This is my first trip to a place which is approximately 90km south-east of Surabaya called Probolingo. The trip there took me past a town called Porong (23km south of Surabaya) which has been flooded with mud flow coming out of the ground for the last three years or more. That is why travellers to Probolingo will be able to see stone walls as high as 5 to 6 meters, which were built to keep the mud flow out of the highway. I get this funny feeling that those walls will eventually become another historical monument of East Java.
At Probolingo, I was introduced to Hartanti, one of the owners of Cendana Muzik wh arranged a session of music appreciation for her school students. This is one of the many activities of Indonesia where the venue is actually a restuarant that is designed in a very traditional manner. 
It was a beautiful setting for a wonderful evening of fun and music with the students from Cendana Muzik. So much so I will be back there again to do a series of MPA activities with the students from Cendana Muzik. Any way, when evening came, we got down to doing all kinds of fun activities working on rhythm, pitch and best of all a parent forum with the parents form that school.
I love parent forums best of all as it always helps to bridge the gap between teachers understanding the needs of their students and also we get to discuss on how parents can help to provide support and inspiration for their children. what I also like about parents in Indonesia, you can never be short of participation. Whenever you ask if they have something on their minds, you will be able to see lots of hands in the air.Eventually, after the parent forum was over, all of us adjourned for dinner at the restaurant itself. There was no way dinner was late coz' it was Puasa Month!!!! You can be sure that food always came on time during puasa month.
After dinner, we adjourned back to Cendana Muzik for a full discussion about the how the sessions went and what parents expected from music teachers for their children.
Keep a look out for further posts on our activities from Indonesia.
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