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Day 2 at Yogyakarta 

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This story is a continuation of my story with title “Day 1 at Yogyakarta”. You can read it at this page: https://diagatha.com/2024/06/26/day-1-at-yogyakarta/

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I woke up hungry and excited for what the day was gonna bring us. After Mom and her roommate got dressed, I quickly took a bath.

On our way down to the lobby for breakfast, I overheard Mom and her roommate talking about the event they’re gonna attend for the next three days.

As we went down, I had another thought in my head though. The music was very calming and relaxing with Jogja’s local music.

Finally, we arrived at the lobby, and I quickly got noodles, bread and cereal for breakfast.

Mom gave me a Do you really need that much? 

And yes. Yes I do.

Whilst having breakfast, Mom met a lot of new friends…and even old ones!

Another time when she had an event in Bali, she met these friends too! I could see Mom smiling and hugging them all the same.

Afterwards, Mom took me upstairs to our room. Whilst they were doing their event, I was able to have fun alone in the room.

Sadly though, Mom had to bring her iPad, because some work stuff. But she allowed me to use her laptop for me to do my writing (I can’t tell it now, it’ll spoil the fun!).

I stayed in the room for around an hour or so, until Mom called me. I answered her on my phone, and she asked if I wanted to come down with her to the ballroom.

I raised my eyebrow, and said that I didn’t wanna go down because it’ll be weird as I’m the only kid and it isn’t an event for me. And Mom said “okay” and ended the call.

But 15 minutes later, she turned up at the door and insisted that I went with her.

Moms…

I brought her laptop in her bag and my books, and we went down the elevator to the Ballroom.

The Hotel’s ballroom was really big and very vintage. At that moment, a man was speaking at the front. He must be the special guest for the event!

Mom and I took back seats, and I opened my book and started reading, but I couldn’t help trying to hear what he was saying.

He is a writer who writes the news and really loves Indonesian. He made a website to share the news and his writings. 

He explains what needs to be highlighted when writing and even in photography. This made me become pretty inspired by his words.

After he finished talking, it was break-time, and I went outside to get myself a cupcake. 

But no matter how much I tried to stop her, Mom told the man to meet me. She explained to him that I have a blog (diagatha.com) and a storybook (Face Off).

He was very surprised about it since I was still very young. He was also pretty amazed at my English and told me to keep it up. I took a photo with him, which got me blushing until lunch.

At the evening I had to stay in the room whilst Mom and her roommate and their other friends had to go to the rooftop for another “fun” seminar. 

I brought myself some snacks and cupcakes along with me upstairs. As soon as I got there, I turned on the lights, turned on the TV and also got out my Mom’s iPad to watch Trollhunters on Netflix.

Look…I’m afraid being alone, so…

At around ten o’clock or so, Mom and her roommate came back happily. I opened the door cheerfully and let them in.

It was pretty nice not to be alone anymore, but my stomach clenched as Mom said to her roommate about my blog.

I hid under the covers of the bed, but her roommate was pretty surprised and excited as of how old I am and my qualified English. She asked the name, and I told it her, along with my books and writings.That day was pretty amazing. But I wonder what the next day will give me…don’t you?

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Budhi Dharma: Where Values Meet Excellence

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This is the text of Agatha’s speech, written as part of the English speech competition at Liga OSIS in SMP Budhi Dharma. We must give a Speech about “Budhi Dharma”, which is our school.

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When I first stepped into Budi Dharma Junior High School, I had no idea of the excitement, curiosity and achievements waiting for me inside. How, you may ask? Well, I have heard some stuff of this place from many people. Some say it’s amazing, some say it isn’t. Some say that the teachers are terrible, but others say that this school is the best in our Regency. And, since I am standing here right now, I have seen the truth, both surprising and interesting.

         Good morning everyone and honorable judges. My name is Agatha Simanjuntak from class 7F, and I am here to deliver my speech entitled ___. 

         So far, I have been in this school for around 4 to 5 months. Honestly, I wasn’t pleased at all hearing that there had to be a test to get into this school. I said to my Mom: “Why can’t they just see the scores from our primary school?” Not that all of my scores were very good though. 

         But after hearing my Mom’s reply, I began to ponder that perhaps Budi Dharma is exactly the contrary of my opinion after all. Do you guys know what she said? Well…she explained to me that the test to evaluate a student’s knowledge, and problem-solving skills. This allows the school to understand the student’s strengths and areas that may need improvement. Thankfully, I got in this amazing school with decent scores.  

In our school, Budi Dharma, we are encouraged to study diligently, as we believe that hard work is the key to success. Discipline is a core value here, and the rules are to ensure fairness and create an environment where every student can thrive. We also have clubs and extracurricular activities for the talented and those who are interested. With that, students are able to focus on education and their talents more.

Furthermore, I am confident that Budi Dharma is an excellent school, as evidenced by the many achievements it has earned over the years. From 1950, this school has produced outstanding graduates who have excelled in the best schools. Budi Dharma has earned an ‘A’ accreditation, which reflects the high standards of education provided here. Today, we can say that our students are not only competitive but also excel in various competitions, including academic Olympiads in subjects such as Math, Science, Social Studies, and English. Additionally, our students perform exceptionally well in sports championships and arts events.

We are truly fortunate to be a part of this school. I’m not surprised if all of us become doctors, architects and all other sorts of successful jobs. This school not only gives us academic skills but also builds a great character, preparing us to achieve our dreams.

This is because of our headmaster and teachers. They teach us with joy and passion every day, shaping us into smart, confident people.

As I stand here today, I realize that everything we achieve at Budi Dharma is not just a result of our own efforts, but also the dedication of those who guide and support us every step of the way. We can make a positive impact on the world. Let us continue to, dream big, and never forget the lessons we’ve learned along the way. 

Remember our motto: Fides, Scientia, and Fraternitas, which means, faith, knowledge and union.

That’s all from me, thank you. 

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The Unseen Treasuries of the Library

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This is the text of Agatha’s speech, written as part of the English speech competition at junior high school level in Balige. Agatha got second champions.

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When I was a kid, in 2016, perhaps around 3 or 4, I would go to the library every day, to borrow or read books. Do you believe it? Well, that was a time when I was in England a more advanced country. An old lady, the librarian, seeing how excited and happy I was with reading a baby book, “Later when you are in primary school, read this book”, she said. The kind lady recommended me to read books by Enid Blyton, full of adventure. Can any of you guess how many books I have read written by her? Until this day, I have finished 7, yes 7, series written by Enid Blyton. 

Good morning, everyone and fellow judges. My name is Agatha Simanjuntak from Budhi Dharma Junior High School. I’m in grade 7 and I would like to deliver my speech about the Unseen Treasuries of the Library.

Momentarily, teens my age – well, not just my age but also young children – these days spend their time on their phones and electronics. I mean…you know Gen Z. They go on Instagram commenting weird stuff, such as “You’re Killin’ it” or “Breath-taking”. Sir [points to judge] if I made that to your post, you would block me for sure!

It thrills me to read books, and I get books nearly all the time! Lately, I’ve been reading Harry Potter series, Percy Jackson series, the Princess Diaries, and Little Women. They help me improve my grammar and vocabulary skills. Better grammar and vocab leads to the best literacy.

Do any of you know Indonesia’s position in literacy? Well…Indonesia is ranked 70 out of 80 countries according to PISA 2022!!! Literacy refers to the ability to read, write, speak, and listen. Library helps it all. The treasure in the library is literacy, a magic door to endless possibilities. They can turn your frown upside down just by a single book. Within the quiet aisles and towering shelves, books serve as gateways to knowledge, imagination, and critical thinking.

Now…I know that it may seem hard at first, so…I recommend going to the library! Perhaps in your school, near your house, or even on your phone as long as it doesn’t make you play games all the time. Although, as people living in Toba regency, we should try to visit the Perpustakaan PemKab Toba, our local library in Soposurung. I’ve been there, and in my opinion, we’re very lucky to have one near our homes, because books nowadays are pretty expensive, in library you can read and borrow them for free.

You see, the first thing you have to do is find your passion, and start! However, knowing people, it’s pretty unlikely for them to go straight to the 10cm width book! Start off with the thin books, the baby books would be fine, trust me.

Of course, you will be pretty happy for the first few days, but what if you get bored after? What should you do? Well, according to a young girl in grade 7 (which is me 🙂 ) try some other books! If you don’t want to try new passions, that’s alright, because there’s more books about them than you know…but if you do, your adventure will become more exciting. 

Next, you take thicker and thicker books, until eventually you will have ended your adventurous journey to the Novel! It doesn’t matter what sort of passion you pick, which could be sci-fi, fantasy, non-fiction, history…because each library has all! Annnnd, there will be no distraction. Why? Because every library has that one significant rule: NO. LOUD. NOISES.

No loud noises, lead to no distraction, leads to focus, which in due time, makes an exciting adventure in your head.

Let’s dig the treasure from the library. The library in Soposurung can really help us a lot! 

That’s what a library really is. It isn’t just a building filled with boring books, some individuals think aren’t important. It’s actually a treasure chest filled with gems waiting to be found by each of us, where the gems are the precious books!

That’s all for today ~ Thank you 🙂 [text made fully by Agatha Simanjuntak]      

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Day 1 at Yogyakarta

[24th June 2024]

Mum and I are at the airport getting our luggage to the air cargo.

We’ve been waiting so terribly long and even switched lines to do so.

I keep saying it’s a matter of time to get to the waiting lounge, but Mum says ‘This is a lesson for you as well. You’ve got to learn how to be patient.’

Ugh Uggghhhh.

I hate it every time my parents give me a boring lecture (I sometimes forget them anyways).

Have I mentioned where we’re going? 

So, a week ago, after I’ve finished my Middle-School exams (I passed, thankfully), Mum decided to take me on a trip to Yogyakarta (or we more like to call it Jogja). 

She said to me:

‘If you focus on your exams, then I will take you with me to Jogja.’

Don’t fuss, Mum’s only going there for work.

But as I haven’t gone to Jogja yet, and I’ve been nagging them to take me on a plane for years (it’s been more than four years since been on one), I’m pretty sure Mum would’ve understood, and…

Here I am now. Waiting stupidly for our luggage to get on the cargo. 

‘Four more people left,’ … ‘three more to go Aggie (-Mum gestures me by my nickname-),’ … ‘Two more.’

Finally the last person in front of us goes and leaves us to get on. 

‘Tickets and ID card please.’

After five minutes, we get checked and go to the waiting lounge. We take a few toilet breaks before sitting down peacefully, watching Pokémon – Detective Pikachu, just as they defeat Mew-two.  It was just by the adverts, our plane gets called in.

My heart gives a jolt. This is it! I wonder. I’m finally going on a plane again!

Along with a few other passengers, we walk to our plane, skipping whilst kissing Toba goodbye.

Mom videos me as I skip happily along to the stairs of the plane. The stewardess greets us and checks us into our seats. 

I sit next to the window, and put down my desk.

I also got out my Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows book to read.

