HELLO!

--> Welcome to my blog <--

Feel free to explore!

ABOUT ME

FLE PROJECTS

Should I stop or continue?

Narrative writing written by Rachel Yunita Silalahi

Last week I celebrated my 17th birthday at the Hilton Hotel with a few people. Well, at least I got to do the thing that I have been dreaming about since I was still in my mother's womb. Hiking. It may sound too common, but it takes more than what it looks. I was only allowed to hike if I was 17 years old - and now I am.

At first, I had a dilemma whether I should go hiking or not. Ever since I knew that hiking could put my life in danger, I was worried about continuing. But, the other stubborn side of me forced me to do it. Without any doubts, I booked my ticket to Indonesia. My target is Mount Semeru, 12 000 feet.

The next two days, I arrived in East Java complete with my backpack, food stocks, and all those things. My journey started at 8 in the morning. The sun welcomed me up through the mountain. I was glad that my guide and I start hiking with some groups of professional hikers. We went one sixth of the way and had our lunch with some naturally added substances - small rocks and some soil.

Everything went well, until it was 11 pm. We were so closed to our rest point but then suddenly a heavy rain came out of nowhere. We ran as fast as we could to our basecamp. I finally did, but unlike the others I wasn't prepared with a rain coat so the rain got me wet. The struggle starts here. Although I have changed, my body temperature was too low, I lost my consciousness and turned to get hypothermia. It was so bad until I couldn't open my eyes, feel my hands, and breath properly.

"Bring me the heat pack, now!", "Cover her with my blanket!" The other hikers were trying to stabilize my condition.

"No, she's not going to make it.", "She will! Just cover her with my blanket!"

I didn't want to stop my journey here, but at the same time I couldn't put my life in a danger situation just because I failed to control my ego whether I return back home or continue until the top of the Semeru and reach one of my biggest wishes.

In the end, it was for my own good. After a while, I opened my eyes and noticed that my hands were cold and blue - this wasn't a good sign. I told my guide that I want to go back. With mixed feelings, I went back and had my flight back to China the next day. Hiking is not about reaching the top of the mountain, but it's actually about returning back home alive and safe. I didn't regret what happened and this will be one of the most memorable and adventurous experience in my life.

The Invitation

Narrative writing written by Rachel Yunita Silalahi

Not again, for the thousandth time, I had to stay alone at home, again. My dad went on a business trip to Beijing. My mom passed away 8 years ago when I was 12, and I have no siblings at all. It was just me. It was around six past half in the evening. The sky was light blue filled up with vaguely blinking stars. I got bored, so I invited one of my friends to come and I also ordered Dominos.

Someone rang the bell, so I walked towards the front door. I thought it was the pizza delivery. But it’s not. No one was there. I opened the door and checked my surroundings. There was only an invitation above my welcoming mat. I was curious, so I opened and read the invitation. There was nothing else inside the invitation besides an address. Since I was super bored, I decided to go to the specified location on the invitation. My friend has not come yet, so I decided to call her. Sadly, she had a sudden Spanish class. I had no one to talk to at home, who knows it might be fun there.

I arrived there in just approximately 7 minutes by taxi. I stood up in front of the gate and quickly scanned that place. It was too horrible-long bushes almost covered the gate, mossy and rusty iron gate, and a very sharp smell I didn't know where it was coming from. Suddenly, an old woman wearing a black gown holding a candle approached me and opened the gate. I didn't know why, but she couldn't stop smirking and staring at me. I felt something wasn't right. So, I started to talk timidly.

"Oh hello. I got this invitation. I think I'm in the right place, but not sure. Do you know anything about this?" Not even a word. She just pointed to the old, grayish building not far from the gate.

I started to shiver and not feel comfortable. When she turned back and walked towards the building, I secretly tried to leave this weird place. I stepped back as softly as I could, but she noticed. She tried to come nearer; her unending creepy smirk made me even more scared. I ran away as fast as I could, threw the invitation I was holding, and took a taxi to go back home.

I arrived home safely. But, I had a hard time falling asleep. I couldn't forget what just happened. Slowly, I fell asleep. The next morning I woke up because someone rang the bell relentlessly. I went out and found out the same invitation was right in front of my door again.

Experts VS Internet

Magazine article written by Rachel Yunita Silalahi

Most people are using the internet nowadays. Mostly, people no longer use books or journals to find information including reviews on something. The new era has come and people get answers and the latest information from the internet. However, there are so many sources that we can get from the internet and how do we know that they are true and reliable?

