Our Trip to Lake Toba!

On Sunday the 7th of July, Euthalia, Ganda, and their friends took us on a road trip to Lake Toba! We had our first breakfast in the Berastagi markets which consisted of a corn cob each, then from there we met up at Euthalia's and began our adventure. We were lucky enough to have Euthalia's friends Octa, Ipoh, Egi and Edna drive us to our destination. The trip took over an hour, with a lunch break along the way where we both ate "bapi" (barbecued pork) and rice with our hands for the first time!
As soon as Lake Toba came into our sights we were in awe, we had never seen such an amazing view! We were told that we were very lucky to visit Lake Toba on a day where the weather was warm and sunny. Because of the beautiful weather, we were able to take plenty of beautiful photos (see below), frolic around in the lake's warm water, engage in rock skidding competitions and just generally enjoying each others company.
For dinner (or more accurately our second lunch), we drove along the lake to a restaurant which sat right on the water and enjoyed freshly caught fish that was grilled to perfection! Once again, we ate with our hands and sat on the floor to eat (rather than on chairs, around a table). This was very new to both of us.
Our next stop was Sipiso-piso Waterfall. We were only able to see it from a distance but it still was an impressive sight. As it was beginning to get late, we decided to hop back into Edna's four wheel drive and make our way back to Berastagi.
Along the way, we stopped at Octa and Ipoh's aunt's farm and saw her strawberry fields and mandarin trees. She was very generous and encouraged us to pick the fruit from the trees to eat - we had never tasted such sweet mandarins before! Afterwards, we drove to Edna's house to drop her off and then we continued back to Berastagi. The night however was not over...Because our Pink Villa did not have hot water, Ganda had to spend over half an hour trying to fix it as we absolutely HAD to have a hot shower!! Despite his hard efforts, we ended up sprinkling ourselves unwillingly with cold water for yet another night (we now have had cold showers for four days in row) :(.
Hopefully tonight the hot water comes on!!

Till next time,
- An & Aga!

A Long, long, looooong way from Poland

My journey took about 38 hours and I travelled more or less 13 000km. It was really exhausting. It started on the 2^nd of July and I was in Berastagi on the 5^th of July in the evening. I was really glad to finally reach my destination. My route was WarsawàLondon (where I was waiting in the airport for 16 hours!)à Singapore àMedan. I have never travelled this far before, so I was a bit scared. When I landed in Medan I knew that it was going to be fine. Everyone around there were very helpful and very nice (it was the first thing that drew my attention! Everyone here is extremely kind and polite!)

My first night was spent in one room with An at Euthalias house. I was sleeping like a baby – I even didn’t hear the alarm clock in the morning! But the next day was amazing. Everything here is new for me, everything here is different from the things I know in Poland. For example traffic… In Indonesia it’s very chaotic… but still it doesn’t seem to be a problem, no one is shouting, no one gets  hurt. In Poland it’s totally different! Everything is in order, everyone reads the road signs, everyone waits patiently in a queue, and no one overtakes when there’s a car driving in the opposite lane!  I almost got a heart attack because of that at first J. Now it’s fine, I’m getting used to the local way of driving.

The next night me and An stayed in our Pink Villa. It’s a quite big house with a lot of rooms. We decided to sleep in one room, because there were just us two and we thought that it would be more self-assured.

We spent Saturday meeting new people, shopping and admiring the city. We met Euthalia’s friend – Daisy and her family, then we went to the market and bought some fresh fruit. Everyone calls us ‘bule’ – it means “foreigners’. Kids are waving and yelling ‘Hi’, it’s funny, because when we reply they became very shy ;).

On Sunday we took a trip to Lake Toba and it was amazing! It’s the biggest lake in Indonesia, it’s about 100km long and 37km wide, and there’s an island in the middle of it. Daisy’s husband said that this island is bigger than the whole Singapore City!

Today the work begins. An started working about week ago, so now she is explaining to me everything. I can’t wait for other interns to join us, to make Pink Villa full of people. I feel the next few weeks are going to be amazing!

- Aga (the intern from Poland)

From Australia to Berastagi...

On the 1st of July 2013, I departed Perth, Australia for Berastagi in Indonesia to begin my role in Universitas Quality's Summer Camp Program. After six hours of experiencing gruelling turbulence, four and a half hours waiting in the KL airport (with only mediocre airport food as good company), and another 50 minutes of airborne travel I arrived in Medan. Tired and excited, I was greeted with a strong wave of humidity followed by a warm welcome from Euthalia, who was holding a place card with my name printed across it. Luckily enough, I was able to skip the Medan airport queues and was led straight to the baggage collection area, making a swift exit from the crowded airport.
From Medan, it was a two hour car ride to Berastagi. Faced with busy traffic, darkening skies and up hill roads that seemed to have continuous bends, we finally made it to Berastagi where the air was refreshingly chilly and foggy. By this time, I was so tired I could barely keep my eyes open. When we got dropped off at Euthalia's house, I was led to my room I fell asleep almost instantly.

The next day, work had already began! Euthalia and I woke up early and went for a walk around the city for some sight-seeing. Berastagi is surrounded by amazing forests which hold uncanny similarities to the forests which make up the scenes in the twilight movies. We then walked to the university to begin what seemed to be our sky-high workload. By the evening, we decided that it was hometime. On the way back, Euthalia showed me the famous fresh fruit and veg markets of Berastagi, which was loaded with so many different types of fruit and vegetables as well as clothing and jewellery.

As we continue to prepare for the Summer camp program, I am getting more and more excited for all the activities that lie ahead and for all the new people that I will be meeting.
This was just a little post to get this blog rolling, I assure you more interesting posts will be uploaded soon, when the other interns arrive and the Summer Camp begins!

Till next time
- An (the intern from Australia)

And the story goes..

Phew..
It's not happening yet, but everyone is having faith in this.

Hi everyone,
welcome to our blog! Here we will share with you about our project from preparation until completion, as well as our daily activities on regular basis.

The reason why we intend to share everything with you is because we want to be open to everyone and perhaps, by sharing our experience, our enthusiasm keeps burning on o:)

Hmm.. As this is the very first post, we won't talk so much yet. But please keep reading our blog as we will try to keep it updated regularly. And of course every committee member and intern will share their thoughts and hearts here :)..

Cheers!! Expect to hear from us!

Summercamp C&I