Biography of Syafira Devani Putri

Syafira Devani Putri or usually called Syafira is a Pakistan descent girl. She was born on December, 3^rd 1998. When she was born, there were some obstacles. Firstly, she was born during the time of monetary crisis. Secondly, there was no hospital which could help the process of giving birth by cesareans. So her mother was taken by ambulance to Mojosari but the doctor said that she might give birth in the ambulance. Luckily her mom could give birth in Mojosari. But the funny thing was in her certificate birth, it was written that she was born in Sidoarjo. Anyway, now she lives in Sidoarjo with her mother and one brother and sister.

Syafira is a smart girl. She loves mathematics, science and computer very much. This May, she has just graduated from her senior high school. She hopes that she can go on her study majoring in computer science on ITS but she was still waiting for the entrance test. For her, the most exciting things about school were getting a lot of friend. Without them her time in senior high school wasn’t fun at all.

She started her schooling when she was four. Her mother enrolled her to a kindergarten and she spent two years in kindergarten but she did not have any memory about that period. She even did not remember her teachers’ name.

When she was six, she entered elementary school at 2004. Her mother enrolled her to Muhamadiyah 1 Elementary School, in Sidoarjo. There were some memorable moments that she still remembered until now. She still remembered she was called “Sapi Laut” by her friends. One day, when no one picked her up she decided to go home by public transportation “Bemo” but she took the wrong one and was taken to the wrong direction.  It was her first experience going by herself and got lost. Fortunately her mother could locate her and picked her up.

After graduating from elementary school, she continued her study to Al Muslim Junior High School, Sidoarjo at 2010. When she was at junior high school, she made a lot achievements. Her school, her family and here friends were very proud of her because she often won the “Mathematics Olympiad”.  There was no doubt that her junior high school state examination got excellent scores.

Since she was a child, she had always been studying in private schools. But she graduated with excellent scores from Junior High School at 2013 and she was accepted in a state Senior High School at “SMA Negeri 1” Sidoarjo. She like computer science even more and made some great achievement too.

Unlike most other students who are only studying in the senior high school time, Syafira is also working. But she works not on the office, but she works as a blogger and made culinary account on Instagram named “@kulinersby”. For 17 years old girl, she was very amazing because the followers of the account has reached 165.000 people! Not only the account on Instagram, now she made a website for “KulinerSby”. 

Before all of this success, she experienced hard times. When she was at senior high school, she was broken hearted because her boyfriend left her. She was in despair and didn’t want to go on living. But her friends tried to console her by taking her to new café and restaurant to eat. Like the famous quotes said: “Everything that burden your thought was gone when you enjoyed your food”. She really enjoyed her food every time she went out with her friends and as usual Indonesian’s habit, before you eat your foods, you should take a picture of it first. And Syafira did that. Because she took many pictures of foods, she made an Instagram account. Actually she wanted to make the ID “KulinerSurabaya” but someone was already taken it. So she made the ID into “KulinerSby” starting from 2014. Every day she uploaded about foods picture, gave the ratings and comments about the food. Unexpectedly, she received a good response and the followers rose quickly. And now, she received many endorsement, sponsorship and advertisement. From that, she got many new experience and money. After having account on Instagram, she also made a blog and review the foods there. But in April, she made a website for “KulinerSby” which was designed with a nice design, super complete information about culinary and very useful for people inside Surabaya and outside Surabaya. Don’t underestimate a 18 years old girl, because Syafira has already had some assistant to help and work with her.

Besides “KulinerSby”, Syafira also worked as a presenter at JTV. She hosted a culinary program named "Njajan Huwennak" for one year. She really enjoyed her job so in spite of her busy schedule as a senior high school student she still spent time to go to restaurants with JTV crews. Through this job she could get to know with a lot of restaurant owners and foodies. That’s the most exciting part of this job.

She liked photography and travelling very much. She never took a formal lesson in photography. She learned it by herself and her skills improved as she kept practicing. She also said that she learned by observing others’ photos and from her own mistakes. While the most memorable travelling experience was when she went to Mecca. Why? Because she really felt the presence of God there, and she could pray fervently. Coming home from Mecca, she felt that she is a new creation.

Syafira has her own definition of happiness. She considered a real happiness was when she could meet with people who could make others happy and laugh. She thought that people would remember her because she is a cheerful, likes eating and take a picture of it. In her life, she got the main lesson that she has learned in her life, that was if someone hurt and betrayed you, you should not forgive and give them hope more than twice. She has a greatest hope that she could live successfully and has a happy family. Such an inspiring person that has some impact of my life! :D

Fourth Journal

Hello guys! This post will be my last journal because after this, my friends and I will be facing the final exam. Time flies so fast, right? At first I was very afraid to join this writing class because my writing wasn’t good. I still remembered when I wrote my first post, I was so confused and I didn’t know what should I write. But after I joined and followed the process by every class meeting, I felt that my writing was better and I didn’t  afraid to make mistake.