People get to know them through experts. Experts have the answers to our questions. Despite them being experts, there are still a number of people who do not trust them. This happens because everything on the internet can be edited and they could also be fake. Most people ignore experts and focus more on what their close friends, families, colleagues, and other close people they know because people who are close to them usually know more about them.

Moreover, experts can’t just be experts on a particular topic. By that being said, they have to also tell the truth with the right wording to gain trust from people. Complicated sentences with advanced wordings are sometimes required for experts to seem trustworthy and able to catch peoples’ attention. Not only to show that they are professionals, but they have to seem honest and know well about the topic they discuss.

Although thorough research has been done, people only see what they want to see and hear what they want to hear; in other words, some people listen more to celebrity reviews than real experts just because of their popularity and entertainment. People can’t just believe what celebrities say in online reviews. Some of them are just delivering the ‘message’ and did the review for their own needs instead of the public - they could have just said anything good to have more followers.

Furthermore, ever since the internet is used commonly among everyone, internet users have to make sure information including online reviews from the internet, are reliable and came from the real experts. Getting sources of information from famous people like celebrities or our closest people like our colleagues and friends could be useful. However, we have to know the background or purpose, they tell the information or did the review.

How Internet Affects Social Life

Magazine article written by Rachel Yunita Silalahi

The internet is commonly used to communicate between each other, especially friends. It is very useful to help communicate when one friend lives far away from the other. Not just giving better communication between long-distance relationship friends, but it also helps people to find new friends online. People are using this everywhere, making them confident enough to merge offline and online selves. In other words, we can still be ourselves, both on social media and in real life.

However, research suggests that social media is connected with loneliness. Not just loneliness, but there is also correlation with low self-esteem and social isolation. Even though it is yet not known which one comes first, loneliness or social media.

People can find friends online and offline; they are just much the same. Now, there is a befriending app, where you can find new online friends from everywhere, regardless of where they are - far away or not. It also helps some people to find friends easier, like people who have mental issues, people who are deaf, or have any particular disabilities, or just people who think it is hard to go out and make some friends.

Research showed that people do need real friendships, but every person has different types of friends they want. Well, it will be easier to find which type of friend you want online. Since online platforms like the befriending app are available, it is much more suitable for someone to find new friends and communicate, not just through chat but a face-to-face meeting is currently also available.

The internet allows people to communicate with them no matter where they are. You can also learn new cultures or new languages by making friends online, which expands your perspective towards differences in cultures, lifestyle and so on. However, people who make friends online may not be as close or as much as people who make friends in real life. After all, people can still find new or suitable friends both online and offline.

"Technology Advancement in Modern Era"

Magazine article written by Rachel Yunita Silalahi

Nowadays, almost everyone out of the 7 billion people in the world are using technology. They could be gadgets like smartphones, smart TVs, laptops including the internet. There are so many uses of those devices; one of them is to save our time. How does that happen?

Many of these technologies are now very useful. People are using them because those devices offer simplicity. The technologies are taking over our boring activities and doing them just in a very short period of time. The technologies created are able to pay bills, reorder cleaning supplies and meals in just a count of seconds. Some of them even allow people to reorder pet-food on its own, which gives people the experience of using innovations these days. Besides simplifying our daily lives, it also improves the efficiency of modern living style.

These benefits are proven that there are many investors out there investing in the new technologies due to their beneficence. Not just investors, but entrepreneurs around the world are attracted to technologies because the market due to technology, brings in promising income and offers job opportunities for more people.

However, the Internet of Things has failed to achieve some aspects in technologies they innovated. Some people claim to say that behind the benefits of technology, there are things that can not be kept safe. Those are security and privacy problems. This could also affect demand for innovative devices in this technology era.

Some people are easily attracted to technology devices just to be a part of something before others, this may decrease the use of a particular product when the other new products have launched. Yet, there are still people buying it for their good and really buy it for essential reasons and professionalism considering the quality of the product. However, there will still be people who don't follow and keep up with the modernization and upgrades of technology causing them to be left behind.

Technology Amelioration: Starting Smartphone Photography?

