It's that week again - the dead week! Library is getting packed up, students are getting stressed out, weather is getting windy and chilly, and exams are invading in. Are you guys excited for finals?!! NO? ...We neither! :( But what can we say or do; exams need to be taken, words need to be chanted, and papers need to be scribbled. (the writer is suffering from pre-final poetic madness so don't mind the dictions)

Anyway, we can go through this together! Just a few days to go through and there's going to be a long long long winter break - hi Christmas, hi New Year!

Since it is the ending month of 2014, we decided to summarize our activities in this Fall 2014 term in this post. Ready? Set, go!

WELCOMING PARTY

GAME NIGHT

 

 GENERAL MEETING

INTERNATIONAL FAIR

MOVIE NIGHT

THANKSGIVING POTLUCK

Ok that's all of 2014. We are expecting to see all of you who have joined our events again later! And for those who haven't joined any, it's still not too late! We are going to have events coming soon! :)

SANG PENARI

On this Friday (November 21, 2014), we are going to have an event called 'Movie Night'. It's basically an event where we show our choice of Indonesian movie on campus, and those people who are interested can come; it's FREE admission. Wohoo aren't we all happy with all things free?

Anyway, in this Fall 2014, we chose to show this movie entitled 'Sang Penari' (translation: The Dancer).

In this movie, a dancer of a village is believed to have some mystical power that could bring peace and prosperity to the village. When a girl wants to be dancer in order to save the village from poverty and hunger, her childhood friend who loves her opposes because when a girl becomes a dancer, she becomes everyone's possession as well; she has to please guys on bed after every performances. The girl insists, and the guy left the village, broken-hearted.

See the trailer here:

Remember to come and watch the movie, you will regret it if you don't! :)

#INDObeavs

Introducing #INDObeavs

It might be too late but it's better than never; here's a group pic of the Indonesian beavers at Oregon State University taken at early September. We are feeling blissful to have more people from our home country at here. We hope to form solidarity bond with you all guys! Do have fun experiences here at our beautiful university! :)

JOKOWI-JK

Left: Jokowi - Right: Jusuf Kalla

Today, Joko Widodo (or what you all mostly know as Jokowi) and his partner, Jusuf Kalla, are officially appointed as the President and Vice President of the Republic of Indonesia for 2014-2019 period!

After a long disputes about the presidential election between two pairs of the candidates, finally the constitutional court decided to reject all the arguments and appoint Jokowi-JK candidates as the official President and Vice President. This decision is made after having done a lot of conferences and researches. 

Anyways, we hope Jokowi and Jusuf Kalla will do an amazing job in leading and making Indonesia into a greater country! :)

[source]

BATIK DAY

Hi everyone, it is 12am and October 2, 2014 already! Third day of school; tired yet? Energized? Good to know! But first... guess what day it is? It's BATIK DAY! Batik has been a significant part of Indonesian culture for the beautiful and attractive pattern it has. Batik is made by using a traditional technique —wax-resist dyeing.

The making of Batik can actually be found in other countries as well, however Batik from Indonesia is the most well-known one for its outstanding quality, patterns, designs, and techniques. Yes, we can't help but to feel proud!

Some beautiful Batik patterns below:

AND... A bit history of Batik here:
The technique used in making Batik —wax-resist dyeing— is actually an ancient art from which has existed in Egypt in the 4th century BC. It has also existed in China during Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD), in China and Japan during the Nara Period (645-794 AD), and in Africa for the practice of Yoruba tribe in Nigeria. But among these all, the Batik in Java, one of the islands in Indonesia, is the most developed one because the materials of making Batik are all available. After a while, Batik makers from Java island migrated to Malaysia and introduce the technique to the locals there. Oh, and one astonishing fact: the Tropenmuseum in Netherlands has the biggest collection of Indonesian Batik!

Google's doodle for Batik Day!

[source: en.wikipedia.org]

P.S. Wear and show off your Batik tomorrow by posting it to our PERMIAS page -link here- we can't wait to see you guys loving our culture! :D

SIXTY-NINTH!

[source]

It's day 17 of august, and it's Indonesia Independence Day - wohoo! How old is our dearest Indonesia now? Anybody knows? Yes, 69! It has been exactly 69 years since Indonesia has been an independent nation. Gotta be proud, shouldn't we? ;)

And... since it's obviously not our exquisite Indonesia's first birthday (ehem, 69th now), of course we have talked about some of the details of the independence day before. Please refer to here and here for some more exciting information regarding Indonesia! Below is our beloved Indonesia's national anthem. Click & enjoy!