It was only when we were all told to fasten our seatbelts, put straight our seats, and put up our desks for safety.

I wanted to laugh when seeing the steward/stewardess telling us about the life-jackets and seatbelts.

But when it was time to fly, I got pretty scared (I’m claustrophobic and I feel funny when I go up heights), although I soon find out that it isn’t that bad after all.

For the next two hours, I read Harry Potter, whilst Mum naps, and we finally arrive at Soekarno-Hatta Airport Jakarta. 

I can’t believe it! We’ve finally landed!

I still can’t believe that we’re off a plane after so long. It felt like 20 minutes while in reality it was 2 hours.

Soekarno-Hatta Airport is one of the biggest airports I’ve been in (partly because it’s the biggest in Indonesia), and there is also a train, called the SkyTrain, which takes you to different terminals. 

Mind you, I’ve never been in one…SO ME AND MUM ARE GONNA GO THERE!!!!

We’re gonna go from T1 (Terminal One) to T2 (Terminal Two). 

Mum and I take a few photos in front of the airport, and on the escalator, which is incredibly tall.

As we reach the second floor, we were to wait for train at the second door. 

We needn’t wait for too long, for the train arrived only five minutes into the station.

We get in, and I finally know why it’s called a SkyTrain.

We can see the whole airport from here, and, mind you, it’s incredibly big.

Mum and I came off excitedly, and that’s when something felt very familiar.

I feel as if I’m getting déjà vu! 

‘We’ve been here before Mum!’ I say, but Mum denies it.

‘This the time when we came back from England, and we stayed in the hotel that is…I think…is below us.’

Mum just laughs. ‘I don’t think so, Aggie. I’m sure we’re going through a different terminal…’

But I don’t think that I’m wrong.

I feel as if it’s the right place…

‘Mum look!’

I point at the staircase that’s right next to us three minutes.

But it’s the exact same staircase from our hotel when we arrived in Indonesia!!!!!

I KNEW I WAS RIGHT!

AND YOU UNDERESTIMATED ME MOOOOM!!!

Me and Mum are so surprised. 

I always wanted to know how déjà vu feels like, and I just felt it!

We go to this noodle shop called Bakso Afung and we eat Noodle Meatballs, and drink some orange juice.

Mum does some work whilst eating, while I play some Doodle games.

On three o’clock, we pay and go out to our gate. 

We get checked first though. We have to take off everything (except our clothes) and then go through a few shops to get to our gate.

So, on the way, we bought some books for me to read!

We bought Little Women by Louisa May Alcott, and some Tricky Quizzes.

We finally go through the bridge which connects the gate and the main airport.

Our gate is D7.

We pass D3, D5, and – ah – D7.

We get there around four o’clock, and our plane to Jogja is on five o’clock.

The lounge is completely packed. People are going to Manado, Flores, Makassar, and even back to Medan!

I’m pretty sure that our plane’ll be first…

A few minutes later, the flight-attendants going to Flores go through the gate. But I’m so busy reading Little Women that I didn’t think much of it.

Five o’clock:

Our train is delayed for an hour, so I don’t think we’ll get moving until sunset (the sun sets more quickly here).

Makassar’s plane had just went off, and now we’re sitting next to a few people going to Manado.

Mum seems quite observed in the conversation, but I don’t pay attention at all.

I’m bored.

I ask Mum to get some cookies because I’m starving, so Mum lets me get Selai Olai.

Six o’clock:

The lounge is pretty empty now. The people going to Manado are gone, and now it’s just our flight that’s left on the list. Mum had already checked more than two times to see if our plane had gone or not.

But finally, we hear a women’s voice:

Attention passengers to Yogyakarta. There has been a problem with the plane, and we are planning on switching planes. We are sorry for any inconvenience, but on 6.30pm we will hand out snacks in return of patience.

The room fills with groans and exclaims. 

I can’t believe my ears.

We’re gonna stay here till night time???

Mum’s pretty exasperated, but she says it’s for the best. 

She suggests going out to get pizza and tea and watch scroll Netflix whilst waiting for our flight.

I get Beef and Cheese whilst Mum gets Chicken and Cheese.

We take them back to the lounge and I get out Mum’s iPad to watch PETER RABBIT 2.

It’s the sequel of the first movie where Bea and McGregor get married and Bea starts making books of the rabbit and Peter find his new “Dad-like” friend.

Halfway through, after we finish our pizzas, Mum went to receptionist to get snacks.

And when Mum gets back – oh, you won’t believe what they had given us.

They give us chocolate chip cookie, or Good Time, and some energy biscuits, or Biskuat (Kuat = strong) 

So…they’re telling us to have a good time whilst waiting and to be strong whilst waiting too?!

We all laugh at this clever idea. No – really. They finally put a smile on our face after making us wait for so long.

We did not have a decent time, but we were definitely strong.

And FINALLY, on 7 o’clock, our plane is ready.

Cheering in our hearts, we race through the doors, get on the shuttle bus as quick as possible, and we reach our plane after waiting for Two. Tiring. Hours.

I feel pleased as we get in. 

Our seats have mini TVs so I could play games whilst on the way.

Our plane from Silangit wasn’t like this!

***

I’m playing Mangala on the mini TV whilst Mum sees how good I am.

We’re feet away from the ground now, and we’re nearly there.

It takes only 30 minutes to get there from Jakarta (that’s why Mum complained a bit before that we should’ve went on train).

We land with a bump and we get out quickly.

In the cold night, all of rush into the airport and, my God did we see a ton of stuff as we get in. 

First, we run into the Concept of Sindutan Relief by Fajar Andrian (a tribute to the village of Sindutan, where this airport, Yogyakarta International Airport – YIA – was built).

We take a lot of pics there.

Next, we see Palihan (which means guidance) by Duvrat Angelo.

We eventually bump into the Concept of Among Tani Dagang Layar Pop-Up Works (a landscape Pop-Up works of the villagers going to the traditional market on market day).

And finally, we take pictures at the WELCOME TO YOGYAKARTA sign. 

I post it on my story, whilst we search for the station.

You see, since YIA is in a village, it’s far from the city, so it takes pretty long to get there. 

But when we’re about to get on the lift, we’re interrupted by this old, taxi driver.

He stops us, saying that there’s no more tickets left, which made my Mum panic.

I didn’t really though. Where’s proof, man?

He tells us to check upstairs at the station, which we do. 

As I hear the kind cashier say ‘Sorry miss, but we have no more tickets left.’

My heart sinks and skips a beat. 

No. More. Tickets.

How are we gonna get to our hotel nowwww????

But whilst I’m busy in daze, Mum and the old man have a talk, and five minutes later, she tells me that we’re going to town with him.

My face turns into a mixture of relief and confusion.

‘Is it safe?’ I whisper.

Mum hesitates, but she had no time to answer.

The driver’s car pulls over, and he helps put in our luggage.

As soon as we get in, Mum and him chat, but I couldn’t think anymore, so I just sleep.

Mum wakes me up, and I see our hotel. Grand Keisha Hotel.

I sigh in relief, whilst tired.

I stagger out of the car and get my bags. We say thank you to the driver. He compliments my hair, and that’s what makes me completely awake.

We check in, get our key, and go up to the eighth floor to our room.

Mum’s roommate was already there, and she doesn’t turn out to be asleep yet (I mean it’s literally already 11 o’clock). 

I was half expecting her to be pissed off that I’m staying with them, but she seems pretty cool about it.

I change my clothes and call Dad and my sister. They’ve been waiting for us, so they haven’t slept yet. Sweet of them.

We bade them good night, and we go to sleep too.

‘Good Night Aggie.’ Mum kisses me. And I hug her back.

Today was tiring, happy but AMAZING in conclusion.

What does Day Two bring us???

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The few last moments at school

Four weeks ago, I did my final exams for Primary school before going to Junior High School.

Before that week, it felt as if we were joining military school because we were given strict rules and had to be separated into different rooms to do our exams.

We saw Mr J (our sports teacher) and Mr L (our computer teacher) sticking up the list of names of Grade Six on the five room where the exams will be taken. I didn’t notice them until my friend, Johanna, pulled me to see who was in Room One until Room Four (Room Five hasn’t been filled in yet).

Room One until Room Three were filled with the students in Class A and Class B. I’m in Class C, so it should be unfortunate that I’m in there. Moving on to Room Four: Still, my name wasn’t there, but my friends, Evelyn and Johanna were. I felt a pang of jealousy, because Room Four was just beautiful and Room Five, which should be the room I’m in, was as dark as hell. But I knew that I’m in that room for an exam, so I didn’t think of that much. Room Five had seventeen students from my class and one from Class A.

I studied on the weekend to get ready for my exams. It gave a lot of pressure because there were eleven subjects we had to go through: Religion, Bahasa Indonesia (Monday); Civics, Science (Tuesday); Computer, Arts (Wednesday); Social Studies, Physical Education (Thursday); English, Local Language (Friday) and finally, Math (Saturday).

Oh, and that’s not it. Next month, we’re having another test to get into our Middle School later on 🙁

It was pretty surprising (rather than tiring) though, because the questions that came out were mostly from our second semester in grade six. That was pretty lucky 🙂 And also, our Head Teacher chose me to be head of our room! I was pretty flabbergasted by that.

And finally, after a week of studying and doing exams, I can finally relax. It was tiring, but I eventually finished my exams at the end of the week.

In conclusion, the exams didn’t go as bad as I thought it would. The easiest one would be English, because (not to brag) I’m a pro at English 🙂 The hardest one would be Social Studies. Why? There’s litteraly soooo much to memorize about it! History, Geography, Economy, Social Interaction, and many more, are all included in Social Studies. 

Seriously, it took me a lot of pressure.

Anyway, after all that I can finally relax with my friends and luckily, I was able to go to my friend’s house on the exact day our exams finished.

Before that though, my friends urged me to take a photo of us since it was one of our last days at school. This was pretty sad, because we were afraid if we might get separated later on in Middle School 🙁 Of course, I asked my friend to take our photo with my phone, and of course I sent it to them at once. 

I went to my friend’s house to wait for my parents there. There we watched an Indonesian Drama/Romance Film called Dear Jo. It’s about a woman named Maura who marries a man called Jo. They’ve always wanted a child but couldn’t have one, so they ask their friend, Ella, to be a surrogate mother for their child (weird right?).

She agrees, but tragically, Maura dies in a car accident, so it only Jo and Ella afterwards. And then, Jo’s life gets untidy so Ella comes to his house and helps him build his life.

Afterwards, they start to become closer and closer until one day, Jo’s mother finds out that Ella is going to become a surrogate mother so she kicks her out but- You know what, this film is clearly nonsense so, I don’t think I should tell the rest, but it’s on Netflix, so watch it yourself.

Have I told you about my friends yet?

I’ve got four close friends, Evelyn, Johanna, Roll and Harel. I met Evelyn in fourth grade, Harel in fifth, and Roll and Johanna in six grade! Evelyn’s the best. Not only because I’ve met here since fourth grade, but she’s loyal, kind but VERY stubborn.

