Our Indonesian Visitors

Monday, 23 September, we had the honor of a visit from the Indonesian School in The Netherlands (SIN Wassenaar).  It was indeed quite an honor.

The Indonesian School in The Netherlands was established in June 1965, is funded by the Indonesian Government and was designated as a foreign school by Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science in September 2011. “We are a small school with a fluctuating number of students of about 60, aged 6 to 18 years. Our students come from Indonesian diplomat families, Indonesian  expatriates in Western Europe and Indonesian children who were born in The Netherlands.”

The educational vision of SIN Wassenaar is, “International standards, Indonesian values” which requires the school to continuously nurture Indonesian culture through education. One mission of the school is to promote Indonesian education and culture to the international community. With this objective and as part of the curriculum, the school organizes an annual study-trip. During this trip, the students not only promote Indonesian culture but experience and appreciate international culture while forging international friendships. Their destination choice this year was Switzerland.

After an impressive arrival in a grand tour bus, the SIN Wassenaar students unloaded their instruments and bags in the gym. They then took a tour of the ISBerne Campus, led by ISBerne students of their own age. The younger students took advantage of the playground during their tour in order to stretch their limbs after the long haul from Germany that morning. When asked how long the trip was, the reply was a shocking 110 years!

 

Following a presentation of Indonesia and its culture, the ISBerne students were mesmerized by the elaborate and sparkling Indonesian dancers, then fascinated by the unusual angklung.

The angklung  is a musical instrument made of two bamboo tubes attached to a bamboo frame. The tubes are carved to have a resonant pitch when struck and are tuned to octaves. The base of the frame is held in one hand, whilst the other hand strikes the instrument. This causes a repeating note to sound. Each of three or more performers in an angklung ensemble play just one note or more, but altogether complete melodies are produced. The angklung is popular throughout Southeast Asia, but it originated in today’s Indonesia and has been played by the Sundanese of West Java – Indonesia for many centuries (cited from the Wikipedia).

The morning closed with an angklung lesson, given by the SIN Wassenaar students. After a bit of practice and instruction, ISBerne performed Twinkle, twinkle little star.

According to Mr. G. Yadi, of SIN Wassenaar,  “Switzerland is a unique country with amazing landscape, affluent culture and a vibrant international community and in the fields of education, science and technology is highly developed and advanced. For Indonesia, Switzerland has been an important partner and both sides have enjoyed a good relationship.” For our part, ISBerne fully enjoyed the visit and we were very pleased to open our doors to SIN Wassenaar. We hope this new relationship may continue in the future. Thank you SIN Wassenaar  for a memorable visit!

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