Nov. 1, 2008

We went for breakfast at 8 a.m. on the first day in Indonesia. The breakfast was plentiful. There were various drinks, water, chicken, fish and so on. In Indonesia, people had a buffet. You took a large plate, chose any food you needed and took knives and forks, napkins to a table. I drank a glass of milk and found it was fragrant and sweet. I felt other foods were special, Tempe , which I heard to be delicious before I came to Indonesia ,was just a little sour. I didn’t think it was nice to eat. After breakfast, CMK and I went around the encampment, taking photos. Here were Indonesian traditional architectures with roofs of yellow tiles, white walls or walls of other colors, cloisters connected buildings. It was quiet there and it seemed that there were no people in the rooms. We could only see motorcycle riders or cars on the road occasionally. What interested me most was the plants here. The plants I saw were quite different from those in my hometown. There were coconut and mango trees everywhere. We took photos here and there. Though it was sunny, we didn’t feel very hot.

At about 10 a.m., we were called to a meeting hall and teachers of Jakarta Chinese Education Coordination Institute organized us to have a meeting. The meeting was not so formal. Ms Feng Xinhui and Ms Li from Jakarta Chinese Education Coordination Institute talked to us. They told us some dos and don’ts, and later they asked us to raise questions. The most important was that they bought some sim cards for us, the cards belonged to XL. I changed my China Mobile card to the XL card and phoned my wife without hesitation. It was said the cost was 6 jiao 5 fen per minute. Later I phoned my brother in free time and my tears nearly fell out. My parents were old and only my brother could care for them now. I phoned my daughter and got no answer. Later I knew she was climbing a mountain. And then they were counting how much RMB would be changed to Indonesian Rupiah, I changed 800 yuan and was one of the most, because I knew my destination was in the countryside. I wanted to buy a USB wireless network card. But as I knew little Indonesian or situations there, I found no way. Meetings in Indonesia were unique, after some time, we could go behind the meeting hall and had snacks and drinks. The snacks were delicious.

At 4 p.m., we took a bus to Super Star Hotel or Batavia Hotel in East Jakarta, which was 30 kilometers away from the Airport. On the way, we learned to sing an Indonesian song AYO MAMA, I forgot the lyrics and the title. I took some photos of the city on the way. The Indonesian houses were unique, not tall, only one or two stories, but very characteristic. Their walls were painted with various colors and the roofs were red tiles.

Embassy of China in Indonesia feasted us volunteer teachers at Super Star Hotel. Mr. Zhou Bin, Cultural counsellor of the Embassy, attended and gave a speech. He hoped the volunteers would spread Chinese culture and enhance friendship between China and Indonesia, while doing Chinese teaching. Secretary Xie of the Embassy and quite a few teachers of Chinese Education Institute also attended the meeting. Before the banquet, CMK , ZGM and some others took the chance to take photos with Secretary Xie, etc. They asked me to do the same, but I saw Secretary Xie and other VIPs were quite busy, I didn’t go diffidently. Later CMK said that I was not active to take the chance. I admitted orally, but I didn’t regard it as right. At first, we volunteers from Chongqing almost sat at the same table, but later the contact of ZGM ‘s came and we wanted to add a chair. The floor manager said no to us. No one would quit. To break the stalemate, I had to change to another table. Then a teacher from Chinese Education Institute called me to her table, sitting with volunteers from Hebei. The volunteers from Hebei were almost young people, they asked me quite a lot of questions and the atmosphere were rather harmonious. The dinner took a long time. it was individual serving. I ate fast and had to wait for another dish.

It was past 9 p.m. when the feast was over. It took two hours for us to take a bus to the hotel. We went to bed after a quick washing up.