The First Week

20 January 2018
 
Today is my departure day to Manila from Jakarta at 11:30 am. It feels really thrilling because this is my first time to travel abroad, added with the fatigue of overnight I only had to sleep a few minutes because I depart from kendari 22:00 pm and arrive in Jakarta at around 03:00 am. And after that around 8:30 am I was looking for money changer at the airport to exchange my money from rupiah to peso. This moment is really tiring because at that time I had not at all breakfast with very little sleeping opportunities in plus again I had to pull a suitcase to find a money changer that opened in the morning. After that, after searching for food I had to wait until 10:50 am  to do the boarding pass.

Waiting in the airport

In an Air Asia plane bound for Manila, I was really worried. I was afraid if I will not be able to teach students there and my English is not perfect. The shadows that there might be trouble in my communication process later, made me think to get off the plane. Haha... However, when my stupid plan came up, along with the audible notification that the plane was ready to take off. In my heart I whispered "GOD, PLEASE HELP ME !!!"

I arrived in Manila in the afternoon at 5:30 pm. After I finished various procedures after arriving at the airport, I stopped  to buy a new phone card with brand name Globe with price P 300. After that I waited for the envoys from our recipient university, TAU (Tarlac Agricultural University) in he waiting room while communicating with a muslem filipino. She said that “hey, you look like a Filipino”, and I say “you look like an Indonesian, Ma’am”. That person has a good sense of humor. After a few minutes of telling stories, there were two womens who came up to me and said that they were the ones responsible for picking us up. Ah, yes. I forget that in fact I was not alone to manila, I was with Dwi Regita Mardianti who came from the same university as me and also placed in the same university that is TAU.
Furthermore, we (me and Regita) met with 3 of our friends who came from Indonesia who arrived on the same day and the possibility we also drove the previous plane. After that it started our long journey from Ninoy Aquinos International Airport airport to Tarlac by driving a car. On our way we stop at KFC, a place that sells fast food and you must be know that restaurant. After that we continue the journey again. i was very tired, so along of the way i just sleep.

21 january 2018

That afternoon at about 16:00 pm, we were invited by Ma'am Leslie, Franceska, Ms. Apple and Ms. Michelle to visit SM Mall to buy some of our needs during the hostel, such as food, detergent, books and beside that  we are also invited to find some dinner. Previously, we divided 2 groups. Hungry groups and groups who want to shop first. Me, Regita, Joy, Nat and Gerald are in a group of hungry groups. Well, this part is very make me feel guilty to Ma'am Leslie and Franceska because they have to tired around for accompanying us looking for food we can eat , in the sense halal and finally I give up and choose ddaebokki, a Korean  food that made from rice flour and the mixture of the sauce is spicy and tastes very strange.

22 january 2018
 
Flag ceremony
 
That morning at 7:15 AM, we joined a flag ceremony (not red white flag, haha), and in my earlier guess that the procedure will be very different from the flag ceremony in my country. Their ceremony consisted of a welcome speech of an important person on campus, especially the university president, Mr. Max P. Guillermo, Ph.D. As well as the singing of their true nationality caught my attention, because the tone was so good that it made me feel like want to sing  along.

Opening Program

That day is the opening event program organized by TAU to welcome us and also to open the program that we will do during the next 1 month. We were very well welcomed. As we entered the hall building, we were greeted by a traditional guitar playing played by TAU-LS Rondalla. They played it very well and neatly and I really liked their costume. If they wanted to teach us how to play it, we would be very happy.

After that the opening program began by singing the song of ASEAN Hymn and then continued by singing the National Anthem from Philippines, Indonesia and Thailand.There are some activities that I forgot in the opening of this program, but as I still remember that there are some important people who make speeches like Dr. Max P. Guillermo, Dr. Christine N. Ferrer, Dr. Arnold R. Lorenzo and Ms. Karen A. Mariano.

 
Then we were asked to introduce our respective universities while presenting the video. I am grateful then I was not alone, I was accompanied by Regita because she also came from the same university as me. Honestly, I was very nervous and scared when introducing our university in front of everyone.

After that, we were given a very good lunch and guaranteed halal. Salamat, Po! 

Campus tour

At 3 AM we undertook a campus tour starting from Dean's office space, of college education. Arnold R. Lorenzo. We talked about many things, then we were taken to see the students and  who were studying and we looked at the facilities. And at that time I was really amazed by the facilities that this campus has.

Next we visited a lab, I forgot the name. In that place, we witnessed the process of making Polvoron cakes, Peanut Cake and tamarin cake. I prefer polvoron cake, because it tastes sweet and tasty and peanut cake because it is crunchy, maybe because I eat it while it's still warm. But the tamarin cake ?? I do not really like it because it tasted so sour and spicy. 

After that, we went  to the campus library. In the library I found a lot of fiction novels that are a little difficult to find in Indonesia, especially in the city where I live and the price must be very expensive. Here there are so many quality books, though still the library is still very small compared to the library on my campus.

Fellowship dinner

After we did the campus tour if it was not wrong until 17:00 pm, we attended a dinner that held by TAU for us. The university president sings on stage, and we are also welcome to sing along. It felt so good that night, because I have new experiences and new  friends who come from the same country as me but different city and I have new friends from Thailand 2 persons.

