A grace hanging on our door
I woke up early in the morning to say grace for another day. I am excited to know what is in store for us today. I have been sharing a lot on this experience because every moment I experienced is worth sharing. After saying grace, I was surprised when I opened the door and there is a food inside a plastic bag hanging on our door. I opened it and voila! Breakfast is served.
The Kindhearted Ibu Lutfi
After eating breakfast and a quick shower, we were fetched by our student buddy named Anggita at MESS and took us inside the university which is just a stone throw away from where we were staying. As soon as we enter the gate, I have noticed the exquisite design of their buildings reflecting their beautiful and rich culture. I saw several people wearing “batik” as well. The university is also holding an event celebrating innovation with children all over central Java. There were a lot of them that they were able to occupy a large portion of their soccer field. We had a quick tour around the campus and we dropped by at the faculty office of teacher education to meet ms. Lutfi. Finally, I was able to meet the person who have been so accommodating to us from day one prior flying to Indonesia. We also met several staffs of the University and had a simple yet solemn welcome ceremony.
Food for hungry stomachs
After our short meeting, we ate together. We sumptuously enjoyed the food prepared to us such as “Sroto” which is a bowl consist of egg, rice, white noodles, chicken meat, and some local spices garnished with sambal (a chili sauce) then we put a chicken stock for finale and also “mendoan” which is Purwokerto’s version of tempe. A delicacy made of soy beans formed like a flat circle with flour then fried. After we feast, we continued our tour in the school and saw beautiful painting made by the university students. Indonesians are really gifted when it comes to art.
The famous Soto Sokaraja and Indonesian Sweets
A picture with the blue coat on
While walking around the campus, I have been seeing students from the university wearing blue coat/jacket with the school logo. I asked Anggita (student buddy) about it and she said that it is the official uniform of the university. I find it cool that I want to try it on. We normally don’t have coat in our university since the weather is so humid that you will die in dehydration because you will sweat a lot. That is why I found their school uniform fascinating. Our last stop in the tour was their international affairs office. The staff told us that we need to have our picture taken for visitor’s id. I was amazed with that since again, we don’t have such in our university. To my surprise, there are blue coats hanging on a rack near the place where we will have our picture taking. I was happy because I was able to wear their coat. Yes, we wore their school coat for picture taking. I felt like it was they can read what is the back of my mind.
Wrapping-up a day full excitement
Before heading back home, we decided to stroll in one of their biggest malls (Rita Mall). The food sold in their grocery is closely similar to what we see in our local mall, except that all items are in Bahasa and also their sugar are like precious crystals. The local delicacies as well that was served to us every meal was there in a raw form. After buying some stuff, we went back to MESS to finally end the day’s journey. It was tiring but full of fun.