Unic Bali: 2008

November 26, 2008

As marked before on saturday we went to Maartensdijk to visit a real traditional Dutch Farm. The first thing that all students noticed was the smell. The farmer's wife explained that it was the food of the cows mixed with the smell of manure. The first group got a tour around the farm where the farmer's wife explained everything about the farm, while the second group got a traditional farmer's lunch (bread with cheese etc.). After this the groups switched and then everybody went home.

Snow in Holland 22 November

When the Dutch students were in Bali, the Balinese students already asked if there will be snow in Holland when they would come here. The Dutch students didn't knew at that time if it would snow. But fortunatly on Saturday there was snow in Holland and the Balinese students played with it and really enjoyed it. Of course it was still very cold, maybe even colder, but that didn't matter because everybody had fun with their fellow students and the snow.
Also on Saturday we went to a Farm in Maartensdijk for more information see the topic about the farm.

Skiing in Snowworld and iceskating in Overvecht

This day (21-11-2008) A few students went to Snowworld to ski, and the rest of the group went iceskating on the iceskating track in Overvecht.
The students who went skiing really enjoyed their sportsmanlike adventure, so did the students who went iceskating. After practicing and holding on to everybody, the students could skate and ski by their selfs. Everybody was tired by the end of the day, but as said earlier really enjoyed this expierence.

Ice Skating

Skiing at Snowworld

Waterkering Hoek van Holland, Rotterdam

This day (20-11-2008) we went with the bus to Kinderijk, Hoek van Holland and Rotterdam.

Kinderdijk (windmill)

Rotterdam

Hoek van Holland

Hoek van Holland (Waterkering to defend Holland against the water)

Take Notice that all the pictures for now are made by the Balinese Students.

Balinese Students arrived in Holland

Tuesday 18 november, the Balinese students from SMA Sukawati arrived in Holland at 6 o'clock in the morning. A few students from UniC went with the train to the airport to pick up the Balinese students. Its was very cold outside and we went with the bus to our school UniC. Its was very strange that there was no traffic-jam on the highway, so we arrived very early at UniC at 7.30.

At 8 0'clock we had a welcoming ceremony at the Frans Schubert street in Utrecht. (The second location of our school.)

November 4, 2008

Tuesday 14th October LAST DAY

This day was the last day of our visit. The first part of the group had to woke up at 4:45AM because he had to go to the airport. The other part of the group picked up at 9 o’clock and the last part of the group picked up at 1 o’clock. We all meat each other in Singapore and some groups visit Singapore city.

Monday 13th October

This was the last full day in Bali with all of the students. On the begin of the day we went to school to see a movie about the history from Bali. It was a very boring movie and everybody are sleeping or do other things on the computer. Rinse make us afraid because he said that he make questions about the movie for the school exam. After the movie we went with the bus to the beach. On the way we had a break by the Mc Donalds and everybody buy meals and burgers. When we arrive at the beach we hds two hours free to do something what you want. The most people take a rest or going to swim in the beach with the high waves. This beach was near at the airport and sometimes we saw an airplane, nice view.

At 6 o’clock we saw the sunset during the dinner, the meal exist from fish, gamba’s and rice with vegetables. Everybody makes pictures of the sunset and with the whole group. Desika and Putu hold a speech about the experiences and the time we all together in Bali. Also the Balinese pupils had written a song and sing it for us. The rest of the evening we stay at the beach and make a lot of pictures.

9 o’clock we went to home and drink coffee. But there was a problem with the motorcycle from a student, and we went to sleep at 2.30 AM and we’ve to wake up at 4.45 AM…

Sunday 12th October

This day we went to school and visita village where the inhabitants make Wayan puppets. After this movie we went to a big mall and ‘Dreamland beach’ in Kuta. In the mall are a lot of stores with prices the same as in Europe, we did not buy anything... After this we went to Dreamland beach with the car (some of the Balinese pupils can drive a car). It was a very nice, clean beach with a lot of surfers and high waves.

