The Expendables 2

as i expected, this movie is really incredible! great action movie (well of course. look at the actors!), and my favorite part is that it has a biting sense of humor. especially when Silvester Stalone said: "that thing should be on a museum", and Arnold said: "we all should be on a museum". i don't know why, but that one was really hilarious. too bad Liam Hemsworth died too soon in this movie. i really wanted to see him in action.

dragon and decompression

this week there are two highlight of my internship with MantaWatch. first of all, the fact that i couldn't dive for a day! well this is because i spent too much time in the deep (if i'm not wrong, it think it's around 25-27 m). i did realize that there was something wrong with my dive computer because it showed that i have to come up (ascending time) to shallow water no more than 3 m. but because Andy and Ichsan looked fine, so i thought maybe it is fine. that was my first mistake. after i surface, the computer started beeping and showing error sign. and i thought maybe the error would go away itself. that was my second mistake. so the following day i went diving again, and it still showing error. so i asked Andy why, and he told me that i shouldn't dive anymore until the computer stop showing error, and he told me that i won't get a decompression sickness (fiuh!), only a higher risk to get one. so i have to sit on the boat for a day. 

but that day turned up pretty great when Andy told me that whether we want to switch boat from Divine Diving boat to DiveKomodo boat because they are going to Rinca Island to see the dragon! of course i said yes immediately! i have been waiting for that moment. and that was my second highlight of this week, to finally see the dragon!

belajar mengajar

 selama ini kita ngeliat guru dalam perspektif seorang murid. ada guru yang ngebosenin lah, ada guru yang killer lah, ada guru yang kepo lah, ada pula guru yang doyan ngasih tugas. tapi pernah denger ga sih guru ngeluh gara2 kecapean ngajar atau ngeliat guru bener2 down ato stres gara2 kecapean ngajar? kalo gw sih ga pernah. setelah akhirnya dapet kesempatan ngajar anak SD di 3 sekolah di Desa Lengkongbarang, gw baru ngerasain betapa capeknya jadi guru! haha! harus mengeluarkan suara ekstra (apalagi kalo udh kelas 4,5 atau 6 yang udah mulai bandel). ngajarin nyanyi sih emang awal2nya seneng dan semangat. tapi lama kelamaan stamina berkurang dan jadi capek. lebih2 pas gw ngajarin pelajaran matematika sama bahasa inggris. kadang2 ditengah2 ngajar mati gaya! bingung mo ngapain lagi.

bukannya gw sebelumnya underestimate seorang guru, tapi gw cuman ga ngira aja bakal secapek ini jadi seorang guru. padahal gw cuman ngajar sehari setiap satu sekolah. emang bener banget deh kata2 guru itu adalah "pahlawan tanpa tanda jasa".

first of everything great

 the them for this week is obviously experiencing first things, which i will explain it to you one by one.

first, i had my first live-aboard experience for four days. MantaWatch arranged a four days manta safari. we went with a small group of amazing people. the boat was very nice, even though at my third day in it i felt a little seasick. i had my own cabin, and my favorite part was the food! the food was always nicely prepared and so tasty, it was always take the hunger away after diving.

second, and this was the most memorable of all, my very first ever night dive! at first when they asked me if i wanted to go, i felt hesitant. because i always have anxiety every time before i dive (i don't know why and i still couldn't get rid of it). but thankfully i said yes, and i had a great time during that night dive although most of the time i'm always thinking: 'don't get lost, Dita. try to look over everybody around you.'

third, still about my first diving experience, my first deep dive! the water was so cold and even though i was wearing 5 mm wet suit, i still feel cold. but i love the dive site. it's called the arch. as i was explained by the dive master on the boat, it has a chair like contour with may reef fishes and corals. at first they didn't tell me how deep we're going to dive, so when i looked at my dive computer, i was surprised that we went until 34 m! but it wasn't so scary because i was mesmerized by how there are so many fishes, and of course, the highlight of that dive is when we passed to a little cave. that felt amazing and i wish the cave were longer and wider so it could be like experiencing a little bit of cave diving ;p

fourth, and i think this was the most challenging of all, my first English presentation about mantas. it was pretty hard for me to present something with indonesian language, i couldn't imagine how it goes. but to my surprise, and for the helpful advise from Andy and Laura, i did pretty well (well at least for me it did).

so to wrap things up, i had an amazing weekend, a lot of things for y head to wrap into, but in a good way though. so how's your week? did you experience first things like i did?

must visit: Citumang

 setelah beberapa jam duduk di kol bak masuk angin, kedinginan, menyanyi untuk menghangatkan diri, dorong mobil gara2 ban kempes, tidur begadang gara2 ngebenerin ban, tidur di masjid karena ga dibolehin tidur di tempat seseorang (ehm maaf tidak bisa disebutkan perusahaannya), akhirnya... jeng jereng jeng jeeeng! kita sampai di Citumang!

 kalo kalian lagi pada main deket Batu Karas, kudu mesti main ke Citumang! gw kurang hafal jalan pastinya kesana, yang gw inget cuman sawah kanan kiri yang sangat indah. mungkin lo bisa tanya arah ke warga sekitar, biasanya mereka tau. kalo udh ketemu plang kayak gambar diatas, you're on the right track. di Citumang bukan cuman bisa body rafting, tapi bisa juga lompat ato bahasa kerennya cliff diving setinggi 12 meter! rugi banget kalo udh sampe sana cuman body rafting doang. lo juga bisa camping disana kalo emang punya waktu luang yang banyak. airnya ga terlalu dingin, dan guidenya baik2. mereka pun rela foto2in kelompok gw (haha!)

