Let's Try Surabaya Heritage Track!

Begin on June; in Surabaya there is the bus that could have ride by public for free. Not generally bus, but the bus routes to introduce the historical places in the city of Surabaya.

The bus is called Surabaya Heritage Track (SHT), with only 22 people who will be traveling to some place in Surabaya, for free. This bus is a form of cooperation between the local government of Surabaya with the House of Sampoerna.

The bus has 2 tours, the first is the short tour, which lasted only between 1 to 1,5 hours. The path is begin from the House of Sampoerna, the Heroes Monument, the building of PTPN XI and back to the House of Sampoerna. Second tour is the long tour, begin from the House of Sampoerna, the Tunjungan street, the Central City (Surya Parks), the building of West Java Culture, the building of PTPN XI and return to House of Sampoerna.

Not only that, the Surabaya Heritage Track bus is also equipped with the tour guide in 2 languages, English and Indonesian. News that is quite exciting for people who want to have tour the historic city of Surabaya, for free.

http://www.artasastra.com/?p=279 

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

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.

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 :(

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

Our Home Town

THE MAP OF EAST JAVA

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.