A Bunch of Thanks from Me

Dear my friends,

One year ago, Before I found out the state where I would be placed in the US, I just wish that I would be placed somewhere in California. And when Dr. Syedur told me at the Pre Departure Orientation that I would go to Arizona, that time I felt little bit disappointed because I know Arizona was going to be really hot.

 But now, I think I am one of you that feel thankful because I got placed in Arizona. I am thankful and grateful because in Arizona I learnt things that I never knew before. I met you with different characteristics and different behaviors.

Every single day that I spent with you in Arizona was a bless from God.

Here I wanna thank you all for everything that you have taught me. For everything that you shared with me for the last one year. . 

Kiga:

I wanna be like you who is always brave to talk in public because I am a kind of person that feel shy and nervous to talk in front of lot of people.

You are such a great son for your parents and I am sure your dad is proud to see you growing up like the way you are now and taking care of your mom, brother and sister. I am proud of you.

Thank you for helping me and Nayla to clean the carpet at 2 Am before Allison came to do the inspection, that was the hardest part haha:D

Akilesh :

I am sorry for my words or sentences that might hurt you after the digital story telling last time when I asked you not to slam the door. I didn't mean to talk rude to you. But I know my sentences were not nice at all. I am sorry for that ...

You know when the first time I saw you at the orientation I felt that you disturbed me a lot by interrupting Allison and Therese when they talked in our first day of orientation at Peridot room :D but I am glad now you almost never interrupted somebody when they talk hehe. "that's good to know" LOL

Javaid Bhai:

I missed your delicious fried rice already!!!!! Aaaaa I want it I want it ..

 
Bhai, thank you very much for inviting me to have dinner with you on my last night in Arizona before leaving to Indonesia. You made really delicious Kare and fried rice. I love it. You should cook for your wife and kids :D I am pretty sure if you do, they will have heart attack cause too much surprised that their dad can cook very good food :D

I wanna say "good luck" with your new goal to spend time with your wife and kids. I am sure you can do it and you are a good dad for them. They will always learn from you in every single second so you better show them the best thing that you can do for them :) and, don't forget when I am going to Pakistan, you will let me stay with your wife and kids :D I wanna meet them :)

Anand :

Sorry for always saying that "you hate me". I didn't know that you like me .. All these times I thought you hate me so badly.

Thank you for lending me the piano, because with it, I could learn how to play 2 songs, Tujhe Dekha To Ye Jana Sanam and Fur Elise (Beethoven's song)

I have been dreaming that I would learn how to play Tujhe Dekha to Ye Jana Sanam since first time I watched that movie  in 2000 I think And I am glad I did it. My dream comes true at least few weeks before going back to Indonesia.

Oh ya Good luck with your music project. You are a great singer :) keep listening to the voice of India :)

 

Adil :

Do you still remember when I run like I saw a ghost when you tried to flirt on me on the first few months I met you (I know it was a joke but you scared me LOL)

I miss those times when you tried to correct my pronunciation of "focus" and when we argued and asked the American about it on the bus :D

I miss those times when you flirted on girls with the Bollywood action in college LOL :D you are really a good actor in flirting :D but sorry, it didn't work for me :D haha

Aaaa I miss the way you talked to me..

I miss the way you sing indian songs for me with the worst tones at the bus stop and danced like Hrithik Roshan LOL

I will miss to see your face when you eat spicy food from me hahaha. It was good to see you crying because of the fish that I made LOL

Thank you very much for being you, being care of me and respecting me :)

I am proud of you because you are fighting for your family and always support them. You never told me about it until I saw your digital story telling...

Break a leg with your relation with your GF. InshAllah there will be a solution for both of you :)

I think I never made mistakes to you :D but still I wanna apologize

"sorry for the 5 slaps that I gave you when you stared at me while I was writing on your shirt" hahahahaha I hope it was not painful hahahaha sorry for that :D

I miss you Mr. Phone!!!!

Yermi:

Papi Rico!!!

"aha aha I like it" haha I love it,man!!!! I wanna thank you for accompanying me to go for jogging at midnight and going to Fry's together with me ...

