CULTURE QUEST: MAY I CLAIM IT AS AN ICE BREAKING?

I think some of you have already read about PechaKucha: The Joyful
Exhaustion. Well actually, our challenge in XL Future Leaders, especially for this year,
did not stop in there yet. Far before the day of PechaKucha itself, we already knew the
issue of next challenge (from the seniors) that is TED x Talks. Yes, its still ala XLFL of
course. If PechaKucha was a group assignment, TED X Talks is the opposite of that, its
a one-man-show challenge. And we have only one and a half month to prepare our
performance, believe me its a really-short-time. You can imagine how nervous we are,
especially myself. But in this opportunity, Im not going to tell you about my TED x Talks
experience, I think somebody else will write it up later for you.
Well after finishing PechaKucha challenge, I forget exactly when it was, Tidar
(our beloved mentor, if you guys have no idea who is him) proposed an idea about how
if we have a Culture Quest. Since the next workshop will be held simultaneously
between two classes; Jekwan and Jakarta Nusantara. For your information, in Jakarta
Nusantara class the students are more diverse than Jekwan who all are coming from
Jabodetabek region. They are coming from Jakarta, Medan, Makassar, Pontianak,
Aceh, Batam, and more. So, it was a great idea for having some local food exchange,
even though I was confused what kind of food I need to bring up.
Grha XL, 17th October, finally the Big Day was coming. Before the workshop is
begun, I saw that all of the students were busy doing the last-minute rehearsal for their
best performances. The atmosphere was so cold and made tense. Everyone looked
nervous and so serious. I even forgot the idea about Culture Quest. Until the half day
had already passed, the ambience was not as tight as before, because its time for
lunch. But before having lunch we managed a long table in the corridor to display our
food and gave the name of place origin that labeled on each food.
After lunch time, we gathered in corridor to start the Culture Quest session. Of
course before the food was running out into our stomachssince I could see how
enthusiast we were to taste the foodwe did photo session (a.k.a Wefie) first. Next,
each place representative was asked to do short presentation about the food they
brought, it might be its story behind the name of the food or else, anything. Luckily (or
bad luck, I dont know), I got the first chance. Well, I had no idea what kind of food I
should bring from Bogor at first. So, as Tidar asked me before to bring IndoRempah and
KingChips, then I decided to bring those products. Actually, it is AgriSocios (my Bogorbased startup) products that we produced through empowering rural households. So
instead of explaining about the food itself I did a little promotion of my social business.
Here are as far as I remember about the food and its place origin; from Sukabumi
there was Mochi a though sweet-snack; Makassar has Kerupuk Bawang which is said
as a must-side-dish when you eat; then also Otak-otak for Batam; Aceh has Brownies
Kopi, its coffee aroma is so strong, I love it so much; theres Kue Satu from West Java
then; that was also Amplang and Manisan Lidah Buaya from Pontianak, the candy is so

delicious I ate about 3 or 4 pieces; next was Brownies Amanda from Bandung, its a
really famous food I think you need no to go to Bandung to get it, I could even find it
nearly from my campus; for the last but not least was Medan which have Bika Ambon,
Kacang Ting-ting (I dont know exactly what the name of it), Kacang Shirobuk, and Teri
Kacang Medan. Do you know? In Medan, this mixed food of Teri and Kacang is more
expensive than meat up to 30%. Well, I still personally prefer to choose meat than Teri
Kacang Medan (student point of view).
Finally, I felt a bit regret for eating lunch too much, I was already full at that time
so that I couldnt taste all of the food. But, since there still food which were left on the
table, we decided to do a Fun Quiz. I thought I might be won some food to bring back
home. Yet unfortunately for me, the questions were mostly about Geographic, and I
surely lacked in that area. I got nothing then. Over all, I was really glad to see all of us
could laugh and had fun. Everybody looked happy and enjoyed the session as well as
the food. Everyone had forgotten the workshop, task, assignment, and any hard thing
else for a while. Beside it acted as the way we did cultural exchange, moreover, in my
opinion this Culture Quest is the best Ice Breaking I ever had in XL Future Leaders.