An article written by Rachel Yunita Silalahi

“Photography has always depended on technology.” (Henry Jacobson). The very first photography in the world was invented in 1826 by Joseph Nicéphore Niépce. It was a black-and-white picture taken from the view of the window. Compared to now, in the 20s, people have been taking fascinating shots with beautiful colors. How could that happen? The answer to that is the advancement of technology through eras. People have been using film cameras in the old days, and through development of technology, better quality cameras are invented. Pictures taken from old cameras are with limited colors, mostly are black and white. Compared to pictures nowadays, they are with more colors and mostly can be taken simply by a smartphone.

The existence of the first smartphone with a camera encouraged inventors to create new variations of cameras with better quality. It helped people to show their ability and creativity in creating technology. Smartphones with cameras are light and small. It is very suitable to carry anytime anywhere. It's suitability can help people to capture special and historical moments easily. Higher quality smartphones with cameras can make a “trend” where many people also want to afford smartphones with cameras. High demand for smartphones allows people who sell or invent it to get jobs or careers which can be one of their sources of income. Not just that, pictures taken in smartphones are in the form of a soft file which means that it can be transferred to other devices easily in a short period of time compared to pictures in the old days which are hard copies and not that easy to transfer or give to other people.

Even though smartphones take better pictures than old cameras, nowadays cameras like the digital single-lens reflex(DSLR) camera still take better pictures than the smartphone cameras. Smartphone cameras usually only have 12-16 megapixels while the DSLR has 25 megapixels. Smartphones also have limited capacity compared to other devices. Limited storage and not-so-high quality cameras tend to become a nuisance. For a photographer or people who likes to take pictures with their phone, they can be exposed to the radiation that is emitted from smartphones. Long or too much exposure of radiation to the human body is not good for human health. The main function of smartphones is actually for communication. So, most smartphones have poorer quality of camera than the actual camera itself.

To sum up, photography has been developed from time to time. The advancement of technology allows people to create better and more suitable cameras, including cameras in smartphones. Smartphones cameras are suitable to use, however there could be some limitations from using smartphone cameras like deficient quality of smartphone cameras compared to the actual cameras since smartphones have the main function for communication and not for photography.

CHARITY LETTER WRITING

Make a Wish Foundation

(Yayasan Kampung Kids)

Dear Supporters,

We are here now, in 2021, sitting comfortably in our house. Full of joy and happiness. We are able to eat, to learn, and to laugh freely. But, there are homeless children out there working until late night just to get a plate of rice to share with their siblings. They had to feel the cold in the middle of the night while carrying packs of plastic bottles so that they could buy books. Across Indonesia, there are hundreds of thousands of children struggling between life and death. In 2020, there were 0.25% of students who didn’t go to school. KPAI (Komisi Perlindungan Anak Indonesia), an Indonesian Child Protection Commission said that the number of students who are not able to afford better education has risen.

I am here today, as the President of Make a Wish Foundation, wanting to embrace all of us to be aware of how important this case is. I consider this case, where children are not able to afford education, has to be brought into a higher level of alertness. 155,166 children are currently fighting for their future with no guarantee of success.

Make a Wish Foundation is here to help students to afford better education and receive healthcare. The purpose of this foundation is providing basic nutrition, healthcare, and education for the needy children in our local communities. We have created 3 main programs: Health Programs which are the Clinic for under five year’s children, Extra Medical Care, and the Elderly Program. Second, the Nutrition Program which is the Students Feeding Program for nourished school aged children and the Feeding Program for Elderly. Lastly, Education Programs which are Playgroup and Handicraft Classes, Scholarship Program, and the After-school study Program. We have run these programs since November 2018. We have helped many children, especially from the east of Indonesia. This is still the beginning. There are more out there waiting for their turn to start their journey.

Make a Wish Foundation warmly welcome volunteers to help children of our nation and donate money via a link provided in the official website. We also conduct events by selling products made by the students, during their program, sponsoring events, and advertising the charity organization and programs through the internet.

We have the goal to help all homeless children who are lacking education from Sabang to Merauke. Through these programs, I believe that Make a Wish will reach every child’s hands who are sincerely asking for help. I wanted Make a Wish Foundation to help thousands of fighters to achieve their wishes.

