyle or a background. Why it can be happen?? What is the way of people respond it?? We will discuss it.

The similarities are there are a lot of religion both in Indonesia and Australia and we had a freedom to choose the religion.In Indonesia the Moslems are more dominant, it can reach until 80%, but in Australia the Christian tradition is more dominant. The second, both of them have a religious school, maybe it can be Moslem school or Christian school. Each school has their own rules for the students, usually they have very strict rules e.g. : pray together, must pray before you eat your meal and etc.

from : www.google.com

Finally, I want to tell you about an important topic. Is religion so important for us ???? That's a big question for us because, some people think that religion just a background. I think that statement is concluded as a bad lifestyle for me maybe for the others too. On the other hand, there are people who are totally Moslems or totally Christians and etc. Actually, we must master 3 aspects : IQ, EQ, and SQ if we want to be a success people. If we miss one of them we will be an unsuccesful people because we don't have a balance in our mind.

For me religion is important but, What about you?? Do you think it seriously or just a background ??

Why I love Transperth?

Transperth is a public transportation in Perth. It offers bus, train and ferry services which currently serve the Perth metropolitan area from the Perth City. It is managed by the government and the Public Tranport Authority. The Trasnperth has their own timetables. They actually runs based on the time table.

transperth.wa.gov.au

Transperth is a cheap transportation. It because the government subsidize Transperth. Moreover, for the students and the seniors, they have a card that can be used as a pass that is called "SmartRider". Even it is cheap, the Transperth has very secure and safe transportation. We think, they use the system based on the experiences from the past.

So, Transperth can be a refference for us to make our transportation system better.

Shopping...Shopping.. and Shopping...

Shopping In Perth

For a couple of days in Perth, we've tried to go shopping at some shopping centres in Perth. We've(Winnie and Sheny) gone to Garden City for sight-seeing and we bought little things there. While we were there, we checked the costs of many things. Like yesterday when we saw many things in Factory Outlet, Roxy and others, we found that the price of those things were just the same like malls in Surabaya. Only, when we looked for food, we found a new food. A handcrafted-hard candy. We can't find it in Surabaya.

We (Natasha,Intan,Jessica) also went to a shopping center ( we don't know where is it and what's the name) but we needed around 20 minutes from Jill's house (Intan's and Jessica's hostparent). The place was not really different with shopping center in Surabaya. Some things they sell are just the same as Surabaya . We just bought 3 big bags of chips and they were delicious.

Jadi, secara umum pusat perbelanjaan di Australia dan di Surabaya tidak jauh berbeda.

written by : Winnie and Natasha

Our Home Town

THE MAP OF EAST JAVA

Differences in Music Appreciation

On the 5th of August 2009, I had a chance to practice with Melville's school band. It started after school and it was a really enjoyable experience. We played only 3 songs because they will perform next week with those songs for a concert/competition.


The thing that I learnt was how music is appreciated so well that a lot of students can play the musical instruments very well. There are just a few schools in Indonesia that still appreciate music this much. They only teach students music in primary school as an additional subject to learn and they don't even know that a lot of students are waiting for their talents to be discovered. The high school is the same and maybe worse.




The thing that I saw was actually we are not worse than they are. The composisition they played wasn't that difficult. I think the difficulty is the same as I usually play in my school orchestra, the Petra Youth Orchestra and actually I'm just learning to play my flute (the instrument that I played right now) for 1 year so I'm just an amateur. So let music heal your soul. We can do better if we're trying hard to accomplish it.

How's Australian Family? How's Indonesian Family?

After we've stayed with an Australian family for a couple of days, we found that Australian and Indonesian families are totally different in a few ways. Australian families have a surname but most Indonesian families don't. Also, the number of children in each Australian family, usually, are more than the number of children in each Indonesian family. As well as this, in Indonesia, mostly, only the Fathers go to work while the Mothers stay at home, being housewives. However, in Australia, mostly, both fathers and mothers go to work. And, we can easily meet one or more maids in Indonesian houses but not in Australian houses - they do all of the house-work on their own!

Sedangkan, persamaan antara keluarga Australia dengan keluarga di Indonesia adalah keduanya sangat ramah kepada orang lain. Kedua, mereka mempunyai peraturan rumah mereka sendiri kepada siapapun yang tinggal di rumah mereka.

Even though there are many diffrences, both families are a nuclear family (consist of father, mother, and children). And they both really welcoming.

posted by : Winnie and Natasha

Australian and Indonesian People

People all around the world have their own characteristics. They have their own language and their own behaviour. Even tough they have different to each other, they also have some similarities.

Today, on 4th August we discussed the differences and the similarities between Australian and Indonesian people using a chart.

Chart: The differences and similarities chart about Indonesian and Australian people.

We classified it into 3 things: behaviour, manners and ethnic. The main similarity between Australian and Indonesian people is they are multicultural country. Their people have many ethnic origin and came from over the world. The main difference is language. Indonesian has various native languages that are still used in addition to the national language (Bahasa Indonesia). In contrast Australians mainly use English.

discussed by : shevian, jessica, and robi.