The one I don’t like…u know what I love all of them. The photo we took at the end of our exams was one of our last photos together you know 🙁

And sadly, our last moments were in school when we were practising for our dance 🙁

We’re all gonna be separated later on. Evelyn, Harel and I are planning to go to Budi Dharma Middle School. Whilst Roll and Johanna are gonna go to a different school.

I mostly loved the time when we were at our Out-Bond (read my writing about it!), when we had to stick together as a team, and there, I don’t think any of us got any arguments between each other!

I will always remember them later on (if we get separated).

~aggy~

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Out-Bond Grade Six: Reflection on Positivity

Saturday, 23 March 2024.

My class and I went to a garden on a hill called Taman Doa Gurgur.

Honestly, it was because that we were already in grade six and about to leave primary school, so we have to have a reflection on positivity. 

Our class just got lucky because we just finished our exams on Saturday whilst other classes had to get there exams postponed for today because they went there on Friday or Thursday.

I went there with everyone in my class, my teacher, Ms A, our Religion Teacher, Ms S, and our Sports Teacher (unexpectedly), Mr J.

I didn’t really want to go out yet, as my close friends weren’t there yet. But luckily as I got out, my best friends, Evelyn, and Johanna came.. That when I left my parents to chat with the other parents.

We took photos while waiting near the church, and even rated whose clothes looked the best! Two more of my friends, Harel and Roll, came and joined us. We five and a few of the girls and boys joined us doing silly stuff!  Even Ms A wanted to join us all taking pictures.

Finally, three vans and one car arrived at the church and we went in one of them. The car only fitted the Pastor, who was joining us, Ms S and Mr J, so the first van (coloured blue) was the boys’ van and Ms A, the second van (coloured yellow) was half of the girls’ and the third van (coloured white) was the other half, including me. I went to the back so I could open the window and wave goodbye to my Mum. Although, I was a bit embarrassed because she kept taking pics of me and my friend Johanna. But still, I was glad for her to be there waiting for all the vehicles to go.

It takes around fifteen minutes to get there, so on the way I played a game with my friends Evelyn and Johanna, whilst Roll and Harel were taking photos. Then we played songs through Roll’s phone and sang along with it until we arrived at Taman Doa Gurgur. We screamed a bit as we went up the steep ramp to get up the hill. It was frightening because the van was a bit hurried.

We all made it there at the same time, and we went through the grass to the main hall which was at the very top of the hill. Chairs were already lined tidily there and our teacher had to sort everyone to boy-girl rows. Sadly, I got paired up with a boy, Jericho, but Evelyn was in front of me and Johanna was behind me so…:)

As the opening, Pastor had to begin with a song called Nyender Ning Sisi Yesoes which means Lean to Jesus’ side. The song was amazing and catchy, but…there were actions to do. Of course, we have to do it with our partners (ewwww), and it was terribly awkward. We had to lean to each other at every chorus (disgusting, ugh).

But when it ended, I felt so, so relieved.  Of course you think that was the end of it…right?

WRONG!!!

For the next activity, we have to draw our partner the best that we could, and write down their positive and negative sides. I did a stunning sketch of Jericho, and put ‘good-enough’ positive and negative sides of him.

Whilst Jericho (I wanted to cry when I saw it) drew me like a pig. Big nose, wide eyes, massively big ears, and my hair looked like noodles (of course I ripped it apart and threw it away when I got home), but he did write down Positive sides as in Smart, Loyal. I’m pretty flattered, but what do you think he wrote for my negative sides???!!!

Aggressive (puh-lease. I’m only savage to boys who are mean to me bruh!), and stubborn (…okay, I guess I can be a little bit stubborn sometimes). I’m so glad we didn’t have to give them to the Pastor (it was bad enough seeing Ms A and Mr J laughing at Jericho’s sketch of me).

Our next activity was looking at the positive sides of ourselves. At this time, I kept thinking what are my positive and negative vibes? I think of what Jericho wrote before and I wrote those down too (Smart and Loyal). But I’m also quick at learning the things that I’m in to, so I write that down too.

But now for my negative sides. I write down stubborn and I ask Evelyn what I should write for my negative sides. She suggests writing down ‘not having many trust to people’. True, I thought. I’m like really savage to people who I don’t know 🙂

When we’re done, the Pastor asks a few people what they wrote down, and it turns out that all of them were different. Then he brought out compliments for a few of us (including me, he said my hair was really rare, and fine-looking. I ended up blushing like fire).

The final activity before lunch break, was to look at some objects around us and write down their positive and negative sides. I chose a car, and wrote down its positive side (easier to transport people and substances to distant places) and negative side (generates pollution). I doodled a bit next to it.

After sharing our opinions (most of us had different objects chosen), we had a lunch break, where I had a chicken steak, rice, and banana for snack. We were allowed to play a bit for an hour afterwards, so we chose to play a game called Dua-Lima.

But, only two minutes of playing, Harel called me to meet an author, Ita Siregar, who lives in the garden. My friend led me to the café and there, I met Ms Ita, and, unexpectedly, she asked about my short story that I made two years ago. I was startled and a bit mortified, but I told her a little summary about it.

Then she asked if I was working on any books at the moment, and then I tell her about the plot that I’m working on, and how I’m gonna set it. She recommends that I should get my book published by her when it’s finished, and that is when I was the most flabbergasted on meeting her. I was happy, that I didn’t have to go looking out for publishers when I’ve got her! Afterwards, I say my thanks to her and go out to continue our game.

After time was finished, Pastor told us to put on a ton of lotion and a hat because we were gonna be playing a game that involves water.

We split into four groups (I was in group one with Evelyn, Johanna, Roll, Jericho, and a few others, but not with Harel, since she was in group two) and we had to pick the leader. I was chosen (of course 🙂 ) and the leader has to watch out his or her group to follow the rules.

The members of my group had to be blindfolded, and I have to lead them to the bottom yard since it’s only me that isn’t blindfolded! It was terribly hard, especially with stairs, but, we got there first and we were able to do it without hurting ourselves 🙂 !

Then, we played a game called ‘listen and only listen’. Everyone had to be blindfolded, and we did everything Pastor said like ‘crawl like a lizard’, ‘jump like a frog’.mBut we did all those things without noticing that we were disobeying the rules from the game the entire time 🙁 ! We were sprayed with water because of that.

Next it was a game ‘listen and do’. There we were told to stand in line according to our birth month, height, etc. But we all got it wrong again. Why? Because we didn’t ask Pastor if it was from the tallest height to the shortest height or the heaviest to the lightest etc.

Ugh. Ughhhhhhh!!!!

After wards though, we played a game that I was too sure to win: Putting water to the bottle at the very back. 

How? The person in front (Evelyn, for our team) has to deliver water to the person at the back (aka the leader, me for our team) who puts the water in the bottle. And we have to do it by cups and not looking to the back (except me).

We did it carefully, but didn’t win. Our bottle kept falling down that Mr J had to pin it down with bare hands. Whilst our team kept dry, other teams were soaking wet. We didn’t win, but it wasn’t that fun either. 

Overall, this next one was much better. We played a game where we couldn’t talk (we’re still blindfolded, except me), but we have to lead the person in front of us to get the balls according to its colour, with only our actions. Confused? Well, it was like this: 

We have to go in a line and the leader has to be in the back. Since they’re the only ones not blindfolded, they have to lead their group with they’re actions.

If they push the person in front of them slightly, then that means ‘go forward’ and they have to pass it on to the person at the front until they go forward. If they slap the left or right shoulder of the person in front of them, then that means for them to go ‘left’ or ‘right’, and then they’d have to pass it on until the person at the front goes either left or right. If they pull the person in front of them, then that means ‘stop’, and they’d have to pass it on until the person in front of them stops. And finally, if they slap both shoulders of the person in front of, that means ‘take the ball’. They have to pass it on just like the rest.

There were two balls that we had to find. Our colour was green, so I didn’t have much luck in finding the ball in the green, green grass. Of course, we couldn’t talk, because if we did, then Pastor would have to ‘baptize us once again’ (aka, spray water at us).

Because of that, it was really hard to do this, and Evelyn, who was at the front, was struggling to keep up with my actions. We eventually only found one ball, whilst the other teams found both of their balls. But, surprisingly, we won! Because the game was only about feeling others actions and not to talk, and other teams were shouting and squealing everywhere!

This made me happy, until realizing what the next game was. The person at the front was trusted to find the ball at the last game, so now, they must be trusted to do the same in this game.

Shocked, Evelyn looked at me with wide eyes, but there was nothing that I could do! Pastor beckoned Evelyn and the other three competitors to blindfold them, whilst Ms S told us to sit separately at four different benches (one for each group).

Ms S and Ms A explained that the game was to shout loudly at their teammate that is competing where to go to find their team’s balls. And the rule is, that you can’t go across the border (which is one meter from the bench).

After Pastor had finished, he started the game with saying ‘go!’ and we shouted at the top of our lungs. I was surprised that everyone was screaming so loud! And Evelyn, stupidly, was covering her ears, because it was so loud with everyone shouting! My other teammates were angry at her whilst I just shouted he directions to her.

Less than ten minutes, Evelyn had already got her first ball whilst the others were still confused on where to go. Our team was thrilled that we screamed with joy until Pastor told us off, and Ms A and Mr J laughed at disbelief!

Evelyn was trying her best to get the last ball, which was just a few centimetres from her that she, confusingly, had to crawl around to feel for it. I was getting worried at this point, because other competitors had already got their first ball, and on the way to their second ball. And finally, finally after minutes of feeling around for the ball, Evelyn got it and we won the game! We were too loud at this point, that Ms S had to quiet us down.

Because Evelyn had won, the game ended and we sat down to eat snacks.

And lastly, we were to write down on roll of Manila paper what we have learnt at this out-bond today! Which is, learning how to think positively and teamwork. We wrote down about what is the best way to do something by teamwork; about listening is better than talking; and that Teamwork is the best way to solve a problem together. 

We finished just in time! And all that was left to get dry, and pray before going home. 

For the finale, we took some photos to remember this day, for it will one of our last memories from Primary School. 🙂

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S_A_M_O_S_I_R

Prologue

Samosir, is a large volcanic island in Lake Toba, located in the north of the island of Sumatra in Indonesia. Administratively, Samosir Island is governed as six of the nine districts within Samosir Regency. The lake and island were formed after the eruption of a super-volcano some 75,000 years ago. The island was originally a peninsula connected to the surrounding caldera wall by a small isthmus, which was cut through by the Tano Ponggol Canal in 1907 to aid navigation (source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samosir).

People say as it is the most beautiful island they’ve ever seen. Is it true? Well…let’s see.

***

Day One:

It was raining on that day, Mom and Dad also another family were discussing whether or not we were going. 

I played guitar with my sister when suddenly, Mum and Dad quickly announced we were going, but had to be quick because we weren’t going by a ferry. 

On the contrary, we were going by car, passing by the huge Lake Toba and the woods with many nature-ey features!