Majid Tavakoli

as an International Ambassador for ISFiT 2013, it is my job and my honor to present to you 2013 Student Peace Prize Winner: Majid Tavakoli.

"he is a student leader who is serving a nine year long prison sentence in Iran. He is imprisoned because of his criticism of the government in a speech he held for the student organization Islamic Students' Association at his University in 2009 and a letter he wrote from prison the following year. even from prison, he is a strong voice for democracy and academic freedom in Iran, and against the human rights violations he and many others are being exposed for. Tavakoli has become a symbol of student resistance against the regime in Iran. He is a public defender of a free Iran, even though he is aware of the risks this entails."

i'm really touch by what he did. even though he knows the risk, he still made it happen and he knows because it's for a good reason. he believes in freedom and human rights, and actually do something about it. i really am speechless how to describe this guy. you could all just go to isfit.org to see the complete detail of him.

just ordinary days

september has been really fun for me. first i 'celebrated' my 21st birthday on a boat in the middle of the sea between Indramayu and Biawak island, and it only gets better: right now i'm in Labuan Bajo, NTT, doing an internship with MantaWatch and supported by the Guy's Trust Foundation. both of them are based in UK. and as you can see by the name of the organization, yes, they are specialized in manta rays. and yes, i will be (well hopefully) diving with mantas a lot. from the second i applied for this internship i knew that i would be having a blast. no kidding. my first day with them, we spend a night in Bali and i got the chance to go to a shark sanctuary in Serangan Island, and actually swam with them! never i my teenage life that i thought i would ever swam with a shark! well i know they're only reef sharks, but hey, shark's a shark.

of course the excitement didn't end there. by the time i got to Labuan Bajo, i went straight into the water after a day break exploring the town and settling in. the first dive that i did here was to refresh some underwater techniques such as mask clearing and regulator recovery and just to be comfortable in the water. second dive that i did was the following day, the same spot which is in Bidadari Island. but this second dive is to know how well we are to take a picture underwater (of course i got my own camera, lend by MantaWatch) and to experiment and to get familiar with the camere we're using.

my third and fourth dive were probably the most exciting dive i've ever done because i saw 4 mantas in total with one that was really huge and swimming just a few feet from me! if only i could swim away with it, i probably would and turn myself to a mermaid. but that wasn't just the reason though. i encountered some animals that i've never seen before such as cuttlefish and leaf scorpion fish. last but not least, and may i say, the cherry on top, was the drift diving. i'm not a fan of strong underwater current, but after i just let the current take me, i started to feel more relaxed.

by the way, if you're wondering about the 'we' i mentioned above, that's because for the next four weeks i'm going to be accompanied by Andy and Laura (MantaWatch staff) and my fellow intern, Ichsan who happens to be my classmate from marine science.

so English

malem2 males cari makan atau ga punya duit, this is what i do. teh peppermint hangat, cheese sandwich dan sebuah apel. menyehatkan, sekaligus hemat ;)

safari photos

What To Expect When You're Expecting

one thing for sure, this movie is beyond hilarious! haha! it has a really fresh perspective about pregnancy and what i love most about this movie is it actually not only tell the story about the pregnant woman, but also from the father perspective. how they stay true with what they really are, hanging with fellow father and talked like boys should talk, only this time they bring their babies with them! if you miss Cameron Diaz and Jennifer Lopez in action, you simply must see this movie.

pengibaran bendera

merasa bangga bisa mengibarkan bendera UNPAD di bawah laut :D

alone? no problemo

do's and dont's when you're traveling alone in Malaysia:

DO

- ask directions to anyone who looked local to you

- bring just the things that you think you might need in your backpack (don't bring everything 'cause it will be pretty heavy and you won't be comfortable)

- wear light clothes

- don't be ashamed or even hesitate to ask people to took your photo. it's the only way if you want a little bit of you in your camera

- start a conversation with strangers. people will surprise you ;)

- bring enough money and a watch

DON'T

- looking lost (this is the most important of all!)

- looking like a tourist when you're face and Malaysian people are exactly the same

- took a taxi. this is the very last option! if you're lost, trains, buses or walking will just do

- think you know everything. believe me, it will just make you exhausted

but the most important of all, just enjoy! never feel lonely. you will meet many interesting people in your journey :)