You are the baby in our group, but you know what? You never acted like you were the baby :D

Thank you for the food that you made for me when I got headache and hungry :)

You are very caring person :) I will pray for you so you will get the best job that you have dreamt all these times :)

Mr. Ice-cream!!!
I will miss to see you having ice-cream with that wonderful expression that I forgot to capture with camera!! Man man when are we gonna go to Jogurtland again?! :( :(

I will miss you calling me cachetes :'(

Dulam:

I don't know what to say about you .. Because I never spent time talking or discussing anything with you .. I wish I could spend time talking with you, but since you are a quite person, I was not that brave to start the conversation because I didn't want to disturb your own space :)

But I wanna tell you one thing:
I am proud with your achievements in making movies. I didn't know that you are a good movie director until they announced in the graduation that your movie would be played at Harkins Theater in Fashion Square!!! WOW!!! Congratulation for all those achievements that you have gained :)

Ryan :

I still remember your face when Dr. Syedur told us that we would be placed in Arizona one year ago. I could see tears on your eyes that time at the PDO. But see, now we are the ones who thankful that he placed us in Arizona  because God knows the best place for us. Everything happens for a reason, remember?

And you have became a very good leader for us, for our group in the fundraiser event. Keep shining and show your family that you can do everything that you want. I know and everybody knows that you can do it! I am pretty sure that when you meet your parents and your twin brother, they will be very proud of you. Thank you for letting me steal your noodles when I was "ngidam" Mie LOL

Break a leg for your future plan, Mr. Stylish! :)

Agung :

OMG, Agung!!!! I still cannot believe that you had been in the US for one year and you did not learn how to wash dishes!! You need to learn from Juan! He is the best dish washer ever :D LOL.

Mr. Actually!!
You know, no body knows that you love your wife that much because you never shared anything about your life with our group!! surprised surprised!! You finally shared it with us :) I hope Allah will always keep you and your family happy ever after.

And don't forget to name your daughter as "Nurdahlia" because she will love to cook just like me and with that, you don't have to worry about cooking food or washing dishes :D LOL

Mehraj :

 sorry  for everything Mr. Late ... I know and I realize that I was not nice with you. But this morning when you helped me with "last minute packing" I just realized that I was wrong to talk sarcastically to you most of the time (I think). I didn't know that you also care about me... Thank you ..

Have a great life there in India and if you make Indian movies, you gotta tell me cause I know that you know how much I love Indian movies :)

break a leg for your future and one suggestion from me, you have to apply that discipline habit which Allison always taught us LOL :D

Juan : 

I don't know ... I don't have words for you .. You have been such a good brother for me .. Thank you for always saying "YES" whenever I invited you to go ride bike or go to the lake or to the restaurants .. You never said "No" to me except when you are busy ..

"this is so strange because this is so weird" and "it's 100 Celsius different" are the best tag-lines for us.

Do you still remember when you accompanied me to go to the Western Union and we had to walk for 3 hours because we took wrong bus??? I will never forget that moment .. Hahaha

I also still remember freshly on my mind when we got lost for volunteers more than 4 months and Dad always had to come and picked us up. Lost in Arizona is one of the best experiences for us LOL

But finally two months before we left, we could figure out how not to get lost in Arizona :D yay!! We made it!!! So proud of it :D LOL

I am always proud of you because you are such a fast learner. You learnt how to swim in 2 days and you learnt how to ride a bike just for 2 hours. Guess what? I think your lucky number is 2 :D

This morning was the first time I saw you crying  since I met you one year ago.

I didn't think that you would ever cry for me, because I know how much you hate to see me crying... but you did cry for me and that was the worst way of crying that I have ever seen in my life :'( ...

You should have told me before that you wanted to put me on your big suitcase so you could take me to Costa Rica, I bet I will fit on it ...

you should have told me before that you wanted to escape with me so we don't have to be separated like this .. :'(  Dang!!! I hate separation!!!

Now I cannot write anything because my tears start coming from my eyes and I am on the airplane .. But I have to be strong because I know that you will come to Indonesia next 4 years. I have the pict of the deal, if you never show up there, I am gonna drag you  from Costa Rica to Indonesia. And I am serious :D

Remember, 4 years is enough for me to prepare a resort for you, if not, I will ask my friend to let you stay for free in her hotel LOL

Thank you for the surprise birthday party that you and everybody prepared for me. I never had surprise party in my birthday and this year is the best birthday that God could give me. Thank you Juan, thank you guys ...

I will miss your Salsa...
I will miss my partner in washing dishes ...
And I will miss Sobrevivire ...
I will miss a person who always ignored me when I cry or being too dramatic :D

I will miss our "painful day" when Professor Janelle asked us to speak up in the class :( :(

I will miss everything about you, Mr.Salsa :'(

Christopher :

Kitty kitty!!! 

