Kaleidoscope-S: Field Trip to Prambanan

Two weeks ago, my class had a field trip for Speaking class in Prambanan temple. The temple is the largest Hindu temple in Indonesia and also one of the largest Hindu temples in Southeast Asia. It is characterized by its tall and pointed architecture, typical of Hindu temple architecture, and by the towering 47m high central building inside a large complex of individual temples.The temple is located approximately 18 km east of Yogyakarta city on the boundary between Yogyakarta and Central Java province. Prambanan is one of the most majestic temples in the Southeast Asia and it attracts many visitors worldwide. Because of it, we chose that place.

Our field trip held on Monday, April 30^th2012. We went there by motor cycle. We arrieved in Prambanan Temple at 10 am then we bought tickets. We had an assignment to do there. Our lecturer, Miss Iryna, gave an assignment to interview many foreigners and made an essay from the interview. We had to practice our speaking ability and learned how to speak fluently from the foreigners. So, after we entered the temple, we started to hunt bule. Bule is an expression which means foreigner in Indonesia.

I did that interview together with Kikik, Fajrul, and Adit so we did not feel nervous. We worked together and helped each other to do it. When I got my first target, I still had butterflies in my stomach. I lost my train of thoughts. In the end, I told myself to walk closer. I introduced myself and asked to have an interview. My first target was a girl from Italy named Rosalina. Actually she did not want to have an interview but finally she said yes and gave us a chance to ask two questions only. I prepared my note and my handphone to record the interview. My first question was her opinion about Indonesia culture. She answered, “It is mixed. The culture is very different in each island like Java, Bali, etc.” My second question was about her first impression about Indonesia. She told us that she was really surprised by Indonesian because they were very kind, open-minded, and polite.

Our first foreigner, Rosalina from Italy

First target done. We continued our walk around the temple to find another foreigner. Getting bad luck, many foreigners rejected us. It was not easy to get a foreigner. Many of them considered us as stalkers. We knew that from their expression when we were getting closer to them and from what they said. We felt very upset until we saw an old man sitting under a tree. First time I saw this old man, I wanted to have an interview with him and I got the chance. We got closer and introduced ourself one by one.

Adit, Kikik, Mr. Peter, Lissa, Ajul

From the interview, I got many information about him such as his name, his job, his hobby, his opinion about Indonesia, his story about New Zealand, etc. His name is Peter. He came from New Zealand. New Zealand is an island country located in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. The country geographically comprises two main landmasses, that of the North and South Islands, as well as numerous smaller islands. New Zealand is situated some 1,500 kilometres east of Australia across the Tasman Sea and roughly 1,000 kilometres south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga.

According to Mr. Peter, New Zealans weather and climate are of paramount importance to the people of New Zealand, as many New Zealander make their living from the land. New Zealand has mild temperatures, moderately high rainfall, and many hours of sunshine throughout most of the country. New Zealand climate is dominated by two main geographical features: the mountains and the sea.

New Zealand is a land of unique birds. The best known is the flightless kiwi, New Zealand unofficial national symbol. Kiwi are blind, shy, and usually nocturnal. They dig the ground to get some insects. Mr. Peter told us a funny story about Kiwi. There is a Kiwi House in New Zealand which protects Kiwi from extinction. In that house, the day is transformed into night when the most famous native bird, the kiwi, wakes up. Here, the visitors will see a kiwi foraging for food as it would in the wild. Because Kiwi is a nocturnal animal, Kiwi House is kept dark so that visitors can see the bird in its natural environment. Day and night are exchange. It is amazing, isn’t it?

I was curious to know about New Zealand food and Mr. Peter explained about it. New Zealand food is close to European and Australian food. This blend of influences has created a mouth-watering range of flavours and food in cafes and restaurants nationwide. For dishes that have a distinctly New Zealand style, there's lamb, pork and cervena (venison), salmon, crayfish (lobster), Bluff oysters, whitebait, paua (abalone), mussels, scallops, pipis and tuatua (both are types of New Zealand shellfish), kumara (sweet potato), kiwifruit, tamarillo and pavlova, the national dessert. It sounds delicious for me.

