~Metbul~

The final exams finished on May 20th and I got holiday for a week before starting short semester on May 30th. I couldn’t go out of Bandung, the city where I live now, because it would be boring if I came home since most of my friends already moved to other cities so I have no friends there. I did some activities for 9 days and I think it was fun! Well I did psycho-test and interview as requirements for getting scholarship. The great day started on Tuesday when I went to The Center on May 24th! I always go to The Center (english course) every Tuesdays and Thursdays, at that time there were about 8 american tourists visiting Bandung and my friend, Vivi, asked me to join her going to a mall with married couple from San Angelo, Texas. Honestly, that was the first time I talked a lot with foreigners LOL =)) but I was soooo excited! Tom and Karen are really nice and kind. I also learned new vocabularies but sometimes we got misunderstandings. LOL I think it’s normal, English is not my mother language so when they spoke too fast I couldn’t understand it very well. They left Bandung on May 26th so after hanging out we took some pics and said good bye (>_<)

I went to The Center again the next day. I really love this place! I can learn english but not spending much money :) Well I don’t mean to promote it, just want to say I still find a good place where the native speakers are nice :D                  

I and my friend, Cecil, joined PIE(People- event- issues) class. I love how Nicki, our teacher, tried to make learning english with fun ways. We talked about disability, such as autism, cerebral palsy, and so on. For the next day, I just spent my day by reading a book. I think this is such a good book. BLACKWATER. It’s written by Jeremy Schahill. If you like politics, I guess you’d like this book. I’m an International Relations student by the way :-)

I did the next escapade with 2 friends on Friday. We visited to Sribaduga museum. Well…I see most of people here are still lazy to visit museums and other historical buildings. In fact, they have great histories and influences for our future but what makes me sad most young people as the next generation have lost their real identity :(     

They prefer going to the malls than exploring natures, cultures, visiting museums, historical buildings and thinking how great their ancestors were. I can see lots of great things at the museum. Honestly, I didn’t know too much about the history of Bandung but after visiting that museum I start knowing about Bandung even though it’s not my hometown. Besides I need it too as information for the tourists that I’d guide on the next day.

“A long time ago, Bandung city and surroundings was an ancient basin with 715 meters deep above sea level and approximately 50 x 15 km² wide. It was important natural phenomenon and denudation that took place 125.000 years ago. When Bandung was a big lake, its water linked to the land of hill area in all over lake bank and the existence of rivers streamed at the range of hills. Erosion was inevitable. The process of watering and drying up happened almost at the same time and took a very long time. The Bandung Lake water flow pass the spaces of Pasiripis/ hogback Pasir Kiara Puncak Larang in Saguling Area.”

It is also said that the evidence of that the bank of Bandung basin was inhabited, come from the Paleolithic and Neolithic artifacts found around Dago Pakar, Padalarang, Lembang, Cicalengka, Banjaran, Soreang, and Cililin at 723 m above sea level. The existence of Bandung basin was also supported by a popular legend from West Java, “Sangkuriang”, which according to the lake story occured around the mountain of Tangkuban Perahu.

As the Bandung basin dried up through its bag so slowly and gradually , it left over lakes and ponds in some places. Many name of places in the cities and regencies were taken from this natural phenomenon , such as: Ranca Ekek, Ranca Balang, Ranca Maung, Ranca Munding, Ranca Badak, Situ Aksan. Nowadays, those swampy lowland has become residential area where many houses built rapidly.

That’s the history of Bandung that I know :)

I have posted some pics on here too. If you guys are interested, you can checked them out. I posted them yesterday.

Oh and finally I spend my weekend by guiding tourists from California. It was the first time I be a city guide! XD                                                                     

I took them to any important places around the city, we had lunch in Braga, I and Vivi taught them how to eat using their hands LOL =))                                  

I’m kinda glad knowing my english is not so bad and they told me that my english is good :) 

That’s how I spent my holiday. I didn’t go out of city while some of my friends went to Singapore, Malaysia, Bali, and other places but no matter what happens, I’m gonna make it fun! :D