Activities at Telunas

Josh Park

Telunas, the beautiful island an hour and thirty minutes away from civilization, was filled with all kinds of activities for everyone.

            After a long boat ride from society, the staff at Telunas greeted the entire senior class with “welcome drinks,” which consisted of a delicious blend of tropical fruits and an unknown carbonated drink.  Once students settled in, the staff led an Adventure Race that involved several team bonding challenges.  Teams of twelve completed various tasks, including counting fences, decoding messages, and lashing sticks together as quickly as possible in an attempt to complete all the challenges first.

With the closing of the final event, students then had their first free time experience at Telunas.  Some students raced off to line up at the ping pong table or the tetherball and badminton court, while others played soccer, volleyball, and ultimate frisbee.  As simple as the activities on the first day were, free time allowed for students to reach out of their spheres of comfort and spend time with other people outside of their friendship group.

On the second day, new activities opened up and students were able to jump off both the high and low docks.  Additionally, students and chaperones could rent a kayak and traverse across the blue waters of Indonesia.  Students raced in their kayaks and some, including myself, capsized and swallowed several mouthfuls of salt water.  The third day consisted of another free time based schedule. Games of CTF (Capture the Flag) on the beach and a sand castle building competition were led by Dalat student leaders and staff. 

After finishing the two activities, students found themselves with the rest of the day off.  I enjoyed the thrill of line fishing for several hours, catching three fish in the first day!  Line fishing was very simple to jump right into and extremely rewarding for the little effort required; students simply put bait on their hooks and lowered their lines into the water, waiting for the immediate tingling caused by the nibbling of the hungry fish.  Within minutes, a fish would be hooked on the end of one’s line.

Overall, the abundance of activities at Telunas left no one bored during the week students spent away from home.  Even after five days, students were unable to try all the activities offered, such as paddle boarding.  However, if one were ever to return or even visit Telunas for the first time, my activity of recommendation would be line fishing as a must, because of the potential rewarding sensation of catching multiple fish.