Gratefully. That’s the one thing that I could say right now. Being here feels like a dream, and now I’m living my dream life.
みなさん、こんにちは!
First of all, let me introduce myself first, my name is Adinda Ratu Humairah, well I have a lot of nicknames but one of them is Donda, that name given by my friends in my lovely dorm! I’m from Palembang city and right now I got a placement in Hirakatashi, Osaka. Here we go!
On June 28, my first day of school called Tokai Gyousei, a sports school that produces great athletes. No need to ask how I felt at that time, many things I thought about before entering that class. I got the smartest class at the first level, and from what I know is if I enter the smartest class it’s a scary thing because the level of individualism is high and I won’t got a friends because they’re all busy for their study, but everything is answered on that day.
In the morning, me and all my exchange friends introduce our self in front of all the teacher and then my homeroom teacher ( kita sensei) took me up to the 5th floor, wow..such an effort because even now my feet still hurt because of that stairs. I finally entered the class, the first things that I do is introduce myself to my classmates and I give them some present from Indonesia. Their face looks so happy while said “かわいい“ (cute). after that, they prepared some word for me in indonesia “selamat datang”(welcome) and “saya senang bertemu dengan anda”(nice to meet you), I was shocked and felt so happy at that time. I give them yupi candy too! I presented some candy from Indonesia, I said “the shape is love it means aishiteru (I love you) for all my classmate friends” they laugh and said “arigatou dinda!”, but for kita sensei, I gave him 5 candy and he asked “woah why so many for me dinda?” and I said “because many aishiteru for you sensei” everything was so fun until I know “aishiteru” it means I love you but in the old way, japanese people rarely used it because that sentences is already old and too ancient, even some couples didn’t say it that sentences again..i just felt embrassed at that time but it’s okay it was a best experience for me. In that day I became an artist, my friends in my class and from other classes around me ask many question about me, they introduced me to the part of school that I didn’t know before, when I had trouble taking Japanese lessons they always helped me, the smartest class that I imagined before is totally wrong. And before that day I realized that experience was the best way to answer all the things we asked for.
3 months in Japan made me always grateful every day, learning a new language, meeting new friends, feeling a new atmosphere and of course having to find new comfort zone. always crying in my every prayer is a normal thing before arriving here, I cried because my prayer and Allah made me cry because had answered my prayer. Turns out my life here is not as bad as I thought. Even my feelings sometimes mixed like rollercoster because the hardest things is language, I still gratefull being here. It’s little bit hard actually, but i believe as long as i want to, then there will be the way. Nothing is impossible. Keep being passionate, do the best, and let God do the next.
September 04. The day I was born. while in Indonesia I thought ”how can my seventeen would be perfect without my parents, family, and close friends”. Every birthday year, my family always celebrates me with delicious tarts in the morning but for this year it’s different, when the morning comes I cried seeing wishes from my parents and messages from Indonesian friends who miss me, thankfully I can eat cheesecake as my birthday present from zeydan in the morning, the atmosphere is almost the same although with different people but I’m still grateful for it. But all my friends who I thought would be excited about my birthday and hugged me looked just usual… I was confused..did they forget today is my birthday? do they not care about me? I was upset and sad, many questions in my mind at that time, okay then I try to forget it with the hope that tonight there will be a birthday party for me, coincidentally the night of 4 September is a Sunday night, where that night also Hirakata shi held Hanabi festival (fireworks party) held after 12 years absence. the festival signifies that the summer season has ended..so when the afternoon came. I went to the Hanabi festival, a street with crowded people, when we are on the way we met Indonesians twice! the first a group of men from Indonesia and we greeted each other, it was very fun because Indonesian culture still happened even in other countries! then the second we met an Indonesian woman I had met before, I greeted her and we chatted a bit that night, her name is Ms. Milla! Hello Ms. Milla! finally after waiting for a long time we watched a very lively Hanabi show on the bridge. blessed because I can see pretty Hanabi in my sweet seventeen, it feels like Hirakata shi celebrating my seventeen birthday party. I’m so grateful for that day.
September 06, on Tuesday I go to my school and then meet my Japanese friends, I was shocked that suddenly they came to my seat and sang happy birthday for me, my friends gave me many gifts, I didn’t expect it at first because I didn’t say or uploading about my birthday on social media but they are so kind! even wednesday and thursday i still get gifts from them, i feel that my birthday becomes everyday, thankfull because I meet this all pretty girl.
September 07, I’m not really that sad because there’s nothing special in my dorm because I already forgot it and don’t hope anything, but in that night they surprised me. They played game in television and in the last game “happy birthday dinda” appears on that television, they all came with a cake while singing a birthday song. This is out of my mind! really beyond expectations. I thought they had forgotten my special day, it turned out that this was all planned from a long time ago, they wanted to make me sad and then celebrate my birthday. They make me cry happily, I think they don’t really care about my birthday but in the fact, they give me a lot of love. Its make my birthday perfect because of them, my 17 year old who I thought at first would be ordinary became extraordinary! Meet a lot kind people from differents country, feels like home even I live in the dorm, and can feel this chance in my teenager life. Seventeen years journey of my life, i am so blessed that everything happened in my life especially this exchange years! (ARH)
