Day 2

On Friday, we cought the earliest (probably the only) flight to Ruteng. The flight left at 6 am. We arrived in Ruteng at about 7.30 am. Committee members, Sabastian and Tarzi met us at the airport and took us to our hotel. I was captivated by the scenery. Ruteng certainly has breathtaking views. The town is surrounded by hills. It is spectacular.

When we stopped at the hotel Gung De and my self were quite surprise to see the nuns and sisters walking around the hotel area. Sabastian then explained that the place we were going to stay was a Monastery. It was a new experience for me and for Gung De to stay at a Monastery in amongst by sisters of the Catholic Church. The Monastery was such an amazing place. It was clean and green.

After we put our bags into our rooms the committee took us around the town and we all had lunch together. We then had a meeting with the committee at 2 pm to discuss about the schedule for the workshop. That evening Pak Agus, the organiser, invited us to have dinner together with other committee members. At dinner Pak Agus introduced me to Kym, an Australian who was doing a research in Ruteng and he was staying with Pak Agus. As we were talking and chatting during dinner time, to my surprise, I found out that I met Kym about five years ago in Australia through a mutual friend. I didn’t recognize him because he used to have long hair – everyone thought ‘What a small world!’

Day 2

On our second day in Ruteng we left the monastery to go to the workshop venue at 8 am together with Pak Agus and Kym. The workshop was a held at SMA 1 Setia Bakti Ruteng. When we arrived, we were welcomed by the committee with a ritual ceremony and each of us was given a piece of beautiful woven material for around our neck. The workshop started at 8.30 and it started with a 30 minute presentation on ‘How to Teach Listening’ by Pak Agus and Kym.

There were about 65 participants attending the workshop, a few less than expected. About 40 participants didn’t turn up because of the bad weather and heavy rain. All the participants who did attend were very active and enthusiastic witht he activities I gave them. The workshop finished at 15.30 and then Gung De and continued with students meeting. There were about 50 students who attended and they really enjoyed the games and activities we did for them.

After the students meeting I had to rush to Gentala FM to join a live interactive show with Shanty, the Kang Guru Radio presenter. She presents a two hour English language show twice a week. The shows Shanty does usually start with a 20 minute KGI show, discussion and followed by an interactive show. She said in Ruteng there are many KGI radio listeners and they are all very active.

In the studio, that evening, there were two KGI listeners from STKIP Ruteng, Ricar and Chika. I had a great time at Gentala FM. Many listeners sent text massages and asked questions about English and we also gave some quizzes for the listeners. Before we left we met with the Director, Pater Ray, and the Manager Pak Sabastian Mone. They would really like it if KGI can deliver a 30 minute program in the future instead of just 20 minutes.

Pak Agus, Kym,Sabastian met us at the Radio station and then they y took us to a very nice restaurant for our last night in town.

We left the monastery at 7 am and Pak Agus and a driver took us to the airport. It was raining and we could see dark clouds in the sky. It was not a good day to fly. When we arrived at the airport, we saw a big group of passengers waiting for the flight as well. After one hour the airport staff announced that all flights were canceled due to the bad weather. Pak Agus helped us to find other alternatives to go back to Denpasar. We went straight to the flight office in Ruteng but the office was closed on Sunday, everyone goes to church - Sunday Mass. So Pak Agus then suggested going to Labuhan Bajo instead of waiting in Ruteng because the weather in Ruteng is unpredictable and there are more flights possibly from Labuhan Bajo.