Overwhelmed with All the Feels

Wow. That is the best word I can put around yesterday. There are better words that can be used – gracious, exhilarating, warm, joyful, welcoming. However, I was so overwhelmed and dumbstruck that “WOW” was about all I could mutter.

The day started out fairly normal. We flew from Jakarta to Solo City. Uneventful.

Then, we arrived at the airport and things started to accelerate. We were met at baggage claim by four representatives from our hotel. We were presented with leis. They were beautiful and smelled amazing. The scent reminded me of the white ginger flower from Hawaii. When we arrived at the shuttle to the hotel they had cool, fragrant towels waiting for us and a cooler full of water and Coke.

When we walked into the hotel we were greeted by a large contingency of their staff dressed in their batik best. Quickly we were given a traditional Javanese snack and ginger drink. Then, we were treated to a traditional Javanese dance. It was beautiful and the dancer was gorgeous and graceful. Everyone we encountered during our greeting time was warm and had gracious smiles. We were given our room keys, went to our rooms and our luggage was delivered within a short time. The hotel is amazing. It is so full of Indonesia heritage. It seems every inch of it is covered in Indonesia art and history – even in the rooms. Stunning, really.

We were given a brief tour of the city around the hotel and had dinner at the street stalls. I had noodles and they were quite good. I think the area around our hotel should be pretty easy to navigate. I just need to find some Diet Coke to keep in my room. I am really missing my Diet Coke and anything diet soda-wise is near impossible to find.

Our sub-team had a brief meeting to review the statement of work for the organization we are partnering with. Then, several of us met by the pool to deconstruct the day – which was utterly amazing.

#IBMCSC #CSCIndo8