Mr. Peter was travelling to Indonesia for a month by himself. He came to Indonesia to work with NGO (Non-Governmental Organisation) to make wooden educational toys . He wanted to apply that wooden educational toys in a pre-school where he taught. His occupation is a teacher and he teach young children (the age between 3 until 5 years). He also came to Indonesia for backpacking.

When I asked about his hobby, Mr. Peter explained a lot about hobby. His hobby is gardening vegetables. From his explanation, I get that there is a slide different between hobby, pastime, and relaxation. He suggested us to open our dictionary and searched it in thesaurus part.

He smiled when we asked his opinion about Indonesia. He told us that Indonesia is a very great country with a great culture. He interested with the temple and the culture. But, there is one thing that he does not like. Indonesia is crowded country. It is very different with New Zealand. New Zealand is sparsely populated and Indonesia is densely populated.

In the end of the interview, we asking his advice which country we should go for vacation. He suggested us to go to New Zealand. New Zealand has many great destination such as Kaikoura, Coromandel Peninsula, Tongariro National Park, Westland National Park, Mt Cook National Park, Bay of Islands, Rotorua, Queenstown, Abel Tasman National Park, and Fiordland National Park.

What a great interview! I was very happy because I could have an interview with Mr. Peter for more than a half an hour. I learnt many things from him. After interviewing Mr. Peter, we walked and searched for the next target.

We got a chance to interview Marco from Montreal, Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the fifteenth largest in North America. Montreal is defined by its location in between the St. Lawrence river on its south, and by the Rivière des Prairies on its north. The city is named after the most prominent geographical feature on the island, a three-head hill called Mount Royal, topped at 232 m above sea level.

Marco was travelling to Indonesia for three weeks by himself. In his opinion, Indonesia is a very nice country with hot climate. The climate is different with Canada. Indonesia also has many delicious food that he likes so much. Not only the food that he likes, but also the culture.

He was an anthropologist and he was retired now. He come to Indonesia just for vacation not for working. His hobby is photography and travelling. He had ever visited Maluku many years ago and he had been snorkelling in Bunaken. Snorkelling was the most interesting activity he did in Indonesia. According to him, Indonesia and Mongolia were the best countries he had ever visited. When I asked about things that he dislike from Indonesia, he answered ,”It is very expensive to enter this temple.” We just had a short interview with him because he just gave us 2 minutes for asking. That’s why I can’t write a lot about him.

Our last target was Gijs, a foreiger from Holland. Holland is a region in the western part of the Netherlands. The term Holland is also frequently used as a pars pro toto to refer to the whole of the Netherlands. This usage is generally accepted but disliked by Dutch people in the other parts of the Netherlands.

Ajul, Kikik, Gijs, Lissa, Adit

Gijs came to Indonesia by himself for 2 months. He came to Indonesia to teach in SMA 2 Denpasar Bali. Not only in Bali, he also teach in Lombok. In his point of view, Indonesia is a country with friendly people and nice culture but the weather is too hot for him. Indonesia has many delicious food such as Nasi Campur and Bakso. He loved that food. I suggested him to eat Gudeg Jogja. There was one thing that he did not like from Indonesia. Indonesia had a bad traffic jam.

I asked him about his hobby and he answered that his hobbies were travelling, visiting temples, climbing mountain, and playing football. He usually went to visit many destinations with his friends. He had visited Borobudur temple, Boko temple, and other temples around Yogyakarta. He also had climbed Rinjani Mountain.

Gijs told us that there are no mountain and temple in Holland. Indonesia and Holland are very different. We can see the difference from the culture, the people, the climate, the landscpae, etc. Indonesia was the best country he had ever visited. He hoped that he can come back to Indonesia someday.

From 4 foreigners that I had interviewed, there are two foreigners that I like. First, I like Mr. Peter. He is kind and polite. He also gives me a lot of information about his country and makes me wanna go there someday. Second, I like Gijs. He is very handsome, kind, polite, and he can speak Indonesian. He is also a smiling person. He did not reject me to interview him although he was busy taking pictures.

The field trip was really amazing for me. I could meet many different foreigners with different character and learnt many things from them. I also could practice my English ability. I hope that I can have another amazing field trip in Speaking class next semester.

Other pictures *o*