The Waiting Moment Has Arrived!

by Mandy Lim Pei Mun

At last the day everyone has been working their ass off has arrived. Dani fetched us to the hall which is located in the city. When we arrived there are exhibition of products produced from used material. There are 18 exhibition booths from the school of the ‘Prince and Princess’ finalists. All showed different creativity of products but some were very outstanding. Curtis, Pasquelle, and I were the judges for the exhibition. We judged the school based of their dedication, creativity, design and quality, the usage of material, and content.

Later there are performance from the schools and cheers from each school. The best cheer from each school is judged by Roni, Marisa (Princess of Environment in 2005), and Rachmah Ida (Communication expert from Airlangga University. Since we were a special guess, we had the front sits. Though we have a good view of the performances but our ears suffered from the loud cheers and roar of supporters from the spectators.

Sadly we did not manage to witness the winner who will be titled the Prince and Princess of the environment in Surabaya because we were invited by the mayor for the ‘Rujak Uleg’ Festival in the city. Rujak Uleg is a traditional food of Surabaya. It is the symbolic of Surabaya favourite food. It is made of bird’s eye chili, groundnuts, and special paste which are grinded by traditional tools manually. Then the sauce is poured on varieties of vegetable (bean sprout, water morning glory, and cucumber), fruits (mango, pineapple), bean curd, compressed rice, crackers, and anything which favours your taste buds. For me I love it very much. Pasquelle loves it too but Curtis doesn’t like it very much.

I had a plate of Rujak Uleg. Though it is spicy but I can’t stop easting. Then we chatted a little with the mayor as he was very busy with the reporters and handing the awards to the best Rujuk Uleg. The top 30 received 1 mil Rp while the top 3 won 1.25 mil Rp and a mobile phone. Everyone was very excited, sporting, and having fun. Visitors had their share of Rujuk Ulrg for free. It is not a wonder why it’s so crowded.

We said our goodbye to the mayor and went back to the hall to witness the winners but we were too late. Everyone was clearing and cleaning the hall. We were told Kaliasin 1 won all the trophies for the best cheer, best exhibitions, and won the title of Prince and Princess of Environment. They are very happy and we congratulated the Prince and Princess. Luckily lots of pictures were taken and we did not missed a lot while we were away for the Rujuk Uleg festival.

We help our teammate to clear the hall then went back home for dinner and a hot shower. Roni were so kind to postpone our working hour till 10 am tomorrow but this morning we received a message that he is giving us a day off. Yahooo!!

I would like show my gratitude to the team of Tunas Hijau for making this event a successful one and making us feel at home and part of the team. Hopefull next year and the following years for the ‘Prince and Princess of Environment’ will be as joyous and successful as this year.