This week is going to be full of activities in celebration of the Independence Day. There are no classes and we don’t have to teach, so this week’s our chance to participate and involve ourselves more to school activities and spend time with our students. We were called by Ma’am Rani to go downstairs if we want to see what the students are doing, so we went down and watched the students play their games. The first one watched is the one they call Galasin. It’s a game where one team has to be on the lines of the court and block the other team from passing. We also have this game in the Philippines and we used to play this when we were young but it comes with a different name. In the Philippines, we call it Patintero. I didn’t actually expect to see them play it here because I thought it was a traditional game of the Filipinos. I actually enjoyed watching these kids play the game because it reminded me of the times when I used to go out and play with my friends and cellphones and internet weren’t a thing yet. It was more fun to be engaged with the real world. We told Ma’am Rani we wanted to play also, so we played with our female students. We had to take of our shoes and play with our hijabs which makes it more difficult but really, the purpose is to experience life here in Medan and involve ourselves to more student activities so we have to embrace every single part of the experience. The game is now over and it’s a draw! I would want to play more but another group is about to use the court and I think it’s graded. It’s like this is their Intramurals. After strolling around some more, we went back to the faculty and ate our lunch. We have to have energy to be active, right? We rest for a while and I fed myself more cold wind from the aircon before heading back down because I’m wearing a sweater and a hijab and it’s really hot outside. After refreshing, I’m ready for more action! Ma’am Rani said that there are more activities at the back, so we went there and watch the students play Patok Lele. I think that’s the only game I didn’t play because I don’t really get it and it looks very difficult. You have to throw a stick with another stick and hit it for it to go as far as possible. I think that one person has to catch it from afar and they had to count how many steps (they count it by the length of the stick) from the base to that person is, and I guess that’s a score! Another game that we played was Main Karet. You had to jump over a garter that’s being held by two persons from each side. Every time you jumped over it, the garter will go higher. You can’t touch the garter until it’s over the hip high. We also have this game in the Philippines, but we call it Chinese Garter. We usually play it in groups and I know I’m really good at this game. I could jump a garter even higher than my actual height. I was too shy to join them because Triin don’t want to try it. She said she’s too heavy and she can’t jump as she did when she was young. So we just talked to our students and watched the others play Patok Lele. Before we even noticed it, the driver already arrived and it’s now time to go home. Wow, time really flies fast when you’re having fun. We went home to rest and get ready to run our errands later.
Triin and I decided to go back here at Centre Point to buy these t-shirts at Giordano that are on sale for our families. Because their Independence Day is coming up, they have these t-shirts with “Indonesia” prints and logos. We thought it would be nice to buy our loved ones some souvenirs from where we have been. They’re simple but you know that they’re on good quality cloth. When we were about to pay, I pointed a sweater to Triin because I REALLY would love to have it. It also has an “Indonesia” print on the sleeves that made me want it more. We checked the sweaters out while we wait for Arvin to finish choosing his clothes for his family. We tried it on and the saleslady told us it’s on sale!!!! So yup, guess what? WE BOUGHT IT – hashtag impulsive buyers. We went around some more and ate our dinner before heading home and that ends my Day 9.
Day 10 is very much similar with yesterday. I mean, there are still the same activities and same people, same scenario. It just keeps better every day because we get closer to the people and we get to know our students better every time. Today, we taught some of the students a play we call Ping Pong Pang. The first person will say “ping” and the person on their right should immediately say “pong” and the next person should say “pang” and point at somebody else in the circle to start the ping pong pang cycle once again. If one couldn’t keep up, there would be a consequence. We always play it with this certain group of students that always come together and when we see their group, we call them “ping pong pang” and we’ll always sit and play. Sometimes, I think we might be stealing them from participating to mandatory programs and we’re sorry if we ever disrespected something important. Anyway, nothing much happened on Day 10. We went home afterwards, and Triin and I went to our ever favorite restaurant, Al-Nazwa Café, and ate our lunner (between lunch and dinner).
