The Great of Love

O you beauty...
the dawn breaks
the sun sets

O dark night
bestow me upon my love
The great of Love

a man walks
memory lies
Is she to be mine?

the wall tells no lies
the bird sings harmony
She is indeed MINE

marbella suites hotel, DAGO

June 15, 2013

*di sebuah sesi lokakarya

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Hi Again: My Story

It's been a while since my last post. Recently there are lots of things to do since I have a new role at work. Now my post is at the secretariat of SEAMEO QITEP in Science, an institution under the Organization of Ministers of Education in Southeast Asia. Therefore the scope is pretty wider than before.

Actually I was in this office before as a temporary staff, but when the permanent staff was determined I could not be included because I had to continue my study. Now after graduating from the Indonesia University of Education, granted me a Master degree, here I am behind the desk of the secretariat.

Being a secretary is not something new for me. I was the secretary of the Director of PPPPTK IPA for six years. I afterward had worked in the evaluation section for a couple of months but then made that quick movement to Qitep in Science. All and still, anywhere the boss places me, I am ready!

Back to my years in campus. I started the class in 2010 and graduated in 2013, two and half years: not so bright yeah. I took English education as my major. During the days on campus, there were lots of things to remember, the lectures, the lecturers, friends, assignments and so many other things.

Started from the lecture. Functional Grammar and Pragmatics were my favourites. They were just new for me. IMO, the Functional Grammar subject gives a new sight of English grammar. It sees grammar in different ways. Basically, as my lecturer says, talking about FG we will talk about its basic notions; text, context, intertextuality, and metafunctions. I will try to talk about these notions later. Then the Pragmatics, it is a very interesting topic to learn. Learning about how language is used and how meaning is conveyed. There are presupposition, speech act, implicature, explicature, politeness, and so on and so forth. Very interesting since I didn't get such lectures at undergraduate studies.

Let's move to the lecturers. First thing first, Dr. Emi Emilia. Almost every single student from the postgraduate studies knows her very well. She is the head of English program. She's smart, bookaholic (my own term, meaning a book lover), she's funny and she's so Sundanese (she's from Garut indeed). There was a time when she taught the FG in my class when she used Sundanese throughout the lesson and my Javanese classmates could only be dazed. Her favourite lines were "boloho" and "Baca! Baca! Baca!". Amazing. Next is Prof. Aminuddin Aziz, the Pragmatics Ranger as he calls himself that way. I heard that he earned his professorship at a quite younger age compare to others (not so many could earns a professorship at 40 or less). What words to use to describe the Professor? hmm... smart? absolutely! assertive? hmmm... but one thing for sure, he has a charming aura; that's what my friends told me and I agree. Last but not least, Dr. Iwa Lukmana. Actually he didn't have the chance to teach me in the class because he taught the other two classes. But, I chose him as my supervisor when writing my final paper. He's quite unique, lots of fun, and I feel he's so much helpful. Thank you Sir. There are so many others but I just can't tell them here one by one. All in All, thank you very much for the knowledge and everything.

Prof. Aminuddin and the Rangers. (left to right: Yani, Rina, Wiji, Mufi, Fat, Prof. Amin, Wawan, Ida and Shanti. Where is me?)

The Rangers. Yup, we call our class as the Rangers. How can we come up with this name? You might be able to guess. Yup, It firstly came up in Prof. Amin's class. When he runs his slides, his first slide showed "Welcome to Pragmatics World with Pragmatics Ranger". All of the sudden, my friends and I looked at each other and giggled. Ranger... Then we agreed to name our class after Prof. Amin's idea, the Rangers. Then I just found out that the other two classes also gave their class a nickname. Class A called themselves as The Awesomers and class B had The Plan B as their nickname.

The Rangers reached their madness at the third semester. We did lots of fun activities and our favourite was going to Karaoke. Come on guys, let's rock the NAV! Besides, we also loved hiking. Our favourite track was of course Dago Pakar - Maribaya. What a lovely day, my friends.

Maribaya

One day we might be able to share the laughter, pals.

