Episode 6

I wasn't feeling well today, so I didn't go to the school with Debo and Jens. Instead, I slept all morning. =)))) At around 10ish, I got up to take a bath and get ready because Naufal said that he would be picking me up at 11. We went to this mall (CL Mall, I think?), and there was this Semarang Industry Expo where people were selling batik (batik dresses, shirts, cloth), some traditional teas, etc etc. The whole mall has a sale for the whole month (I think???) because it's Semarang's 467th anniversary (I think... HAHAHA SORRY, DETAILS).

Naufal and I were waiting at McDonald's for Iva and Kalina, my Bulgarian co-interns. After that, we (me, Kalina and Iva, and three other @ers) just went around the mall. At around 1ish, we went to the mall center (some sort of events place in the middle of the mall), and some kids played traditional songs with the Gamelan. Funny thing is that in high school, we talked about the Javanese Gamelan Performances in Music class, and today, I actually got to see it live. Amazing how far AIESEC has brought me. :')

After that, the host came up to us foreigners from AIESEC and the exchange students from UNNES (shet, kakaiba talaga isipin na "foreigner" ako dito hahahaha), and asked about us. Then we were asked to sit in the middle. There was a man who shared with us about the traditional puppet theater. (His English was very good. Better than most of the people I've met so far). We were asked to make a puppet too, and the best one would receive a prize. They gave us some paper, a pencil and eraser, and a guide to draw one of the famous puppet characters. I think I did an awful job in drawing him, and we were asked to paint the puppet, which made it look a lot worse. Funny thing is, I won the prize! =)))) It was a bag of goodies from this beauty company. =))) After that, we left the mall to go to the Welcome Party. :)

The party was held at some restaurant inside the UNDIP campus. We were driven there by Edu, Kalina's buddy. We had the orientation for the project, we met the organizing committee, and we ate food and played games. It was a fun night! Some of the OC I met just that evening, and some I've already hung out with (namely, Naufal, Dini, and Zakky). There were also other AIESECers and volunteers/learning partners there. It was fun meeting so many people! (Although I can't remember most of their names...) There was also this Brazilian EP there, Willian. He was funny. He looks like Jesus, to be honest. =)) He seems like a fun guy, except his project is in a city two hours away, so we can't really hang out that often. We played games after dinner. It was funny, because they call the game "Eat Bulaga" (since the TV show has an Indonesian version), but it's really what most people call "Pinoy Henyo". One of my teammates was kinda dull, and he couldn't guess "Britney Spears". He already asked if it was a male or female, but he kept saying "Timberlake??".... Ah, whatever. It was fun anyway. After that, we surprised Zakky! It was his birthday the other day, so we gave him cake! He fed us some (and by fed, I mean he literally gave me some cake with his fingers hahahaha it was special, I guess haha). And theeen, some AIESEC dances until we got tired. Before we left, we talked about the activities for tomorrow. First is "Explore Semarang", and I think we're going to a temple... Or some place, I don't know. I'll figure it out tomorrow, haha!

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xoxo C