The Generous People in Ciptagelar Village, Indonesia.

“A place is only as good as the people you know in it.” – Alex Pettyfer (I Am Number Four)

That quote got me thinking that when you know and try to connect with people in some places, when you need to leave, you’ll be missing home. Last year I’ve got an amazing experience to visit Ciptagelar Village. It is located in the south hillside of Halimun Mountain in Sukabumi, West Java, Indonesia.

I went there with friends from Bandung Institute of Tourism. The local people of this village were so welcoming to our arrival, they welcomed us in a big traditional house called Imah Gede. Ciptagelar village is  a village that sticks to the traditional environment completely from the kind of their house to non-trading activities between the villagers especially for the rice. Why there is non-trading activities in Ciptagelar? Because every single families in Ciptagelar are having a place called Lieut to put the rice from the harvest season and whenever villagers need some rice, they will give it for free as the praise to God for giving them  fertile soils so they can harvest the rice almost every year.It’s been told that this local people in Ciptagelar get their daily need of foods like vegetables and rice from their own land and their own work. The men in this village are the one who will work in the rice-field and all the farming, and as for the women, they will stay at Imah Gede to cook the foods together for men and for all the tourist that come to this village.

For years, the people in Ciptagelar have been welcoming guest to their village and let them with open hand to know and involve in the daily activity of the local. With a lot of people come to this village, it can’t be denied that tourism takes one of some aspects of economic growth in this village for local people. When I was there, I saw some people sat in their front yard to make a traditional merchandise made from bamboo shavings, and another merchandise too like Epok and Kaneron.

From the arrival of tourist, the villagers are now more in love with their culture and tradition as the tourism attraction, because the tourism attraction is not only something we can do and see, but also something we can learn and remember. And from now on, tourist not only seek for the fun, but also seek the great experience from a place they visit.

Before there were no tourist that come to the village, they could fulfill their need well but as soon as Ciptagelar become more well-known, the villagers can increase their income from selling the traditional merchandise and they know how to maintain the traditional way of living with an open mind of the modernization.

I learn a lot from this community, because they indirectly thought me to be kind, generous, humble and know to treat our environment well.  

- 365 Wonderful Days -

Here we are standing on this precious time.

Still. . . On each other's arms.

We made it, idiot. One year. 365 ups and downs wonderful days.

Like no matter how many times I promise to be the better version of me for you, I still can't do that.

And no matter how many times you've made your promises to change for me, the changing won't ever be enough for me. 

Always breaking our own rules.

But beside all of that, we made it through after all this time. And guess what?! 

We survived.

Somebody said that life and relationship is not about how we make it through the storm, but it's about how we learn to dance in the rain.

So whatever coming for us ahead, we will make it through.

I'm sorry for my lack of trust on you. And THANK YOU SO MUCH for loving me with your annoying way, cause maybe I love you more with my more annoying way.

I'm not gonna promise that I can be better, but one thing for sure, I will try to be the best person I could be, day by day.

Happy 1st year anniversary, baby.

You are the most annoying, weird, idiot, silly guy I've ever met in my life.

But you are also the only guy I've ever cared this MUCH in my life.

Thank you for all the things we did together, all the fights, all the doubts, and all the memories you grew on my brain for a year.

It was beautiful.

I Love You. . .

"When I was lost. I found you."

             I don't know either it's our own mistake or it's just them who can't stand how happy we are being together and be in each other arms.

            It takes me 20 years to know what's right for me, to know who will accept me along with my good, bad, or even my worst side.

          And then one day you came. You came out of nowhere, cause I didn't see you coming.  You complete something that have been  a big hole on my chest. You guide me to the fact knowing that I'm worthy enough to love someone and have them loving me back more.

           But people throw rocks at things that shine, don't they? 

          And the world is rotating. Sometimes we are in the air flying high. And there will be times we fall hard on the deep dark ground along with its nasty smell. 

          Always have those people who will push you back, make you feel bad about the whole wide world or yourself, and will try to tear you down. Then comes the time I really need to stand alone and hold on something that feels right even it means I have to fight the whole army.

