Saturday, September 22, 2012

Pilgrimage to Medan ~ Day 2

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Early in the morning of 2nd day we left to Berastagi. I did not know that this place is so far away from Medan town. We stop at two places before we reach Sinabung Hills, Berastagi.

The family members of the couple dress in a beautiful kebaya
That morning, there is a wedding reception held in the hall of Garuda Plaza Hotel and i was fascinated by the blink-blink 'kebaya' they were wearing. I did not manage to capture the couples photo but i took a photo with one of the family members. She is a Batak lady and she is beautiful.

Bakso, my Lunch!
Our first pit stop was a mall in Medan town. I will never forget this day because my friend and i was having a misunderstanding about time. Before we left the bus we were so sure that all of us need to get back to the bus at 1.30pm. After having our lunch we were separated from our group and walking around the mall until it's 1.15pm. Suddenly our tourist guide, Pak Adi found us and told us that we are almost 45 minutes left behind the first bus. Errrrkkkk!!!! What time do we suppose to gather? He told us, we suppose to be back to the bus at 12.30pm. Argghhhh!!!!... It's Indonesian language says "Jumpa balik jam setengah satu" means that 12.30pm. But we are so sure we were told "Jam satu setengah..". Lucky that not every people in our group complain about us. Yuhuuuu.. we are on Pilgrimage Trip, no judging others.. :-D

The famous "Kek Lapis"
That noon is my duty to lead the Rosary Prayer and i am super guilty for making the whole group late. Not feeling so good about it and i was telling everyone, we are so sorry for our mistake. After we finish our Rosary Prayer, our tourist guide tell us a story about the famous food home made from Medan. It is a famous gift from Medan Kuih Lapis Legit and Bika Ambon. Both taste delicious but i did not bought it.

Nanda the practical SMA student
The tourist guide assistant (SMA practical student), distribute the Kek Lapis for all of us to taste it. I think quite a lot of aunts and uncles bought it as a souvenir specialty of Medan.    

The traffic
The road to Berastagi is quite busy. Even though it's Sunday the traffic is quite pack though. A lot of motorcyclist did not wear safety helmet and almost everywhere not only in the rural area. No mater how bad the traffic jam is, i did not see any police traffic on the road. Sometime, a volunteer will stand in the middle of the road and help clear the packed traffic.

Eating durians in Medan
Our 2nd stop was at Pondok Durian Ula Lupa. I am not sure the price because i did not eat any. I just watched the other friends eating durian. A lot of durians.

Sinabung Hills Resort, Berastagi
At last we arrive at Sinabung Hills Resort, Berastagi about 5pm and we celebrate our daily mass at Sinabung Hills Resort. Just before the mass, our spiritual director found out that they did not brought wine for the Holy Mass. It was lucky that not far from this resort there is a Catholic Church, Santo Francis Dari Asisi Church. They get the wine from the church rector, an Europe Priest (not sure from which country). Praise the Lord that we can celebrate our Holy Mass at 6.30pm that day. After mass we had our dinner and then rest and sleep because we will have another long journey to Danau Toba on the next day!

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Praising Lord, 
Little Rose

Thursday, September 20, 2012

JobStreet Contest - I Found Mine!..

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I received an email about this contest so read through the T & C then i should try this. I edit one of my photo during my latest community project, playing with water gravity in front of the toilet that we build. Hope this photo shows that I FOUND MINE means that i already found my job. Here is the photo:


If you wanna find more info about this contest, here is the link and don't forget to vote for me too. Rose Ragai Entry. Thanks a million!!!..

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Hoping to WIN,
Little Rose

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Pilgrimage to Medan ~ Day 1

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I am excited! For sure i am excited because this is my first time travel to Indonesia. Deep inside my heart i pray to God that i will experienced something interesting and the most important one is FINDING HIM while i am on this trip. Actually this is not an ordinary trip but a pilgrimage trip with almost 70 other participants from different parts of Sabah; Kudat, Kota Marudu, Sipitang, Keningau, Tambunan and Penampang. It was planned a year ago and praise be to God that we made it on 7th until 11th September. This trip was organized by D' Seven Travel and Tours and we were assisted by two spiritual director, Fr. Boni and Fr. Bona from Keningau Diocese.

Aerial photo of Medan town. The airport. 
We use two different flights from KK to KL and then from KL to Medan. As we arrived at Medan Airport, hmmm... it not that big though. I think it is just as big as Terminal 2 KKIA. There was a funny thing happen at the immigration when the officer look at my face a few times trying to compare my face in my passport and the one that standing in front of him. Maybe he get confused because photo inside my passport is different from how i look like that time. I left him with a smile and a thank you.

Medan Airport
There were two "parawisata" bus waiting for us and a Javanese tourist guide, assist us to our bus. We were check in to our hotel for that night, Hotel Garuda Plaza, Medan before we leaving to the church for our first mass in Medan. I double excited even though i am not sure how the church will be look alike. But still i am super duper excited. 

Graha Bonda Maria Annai Velangkanni, Tanjung Selamat, Medan
Ain't you amazed by the look of this church? Me? My heart is full of joy when we were there. I can not really explain and describe it in words but i feel the presence of Jesus anywhere we walk around that church that evening. We were lucky to be there because actually at 6.30pm that day is the Holy Mass for the Birthday Celebration of Mother Mary. Please visit the church blog to find more info about this beautiful church: Marian Shrine of Annai Velangkanni

Here is more of the Church photos that i took:
The close up of the entrance to the church.

Shrine Rector Fr. James Bharataputra SJ share with us about the church.

The Bible that did not burnt during the fire. 

Lowering the flag after the Holy Mass.

Blessing and burning the petition at the end of the celebration for the day.

My prayer to Mother Mary that she help me to pray to
her son to answer my prayer and me become a better
daughter to her and mothers in this world. Amen. 

~ To be Continue to Day 2

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Blessed Child,
Little Rose

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