On the previous post, I wrote about my own narrative story. Actually it was so challenging because we had to create our own story with an interesting idea so the readers could enjoy it.  I was thinking so hard at that time about the idea of my narrative story. Then I had the idea and I started to write it as a draft and gave it to my lecturer. After my lecturer gave some feedback, I  began to write the story into 3 parts. The first part was about the introduction, the second part was about the conflict and the third part was about the ending of my story.

After I wrote, I got some feedbacks from my friends. The feedbacks helped me a lot so I could improve my writing. And also, I visited my friends’ blog, read their narrative story and gave some comments. By reading their stories, I could get many new things such as the vocabulary and the way they wrote the story.  By giving comment, I could improve own grammar.

There will be a last project after the narrative story. It was about biography. I already interviewed a person and I will finish my biography project soon! See you on the next post and I hope I could do my final exam well and continue my writing journey to "Writing 2" on the third semester :D

The Dream that Changed Everything (Part 3-END)

Arnold suspected that Gilly tried to keep a distance from him. So, one day he decided to tail Gilly. He was very surprised when she saw Gilly went in to a coffee shop and served the customers there. Arnold said to himself: “What is Gilly doing? Working? But why? She never told me anything about looking for a job and now she is working in a coffee shop? And for that reason, she often misses her classes. Ah, I’m so confused.”

He hardly could wait for Gilly to finish her working hours. And right after she was off, he directly approached Gilly and asked her: “Gilly, why you didn’t tell me about this? You often misses the class and you didn’t answer my calls!” Gilly was very shocked when she saw her boyfriend came to her working place. She said: “Oh my God, Arnold! What are you doing?  You shouldn’t have come here, just go away!” then Arnold replied: “That was also my question for you. What are you doing here? Please, Gilly be honest with me!” Afterwards, they sat together in the coffee shop and talked. Gilly told him the problem she was facing. After Arnold heard about Gilly’s problem, he promised Gilly to help her find a better solution. He said that working in a coffee shop wasn’t a wise decision because Gilly often had to sacrifice her classes.

Arnold kept his promise to Gilly. He contacted some of his friends to help Gilly. And one of his friends named Bill suggested that Gilly used his food cart to sell something. Arnold thought that it was a brilliant idea because when they used the food cart, they could sell something in the street near the campus. Bill asked where Gilly came from, and Arnold told him that Gilly came from Indonesia. “Wow! It was such a great idea, Arnold! I still remember when I came to Indonesia, the Indonesian snacks were very nice. They tasted great, very delicious. What if Gilly make some of Indonesian snacks and sell them near the campus?”. Arnold was amazed by his friend’s reaction. He strongly agreed to Bill’s suggestion. Hastily Arnold phoned Gilly and told her about the ideas that Arnold and Bill have already discussed. Gilly was very glad because there were people who really cared for her. And she said that she wanted to take the opportunity.

5 days later, after the preparation of the food cart, the menus and the other things, Gilly finally sold snacks in the food cart. After the class, she always rushed to her food cart and sold some of Indonesian’s snacks like “Klepon”, “Pisang Goreng”, “Ote-ote” and many others. Many Australians were interested in her snacks. Arnold also helped Gilly when she sold the snacks. He promoted Gilly’s snack to his friends. One day, on the 35^th day they have been selling snacks, one of the television program came to her food cart to have an interview and it would be aired in the television. Gilly was proud of her accomplishment until now.

Finally, after 3 years studying in the university and had a part time job on the food cart, Gilly graduated. Arnold was very proud of her girlfriend. After the graduation, Gilly was called by Mr. Parker, the director of a famous television channel in Australia. He asked Gilly if she wanted to have a special cooking program in the television. Gilly thought that it was a great opportunity that God had already prepared for her. She decided to take the job and she became a celebrity chef by doing a cooking demo at the television program.

The rating of the program was very good, the audiences really liked the way Gilly hosted the show and the menus that Gilly cooked, because it varied widely, from Indonesian cuisine to western dishes. Mr. Parker also paid a close attention to Gilly’s progress. He saw her every show.

