Conversation as A Tourist Guide

          Hello there, this is my very first conversation with the tourists from western country, I was as a tour guide for them, we recently visited a museum called “Museum of Wayang” in Kota Tua, central of Jakarta. The conversation below is my explanations and a thing or two questions by them about this “Wayang”, we Indonesian usually named as it, referring to English language it literally means “Puppet”, played by “Dalang” or “Puppeteer”.

          Oh yes, this isn’t a kind of job such as freelance work or else, I guided them in order to fulfill my assignment for my subject in Gunadarma University, so I didn’t take any inheritance for doing so, I gladly guided them and free of charge.

          Ok then, let’s just begin the content of my conversations..

Note :Cipto (21) abbreviated as [C], Mr. Johnson [42] as Mr. J, Mrs. Johnson [38] as Mrs. J, Emily Johnson [22] as EJ, and William Johnson [16] as WJ. I converted some sentence to become more appropriate word in daily conversations, although they said a bit different. Low-level vocabulary, easier to understand LOL.

C                       : Hello, good day Ladies & Gentleman. Would you like me to guide you intothe Museum of Wayang? This isn’t my job as a tourists guide, I’m doing so in order to do my assignment in one of the subjects for my college. Hence, I’d gladly guide you into the museum and tells you everything I know about this “Wayang” or you usually called as “Puppet”. simply put it, free of charge, would you like to?

Mrs. J       : Honey, Listen, he speaks English fluently! How adorable of him!

Mr. J         : yes honey, I’m listening. Say, your English is very good, who are you and where do you came from?

C             : I’m a student of Gunadarma University with English Literature faculty. I’d gladly guide you into this museum in order to accomplish my assignment for my subjects, thus; I’d offer you free of charge for my guiding and some knowledge about Wayang.

EJ            : that is cool, mom! He will guide us for free! Shall we take it?

Mrs. J       : oh here she come, how about you, sonny?

WJ           : it is fine, that’s cool. By the way, what’s his name?

Mr. J         : oh yeah that reminds me, who’s your name?

C             : the name’s CiptoPrasetio, just call me Cipto, that’s fine. Oh, sir, my apology, it’s actually not free, in order to get inside the museum you have to pay Rp 7.000,- for each person, and you have to pay me the ticket as well. I promised you it would be free, did i? I meant for the guide and the knowledge, not included the ticket or the pass. So the payment for my guiding is only costs a ticket, I promised you, you won’t be sorry.

Mr. J         : what? haha! That’s fine then, just don’t make me disappointed.

C             : thank you, sir. And my apology. So, would you like to start the tour?

Mrs. J, EJ & WJ    : Yes, please!

C             : follow me, then.
(we went to the entrance door and found the receptionist desk).
you have to pay the tickets here, sir.

Mr. J         : OK ..
(a moment ..)

C             : uhm, is this your very first vacation in Indonesia, mam?

Mrs. J       : yes, this is our first time to be in Indonesia, your country is very good, various of cultural lies here in Jakarta especially.

C             : thank you, mam. What kind of signature dish have you ever tasted in Jakarta?

Mrs. J       : I love rendang, it was veery good, the veal was so smooth, it’s very delicious.

WJ           : I like lele, a deep fried lele. The taste of a fish that I’ve never tasted before, I love it..mom, can we have lele later?

Mrs. J       : yes, yes dear. You can have many lele as much as you like!

C             : hahaha, please don’t over-eat that, you still need vegetable nutrition for your body and do work-out often if you want to eat lele every day.
how about you, Ms. Emily?

EJ            : just call me Emily, that’s cool.I like bakso, they are unique, a ball-shaped meat with some white noodles, ooh it is so good. And escendol, wow! I love it!

C             : my my, you guys are love to eat, aren’t you? Hahaha.

Mr. J         : here’s the tickets!

