Hello Sunday: Teaser!

Warm up first

"Okay, it's four times"

Phoebe said "Let's do serious but funny pose"

Before heading back to have lunch

We ended up having hotdog for lunch because we did not make it to mensa

This week I am so into blogging, and so taking pictures. So last night I came up with a instant plan to do a photo session. I am back taking pictures of people! So I told my friend slash future roomate Phoebe to go with me this morning at 10:00. Apparently I forgot to turned my alarm on - but she knocked on my door at around 9:10, and voila it only took me 20 minutes to get ready! So we walked to the bridge near the Waverly Trail area and walked 2 km away until the tunnel.

Glad there was not so many people, I guess people were at the church. These are just teasers, more pictures of me and Phoebe will come very soon!

We took many good pictures! I am so glad I am back taking pictures. I will upload them soon.
My weekends for the next two months will be amazing!

x
Rut

Happy Thanksgiving

This is my first Thanksgiving post out of four ( I still have three other years to be here at Wartburg College, the plan of going to a grad school and working here are not yet included). I woke up today at 11.30, it was pretty late for a Thanksgiving lunch at 12. But I made it tho.

The weather was really nice too. It was breezy but sunny. Heidi and Lee picked us up to the Peace United Church, somewhere in Waverly, ten minutes from the campus. When everybody had arrived, Heidi's husband, Jonathan, said a grace and his father said prayer. Jonathan said he is thankful of getting to know us, the international students and having us here. I can't remember the last time when I prayed communally before eating with my family, probably my last farewell before heading to the America.

Lee said Thanksgiving is an American culture when family always gets together. His son who is in marine in North Carolina wished that he could be home, but he is on duty.

As an Indonesian, I know Thanksgiving from American movies or TV series. Everybody wants to be home for Thanksgiving, just like Christmas and New Year's Eve. I watched in Eat, Pray and Love that before the dinner, they usually say what they are thankful for. from the Gossip Girl, it is a moment when the busiest New Yorkers get together, even just to eat french fries together around the table.

After the lunch, we headed by to the campus. It was already 3pm, still sunny. I decided to enjoy the sun and had a bike-riding around Waverly. At the back of the Nestle factory, there is a long bike rail. Something that I always wished we had a kind of one in Jakarta. To the right and to the left, there are trees, empty green field. Once, I saw a beautiful small red bird. The rail's length is 7 miles. I touched down until Prairie Run, I had to go back because it started to get dark. I took a lot of picture of myself. Since it's Thanksgiving, my first Thanksgiving, I want to make it memorable.

So, let me saying grace what I have been thankful for.
I am thankful for my my beautiful famliy, my mother, my father, my brother and my grandparents.
I am thankful for making it this year to the United States, my parents were really worried I would just be in the waiting list of all the colleges that I applied to.
I am thankful for getting B+ in Math class, what an improvement!
I am thankful for today when I called my relative in Chicago, she offered us a place to stay for the rest of the three weeks and Sherika's uncle would drive us to Chicago!
I am thankful for my first article in In My Opinion Blog The Jakarta post received really good responses from many people. Thirteen people liked and share it on Facebook.
I am thankful for my new life I am twenty now, and my birthday party was a blast.
I am thankful for every breathe I take, for all friends I have, for Mother Earth.

No matter how good or bad you have it, wake up each day thankful for your life. Someone somewhere else is fighting to survive. Happy Thanksgiving to all!!

The first tunnel of Waverly Rail Trail

Those bikes were hanging

Catching up with the self-timer

My body hurts since I laid on an asphalt.

I was so glad that I saw a deer very close to me. Something I wont see in Jakarta

I am thankful for the beautiful view that I see that afternoon

I am thankful for the lunch-box from the Thanksgiving Feast

Knight Smile: Happy Thanksgiving again!!!

A Letter to My Future Husband

I bumped into someone from my past who once I fell for. We were both in love. But as he said distance, time and communication just made the feeling gone. He is an Indonesian-German. All of the sudden I felt like sharing my current feeling for someone who I am having a crush on, here in the college, because this one guy make me assume that we do have the same feeling for each other - but really I don't want to expect. He wrote me his honest words on why that time our relationship did not work. Found out, I am the mean girl here. He tried so hard, I was not senstive and mostly cyncial. And as a fruit of Santa Ursula education, I have too high expectation for a boyfriend and how I value myself. So that's the end of the story. But you know what, I think we are friends now - and this usually does not happen when relationship does not work - you won't be friends with your ex or your lover.