That made me happy, but pretty sad because of not going by boat.

And, much more shocking, since I was playing my guitar, Mom told me bring it too 🙂 ???

I was confused. I mean, this was a first. I never bring my guitar on long trips…

After putting our stuff in our car (my friends’ family already went first) we climbed in and on our way we go!

It was fun actually! Road trip all the way to Samosir. Looking out all the nature features. 

It was a three to four hours trip to get there. On the way, we saw numerous trees and naturism around! We passed a natural tourism site called Tele. Tele is a like a hill where we can see Samosir from there. We can also catch a delightful view of Lake Toba from there. There, the air is fresh so we opened our windows!

But be careful, for monkeys are also there too. Every time we saw one we would close our windows up again and put them back down again when they’re lost at sight.

After we crossed that, we saw a big statue/monument of Jesus Christ on a big hill, called Sibea-bea. My parents told me that we’ll go there…but just not today. We have many things to fit on our schedule for today. I’m pretty sad, but I was still happy because we saw many fresh lands everywhere. 

Around half an hour later, we crossed a big, wide bridge covered in red paint. It’s called “Jembatan Tano Ponggol” which connected Sumatra and Samosir.

It was an amazing sight, but we couldn’t stop there (although we wanted to take a few pics). The road was getting crowded and was leading to a traffic jam, and a few people were taking some pics.

As we arrived at Samosir (we could say we already are in the regency), we tried to find hotels (we were planning to stay at a hotel at the other side of the island, but because we didn’t go by a ferry, it would be pretty difficult) to stay in. 

It was raining and we tried two hotels, but they were literally full. A shame though. The first hotel had a beach with benches, so people are able to swim in the lake while taking a snack.

Our last hotel was our last chance and resort. It didn’t seem as if we would go all the way to the other side of the island in the evening! Our parents went out and asked the manager if there were any more rooms left. He said that there was no more, but only one, and that was a homestay.

I didn’t like the sound of that. I was imagining a beautiful hotel with a beach and a large swimming pool. But as soon as I went inside, I immediately changed my mind: The homestay contains of three rooms (we used two for a night. One for us, and another for my friend’s family) and a huge living room in the middle. There were three couches, and a big carpet on the floor.

There was even Netflix!

My friend and I wanted to relax for a while, but we couldn’t, for we hadn’t any dinner yet! We went to a restaurant that Mum went to when she had work in Samosir. But, like nearly all the hotels we tried, it was full.

We were getting hungry, so we went to a restaurant across the road (they didn’t really get our orders right) before going to a bridge where a colorful fountain played every 8:00pm and 10:00pm.

We were planning to join the 8:00pm session, but due to searches for dinner, we had to wait for the next session which was on 10:00pm. My sister didn’t really like waiting, so she turned a bit cranky, so Dad and I went along with the others.

Finally…the fountain turned on and everyone was so excited. They played it in different variations to various songs including Horas and Boom, boom, boom, boom by Vanga Boys or whatever the artist called their group (I didn’t know the title when it played, but I could’ve sworn I’ve heard it somewhere).

We were sad when it ended, but it was an exciting experience (definitely recommend).

We went back to our homestay, and fell asleep…

Day Two:

We woke up and had breakfast quickly (Nasi Goreng and tea. Delicious 🙂 ) while watching Dora the Explorer (we had Netflix on TV so we could watch literally anything).

My friend secretly wanted to watch One Piece, that anime thing (I’m not a big fan of Anime) so he kept stealing the remote from me. He said he liked it because it was ‘sus’ (don’t ask what it means) but we have a much younger audience with us, which is my sister, so insisted. It’s the live action Dora the Explorer and the Lost City of Gold, so he liked it eventually.

We finished and pack our stuff for the beach, because we are going to the beach!!!

We put a ton of sunscreen and started bathing in the lake. Of course, I didn’t really want to get my clothes wet, because I had no change, so I stayed pretty near the edge.

My friend, on the other hand, went straight to the lake, put his whole body in the water… and found Rp50.000,00!!! Unbelievable (he even got another Rp10.000,00 shortly afterwards).

He started splashing around so I went out and made a sandcastle. My friend saw me and decided to make and even bigger one! He then got out his sphere sort of toy and started splashing it on the water.

I got out and went to lay down on a deck chair with Mum and my sister. Mum insisted on me playing my guitar, even though I didn’t want to. I eventually found myself sitting on the sand whilst singing three songs there.

Dad videoed them (i share it on my youtube channel: https://youtu.be/X7T4ehrzfz4), and went back to our homestay after the others got changed. But as we got there, our stuff had already been taken out and the caretakers were cleaning our rooms.

Wanna know why? A few days ago, some Priests booked the homestay days before we stayed. They were giving us a night upstairs, where we’ll only get one room to ourselves with no living room connecting it, and no Netflix.

Never mind…we wouldn’t even have time to watch anything…for we were gonna go touring around the bridge we visited the day before!!! And, we also reserved our orders at the restaurant that Mum recommended the other day.

After taking a shower, and resting, we went out and headed to our food! We got separated tables, but got the right food (unlike the day before). Mum was right: Delicious food and the restaurant is so…vintage.

Afterwards, we went outside and walked through the long bridge (called ‘Waterfront City Pangururan’) until the balcony we were on Day One where we watched the dancing colorful fountains.

I was fascinated by the shimmering lake beyond us. We watched some kids do some ‘Tor-tor’ dance while playing bubbles (a little girl played along with us) until we got tired and went back. Honestly, it was exactly the same as last night. So. Many. People. That…was the last time we went there on our trip.

Day Three:

This was the last day. Sad, but…we are going to go to our final destination! Which is [drumroll please]…Sibea-bea!

Sibea-bea is a hill where we can go after we voyage across that bridge that links Sumatra to Samosir (AKA “Jembatan Tano Ponggol). Even from afar, we can see a big statue of Jesus posturing as the cross. It’s huge and should be one of the tallest Christ Monuments in the world when it’s finished (it’s finished now, but when we went there, it wasn’t yet). Not only the statue, but there’s an amazing view of Lake Toba from there!

I’d definitely recommend going there, but if it’s hot, I’d also endorse a hat, a fan, and wear a lot of sunscreen. Why? Because when we went there, it was BOILING! I was so scorched, that I drooped when going up the stairs to see Jesus’ Statue. Let alone from all that, the place was crammed and full!

Dad took nearly ten minutes searching for a parking lot for our car! Even Mum didn’t really seemed pleased when she found out it took that long! Apart from the parking stuff…my sister was absolutely cheerful and was jumping up and down every time she felt like it.

Me, on the other hand, was already drooping because of the temperature. Sure enough, we took a few pics and went back home by a long trip by our car. Of course, it was a fine-looking place to go!

Epilogue:

So…is Samosir the most beautiful island I’ve ever seen?

Well…yes. Definitely.

Not only the view and stuff, but the activities we can do there! Touring, watching dances, and even experiencing wonderful fountain show on the lake!

Honestly, I’d definitely recommend Samosir as your next site to visit! 🙂 🙂 🙂

~Agatha~

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The House at the Edge of Magic

A girl was outside a butcher’s shop. She saw a woman…a beautiful woman. This woman had scarlet hair wearing a scarlet dress, a scarlet bag and scarlet shoes. The woman was about to go inside but-

The girl pounced and held onto the bag. But the butcher caught her in the nick of time. 

This girl is no ordinary girl. Her name is Nine and she is an orphan pickpocket with nothing to her name. She seemed pretty disappointed when the butcher caught her. 

I wonder why…

Nine went back to an alley, where she stopped at the Nest of a Thousand Treasures and whispered “No Strawberries Today”.

Pockets, a man who found Nine when she was an orphan.

Pockets had found Nine and other thieves for they were orphans, but he greedily asked for something in return from all of them: To steal and get something nice for him. 

Nine immediately got upset again at the thought.

Pockets immediately reminded her that if he hadn’t picked Nine up to his Nest, then she would be alone, on the streets…

The next day, Nine was looking everywhere for something to pick, but she saw the same scarlet haired woman with the scarlet bag.

Nine’s eyes goggled as she looked at her prey. She was ready…

POUNCE!

But this time, the woman was ready. She held her bag tight as many people ran to catch Nine.

Nine quickly fell into the woman and reached in her bag and found an ornament inside. She plucked it inside her satchel and ran for her life.

Finally, Nine is alone. She took out the ornament, only to find out that it was a mini house. She blinked once and she saw a door knocker on the door.

Nine, feeling pretty childish, knocked. 

She laughed and put the house on the ground, but as she was about to leave, she saw the house…growing?

Yes! The house grew until full size. It had nine, ten, eleven floors!

Nine went in and she was introduced to Flabberghast (a wizard with auburn hair and an ancient sense), Eric (a troll), and Dr. Spoon (a spoon with high, qualifying grades, who is in search for his partner, Professor Dish and, weirdly, wearing a kilt).

They were extremely happy that she knocked, which only made Nine more astonished than she was at that moment.

Flabberghast explained that his sister, a very powerful witch, put a curse to this house and him, which included: Taking the wizard’s powers away; making any clothes they wear turn into a different color every ten minutes; putting different places if they went out the backyard; and not allowing the residents inside to get out. 

Nine was able to get in and out whenever she wanted to, because she did not live there, which also made out a point that she was able to lift the curse.

Flabberghast showed her a letter that his sister gave him when the curse was put. Nine read it and the letter said that they had to say the magic words-

-but there weren’t any.

Flabberghast pointed out that they had to give something that they most loved.

The wizard gave his trophy (for hopscotch), Eric gave his most loveable duster, Dr. Spoon gave his kilt, and Nine…

Nine pulled out her music box. It was the only thing her parents gave her before she was left in the streets. 

They all put it inside the wizard’s old cauldron before Nine went back ‘home’.

The next day, Nine went back but there was still nothing new.

Suddenly, a few minutes later, words began to fill the cauldron:

SONG WIN WAR.

Flabberghast immediately said it…

…but nothing happened. 

In sudden bang, the back door started shaking and Nine went to the door. Ignoring her friends’ warnings, she opened the door.

To fall down a big black VOID!

Flabberghast, Eric, and Dr. Spoon immediately went down to fetch her, but the witch was already there.

Flabberghast’s sister, the witch who put the curse on the house, was standing there with her ancestors. Nine thought that she looked familiar…

She warned them that if her brother doesn’t say the magic words in time, they will cease to exist.

Nine figured out that the witch only gave the letters. She eventually arranged it into…

I WAS WRONG.

Flabberghast, dreading to say it, said it at last.

The witch, disgruntled, snapped her fingers.

The curse was broken! After 20 years.

Nine got to live there and she didn’t need to steal for her living now. She hadn’t got to go back to Pockets’ Nest anymore. She was happy now 🙂

The End.

Epilogue

A woman with a scarlet bag, scarlet shoes and scarlet hair knocked on the door of The Nest of a Thousand Treasures.

She whispered “No Strawberries Today”.

Pockets opened the door.