Yours Faithfully,

Rachel Yunita Silalahi

President of Make a Wish Foundation

On the Road

Memoir by Rachel Yunita Silalahi

I couldn’t decide which bag I was going to use. I prepared pairs of clothes to use during the trip to my hometown. A day before leaving Kerinci, my family and I packed our clothes, shoes, and other needed stuff that we were going to wear when we arrived at my hometown. After we finished packing our stuff, we had enough rest time the night before our trip, because my family and I were going to leave Kerinci very early in the morning. I spent my rest time on my phone. I watched YouTube videos, ate some snacks that I bought earlier, and had enough time to sleep.

The next morning, around thirty minutes past four in the morning, we prepared everything that we had packed the night before and put them in our car. We took a bath and started our trip on a cold and dark morning. After a few hours of driving, the sun showed up and it was still a part of our trip. We had our breakfast while driving because we didn’t want to spend too much time resting. After a couple of hours of driving, we stopped for a while to enjoy the view from a higher place. It was astonishing scenery, we had a good rest at that time with the clear, blue, cloudless sky you're hoping for on the day of the family picnic. We continued driving and finally had our dinner very late at night because there were no restaurants to visit along the night, there were just palm trees and cars passing by.

Finally, we arrived at my grandma’s house in Siantar around 4 in the morning. I was really thankful and happy to see my family, especially my grandma in a good condition. In the morning, we had a lovely grandma’s house typical breakfast with a bundle of rice and a spicy dish. I had a great time with my aunts, uncles, and cousins. I also enjoyed that very clean and fresh air with some very precious and kind neighbours. There were not many people and it was placid.

After a few days staying in Siantar, my family and I had to leave and went to Padang, which is my other grandparent’s house. We arrived there after around 15 hours of driving. My cousins and grandparents were so happy to see us. We had a great time as well, we ate delicious food, had some good talks and I was very happy that my family and I had the opportunity to go to the beach and I enjoyed the scenic view- an eternal yellow-brown sky fanned with a breeze. It was quite touristy and people were also selling a variety of drinks. We did not stay in Padang as long as in Siantar, but it was very memorable and pleasurable. We left Padang and went back to Kerinci. We also bought some snacks from Padang to be brought with us to Kerinci. Another long hour of driving and we arrived in Kerinci and had a good rest because we were sitting in the car for hours. I’m glad that my family and I had the chance to enjoy this trip even though it took more than 20 hours of driving because there were no viruses at that time and we just had a very memorable time with one another.

THE FINDING

Rachel Yunita Silalahi

I woke up with a start. Another day of hard work, no sleep, and no rest. I have been working and struggling for more than years on my ‘project’.

I was a student majoring in psychology. It has been 3 years since I graduated from university. I did not work as a psychologist because my father gave me over to run and help my father’s small business. It all started when my grandmother suffered Alzheimer's disease at the age of 63. I felt very heartbroken and failed to become someone who was supposed to understand such diseases. I was very ashamed because as a well-educated person, I could not do my duties and responsibilities. I could only be silent and saw a lady with fine white, wispy hair, or my grandmother suffering from her disease, Alzheimer's.

But, this continued to make me restless and tortured me. I felt like I was supposed to do something, I can't just stay quiet. Finally, I decided to step up and move from my fear. I decided to research to cure my grandmother. Trying to cure Alzheimer's is impossible to be done; it’s like finding answers in a soup of mysterious things. At least I decided to do my best to help my grandmother be better. As a graduate student, I know a lot about Alzheimer's. But, I researched to help my project. I used to buy a shelf of books every week. It has been three months since I started to do this research. I had thought about giving up on this research because on average all the sources I got say that Alzheimer's cannot be cured. However, family supports made my energy flare up again. I promised myself not to disappoint anyone, including my grandmother. I continued to work on my progress; I couldn’t believe I have been doing this research for almost a year.

After this long time, I finally found one answer. I found one medicine that could reduce some symptoms and help control some behavioral symptoms drastically. I did not introduce this medicine to the public, because at that time I wanted to do more for people who were suffering like my grandmother. I did a lot of research, and one day, I found and design one new technology machine. My family was also not very rich, and cannot afford the requirements for me to become a psychologist. I also had to look after my grandmother, because my father was just busy working as a chef in other's restaurants. I was not able to afford the materials that I needed to create that machine.

I decided to work as a part-time worker. I worked as a translator in different cities. After two and a half years working as a part-time worker, finally, I was able to buy the materials. I started working on the project. It took about one and a half years to finish my big gift. I cried loudly, shrieking with laughter after finishing my machine. I felt like I just got out of prison, after these years, my hard work is finally paid off.