           We win in our lost battle. But whenever we put our victory as high as the hawk, always have those magic wands make it breaks and burns. 

           But everyone feels the same, right? Just different level of hell and devils. And I don't mind cause all what I really need is staying true to myself and not giving even a little piece of shit on that.

          

          All the matters now is I have these good company who always be right beside me through the ups and downs. But most important is, they don't judge.

"Baby, you're not alone. I'm a good warrior. So when the heavy world falls on your shoulder, I'll be there, fight with you. I'm not gonna promise the storms wont come, but whenever the bad times come, I'll be in every beats of your heart and hold you tight. . .  ."

A Special Night With Demi Lovato

You can tell that Demi Lovato has been and always will be my favorite singer ever. And I've seen this quote "Dreams do come true" all my life, and YES, DREAMS DO COME TRUE you all. On March 24 I. MET. DEMI. LOVATO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I never know how it feels like to meet someone you look up to so freaking much, and meet someone who inspire you in so many ways. I honestly hard to remember how it feels like that day, because the amount of happiness and craziness was collide. Like, I can't imagine, all this time I just see her on my tv screen, or internet, twitter, or something like that, but that day, she was just 5 feets away from me and I could see her face clearly. She is so freaking beautiful and stunning. Her skin was flawless. And when you thought you just can hear her voice through your headset, I just can't describe how great her LIVE voice was. She killed all the high notes in all her amazing songs.  

As all people that know I adore Demi Lovato maybe don't know about this. I love Demi not because her beautiful face and amazing voice and songs, maybe at first YES, but when she shared her story about how she stands up for bullying and how she dealt with eating disorders because of cruel society but can stand up higher and get help and get better and better that moment when the amount of my respect for her increase. She also decided to share her story instead of lying about it to the media so she could help another girl who deal with the same issue to get help and get better. She inspires me to always feel beautiful and to not letting people bring me down. 

I can't believe that I could have this opportunity to hear her sang Skyscraper LIVE because that song gave me big impact  of my perpective on something. 

And also Give Your Heart a Break, Heart Attack, and all of her songs too, and all I can tell is SHE GOT THAT VOICE and ATTITUDE!

Thank you Demi, for everything you though me and for this amazing experience to see you live in concert. Maybe I didnt get a lesson about how to bring myself up, how to always feel beautiful, and how to accept my imperfection, but through you and your story, I could. 

And btw, can I have that boots?

Watch Demi Lovato Official Lyric Video for "HEART ATTACK"

Demi on stage in Jakarta

Demi at soundcheck in Jakarta

Demi on stage in Manila

Demi on stage in Manila (with her famous hair flip)

"21 Guns" By Green Day

Do you know what's worth fighting for?

When it's not worth dying for?

Does it take your breath away and you feel yourself suffocating?

Does the pain weigh out the pride?

And you look for a place to hide?

Did someone break your heart inside,you're in ruins

One, 21 Guns

Lay down your arms

Give up the fight

One, 21 Guns

Throw up your arms into the sky

You and I ...

When you're at the end of the road

And you lost all sense of control

And your thoughts have taken their toll

When your mind breaks the spirit of your soul

Your faith walks on broken glass and the hangover doesn't pass

Nothing's ever built to last, you're in ruins

One, 21 Guns

Lay down your arms

Give up the fight

One, 21 Guns

Throw up your arms into the sky

You and I ...

Did you try to live on your own?

When you burned down the house and home?

Did you stand too close to the fire?

Like a liar looking for forgiveness from a stone

When it's time to live and let die

And you can't get another try

Something inside this heart has died,you're in ruins

One, 21 Guns

Lay down your arms

Give up the fight

One, 21 Guns

Throw up your arms into the sky

One, 21 Guns

Lay down your arms

Give up the fight

One, 21 Guns

Throw up your arms into the sky

You and I

"Istimewa Itu Kamu. . ."

"Jika aku adalah selembar kertas kosong
Berarti kamu itu crayon berwarna. . ."

"Jika aku adalah langit gelap
Berarti kamu itu bintang. . ."


Jika aku terkadang buta akan apa yang sebenarnya ingin ku katakan padanya,
Tuhan. . .
sampaikan bahwa aku bersyukur ia 'datang'

sampaikan padanya jika aku memiliki kekuatan super, aku bisa membantunya lebih daripada ini

sampaikan padanya bahwa ia menginspirasiku untuk menjadi lebih baik dan dewasa

sampaikan padanya bahwa masalah yang datang, bukan untuk menghancurkan, tapi memperkuat

sampaikan padanya bahwa segala kemarahanku, bukan karena benci, tapi peduli

sampaikan padanya bahwa ia adalah seseorang yang mampu membantuku berdiri dan melawan dunia

sampaikan padanya bahwa segala memori yang ia tancapkan diotak-ku itu indah

sampaikan padanya bahwa ketika mereka melihat rendah kearahnya, I'm not going anywhere

sampaikan padanya bahwa ia istimewa

sampaikan padanya bahwa ia bisa taklukan dunia ; )

sampaikan padanya bahwa kerja keras dan membuktikan kesuksesan suatu hari nanti adalah cara terbaik untuk balas dendam

sampaikan padanya bahwa aku ingin mengenalnya hingga rambutnya memutih

sampaikan bahwa aku mencintainya. . .




"Tuhan, tidak ada lagi tempat untuk menampung segala pilu with a fair judgement rather than You.
Lindungilah dia. . .
Kelilingi dia dengan segala yang terbaik
Mudahkanlah segala urusan-nya, Tuhan. . ."



Dear you my unbelievable guy, 
I'm happy to know the fact that you are mine and you stay with me until now. There will be times when I'll feel weak and hopeless, but you are my strength  and I'm going to live my life day by day knowing that I have one person I can count on and knowing I have a shoulder to cry on. 

With you, I have courage for standing tall to see the whole world.
Thank you. . .

For the best person I've ever admired after my mom, DEMI LOVATO

My friend who can read mind once told me that I was not comfortable with my ownself, was not satisfied with my own skin. I have no confident. If there was a person who judge me, I could drown in their words about me. Because of that, I was sometimes losing my self.

Honestly, all the things on my mind that my friend read is just correct. There are some times that I am not comfortable with my self. I've written lot of articles in here on my blog about how happy I am being my self, or how grateful I am for everything in my body, in my life. I DO feel thankful for that, but, honestly, deep down in my heart there's a little space that say, I'm not.

Back then when I was in elementry school, there was name-calling for me, bad one. And when I was in middle school, there was a guy that decided to stay away from me, didn't call me anymore because I was pimpled. I dont know maybe that time was the beginning of all this 'things'. Untill now I'm in high school, I live my life with ups and downs, like everybody else, but I feel something in 'here' is just so wrong.

Then your song "Skyscraper" came out. I read the lyric. And I was like, this song is a typical song that I can releate to. I'm in love with this powerfull ballad.

Then I started to watch your interview about

how you overcome with your life, about your fighting with your "self acceptance" problem, I was inspired a lot.

I am not doing self harm, because I have no courage of doing that which is something I'm very very grateful for. But Demi, you inspired me to stay strong, to always feel beautiful and to always remember that every single one of us is beautiful.

It is not that easy to do what I've learned from you, but as you already said, that it is daily battle. When there is one day I can feel beautiful before I go to school, or feeling happy and throw my pain outside my window, or going through my day without feeling bad for being myself...........than I can tell myself that I success, that I'm the winner.

Demi, you have courage that not all the people in the world have. You are strong. And I want you to know that you are inspiring tons of girls to love our self and be postive.

It's hard we all know, but I'm on my way to build my courage too. I'm strong. And I am staying strong with you, and with all the people in the world who feel the same.

Thank you so much for your honesty and for being a great role model for young girls, including me. I'm not gonna love my self, my body every single time, but I have to, so I try and be grateful for it. And thank you for making your self become someone who will say "stop, it is not good" or "it will be ok.."

Thank you, Demi. You are beautiful.

Sincerely, your lovatic.