Retreat at Tawangmangu

ENGLISH

Probably I don't write much here, but (as the compliment) I put some pictures that I took during my retreat days.... :)

On Wednesday at 11.15 PM I arrived at school to depart to Tawangmangu. After everything was fine and ready, I boarded to the bus. Fortunately, the bus was good, at least it had AC (well, I think if there was no AC, I would be dying during the trip....).

We arrived there at 14.45 PM, and because we hadn't had lunch yet, we tried to find a small restaurant (we can't expect a big and luxurious restaurant at Tawangmangu. However, if there are some, they must be far away from us since the retreat house is not exactly located in Tawangmangu, about 3 km I think, and we didn't have enough time (and energy) to walk that far). Tawangmangu is on the slope of Lawu Mount, so it was hilly. When, we left the retreat house, we walked down. Then, we ate in a small (and greedy, it was expensive, probably because they knew that we were outsiders) restaurant. After that, we had to 'climb' the road to get back to the retreat house, and I was dying. My stomach was full of food, and I had to take an 'exercise' by climbing the road.... . At that time, I was reminded to the step machine in the fitness centre.

Well, then the retreat started. I won't tell you what exactly happened there because it can take millions of pages if I write them all... :). I'll just tell you some 'interesting' things that happened there.

First and Second Days, they were not very hard. We had to write a lot on the second day about ourselves personally. It was not a matter. However, the hardest and most critical day was the third day (Friday), started in the afternoon. We had to do silencium magnum started at 2.30 PM until 8 AM the next day, we were not allowed to communicate to each other, even only a small blink. Well, human is a social 'animal'. Sometimes, when we had chance, we whispered to each other and talked about something. Then, we also had a repentance in the evening (it was scheduled to finish at 21.30, however unpredictably it took more time and finally finished at 22.30). It was not finished yet, we also had a reconciliation. We prayed to The God, then found our sins, and regretted it, and promised not to do that again. It sounds simple right? But it was NOT that simple. Some of my friends regretted so much and felt guilty, and at that time they cried. Well, I didn't cry and I didn't fell that guilty (because I'm a good boy, Lol... :D)

Finally, the last day came. After the silencium magnum finished, we all felt relieved.... . We could talk to each other freely... . Then, at 1.30 PM finally the bus arrived, and after having lunch (and also packing our bags), we got back home....

::: My Bags ::: Maria Cave

::: Some views of the Retreat House

::: The room Tag ::: My Bed Room

::: The 'Classroom'

::: The Front View of The Retreat House (taken from the 'classroom' )

::: My Bus

::: taken on the trip to Tawangmangu




INDONESIAN

Mungkin aku nggak nulis banyak disini sekarang, tetapi (sebagai komplimennya) aku upload beberapa gambar yang aku ambil pas retret.... :)

Hari Rabu jam 11.15 siang, aku sampe di sekolah untuk berangkat ke Tawangmangu. Habis semuanya ok dan siap, aku naik ke bis. Untungnya, bisnya lumayan, minimal ada ACnya (aku bayangin kalo nggak ada ACnya, aku bakalan menderita sepanjang perjalanan tuh...).

Kami sampe disana jam 14.45 sore dan karena belum makan, kami mencoba untuk nyari resotran kecil (kita nggak bisa mengharapkan restoran besar dan mewah di Tawangmangu. Tetapi kalaupun ada beberapa, mesti jauh banget dari kami soalnya kan tempat retretnya tuh nggak terletak di Tawangmangunya, sekitar 3 km kayaknya, dan kami nggak punya cukup waktu (dan tenaga) untuk jalan sejauh itu). Tawangmangu tuh terletak di lereng Gunung Lawu, jadi berbukit-bukit gitu. Jadi, waktu kita ninggalin rumah retret, kita jalan turun. Trus, kita makan di restoran kecil dan serakah (soalnya mahal banget, mungkin gara-gara mereka tau kita orang luar). Habis itu, kita mesti 'mendaki' jalan untuk balik ke rumah retret, aku menderita banget. Perutku penuh sama makanan, dan aku mesti berolahraga dengan mendaki jalan... . Waktu itu, aku diingatkan sama mesin step di tempat fitness.

Trus, retretnya dimulai. Aku nggak bakalan nulis sedetail-detailnya apa yg terjadi disana, soalnya bakalan memakan berjuta-juta halaman tuh kalo semuanya ditulius... :) Aku cuma nulis beberapa hal yang 'menarik' disana.

Hari Pertama dan Kedua, nggak begitu berat deh. Kita cuma harus nulis banyak tentang diri kita secara personal di hari kedua. Nggak masalah sih. Tapi, hari yang paling berat dan kritis adalah hari ketiga (Jumat), dimulai siang hari. Kita mesti melakukan silencium magnum dari jam 2.30 sampe jam 8 esok harinya. Kita nggak diijinkan untuk berkomunikasi satu sama lain, bahkan hanya satu kedipan kecil mata. Tapi, manusia tuh 'binatang' sosial. Jadi, waktu ada kesempatan, kita bisik-bisik sama yang lain dan ngomongin apa kek gitu. Trus, kita ada pengakuan dosa di malam harinya (direncanain sih selesainya jam 21.30, ternyata makan lebih banyak waktu dan akhirnya selesai jam 22.30). Tapi itu masih belum selesai, kita ada rekonsiliasi. Kita berdoa ke Tuhan, menyadari dosa-dosa kita, dan menyesalkannya, trus berjanji nggak melakukannya lagi. Kedengaran sederhana bukan?Tapi ini TIDAK sesimpel itu. Beberapa temenku menyesal banget dan merasa bersalah, dan waktu itu mereka menangis. Tapi aku nggak nangis dan nggak merasa bersalah banget (soalnya kan aku anaik baik, Lol... :D)

Akhirnya hari terakhir datang. Habis silencium magnum selesai, kita merada dibebaskan.... . Kita bisa bicara dengan bebas. Trus, akhirnya jam 1.30 siang busnya dateng, trus habis makan siang (dan ngepak barang), kita pulang....