He is still a very nice guy and now happy with his life since he finally has a girlfriend. I am happy for him! On Facebook message he sent me a link to his blog post about a letter that he got from his friend. I feel like I want to share this letter to anybody out there who feels like in the age of 20s or 30s still alone and scared of not having a boyfriends or life partners. The letter can also be adressed for the men not only for the girls. Here is the letter.

“You were made to be loved… and sincerely I have loved you, the thought of you, my life long.” Elizabeth Barrett Brown

If you are reading this letter, it is because you may become my husband one day. Lately, my mind and my heart have been filled with thoughts of you and the family that we will one day share.
I wonder where you are and what you are doing. Are you dating someone? Relationships have become so pressure filled, haven’t they? I mean, guys and girls alike treat dating as if they were married, expecting an instant commitment and sometimes sleeping together. I’ve heard that it’s easier to share your body than it is your soul. How sad that we are taught even in grade school how to share our bodies with the opposite sex, but not our hearts or our souls. Seems totally backwards, doesn’t it?

The temptations we face are real and I know how hard it can be to stay chaste. I’ve been tempted too, but then I think of you and how I want our wedding night to be perfect. Maybe that’s why I wanted to write to you, to tell you that I am real. At some point in our future, our paths will cross, and we will eventually spend our lives together in marriage. It would seem a shame to go into our marriage with the baggage that past sexual relationships bring.

That quote I put at the top of the page – I mean it. Think about it. You were made to be loved – unconditionally loved, and that’s how I promise to love you. Where you have been before today, well… that’s all in the past, and that’s where it should stay. Maybe you had no idea that I was here. But now you know, and how you live your life from today forward matters to me a great deal. I know that the media, Planned Parenthood, MTV, your friends, and maybe others are telling you that sex before marriage is okay as long as it’s “safe.” Don’t buy it. The truth is that the only safe sex is inside of marriage. There are STDs, abortions, emotional scars, and teens becoming parents before they are ready. Sex before marriage leaves scars that are hard to heal, sometimes impossible.

To a lot of people it may seem totally crazy that I’m asking you to think of our future. They’d tell you to live for the moment. I’m all for living in the present, but thinking about the future can help you avoid decisions that may alter your future – our future. I want you to experience life, travel, figure out who you are, go to the moon if you want. Take advantage of this time in your life to learn everything that you can. That will only make our marriage stronger. Just don’t jeopardize us.

Becoming a man can be difficult. Some guys try to earn their manhood by compromising their values. Sex before marriage won’t make you a man. It will only serve to keep you a little boy who can’t control himself. That’s not the kind of guy that I want or deserve. I need a man who won’t compromise his family but will put me first – even before he meets me; a man whose strength lies in his virtue, his character, and his ability to be an example at work, at play, and most importantly in our home. A real man knows how to love completely – with his mind, heart, body, and soul. This may sound like a lot to ask of you, but it will all be worth it. I will love you completely – I can promise you that!

You need to know that I’m waiting for you. If there is one thing that I have learned through my dating experiences, it’s that you are worth waiting for. My heart, mind, soul, and body were made for you. We will complete each other in the most profoundly beautiful way imaginable.

From today forward, are you going to wait for me? Like I said, where you have been is in the past, but where you are going will affect our marriage. I need to know that you have learned self control. I need to know that you think I am worth waiting for. I need to know that you are a man who respects and cherishes women – all women. The girl you are dating right now, or are going to date soon, may be someone else’s future wife, and I need to know that you understand and respect that.

Real love is not a temporary feeling or emotion. Emotions and feeling change, sometimes daily. But true, unconditional love is constant. I met a coupled the other day who have been married for 50 years, have seven children, 23 grandchildren, and seven great grandchildren. They looked like high school sweethearts. I asked them how they did it, how they made it work when so many marriages are falling apart. You know what he said? He said, “She knows I’m not perfect and she still loves me. She’s my best friend.” How cool is that? That’s what I want. I want us to be best friends. I want you to feel totally free to be you when you’re with me.

