"Goodbye Phillipines!" from Annisa Bella Sunoto - AFS Asia Pacific, CDO, Philippines

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With AFSers from Germany and Belgium hosted in CDO city

It’s hard to believe that I will soon be coming home to Indonesia. As if it was only yesterday I said Kamustaka (Hello) to all my new friends here in the Philippines. Time sure flies!

AFS has really done me good. I can feel the changes and I believe that the people around me feel the same. The shyness has gone through the months I spent here in the Cagayan De Oro (CDO) city. And now, being talkative is another advantage of making new friends. For several months, the saying of "Let's be friends with her, she's an exchange student" has become "I want to be friends with her, she seems so funny". A good sense of humour brought me to an awesome group of friends in the class of Fr. Pedro Arrupe at Xavier University High School (XUHS). No one can stop us from being 'crazy' whenever we are together. Being with them throughout the school year bringscolour in my journey.


The high standard of XUHS where I studied has made my exchange year more challenging. I learned a lot of things that I did not learn in my school in Indonesia like taxation, how to check balance book etc.  The school did not make any exception for me although I am an exchange student, so I need to earn my right of being an XUHS student. I can proudly say, I have graduated from XUHS with high passing grades! The graduation ceremony was awesome. It's exactly like what I always watch on TV!.

Graduation Day
After the graduation ceremony I was so surprised by a big celebration that my host-family and relatives prepared for me. They gave me gifts and we had a great time together. That  wasnot all they did for me, a few days after, my host family brought me to a very wonderful place named Dahilayan. I couldn't help myself not to scream with amazement. I conquered my fear of heights and rode Asia's longest zip line.Dahilayan definitely will be another reason why I need to comeback to the Philippines. After that, my host sister and I went for a trip to Cebu and Siquijor which is a small island near Cebu. We stayed there with my host uncle. He is a very wise guy who studied in Harvard. Siquijor is nothing but a very clear and clean deep blue sea area. I took many pictures as I am a beach lover.

At the end of my stay I wanted to do something memorable, so CDO chapter and I decided to join Global Youth Service Day (GYSD). GYSD is the largest service event in the world.  There are so many ways to be involved in the GYDS and CDO City did a service called Pag-asaBuhatsaKabataanmeans Hope for the Children.  The activity aims to help the less privilege street children housed in GugmasaKabataanCenter.  It is an empowering place for survival, development, protection, and participation towards a transforming community of hope, faith and love.  The officers there work with street children in providing opportunities to be integrated in families, schools and labour market.  Their goal is to prevent children from choosing street for their home or livelihood.  Our service was a three consecutive Saturday visits which primarily included tutoring and guidance and counselling.  I tried my best to communicate with them though it was hard at the first day. But the next day I was so surprised when I arrived there, the kids ran after me and hugged me so tight.  Seeing their smile just make my day. I have learned a lot from participating at the GYDS.
The hardest part of being an exchange student is to be able to let go. The time given is not enough to discover the country. Still so much to see, so much to learn. I am so excited to meet my family and friends in Indonesia again but on the other side it will be very hard to leave my family and friends here in the Philippines. We have been through a lot these past months. Shortly, there will be no more people introducing me gladly to their friends, no more briefing before eating like "this is pork, this is beef;no you can't eat that, yes you may eat that one", no more eyes on me every time I enter a room because I'm the only one who wears hijab, no more late laugh because my friend just translated the joke in class, no more "wooow" every time I say something in Filipino or Visayan, and no more repeating a word in Filipino for hundred times because I pronounced it wrong. Surely I'm gonna miss those moments.

Farewell messages keep on coming day by day. Some made me laugh, some made me cry. I can't believe I'm already at the end of my exchange year. It feels like just yesterday I said hi. People who are just strangers in the beginning now become a family. Now I have two families. Now I have friends from around the world. Now I have two places called 'home'.

But I knowlife must go on. My journey will not end, it has just started all over again. Thank you AFS for bringing me out of my comfort zone and giving me opportunitiesto experience amazing things that I could never imagine before.
So, this is the new me, Annisa Bella Sunoto version 2.0 with more confident, more adaptable, more responsible, more open-mind, more appreciative, more tolerance, and still many more to mention.

I truly believe that this Exchange is not a year in my life, but a life in one year. You will never understand how awesome an exchange student feels, until you become one. 

Welcome home, Annisa Bella Sunoto!


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Kami Bina Antarbudaya Chapter Karawang adalah salah satu extensi dari Bina Antarbudaya pusat yang akan membantu adik-adik yang berdomisili di Karwang dan sekitar untuk mengikuti program-program yang kami sediakan. Blog ini di jalankan oleh kakak-kakak volunteer admin ICT kita yang bisa dihubungi melalui comment/twitter.

1 komentar:

  1. Wulan Dewi5/20/2013

    Wow! Speechless deh bacanya, Bella :)
    Welcome home, wilujeng sumping, kak Bella!

    BalasHapus