In Indonesia, go with the flow!!!!

This past Friday, all the UVA students and the professors were invited to spend the evening with University of Indonesia, BINUS students and faculty. At first, few of us were excited about it. We had spent the whole day (8 am to 5:30pm) at different companies (P&G and Lautan Luas) listening to executives, doing presentations and getting new insights for our capstone project. After three tiring days in Indonesia, few of us were really willing to spend 3 more hours at BINUS but we had no choice. At 5:30 pm, the bus picked us up in front of the Procter and Gamble office in Indonesia and we headed for BINUS. Because of traffic, it took us one hour to get there (it's only 20 mns away) and we were all pretty exhausted by the time we arrived.

The welcome we received immediately energized everyone. Obviously, BINUS students and faculty were excited and waiting for us impatiently. The university had prepared a whole show to welcome us to Indonesia. The first thing for the evening was a dance show from Aceh, city on the island of Sumatra of Indonesia (Jakarta is on Java Island). We were quite excited once we realized that the evening would be relaxing. Right before the show, cucumber juice was served. Yah!!! sounds weird!! but it was actually quite delicious. They cut the cucumber in thin long pieces, put it in water, add sugar and you get cucumber juice. After the first dance show and a warm welcome by the dean of the business school of BINUS, we were invited to get some food.

The food was delicious but the "cendol" was the best. Cendol is a juice made of coconut milk, some green and black things that I believe are jelly. NOT Sure if I am correct or not, but not sure I want to know either!!! At first, I refused to try the cendol but a BINUS student convinced me to taste it. After many faces and prayers, I tasted the concoction. It was actually quite good and I had a second one later on. I think that once we drank the cendol both students sitting at the table with Michelle and I liked us more.

While we were eating, we were entertained by a band made of three students, two boys playing the drum and one girl singing. She has talent and we showed our appreciation with loud claps. The indonesian took advantage of that to invite UVA students to dance and sing as well. OHOHOHOH!!!! That was not included in the plan!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Finally, Susie sang 'I want it that way' from the Backstreet boys. She put on a great show, going on the floor, on her knees, singing like she was living the words of the song. An incomparable improvisation!!!! Meanwhile, Jacob, Michelle and I volunteeered to learn the 'japong' (dance from Sumatra island) and then danced in front of everyone. I have to say, I had a lot of fun, learn a new dance and we saved face in front of the whole group.

The visit to the BINUS campus was the best way to end a stressful week and left everyone with a great opinion of Indonesians in general. I hope to one day go back to Indonesia and experience the culture even more.