Balinese temple in Brusel

Surprise for us, we never know that there are a Balinese temple in Brusel.

It is located in Park Paradiso. 40 minutes drive from Brusel. We heard the news while we visited the Indonesian embasy, and the news was told by our ambasador. It just had the purifying ceremony last week, and the Indonesian tourism minister, Mr. Jero Wacik was also there.

After finished with our agenda to the Indonesia embasy, our host took us to the Park Paradiso. We canceled our agenda of city tour in Brusel; because we already did it days ago.

Park Paradiso is a family park. They have a zoo area, picnic area, and other fun area for family day. Maybe it is similar with Taman Mini in Indonesia. The Balinese temple located in the midle of the park. It just opened for public a week ago. The design and style is looks the same like we have in Bali. They brought some material from Indonesia. They also have model of rice terrace in front of the temple, they put banana and palm tree in the temple garden. And play a gamelan music from the speaker. It was really feel like we already in Bali.

Some of us would like to pray in that temple, but the priest was not there.

And it was not only the Balinese temple, but also some cultural arts and traditions of Indonesia was also there. They have model of some typical traditional houses of Indonesia like Toraja and Java. Statue of Komodo, carving art work from Kalimantan and Papua and some old photos about situation in Bali in 1930. Everything is located in one area of the Park. And many people came that time to see and feel the atmosfer of Bali and also Indonesia.

Paris

Which city in Europe you want to visit if you have a chance...?
Paris....?? Oh..Can't agree more with you.

Yes, finally we were in Paris. Two weeks ago, on Sunday, we visited Paris on one day trip. We went early in the morning by cars, and back again to Brusel on the evening. Friends from Rotaract Club of Kortrijk arranged this trip for us ( thanks Mathew cs).

It was so cloudy, snowy rain and cold wind when we were there. But we were so excited with Paris, we can ignore the weather for a while. We came to Arc the Triumph, Eifel tower, and the glass pyramid of the Louvre museum. The pyramid is so funtastic. It was made by Chinese American architect, I.M. Pei.

In Paris, everything looks so glorious. The classic style of architecture are everywhere. Like most of European style in Europe, the style is ever lasting. There is many architectural details on the building. Stone facade and carving. And blue roof tile.

Paris such as a romantic city. Unfortunately, we could not see the famous Monalisa.

The body language

It is also a new experience that i got during this GSE trip.

It was happened when i was stay in Tournai, a South area of Belgium. My host parent is a single, and he has a big antique furniture workshop in the back side of his house. One of the best handmade antique furniture in Tournai. But, he only speak French. And i know only English.

It was a lilte bit funny when we were at home and want to have some conversation. He tried to explain something to me (with French) and i tried to understand what was the meaning. And i spoke very slowly in english and sometime i used some caracter ekspresion. And i think he understood with that, but again, he replied with French.

So during those 2 days, we spoke each others with our body. He put his hand closed to his mouth, then i understood it was a time to take a breakfast. And i put my to palm near on my head, and he understood that i was sleepy, and need to go to bed.

But in the other case, we understand each other about beer. He show me his glass and his thumb, he surely want to say 'this is a good beer' and he gave me a glass of beer and we were laughing together...

Altought it looks seem dificult, but for me, i was very much enjoy the time with him. He is a really really very nice person. His name is Benoit, president of Rotary Club in Tournai. Believe it or not, 3 of his brother are an architect. And also his father. The famous one in Tournai with many projects in Belgium and abroad. One of them took me to visit their new hospital project in Tournai.

Now, i know some basic languge in French. like bonjour for good morning, bon apetite for enjoy your meal, and merci beaucoup for thankyou very much.

And also tu me manques.

Chimay

Do you know, there are about 500 brands of beer in Belgium....? if you try one brand per day, you need more than one year to complete it.

During our GSE program, we had a chance to visit one of the famous brand beer factory in Belgium, CHIMAY.

Chimay is one of the top beer in Belgium, people in Belgium called it trappist beer, because it was made by the monks. There are only 7 trappist beer in the world, and 6 of them are in Belgium and 1 in Netherland.

We visited the factory to know how they procced the beer. The beer was made still in the monestry like the first time the monks made it after the first world war was over. And they did the botling and the packeging in the new modern factory not far from the monestry. They make 3 type of beers, the light one (8 percent of alcohol), fruit beer (7 percent of alcohol) and the strong beer (9 percent of alcohol).

They made the process so modern and hygienis. Some of them are exported to Amerika, Europe and Japan. After finished with the factory, they allowed us to taste their beer. And also with Chimay cheese. They also make a cheese. The best one.

In Belgium, people drink a beer a lot. I think they only know a beer for drinking.

But it is good also for the global warming campaign. SAVE WATER, DRINK BEER...!

About my host parents

From left to right, Rtn. Eric Charlez, Mr and Mrs. Basheto (my host parents) and me

During my first week in La Louviere, i stay with a very very nice host parent. Mr Robert Basheto and Mrs. Jocelyn Basheto.

Robert Basheto is an Italian and also an architect. One of the famous one in La Louviere. He is a food lover and that is why he has a big body. Robert running his small company in his ground floor apartment with 3 young architect. But some of his project was winning some award from Belgium Architect Assosiation. His wife work for kind of insurance company, and also help Robert as an administratur. They have 2 children, and both of them live in Brussel.

We had a very nice discusion about art and architecture. His english maybe not good enough compare to his wife, but we had a good understanding while we were in discusion about architecture. He share a lot about his experience and how is architecture movement in Belgium.

He has a lot of architecture book in his house.

Visiting The New Canal and Vocational Trip

Early in the morning, Eric picked us up to visit the one of the amazing transportation system in Belgium. It was a little rainy in the morning, and it was a cold windy also coming with us. Typical weather in Belgium.

The incline system was a fantastic in Belgium. It carried a ship for one canal to another. It because the level of the land for the canal in Belgium was not flat, so they make a lift system to carried the ship from the canal above and below.

We also met with a very nice rotarian, "mr.Gigi". He`s name is Giuseppe, an Italian, but his friends always call him Gigi. We came with Eric and Gigi to the highest level of the Canal to see how the system work.

After that, we had our lunch in Italian Restaurant. We also had a trip to the restaurant kitchen and see the chef make a special italian dessert, called Sabayano.

Finished with the lunch, the teams was separated each others for vocational trip based on our background study. Tuty and Ana visited one hotel in La Louviere, Yudi had a discusion with one of the famous photographer, and Adhi had a project slide show with his host parent, Mr Basheto, who is also an architect.

In the evening, we had invitation from Rotary Club of Mons. We did a presentation about Bali and also present a Balinese dancing. They were very happy with our presentation and dancing performance.

It was a fantastic day...we still have more

brussels...

It was a fantastic experiences that we have the chance to visit the city of Brussels, The capital city of Belgium. we have a really fun time here, enjoying the beauty of the city and it's great architecture.