23 January 2018
 
Community tour and courtesy visit to governor and mayors
 
Today is a very long day. We visited the Tarlac governor's office, the Mayor of Camiling and the mayor of Santa Ignacia. At the Mayor's office of Camiling, we met and were introduced  to the mayor's father and the staffs there. Ah, yes. We were given typical Filipino food named "tupig". Food made from rice mixed with coconut milk and coconut meat, after which wrapped in banana leaves and burned. It taste was really good ... the Philippines’  language is"masarap ito"

After that we walked arround the small park in camiling called Camiling Veterans Park which is located in front of the camiling mayor's office. In Camiling Veterans Park there are several statues of heroes who used to sacrifice and managed to defeat the invaders from Spain, America and Japan. I know the story, because Ma'am Karen had time to tell us. After that, we are visible a building not far from the park. She said the house is the house of very feared hero’s girlfriend. I forgot her name. Pliese forgive my bad memory.

After we said goodbye to the camiling mayor, we went to Santa Ignacia's mayor's office. There we were met and introduced to the mayor of Santa Ignasia who was a woman.

After that, we continue the journey again to tarlac capitol which is the governor's office of tarlac province. When we arrived there, Ma'am Karen said that the governor was unable to attend so we only took pictures.

After we were satisfied to take pictures at Tarlac Capital, we went to a handicraft made from bamboo. We were shown their works in the form of key chains, bracelets, necklaces, photo frames, ashtrays, rings, and more.

 Next, we continue our journey to a craft site that comes from clay. In Indonesia commonly referred to as "gerabah". The distance is not so far as the previous place.

 

 

After tired of traveling around, we were taken to a restaurant to fill our hungry stomachs, because after this there is still a place we must visit again. For the umpteenth time, this is what I fear so much. Because this restaurant sells forbidden food for Muslims, namely pork. Although this restaurant provides fish or chicken, but I still can not to eat here for several reasons. Finally Ma'am Karen took me and Regita (The others stayed to eat ), to a mini market called 77 to buy some snacks, bread and drinking water, because we both refused to eat there. Forgive us, Ma'am Karen for bothering you.After that, we just wait in the car and eat our food while waiting for other friends to finish their lunch at the restaurant.
 
The next trip, we visited the mountainous area a considerable distance away. Because of fatigue, some of us chose to sleep. I really like this place, because this place is very bright and not much different from Indonesia. Even the streets also made me feel that I was in Indonesia. About 2 hours or so, we finally arrived at a place called Monasterio De Tarlac. This place is very beautiful, with a very stinging sun. There are some cool buildings, which I think almost resemble churches, and I can not forget the giant statue of Jesus stretching out His hands that reminds me of a place in Rio De Jeneiro in Brazil.

 

 

 After spending time here and  taking a lot of pictures we finally headed back to the hostel to rest, but before that we went to the market to buy some of the ingredients we needed to cook at the hostel.

24 January 2018

Basic language and cultural orientation
 
That day was the day we will learn the tagalog language that will be taught by Ms. Faith with someone whose name I forgot. We started our study very early in the morning, and I was very excited. We started to learn from the easy and commonly used language like if you want  to introduce your name "ang pangalan ko ay si Evi" to learn how to bid goods on the market "pwede po bang tumawad?" Throughout our lessons we always laugh, because some of our friends wrong in pronunciation when they asked us to come forward and start a dialogue.

 

When the lunch time, we were asked to comeback to the hostel for lunch and after that we had to go back to the class to continue our tagalog language lessons until the afternoon.

After we finished our lesson that afternoon, several cooperating teachers came into our classroom along with the practice teachers and some teachers. It was the day of deciding where we were going to teach and the cooperating teachers met us with a mentor who would guide us as well as a buddy who was a practice teacher to accompany us and help us when we got into trouble. That's when I first met my mentor named Sonny Acquiot Santos and my buddy named Beverly Ronquillo Domingo.

 

At that time my mentor began to explain what class I should teach and what subjects I would teach and the day. He said that tomorrow I have to meet him in College Bussiness and Management (CBM) office to observe the class in his class.

 
January 25, 2018

Observation class

On Thursday we were scheduled to observe the classes that we will teach. But before that Mr. Sonny gave us lesson materials that we will teach next week. I was feeling nervous and afraid if I would make mistakes, but the teachers in the office were very kind. Well, we were just discuss about the lesson materials for few menutes and then Mr. Sonny asked us to watch the college students who were examing in the next room 

 

When I watched the college students who were examining, I did not find any college students who cheated or talked to each other. The test went well and quiet, and when I said that the remaining five menutes left, they immediately collected their respective answer sheets. The puzzling thing is that the students gaves me 1 peso each person. And according to Mr. Sonny’s explanation, the money is used to pay for a copy of their exam. Well, after I collected the answer sheet and the money, I went back to the office and gave it to Mr. Sonny.

After that, time has  shown 11.15 AM, then we went back to the hostel for lunch. But Mr. Sonny said that we dont have to come back again after lunch. He said that we have to come on Monday, next week to start my teaching assisstenship.