The Fun of Togetherness
After the registration, we spent some time outside the convention center to study the program book and selected the programs we planned to attend. We were there until it was time for the New Comer Orientation at 3:45 PM. While other participants were enjoying the hot sunshine of Tampa Bay, we kept moving our chairs to find shade. Some people smiled watching what we did. We also made a lot of noise, since there were 11 of us altogether.
When we did the planning after registration Nida kept on asking which one to choose over some conflicting schedules. The Eager Beaver were so confused because she wanted just so much. I kept on reminding her, she would not be able to win everything and so she had to choose. I also reminded everyone to also spare time for networking, and got to know the city, the culture, and had some fun. Everyone was busy flipping the program book. It was only Jati who was so sure already of his choices. He planned to stay around the Electronic Village, and he was delighted to learn the names of his virtual contacts would be there. He was really looking forward to meeting them.
There was a fun episode when Jannah with her sunglasses pretended to be blind and groped around with her hands as if a blind massage lady. We giggled watching how fit it was. To our surprise we also heard laughter from a far. When we turned to the source of laughter, we saw some participants on the first floor window laughed at the same scene. We never realized there were others who watched us, too. We burst into out loud laughter, laughing at how silly it must have been.
It was lunch time. Only the second day being in the States, the first lunch (no, it was the second – the first was in Detroit airport when we all so tensed and nervous waiting for the 4 guys to be released from the inspection room), and yet everyone was already longing for rice. “No,” Dian said defending herself when I teased her, “ am looking for French fries”. She went into the convention halls to get some food, together with Jannah. We waited for them to come back.
Nida and Merry (our loving name for Bu Maryam – Semarang) had apples with them, a good and healthy diet. I had salad and orange juice. Jati stayed with the group having hotdog and coffee, and was busy explaining about the programs of his language center and how he managed it. We did not pay much attention to the gentlemen group. They seemed to still be busy selecting sessions they wanted to attend.
After a while, again we moved our chairs for the shade. I pointed at two tot-bags lying on the chairs. “Whose are those?” Then we realized it was Dian’s and Jannah’s. Then we started wondering where they were. It was more than an hour already.
Both ladies returned after one and a half hours. Jati teased them by saying that their tot-bags were taken away because they were unattended and we did not know whose. They did not ask us to keep an eye on them, and we referred to the note during the orientation that we were not supposed to leave our things unattended. Dian and Jannah apologized, “We did not plan to go so long, but we asked people where to get French fries. And we got it after walking about five blocks.” We shook our head…..Five blocks to and 5 blocks return at 1 PM for French fries??? No way.
At 3:45 the newcomers joined the Orientation session. I walked back to my hotel and crashed until the next morning. Maybe it was the hit of the jetlag, or…..was it just ‘ngebo’? No one knew.
When we did the planning after registration Nida kept on asking which one to choose over some conflicting schedules. The Eager Beaver were so confused because she wanted just so much. I kept on reminding her, she would not be able to win everything and so she had to choose. I also reminded everyone to also spare time for networking, and got to know the city, the culture, and had some fun. Everyone was busy flipping the program book. It was only Jati who was so sure already of his choices. He planned to stay around the Electronic Village, and he was delighted to learn the names of his virtual contacts would be there. He was really looking forward to meeting them.
There was a fun episode when Jannah with her sunglasses pretended to be blind and groped around with her hands as if a blind massage lady. We giggled watching how fit it was. To our surprise we also heard laughter from a far. When we turned to the source of laughter, we saw some participants on the first floor window laughed at the same scene. We never realized there were others who watched us, too. We burst into out loud laughter, laughing at how silly it must have been.
It was lunch time. Only the second day being in the States, the first lunch (no, it was the second – the first was in Detroit airport when we all so tensed and nervous waiting for the 4 guys to be released from the inspection room), and yet everyone was already longing for rice. “No,” Dian said defending herself when I teased her, “ am looking for French fries”. She went into the convention halls to get some food, together with Jannah. We waited for them to come back.
Nida and Merry (our loving name for Bu Maryam – Semarang) had apples with them, a good and healthy diet. I had salad and orange juice. Jati stayed with the group having hotdog and coffee, and was busy explaining about the programs of his language center and how he managed it. We did not pay much attention to the gentlemen group. They seemed to still be busy selecting sessions they wanted to attend.
After a while, again we moved our chairs for the shade. I pointed at two tot-bags lying on the chairs. “Whose are those?” Then we realized it was Dian’s and Jannah’s. Then we started wondering where they were. It was more than an hour already.
Both ladies returned after one and a half hours. Jati teased them by saying that their tot-bags were taken away because they were unattended and we did not know whose. They did not ask us to keep an eye on them, and we referred to the note during the orientation that we were not supposed to leave our things unattended. Dian and Jannah apologized, “We did not plan to go so long, but we asked people where to get French fries. And we got it after walking about five blocks.” We shook our head…..Five blocks to and 5 blocks return at 1 PM for French fries??? No way.
At 3:45 the newcomers joined the Orientation session. I walked back to my hotel and crashed until the next morning. Maybe it was the hit of the jetlag, or…..was it just ‘ngebo’? No one knew.
posted by Kun Herrini at 11:49 PM
1 Comments:
He..he.. actually "ngebo" does not mean "sleep" but also lost in space. "Kebo" does not have sense of direction.
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