Indonesian school vs Australian school

Indonesia and Australia are quite near and are similar in some ways, but they totally contrast in schools. Both schools use a uniform but in Indonesia the uniform is much more formal because all of the uniform is the same from hat to toe.

They are only different between boys and girls. But the Melville uniform is much more informal. They just have the same jumper and polo shirt, but the students feel free to use anything for the shorts or skirt, as long it's black.

The way they study is also very different because in Indonesia all the students must study all the subjects but in Australia they are able to choose some subjects that they like.

However there's also similarities between Indonesian and Australian schools. Both are lead by a principal, and the science laboratories are also the same as those in Indonesia.

Maybe there's more differents and similarities here, but i just stay not to long so i haven't found the other different and similarities.

Language Make Connection

Today, on the 5th of August 2009, we, the Surabayan delegation and year eight students from Melville Senior High School went to the Indonesian Consulate by bus. The Surabayan student delegation sat beside the eight year students. We passed many things along the road. We saw the “Canning River” and the “Swan River”. We also saw great buildings such as “The Swan Bell Tower” and the “Concert Hall”. They are very great buildings. They had a unique structure that will get attention from new-comers.

I was sitting with Keegan. He is a year eight student from Melville Senior High School. He has been learning Indonesian for 2 years. He has just moved from Sydney few years ago. When he’s learning Indonesian, he has some difficulties remembering the words. I have tested his abilities in speaking Indonesian and he is pretty good with Indonesian numbers. He and his family, planned to go to Indonesia (Bali Island). He would love to go to Indonesia sometimes. That is the same as me, as I would like to come back to Australia, especially Perth.

He loves to learn Indonesian and even though he finds some difficulties with it, he would love to learn some more of the language. His spirit to learn Indonesian is the same as me, as I love to learn English and improve my English. I found this as a connection between me and Australian people.

Music as Universal Languange

Music as a universal languange

On the fifth of August 2009, we went to the Indonesian Consulate. We went there with year 8 students from Melville Senior High School. The main program at the consulate was to learn how to and try to play the gamelan and angklung which are traditional music instruments of Indonesia.

Besides that, this occasion was about the Indonesian consulate staff wanting to welcome us. That was so amazing!!

We played the instruments together and we enjoyed it very much. Do you know why? Because music can connect people in its own way. Melody and harmony are things that are really beautiful and connect people from different cultures. In the Indonesian consulate we had to play the gamelan and angklung together. Students were divided into 2 mixed culture groups. The first group would play the gamelan, and the other group would play angklung. We played "Manyar Sewu" on the gamelan and "Twinkle-twinkle little star" on the angklung. So that is why I say music is a universal languange.

This excursion will never be just an excursion. This is an excursion which has connected us; the Surabayan students and Melville students. Surabaya and Perth are sister cities connecting Indonesia and Australia in friendship. So, guys! play music, enjoy music, and keep our good connection. Thank you.

Why not Surabaya ??

Why not Surabaya ??

The delagation had an excursion to the Indonesian Consulate with the students who learn Indonesian at Melville High School. We were very interested when we saw a video about Indonesian culture. There was a lot of culture shown on the video, but the Surabayan delegation felt disapointed because there was no part of the video about Surabaya. That was alright, because we were very satisfied when we played the gamelan and angklung. It was amazing to play the traditional music from Java with the students from Melville SHS .

We also had a good experience when we interviewed one of the students who learn Indonesian. We asked, " What do you know about Indonesia? and What Indonesian words can you say?". Then, he answered," I know that Indonesia has a lot of culture and it's very popular with its history. Now, I just can say Selamat pagi, Selamat siang, Selamat malam, Terima kasih and nama saya Zac." All of Indonesian people must be proud because Australian people know the history of Indonesia.Then, we asked him again," Why do you want to learn Indonesian?",He answered ," Because, it's a challenge for me to learn a cool country's language and it will help me when I grow up, because I want to stay in Indonesia someday." That was a cool and weird answer for us because actually most Indonesian people want to live in a better country than Indonesia. On the other hand, all of us felt very satisfied on this trip. We saw positive sides of Indonesia in this excursion to the consulate.

A Little Chat with Year 8 Students

An excursion with Year 8 Melville SHS Students to the INDONESIAN CONSULATE? That was what we did this morning (5/8/2009). During that time, we had a little chat with two Melville SHS students. They are Louis and Ethan. Firstly, I want to tell you about my little chat with Louis. Louis said that he started learning Indonesian this year. He thinks that Indonesian people are very busy and hard-workers. He likes to learn Indonesian because it is an interesting language. He also spoke a little Indonesian to me, like "Nama Saya Louis". After talking with him I learnt that its okay for us to learn something new, because it's good to enrich our experiences and our knowledges.

