WEEK 2: Pretty Mesmerizing

    The second week, the official week where the teaching practicum, the main purpose of the program begins. This is the time I officially meet and greet my cooperating teacher, Ibu Lia, a science teacher of the SMA Labschool UPI, and also together with me is one of the SEA Teachers from Japan, Lissa, who is also a science major. So all throughout the practicum, we are a team of three. Though Ibu Lia made us choose what grade level we want to teach, either grade 10 or grade 11, I immediately chose the grade 10, since I already handled them last semester, and I am also hoping to teach them once again, since they become my first ever student as a student-teacher. So then I was assigned in two classes, X Bilingual 1 and 3, while Lisa was assigned to XI Bilingual 2, under the guidance of Ibu Lia, and supervision of mentor, Dr. Ika.

    The first two days were pure observation in the mentioned classes, since I am kind of familiar with the class I am going to teach, I just think of a strategy that will work on this class when it is already my time to teach. It's a good thing that my cooperating teacher is really cooperative when I ask for some help regarding the activities I need to fulfill, like for printing papers, needing some materials, and comfortability of my own teaching style.

     One day, when Jan and I were walking down the street going to Gerlong to eat, talking in our native language, still in our school uniform, someone approached us, and asked if we're from Philippines, and she saw our ID lace and saw that we're from CLSU, and she jump out of excitement and told us that she also went to CLSU as a SEA Teacher participant way back 2019, and her name is Nurul. With that she invited us to a meal, and had some chit-chats. When she joined the SEA Teacher, she was not actually a representative from UPI, but another University in Indonesia, but now she's taking her masteral degree in UPI. We're actually thrilled to be with her since we have things in common we can talk about, which is CLSU. She told us about her experiences, her journey, the people she met, the places she went to, the foods she missed, and all, I can see how she fell in love with CLSU, the same way I fell in love with UPI. For truthfully, it was really an unforgettable moment to be part of this program. Nurul didn't actually end there, she treated us to a meal, a dessert, and so many snacks! We kept on saying no, I was about to cry because she kept on picking snacks for us even though we already refused her so many times, but she's just so generous. We can't handle this generosity. Unfortunately, she said that the day we met was her last day in UPI, and she's going back to her hometown on that day too, it's just that she passed her thesis on that day, and luckily we still get to meet her accidentally, and that is one of the best accident happened since we got to meet a friend we can keep for the rest of our lives.

    This week too, after class, I got to meet my favorite place in UPI, the parking lot's rooftop. It was really comforting to be on UPI's rooftop, you can clearly see the aerial and top view of the breathtaking beauty of Bandung. The tall buildings, cloudy skies, busy streets, and cheerful people of Bandung, truly a joy for me.

    Did I mention before that it was the rainy season in Bandung? Every afternoon, it is raining. It is a good thing I brought my umbrella with me which is a gift from UPI - Labschool last year for SEA Teachers. So yes, it is always raining in UPI, but it won't hinder us to go roam around the campus, and try their delicacies as much as possible.

    February 14 is Valentine's day in the Philippines, but in Indonesia, it's not a day for love to the opposite sex, but a day to show their love for their country.  On this day, Indonesians had their national election, so there are no classes for us, and we are lucky to witness this kind of event in a foreign country.

    Since we do not have a class, we just prepare our lessons and materials for the next few days since it will be the start of the teaching practice, right after that, we treat ourselves to some food. Not just some, plenty of course, because just like what I said, Filipinos love unlimited goods, so guess what? Yes, we went to Go-Grill Ah again to have those unlimited foods for us.

    The days went by, I started my teaching practice about global warming and both classes were actively engaging during my teaching. They are answering when being asked, especially to opinionated questions. I am also sharing my experience in the Philippines, on how life differs from Indonesia to Philippines, the climate, seasons, how we experience the impact of global warming, and they are all in shock that we Filipinos experience things like that and such. So all in all, it was really fun to teach this kind of topic especially to attentive students like I had.

    Weekend came, and we had our first ever excursion of the program. We went to the Saung Angklung Udjo, actually this is my second time to be here again, but still I am excited. I get to watch and experience the beautiful culture of Indonesia again, being preserved for them to remember how rich and pure their culture is. This time I am more than ready to be here, I wore a batik, a traditional dress of Indonesians, that's why when they are looking for foreigners, they didn't recognize us since we are wearing batik and we actually look like Indonesians, since we have somehow same features though it is because we are Asians. Even though it is my second time here, I already know what will happen. I still had so much fun discovering and cultivating Indonesian culture.

    Since we have different majors and classes with other SEA Teachers, we seldom see each other, and we only see them during excursions and meetings, that's why after the excursion that is the only time that our Thai friends gave their gifts for us from Thailand, and it was again so cute. The small bag, their coin, and an inhaler where they are popularly known.

    Also, we went to one of the canteens one of our Indonesian friends recommended us to go to, this Indonesian friend is actually a SEA Teacher participant from UPI who went to CLSU at the same time as us. He recommended this canteen for us to try their Nasi Goreng, Mie Goreng, Bakso and he didn't disappoint us for those are one of the best  I ever had in Indonesia, it was budget friendly but the taste is superb. Maybe because it was located in my favorite place in UPI, for the canteen is just on the ground floor of UPI parking lot. 

    Ending the second week full of experiences, delicious foods, warm smiles, and amazing views, it is really pretty mesmerizing to be in UPI.