Experiences Living with a Host Family in Indonesia or Host an Au Pair [ Pengalaman menjadi Host Family dan mendapat Australian awardee ]

 

- Introduction to Host Family -

A Host family is a group of people who can welcome a student from another country into their home, accept him or her as a family member to help the student gain experience about a new culture, language and allow the student to enrich their way of living. It also teaches the family about a different way of living. Now let's talk about what are the advantages and disadvantages of Hosting Students, especially from a foreign country.

• Advantage

- Have a new family member

- Learn a new language and culture including spoken idioms and slang expressions 😋

- Be open-minded

- Have friends from all over the world

- Learn to be responsible

- Get international exposure

- Teach Indonesian and

- Learn a foreign language

• Disadvantage

When you are agreeing to host a student means that you are accepting a stranger into your home, making them feel like your family, and involving them in everything you do.

- Let's dive into #storytime -

This is how it started...

[December 2017]

Australian Embassy Jakarta

This picture shows a group of AIA Exchange students at the Australian Embassy which is located in Jl. Patra Kuningan Raya no. 1-4, Kota Jakarta Selatan. It could be seen that there are about 7 students from Australia who came from various cities such as Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide, and many more. 

It was an honor for us to be able to visit the Australian Embassy and learn about Australian culture. We were presented with an exclusive room for diplomats showing traditional Australian cultures and foods. All I can say is this place reminds me of overseas. Therefore the place is very modern and spacious, which makes me forget that I am still in Indonesia since everyone is dressed up in Indonesian traditional attire, well known as Batik.

Traditional Indonesian Games

On the next day, we went back to Bandung and spent a night in Lembang. The committee chose a very nice villa, we are very satisfied. Contrary to Bandung, Lembang feels colder. The reason may be that geographically Lembang is located higher than Bandung. 

This is one of my favorite moments with the awardees, and of course, it's game time 😏. We played various games that are traditionally played during the celebration of independence day of Indonesia in an open grassy field and as you can see~ none of us wore sandals. What I know for sure is that the game took so much of our energy. However, I'm happy that we can share memorable experiences and amusing moments.

- Captured moments  - 

Trip to Kawah Putih

Say AAA in one two three! *Shutter sound from the camera 😄

Here in this photo, we came to visit Kawah Putih which is located near the charming little market town of Ciwidey, approximately 50 km south of Bandung. Basically, it is a beautiful white crater. The crater lake is one of two creates of Mount Patuha. Being in Kawah Putih is like entering a different realm. The atmosphere reminds me of the Folklore album by Taylor Swift since a lot of fog surrounding the lake and forest.

Trip to Trans Studio Bandung

Introducing~ another favorite place to visit is TSB! 

Trans Studio is an indoor amusement park located inside the mall of trans studio Bandung. I heard that this place is known as one of the largest indoor theme parks in the world with a total of 20 rides divided into 3 different themes. The ticket price is pretty affordable [ $13 - $21 ] when compared to other amusement park-like Universal Studios or Disneyland. 

Here, in this picture, we played one of my favorite rides called Vertigo, and yes according to its name it did make me vertigo aftermath 😰. On this ride, you'll get rotate 180 degrees vertically. My tip is not to eat beforehand, some people fear that they'll get sick when they ride all the extreme rides. Although this is much less common than people think, it's an effective way not to eat or drink large amounts before getting to the extreme rides. Speaking about an extreme ride, we've also tried the roller coaster ones. Apparently, it is less scary than vertigo. The roller coaster it's out of the ordinary, that is to say, the ride itself gave you sensations reverse maneuvers and accelerates to a height of 50 meters with an acceleration speed of up to 120 km/h in 3.5 seconds then reverses at the same speed until it stops where it started.

- Farewell - 

Last Day 

Every good things must come to an end~

On the last day, we gather around at SMANSA Bandung and finally we met for the last time. We do have a lot of fun because finally we were able to gather as a full team since we were not meeting each other for about 2 months. 

This experience has taught me a lot of lessons about how to be a good host families. At first I thought it would be hard for me since it was my first time meeting a foreigner and living with her and surprisingly we became a good partner in every situations. She inspired me to become an independent woman who's living abroad :) . Also, we discussed a lot on how our culture could be so different. For example, Australian tend to be more organized on their task while Indonesian is the opposite. What's more interesting is that Australian tend to dislike Indonesian food as well as the weather. 

This whole experience has broaden my horizon to became more open minded on all aspects 😇

I am so grateful for all the experienced that AIA exchange has given me the trust and opportunity. 

Thank You for visiting my blog and hopes this blog can inspire you ^^