From Halut With love (Part 7) #Lovely Kumo Island

The meeting in Head education department office was finished. Mr. Tongotongo presented warm welcome to the team and appreciate the partnership program. Hope it would bring good change to the education in halmahera utara. He also promised to open the workshop tomorrow.

Before leaving, the team took some photographs in front of the office. Outside the guru mitra and Mr. Karel had waited. They would pick the team up, to go back to the SMP 1 Halmahera Utara. Mr. Kasid and Mr. Agus decided to go back to the hotel because their duty was over that day. They would go to the hotel by taking “bentor”. They curious about it. Mrs. Elah would accompany the guru inti having a meeting with guru mitra.

Arrived in SMP 1 Halmahera Utara, The guru inti gather with their guru mitra. To have a discussion about some problems found in On The Job Learning 1 and about the workshop. Dini, math subject would gather with Mrs. Fahima, Mrs Lidya and Mr. Malihu. Sita, English subject would gather with Mrs. Serbin, Mrs. Hidayati and Mrs. Indrayanti. Datik, science subject would gather with Mrs. Mei, Mr. Jainal and Mrs. Sondakh. Mr. Yanto, Indonesian language subject would gather with Mr. Wattimuri, Mrs. Lenny and Mrs. Sumarni.

From her guru mitra, sita found that to find guru imbas was a bit difficult. It was because the area was too wide. Some schools were located in remote area, some of them also located in different island. There were many small island wide spread in Halmahera Utara regency. That’s why teacher hardly hold meeting to discuss about things dealing with teaching learning process, such as curriculum, method, etc. Therefore, they were left behind.

As for students, they would like to have more books. One book for one students.

Mrs. Ida and Mrs. Indra also discussed about how to form the high ordered thinking skill assesment. They talked much about it with Sita and also Mrs. Elah as an expert.

Then after the subjects discussion, they discussed about the workshop. Mrs. Lenny would be the master of ceremony. Mrs. Mei would lead the indonesian national anthem.

12.00 PM

Mr. Karel came to the meeting room, asking whether the meeting was over or not. He would take all of us to have lunch. A special lunch in a small island nearby called “pulau Kumo”.

Mr. Karel :”I think that’s all for today. Let’s have lunch.” Mr. Elah :” alright sir!” How about Mr. Agus and Mr. Kasid, they had already come back to the hotel.”

Mr. Karel :” we will pick them up to the hotel and I think the guru inti need to put their bags too.”

Mrs. Elah :”okay sir, thank you very much.”

All the guru inti went to the hotel and guru mitra went to pulau kumo first to prepare everything. After picking Mr. Agus and Mr. Kasid they went to pulau kumo. It is about 15 minutes by car and then the car stop in a small harbour.

The team would take a small boat arround five minutes to kumo island. They had to queue to get the boat. Because it was about time that the school was over too. There was no high school in kumo island. Therefore, they had to study in tobelo. They would go to school by boat everyday. The boat token was five thousand rupiahs. The view in the harbour was quite good too. They took some photograps. They could see a big ship. It was the ship to Ambon. Finally, the empty boat arrived. One by one, the team got in to the boat, helped by the boatman. The boat was small. It could carry arround 10 people. It has roof from plastic, so they wouldn’t get into direct sunlight. The boat trip was so amazing. The sea breeze, the view was so relaxing.

Five minutes went so fast. From a distance, the team could see the floating restaurant. The guru mitra were waving to them.

Everybody got off from the boat. Guru mitra asked the guru inti and facilitators to have a seat. On the table, sita could see some plates of fried banana and fried cassava. People in halmahera utara don’t eat rice. They eat banana and cassava as the source of carbohydrate. The banana was unique. It was called “pisang mulut bebek”. Because the banana had the curve shape like duck beak. Sita tasted the fried banana. It was not sweet but delicious. After eating a slice of fried banana and a slice of fried cassava, sita got up from her seat, she curious on how they grilled the fish. The cook put some lime no wonder that she couldn’t smell putrid from the fish. The lime was quite different too. The lemon peel was softer and it has coloured like original orange. It produced more lime water. Sita never seen such li me in java. In halmahera utara, they called such lime as jeruk sambal. It was because they made “colo-colo” with this lime. Colo-colo is kind of condiment. Made from sliced shallot, chilli, tomatoes and lime water. It produced wonderful taste combined with grilled fish.

The meal was served. Grilled fish, sauted water spinach, fried banana, fried cassava and also rice. They ate the special lunch ravenously.

Mr. Karel :”after having lunch, lets visit the beach over there on kumo island. We will take a boat there.”

Mrs. Elah :”alright sir, let’s explore the beauty of halut.”

The boat had waiting. The guru inti, facilitators, Mr. Karel, Mr. Jacky and Mr. Yantje were on the same boat.

The boat then reached the beach. Sita stepped on the white sand. The water was blue. The beach was like a spread of blue and white. It gave such tranquility to her heart. Clean, blue, natural.

They took some pictures on the beach and took a walk arround the small island.

Mrs. Mei :”maam, lets have a seat and have some coffee.” “okay”, said the guru inti.

There was a long wooden table. There were some dish prepared, such as grilled fish, fried banana, fried cassava and also crab cooked with tomato sauce. They looked delicious, but the guru inti were too full. They only had some coffee. Enjoying the view until the clock showed 5 PM. They felt tired and decided to go home. Mrs. Mei packed all the food and gave it to the guru inti and facilitators. They said many thanks. They already had something for dinner.

The group went back to the hotel. Mrs. Sondakh and her husband took them to the hotel. Such a great honour.

Arriving at the hotel, they took a bath and have some rest. After maghrib prayers,they had dinner together. Dini, sita, datik and Mr. Yanto had a discussion afterwards. They discussed on how to managed workshop for tomorrow. Mr. Agus checked all the equipments in the hall that would be used for tomorrow.

It was 10 PM, they ended all their activities and went to bed. At her bed sita wondering, she was excited to meet the guru imbas, tomorrow at the workshop.

(TO BE CONTINUED)