Rayhan Alfatta

As the title says, my name is Rayhan Alfatta. I was born in the 25^th of September 1997 in Jakarta. People have asked me why I didn’t join that year’s education age group; my mother always says that the government didn’t allow children born during the last half of the year to join. Probably for reasons I will never know. I have two older sisters; both are married and I already have nephews. The age difference between me and my second sister is 12 years and about 16 years difference to my eldest. This often becomes a very interesting conversational topic: but I’m afraid I don’t have all the answers.

I enrolled at Bakti Mulya 400 for my Playgroup and Elementary years. The school itself wasn’t very far from my home; only about 70-ish meters from the front gate of my house. People often comment that I was an antisocial loner during those years, it was probably because I was introduced to video games a little too early. When the other kids play soccer, I can be found in the library, digging into a book. Of course, being an avid reader has its perks; I was considered to be amongst the smartest boys in my age group. Also, when the national exam results came, I was ranked fourth highest scoring in all of my age group. Perhaps it’s nothing to boast about, but hey, considering all the other boys ranked 15 and above at least it counts as an achievement of sorts.

There really isn’t anything special during my elementary years. I never fell in love with anybody since I never actively look towards such things. I was also quite picky about the friends I choose to be around with, and I sometimes hated the teachers. There was one incident when a teacher humiliated me in front of the class. It was immediately followed by a shoe to his head. Yes, I threw that shoe. I was very temperamental. My parents were called to the principal’s office for that. They only said that I behave well at home and if I misbehave at school then it’s the teacher’s problem, not theirs (this is why I love my parents).

My secondary school years can be considered to be some of my best years. I joined an international school, Jakarta International Multicultural School, after being rejected from HighScope (they said it was due to lack of creativity and my-then-rigid and temperamental personality). Still, studying at JIMS was the reason I can write English so well; the students are always given 2500 word essays to do every week. Studying there also softened my tempers until I was less prone to outbursts. The teachers there were very supportive and friendly. My interest in drawing also grew during my time at JIMS. Probably because the art teachers there know more than just drawing fruits and mountains with a sun in the middle.

At the middle of my 8^th grade I joined a school-funded tour to Medan, Sumatra. It was quite memorable, being that it is my first experience travelling afar without my family. We travelled around Sumatra for 5 days, even staying at a lakeside hotel next to Lake Toba.

In JIMS, we had yearly drama plays, I didn’t join the dramas until I was at year 8. The story this time was Lion King. After the auditions I was chosen to be the main villain, Scar. The practice sessions lasted an entire semester. By the end of it, though, it was hailed as a success. Unbelievably, everyone said that I was the best actor amongst the entire cast.

The drama I truly enjoyed, however, was the one I performed in year 9. This time, it was Oliver Twist. Again, I played the role of an antagonist, albeit secondary, named Fagin, an elderly thief. This one had far more actors, a far longer duration and a very complex story. The practice sessions lasted an entire year and again, it was a success. And again, the best actor award goes to me for performing a 6-minute song solo on stage (while dancing).

That just about wraps up most of the interesting experiences I had in JIMS. After the national exams, I no longer need to go to school while waiting for the new Labschool term to start since I already registered and I am already accepted into Labschool. So, after a 3 month holiday, begins the new term in Labschool.

Labschool was worlds different than JIMS, for one, the curriculum is literally worlds apart. There is absolutely no similarity to the subjects I studied in JIMS. So, the first semester was a constant struggle to get grades better than a 7. This struggle continued until the beginning of the second semester, that was when I began catching up with the curriculum.

There were memorable events during the first year in Labschool. Both required me to be bald. The first one was the so-called “Organization Trip” to a village in Purwakarta. The trip was quite fun, even though our legs were aching after long hikes across mountains and rivers.

The second one is Bintama, the military training trip to Serang, Banten. The experience there was beyond exhausting. There is no more than four hours’ rest every day. Thankfully, food was plentiful and adequate. This is one trip that I hope I will never have to repeat.

In 19^th August 2014, I and a bunch of other students went to Europe for a trip called “Culture Mission”. The trip is supposed to share Indonesian Culture to the rest of the world. This is my current longest trip spent without my family abroad; spanning 21 days away from Indonesia. Before the trip, I and the others s had to practice the traditional dances and master the musical instruments in order to compete with the other countries that will be present at the festival. Also, the other participants weren’t amateurs like us, they were full-fledged professionals. This, I think, was the most memorable experience in Labschool so far.

So, I suppose that concludes the interesting events of my life so far. This reads more like a story, doesn’t it? I hope it doesn’t get too boring.