The rain was pouring down when I left home and the traffic to the airport reminded me of the traffic jams in Jakarta! I hope the local Government soon find a way to fix the problems for construction of the underpass at Simpang Siur – it was jam packed this morning. I usually like to arrive at the airport in plenty of time but today there was only 30 minutes to go before my flight. The rain continued all the way to Kupang and flight was quite bumpy. We could only see clouds out the window until we reached the coast of Timor and then the clouds cleared and I could see some of the turquoise water surrounding the coast. Lovely! I went straight to the hotel and checked in. I also checked the arrangements for the workshop and that all my boxes had arrived. That evening – as there often are in Kupang, there was a beautiful sunset. Later on I enjoyed a delicious fish dinner with Caroline, manager at IALF and Ana a teacher and old friend of Kang Guru who is working in Kupang for 7 weeks.

The next morning the staff at the hotel carried all 6 boxes upstairs to the meeting room. I was a bit disappointed as I had requested the room be set up in classroom style but instead the chairs and tables were set up in a U shape. Also when I counted then there weren’t enough. I spoke to the staff and they promised to fix it up before 12:00.  I prepared all the worksheets and KGI souvenirs for the 3 days ahead and laid them out on a table. I was just about to go downstairs to meet Ibu Niny when a staff member told me I wasn’t in this meeting room but a different one. So I had to move all my things to the other room by myself as all the staff had mysteriously disappeared! Phew it was hot work! Eventually I got it all moved and set up in the correct room just as Pak Buan and Ibu Niny arrived. Pak Buan – the district coordinator for AIBEP wanted to give a short opening speech to the participants. So after chatting with them for a while I went back to my room for a shower and prepare for the opening.

All the participants were there by 1:15 and we started the three day KGI workshop. The participants looked rather nervous as Pak Buan gave his speech about working hard and being active. After Pak Buan left we played a couple of speaking games and introduced ourselves to others. Everyone began to feel more relaxed.

We worked from 8:00 till 5:00 on Saturday and 8:00 till 3: 00 on Sunday. We ended the workshop with a Kang Guru team quiz and there was great competition for the winning T shirts. I apologised for the long days and one participant said he wanted more!! After lots of photos and a short video from each of the participants we finally said goodbye on Sunday afternoon. The participants set off home with their KGI packages, posters, certificates and lots of new ideas to try in their classrooms.

The next morning I went to UNDANA to meet students in Semester 2/3 from  the English Department. Santri picked me up at 7: 00 from the hotel and we drove to the campus in her sporty Kijang. I had met Santri at the ADS alumni meeting several weeks ago and we arranged to meet the students next time I was in Kupang. The students were great and we did some activities including a running dictation, a music quiz, other games, tips on learning English and public speaking and of course introduced them to Kang Guru.

I left at 11:00 and went back to the hotel via the oleh oleh shop. Kupang has very nice emping jagung and I wanted to take some back to the office. After a quick shower I checked out of the hotel and went straight to the airport – with my suitcase, a bag of Oleh oleh, a computer bag and the stand-up kgi banner! I always seem to return to Bali with more bags that I went with after a KGI workshop! The flight back to Bali seemed quick – just one and a-half hours and we touched down at Nguruh Rai airport a little after three. It’s always good to be home.