Dissa Ahdanisa's Stories

Every friday we  have a fun day. It's when the kids do not have their usual English class and volunteers come up with and idea for a fun activity instead. So, Leonie came up with an idea to clean up the barrio, or the neighbourhood and last friday, we had an environmental day at the school. For weekdays, we have around 40-50 kids divided into for different classes, but on friday we only have two. We have the pre-schoolers in the morning and then the older kids after. This Friday, all older kids were divided into groups of three. Each group got a plastic bag (that Keeley and I got from Palí) and in 30 minutes they will have to collect plastic trash from around the neighbourhood. Only plastics, no paper, no leaves, just plastics. Also, they cannot take the trash from their house. Just the one on the street. Sounds fair enough, yea? And the team that fill their plastic bag the fastest will win! To make it more dramatic, I lined them up outside and gave the plastic bag to each...

Te mando esta carta y este corazon. "I send you this letter and this heart" It was sunny and hot in Pantanal, the neighborhood where our school is, and the kids were having their English class with Francis, the beloved teacher. Like other volunteers, I was helping some of the kids finishing their exercise. We went to some tables to sit down and help them if they have some questions. We were doing numbers in English. Francis wrote down some number and the kids had to write it in English. Some kids did know what they were doing, so they came to us to confirm their answers, which mostly were correct. However, some weren't that fortunate. They didn't know how to say the numbers in English, let alone write them down. And José Lopez was one of them. This cute 10 years old boy can write well and understand the what he needed to do to finish the exercise. He can spell 1-10 in english, he can say 100, 200 and other big numbers, but when we mix it, e.g 432 or 215, he ...

"Mucha gente pequeña, en lugares pequeños, haciendo cosas pequeñas, puede cambiar el mundo" -Eduardo Galeano "Many small people in small places who are doing small things, can change the world" Granada is a beautiful town. It has colorful colonial buildings, old churches and lively market. Most of the colonial buildings are now hotels and cafe, which are used by many tourists as getaways from the noon heat. However, some of them are quite expensive and most of the dishes they offer are internationals... or americans. So, I rarely go to the cafe, unless if they have great coffee (which I can refill freely of course haha) or they have something unique that I have never seen before, like this one. Cafe de Las Sonrisas or cafe of the smiles, is the first cafe in the Americas and the fourth in the world that is staffed entirely by people with hearing of speaking disability, or deaf-mutes. I read an article about it in the local magazine. It is said that its me...

Thank you. That's the first thing I had on my mind when I realized that I was actually going to Nicaragua. Yes, Nicaragua. A country in Central America. A country that I swear even my colleagues at work would have never heard before (and this is true... I did a geographical explanation to them when I told them about my plan and until this day, some of them still think I'm somewhere in Africa!). A country without many Indonesians. A country that I have never been. A country at the other side of the globe. I had a dream that I will go to Latin America. Because I love Spanish, I love the culture, the people and the energy. My image of Latinos and Latinas, apart from "they must be dancing a lot" is that they look like warm and nice people. Again, at that time I didn't know. I knew nothing and yet I decided to take a plunge. Yes, it was sudden. I was working in Tokyo and I found this opportunity to work in an NGO, a local grassroots organization that provide...

India has been in my travel bucket list for ages. Since I was a kid, the country has fascinated me. I have heard many stories about its colourful markets, tasty delicacies and magnificent temples to visit. However, it is this one, and always have been this one particular place, that everyone talks about, that every traveller wants to go. The place where I realized that love has a strong power to create something big, something that may seem impossible. Because here, in the heart of Agra, love had encouraged a man to make the most beautiful building for his wife. That is where I wanted to go, and when I finally did, it defined love in a way I have never imagined before. Taj Mahal located in Agra, India, is very famous for being one of the Seven Wonders of the World. Shah Jahan, the ruling Mughal emperor at the time, built it from 1632 - 1653. Because of that, the building has adopted the Mughal architecture, a style that combines elements from Islamic, Persian, ...

The name is not familiar even among local Indonesians, but this island, surrounded by white sand beaches, is a hidden beauty. Gili Genting is an isolated island outside Madura that the only way to get there is by a boat, which departs every hour or two. During the day, this low-populated island is quiet because the heat keeps people inside their houses, but that will make you the only wanderer in the beach. Also, the dusk is stunning. As you hear the sound from the mosque, calling people to pray, you could see the sun setting at the horizon, leaving a trace of its golden ray on the sea. A plane flight to Surabaya is the first thing you need to do to get closer to this island. Then, for about 4-5 hours, drive your car to Sumenep, Madura to get on a boat that will take you for 45 minutes trip to the Gili Genting. Because there is only one boat every hour, people bring everything, including their motorbikes or livestock, into the boat. I even have shared a boat with ducks an...

When we are talking about Australia, big cities such as Sydney, Melbourne or Perth might be the ultimate destinations. However, after spending almost a week in the down under, I found another destination people should pencil into th eir map s . A perfect destination for you cave-lovers, bushwalkers and of course the wilderness explorers. I ntroduc ing Blue Mountains, another side of Australia you can visit in less than 2 hours drive from Sydney. If you are flying into Sydney, take a direct train from Sydney Airport to the Railway Station. From there, you can board the double-decker mountains train for approximately 2 hours which will spoil you r eyes with the most amazing scenery along the way.   Blue Mountains , covers an area around 1400 km 2 , earned its name from distinctive blue haze that surrounds it. This mystical blue comes from the eucalyptus tree, as the oil in the leaves scatters the light. Blue Mountains’ major tourist attraction is the...