Hello everyone. How are you? I hope that you are doing good.
Today, I would like to share you my experience as Kyrgyzstan Liasion Ofiicer on an International Football Tournament of Aceh World Solidarity Cup. The was tournament was held from 2 to 6 December of 2017. There were four team that participated in the tournament, they are Indonesia, Brunei Darussalam, Mongolia, and Kyrgyzstan. In addition, the main reason that the tournament held because Aceh want to thank the countries that help Aceh during Tsunami Disaster in December 26 2004. In this case, Aceh invited Thailand, Malaysia, and Japan. But, for some other reason those team could not participate in the tournament. For that reason, Aceh invited Brunei Darussalam, Mongolia and Kyrgyzstan team.
Team Arriving
Well, at the end of November. Kyrgyzstan and Mongolia team arrived to Banda Aceh. Indonesia. My team which its responsibility to accompany the Kyrgyzstan went to the Sultan Iskandar Muda Airport in the early morning to take the team to one of the best hotel of Banda Aceh. On the way to hotel we introduce ourselves to the players and shared them some information regarded Aceh, such as Aceh culture, Tsunami disaster, aceh food and some other things. The players showed their interests and asked several questions of our Aceh lecturers.
It is me in the red circle :p
The team on the way from the airport to the hotel
Arrived to Hotel
At 11.30 PM we arrived to the hotel. It took us an hour and half to the hotel for we need to show the visiting team some lovely places of Aceh such us Ulee Lheu Beach, Museum of Tsunami, Kherkhoff Grave (Dutch Millitaries Grave). As we arrived to the hotel the players look very tired and that they went to their booked room to have some rest. An hour later wwe instructed the players to have lunch. In this case, the they complained about the food since the food was so indonesian and too spicy for them to have. So we told the general manager of the hotel about the food they requested.
Dinner together
Off to the Training Pitch
At 4.20 we along the team when to the training pitch for the training session. It took us 20 minutes to reach the training pitch. As we already stood on the training pitch, some local people came and see the players since the team are foreign team. Some of them also took the pictures of the players. Besides, the reporters also showed themselves up and asked a few questions related to the visiting team. It was a great moment for me to help them answering the questions.
Getting ready to the training pitch
The Great Dinner with The Governor
On Friday 1 December, the four participated team were invited to the governor pavilion for a dinner night. It was an amazing dinner for me and especially for the team since they enjoy Acehnese Traditional Dance callled Guel Dance. The players show their interest by photographing and recording the moment through their cell phones. After the dinner programme the team went back to their hotel and had some rest for tomorrow the tournament will have to start.
In front of Governor Pavillion for dinner
The Tournament
On 2 December, the tournament was started. In this way, Kyrgyzstan played Mongolia as their first opponent. In addition, Kyrgyzstan won by 3-0. At 21.00 PM, the tournament was continued by Indonesia against Brunei Darussalam. Indonesia won by 4-1. furthermore, the team which lead the standings was Indonesia since they beated Mongolia by 4-1.
On 4 December afternoon, Kyrgyzstan played Brunei Darussalam as their next opponent and at 21.00 Indonesia played Mongolia, and Indonesia won by 3-1. Based on the result of the matches, Kyrgyzstan lead the standings since Kyrgyzstan did not concede during the games.
Wednesday, 6 December, was a very fantastic match since it was a final game of the tournament. There were many Inonesian supporter enjoyed the match at Harapan Bangsa Stadium. The game was quite exciting until one of Kyrgyzstan player scored a goal and Kyrgyzstan became the champion of the tournament.
Pers Conference
After the match I was pointed as the Kyrgyzstan team translator in pers conference. It was a great honour for me since it was my first ever time to speak in pers conference. There were so many reporters asking questions regarding to the match and tournament. Thanks god I was able to help team translating Bahasa to English. Honestly, I was very nervous to be in pers conference, but I maintained it well.
Pers Conference Moment
Me translating Bahasa Indonesia into English
Me translating from English to Bahasa Indonesia
Team Farewell
Thursday 7 of December was the last day of Kyrgyzstan in aceh since they need to go back to their country. It was an emotional moment for me and three other friends since we had already made friends with the players. In afternoon we took the team to the airport and said have a safe flight. We then shake hand and hug each other. Until we meet again my friends. Thank you for the good times!
Lesson I learned
There were several lessons I learned during our nine days together. The first one is language. Most of them don't speak English very good. So, I learned Kyrgyzstan language. The language is almost the same as Russian. The second one is about culture. There were so many culture differences between Aceh and Kyrgyzstan such as food, the way of talking and some other.
Togetherness
Thank you for reading. Please Upvote and comment.
awwww good to see you in the footballl team
Yeay. Thank you for that. @khaseem184