31 July 2011 (Church Service)

Today, we start collecting money to fund the church. The band played really well in spite of having so little time to practice. I'm in charge of collecting money from the people around who watches. I realize that not many people wants to donate even though we have stated clearly from the beginning that the money obtained will be donated fully for the church. I'm sad to know that not many people care about the church but at the same time, they expect the church to be 'better' in terms of infrastructure and the building.

17 July 2011 (Church Service)

Today, we did some bible study first and then we decided to help funding the Amal Kasih church by having a band playing and some of us collect money. Because I can't really play musical instruments, I'm in charge of finding the songs and lyrics so that the band could practice. I also encourage them by buying foods and we have so much fun. We will start collecting money next week after they have enough practice time.

24 July 2011 (Church Service)

Today, we start on the collecting money band performance. We perform at Amal Kasih itself and gain so much attention. I'm in charge of collecting the money and some of other people too. Today was so much fun and we collected around Rp300,000. Even though it's not a big amount, I'm still very satisfied because we are using our own effort to collect money and give it to Amal Kasih for better services to all the church people. We will also set up a performance again next week without collecting money. It's just plain service to the church.

10 July 2011 (Church Service)

After they went to the place of elderly, they told me that the elderly feel so happy and feel the sense of belonging. They told me that they are sad because people seem to always pity them and view them as a very fragile creature. I'm happy because I could at least make them feel better and that the funding will be used to buy new desks, plants and other decorations for the elderly house. Today, we only have discussion time to decide our next project. We also did some bible study and discuss about the book of Mark. I spend 2 hours with them. From this meeting, I realize how lessons from Bible study should be applied to our lives so that it could benefit us and others too. I also realize that the elderly do not want to be treated as a 'weak' creature. On the other hand, they want to be treated as equal as other normal people. This is the global issue and I'm thinking how my action actually contributes to the life of other people ethically.

3 July 2011 (Church Service)

Today, I'm continuing to sell the artworks that the association have made. In addition to that, we also bake some cookies and sell it. The cookies are so popular that we sold everything! I'm glad our hard have work pays off and the money will be given to the elderly. They will have a visit of the elderly on next Thursday and I'm so sad because I can't make it. Instead, I wrote a letter to them so that I could contribute a little by giving them support. I really wish I could join the association to the elderly place.

26 June 2011 (Church Sevice)

On my second meeting, I'm helping with selling the art works at Amal Kasih. It's just right behind my house and so I meet a lot of new people that seems to care abour elderly also. I realize that their lack of support in this matter is because they have no time. Most of them are very busy with their own schedule thus they don't spend time thinking about these kind of issues. It made me think how much more people out there in the world that want to help but can't because of time restraint? It's sad to know that there are lots of people suffering different kind of mental or physical depression. Anyways, I did sell some art work and collect the money to the treasurer. Everybody was happy and we will continue this again next week.

19 June 2011 (Church service)

Today is my first meeting with the association and they seem to be very nice. I did not do much today because I'm still learning about what I should help. They are currently raising money for elderly and trying to create crafts from recyclable items. So, I did create some artworks and sell it to the church people. from this meeting, I realized how the feeling of caring other people is very precious and different from any other feelings. I'm glad i join this association because I hope i could learn about many things regarding global issues.

21 and 24 June 2011 (Mandarin)

Today, I had a test on the 3rd chapter which is about foods. I got one mistake because of the small strokes i forgot. I realize that I'm still lacking but i also believe that by undertaking new challenges, I could be better in my mandarin skill. I continue on the health and body parts section. I start off with reading the conversation and translating it. I'm feeling that I'm getting a lot more familiar with the mandarin symbols and its meaning. Now, I could make some sentences on my own with the vocabularies that I have. I know that it's limited but everything takes time :)my homework is to translate and practicing on sentence structure again since it is a very important practice, I need to do it over and over so that I could be better.

Today, my teacher and I discuss about my homework. We spend the whole 90 minutes to discuss and fixed the wrong ones. This homework is especially hard because there are many questions and many new vocabularies. In the end, I am able to work it out.

14 June 2011 and 17 June 2011 (Mandarin)

For the next meeting, I undertake a new challenge which is to read without looking at the pin-yin (only read by looking at the symbols). This requires me to recognize the symbols and know their meaning. This is a new challenge because before this, I always read the pin-yin instead of the symbols. I feel pressured at first but after several practices, I could finally do it. At this meeting, I also have a test on the 2nd chapter. I have a homework about translation and sentence structure. I will discuss it on my next meeting.

In this meeting, I start off with discussing my homework. I got few mistakes regarding new vocabularies. I feel that the homework is very hard because there are lots of new vocabularies that I don't know thus I seek help from my dad. I realize that there are still lots of things I need to work on. Then, we proceed with some exercises and then start a new chapter: health and body parts.

10 June 2011 (Mandarin)

Today, I have my first test about simple phrases and i got full mark! My teacher complimented about my neat hand writing and that not all of her students could get a perfect score in their first test. This makes me even more confident towards learning mandarin. After the test, I continue on the nest chapter which is about friends, schools and name of countries. In this chapter, there are conversations that could be a practice to get more familiar with the mandarin symbols. For my homework, I'll be counting strokes. Mandarin symbols requires perfect steps and strokes and if I could count ho many strokes to write a certain mandarin symbol, then I'll be counted as being able to recognize correct strokes.

31 May 2011 and 3 June 2011

for this week, I'm learning about sentence structure. Since mandarin and Indonesian have different sentence structure, it's hard to translate sentences into the correct structure. she gave me some exercises about translation for my homework. for this meeting, I'm aware of my areas for improvement are to practice so that i could translate from Bahasa Indonesia to Mandarin but I have improved on my vocabulary lists. This is also a new challenge for me and also shows my commitment towards learning mandarin. Some people might quit learning mandarin because it's very hard especially the specific details that mandarin requires us to remember.

On the next meeting, I learn about public places such as hospital, bank, etc. I have used the new book for quite a while and my teacher wanted to conduct a test on the first chapter. The first chapter is about basic, simple phrases such as I, you, thank you, etc. She demanded me to be able to write with the mandarin symbol and she said that I will have a test for each chapter. I am not feeling any burden thinking that it will benefits me to have a test. It will trigger my willingness to learn and the test will determine/show that I have develop my mandarin skill.