The woman told him that Nine will not be in nest anymore.

Why?

Because Pockets is wrong. Life does bring you strawberries. And Pockets is left confused.

The woman didn’t look back but smiled.

“Consequences.” muttered the Witch, Flabberghast’s sister, and she grinned more broadly.And may their adventures last forever…

:: end of story ::

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From POSI to LEGO

Remember that time when I won a gold medal in an Olympiade (second time). 

Well…for the record, I also got MONEY! The one before only got an amount of Rp500.000,00.  But this time, was much better. I got an amount of Rp750.000, 00! :):):)

I was soooo happy and Mum and Dad agreed to get or buy something using it! I already knew what I wanted. It was something that I haven’t had in a long time. Something that I love (until now) and something which I usually take to build something new out of it.

You guessed it right: LEGO. 😉

It was just Mum and I first, and I had soooo many suggestions!

I immediately took out my I-Pad and opened the LEGO app. I saw many LEGOs there, including LEGO Friends, LEGO City, LEGO Disney, LEGO creators, etc. And, luckily, it was on discount!

I searched Disney, but at that time, they were celebrating Disney 100, so everything there was at least Rp1.000.000,00!.

I had no intention in LEGO city, and obviously NO intention in creators (puh-please! I can create my own, thank you very much!). 

LEGO Friends, here I come! Of course, there was a new LEGO Friends behind the camera: LEGO Friends, A new chapter! I wanted to get one of those. And finally, I chose Autumn’s House. The house is a country house with nice green tiles and literally…

It’s all. About. Nature. So…yeah! Definitely.

We didn’t buy it as soon as we could, because we had to get Dad’s permission. On Tuesday, I finally asked him. We were all watching TV, and he was really absorbed into it, so, pretty impatiently, I waited until there was an advert. Dad took a look and didn’t really approve. 

I was pretty upset. Dad showed a LEGO Rocket, but this time, I was the one that didn’t approve. I mean, the rocket had only 500 something pieces! Whilst Autumn’s house has nearly 900! When I told him this, he finally did approve.

Happily, we bought it! We weren’t really expecting to come until Christmas, because it was sent from Jakarta, which is pretty far away.

However, surprisingly, three days later, a big parcel was waiting for us! :). We didn’t get our hopes up, until we opened it…AND IT WAS MY LEGO! While I was admiring it, my parents took a look at the label and saw that they took a shortcut and sent it from Medan! Pretty smart don’t you think?

I wanted them to wrap it up so it could be a Christmas present, but my parents refused, because they said that they were wanting to get something else. Hmm?

The next day, I immediately open it and build it! There were six packs, and it took my almost four hours to finish it. I was happy that it was worth it, and I got my first ever LEGO Friends: The New Chapter LEGO set! It goes with four mini-figures, one dog and one horse.

Autumn is a teen girl that was born with a limb difference, but over all, she always goes on adventures and loves volunteering at the adoption centre!

Aliya is teen girl that is always tidy and is head girl of her school. She is the leader of the group and keeps thing on schedule (she sounds like Mum 🙂 )

Leo is a teen boy that loves cooking and sports. He has a very rush of gratitude to Autumn and he always helps out with her for animals too!

Mia is Autumn’s Mum, and yes, it is the same Mia from our first LEGO Friends: Girl on a Mission. She is the housekeeper of her house and loves baking pies as much as loves her daughter!

Daisy is Autumn’s dog who loves Mia’s pies.

Peanut is Autumn’s horse who is also the foal of Mia’s old horse: Bella.

It is one of the biggest sets I’ve ever had, and now, I always play with it.

Thanks Mum and Dad, and also to myself for earning the LEGO. And big thank you to POSI for making kids earn what they deserve!

~Agatha~

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The Olympiade…

On December 2nd, 2023, I joined an Olympiade (again!).

I woke up, and I was thoroughly excited, and calm overall. I was going to be joining two subjects Math and English.

I wanted to join IPA (biology/science) first, before getting the big step on Math, but never mind. I ate breakfast quickly, and set all my stuff.

I took three 2b pencils, one eraser, one ruler, and my clipboard. I put them all in a sack-bag (not a backpack, because the Olympiade was near home), and went to the canteen with Dad to wait for it to start.

Of course, students from many school around and near Toba were already here. It was really crowded, also because the security wouldn’t let us in.

Both Math and English were being held there, so there were two charts of names that were joining; English (left) and Math (right).

My name was on both of the charts. It was easy to find it because it was and “A” for “Agatha.

Sure thing, in less than ten minutes, we were allowed to get in. Math was first. 

Only students were allowed to get in. I waved at Dad by the window, before seeing on my right…

That my friend Danish was also there! 

He’s also pretty clever, different class, but I know him, because his “marga” is the same as mine. 

In the hours of the work, I only understood a few. I thought that it was like an exam, so answered everything. But, because I was pretty unsure, I emptied the two last answers.

Finally, after what seemed a lifetime, it finished and I drank, a ton of water. It was soooo hot and I chug it down, until, I get inside again to join English.

I went to my exact same seat as I was in Math, and I was finally by myself.

I see a few of my friends. The ones who live near me, and also the ones that go to the same school.

When I looked to the first question, I burrowed my eyebrows.

I already knew that the questions were pretty easy. I managed to answer all of them.

I went to the toilet, and as I did, I caught a glimpse of most my friends from school, and not.

But when I arrived at the toilet, the girls toilet was so crowded and packed. Because of that, I had to go out and wait for it to end 🙁

After an hour ½, we got out.

I was very happy that was over, also because I really needed to go the toilet.

My friend from school wanted to visit my house, but she had to get her Mum’s permission, so she looked around for her.

Meanwhile, I caught Mum and her friends sitting near the parking lot.

As Mum gave me chocolate, her friends kept saying She’s definitely gonna win or just put her in the front, she’ll win anyways.

I was like, ‘Geez, stop!’ But I just said that in my mind so no one else heard it but me.

We wanted to go the entrance hall, but it was packed, so we went back to the canteen instead. 

There, Mum and I played an ABC game, while waiting for our lunch to come. Whilst waiting, I finally went to the toilet, and it wasn’t crowded anymore 🙂

After we finish, we immediately went to the Auditorium for the announcement. We got in, but it was still IPA. We got out again…

…but it seems as if there was no way back in.

We waited for more than half an hour, before they let us in for the English announcement.

I dunno how, but I had to the toilet then. 

But as I do, I had a fit while trying to get back in. The assistant wasn’t there, so I had to push my way through and jump over the railings to get back inside.

Sure enough, it was worth it.

It was already silver, and they hadn’t called my name yet. All of my friends have been called though!

But my heart stopped racing as they announced the gold prize.

ME!

I couldn’t really hear it, because the microphone was cracking up, but, me!!!

I was very happy. I got a gold medal and money too (I’ve already agreed with Mum and Dad to use it to get new Lego).

Even though I didn’t get math, I know that when I try again, I’ll do better and I’ll promise to always keep improving to get a better score in the olympiade 🙂

Well at least I know how the questions will be like…

Luv, 

Agatha Simanjuntak

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Secrets at Malory Towers

Felicity Rivers was going back to boarding school on the train with her best friend, Susan. They both had just gotten astonishing news from Miss Grayling, Headmistress of Malory towers. 

Felicity was to be Head Girl that year and Susan was to be her deputy, giving the Head Girl her duties.

Felicity’s sister, Darrel, also was Head Girl in her last term as well. She knew that their cousin, Alicia, had also been deputy too.

As they went out they met their friend, June Johns. She congratulated them, very pleased.

Felicity and Susan had to go to Miss Grayling’s office to get their badges while June left them to go to their dormitory. As they got there, Miss Grayling was waiting for them with another student, called Alice. She had glasses, but either way, she looked quite familiar. Without knowing, Susan escorted Alice to the dormitory, ignoring Felicity’s remarks. 

Still, even June thought she looked very familiar. 

As Alice was sleeping, her glasses slipped pretty downwards.  Felicity, June and Susan were still awake. As Susan saw Alice she noticed it…

The next day was just as confusing. Alice kept doing everything anyone told her, like a servant.

As their classes started, Alice knew everything, even though she claimed to have been home schooled ever since. 

In the evening, they met Violet, a spoilt girl who boasts about everything. She met Alice, and then she started showing off what she had done in her summer term. Felicity, Susan, and June looked away pointedly.

As they went back their dorm, they bumped into Daphne Hope. Trust me, you do not want to bump into her at school. Daffy they call her, honestly. She was with her friend Katie.  Katie was a friend of a fake friend who is a very fake friend. Daffy looked at us roughly, then she turned at her heels, nose in the air, Katie following behind.

Next month, they had swimming lessons, and after they had finished, Felicity, Susan, June and Alice were still swimming. Violet was giggling in her swimsuit, but she hadn’t swam yet. She suddenly started boasting that her house had an indoor pool. Daffy and Katie, who were still there, told Violet to come in and show some tricks. Violet refused, but Daffy pulled her in, followed by Alice, who Violet had clutched onto before pulled in. Felicity and Susan helped to get Alice as June dove down to fetch Violet. 

Of course Daffy was given a punishment, to not go to the following garden party that week. Her friend, Katie, was very sad indeed, but at the Garden party, something else happened.

At the garden party, everyone was beautiful looking, in the gowns, and a few wore makeup. Daffy was nowhere to be seen. Everyone was happy, except for Katie, who seemed very subdued of the absence of her friend. Violet, was boasting that she had been to many garden parties before. A few didn’t believe it, but many did. Violet kept showing off and off until it became a downright lie. 

Alice then pulled Violet into a quiet place and whispered to her to not boast all the time. Felicity caught them, and she recognized the same familiar face as her friends..

*** 

Violet didn’t seem too much. She looked at her pet cat that she brought, but she didn’t look at her back. She knew she had to hide it. She was still in her first form, but as brave as she was, she sneaked out and hid her cat in the garden shed. All may seem right, until Daffy knew everything. It was official: Brought by Katie.

Daffy got her matches and burned down the shed! Naughty and deceitful, she ran off back to bed, scared.

Violet who was still awake at the moment, saw the shed’s flames and rushed downstairs. She was rescuing her cat! She found dear Willow, sprawled on the floor, meowing in terror. Violet, too got stuck. 

Suddenly, a girl came and saw them.  It was Alice! Alice rescued Violet and Willow, and Daffy was expelled by Miss Grayling. There’s only one more thing left to sort out in here:

Alice.

Felicity gave Alice a bouquet of roses, as she gave herself away. Alice was Josephine ‘Jo’ Jones. She had been at Malory Towers since they were in first form, but got expelled in their second, for running away with a first former. She had been described to be boastful, naughty, mischievous, and deceitful. Still, Miss Grayling, allowed her to come back, as the change in her.

Many secrets were to be solved that year, and maybe next too?

Shhh…

:: EOF ::

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Anne of Green Gables

An old man was at the train station one morning. He wasn’t married, but he lived with his sister.

He went to the train station to pick up a boy that he and his sister adopted. He was in such a hurry. The caretaker of the orphanage (Mrs Spencer) told him that she would take the boy to the train station at Green Gables.

He was very late when he got there. He looked all around for the boy, but his eyes couldn’t find him. Suddenly, a young girl came up to him and asked if his name was Matthew Cuthbert. Fortunately, it was. The girl was called Anne Shirley. She had burning, red, straight hair. Her mouth and eyes were huge and her face was pale.

She told him that she was left by Mrs Spencer. This puzzled Matthew, but he led her back home. It was a long way back to their house and they were very late for lunch. Matthew’s sister, Marilla Cuthbert didn’t say anything at first. But as Anne was eating lunch, Marilla was very angry at Matthew. 

She asked a thousand questions based on the young boy they were supposed to adopt. Anne overheard this and became very sad and frustrated. She ran away as quick as she could afterwards, to Nova Scotia where Mrs Spencer’s house for girls were.

That night Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert looked everywhere for Anne, but sadly, she wasn’t to be found. Matthew suggested that he’d go back to Nova Scotia, in case she went back there. Marilla disagreed retortedly, but after a while, she let him go. 

Matthew went to the train station and went straight back to Nova Scotia where Anne was.

Meanwhile, the redheaded girl held her satchel nervously as she knocked on the door of the house, but there was no answer. She became very tired and fell asleep.

The next morning, she found the milkman putting some milk on the doorstep. He offered her a lift to the village, which she agreed constantly.

Matthew had reached the village where she was at. He looked absolutely everywhere for Anne, but there was nothing.  Suddenly, the church bells rung the village, saying it was the end of church. He thought quickly, and went to the church. People were chatting with each other, and even giving money.  Matthew searched for Anne. He suddenly felt a pang of stupidest feelings and pity of that if Anne wasn’t there. As he was about to get out, his eyes caught the attention of a child with platted red hair talking to with the priests if they knew the way to the closest train station.

It was Anne! Matthew asked her to join him, but Anne rejected at first, saying that they don’t love her, or want her. But as she knew, that she had nowhere else to go, she agreed. Marilla was waiting for them and hugged them in delight. She agreed to adopt Anne and care for her.

The next week, she invited Anne to go and see her friend. Anne was delighted to go. Marilla’s friend was called Mrs Barry. She had two children called Diana and Minnie. They greeted and welcomed them inside.  Diana and Anne immediately became bests of friends. Diana told Anne about the school she’d be going to.

That evening, Anne told Marilla about her history. After both her parents died, she went to two families before being passed to Mrs Spencer. They were all very cruel, until she came to Marilla and Mathew.

The next day was Anne’s very first day of school. On the way, she bumped into a tall boy, named Jack. He asked her where she was going and threatened her to give her lunch. Suddenly another handsome, tall boy with black curls everywhere. He asked what Jack was doing and shooed him away. He and Anne’s eyes met, before Anne remembered that she was going to school.  She carried her stuff and walked much faster than before, because the boy was following her and calling for her name.

As they arrived at Avonlea School, the boy raced in front of Anne and opened the door for her. Anne apologized for her behaviour before, and introduced herself. The young boy’s name was Gilbert Blythe. Just as they were chatting, the rest of the boys pulled Gilbert out of Anne’s sight. Anne caught sight of Diana, whose mouth had opened to a gap. Diana explained to Anne that Gilbert was very romantic, handsome and really nice. He caught the eyes of most girls, but he had never went inside the class with a girl like he just did.

Two girls were disapproving, because they wanted Gilbert for themselves. Josie Pye and Ruby Gills took one glance and stalked away.

Their first subject was English. Anne was horrid at it.  Gilbert, on the other hand, was trying to make Anne look at him. First, he threw a chalk at her, but that didn’t work. When the teacher wasn’t looking, Gilbert crawled to Anne’s desk and put an apple next to her slate. He was failing so badly, to get her attention. Then, he did something incredible. He took one look at Anne’s face and tugged her hair while calling her ‘carrots’. Anne became indignant and smacked her plate at Gilbert’s head. The slate cracked in half and the teacher got very cross.

Anne began to not go to school for a few days. Then, one day, she invited Diana to tea. There were many to eat that day. They were chatting if Anne should go back to school, but Anne kept disagreeing. They were very thirsty, so Anne went to the cupboard and found wine, but she didn’t know…neither did Diana! Anne drank only one cup, but Diana drank a few. Suddenly Diana got drunk and fainted. Mrs Barry was very disapproved at this point, that she disallowed Diana to ever be with Anne forever. Anne still disagreed on going to school. Especially that she did not have Diana anymore to sit next to her.

One day she bumped into her, Josie Pye and Ruby Gills playing on the field, but Diana pretended as if Anne wasn’t even alive.

That night, Anne went to bed but screams were outside. Marilla and Matthew were carrying buckets of water. Anne was puzzled why. It was Ruby Gills house! It got caught on fire! Anne went with Marilla and Mathew out to Ruby’s house. It was blaming on fire, and the fire rescue weren’t there yet! Gilbert, the boys and even Diana had come to help. Everyone was outside safe, but the house wasn’t. 

Everyone had enough water to clear up the outside, but not in the inside. Ashes were getting bigger, and no one was able to get in. The boys, including Gilbert, ran inside to try and slow the fire down. But there was only one more bucket to spare. Anne seized her chance. She went inside and threw water all over the fire inside. People thought she was a hero. Even Gilbert admired her purity, but Anne dared not to look at him. She saw Diana, but walked away as she glanced at her.

Marilla offered a room for Ruby’s Parents, whilst Ruby sleeps with Anne. As they settled in, Anne heard Ruby sob. As she asked why, it was because that Ruby was embarrassed to be sleeping with the girl that she hated so much. They eventually talked it through, and Anne became pleased. Ruby’s house was finally mended, but Anne’s adventure still didn’t end.

Ruby and Anne were playing Elaine, and Anne climbed a tree near the river. She saw Ruby down on the ground, but Anne was very afraid of climbing down, since it was her first time playing this game. She let go and fell in the river. Suddenly she saw a boat row by, which was rowed by no other than Gilbert Blythe. He helped her get inside the boat. As Gilbert took the oars, he questioned the skinny girl, but Anne didn’t answer anything. As Anne got off, Gilbert pleaded at Anne to be good friends, but Anne declined. She ignored Ruby when she said that it was so romantic.

Suddenly next week, Matthew said that his very good friend who had been suffering a bad disease had died, and he was invited to hid funeral. Anne thought it was horribly sad that he died, because his son was the only child he had. He’d have to live with their house-keeper, but neither wise, he’d be an orphan.

After the funeral, Anne decided to meet the young boy who lost his father. But she stopped in her tracks as she saw who it was. Gilbert Blythe! He stood before his father’s grave, whilst Anne was there, heart aching for the handsome, young boy. She failed to say the things she wanted to.

The next day, as Anne went to bed, Diana broke in, carrying her little sister with her. Anne asked whatever was wrong, Diana explained that her little sister, Minnie, has the croup (asthma) very badly. Marilla and Matthew went inside and asked what was going on. Diana explained everything. Marilla suggested a doctor at downtown Avonlea, but it was the middle of the night, and it wasn’t that good just to burst in and ask for help!

Anne told Diana that her second parents had three twins and they were always in the hands of Anne. She knew what to do. She told Matthew to boil some water, and Diana to warm her sister up with warm blankets. Anne asked Marilla if they had ipecac. Splendidly, they did, and at once they gave it to Minnie, and soon, she was sound asleep, safe and sound.

That morning Mrs Barry thanked Anne for her heroic saving of Minnie. She and Diana were finally allowed to play again which was a very nice thing to hear. Anne realized that it was a pleasure to live in Green Gables after a ton of adventures she had had, and finally agreed to go back to school by ‘after Christmas’. Matthew and Marilla gifted her a puffed-sleeved dress which looked amazingly beautiful.

One day, on the way to school, Anne bumped into Gilbert. She then offered a hand… to shake. She thanked the boy for saving her at the river, and ‘sorry-s’ for his father loss. Anne told them to start over again, by introducing themselves first. As Gilbert held out his hand for Anne to shake, she hugged him, and that was the beginning of them.

~The End~

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The Competition

On Wednesday 26th July 2023 I got the greatest news of my life!

Here’s the backstory:

A few months ago, my English Teacher told me about an English speech competition and asked me to join. I was stumped because usually, I wasn’t asked to do this sort of thing 🙁. Just because they never knew…until the day I won an English competition (read my writing: Third Place: Gold Medal).

Still, I was eager to join, so I chose the title “My Hero” to hit it off. I told about Mum and Dad being my Heroes. They recorded it and sent it to the judges. They said that they would announce it after my birthday.

My birthday came and it was great (read my writing about: Me and Mum’s Birthday). Still, there was nothing 🙁. That was until Wednesday 26th July 2023. I was doing an online lesson, until Mum came and said that my Deputy Head-Teacher called.  Mum asked me what I did wrong in school, which was ridiculous! Why would the Deputy Head-Teacher call my Mum like that?!

But, Mum was kidding. She told me that my Deputy Head-Teacher called to say that got nominated for the top ten to go to Medan because of my speech! He sent Mum the list, and I was amazed that I was the only one from town!!!

😀😀😀

I was sooooo happy and proud of myself. This was the first time in forever that I’ve been like this!

The next day, Thursday 27th July 2023, I still had to go to school. In the morning, my friend, who also was told to join the competition but didn’t get nominated, was the only one that knew.  She yelled “CONGRATULATIONS!!” at the top of her voice, which gave others a hint.

When we had to do some “tor-tors” in our school yard, I was called by my friends. When I looked behind, I saw my English Teacher waiting for me there. She held my hand stiffly and led me to my Deputy Head-Teacher. He took a look at me and beckoned me to the bottom of our yard. My Head-Teacher was waiting there, with my sports teacher (he’s stricter than you think) with a sharp glare.

As my Head-Teacher turned me round and round, my sports teacher was looking at me, up and down, like…BOMBASTIC SIDE EYE!!! Then, my Head-Teacher led me to her office. I had to wait there for my English Teacher who was still at the yard.

She finally came and asked me how I was feeling, because I had been ill for the past few days. I told her I was fine and better. She asked me if I still remembered my speech. I forgot a few parts…Hey! Don’t judge! It had been much longer than you think 🙁.

My English teacher printed it, and gave me five minutes to try and remember it again. It had been more than TEN MINUTES when she came back, but I was ready. After I did my speech, she gave some advice to do when I go to Medan.

I was finally ready. When Mum picked me up, I said goodbye to my teachers and went back home.

After lunch, the coach came to pick us up, and we were finally on the way.

It. Was. A. Very. Bumpy. Ride!!! And the most annoying part was when a woman couldn’t remember where she had to get off 🙁🙁🙁!!! After a phone call, she finally remembered, and went off. PHEW!

We had to call a GoCar (which is like Uber) to get to the hotel. That night a practised three more times before bedtime, which was amazingly worth it.