Thank you for everything :)
Thank you for teaching me how to make birthday cake ;) also how to use Adobe premiere :)

I will miss you ...!!!!! I will miss the way you yell at me and the way you made me angry just by touching my head!!! Haha

I will miss those times when we had a competition of who eats Jalapeños the most without crying :D

I will miss cooking Rendang for you, Yermi, Rosalia, and Juan and ask you guys to clean the kitchen and wash the dishes :'(

Man you are a very patient friend that I have .. Thank you for being patient with me :)

Chris ... I am sorry for every single word that I said which might hurt you ..

I will wait for your invitation to Italy when you get rich someday ;)

Sancay: 

I will miss the way you talk .. I will miss teasing you ...

Did you know that you have became a brave girl since you came here to the States?? You were a shy person when I met you at PDO in Jakarta but now, look at you! you are always surrounded by people and you always take the chance to grow yourself. I am sure your sister will be green with envy to see how much you have changed :) go catch your dream, sayang :) remember we will work together in Bali! :D 

Gamze:

Miss beautiful!
sorry  if I have mistakes ...Sometimes I just don't know your mood because I think every few minutes, your mood is changed ... Sometimes I feel happy to see your smile and your laugh but when your face changed like you don't wanna talk, it makes me afraid to come and talk to you ..

Good luck for the plan to be an event planner in Turkey :) and I hope your relationship with Ibrahim will last forever :)

I will miss to hear the way you call me "Ugly Nur" :)

Nayla :

Sorry Nay at the first month, may be Tahira and I made you worry because of our Hijabs...

I knew you didn't really feel comfort to live with us at the first month because of the religions and the perspectives. But I am glad that now, you know that even we have different religions we had a good communication although it was just informative communication to ask where the staffs in the kitchen were.

thank you for not letting me stay alone in the Apartments when you had Good-Bye party in Megan's house :)

I will be waiting for the wedding invitation from you, Miss Brazil ;)

Rosalia:

Nena guapa!!!

I will miss the morning alarm that you snoozed for 5 times every time it rang.

I will miss arguing with you ..

I am sorry if my words ever hurt you .. I never meant to hurt you ...

Sorry for always saying "No" to the food that you offered me. It is not because I didn't wanna eat food that you made, it's just because I don't really like Pasta :D or Can Food Lol but I loved the fish that you cooked ;) que rico!!!!

good luck for your study and for your relationship with him, Nena :)

Tahira:

You were closed to me like a sister but then everything changed. . And it was not because of you but because I was too selfish and childish.. I am sorry for being so hygienic .. . I wanna apologize for all my mistakes to you ... and for all those misunderstandings ..

Thank you for sharing with me all this year.. And have  a great life with Usman :) inshAllah I will come to your wedding if I get an invitation from you ;)

Mama Kim and Daddy:

Thank you very much for adopting me as your daughter... And for taking care of me and Juan always .. I can't believe that it is over now .. I still remember when you and daddy came to pick me up from the airport when I came here ... And I still remember my second day when I asked to cook noodles for breakfast in our home ..it was just like yesterday...

Thank you for teaching Juan and me about US culture ... Thank you for letting us to be a part of the family ... And thank you for the big bed that you and daddy prepared for me .. It was more than comfort... I am grateful to be a part of the family Mama and Daddy :)

I will miss you, Daddy, Tyler, Cody and Jamie .. I will miss all the games that we played and the BBQ .. And also Mocca and Angel :)

I hope I had became a good daughter for a year :)

I know you and daddy will be watching me on Facebook :D hehe


Mommy Chicken Allison and Paul:

I love you so much and please forgive all the mistakes that I have done ..

I have learnt a lot from you and I cannot mention them one by one ..

This year is one of the best year for me and it is all because of you. We learnt to do volunteer because of you, we learnt to be on time because of you, we learn to love other people because you showed us ...Without you, our year won't have meaning at all.

I am one of the luckiest person to know and to spend time with you. All your love makes me stronger to live in this country even without our family...

If God will ask me someday "who is the person that you wanna see in the US, Nur?"

