Indonesia Independence Day Celebration in Newcastle

Sack race

Yesterday, 17 August 2015, was the 70th year of Indonesia independence day celebration. This is my 3th time I celebrate my country's independence day in another country, in England. I have been living in Newcastle for nearly 3 years. My family and I really miss our country. We miss the warmth of the people, the beautiful sceneries, the delicious dishes, the weather, and also my big family.

 

Indonesian community in Newcastle held Independence Day celebration in the Leazes Park. Many people came to the park. They brought various Indonesian dishes from various regions. You know, Indonesia has many regions, and island. Every regions has its own special dishes for example; Gudeg from Yogyakarta (Central Java), Rendang from Padang (Sumatra), Rawon from Surabaya (East Java), etc.

Marble race

On that day, we could find Mie Goreng (fried noodle), Empek-empek (fish cake) which is from Palembang, Es Cendol (jelly with coconut milk), Lapis (layers jelly), Beef Rendang, and also krupuk (the most favourite Indonesian crackers hemmmm yummy....). Before we eat, all people gathered to sing national anthem, Indonesia Raya. I though, it was long time ago the last time I sing that song, maybe when I was in the university, fortunately I did it well haha...

 

The singing was finish, after that, we prepared for the games. The first game was marble race. Put a marble into the spoon, and bite the spoon tightly so it won't wobbly and run as fast as you can to the finish line. It was little bit hard for little children, but they were all very happy.

 

The second game was sack race, and the last one was taking the plastic balls race. Some children feel sad and very upset when they lost in the race, we tried to make sure that its only a fun game, not a real competition. After all the games were finish, we gave the prizes to all the children. The last, we took their pictures complete with their big...big...smiles... Happy Independence Day Indonesia...