IUES 2012: Sweet Escape Day #1

I don’t know where to start to write all the journey I’ve been through last week. I never expected that it will be one of the most precious memory I’ve ever had. I never expected that I will meet such funny, attractive, friendly, open-heart, curious friends like you guys.

Many said that Japanese people are very cold and not open to a stranger. But everything was changed when I met these friends from Japan.

Btw, for you who don’t know what IUES is, please read here 🙂

Day #1: Met at Plaza Senayan, Went to Tanjung Priok port, Ate at Padang Restaurant

Before I met this TUT buddies, I have some other Japanese friends. From these friends, I see that very few Japanese people who can speak English well. And also, they are very silent and can’t start conversation. That’s why I had anticipated that as an Indonesian (yang katanya orangnya ramah-ramah), I must have many conversation topic stocks. And I must the one who always start the conversation.

At the first time we met, unexpectedly, TUT students were very welcome and good at spoken English! Tiba-tiba semuanya langsung pada ngobrol dan kenalan satu sama lain tanpa ada rasa canggung. I remember that Yohei, Kyoko, and Rika were the first three persons I talked to. I also remember that when someone asked Rika “what’s your name?”, Rika looked very confuse, so then I asked “o namae wa?”, baru deh Rika bisa jawab 😀 Aaa..you’re so kawaii, Rika 🙂

And then we went to Tanjung Priok. Some people looked very excited, while the others looked very tired (I was one of the tired persons). So then I stood beside Oishi and Shinkai to avoid sunshine (you two are so tall). I remember this conversation:

Oishi: what is toll road? in Japan we call it highway.

Me: It’s the same. It’s a road where there’s no traffic light to avoid traffic jam.

Oishi: But why there’s still traffic jam in the toll road?

It’s a good question, Oishi. You should ask Indonesia government instead of me >_<

After that we went back to Bandung, but we stopped at rest area because some of us wanted to go to toilet. At the toilet, I met Kyoko and Rika. They looked really confused with Indonesian toilet >_< “why there’s no toilet paper”, “why there’s no flush”, “why the floor is wet”. Hahaha. So then Riri gave example how to use the toilet and I showed them how to flush with gayung. What an unforgettable moment 😀

Then we went to the next rest area to have dinner with some of TUT students join us on our bus . We sang “It’s my Life” from Bon Jovi. It was very crowded even if it was the first time we met! Awesome!

At the rest area, we entered Padang Restaurant. This was the first time TUT students tried spicy food. But I think there was only few people brave enough to take Rendang 😀 One of them is Nezu! Good job, Nezuchi 😀

After that we went directly back to Bandung. I fell asleep during the trip due to exhaustion. We arrived in Bandung at 21.30. Then I went back to kostan with Teh Nurul, Teh Ira, dan Teh Nafisah riding a taxi..for free.. 🙂 Thank you, Teh Ira!

What a tiring but fun day. Can’t wait what tomorrow would bring 🙂