To Arkansas and back (part 1).

Like some of you have probably known, the Tsunami Relief Program was intended for students from a certain region of those countries that got hit by the Big T. So, it is only natural that most (if not all) of the Indonesian students that got this scholarship program was from Aceh. It's been nearly a week (doggone it, a week? How fast time travels never cease to amaze me) since I went to Arkansas for the Fulbright Tsunami Relief Retreat/Workshop. Since I have nothing better to talk about (unless you want to hear my whining, which I doubt), I'm going to write down the whole experience here.

Monday:
I woke up at 5.30 AM, grab my stuffs and went to a friend's house nearby who would take us to the meeting point with the staffs from Texas A&M Univ. Why so early, you say? Well, I was asked to show up at my friend's house before 6.10 AM, that's why. It was not surprising though, that I was the first one to show up. None were there yet, including the guy who asked me to come before 6.10 AM (he showed up half and hour later). So we got to the meeting point at 7 AM. There were eight of us Fulbrighters plus four staffs. We divided up into two vans and departed shortly after. The journey was smooth and uneventful, but the companionship was pleasant. The two TAMU staffs in our van was very friendly and we chatted alot. It was a good opportunity to practice my speaking. We had a stop over a few times, and stopped by a Mexican restaurant called 'Two Senoritas' some time at 2 PM. I didn't enjoy Mexican foods too much, having tried nearly every single menus on Taco Bell and finding none to my liking, so I got a good old-fashioned American chicken steak instead. We continued on our journey and got to the location of the retreat around 6 PM: the Winthrop Rockefeller Center. The place was pretty much in a middle of nowhere not-so-high up in a mountain. Some of the participants were already there and I got to meet some. Not surprisingly, most of them spoke to each other in Aceh language (which I don't understand), so it took me a bit getting used to. To my delight, each of us was assigned our own room, and I got the first room on the list.

Ahh, the room. I suppose I could expect nothing less from one of the richest family in America (FYI, Winthrop Rockefeller was Governor of Arkansas once). Well, it's true we're not talking about "OHMYGODTHISROOM WAS TEH LUXURIOUS@#$T", but I love my room. It's more of a "This is really comfy. I got everything I want here." Satellite TV, big bathroom, and fluffy, fluffy bed and pillows (these are of the utmost importance!!).

Anyway, I washed up and met everyone for dinner. The food was fine, but the real show for me was the chocolate cake (I just love talking about foods don't I). When one of the waitresses came by to pick up my plate, I told her that since the cake was so good I'm gonna grab a few slice to my room to eat tonight. She laughed and asked if I would want a box for that. What an angel.

After dinner we gathered in the meeting hall. There were around 35 of us participants, and the chief of the workshop asked us to introduce ourselves before he talked about it. To my surprise, all of the participants was from Aceh. I thought there should be some from outside of the region. And so it turned out that I was the only non-Aceh and non-Acehnese participant in the retreat. However, I was relieved that the atmosphere of the workshop was not stiff (as in 'too formal' stiff). It was pretty casual. Everyone was very friendly and prone to laughter, we had a good time on our first night. And that's a very important thing. A good beginning does good to your spirit when you're doing something.

We retired to our rooms some time after 10 PM. I turned on the TV, grabbed my cake, and watched a crappy show about that whore Paris Hilton; Sex and the City; South Park; X-Files; and Law and Order. By the time I realized, it was 1 AM already. "Shit," I grumbled to myself, "I'd probably got sleepy tomorrow." And it turned out I was right.