Pre-Departure Training

Hello World...

Finally, I got my life back. Hahahaha. Joined pre-departure training (PDT) for three months at IALF, was pretty much took most of my time. So I didn’t have much time to post anything on this blog.  Since I’ve been practices a lot speaking and writing English during PDT, so I’m gonna posting my thought using English. Err if you find any grammar mistakes, I’m sorry, I’m still struggle learning it. *peace sign* :D

After received “love letter” from AusAid, I must join PDT in order to improve my English (in general) and (to be specific) improve my IELTS score. My first thought was this is just an English training, so nothing I should worry about, but it turns out that I jinx it.

On my first day, I attended the orientation and found out that I’m on 3M7 group. This group consisted of 15 people from various Governments office and I’m the only one that working in NGO. Our teacher is Andrew Riley, he’s energetic young British guy with a big curly blonde hair.

So we are “forced” to use English language as our daily convo. At first, Its quite hard because not only I should speak clearly and using the right structure (SPOK mode on) but also its difficult to express my thought, concisely.

We expected to accomplish our final assignment which is 1500 essay and give a 15 presentation in class. Although, I love writing and also I’m a blogger, but its very hard to writing in academic style. My writing style considered as popular writing, there are no rules about the structure, just write what is in your head, make it simple and easy to follow. But in academic writing, there are so many rules that should be followed even to make a simple essay.

We also learned about the cultural exchange. Our lovely teacher, Barbara, explained the Australian culture, packing tips, and how to overcome culture shock problems. Her class was very useful especially to those who had no experience going abroad. We also have Rina, our librarian, who taught us about plagiarism. Plagiarism has many layers and if we wrong in quoting references, it might considered as plagiarism. We also learned how to master Microsoft Office from Dedy, our IT staff. He taught us a lot of tricks on how to use many kinds of software that will help us in the future. Another teacher is Simone, She taught us about study skills, how to manage your time, and even breathing techniques to release stress.

I really had a great time at IALF, despite the lectures, I also met my new family: Mas Nugie, Fahd, Wulan, Sawie, Mas Nanang, Dhani, Mas Auli, Papa Arfan, Mas Weka, Ima, Dhini, Mba Cicil, Mas Donnie, Mas Doris, and Andrew.

 

This is Andrew, our teacher. At first, we were shock because he kept saying "rubbish" while give his comment  about our poor writings. But, time after time, we get used to it because we think its a common in his country using "rubbish" word to express something. He also very funny and very good teacher :)

this is what we did almost every day, took lots of photos!  

This is our uniform, design by Fahd! and lady in black is Alana, she is 3M8's teacher. We invited her to taste Mas Dony's Cake.

I got surprise! Wulan brought some donuts on my birthday!! yeaaayy me :')

 

We also had costume themes! Once a week, Sawie choose the colour and everyone should wear the same colour, no excuses! But Mas Auli didn't packed colour shirt when he left Pangkal Pinang, so he always wore a different colour.     

We have Dini, the rebel girl, hahahaha. Can you make a guess which one is Dini?

Beside taking a lots of picture, we also love to eat!!! hahahahaaha..every monday Papa Arfan, Mas Weka and sometimes Fahd always give us oleh-oleh. 

G'day Mate!! Its been a pleasure studying with you all in the last 3 months

 Photo Courtessy: Wulan Ayu Marza 

FAQ: Kapan Nikah?

*DUAARR*

Ya mumpung temanya masih hangat diperbincangkan di hari pertama lebaran, dan ini masih  ada sisa 3 hari lagi lho di minggu2 kritis pasca lebaran, jadi semoga bermanfaat yaa postingan ini.. *kretekin jari*

Pertanyaan kapan nikah itu pertanyaan musiman sih sebenernya, biasanya muncul klo ada pertemuan keluarga besar. Iya gw tau empeet banget dengernya, apalagi klo pas lagi JOMBLO! Yak makin alerkhi (baca: alergi) aja nih kuping, karna ga cuma 1 ato 2 orang yang nanya itu, tapi SEMUAAAA AJA LOH NANYA!!!

*ngos2an, emosi*

*minum air dulu*

Gw rasa, selama kita masih tinggal di Indonesia, dan bahkan selama kita ketemu sama orang Indonesia (dimanapun) pasti pertanyaan itu akan muncul. Karena emang udah budayanya orang sini nanya2 pertanyaan begitu. Jadi menurut gw agak buang2 enerkhi klo kita manyun meremere, karna ga akan ada abisnya. Percaya deh.  Dan yang biasanya nanya itu kan orangtua, jadi kita juga harus jaga sikap juga.