Saturday 11th October

Today we had a Gamelan and Balinese dance performances. First we practise the song but it was not so difficult also the dancers practises the Balinese dance. After a few minutes everybody was deaf of the sound of the gamelan. We finished the practice of the gamelan and then we toke a look at the dancers. After that we had driving to a kind of theatre and there we had the gamelan and dance performance. Everybody was wearing traditional Balinese costumes like a sarong and an udang (Balinese hat). After that we went to the villa of the teachers to celebrate the birthday of Jorien. Putu has buy a chocolate cake and the mother from Sri made a pyramid of rice. In the evening they ordered Noodles and vegetables, also we eat the pyramid of rice and the chocolate cake. After the Birthday party of Jorien, This evening was very cosy and funny. After that we went to bed.

Friday 10th October

This Friday we had to opportunity to practice for the gamelan and dance performance of Saturday. When we arrived at school we drunk some water and waited till we were complete. When we were finally complete, we went to the gamelan place to practice. After one time playing the gamelan they told us that we were very good. After practicing the same song once more they thought it was enough and we went back to school and we toke a look at the group the stayed at school to practice Balinese Dance. After watching and waiting for at least thirty minutes we had the opportunity to see a classroom and join a class. The class room was very different with the class room in Holland, but it was nice and funny to see the differents between the class rooms. After a few minutes in a classroom we went back to the assembling area. There we had to wait another long time. Finally we went into the computer room to check our email and send some of those. We didn’t used the computers only for mail but also for work out a experience report for Xplore. When we were all finished we had the opportunity to go home.

Thursday 9th October

This day we went to a holy place somewhere in Bali. In this holy place we visited a temple and caves called Goa Gajah (Goa means cave). In the entrance of the temple there was a man with a very, very big yellow snake. You could pay the man if you want to hold the snake in your hands. But nobody liked the snake and wouldn’t spend money on a very scary thing like a snake. When we went inside the holy place we had to use a sarong. It was a beautiful place with a lot of trees and flowers. We didn’t see many animals or insects except the snake at the entrance of the park. When we arrived at the caves we took a look inside. There was a smell of incense and statues of holy things. It was a nice cave. After the caves we went to the holy water. If you want you can take a bath in the holy water to clear your skin. Only Luuk and Jorien took a bath in the holy water.

Wednesday 8th October

First we went to school to see a movie about the sawa’s and subak. After one hour the movie was ended and we checked our email and after that we went to the bus. In the bus we song songs and rest a bit. After a long trip to Nusa Dua we had the opportunity to get money at the ATM (pin) to pay for the activities we could do at the beach like going to the sea turtle Island, snorkeling, hiring a jet ski or just don’t use the opportunity of spending money and just relax at the beach. A large group went to the ATM (they didn’t know where to find one) to withdraw some money of the bank. After a half hour of waiting the group finally arrived back at the beach. There we payed the man to go snorkeling, when we want to leave the man told us there was no boot so we waited for the moment a boot was available. Then we finally moved up to the sea to see some coral and tropical fish. After one hour of snorkeling we went back to the beach to tell everybody it was really fun to see the coral. Jorien had her lunch they told her there were no peanuts inside but there was. Jorien was allergic for peanut and she went to the hospital.

Tuesday 7th October

Tuesday started with a lot of rain. The rain started at 5:00AM, we woke up at 6:00AM because of thunder. Because of the rain we didn’t go to school on time because driving through the rain was too dangerous. When the rain finally stops falling at 9:00AM we were able to go to school. In the program was a trip to the Ubud art market, but the market was flood cause of the rain. Then they changed the program to go to the Sukawati art market again. But also Sukawati art market was flood so we just worked on the assignment on the computer room on school. We also had the opportunity to check our email.

Monday 6th October

Today we had an excursion to the volcano Gunung Batur. The bus trip toke 30 minutes, it was very cosy because we sing Dutch and Balinese songs like ‘Het is stil aan de overkant’ and ‘’Bulan Bintang’.. When we arrive at the volcano we first went to lunch in a restaurant were you could eat so much as possible, everybody was surprised and toke a lot of food. After the lunch we had a beautiful sight on the volcano, also there are a lot of sellers with wooden statues, postal cards and sarongs. After visiting the volcano we went to the plantations, on this place farmers cultivate chocolate, coffee, tobacco and fruit. We had the opportunity to taste free the chocolate, coffee and tobacco, it was a very special (but nice) taste because the coffee was made from the shit of monkeys who had eat coffee beans. After visiting the plantations we went back to school and do some stuff on the computer like update the website, mail, chat and make an experiences report of this day. About 30 minutes later everybody went to home with the Balinese students on the scooters and motorcycles.