C             : Roger that, so let’s begin our tour. Oh, please don’t bring any foods and drinks inside the museum, mineral water is just fine, keep the museum neat and tidy.
Wayang or Puppet, is a doll which usually played for entertainment, there are various kind of wayang as we can see here, on your right side you can see the wayang which bodies, faces, and their cloths are referring to the folklore stories, such as Bandung Bondowoso, Petruk, Semar, and so on.
on your left, these wayang had been make records in Indonesian history, as you can see on this wayang, the Hanomanwayang, this is the largest wayangever made in Jakarta, Hanoman is a monkey-shaped human who has spiritual power in Hindu beliefs.

WJ           : awesome..what kind of entertainment these wayang do?

C             : hmm..some people, especially those who are a native people of Javanese, are tend to watch this Wayang Show in the night, some to entertain themselves with the folklore stories, some to entertain their mind and soul as a reason of religious play.

EJ            : so, are these puppets haunted? I mean, like ghost or wretched souls gets inside these wayang?

C             : some people, or mostly yes, they believe that these puppet have a kind of soul inside their body, and I’d heard that the security of this museum sometime hears noises, giggles, and changing position of one or more puppets. But I don’t believe such thing, what I do believe that these puppets are ones work of art.

Mrs. J       : sounds spooky..

C             : yes, shall we go ahead?

EJ & WJ    : yes, please! I’m a bit frightening here..

C             : hehe, let’s go then..

               (we’re going upstairs, in the middle of the steps..)
you can see a big painting on the opposite direction of this stairs, the painting tells us about the war of a kingdom’s soldiers against the demon hell pawns. Unfortunately I forgot the name of this kingdom, but I believe that they were Hindu kingdom, since this painting made by a Javanese man. You are free to take many captures as you like.

               (another steps and we arrived at the hall of creepy puppets and masks)

Mr. J         : wow, what are these puppets for? It seems..hauntingly sees us.

C             : welcome to the halls of creepy wayang, where the dolls, puppets even the masks here were used as a religious and culture purposes.

EJ            : mom, please don’t release my hand..

Mrs. J       : come on, honey, it’s fine, he say so. (but I saw she’s shaking as well)

C             : please, don’t bother afraid of them, for they are happy to see someone frightening..

Mrs. J & EJ : what?? oh my Lord..

C             : hahaha, my bad, it was only joking.

               The puppets, masks, and idols here were purposed for ceremonial occasions. For example, as you can see at this big wooden masks, they were purposed for a dead man without any identity, should be wear this mask before they get burial ceremony, it is says that this kind of mask will make the dead man’s soul rest in peace. It’s their beliefs, the Dayak’s culture in Borneo island, I don’t.

               You can take many pictures as much as you like here as well.

Mrs. J       : dear, look at those dolls, a bit cute, aren’t they?

WJ           : cute? Nah, they are weird to me, mom?

                 you asked the wrong person, shouldn’t you tell Emily instead of me?

EJ            : what? what?

Mr. J         : (busy capturing..)

Mrs. J       : take a look at those dolls, cute, aren’t they?

EJ            : hmm, yes, a bit, so?

Mrs. J       : ask Mr. Cipto, who are they and what are they..

C             : forgive me Mam, I overheard it.

               They are the characters which are used to a kid’s show, named Si Unyil. He is the main character, Unyil. his friends,  Usop, Melanie, Gembul and so on. this doll is named Pa Ogah, because he is lazy to do all kind of things, just like his name “ogah” means “lazy or heck no”. This is Pa Raden, he is a senior citizen, he likes to critics everything that is wrong and sometimes he easily get mad, for example, whenever Unyil and his friends playing around with such noisy

               sounds, he would get mad and end up scold them.

EJ            : sounds fun, is the show still on air?

