Caspper 2015, When The Fun Stumbled in 3 Days #Part 1

  “Numerous clothes are needed, so pack them, we would be there in three days and we`ll get into the dense activities.” my mom told me two days before the camping event was occured. She also showed me the list of activities we would be involved in, while we`re in the Casper event. 

  It was the second Casper (Camping Seru Pegiat Pendidikan Rumah) event, organized by the committees from Koper Mandiri, and it embarked proceeding on May, 8th 2015, right in Kampung Jawa Kembang, Turi Sleman, Yogyakarta – where participants which had been dominated by home schoolers and home educators. 

   

   Seen from the myriad of activities, participants surely would be preoccupied with the event, and wishing for the subsequent event to have more fun. A view about how the camp would be, was hovering in my mind – yes, and I pondered, asked myself about how was the camping-location, would it be extreme like the other camping locations I was in, or not so extreme?

   When I arrived, my first impression was that the camp`s not so extreme, and initially I presumpted that the event would lack of camping atmosphere, and would not be too fun, just because of the pleasant circumstance; cozy and shady spots with a huge artificial fish pond amid them, abundant toilets which were near from the tent, foods are prepared – taking into account how I usually be in the ‘harsh life’ of extreme camping, where we`re on the sloping areas, with the toilets were far away from the tent, and other arduous obstacles. 

   And fortunately... yes, fortunately...

   MY PRESUMPTION WAS ABSOLUTELY WRONG.

   Because...

    The event had begun on afternoon after participants did registration (followed by collecting the gift – gifts were gonna be exchanged with the other participants on the last camp night), and some of them did praying, or greeting others after not-encountering-each-others in so long, also making new acquaintances. 

   Parents started the event by joining a parenting and education talk, while their children painted on the other side of Kampung Jawa Kembang. Here, painting tools such as brush, paint, and canvas, had already been prepared for everybody who decided to join the painting session, where the kids and teenagers were in, having fun with the paint and canvas. They were allowed to make decision of what unpainted pictures they would like to paint. Besides, the blank one was also existed, that I chose it to paint without outline. To dry those paint works, what to do was merely putting it underneath the sunlight and let it dry just by counting minutes. 

Painting work of mine

    Painting session was over, but the parents were still sitting down and getting preoccupied with the informational parenting talk. I saw some children went back to their parents, and overspreaded again, when the other session for children was opened.
 

   Inside a Limasan, was the angklung session to join. Angklung was one of those various traditional music instruments of Indonesia – and that room, was the place where abundance of angklungs were in. Also, a keyboard`s leaning upon the wooden chair, ready to use. 

   How could it not appeal me? Music instruments appeal me a lot. Moreover, trying another instrument that I rarely play, was such a fun thing. In the instruction of a fluent angklung player (and other music instruments), the participants played two children song for practice – definitely, after a short introduction about how to use this instrument. This afternoon, we only practiced – and later that night, we`d perform the song we had practiced – that the other Casper participants who didn`t learn to play angklung, mostly parents, were the spectators.

   Also, at night after the joy of dinner, exhilarating things were occured; angklung performance, and immediately children performed various creative things such as pantomime, ballet, dance, even drama which involved the parent. This session, beside the fun side, was also advantegous that children acquired the opportunity to practice the confidence of performing in front of many audiences.

 

Scrutinising planet.

    

   But before sleeping, the first day was closed with study astronomy. Definitely not with any book or article, but directly look up at the sky and scrutinise, reciting the nature, wondering the sky night and stuffs upon the space. With the help of binocular, telescopes, and the mentoring from Cafe Astronomi Jogja`s guide, one by one, participants try to see clearer what was there up in the sky, and learn about it; stars, planets, how to distinguish them by seeing how the star blinks and the planet doesn`t, and how to recognize the direction just by observing the astrological signs.

To be continued...