Sunday 5th October

This Sunday was the first day off. We made a plan to go to the beach all together. We went to school to be there at 9 o’clock, there we will wait for all the other students and then we going to the beach in one group. After a 30 minutes drive we arrived at Sanur Beach. There we went into the sea to swim. Some people hired a canoe, the streamlet was very strong so there was no relaxing. Later that day we had some more breakfast and drink some coca cola. Some other Dutch students toke a massage. The Balinese students just relaxed in the shadow because they tod the sun was to hot. First we had to leave at 12:30PM, but some of the Dutch students really liked the beach so we asked him to stay. After a while and having lunch with a part of the Dutch students we went home. There we toke a bath and go to the badminton and table tennis hall. There we played some badminton and table tennis after this we had a dinner. After the dinner we went to the supermarket to buy some drinks. There we sit down for a while and talked, there we saw some other students pass by. Some of them joined us and after that we went back home for drinking coffee. That was fun again and finally after drinking a cup of coffee we went back home for sleep.

Saturday 4th October

Saturday was the last day of the week with planned activities for the first week. On Saturday we went to school at 8:30AM because we were going to interview the teachers. But first we had to make questions again to ask the teachers, the question had to be about sustainability. First the Balinese students asked some questions to the music teacher. After he answered some of our questions we went to the headmaster and ask him the same questions. Some of his answers were the same as the music teacher. After all of our questions were answered, we got in to the computer room to work out our answers. After working in the computer room we played gamelan again. Some other were dancing and some others are working on the website. We finished everything at 5 o’clock.

At 7 o’clock in the evening we went back to school because we went all together to Ubud to have dinner in a restaurant. We went to a restaurant, but they didn’t knew we shut come with 49 people. So we went to another restaurant to have dinner. It was all very nice. After that we went back home for sleep.

Friday 3rd October

Friday was a very active day. We woke up at 8 o’clock. We went to school to finish the experience reports for Xplore. After finishing the assignment we went to the beautiful place called Ceking to see the rice terraces. When we arrived in Ceking we get split in three groups, the profit, planet and people groups. First we had to made research questions together, those questions we ask to the farmers to know about the rice fields. When we finally finished making questions, we went down to find a farmer to ask all the questions we made. After a small search one of the Balinese students found a farmer in a small house. It was hard to get to the house because it was slippery and there were some steep parts of the hill. When we finally arrived at the house, the Balinese students nearly killed the man with all our questions. After each question the Balinese students translated the answer for the Dutch students because we maybe knew some other questions to ask. After all, the farmer tried to sell one of his hats to us. Hanneke bought one because we broke his house by leaning against one of the bars.

After that we went back up by another way, which was not the best way because the hills we had to pass was really steep. But after a little struggle against nature we were up and assembled with the Profit group, we are Planet. Up on the hills we had some time to buy a drink or a souvenir. After that we went back to a place were the bus could pick us up. After that we went to the “Holland House” the swim and have dinner all together.

Thursday 2nd October

The second full day of the trip, this day we woke up at 8 o’clock in the morning because we had to be on school at 9 o’clock. We were a little bit too late, but we were not the last one so the rest of the group was still waiting. When we were waiting for the rest of the group we drunk some water and just talked about the second night.

When we finally were complete we get splitted in two groups, one group was going to play gamelan and the second group was going to learn Balinese dance. First we played a “song” with the Balinese students, the teached us which buttons you had to hit at what moment. When we finished our first song, the Balinese students showed us how to play. So we only had to watch and stare. After there song, we could take our places again. When everybody was ready we played the same song again and when we were finished we did so well, they told us to change a bit more early.

Then we went to the dance room. The dance teacher (a Balinese student also involved in the exchange program) followed her group to the gamelan so there was no teacher! After 15 minutes of doing nothing finally the teacher arrived. Then we finally started to dance, that was the meaning. We learned the dance for man who is very difficult, we couldn’t do the basic steps so the teacher gave up and we were free to stop dancing because we were too bad. After everything on school we went home and some other Dutch students joined us with there Balinese drivers for dinner at our place.