Berbeda dengan Louis, Ethan sudah belajar Bahasa Indonesia sejak duduk di Year 3. Ia tertarik untuk belajar bahasa ini karena katanya, sepertinya menarik untuk mempelajari Bahasa Indonesia. Kata Ethan, Bahasa Indonesia itu keren dan katanya budayanya juga keren. Dan lucunya, waktu saya tanya "apa yang kamu tahu tentang Indonesia?" dia menjawab, "Indonesia punya waterpark yang keren di Bali ..hehe". Ethan juga berbicara bahasa Indonesia kepada saya, seperti "Nama saya Ethan" dan "Apa kabar?".

written by : Natasha and Winnie

Melville's and Surabaya's students play the Gamelan together

This was my first time as a visitor to the Indonesian consulate in Perth. I was so excited when I heard, I would go to the consulate. I had a big job to do while I was there. I must ask a student questions. Only one. I made a friend from the year 8 students from Melville Senior High School when I was in bus. I asked him so many questions about Indonesia. I asked a question about 'what do you think about Indonesia?', but firstly I asked his name. His name was John. Then he answered just all about Bali. I didn't know why. But I was satisfied, he could answer my questions.

Then we went down from the bus into the consulate. In the consulate, we met the consulate staff. We then watched a video. The video was about traditional dances in Indonesia and the Gamelan. After that, we went to the other room to play the Gamelan. I was so excited because I would introduce the Gamelan to the Melville Senior High School's students. Before we did it, we were divided into some groups as Slentheng player, Demung player, Gong player, etc. We were very happy, we could play Gamelan together.

Setelah kita melakukan itu semua, kami lalu kembali ke Melville Senior High School dengan bus. Lalu saya memberikan pertanyaan lagi seputar Indonesia. Saya menanyai dia tentang 'Kata-kata Indonesia apa yang dia ketahui?', dan dia menjawab banyak kata dalam bahasa Indonesia. Sebagai contoh, dia bisa mengatakan terima kasih, salam, angka, dan masih banyak lagi. Dalam perjalanan pulang, dia bercerita banyak seputar kota Perth. Tentang Swan River, Kings Park, dan banyak lagi. Banyak pengetahuan baru tentang kota Perth yang saya dapat dari John. Sungguh suatu pengalaman yang indah karena bisa mengunjungi kedutaan Indonesia di Perth.

Thank you so much for your time. Good bye.

Ms. Cynthea enjoys her journey in Perth

This was the first time we(me and Intan) have visited the Indonesia consulate in Perth, Western Australia. We did a lot of interesting things there: firstly we ate a kind of Indonesian food like bread and Indonesian crackers, then we watched the Indonesian video about dancing and gamelan.



After that we went to the gamelan and angklung room, which is located opposite from the main bulding. This was the most interesting time. We played a song called "Manyar sewu" which means 'thousand birds'. We were grateful to have the opportunity to play this song with grade 8 Melville Senior High School students who are studying Indonesian.



At the end of this session we interviewed Ms. Cynthea. She is the staff member at the consulate responsible for Culture and Art. We asked several questions about her work at the consulate. She had many difficulties when first working at this consulate. Firstly, she found that people in Australia like to do their activities individually (she was a little bit shocked about that) and she found that Australian people spend their evening at their own house. In contrast, Indonesian people love to spend their afternoon with their friends. She mostly loves her work.. :)

Why Building Connection is Important

On the 5th of August 2009, there was an excursion to the Indonesian Consulate with year 8 students who are studying Indonesian at Melville SHS.

We went by bus together and the way to consulate was quite far so I had enough time to ask the teacher that teaches Indonesian in Melville Senior High School how Indonesian is taught to the Melville student, about herself, and how Melville students see Indonesia



The teacher's name is Mrs O'Loughlin. She was born in Malaysia so that's why she studied Indonesian while she was in high school. She teaches the 8,9,10 grades at Melville and she uses videos to teach them about the culture in Indonesia. The first thing she taught at the beginning to the students of Melville was the daily conversation. What makes Indonesian so difficult to teach is the students don't know the importance of learning it. They just feel it just a waste of time. So we can say that we as the delegation from Surabaya should convince them that learning Indonesian is important to build a connection between us as neighbouring countries.

When we're at Fremantle Port

With our hostparent in Fremantle Port. We're so proud because we could go there earlier than others.

We're lost in Fremantle
..this photo was taken in "Fremantle", 04 August 2009

Hanging out during lunch time at school

Intan begins to blog!

This photo was taken during our blogging workshop at Melville Senior High School.

Our First Impressions

This post was written by the group during their first day at Melville Senior High School

Perth. It's different from Surabaya. Everything is well organised, it's so different from Surabaya! Traffic, for example, is well oganised and the people are disciplined.

People in Perth are friendly, very friendly.

We are very excited about our trip.

Starting our connections

Welcome to our new blog. We will write about our experiences, discoveries and actions while studying in Melville, Western Australia.

We hope you will enjoy exploring, building, and connecting with us.