Please read this often. Think of me often. I’m thinking of you. I can’t wait to meet you. I can’t wait to spend my life loving you. Thanks for waiting for me. I promise it will be worth the wait!

With Love,

Your Future Wife

I was still nineteen when I took this picture. Some weeks before my 20th birthday. 
 

I just realised by the end of posting this I am not a teenager anymore. This is also what makes me ask my mom - if that'd be ok if I am dating a Caucasian guy, a non Indonesian, not even Asian. And you know what my mother told me, "You know what Rut, I believed that your destiny is somewhere out there. It is already meant for you - it's a matter of time,". I was arguing what's destiny without effort? But, I believe what my mom told me, how he met my father and how until now they are still happily together and stronger and grow day to day in love.

This is just a liitle glimpse of so many reflection that I want to share entering an adult life.

I hope this would be useful for you guys!

With love,

Nastiti

Cephalexin

I know at some point it is going to happen again, however I was not expecting it happened that fast - two days ago. I was coming back to my room and I was not feeling so well. I knew that it was just a headache. Thirty minutes passed, it was still there. I finally took medicine. I tried to sleep, got a cup of hot tea to drink - it was nihil. I tried to sleep for an hour, then I woke up, it was still there. I struggled for another hour. I called the school clinic, but there was no one working and the mail voice said I had to call 911, I thought it was just way too serious if it has something to do with 911.

Until I called my parents and I told them, I could not bare it anymore. I called my friend too. my parents told me to call my adviser, then my adviser called me back and said he had called the security to bring me to the hospital. And there I was, for the very first time, in a foreign country, stuck in an emergency room without my parents.

That was the most miserable feeling I ever had.

Here I Go Again

I finally really find a free time when I feel that'd be enough time for me to post a story about my first one month in the USA. I have been pretty busy with exam this week. It's official, I have been here at Wartburg for one month and four days! College has been busy, as usual. I have had one quiz, one essay and two exams until today. I got an article to submit for the school newspaper, but the good news is I finished it last night, and I already wrote all the questions for the guest speaker that we have tomorrow for the CA 100 class. I just need to go to work tonight from 9-10.

Today is really windy, compare to the first days when I arrived here, it was sunny. It was raining two days ago and has been pretty cold in the morning, sometimes it gets warmer at noon.

I have funny stories about my identity. Yesterday night, I told one of my roomates, Amber that I am jonning ASA.
" I am joinning ASA"
"What is that?"
"It's Asian Student Association,"
"Really? Are you Asian?"
"What do you think I am?"
"Indonesian!?"
We were laughing. I told her that Indonesian is also Asian, since we belong to the same continent and share similar culture. My roomate is really sweet and kind, but she might not be really good at Geography (sorry, Amber!). Once she thought Indonesia is somewhere near France. It was just hilarious.

Today at Mensa, one of the international students that I know really well, Patience, from Nigeria thought I was from South Korea. At the beginning of my arrival, some students from African countries thought I were Asian-American or European-like. It's nice to hear about that.

This week has been so fast. I can't believe tomorrow is Friday (again). Weekends here is really simple, not so many things to do; going to Goat on Fridays, watching football game or to Goat on Saturdays or you can just stay at your room watching movies, or napping. That has been my favorite activity so far. Oh, we are planning to go for pizza this Sunday with all the girls on our floor, it is arranged by the RA.

Life here at Wartburg has been going alright. The campus is really beautiful, it is in good-sized. And it's so green and pretty.

The cheeleaders and dancing team during football match. Keep in mind football is football and soccer is umm, football? The building on the left side is my resident.

The required book for all freshmen for IS 101 Class: Asking Question, Making Decision

My first Graphic Novel book, it is not comic.

Hello, It's a freshmen love!

Hello, it's me
I've thought about us for a long, long time
Maybe I think too much but something's wrong
There's something here that doesn't last too long
Maybe I shouldn't think of you as mine

Seeing you
Or seeing anything as much as I do you
I take for granted that you're always there
I take for granted that you just don't care
Sometimes I can't help seeing all the way through

It's important to me that you know you are free
'Cause I never want to make you change for me

Think of me
You know that I'd be with you if I could
I'll come around to see you once in a while
Or if I ever need a reason to smile
And spend the night if you think I should

ps: It's my first freshmen love, and yeah it's really important for me to know that you're free.

Song and lyrics: Todd Rundgren