The last thing you might remember for a quite long time when you take postgraduate studies in UPI is the assignments. Ok, all postgraduate students must be ready for assignments but in my program study, it's WOW! "sesuatu banget". You will find a research-based paper for every subject, but I think that is a good thing to train the students to write a research-based report. Alhamdulillah, those years has gone by.

Now is the time for me to implement what I've got and be a better staff, better person for a better future, as Jack Dawson said in Titanic, "to make each day count".

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Kasih

o bulan
o bintang
o matahari
rindu terpagut
kasih bertaut
hadir mu menepikan luka

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Matahariku

subuh menyapa hari
fajar menyingsing datang
matahariku menampakkan diri
hangat...indah...dan tentram

adakah ia hadir di langitmu?

matahariku bersinar terang
benderang...
mengusir awan hitam pembawa hujan
menyapu kekelabuan di hati
siangku panas berdentang

adakah ia hadir di langitmu?


hari mulai petang
matahariku beranjak pergi
malu-malu ia beringsut ke peraduan
meninggalkan jejak jingga di cakrawala
menyapa malam sang pengganti

adakah ia hadir di langitmu?

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Our Songs

Ok, I know you're gonna be mad at me knowing that I prefer writing in this blog to revising my thesis. Well honey, I need a break :D. Now, we've been together for years. We have two gorgeous children and they are very gorgeous, indeed. The spirit of our lives.
To remember the old days, I want to list our 10 memorable songs. The songs that accompany our stories. In other words, These are our soundtracks. FYI, you introduced me most of the songs in the list. You brought me a new life. New chapter in my life. Hence, let's start to countdown the list, shall we?

10. Jealousy - Queen

Aha, our very first song is the romantic and melancholic song by our favorite band, Queen. In today's word, lagu galau. Haha...  I fell in love once I heard the song. So beautiful. Actually, you gave me this song accidentally. If I'm not mistaken, at that time, I asked for a song, but then you copied me several songs including this one. This was one of my favorites, moreover the situation was so supportive. I was the one who sought for a chance, at that time. The song matched the circumstance. Oh how wrong can you be, to fall in love was my very first mistake?
*was it my mistake to fall in love with you?

09. She - Elvis Castillo

Next is another beautiful song sung by Elvis Castillo and it is also the OST of Notting Hill. Okay, I knew the song before I met you, but it was you who searched and downloaded it for me. You knew so much about songs downloading at the moment. Personally, I like the word She. It represents someone who is destined to be mine. She may be the reason I survive. The why and wherefore I am alive ... Feel like Hugh Grant when singing the song with you.

08. Where are You Now - Jimmy Harnen

Where are you now? is someone there tonight holding what was mine?
haha... what a possessive lyric.

07. Nuansa Bening - Gang Pegangsaan

This is beautiful. Really. In my opinion, this is one of the most beautiful songs ever written by Indonesian musician. O tiada yang hebat ketika kau lewat di hadapanku, biasa saja... 

06. I love you - Sofie

One of the OSTs of BrokeBack Mountain. Actually, this is your song and I believe that there are only few people who know this song. But lately I also like the song. This song is "different". Then, I love you becomes my magic clause ever since- You know what I mean.


05. We could be in love - Lea Salonga & Brad Kane

I used to say we could be in love but now I proudly say, We are in love. XOXO

04. I loved her first - Heartland

When I listened to this song, I imagined that you were marrying somebody else. I listened to this song when our relationship reached its fragile condition due to our own situation. If you had married someone else at that time, I would have said to him, "I love her first!"
*actually, this is a song from a father to his daughter

03. Love hurts - Nazareth

Love will feel so much hurting when reality is against our hope. I listened to the song when we were on the bus after having lunch in Sari Ater. Love hurts, babe!

02. Love of my life - Jim Brickman

Honeymoon song... every morning, every breakfast time... this song was played and played, over and over again... At first, you had no clues whose song it was, then I told you. Now, every time this song is played in Mall, Restaurant, my memory goes directly to our Honeymoon time. Lovely.

