Merlijn Series 07: Sharing Session
Welcome to Merlijn Series 07: Sharing Session with me again and Anne.
Yesterday evening (Monday, September 25), Anne and I went to a Telkom Highschool for a sharing session with some local students. The session started at 8 PM and lasted about an hour and a half. The theme of this years sharing session was ‘’Education’’.
We started by introducing ourselves and to me, this is always a challenge since my full name sounds quite weird in another language. Luckily everybody had a laugh about it and Anne and I could continue the session.
We opened with a question: ‘’What do you already know about The Netherlands’’. We got some good answers based on the size and wealth of our country. It being an informal gathering, we also got some funny answers like: ‘’It’s a country’’. Students feeling comfortable to make small jokes like this means a lot to us.
The night before, we had made a small presentation to show some pictures of what our University in The Netherlands (Saxion University) looks like compared to Telkom University. We showed them the faculties Anne and I take part in back in The Netherlands and how our University is decorated from the inside as well as a view from above to show how big the buildings are.
Once we had finished our presentation we showed them some typical Dutch things such as; stamppot boerenkool, stroopwafels and the canals in Amsterdam. We showed them pictures of the food and since it is so different from Indonesian cuisine it created some funny looking faces as it looks nothing like the typical rice with chicken here in Indonesia.
We continued the evening by teaching them some Dutch words and sentences. We taught them how to introduce themselves, how to count to ten and how to say ‘’I love you’’. The students picked up on the words surprisingly fast so we could teach them quite a lot. I hope that the students still know how to say a few words as that would seem really cool to me.
After Anne and I had finished our presentation and talking we stayed a little to take pictures with all the students. They all got in line and thanked us for giving the presentation. In The Netherlands, when someone finished a presentation, people will most likely just stand up and leave, here in Indonesia the people are way more respectful, which I like better.
Anne and I want to thank all the students for the amazing evening we had. We truly had a wonderful time and we hope you had fun too.
Special Story line: Merlijn the Series