For sure I will answer "Allison and Paul" because you have spent all your time taking care for us. You helped us as much as you can. You taught me to be a real human with that kindness

I wish I could take you to my home
I wish I would have more time to spend and learn from you
I wish US Dept of State gives us 1 more year

I wish I would never say "Good-Bye" to you

I remembered the first time I called you at midnight with tears on my eyes because I had argument with one of the folks and also my text book lost and I was afraid because the due date for the assignment was almost late and you were there on the phone in Canada tried to make me feel better and calm me down. That time I was thinking " I can do everything in here in the US with Allison's support" and since that time I tried so hard to do everything that I could and you were always there to support us.

If I could ask God one thing, I would ask Him to let me live with you or at least to live where I can see and talk to you....

My tears keep coming from my eyes . .

Everyday I keep asking my self " will I see Allison or Paul again?"
I know God has prepared something for us ..
We will meet inshAllah .. May be not in the US but may be in some other place :) may be in Italy when Kitty becomes rich as he promised?! :D remember with your promise, Chris??!

You are always welcome to come and visit me. Please come to my place when you visit Indonesia although it is quite far from the Capital City because I will be always waiting for you and Paul :)

Thank you for all this time that you have spent for us.
I know that at midnight and in the morning all you think is "Us" your kids ..
We will not forget everything that you have done for us and I know that Thanking You will be never enough for everything that you have given to me and everything that I have learnt from you and Paul :)

You will be always in our hearts forever.

I HEART YOU!!!


For Moh, Gustavo, Nida and Kirmi,

Thank your for helping us and Thank you for being a part of our group. You guys are welcome to come to our countries :)


Chander :

Chander, Please forgive me for what happened in DC or in NYC .. I am sorry I still cannot forget about how worst I behaved there ...

I am sorry for the meanest Jokes that I made .. I didn't mean to make fool of you .. I just wanna know if you are one of my friends that care about me or not and yes you are.

thank you for being my friend. You are such a nice guy with a good attitude. You deserve to get a girl that will love you with her heart.

Thank you for cleaning your kitchen when you thought I would come to visit you ... Honestly that was the worst joke that I have ever done and I will always regret it .. Sorry for that .. :(

I will come to India next 2 or 3 years and you have promised me that you would show the Holly Color Ceremony ..! YAY!! Am so excited :)

You are the best Bada Bacha that I have ever had ( haha like I am a grandma) LOL :D




Last but not least,

I wanna THANK to my BEST and EXCELLENT friend!!! Yes, YOU!!!! Hahaha

Thank you for teaching me everything. You taught me about "Tolerance" and lots of things that I cannot mention here one by one.

Thank you for always talking to me whenever I needed somebody to talk to ..
Thank you for always being there whenever I needed  you the most ...
Thank you for always listening to me .. You are the best listener and the best problem solver that I have ever had ..

When I have problem, other people will tell me to go to the left .. But you are always there to tell me to go to the right one ..

You are the most Mature person that I have ever met (may be because you are Old haha kidding :D)

You think differently and it always makes me proud of you .. well actually it always makes me ADMIRING You .. (did you know that?!!)

I am the super lucky person to have you as my BESTIE!!! And I am so grateful that  I met you 4 months before leaving to Indonesia.

You have done lots of volunteer hours for me and I cannot mention how many volunteer hours that you have done .. I think it is more than 200 hours for the last 4 months :D

You are an excellent person that I have ever met .. And that's why I never feel bored to talk or spend time with you even 5 or 6 hours .. But sometimes our softwares (well my softwares) didn't  work  properly :D and those softwares created problems which always irritated you :D sorry for those softwares :D

Everybody will like you just the way you are. So does your niece :) she will love you just like the way I love you. So you don't have to worry about it .. And you will be such a wonderful uncle for her.

Thank you for being such a good teacher and advisor for me.. I really need it because you know how bad I am in taking decision ...

When I go to your country, I wanna see that certificate on your wall!!! You better keep them safe and please don't put them together with other certificate hahaha

And
DON'T forget to always SMILE, Man!!! SMILE!! :D

Don't be too serious because you know your name and you are not serious!! :D

SMILE SMILE SMILE ;)
(now you need to smile when reading this and don't ask me to remove this post cause it is not gonna happen) LoL

I am grateful to God to have a friend like you :)

***

Thank  you guys for everything. You colored my life for one year and it means everything for me. Now I have stories to tell people that I have friends from all over the globe and I am glad I met, spent time and shared with you for a year.

***
Thank you every one for supporting us in this program. Without your support we would not have a wonderful year.

I love you all.

From Hong Kong with Puffy eyes,

Nur