The 11th day isn’t much different like the previous days. We played with the Ping Pong Pang group, we played Main Karet, we played Galasin with the students – the usual things we do. Although today, we experienced playing Galasin with the teachers. It was nice! Students are cheering for their umi’s and teaching them techniques in Bahasa so we couldn’t understand haha! It’s fun to play with them. It somehow takes off the pressure and the manner of being distant with them. I think the gesture of them inviting us to play is a gesture to say we’re actually with them in our journey here. We act proud with each other if we touched one from their group or vice versa. It’s like we’re having a non-verbal trash talk. After the game, we just laughed and thanked each other for the fun we had – the actual point of the celebration. An additional to the list of games we played is the Tarik Tambang. It’s a game that requires two groups who’ll compete by pulling a rope; a competition of strength. In English, it’s called Tug of War. We had fun watching it, especially when one group of small kids competes against the Ping Pong Pang group who has BIG and strong members! I thought, “oh no, they’re too small for them. They wouldn’t have a chance!” But to my surprise, they ALMOST won them over! They won one round but the Ping Pong Pang group got back to them, and lost. Ma’am Rani approached us and asked if we would want to try and play. We politely decline, not because we don’t want to play the game but because the game is simply not for us. I mean, look at us! We’re tiny and skinny and weak. This game is for the brave and strong! Later on, she told us that we’ll play against them. Wow, surprise!!! We can’t say “no” to them so we removed our shoes and positioned ourselves. The only good thing about this experience is that the moment I held onto the rope, my students are cheering for me. “Miss Britney! Miss Britney!” Kids, thank you for your support, but Miss Britney is weak. “What will I do? I’m not for this game!” I thought, stressing myself out that I’ll just be an embarrassment. *PPRRRRTTTT* the game master whistled and I came back to my senses. I just started to pull! Pull! And PULL! No, I can’t anymore. My arms are coming off! *PRRRTTTT* we lost. I shouldn’t be here in the front! I’m the smallest! Second round, Angel took the front place. *PPRRRTTTT* the game master whistled again and we started to pull! Pull! And PULL! Oh, I can feel that we can win now. Just a liiiiiittle bit more…….. PULL!!!! Aaanndddd….. *PRRRT* we lost again. THEY WON! That. Was. Fun! We almost won that last round, but it’s fine. We went to the other side to thank and congratulate the team. We then went to our own different lives once again and played different games with the students. When we got bored, we decided to call our disciples (we call them our disciples because they always gather around us) and taught them a game called Ice, Ice Water. In this game, the “it” would have to touch the other players and when s/he does, s/he would say “ice” and that player would freeze. But the other players that aren’t frozen can unfreeze that player by touching them and say “water”. If the “it” freezes all the players, the “it” would say “Viva sit!” The last player who’ll sit is the next “it” of the game. Many students played the game with us so we had to have 3 “it”-s. Take note that we are playing with our MALE students, imagine how fast they are in running! It’s still fun because I remember how I used to play this game with my friends. After a few games, they’re now the ones who introduced a game to us. It’s also like the first game, but instead of freezing the players, they sit. When you sit down, the “it” cannot touch you, but you can only stand back up when another player would touch you so you could run again. I can see how the students try to explain the game to us despite the language barrier. They even demonstrated how to do the game. They are all cute and sweet. We definitely appreciate how they try to interact with us. When we understood the rules of the game, we proceeded to play in group and oh, boy, how this is difficult. I can’t even remember who my teammates are! I just ran and ran and avoid everyone. Overall, it was very tiring (imagine having to wear long sleeves and hijab while running) but still fun. I had a great time with the students and I think that’s the whole point of the celebration. We went back upstairs to our faculty to rest and eat. Later on, a student knocked on the door and talked to Miss Yayuk. Miss Yayuk translated it to us that as representative from our group is asked to judge the talent show of Al Amjad. We, being the shy people that we are, immediately pushed Miel to do it since he’s the “leader” of the group. The representative is also asked to go upstairs to the Music Room and we just accompanied him there because we wanted to see. Miel and Miss Yayuk went first and we followed because we had to fix our hijabs, and when we got there they said that Mr. Ichsan, the teacher in-charge, asked me to be one of the judges and another representative from the group. And I’m like “why me???? I’m not good at judging people and I’m subjective with these kinds of things” but I don’t really have a choice PLUS I just think of it as an experience while we’re here in Medan. So, we went around the room and just look around the arts the students made. They’re so great! They even made art from slippers, pillows, popsicle sticks, they also have paintings. I mean, how are they good at these kinds of stuff??? The room also has musical instruments like drums and a piano. Angel sat down and tried to play which gave them an idea to let us perform in the talent show as an intermission number. We had no time to practice and not all of has talent (haha) so we politely decline. After we talked to Mr. Ichsan about everything we need to know about the talent show, we went back to our room and waited for our service to come.