‘Rujak Uleg’ Festival in Surabaya 2014 – Tasty and Free!

I wrote this article in purpose of reporter recruitment at an ASEAN organization. Unfortunately i didn't make it. Most possible because of TOEFL certification, i don't have any. Or probably what i did is just too bad and didn't reach their standard. Or other applicants were just too good to compete against me. Or...? Whatever :/

If i were accepted, i think i can have a new media to explore myself in writing. I love to write since middle school, but these days i don't really have media where i can publish my write (I don't know why but my college's organization is just a community i can't mixed into. Too bad i tend to run away if i don't feel comfortable with people. Sorry, my bad). Plus, they will pay around USD 40 for each article. Such a waste i didn't make it.

Anyway, i wrote this article with some efforts, i feel so bad if it's just stuck as my file. I decide to put it here. This is a lost article, so if you read it don't expect a good one. *sigh*

Enjoy~~~~~

‘Rujak Uleg’ Festival in Surabaya 2014 – Tasty and Free! If you never heard about rujak uleg, now it’s your turn to know that a traditional food can be this fun. Rujak uleg is one of traditional food from Surabaya, East Java. Basically it’s similar with salad dish. Inside rujak uleg, you will find slices of tropical fruits (such as raw mango, pineapple, starfruit), vegetables (such as kangkung, tauge), lontong (rice cake), tofu and tempe. Those ingredients served with peanut and petis sauce, which is also mixed with onion, garlic and chilli. Rujak uleg can be found almost everywhere in Surabaya. After the tastiness, now add some fun to the food! Every May, Surabaya will have anniversary celebration for a whole month and everyone is able to join, whether as participants or just visitors. Rujak Uleg Festival is one of the events. This event held at Jalan Kembang Jepun. This place is just a normal street in Surabaya with people and their activities. However when it’s time for festival, happiness atmosphere become something you can’t handle and you surely want to visit. Thousands people from various organizations join in. They are from government institution, army, public company, social community, and many others, even embassy from some countries. Their participation means to enliven Surabaya’s anniversary. Also join in are rujak uleg seller around Surabaya. Besides enliven the anniversary, if their rujak uleg become a winner, sure it will boost their popularity. They make a group of around ten people each, to make Rujak Uleg together. Each group will get table to cook, and they are allowed to decorate their table as they want. Creative people with creative mind have fun with this task. Some groups build a mini tower made of fruits, which later will be used to cook, then, beautify it with flower decoration. Not enough with table decoration, participants of this festival are wearing unique and colorful customs. You will ‘wow’ at their customs as you walk from one table to another. Creativity sure is required because each group creates their own theme. You can see people cooking while wearing clown custom completed with funny make ups. Or maybe someone with Captain America custom slicing fruits and mixing sauce. Some groups want something more Indonesia, thus they wear Kebaya (Indonesia’s traditional clothes) with many decoration attached to it. Before everyone start to cook, upbeat music will be played and all participants dance happily with their groups. Walk around their table, shake their body and sing along together. In case you haven’t heard, Surabaya weather is sunny and hot. However, the burning sun won’t stop participant’s dance. Yet their dances become happier and full of laughter. As they dance, quite few groups will sing a simple and short jingle they made themselves to boost their confidence and spirit. Those jingles are usually a remake of some famous and catchy song in Indonesia. They changed the lyric’s song with their own. These hundreds groups are competing their rujak uleg. Judgment is normally based on the taste, custom and decoration creativity, and cleanliness. After each group creates their ‘masterpiece’, here comes the most wanted part. Free rujak uleg for visitors! Visitors can freely visit any table they want and have some rujak uleg. You better be fast because basically now it’s your time to compete with another thousand visitors to get rujak uleg. Rujak uleg in every table will finish in no time. Rujak Uleg Festival is one of Surabaya’s annual events. Through this event government wish to bring Surabaya’s culinary and uniqueness to the world. A very good way, isn’t it? (Karina)