One of my favorite things about Indonesia is the hospitality people have for foreigners, making it easy to find new friends. Today my friend Charlah called me and invited me to UPN to watch a dance group practice for an upcoming performance. Charlah had her friend come pick me up at Dito’s house. My usual motorbike ride through the city was composed of hanging on tight to the back seat of a fast moving bike, weaving in an out of cars, and getting absolutely soaked by the daily thunderstorm in intense traffic. It wouldn’t be an adventure if it didn’t include a little danger!
After arriving at UPN, I met up with Charlah and the dance group. Some of the dancers were also AIESECers that I had met at a meeting in the University a few days prior. They were practicing a traditional dance from North Sumatra. They seemed very prepared for their upcoming performance and decided to ask me, the bule (foreigner), to join in. We clapped our hands together as they sang, and picked up the beat, faster and faster. Our dance ended in laughter as some of us got confused with the fast tempo.
Tyo and some others drove me back from UPN to my host families house. I asked them if they wanted to come to Garden Juice, a local fruit juice bar near my house, to join me for a smoothie. In Indonesia, avocado is considered a fruit and often mixed with chocolate and milk to make a fruit smoothie. I was a little nervous about my first avocado smoothie, but it turns out, it’s now my favorite! We all ordered a round of fruit smoothies, and enjoyed picking rambutan (a hairy fruit) from the tree above us, of course ending in throwing the seeds at one another!
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