The next day, Friday 28th July 2023 was the day that waited me.

I dressed up quickly to go and get breakfast.  I had some yummy, warm porridge, and that was all that I ate, but like those only three practises, it was very worth it!

We took a GoCar to the Erlangga office, where I will perform. 

I started getting nervous, but I always remembered about the people who supported me: My parents, Mum’s friends, her office, even my whole school!

Finally it was time to go in, and we had to choose numbers to up to the front. I was pleased to say that I was number six. I had so much time to prepare.

Finally it was my turn. I said my speech as loudly and clearly as possible. You can watch in this link: https://youtu.be/2jryOe57gys

I knew the judges were tired, because they thought that My Hero was just Dad, but I already said clearly that it was BOTH of my parents.

Next, they decided to do some karaoke, and, unbelievably, they chose me to do the singing!I couldn’t believe it, but I couldn’t take it back. I sang Eyes Closed by Ed Sheeran. After halfway, something incredible happened. Whilst I was singing, a Chinese boy was dancing in his seat, so the judge asked him if he wanted to sing to and offered him a microphone. Weirdly, he jumped up, snatched the microphone from his hand and ran towards me singing the chorus. I was too bewildered to say anything at all!

After the break was a finished, the competition continued until everyone in the room had had at turn. The judges went off to count our scores, when the event leader told me to sing AGAIN! Honestly! He said, because my culture was Batak, I had to sing a Batak song! I chose the song “Rap”, which means together in the local language.

After I was finished, a young Middle School Girl called Grace was told to sing next, and, goodness she had such a beautiful voice as she sang, “All by Myself”.  Wonderful!!!

Finally, time was up and the judges came up to say the winners and the scores. At fourth place, there was a girl named Celine. She went to Prime One School, which was an international school, where most has to learn English.

They then said the score of the student in third place, which was 87, 78. That was an amazing score, when I heard that it was ME!!! 😀😀😀. I knew I wasn’t first place and wasn’t able to go to Jakarta for the finals, but I’ve gone THIS FAR and things have become so great. The first place student was an Indian boy named Kuhaneesh. I saw him crying as I approached him saying congrats.

Still, I loved this experience and the trophy was brilliantly big. I do hope I will get more. You too 😀😀😀

~ Agatha 😀 ~

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Me & Mum’s Birthday

Friday, 14th July

Mum woke me up, with me not remembering my birthday 🙁!

But as I went out, I saw a banner, saying: Happy Birthday! And there were balloons hung above with a bouquet of all my favourite snacks (Mum doesn’t let me eat them every day, which is nonsense because she was the one to choose the snacks) sitting on my piano seat.

I soon remembered that it was my birthday.

I quickly took a bath and went to the living room to take a photo with my bouquet.

Yay! 😀😀😀! I was very happy that I got it, but I was sad that Mum, Dad, and I had to go to Dolok Sanggul to do our passports.  

It took less than two hours to get there. When we got there, we had to wait for the assistant that we told to help, but another assistant came and told us that he could help. 

“Good morning, may I help you?”

That was the first thing he said. He led us to a desk. We had to write in a few forms which I couldn’t understand, but one thing that I did, was that we had to write in our birth-date! Mine was on that day but sadly, the assistant didn’t even notice 🙁!

I was told I couldn’t smile while taking the photo and my ears had to be shown (which are usually covered by my ears). As I saw my photo, I looked horrible!

I wasn’t smiling, which was good, but I had this sort of annoyed expression, which was terrible 🙁.

We had to go back home, but I pretty liked it there because it was cold. We were halfway, when Mum says she has to go to the office. As sad I was, Mum got out and said that we’ll cut the cake that night.

“That Night” didn’t come as quick. I did a lot of stuff.

As soon as I got bored, Mum came home!

We went out with my sister for an evening stroll. Which went out relaxing. I was able to play basketball and play with my friend. 

Finally, it was time to go home. That night, we cut the cake and two other friends of mine came to give me ANOTHER CAKE!

The first cake was a BlackPink (K-Pop group) cake. The second cake was from my friends, a caramel, chocolate one. 

Went out good, and we gave a few pieces of cake to my friends.

A few minutes later, a friend of mine, Lianzki, gave me a gift, which turned out to be a night light (thanks!).

Finally, my Birthday was finished, and I had a great day 😀😀!!! 

BUT!!! After three days, a package came…

It was from my huggy-friend from England, Sara 😀😀😀!!!!

I’ve told you guys about her (you guys should read my article: A special from my Huggy Friend and it will tell you all about her).

She literally sent two magazines that I used to read when I was England, and I take as another present 😁.

There also was another envelope with a birthday card for Mum, which was in two days.

Stay tuned.

👇👇👇

Tuesday 18th July

I woke up knowing it was Mum’s birthday. I loved it when it was someone else’s birthday because I get to do all the planning 😀. Dad and I had already planned it ever since a week ago. We pretty love it when it’s like this. Pretty good right?

We made a prayer from Mum when we were in the car when I was going to school and Mum had to go to work.

She didn’t really expect anything, but Dad and I were up to something 😀.

School was done for, because we just finished our holiday. We had to do timetables but happily, the next day was a holiday, so, no pressure 😀!

I went straight home though, which meant that I couldn’t stay with mum that long.

Waiting for me at home was mom’s birthday cake, heart shaped rose cake. I peeked at it and saw that it was beautiful!

Dad went home and started off eating lunch as usual, but a few minutes, he told about the plan to make Mum’s birthday a blast!

Me and Dad would pick mom up and buy roses for her. I would hide in the back and surprise her. 

I thought that it would good, but I had an online lesson and I had to do it in the car 🙁. 

Luckily, it was also finished in the car, which gave me time to go with dad to get some roses.

We were lucky enough to get three roses, one from each of us: Me, Dad and my little sister.

Afterwards we went to Mum’s office to pick her up. I hid in the back to surprise.

Usually, Mum would go to the back to put her bag there, but luckily she didn’t.

I was ready to surprise her…

But things weren’t as planned 🙁.

She saw me hiding, and laughed. Even Dad laughed, and so did I.

We kissed her and gave her the flowers. She fell in love with them.

We stopped at KFC to get some dinner and burgers, whilst do my second lesson.

I don’t know why they bother anyway.

Only Mum went in, and it took pretty long (no offense).

Overall, the burger was pretty good! I loved it because it was crispy chicken.

I finished my lesson, and we finally got to cut the cake.

She blew out the candles. We all got a piece (especially my sister, because she was starving!).

Mum also loved it. I loved the roses because it gave sugar rush.

I saw Mum’s face happy. She must’ve loved the surprise (even though it wasn’t really a good one).

Happy B’Day Mum, we love you!

~ Agatha. S 😊~

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A special from My Huggy Friend

~ Saturday 17th June, 2023~

I just got back from school. 

Dad was fixing my window, because I got a new bed; Mom was helping by cleaning.

I was playing with Charlotte, my sister, when suddenly, Mom told me to tidy up my room.

I got up and started with my desk.

Suddenly, a security guard delivered a package, which was for Mom.

It was just a pair of pyjamas.

But I was disappointed. I had been waiting for two months for an envelope, from my old friend, Sara.

She’s a nice woman who we use to meet at the church back in Sheffield, England. I miss her dearly.

We have lots of other friends back in England, but she’s our “huggy friend”.

I was halfway cleaning, until the same security guard knocked on our door.

In fact, however, he had another big package from Adidas for Me, Mom and Dad.

He also had an envelope. 

As I read it, it was for:

Miss. A. Simanjuntak (that’s me 😀)

Which meant that it was from Sara!

And what was best, was that there was a valuable stamp of King Charles, King of the United Kingdom. 

Sara had explained to us in an email, that she would be sending the stamp, for it would be very valuable and expensive when I’m older.

And what was amazingly surprising, was that…IT WAS DELIVERED ON KING CHARLES’ BIRTHDAY 😀😀😀!

You all might not know about it (or even about himself!), but here’s some information (about the parade):

King Charles had a trooping parade for is Birthday.

The traditional military spectacle today is a parade that isn’t like any other parade that had happened. 

King Charles’ real birthday is on November the 14th and is usually celebrated privately with the royal family. 

It is called “Trooping the Colour” which Queen Elizabeth used to celebrate. Now as her majesty has passed on, it is now led onto her majesty, King Charles.

1,500 soldiers, 300 horses and hundreds of musicians marched from Buckingham palace to the Parade.

It was seen by the whole Royal Family (well, except Prince Harry and Meghan. By the way, did you know that Prince Harry’s real name is Henry???).

There hasn’t been a parade like this for 40 years!

The last time a reigning monarch rode in the procession was Queen Elizabeth II in 1986.

King Charles also joined by riding a horseback closely followed by Prince William and the rest.

A carriage closely followed nearby, carrying Queen Camila, Princess Catherine “Kate” Middleton, Prince George, Princess Charlotte (she’s the one we were inspired to name my sister: Charlotte), and Prince Louis 😀.

Then, King Charles went up to the balcony to enjoy the aircraft with the rest of the royal family (Queen Camila Bowler, Princess Catherine “Kate” Middleton, Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis).

Overall, it might be coincidence?

I loved it so much, especially that it was from Sara.

Here’s some things about her:

She’s a nice woman who we use to meet at the church back in Sheffield, England. I miss her dearly.

She wears thin glasses and has silky brown hair.

We always email her, and she emails us too. We also call her too by skype. All the ways to keep in touch.

We flew back to Indonesia (where I am now) three years ago, March 2020. Before that, she was still as friendly and nice as she is now.

I haven’t seen her, but whenever we call, I can always hear her and know she’s alright.

We have lots of other friends back in England, but she’s our “huggy friend”. 

She ALWAYS sends us packages or envelopes, on whatever event, holiday, or even BIRTHDAY😀!

She also once sent a postcard, with a jigsaw puzzle with it!

Ever since we’ve moved back to Indonesia (after FOUR years in England 🙁🙁🙁), trust me, I’ve got LOTS of postcards and birthday cards from her.

Sara also gives me and my sister the BEST gifts any grandchild could have, such as storybooks and stationary sets!       

Love her ❤️.

I kept her envelope within all her cards.

I put them ALL inside a yellow, gold box, just to not lose them 👍👍👍

Miss you Sara ❤️❤️❤️😊😊😊

~ Agatha. S 😊~

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My Performance

Saturday 20th May 2023    

This morning, I woke up terribly early, because I had a wonderful thing going on. My school has an Art Performance, and our Regent and Deputy Regent is going to come JJJ!

Our teacher had already gave our ulos-skirts (the skirts we will be wearing), and we had to wear black-long-sleeved shirts.

We also had to wear ulos, which are “Batak” (that’s what the local people are called) scarves, but we wear it on our shoulder(s).

Mom put me on a chair, so she can put on my makeup. She actually bought face-powder and eyelashes!

She also did my hair, which was platted, and then finished it up with hairspray.

Then she went out to find a flower to hang on my hair. I love herJ!

At the end, it went fabulous! I looked really beautiful.