01. Old flame can't hold a candle to you - Dolly Parton

I bet you are not so familiar with this song. This is the clue, I played it in front of your house at your birthday while flipping my "cards". This is very good song and Dolly Parton is a good singer as well.
The last card said, "To me, you are PERFECT".

Well, sweetie, those are my 10 perfect songs for us. They are the soundtrack of our love story. The story to be told to our children. We are different, but we are one, in the name of love. I Love You.

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Pertemuan

Setelah pertemuan itu, aku terpuaskan

lama sudah ku menunggu saat-saat tadi

kasih terpadu, jiwa terhangatkan

Goresan tinta merah menari diputihnya kertas hati

meluruhkan lara dan nestapa

membirukan dunia

Kemana saja engkau sang terkasih

syair ini tercipta lama

menunggu sebuah pertemuan.

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"Umpteen, Thank You"

Bahasa Inggris. Itulah kunci utama komunikasi di era sekarang. Hampir semua hal terkini berbau bahasa asing yang dinyatakan sebagai bahasa komunikasi dunia.  Kemampuan berbahasa Inggris memang sangat dituntut sekarang ini. Bagi siapa saja, termasuk guru. Nah, berbicara tentang guru dan bahasa Inggris, saya punya pengalaman menarik beberapa waktu yang lalu.  Pengalaman ini saya peroleh di sebuah seminar Internasional yang dihadiri oleh guru Sains terbaik dari Asia Tenggara-juga dihadiri oleh guru dan pakar dari Jepang dan Amerika Serikat.

Seorang guru sains mempresentasikan makalahnya. Awalnya saya tidak begitu mempedulikan. Memang awalnya saya sudah melihat poster yang dimiliki bapak ini. Terdapat beberapa kesalahan, dan saya fikir, wajarlah. Namanya juga bukan penutur asli. Setelah beliau menyelesaikan paparannya, beliau menampilkan slide terakhir dari paparannya. Disinilah saya tertarik dan agak geli juga. Disana tertulis, "Umpteen, Thank You".  Teman saya, Je, sontak bertanya, "hmmm... umpteen...??? naon hartina eta teh ju? (Apa itu artinya ju?". "duka atuh... urang ge karek apal. Teangan je di Google (Ga tau... saya juga baru dengar. Coba dicari di Google)", begitu jawab saya.

Dan setelah dicari, ternyata umpteen adalah "Relatively large but unspecified in number: umpteen reasons; umpteen guests." (sumber: http://www.thefreedictionary.com/umpteen). Setelah membaca itu baru saya mengerti. "Ooooooo...", ucap saya pada Je. Jadi artinya "sekian". Jadi maksud si Bapak tadi, Sekian Presentasi saya, Terima kasih (beliau-atau mesin- terjamahkan dengan "Umpteen, Thank you).  Sontak saja saya ketawa... Jadi maksudnya itu. Hadew. *tepok jidat... (memimjam istilah echiimuts).  Si Bapak bermaksud mengatakan Sekian (sampai sebegitu: ~ lah uraian mengenai teori baru ini, sumber: www.kbbi.web.id), yang terjadi malah Sekian yang bermakna "sebanyak itu (ini)".  Padahal beliau cukup mengatakan, Thank you, atau bisa mengganti umpteen dengan The End, That's All etc.  Saya ga tau apa komentarnya bule Amerika atau ibu-ibu dari Malaysia dan Brunei atau kokoh dari Singapur. Ya, begitulah guru kita.  Tapi, poin positifnya, saya diperkenalkan dengan kosakata baru, Umpteen. Terima kasih, Pak! Selain masalah Umpteen masih ada lagi kesalahan yang bikin geli yang terjadi, seperti "Free Test" (maksudnya Pre-test), "guided me with your fellings (maksudnya mungkin feeling).  

So, karena memang sudah tuntutan zaman, bahasa Inggris memang harus dikuasai dengan baik tidak hanya untuk guru-guru tetapi bagi siapa saja yang tidak ingin tertinggal. Let's start to speak English!  

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