Meanwhile, Arnold also had a good job. He opened a restaurant there and it was successful. One day, after each of them had finished their work, Arnold picked Gilly to a restaurant to have dinner. At the restaurant, they shared their experiences, they made some jokes and laughed. Then after the dinner, Arnold gave Gilly an envelope and asked her to open it. Gilly was very curious so she opened it and found a plane ticket to Indonesia. It was very surprising, how could that be? Then Arnold said that let’s go to Indonesia together and I had something special for you there.

Finally the day that they were waiting for arrived, they went to Indonesia together. They went to Singaraja, Gilly’s hometown in Bali. There, Arnold met Gilly’s parents and they greet each other. The next day, Arnold took Gilly to a private beach. There, Arnold has already prepared something. It was a wedding proposal! He  proposed Gilly to marry him. He said: “Gilly, we have already in a relationship for four years and I think it wasn’t a short time. During these time, I can feel that we are a match for each other. And now, would you marry and be my everything in my whole life?” Once again, Gilly was shocked, because Arnold always made something that couldn’t be predicted. Gilly cried and she answered: “Yes, I would.” Wow, such a romantic moment. After the proposal, Gilly’s family came and they were very happy for the couple and they had a dinner together at the private beach. After 3 days in Bali, finally they went back to Australia to work.

Every day after they already finished their work, they always met together. And one day, Arnold took Gilly to meet his family. Arnold introduced Gilly to his parents as his fiancée. Arnold’s parents were very glad and suggested that they got married soon. So the next week, Arnold and Gilly started to prepare their wedding. They found the event organizer, the venue, the wedding dress and suits, the invitation and many other detail things.

1 years has passed and the wedding day has come. The party was really grand, the bride and groom were lovely and the guests were well served. Arnold and Gilly began their new life together and they lived happily ever after.

*THE END*

The Dream that Changed Everything (Part 2)

Because she was staring too long, she was approached by Arnold. He asked her: “Hi, were you a new student in this campus?” Gilly was very shocked because a very handsome and attractive guy cared to greet her. Her cheeks flushed and stutteringly she answered: “Oh… Yes, I am a new student here. And how about you?” then Arnold said: “I see. It seems that we haven’t met yet. Nice to meet you. What is your name? Where do you come from?” Gilly was very surprised that Arnold wanted to know her more detail. Gilly explained to Arnold: “Yeah, my name is Gilly, I came from Indonesia to study here.” Arnold was very captivated and they became closer and closer.

 It turned out that they were classmates. Arnold was absent when Gilly first joined the class because he went to his hometown, in Brisbane to visit his grandpa who was hospitalized. Since then they always talked and had lunch together every time they finished their classes. But many of her friends were green-eyed to her because Gilly was a new student there, but she had already attracted Arnold’s attention who was a very popular among the female students. Many or her schoolmates also wanted to get closer to Arnold because he was kind of perfect guy. He was clever, humble, responsible, friendly and helpful. This created a problem for Gilly, she felt depressed because most of her friends were hostile to her but Arnold always cheered her up when she was sad.

One Saturday night, Arnold invited Gilly to have dinner at a fine dining restaurant. Arnold booked a special room and decorated it romantically. He asked Gilly if she was willing to be her girlfriend. He said: “Gilly, would you be my girlfriend?” Actually Gilly was very surprised when Arnold expressed his feeling, however she was also very happy. She answered: “Yes, of course.” Then Arnold hugged and gave her a fresh bouquet flower. Gilly was very thankful and she hoped that their relationship would be long lasting.

 Having a relationship wasn’t easy for them. Many things came afterwards and they should face it together. Gilly got a problem. Because of her relationship with Arnold, she was shunned by her friends. To make matter worse, now Gilly realized that the scholarship she received wasn’t enough to cover her life expenses. If she wanted to continue her study, she should earn some money. Otherwise, she couldn’t afford to pay the boarding house. So Gilly decided to look for a part time job. She didn’t want Arnold to know about this problem in order not to burden him.

 It proved that finding a part time job at Australia wasn’t easy especially for Gilly who was a new comer. But her two best friends, Stephen and Prilly helped her to find the job.        

The following week, she got a part time job on a coffee shop. She was very thankful that she got a job. But her work schedule often crashed with her classes. She often had to skip classes and that made Arnold wondered. Arnold didn't know about Gilly's activity. When he tried to call Gilly, it always went to mailbox. 

