Yogya (Yogyakarta) is a nice and lively student town on Java.
We arrived there curious to see the town and its people. And we soon discovered that people of Yogya were as equally curious to see us.
It started as soon as we entered an art market on our first day. People were looking atus as if we were some celebrities and at some point a woman came to me, handed me her baby to hold, and started taking pictures of me and her child!
When we were walking on the street people stopped us countless times to take pictures with us or just to chat. We found it very charming. Not only it boosted our egos :-) but it provided us numerous opportunities to meet people and learn about the "real" Indonesia.
Since not everybody spoke English, we started asking our Indonesian friend Jhonny to teach us some little phrases in Indonesian. I found the language surprisingly easy to learn and soon was able to say quite a few simple things to struck the conversation. As it was to be expected, my Indonesian was greatly appreciated, no matter how poor it was :-)
Among others, we met quite a few groups of high school students who were tasked by their English teachers to interview international tourists, in order to practice their English. There was one group of students, which we found particularly nice and we offered them to meet for lunch the next day to talk some more. At lunch, they told us that we were invited to visit their school if we wanted. We thought it would be fun and agreed.
Visiting a high school in Yogya was one of the best experienced I've had so far during our trips. We visited 3 classes, talked about the countries we came from, asking students about life in Indonesia, and about their plans and dreams. Our reception was incredible. If all students were like this, teaching languages would be the most rewarding job on earth. And to be sure, we loved it as much as the students. In one class we ended up singing Polish and Canadian national anthem. In another, we ended up dancing traditional Quebec dances. And in return, some students sang for us and other danced traditional Indonesian dances. In one class we organized a Pictionary game and had as much fun as the students playing it.
The day ended with a photo session, as a lot of students wanted to have their pictures taken with us. I exchanged emails with 2 students whom we got to know a little better. And within 3 days I received about 15 messages from different students who wanted to practice their English and German, or just wanted to say hi :-)
On the way back to the hotel (and after we paid a visit to one of the student who invited us to her house) Marc and I decided that if we ever have long enough vacation again, we will come back to Yogya to teach languages in high-school!
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