Wednesday 1st October

This was the first complete day on Bali. We woke up at 7 o’clock. We had to be on school at 9 o’clock for the welcome ceremony the school planned for us. The welcome ceremony was a speech of the headmaster (principal) of the school SMA Negeri 1 Sukawati, Marije and the leader of the Gianyar area. After the speeches they showed us a Balinese welcome dance. The music was played by other students on the gamelan. A Balinese music instrument, it looks like a xylophone. It was nice ceremony to see and we told it was nice to get such a good welcome for the program. When the ceremony was done, we all had to make pictures with the Gianyar area leader, only the Dutch students. When we were done taking pictures, the Balinese students had the opportunity to go on the picture with the Gianyar area leader.

After the ceremony and all pictures the Balinese students brought us to the villa of the teachers to rest. There we swom in the swimmingpool and we and the rest of the group talked about the first night, how they experienced the night. We didn’t had any problems so we didn’t had to talk long, some others had problems and they talked some longer. We all were very exhausted because of the jetlag. At 6 o’clock in the evening the Balinese students picked us up and we went home for dinner. After dinner we went to a dance performance, but we were very sleepy so we didn’t finish the entire show.

November 3, 2008

Ice on the cars

October 30, 2008

Fall in Holland

October 9, 2008

Caves

October 6, 2008

To much rai

Today it's rain very hard..

4 october

After a beautiful ride with the motorbike with lots of smiling people in the traffic we arrived at school. Of course too late, it seems like it's very normal to be too late in Bali. But that is no problem at all, there is enough too see around. And when you can't do it today you can do it tomorrow, or after tomorrow. That is a bit of the view of life here. Like Mika said: Relax, take it easy!

This day we went to a museum. First we saw a movie about rice (it was a rice museum). Yes! A movie about rice! We eat everyday three times rice. And between the rice eating now we saw also a movie about it! But actually, it's really interesting. There is a really difficult system to irrigate the rice fields. Too difficult to explain so if you really want to know: visit Subak Museum Bali!

After the movie we went in to the museum and interviewed the staff about rice and sustainability.

We had a lunch somewhere in a restaurant (RICE).We've drunken for the first time since long ago Coca Cola, delicious!

After the lunch we went to a king of a village in Bali. There walked we free trough his palace. We may stand where we want. It was really, really beautiful but there was also a lot of kitsch.

In the evening we've eat pizza with all the students. We met at a pizzeria there was only one little problem. No one told the pizzeria that we would come there with 49 people. So, we had to found another one. We'd found one and eat a delicious pizza. A lot of Balinese never eat a pizza before. It was really fun and in comparing with Dutch prices very, very cheap!

Cheers,

Jorien

October 2, 2008

time to dancing

the dutch pupils are dancing

they learning RejanG Dewa dance
it was located in GOR of SMA sukawati

3th day 3 october

Hello Everybody,

It's all very nice over here. For some people of our group this is going a little bit fast all, with the different culture and all. But with the most people is it ok. And I think everybody enjoys the bike-rides very much. Today we are going to some rice-terraces. You will here it went later. And we are also going to the " Holland Heineken house" (that is the bungalow where the teachers stay)

Well talk to you next time bye!!!

Adi visit us for a dinner

Art market, Sukawati

Art market Sukawati

October 1, 2008

welcome to bali

pramana, yogik and adi are welcoming dutch student
located in ngurah rai airport.
they bring a flowers,,,,

gamelan and dance

the dutch pupils learning how to dance.

First message from Bali

Hi all,

This is our first message from Bali.

Arrival: We arrived at 15:45 local time in Bali (09:45 in Holland)
The Balinese people were suspecting us outside of the airport. The flight were going well, nearly all of the students had a jetlag. After the welcome we went to the school by bus. It was a trip that took 1 hour. We came at school and met the parents and students. Then we went to home for a night sleep. (Max and Jordi have played Mario Bros for 10 hour in the airplane=D)

First day: At the first day we went to school at 9 o'clock. They Balinese officially opened the program with a dance and music. We finished at 1 o'clock in the afternoon and we went to the villa of the teachers. First we were resting a bit and after that we had a talk about how the first day and night were. We have been swimming the rest of the day and just relaxed.

More information will follow a soon as possible!

Some Pictures: