Kang GURU Travels to Blitar

Ayu traveled to Probolinggo, Blitar and Mojokerto in May visiting language clubs and schools.
Here is her report for you to read -

I caught the 10 o’clock plane to Surabaya and met my lovely driver Pak Wawan then we started our journey. There was a big traffic jam in Porong, Sidoarjo just exactly in front of the ‘big mud’. I only heard about the hot mud phenomenon on TV, so I thought it would be good if I could see I thought. I asked the driver to stop, I got out of the car as quickly as possible and ran up to the mud area and took some snapshots and went back to the car again. Phew! After a 3 hour journey, we stopped at Nguli. Pak Wawan said Nguli is very famous with its “ nasi rawon” . The ‘nasi rawon’ was indeed very delicious, I really enjoyed it.

English Conversation Club (KGCC #058) SMAN 1 Probolinggo

We arrived at 1.15 at SMAN 1 Probolinggo. It was Saturday , all the students had already gone home earlier but the members of ECC came back to school that afternoon to meet me. Mrs. Titin was the first person I met and she showed me around. SMAN 1 Probolinggo is huge. Deni (ECC leader) and Mrs.Titin took me to a meeting room on the second floor. There were about 30 ECC members in the room.
As usual I started with introducing myself and Kang Guru then we had a view games and discussion. At the beginning ECC club members were little bit shy but after the games they became wild. They then asked so many questions about Kang Guru, how to get connected with Kang Guru, how to get the magazine etc. I looked at the time it was almost 3…I was late. It was time for me to leave!!! I was Jam Karet!!!!
I said goodbye to everybody but before that we took a few photos together in the basketball court. Thanks ECC for the warm welcome !

English Enthusiast Bevy (KGCC 059), Krasa’an, Probolinggo.

My next trip was 10 km from Probolinggo, it’s Kraksaan. I always pronounce it as Kraksakan, I could never say Krasa’an properly. I was really late when I got to EEB. EEB is located in Kampung Arab, in Pondok Pesantren Al-Mashuduquiah. I could see a big banner with my name on it on the entrance gate of the pesantren. I saw some boys playing football on the field outside the school. I was welcomed by the lovely leader of EEB, Bashori, with his members. He said that all the members had been waiting for me since 1 o clock. Bashori took me to the office and we had a chat while the students were getting ready in the hall.

After 15 minutes I heard a big crowd of kids…and Bashori said: “I think they are ready! They can’t wait!”. So we went to the hall and children were whispering, smiling, laughing and finally cheering as I approached them. The hall was separated by a partition. From the front I could see the girls sitting on the left side and boys were on the right side. They all could see me but the boys and the girls couldn’t see each other. Their age are varied, between 12 years old to 25 years old.
I opened the meeting by a greeting “ hello good afternoon how are you today”. I heard everyone shout boisterously “ Fiiiiiiiiine thaaaaank you!!!”. That was very impressive for a start.
The whole activity at EEB went very well, the members were alive, enthusiastic and active. We did various activities such as games, quizzes about Kang Guru and an interactive discussion with the members. As I was about to say goodbye everyone went rush to me and asked for an autograph, once again I was late to my next destination.
I said thank you to Bashori and all his members for the hospitality. I was impressed by the enthusiasm of the members hopefully KG can pay another visit again in the future!
And I’d like to say thank you for the ‘nasi kotak’, it was very delicious I ate it on the car on the way to Malang.

English Development Club (KGCC 096), Kraksaan –Probolinggo

I called Wafa to apologize for my late arrival. Wafa said that I should wait until azhar. By the time I arrived at Pondok Pesantren Darullughah, everyone was just finished praying. We went in and I was approached by lots boys in their sarong and some of them in their uniforms. We went straight to one of the rooms which looked like a classroom. As usual I introduced myself and Kang Guru and I asked them to ask questions about KG. Most of them know about KG already. I was so surprised by their enthusiasm and their English proficiency! Most of them speak really well.
When it came to the quiz, everyone was just too excited and everyone tried hard to answer my questions from the magazine. I was particularly impressed by a 12 year old boy Arman who could speak really well. He was young, active and tried hard to speak English. I was there for about two hours, everyone was disappointed when I was about to leave. They said that they still wanted to practice their English. I thanked all members and Fathan, the leader or EDC for a wonderful evening. I was ready to leave for my next destination, Malang.
Although I had a long journey from Surabaya, I had a great time in Probolinggo. It took us three hours to get to Malang from Probolinggo, we arrived at almost midnight and went straight to bed – Phew it was a long journey…..

Blitar

KG was invited to attend a Speech Competition held by SMA 1 Blitar .We arrived at SMA 1 Blitar at around 12 o’clock. The building was empty. Everyone was still at recess including the committee and contestants. I met Ahmad Huluq, the organizer, and he took me inside the building.
The speech contest for the 15 finalists started at 1 pm. The finalists were great. The speeches were in three different topics : Drugs, Global Warming and Culture.
I gave a presentation about KG and some language tips before the announcement of the winners. Most of them were not familiar with Kang Guru. And at first they were reluctant to ask questions. But when I started to give out prizes, everyone was keen to participate.
After some quizzes games and interactive discussions, I said goodbye to everyone. Lots of people from the audience came to me and wanted to know more about KG. They were interested to get the magazine.
Meet Pak Alan and PERSADA FM English Club

When I left the building a group of people were already waiting for me…..It’s Pak Alan/Pak Agus from Persada FM Blitar. He came with his son and two members of Persada FM English Clubs.
Because it was my first visit to Blitar, they offered me a quick tour around the town. First destination was of course the Persada FM. Then they took me to the famous Soekarno’s graveyard. I was so excited to go because this place is very famous. We had a look at the new library in the area and we did a quick prayer near the graveyard. It was 4.30 pm and I was a bit weary but too bad there was only one exit from the graveyard that led us to a 3 km art market. So we had to walk pass all those stalls on the way back. I complained to Pak Alan and he said that it would be good for exercise ha ha ha!

The Hotel I stayed in was beautiful. It was build during the Dutch colonization in the 1800s. I never thought that there would be such a beautiful Hotel in Blitar.I put my bags in the room, had a quick shower and got ready to go to Persada. I arrived at PERSADA FM at 6.30 . Some groups were already waiting. The meeting with the club members started at 7 pm.
We had to stop the discussion because I had to do a live radio show with Pak Alan. After half an hour on air , we continued the discussion. The whole program finished at 9.30 pm. It was happy to have met people who were so keen to learn English and to know about KG. On the way back to the hotel Pak Wawan, my driver, and I stopped at the roadside warung to have fried noodles….yummy!

Mojokerto

I left Blitar at 7 a.m and we were heading to Mojokerjo. It took us three and a half hours to go to kota Mojokerto. Zainul is one of the English teachers at SMA 1 Mojokerto and he is my contact person. I got so many miss calls from Zainul. He was so worried that I might arrive late at school. We supposed to arrive at 10 am but because we got lost on the way, we arrived half an hour late.
I often speaks to Zainul on the phone but I was so surprised when I met him in person. Zainul is very young - well that’s a compliment!
I met the principle and they took me to the hall where hundreds of students were already waiting.
SMA 1 Mojokerto was full of surprises. First they had singing performance, dramas, dance, cheerleaders show etc. I was fully entertained by all the performance, but the most impressive ones were the dramas which were delivered all in English. All the performance were great!!!!!At the end of my visit at SMA 1 Mojokerto, the Principle expressed his interest in broadcasting KG radio show in Mojokerto. So he is planning to establish a radio station at his school that broadcast KG all over Mojokerto, isn’t that great? Well we will keep track that!

At 1.30 I went to meet teachers and students from SMP 5 Mojokerto and SMP 2 Kutorejo. We had lunch together to discuss about KG. The meeting was attended by 5 students from SMP 2 Kutorejo and 7 teachers from both schools.
We finished our lunch and discussion at 3.30 pm. Then I head back to Surabaya.
I had a good rest that night at a Hyatt after a long road trip.

SELECTED PHOTOS AVAILABLE AT : Storage/Travel 2008/ Ayu/ Blitaro9