C             : unfortunately, no. the show itself had been outdated. Afraid not, there is a

               TV show in a local channel called Trans 7, they airs a program named Laptop Si Unyil. Haha, Unyil has a laptop. This program isn’t just a merely entertainment yet educating, I like the program as well. The last time I watched this program, Unyil shows us the train’s factory in Germany. If I recall, he told us about how the do train brakes, how fast a train could run, etc. He doesn’t only tell us about the technology, sometimes the theme of each day would be different, like culinary, cultural, cultivating, and so on, it’s very educating both for children and grown-up people.

WJ           : what time I can watch him?

C             : as I remember, it airs in the day, at 1:00 PM on Monday through Friday to be exact.

WJ           : darn, we missed the program, it’s 2 PM already..

C             : haha, please watch it tomorrow in Trans 7.

               Done capturing, Mr. J? Let’s head to next hall then, this way please.
(we went into a hall which there was some gamelan being displayed).

Mr. J         : ooh, interesting, what are those?

C             : it’s called Gamelan, the musical instruments which usually being played when the wayang shows occurring. As you can see the largest one hanging under a wooden bridge, it’s called Gong. There’s a guitar-like instrument which has many strings, I have no idea how many it is, it’s called Kecapi. Behind the kecapi, you can see a Double-bass, I bet you already know this kind of instrument.

               you can capture pictures over here, sir. Oh, do you want me to capture all of you guys? Let me hold your camera and I’ll capture you with this gamelan instruments.

Mrs. J       : oh yes, please!

               (a moment.. snap!)

C             : let’s head downstairs, we will reach the souvenir shop and end our tour.

               (while stepping downstairs)

EJ            : so Cipto, how long have you been as a college student?

C             : I’m just starting my 5^th semester, and in this semester I have a subject called Soft Skill. The subject teaches us how to manage and maintain our soft skills, which content the speaking ability, understanding ones culture – especially western countries, well we are with English literature faculty after all, and so many things to do in this subject. Like what I’m doing right now, guiding a foreigner or tourist is one way to improve my ability to speak foreign language, simply put, practices makes perfect.

EJ            : wow, that’s very cool..

C             : how about yourself, Emily? Are you a college student or are you an employee?

EJ            : I’m a college student as well, I’m just having a vacation with my family here in summer. I’m bore with beach in my hometown, I prefer hiking or climbing rather than having a holiday at beach with my friend or my family.

               (Mr. & Mrs. J busy looking at the merchandise, while WJ went into the toilet)

C             : oh yeah? What university you went into?

EJ            : the name is ***I forgot***, in my 4^th grade I won’t fool around, I must have the guts to finish my finals.

C             : wow, what project are you into?

EJ            : not much, I am willing to observe an asylum hospital for several weeks. I hope I can be a psychiatrist.

C             : good luck and keep make good progress on your finals. Oh, it seems your parents are done visiting the souvenir shop, hehe.

EJ            : yes, nice to get to know with you too.

               (they gathered at once)

C             : so ladies & gentlemen, we’re at the end of the tour, hope you had a blast and memorable experience, it’s an honor to guide you into this museum.

Mrs. J       : Thank you very much, Cipto. We won’t forget your kindness and keep make good progresses with your college.

WJ           : Thank you brother, it was very cool to know you, and this museum as well, hahaha!

EJ            : Thank you Cipto, it was so much fun! Please guide us again next time in different museum.

Mr. J         : Thank you very much, thanks to you we have a blast in this museum. What’re you going to do after this?

C             : My pleasure, it was an honor to me, you’re most welcome.

               I think I’ll try to guide another tourist into this museum again, I still need to improve my daily conversation with foreigner, to be honest, I should get use to ones accent so I can catch up and get what they trying to say, practices makes perfect, hahaha.

Mr. J         : That’s good for you! Well then, we’re leaving now. See you again next time, Cipto, and keep make well progresses with your college!

C             : Thank you, sir! Yes, it was an honor of me, bye then!

          So that’s my very first job as a tour guide. Might this story could motivated you to practices more and more fluently in pronunciation and get use to chat with foreigners. Thank you so much for reading my article, and practices makes perfect. See you!