Lain sih klo lo tinggal di luar negri (non asia) yang ga ada orang Indonesia-nya sama sekali. pertanyaan kaya gitu ga bakal ada, karena bagi orang bule, pertanyaan itu terlalu personal dan bisa dibilang ga sopan klo nanya2 soal itu.

Gw pun pernah ga sengaja nanya pertanyaan itu ke temen gw yang udah lama pacaran tapi ga keliatan ada tanda2 pasang janur kuning. mwuahahaa. ya maap, gw ga sengajaaa karna waktu itu ga punya bahan obrolan pas ketemu, trus gw tembak nanya gitu. abis itu nyesel sih.

yaa who knows sodara2 kita yang pada iseng nanya kapan nikah itu juga sebenernya ga jago basa basi klo ketemu, jadi yang terpikir di dia adalah:

"ehhh Kamuuuuu, masih sendiri aja? kapan nikah?"

instead of

"Hai Ratri, DUH KAMU CANTIK BANGET DEH! RAHASIANYA APA?"

*lebay* 

FYI, Gw itu udah ditanya kapan nikah sejak 7 tahun yang lalu, pas umur 20. Jadi udah kebal sih sekarang. Malahan yaa ada beberapa yang bisa gw akalin. Hahahahaha.

Q: Dek, kamu kapan nikahnyaaaa? Ayooo ah ngapain sih lama2, pilih2 kamu ah!
A: ihh Tante nanyanya itu mulu, cariin dong..

(mayan kan boo, siapa tau doi punya stock)

Q: Dek, sama siapa kamu sekarang? Ayoo atuh diresmiin.
A: Pengennya sih gitu, doain yaa biar cepet ketemu orangnya. AMIN. 

(teknik ini lumayan nih, klo si Tante ikutan meng-amini, brarti Tante juga ikut doain kita. Nah lumayan kan tuh, klo dari 100 orang yang nanya dan ikut meng-amini, berkah juga buat kita, yaa ora?).

Jodoh itu udah ada yang atur kok, kapan ketemunya dan siapa orangnya. Semua udah disiapin Allah dan hanya Allah pula yang tau kapan waktu yang tepat. Lagipula nasib kita udah ditulis di kitab nasib sejak kita berumur 4 bulan di dalam rahim Ibu. Yang nentuin nasib kita yang nyiptain kita lho, masa iya kita ga percaya sama kehendakNYA?

Semua ada porsinya masing2, yaa mungkin ada yang ketemu jodohnya cepat. Mungkin ada juga yang butuh waktu, semua itu ada alasannya kok dan someday nanti kita akan tau alasannya apa. Nanti juga ada giliran kita ketemu jodoh kita, dan baru deh kita bakal bilang: “sekarang gw percaya semua indah pada waktunya” (deeuuhhh padahal dulu nangis mulu di pojokan tiap ditanya kapan nikah?!). HAHAHAHA

Temen gw pernah bilang: “Rat, ditanya soal jodoh itu lebih ringan daripada ditanya: kapan punya anak?” Hmmm, mungkin klo menyangkut anak, udah beda soal, karna kita kaya di nilai “kemampuan” kita  untuk hamil.

Menurut gw sih, diantara pertanyaan itu ga ada yang lebih ringan dan berat, karena dua2nya murni rejeki pemberian dari Allah. Kita cuma bisa usaha, usaha dan usaha. Pemberian Allah mungkin bisa dipercepat bisa juga diperlambat, tergantung kesiapan kita nerima rejeki itu.

Klo ngomong persiapan, yaaa apapun  mesti ada persiapannya. Ujian aja kita pake belajar dulu. Nah klo soal jodoh perjodohan, gw selalu pengen membenahi diri sebelum gw nanti ketemu jodohnya. Karena gw pengen pasangan gw nanti yang terbaik untuk gw, dan sebaliknya, gw pengen juga jadi yang terbaik untuk pasangan gw kelak. Dan ini diperkuat oleh ayat di Al-Quran:

“Wanita yang baik adalah untuk lelaki yang baik. Lelaki yang baik untuk wanita yang baik pula (begitu pula sebaliknya). Bagi mereka ampunan dan reski yang melimpah (yaitu : Surga)” (Qs. An Nuur (24) : 26)

Intinyaaaaa, no worries mate! Semua udah ada yang atur.
 

Btw sekarang itu pertanyaan kapan nikah udah ga ditanya, tapi sekarang gw suka ditanya:

“Rat, KOK GENDUTAN YA SEKARANG?”

#meh

(photo source: google)