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  Home > KGRE Travel in Indonesia > Lombok and Jakarta		 KangGURU Radio English

KangGURU Travels to Lombok and Jakarta in May 2005

KGRE traveled to Lombok and Jakarta in early May. Kevin visited RRI Mataram and joined with their two interactive English language radio programs in Lombok. Kevin also met Anang and Krisdayanti, both well known performers in Indonesia, while he was at a friend's birthday party in Lombok. They talked about KGRE and the possibilities of some interviews, hopefully in the near future. Then onto Jakarta to attend AusAID activities and to take part in the Europe Day celebrations at the Gran Melia Hotel.

Travel to Lombok and Jakarta, May 2005 - written by Kevin

On May 5th I traveled to Lombok for two reasons. One of the main reasons for the trip to Lombok was to visit RRI Mataram. I joined Jack and Nada on their ‘Talk to Me’ interactive radio program and assisted them at their English Language Get Together on RRI. I also spent time with Fadel from the ALFA CLUB (KGCC # 013) on his Sunday evening interactive program on RRI Mataram. RRI Mataram is certainly a ‘go go’ station and hi to Pak Slamet, newly arrived at RRI Mataram from RRI Ende.




Jack and Nada’s interactive program started last November. It is called "Talk To Me". This program has grown a lot since then and is now quite a popular program on RRI Mataram. Every Friday night there are plenty of callers who want to practice their English with Jack and Nada.  I joined the program on May 6th and it was fun. We answered questions and gave away prizes too. We also invited listeners and callers to visit RRI Mataram on Sunday May 9th at 3.30 pm for a small English language Get Together. 

On Saturday, May 7th I met Krisdayanti and Anang in Lombok. And of course I spoke to them about KGRE.  They are both very busy people and it may be a while before a proper interview happens. Krisdayanti was interested to hear about KGRE Connection Clubs and also about how radio can help students of English with pronunciation and grammar. Krisdayanti also spoke about her new English language song  called 'Can't Remember a Time' written by the internationally famous song writer, Diane Warren.  Krisdayanti told KGRE that singing in English was a real challenge for her but she enjoys doing it. Diane Warren has written many well known songs. They have been sung by singers such as Celine Dion, Christina Aguilera and Cher. The compilation album, from Warner Music,  is called 'Love Songs' and is available in Indonesia. 

Krisdayanti sings 'Can't Remember A Time' on this new CD called 'Love Songs'

Krisdayanti

On Krisdayanti's latest CD called 'Cahaya' you can hear an Indonesian language version of 'Can't Remember a Time' called 'Sampai Mati'. It is also terrific but the lyrics are quite different. Listen to KGRE and you can hear both versions in Program no. 4912 in January 2006.

RRI Mataram
About 150 people came to the Sunday afternoon meeting on May 8th for the afternoon listener meeting. There were junior and senior high school students, SMK included too, parents and their younger children plus members of several English language clubs in Lombok. Of course Pak Fadel and members of his ALFA Club were there too. The afternoon started at 4pm and finished two hours later at 6pm.

At 7pm that same day I went into the RRI studio again to join Fadel on RRI’s second English language interactive program, “English Party Line”.  Once again there were many callers and the topic for the calls was Culture. Many people asked about Australian culture of course. They were very interested in Australian aboriginal people (indigenous Australians) and how Australian culture is really a multi-cultural thing. Indonesia is also multi-cultural. Indonesia is made up of many, many different cultures too and this is just one reason why Indonesia is such an interesting place too.


On Monday I flew from Lombok to Jakarta. I spent a few hours at IALF Jakarta then visited the Australian Embassy. I spoke to Liz O'Neill from Public Affairs at the Embassy. We talked about the planned ‘launch’ of the new KGRE office in Bali for early July. Liz is assisting KGRE with the media coverage and with the involvement of Embassy officials in the event. The winning KGCC language club will also be represented at the event. The winning club from the best audio recorded presentation POUCH competition  will be invited to Bali to take part in the event.

In the evening I attended Europe Day celebrations at the Gran Melia Hotel with my good friend Sheila Town. 
Sheila is in this photograph below but is hidden away under the number 2 in the date - 9 May 2005

On Tuesday I attended a meeting of Team Leaders from the 30 or so AusAID projects around Indonesia. It was great to be able to meet them all again and to chat about matters of mutual interest. Thanks to David Spiller from the Australian Development Scholarship (ADS) program who hosted the meeting. And get ready, as there will be exciting news from ADS soon about more scholarships from the Australian Government. Keep checking KGRE for that.

I flew back to Bali on Wednesday the 11th of May.