Oh, and a bit of sidetracking, we just accidentally saw these on google and were astonished. Damn kewl!

Again, HAPPY BIRTHDAY INDONESIA! HIDUP MERAH-PUTIH!

IDUL FITRI (Eid al-Fitr)

Selamat Hari Raya Idul Fitri 1435H, Minal 'Aidin Wal Faidzin, mohon maaf lahir dan batin (translation: Happy Eid Mubarak 1435H, Minal 'Aidin Wal Faidzin, please forgive me for all my wrongdoings in the past)!

After a month of Ramadhan fasting, it's finally the big day! Idul Fitri! Are you excited? Your strong intention and faith to do fasting for the whole month has finally come to this moment! This is a victory for all of you. I hope you all are enjoying this moment with family and friends to cherish this special day :)

And to YOU who have no idea about Idul Fitri at all, keep reading on!
Idul Fitri is a day on where all Muslims are not allowed to do fasting but to celebrate the holiday after a whole month of fasting. In Indonesia, people go back to their hometown to celebrate together with their family (mudik). They wear nice clothes and eat special Lebaran meal, like ketupat, opor ayam, rendang, sambal goreng ati, sayur lodeh dan lemang. Furthermore, they also eat snacks, such as dodol and roasted peanuts, along with fruit syrup beverages. And on this special day, young family will usually visit older family's house, which is known as 'silaturrahmi', to ask for forgiveness. It is also a customs for the older ones to give lebaran money to the younger ones in colorful envelopes. Other than those, it is also a customs for the family to visit the graves of beloved ones several days before Ramadhan.

We hope the explanation satisfy your thirst of knowledge, and we are sorry if there's anything wrong said. Once again, Happy Eid Mubarak!

[source]

2014 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION

It has been 5 years since Sir Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono was chosen as the president of Indonesia for the second time. Thus, it's time for the third presidential election to elect a president for a term of five years! Sir Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono himself, couldn't take part in the 2014 election for the laws prohibit the third period for a president. And since he has been a president for two periods, so he is not allowed to do so anymore. Moving on —the candidates are in pairs. 

The pairs are:

[pic source]

1. Prabowo Subianto (candidate for president) and Hatta Rajasa (candidate for vice president)
2. Joko Widodo (candidate for president) and Muhammad Jusuf Kalla (candidate for vice president)

How to know which pair wins the election? In Indonesia, we use votes, and they are done publicly by the people. The people vote by using their pinkie and ink, and so they are free to vote for whoever they want. Hence the presidential election for 2014 was held on July 9, 2014. And today, on July 22, 2014, the result of the votes were finally out! *drumrolls*

Here are the details for each region!

[pic source: JakartaGlobe]

As you can see from the pic slash chart above, the pair who won the election were Joko Widodo and Muhammad Jusuf Kala with 53.17% votes while Prabowo Subianto and Hatta Rajasa got only 46.83%. 

However, surprisingly, Prabowo Subianto, the defeated candidate, declared that he was withdrawing himself from the presidential election on July 22, 2014 with the reason that this election was unfair and that he felt cheated. Moreover, he was clearly against General Elections Commission (KPU). He states in his speech, "We are going to use our constitutional rights and we are rejecting this presidential election, which is legally flawed." Afterwards, Joko Widodo, the elected candidate, responded to Prabowo's actions. It was such a long and complicated story, of which you can read here for the details, if you want. 

Some background about the newly elected president and vice president: 

Joko Widodo, widely known as Jokowi, was born in Surakarta, Central Java on June 21, 1961. He is an Indonesian politician who was once a governor of DKI Jakarta and also a mayor of Surakarta (Solo) from 2005 to 2012. Jokowi's politic career started when he became a mayor and started to be well-known around Indonesia as he successfully turned his hometown, Surakarta, into a successful city. After that, he was chosen as a governor of DKI Jakarta, and thus he was mentioned in a lot of news media. In the end, his popularity and his enthusiast in improving Indonesia resulted in him being one of the candidates for the presidential election. [source]

