MY EXCHANGE STORY

I never think before that I would go to China for my exchange. It was like a dream. But that was real. So exciting, because that was my first time to go abroad, alone!

After flew about 3 hours from Surabaya to Kuala Lumpur for transfer, I continued my trip from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing about 6 hours. It was the most long trip that I ever had.

After arrived in Beijing at 1.00am , I should be waiting for the Aisecer to pick me up at 7.00am morning. Because he said, there was no public transportation at midnight. So, I slept in airport and waited for a long time alone. I felt afraid, because that was my first time waiting alone in airport which was not in Indonesia. But I tried to keep survive and against the cold.

Finally in the morning at 7.30am Kerry (the Aisecer) picked me up in airport. And we took an Airport Express train to hostel. Then, we continued with subway train. It made me so tired because I should bringing my heavy luggage. Fortunately, Kerry always helped me.

First time, I was so excited seeing the snow along the trip. It was totally wonderful! And it was totally cold! I was so amazed for the first time seeing a good transportation system in Beijing. especially for the train.

We both arrived in hostel and met other EP’s. One from Taiwan and 4 from Indonesia! And each of EP’s would be accompanied with a Chinese volunteer as our buddy during the project. We stayed in hostel for a night. Quite tired, because we should have a meeting whereas I didn’t have enough time for took a rest. And next day, we were ready to go to Xi’an for doing our project. Surprising, we should get in a super crowded train. It was really hard because we should bring our super heavy luggage. And everybody looked at us, as a foreigner. Finally we got a seat after jostle.

After 13 hours, we arrived in Xi’an. Unexpectedly, Xi’an was colder than Beijing. And we should take a bus to reach the place where we would stay. And after, we all picked up by the teacher of Luoyu Nine Years Boarding School. When we aarrived in the school, finally we had time to rest in school dorm. The school was located in a rural area.

We had a dinner with the director, headmaster, and teachers in the town area in Xi’an. And it’s Muslim restaurant. It’s so nice, knowing different culture of Chinese people when they had a dinner together like this.

Next day, we started our project. I taught English for grade 6. For sure, I accompanied by my buddy. Her name is Regina. Regina always translated my English into Chinese to make the student understand what I mean.

Every day we were teaching the student from 7am till 5pm. But, I enjoyed that. The children were so excited with everything I said aalthough there were several naughty boys students in my class. But overall, it was fascinated.

Not just teach English, but we also taught about Indonesian culture. And we taught them several Indonesian common words.

Anyway, because it was placed in rural area, the water was so limited. We didn’t take a shower during the project in school. In other side, the water was so extremely cold. Your hand will get chill when you touch it. One thing that made me so sad was about the toilet. It was so terrible. I couldn’t imagine, how the people there could keep survive with that bad toilet. That was the worst toilet that I ever found!

But however, I should keep strong and try to adapt with this entire poor situation; llimited water, super cold weather, and the odious toilet. It is what I called as CULTURE SHOCK.

            Last day of our project, we all prepared for closing ceremony. We also had a time to visit children house where are near the school. It was so pleasant to meet with their parents and visited their house. And they were so welcoming me. In evening, my students made a surprise for me. They closed my eyes and guide me walked into the classroom. Then, in class they opened my eyes and showing the lovely words on the blackboard. They said thank you and anything. They also drew my face and Regina as their head teachers. They hope that I could teach them in summer camp. It really made me so touch. And I hug them with love.

            I felt so hard to leave my students. But, show must go on. I should go back to Beijing.

We all left the school in tomorrow morning. We didn’t back to Beijing first but we played in Xi’an city for a day and stay in a cozy hostel. Xi’an town was really enjoyable. Everything was cheap and so many yummy food there. OGX team also took us to the Moslem quarter in Xi’an. I was so excited. There were so many Moslem restaurants and everyone there was a Moslem and of course, all the food is halal because you know that so hard to found a halal food in China. Moslem quarter in Xi’an was really crowded. Many tourist visited the place because its famous with the yummy foods. It was Friday, the boys do the pray in a Xi’an Great Mosque around Muslimquarter.

            Next day, we back to Beijing by train. In Beijing, we stayed in an apartment. So we all Indonesian stayed in the same apartment. Day by day, we went to interested place. I thought, we had been visit all the famous tourism object in Beijing. We went to Tiananmen, Forbidden City, Bird Nest (Beijing Olympic Stadium), Temple of Heaven, Beijing Zoo, Embassy of Indonesia, Silk Market, etc. It what I called as explore Beijing. And our best pal to took us everywhere is a Beijing Subway. Subway is an underground train. It was cheap and very comfortable. Everything about subway is automatic and well managed. I love it.

            When I was in Beijing, it coincided with Chinese New Year celebration. Of course, the real Chinese people were so festive to celebrate Chinese New year. And, I think we were lucky to see the main culture of Chinese people and seeing a fantastic firework party everywhere in Beijing. But unfortunately, during the celebration of Chinese New year, many stores and restaurants were closed. So we all tried to keep survive by cooking some food by ourselves. But it was fun.

            After played in Beijing for 2 weeks, it’s time to back to Indonesia. I felt so blue to leave Beijing; too much precious moments. So many things I’ve got. I learned about how to adapt with different culture and language, I learned how to appreciate others, how to made a good decision, how to work in international team, how to appreciate the time, how to more patient and so on. It was really best experience that I ever had. My first winter, my first trip go abroad and it would be my unforgetable moment in lifetime.