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 :)

birthday present!!

happy birthday to us, Anindira Rustandi! do you remember our first birthday party? it was in our playgroup. we had two super big birthday cakes, lots of birthday presents, and even grandma and our aunties were there to celebrate with us. even though when i saw the video again, our face looked super bored haha! but i knew by the time we open up our present we would felt like the luckiest girls in the whole world. can you believe we're now 21 years old? time goes by really fast, eh? but i think on this year's birthday we still feel happy by the time we open up our "birthday presents". well not that kind of "presents" like we got when we were little. but it's the feeling that came to us that we could still hug each other and gather with our family. and i think this year is the most special of all. we didn't even met in the exact day of our birthday (you were somewhere in Turkey and i was somewhere in the middle of Indramayu and Biawak Island, floating in the middle of the ocean). so this year, you are my most special birthday present :)