I quickly had breakfast, which were eggs (My fav sort of breakfast). We waited for Dad, who was taking a bath for and extremely long time (as usual).

While waiting, Mom quickly put on some lipstick, which went tricky, because my lips were thin (like hers).

Finally, Dad finished, then we took off.

I was upset, because Dad couldn’t be there. He had to work on his Visa Passport, for he was going to China tomorrow.

I complained a bit to Mom, because we left without putting on my ulos and skirt.

Giving up, Mom gave me my stuff, and I quickly put them on.

She also put more lipstick and face powder, because it was wearing off.

When it was time to get in, I was so excited. I saw my friends Callysta and Phoebe. I waved at them.

I then saw my friends Tysefoni and Tiara. We took our seats with the rest and waited for it to start.

Mom had to sit at the back, and I always took a peek at her every five minutes.

We watched my friend, Harel, who was singing (she has a lovely voice). She was doing a collaboration with grade four.

As she went down, she looked fabulous.

Classes went on and on, and I was starting to get bored.

Then, Mom came to sit next to me. She told me that it stinks at the back, so she came to get out of it.

I went to get ice cream, because I was bored out of my skull, and it was boiling hotL! Mom didn’t want one, so I took one for myself. It was a Taro Crispy ice cream, and it was only five-thousand rupiahs J J J. I quickly got back to my seat and ate ice cream. I was completed gobble-smacked when Mom asked me if she could take a bite.

Fifteen minutes later, lunch came. It was my favourite: Quality Fried Chicken (QFC) J J J! I gobbled it all up, and eventually, however, I got really full. I drank water, and then Mom added a touch of lipstick to finish.

Suddenly, the MC announced that class Five C (our class) was next!

I got nervous. Suddenly, I felt as if I had forgotten the moves L L L!

My friend, Christine, beckoned me and my friend, Abigail, to come with them backstage. 

We had ten minutes more to get ready.

Our parents were taking pictures, while their kids stood there in a line, shaking and feeling nervous.

We were doing a “tor-tor” dance called: “Annakon Hi do Hamoraon di Au”, which was a nice song to dance to.

Finally, we went up on stage, and everyone loved us! We were given money and even our Headmistress loved us.

Of course, a day had ended, and we had finished our work there.

My performance went really well, and thanks to my friends too.

:: Agatha E.F Simanjuntak ::                                                                  

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Swimming, my hobby – from a very young age of time

Swimming is my hobby… until now!

I have known swimming, ever since a very young age…

When I was five years old, I went to Ballet lessons. It was wonderful, but I also wanted to learn sports, like swimming! Dancing also wasn’t my type.

When I turned six, I quit ballet, and joined swimming lessons. I was happy, but at the start, it didn’t go as planned. I was told to swim all the way to the end, even though that I didn’t know how to swim.

But the next lesson was better. Our swimming coach taught us the famous style: freestyle. She said that we have to belly-flop, and hands to scoop.

I was glad for that, because afterwards, I had finished my first stage. Around my second stage, it was Christmas! So we had a bit of fun. 

It surprised me when I was stage five. I earned my stage five certificate two weeks earlier than supposed to.

On stage seven, I had to do swimming lessons in the evening. It was tiring, but at least I got to stage eight.

I finished swimming until stage eight. I wasn’t able to do stage nine, because my family and I were going back to Indonesia, from England.

My last ever swimming coach was called Tom. He taught me in stage seven and eight. My other coaches were called Mathew, Bob and Taylor. 

They were four altogether.

I was sad, because I didn’t think that swimming would turn out brilliant.

Swimming isn’t as good here. It’s so easy to get sunburnt. But there’s this Waterpark, only fifteen minutes from where I live now.

I sometimes go there to have fun and to practise swimming.

Now, I sometimes go on a school trip to practise as well! And on holidays (with my Dad).

I am very happy, that I’m able to practise in Indonesia. Swimming is definitely one of my favourite hobbies.

I love swimming, because, when I swim, it makes me feel fresh, relaxed, as if when you have a few bed thoughts, they turn into happy thoughts. 

My favourite style, is breath-stroke. Perhaps because you take a breath for every second.

I can do many styles in swimming, such as: Breath-stroke (my fav), freestyle (my first ever style), back-stroke (my fastest), butterfly (still needs practise), and dolphin (my funniest).  

Swimming is an awesome hobby, and sport too. It’s fun and relaxing.

I’m sad that I couldn’t get until stage nine, but I’m happy that I know all sorts of styles. 

Everyone can do swimming, even you.

The End

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Sprinting 

Thursday, 18 May 2023

This morning, I woke pretty early to go out with parents, around Del (where I live).

We stopped at a rondure near a fish pond. Dad jogged around it, whilst Mom and I walked.Mom made some funny hand moves, left and right, which made me laugh. She said that I should make some too. I did.

Then we saw Dad jogging up to us. Mom and I stared at him like: wow, this kid never stops! Of course, we were wrong, for after we walked four rounds, my dad had slowed down.

Mom suggested that we should go to a place called, “the containers”. The containers are inside Del, but was a moor before the containers came in. Students used to study inside them, but now, not anymore. It’s alone now, but students still like to sprint there, for there’s a big yard, and another rondure there too.

We walked there. 

We passed classes and also passed offices. They were a few students who woke up early too, to study on benches outside their classes.

We also passed the Open Theatre. That was the place where me and my friends did some vocal singing and dancing on Easter Sunday (if you remember, I wrote about the practise a few weeks ago). It was also the place where I got my Gold medal for third place in a competition (also have wrote about that a few weeks ago).

We then turned a sharp corner. We also passed the Ninth Building (Industry Faculty), which was the place that I did the competition (read Third Place in my DiAgatha.com to know all about it). What loving memories of April!

We finally reached the containers. It was a green place, with ledges right next to the rondure, but my Dad started sprinting off around.

I told Mom that I wanted to sprint too. So I ran to Dad and we sprinted for three rounds. I was pretty surprised that I was able to do three rounds, because the rondure was bigger than the one near the fish pond. I walked with Mom as Dad took pictures of us. Finally we rested under a tree, which somehow peed on us! We took some photos, then we went back home.

We went through a path that passed dormitories of both boys and girls. There were flowers, as in Daisies, Tulips, Buttercups, and lots more. We took a photo with a flower that was pretty big.

I don’t know what it was, but I think that it was a tulip. It was a wonderful way to spend our morning. I hope we could be able to do it again (more holidays, PLZ!)

EOF

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Third Place (Gold Medal)

On a Saturday morning…

I woke up earlier than I thought. Everything seemed usual…until I remembered that today was Saturday. I kept wondering, what happens on Saturday…especially the one on this week?

I didn’t even get up, until a few moments later, I heard my mom say, “Wow, you’re having a competition and already woke up early!”

Third Position (Gold Medal) POSI Olympics

I reacted quickly. I got up, tidied myself up, took a shower, and changed my clothes.

I went out of my room with white and red clothes (the uniforms that Indonesian students wear).

I quickly had breakfast, which were eggs, and ate quickly. I looked out of the window and saw, many students. Primary, middle school, and even high school students were outside.

I was pretty lucky that the competition was in the place that I live in. Unlike other students, I don’t need to go by car, or wake up at four o’clock to catch the bus.

***

I was outside the Ninth Building (Industry Faculty), the place I would be doing the competition. There were three subjects for us Prime Years: Science, math and English. Obviously. I picked English.

All of my friends picked English as well. I saw two of my friends in the same room as me.

I waited nervously for the test papers to be handed out. Our supervisor came late. I was glad after I saw the questions.

After all was done, I went home to rest and have lunch. Then, me and mom went to the Theatre to hear the announcement.

We waited for two hours. After the science announcement, I waited for the English announcement, which was supposed to be next. But, actually, the teacher’s test announcement, social studies and a few games were taken first.

I was grumpy and kept complaining.

Finally, it was time. It was taken from the thirty best. I went to the stairs and waited for my name. Twenty seven students went up on stage. The ten lowest score made it out with bronze, whilst the next students had silver. The first, second, and third places were taken off with gold!

One by one, my friends left me off the stairs. I was all alone waiting for my name.

It was third place. I thought to myself “I couldn’t have made it that far…”

I was pretty unsure. But the announcer read the name of my school!

“SD Catholic San Francesco Balige!”

I looked around. It was only me from my school who didn’t get a medal yet. I looked at mom as they said: “Agatha Ester Feodora Simanjuntak!!!”

I was shocked as I went up on stage. Mom was full of enthusiasm with her hands up in the sky.

I got lots of money, a medal, and a certificate.

It was wonderful that I got third place. I was pretty sad because I didn’t get first. But, it’s okay. Because it was my first time. It went very well, actually…

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Good Friday

On Good Friday, 2023, it went… fabulous!!!

I woke up pretty early, because we had to go to church. Well not really like a church, but an auditorium which is used usually for events. Jesus Christ died on the cross that day, and we went there to remember it.

I was pretty sad at the first part of the church, because one of the famous people in Indonesia (Mr Luhut Pandjaitan, who had come and visited) didn’t join the rest of us in the auditorium.

The church lasted until half-past ten. I stayed there to practise vocal singing and dances for Easter Sunday. I waited there with a few of my friends, and then we waited for LOTS more children. As soon as all of the children (more than twenty actually) got to the auditorium, both preachers (who were teaching us) got to their feet and started organizing positions. Afterwards, we got into our positions and started dancing.

They sometimes changed the positions (even the moves of the dance) which made a few of us pretty puzzled, confused and stressed. Apart from that, all was fine, and I was quite happy too.

Finally, everything was done, and all moves, positions were chosen and moves were glued to time.

I went home to have a quick lunch, and then go back to the auditorium to remember Jesus died on the cross, at that very time. We sang songs and heard a sermon of Jesus going up to Golgotha (Calvary) hill. My eyes were squinting in the direction of Mr Luhut Pandjaitan who was sitting at the other side on the first row. After all was done, I shook hands with a few people (some important) and said “have a blessed Good Friday”.

Eventually, I got to take a picture with THE ONE AND ONLY Mr Luhut Pandjaitan. First, we took one with my parents, then with me and him alone. He asked how much I scored on my math test. I replied, around ninety. He said that I should get more than my dad. This made me flush so hard. He suggested to take another photo, before I went.

Eventually, I got to take a picture with THE ONE AND ONLY Mr Luhut Pandjaitan. First, we took one with my parents, then with me and him alone. He asked how much I scored on my math test. I replied, around ninety. He said that I should get more than my dad. This made me flush so hard. He suggested to take another photo, before I went.

As I looked at the photos, it remembered me of the time I met him two years ago (yes, I have met him before…). At that time he asked me what my favourite subject was… and HE CALLED ME CUTE! Well, that was because I didn’t have many pimples at that time, but now…

I really enjoyed Good Friday, and I mostly enjoyed Easter Sunday today! See you Mr Pandjaitan (fans like me call him “Ompung Luhut”). Nice meeting you for four days!

Sunday, 09 April 2023

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