I went to my grandmother's bedroom and showed her the machine I made. My dad who saw what I did could just hug me with his happy tears. Even though my grandmother could not remember me, she wanted to try my new machine. The small electric shock from the device is placed on the right and left of the head and in front of the head. A person's memory will slowly come back when given the shock and being told things they have forgotten. At that time I gave my grandmother the medicine twenty minutes before I started therapy. Then, while the therapy was being done, my father told her things that my grandmother had forgotten and showed her some old photos. We continued to do the therapy for 2 weeks routinely. Surprisingly, my grandmother was able to recall almost all the memories she had forgotten during Alzheimer's disease. This experience was just unforgettable for me.

After a month, using that therapy, I decided to introduce my invention to the public through a science experiment exhibition held in Japan. I was nervous but excited and proud of what I created as well. When it was my turn to introduce the machine, everybody was shocked and none of them believed that my invention is working. I told them about how that machine cured my grandmother. Unexpectedly, I won ¥2000000 from the exhibition. I could not imagine how my hard works paid off. My family must be smiling graciously at that time.

That was how I reached who I am now. This time, I became a famous finder. I have helped thousands of people suffering from Alzheimer's. I was glad that now I’m able to finance my family and eat sweet curried chicken crescents whenever I want, to provide things that they need, and to help people recover from Alzheimer's. This was more than just an experience.

Life in Boarding School

-I N T E R V I E W --

Rachel: Good evening? How are you doing? I hope you’re doing great.

Renatha: I’m doing great, thank you. it is such a pleasure for me to be in this interview session.

Rachel: Happy to hear that. So, I will be recording this conversation and this interview will be published in our class assignment.

Renatha: Okay, thats alright. go on.

Rachel: Great. So, currently you’re in college and you have graduated from highschool which was a boarding school where you studied before.

Renatha: That’s absolutely right. i had graduated from highschool and i’m currently studying as a college student at Udayana University

in Bali.

Rachel: Right. Which boarding school were you studying at? and why did you choose that school?

Renatha: I was studying in SMA Unggul Del, which is located in Laguboti, North Sumatra. The reason why I chose that school is that at first people was like keep talking about how great Del is in educating their beloved students starting from the initial year of school until they can graduate at a well-known state university. Then I started looking for information related to this school, and I found out how students from this school were able to compete in any field up to the international stage. This is what makes me even more eager in setting foot there.

Rachel: Why would you choose studying in boarding school?

Renatha: As we know, this school is a school with excellent character education, starting from simple things, namely greeting people, until big things as helping others when they’re on trouble on doing something, coupled with its motto, marTuhan, marroha, marbisuk(in bataknese), which means to put God first in any matter, to always have a positive vibe, and to always be wise in any situation, makes this school has a perfect foundation in educating its students.

Rachel: Sounds very interesing. What were challenges studying in boarding school?

Renatha: In a boarding school there are many things to do. We don't only study, do homeworks, completing our assignments, but we also often do housework such as sweeping our room, the whole dormitory, washing our school uniforms and also our other clothes, and many more. These many activities that must be done also sometimes make it difficult for us to organize matters related to school. even sometimes some of us even have to break our bedtime because we have the need to study so we can face the exam the next day. Apart from sleeping late so that they can catch up on the material left behind, there are also some of us who decide to wake up early so that they can study and review the lessons that will be tested later on.

Rachel: How do you overcome the challenges that you face while you were studying in boarding school?

Renatha: Of course, with so many activities that we have to complete in one full day, we must be able to manage our time very well. divide it early and set the division of time very well, so that all activities can be completed perfectly without having to reduce the efficiency of other activities.

Rachel: From your experience, do you mind explaining about 1 difference or culture shock when you entered the boarding school?

Renatha: Because SMA Unggul Del is a boarding school with fairly strict regulations, I was quite surprised how rarely we were allowed to leave the dormitory to just buy daily necessities. Not only that, even the time given to us to be able to hold an overnight permit that is not an essential requirement, can only be held once a month. However, because my house is also far from school, so over time I can also get used to it all. no overnight permission to go home even up to a whole year. Until my overnight permit book contained only a night permit for the race to Medan.

Rachel: I see. Finally, you overcame those problems. Wow, didn’t realize it has been few minutes. Thankyou so much for attending this amazing interview with me. Have a good day!

Renatha: My pleasure. You too.

Page updated

Google Sites

Report abuse