 Arnold suspected that Gilly tried to keep a distance from him. So, he….. (TO BE CONTINUED)

The Dream that Changed Everything (Part 1)

Hello guys! In this post, I want to tell you about my narrative story. Enjoy :)

Gilly is an Indonesian girl. She likes baking so much. She has a dream to be a famous pastry chef. Whenever she got home, she always baked and tried new recipes. When she finished her senior high school, she got a very surprising news because she got a scholarship from the Australian embassy. She was very excited and happy about that because financially she couldn't afford to continue her study abroad. Not long after that, she continued her study majoring Pastry & Confectionery in Le Cordon Bleu Adelaide, Australia.

When Gilly moved to Australia, she didn’t know anything about Australia and it was her first experience going to another country. Many people seemed to consider her as an idiot person but she didn’t care. She always tried her best to adapt there. It was easier for her to do so because her aunt loved her and was very supportive.

In summer, Gilly went to her college. She has a new spirit to face all of the new things. When she entered the theory of pastry class, all of her friends were staring at her. One of them said: “Who is that girl? She looks so different from us!”  but Gilly only smiled at them. Then the lecturer asked Gilly to come to the front and introduce herself. Gilly felt confident and she introduced herself, she told her classmates about her native country and how she came to that university.

All of her friends were very surprised after hearing her story. But only 2 friends named Stephen and Prilly who cared and asked her to sit between them. Stephen and Prilly wanted to know Gilly better, so they had a deep conversation. Gilly was glad that there were 2 new friends that really understood her situation. After the class was over, they went around the campus. Stephen and Prilly gave a campus tour until they arrived at the canteen. 

There, Stephen and Prilly gave some recommendations about the meals and dishes. While they were eating, a handsome guy approached them. His name was Arnold, he was the most wanted guy in the campus. All of the girls in Le Cordon Blue campus were drooling at him. 
When Gilly looked at Arnold, her jaw was dropping because of his sweet smile. Because she was staring too long, she……………… (TO BE CONTINUED)

Third Journal

Hello guys! In this third journal, I want to tell you about my writing experience. On February and March, I’ve written about my autobiography, my family and friends’ autobiography, my important event in my life and journal 2 . Mid-term test was also over. And this April I’ve written about “My New Kind of Zodiac” that pushed me to explore my imagination and  "International Culture Festival and Celebration" based on what I’ve seen on the spot.

This April’s topics are quite interesting because from that topics I can improve my writing skills. If I don’t know the words, I open my dictionary and I can learn the new vocabularies. I need to think carefully about the story that I wanted to share with others and how to make them interesting as everybody else write about the same topics.

Everybody isn’t perfect. So am I, I still need to improve my writing. Vocabulary is the first thing that I want to improve, because using a good vocabulary in writing makes the readers interested. The second one that I still want to improve is the organization of my writing. I think I should make the draft of my important points and elaborate them on my writing. And the third one is my grammar, because I often make sentences which are grammatically wrong.

Next assignment is focused about narrative story. I hope that I can make a good and interesting narrative story. Stay tune on my blog and see  you on the next post! :D

International Culture Festival and Celebration

               Last Friday, after we had our writing class, we had a break and attended an event called “International Culture Festival and Celebration” at Auditorium. At first, I thought that this event wasn’t interesting at all. But I changed my mind after the event started. It was really interesting, nice, and fun!

               The MCs were Gisel from second semester and William from fourth semester, they made the events more lively so all of the audiences, some of whom were also senior high school students,  could enjoy the event. Unexpectedly, Mr. Kuncoro Foe as the rector of Widya Mandala University came, he spared his time to come and gave a speech. His speech was so good, he shared about his dream for English Department and he hoped that English Department would be  better. Not only Mr.Kuncoro Foe, many journalists also came to cover this event.

           In this event, there were 7 representative countries. Each country had to present about their country’s. They were from China, France, Belarus, Indonesia, Spain, Germany and Netherlands. China representatives came from Hakka Indonesia and they shared about their cultures, how to write “mandarin characters” and two “ako – amoi” sang Mandarin songs. France and Belarus also shared the language of their country and taught us some words to say. Then it was the turn for Indonesia, food was the main point of Indonesia’s presentation. They explained about “Pecel” as the icon of Indonesia especially Surabaya’s iconic food. All of them gave a good presentation, but the most interesting was Spain. Why Spain? Because after the presentation there was a salsa performance and the audiences also participated the dancing on the stage. Not only the audience, but some lecturers also danced. After the salsa dance, it’s the turn for Germany and Netherlands. They had an interactive talk with the audiences, there were some games and gifts were distributed.

             Personally, I really liked this event because I could get a lot of knowledge about my own country’s culture and also other country’s culture. I also could improve my listening and speaking skills in other languanges. Overall, all of the countries had their own uniqueness and we should appreciate and respect. I hope that next year there will be another event like this with more countries that  join! :D