Sending Program: Anggi "Priceless Moments"

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To begin, my name is Dwi Anggraeni but people usually call me Anggi. I am currently on my fantastic exchange year in Norway with AFS Exchange Program from August 2016 to June 2017. Flew from Indonesia to Norway, living with a Norwegian family, going to a Norwegian school, and having Norwegian friends….are all of the things that a 17 years old girl like me could ever dream of. Back in Indonesia, I am part of Chapter Karawang, and in Norway I am  part of Chapter Haugaland.
I come from Bekasi, a city in West Java and now I live in a very small beautiful island called Stord Island. There is a massive difference between Bekasi and Stord: Bekasi is a very crowded place and Stord has only less than 20.000 people in it.
In the second week of January, I had my SA-Uke or the Social Week. I needed to do some volunteer work and I chose to have my SA-Uke in a kindergarten nearby my house (my host-family’s house). Every morning, I walked from my house to the kindergarten about 5-10 minutes, depended on which speed that I used. I volunteered from 8 am to 4 pm and I enjoyed every second of it.





Kindergarten (or Barnehage in Norwegian) in Norway and in Indonesia is quite different. In here, every child can enter kindergarten at any age. The kindergarten will divide them into 2-3 groups depending on their age. For example, the 1-2 years old children are in the red group. Then, the 3-4 years old children are in the green group. Last, the 5 years old children are in the yellow group. Most of the time the children only go to their own group is when they are going to have meal and some special activities. Outside than those, they get to play and spend time together. When it comes to the meal times, I usually sat with the green group. At first, it was a little bit hard to have a conversation with them. Not only because they are no older than 5 years old, but also because none of them speaks English. During my week in the Barnehage, I tried my best to speak in Norwegian. Amazingly, it turned out fantastic and I even learned so many new Norwegian words. Thanks to the children, I now know words that all little children say and I probably would not know those words if I had not spent my week with them.
Almost all of the children in Barnehage had asked me this question, “Anggi, kan du lese den for meg?” It was a pleasure for me and I was so fascinated to see that they all were so eager and happy to read and/or hear stories. Although I did not understand all the words in the book, I still read it for them. While I was reading the book, I tried my best to use the right sound at some words. The funny thing was, sometimes they asked me the meaning of some words which I completely ‘har ikkje peiling’ too. Luckily, translating words is much easier nowadays. I see that they also love to play lego, build things and use their imagination. They created so many incredible things from it. While I was with them making something out of legos, a boy came to me and said, “Anggi, eg laget den for deg”. It touched me. He made something like a rocket ship for me. To me, it was so amazing and he fascinated me. I could not express how happy I was when he said that.
It was a nice weather and I was with the green group for a walk. Everyone held each other’s hand and believe me, it felt amazing to be held by little children. We did not walk far but I was quite sure that the trip took quite a lot of time. We took a break because we saw a very nice playground and everyone loves playground. The children was climbing and running around and there was a little touch of crying too. I helped some of them to get to the playground and let me tell you, I did play on the playground too, just a little bit. Not only that, the children also played hide and seek. Children’s hide and seek is the funniest thing ever. It seems like they always hide in the easy-to-spot places. They hide behind a tree, behind a sign, and even behind me. I could not help myself not to laugh every time they played hide and seek.
The next amazing thing about my week in the Barnehage is that I found out that they really love to sing and dance. The Barnehage have a music player and the children love it very much. Every time the music is on, they will sing and dance straight away. I always joined in and danced with them. There were so much fun and happiness. I remember one time, the music was so loud and it felt like everyone just have to join in and danced along. A little boy even closed the door in that room and it was just the children and I. I could not remember who it was but someone turned off the lights too and everyone just sang and danced along to the song. It seriously felt like a children’s dance club. It was this one song that they love so much and they kept repeating it over and over again. You might call me crazy but it was the best moment ever. We had so much fun and everyone was just so incredibly happy. Even the adults were also as amazed as I was by it. Until now, I still can feel the joy and the happiness every time I think about it. Those little children were just so amazingly adorable. It’s magical for me how they made me feel as if I was one of them every time I was with them.
Never in a million years I’d ever regret the beautiful week in the Barnehage. Lucky me, they allow me to go back to the kindergarten whenever I want to.
It was another unforgettable and priceless moments during my stay in Norway.
And of course,
Jeg elsker Norge. Eg elsker Noreg.
I love Norway.

Vennlig Hilsen,
Dwi Anggraeni,

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AFS INDONESIA – NORGE 16/17


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Kami Bina Antarbudaya Chapter Karawang adalah salah satu extensi dari Bina Antarbudaya pusat yang akan membantu adik-adik yang berdomisili di Karwang dan sekitar untuk mengikuti program-program yang kami sediakan. Blog ini di jalankan oleh kakak-kakak volunteer admin ICT kita yang bisa dihubungi melalui comment/twitter.

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