AUSTRALIA’S CORNER

AM I DREAMING?
Chosen as one of those sent to Exchange Teacher Program to Australia in 2005 was a very great moment for me. Before I tell you about my experience, let me tell you first about this kind of program. This program was aimed at cementing the sister city relationship between Queensland and Central Java. The first teacher sent was Pak Agustinus from SMA 3 Salatiga, and today he is teaching at Park Ridge SHS in Brisbane, Australia. Following Pak Agustinus’ step was Pak Sumadi who went there in 1998. Now Pak Madi is teaching at Gladstone, a town at a coastal region about 200 kilometers from Brisbane. Both pak Agus and pak Sumadi teach LOTE (Language Other Than English) Bahasa. You feel surprised, do you? I will let you know later about this.
I went to Aussie (Australia for short) together with Pak Maman Supriyanto from Sukoharjo, who once has stayed in Japan for 4 years, Pak Saidan from Patikraja, Banyumas, who was chosen as the headmaster of Indonesian School in Denhaag, Holland from 2006 until 2008, and Pak Mohammad Aji from Rembang.
We did not go to one school; on the contrary, we went to different places in quite a distance. Pak Aji had to go to Cairns, Pak Saidan went to Barbie Island, Pak Maman went to Toogooloowa fisrt, then moved to Brisbane, and I went to Toowoomba.
Long time ago questions came into my mind,” how can many people from my country go abroad?” from that time I started knitting many dreams in my mind. Is it a dream? It was, but now my dream comes true.