Muhammad Jusuf Kalla, was born in Watampone, South Sulawesi on May 15, 1942. He was a former vice president for the period of 2004 to 2009 and a chairman of  Golkar Party works in the same period, 2004 to 2009. Jusuf Kalla was once a minister in the administration of Abdurrahman Wahid but was dismissed due to a reason related with corruption. He later became a Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare when Megawati Sukarnoputri was a president. However, he then resigned and became a candidate for vice president, together with Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, as a candidate for president. He was a chairman of the Party of Functional Groups since December 2004 until October 2009. And currently, Jusuf Kalla was elected as the chairman of the Indonesian Red Cross 2009-2014. Futhermore, he was also elected as the chairman of Central Board of Indonesian Mosque Council for the period of 2012-2017. [source]

...So, congratulations to Joko Widodo and Muhammad Jusuf Kalla for winning the 2014 presidential election! The elected pair will be replacing the current pair on October 20, 2014. Please do a great job in improving Indonesia to be better in the future! :) #salamduajari 

Sources:

• source 1
• source 2
• source 3
• source 4

INTERNATIONAL SPRING FESTIVAL 2014

Hi fellow readers! Yes, we are back into blogging around about Indonesia and of course, about PERMIAS at Oregon State University! Oh, don't worry, we know you all miss us ;)

Okay, where are we now? Let me count the weeks. Oh wow, we are almost halfway done with Spring Term; we think life is a racer car, it literally flies! Wait, is it Spring already? Yep, and it means... *drumrolls*

  INTERNATIONAL SPRING FESTIVAL!

The Spring Festival has actually passed; it was held on last Sunday, May 4th 2014 at Memorial Union Quad. Curious of what we did on that day? Let's scroll down a bit to peek!

Starting off the pic by emphasizing who we are - we are proud to be Indonesians! :)

Spring Festival 2014's theme was storytelling —each student associations told local stories (or legends, perhaps) from their home country. And as for us, PERMIAS, we chose three stories to be told:

1. Tangkuban Perahu
2. Bawang Merah dan Bawang Putih (Shallots and Garlic)
3. Malin Kundang

Curiosity kicks in again? Google the stories if you want to know more about the stories other than their titles :P

As you can see on the picture above, there was a guy holding a big and wide board. If you observed more, you could see the large title "Bawang Merah dan Bawang Putih," and you could also see all the colorful cute pictures. The board was a media we used to tell the stories; other than for "Bawang Merah dan Bawang Putih," we also made other two boards for other two stories. All of them were done by our very own Indonesian peers —good job, guys! :)

To make the event more fun and exciting, we decided to play games on that day after we were done with the storytelling. Our officers picked two games out of all other interesting local games played in Indonesia —no electricity nor sophisticated technology needed, just unused water bottles, ropes, pens, spoons, and marbles/pebbles.

First game:

It was quite a challenging and humorous game. You had to compete with other players to place the pens, which were tied to the ropes, into the water bottles without using your hands or legs. So basically, you were only allowed to move your waists and hips. How to win? Simple. Be the quickest one to do it, and congrats, you are the winner! It was a fun game, and it is always humorous to see people moving their waists and hips and half-squatting; it was impossible not to laugh out loud when you see people playing this game!

Second game:

So... What comes first to your mind when you see the picture? A game to eat the thingy on the other end of the spoon? Nah, guess again. Give up? It was a game of survival! You had to run to the other marked point while holding the spoon with marbles/pebbles with your mouth and return to the starting point again. However, players would be disqualified as soon as they dropped the marbles/pebbles, so do your best to not drop them! Also, the winner of this game was the first one who made it back to the starting point without dropping the marbles/pebbles.

Other than the storytelling and the games, we actually also served an Indonesian drink called Soda Gembira (translation: Happy Soda) in two flavors: Rose and Vanilla! It was a drink originated from Java Island, and it was very popular there. Soda Gembira was a drink made of condensed milk, club soda and syrups. It was best when served cold, so we also used ice blocks to make it more refreshing! Our line of the day when we promoted our drinks was: "Drinking Happy Soda will make you happy. We guarantee you happiness by drinking it. And if you are not feeling like it, come back and we will make you another one!" *added a big big smile* 

(Too bad there were no pictures of the Soda Gembira sobsss. But just imagine it... Cold pastel pink and white soda-ish drink *gulp*).

As you can see, it was quite an interesting event, wasn't it? Feeling regrets now because you did not visit the event? DO NOT WORRY! This time, regrets do not come late! This event is an annual event, so if you were not there this time... SEE YOU IN INTERNATIONAL SPRING FESTIVAL 2015! :D