After my arrival from Malaysia to Padang, West Sumatra, there was a lot that had to be done.
There were three hectic weeks I had to go through, from arranging documents to arranging my room. It made me so exhausted that I almost ended up in the hospital.
On Saturday, the 17th of August 2019, around 8 o’clock in the morning, I landed safe and sound at the Minangkabau Airport in Padang, West Sumatra. As I got out of the airport, I went straight to the dormitory where I had to start a new chapter of my life. As soon as I have arrived, I got picked up by my first friend from Padang to attend an event I was invited to beforehand. I was so surprised to see him without any helmets. He looked at me and smiled: “Don’t worry. There are no cops around.” I looked at him hesitantly but got onto his bike as we went to the location where I had to be. It was a new experience, sitting on a bike without a helmet on my head, but it was enjoyable as well.
This same day happened to be the Indonesian Independence day which people everywhere really celebrate. You could see lots of decorations anywhere you go, especially with the red and white colors of the Indonesian flag. It was very surprising for me to experience this as well because it’s very different compared to the way people in my country celebrate.
At the event, I stayed here for half a day and got back at the dorm in the afternoon to take a rest while my roommate had to arrange his things. I couldn’t do anything, because I was very exhausted from the whole trip before coming to Padang and I only slept for two hours before my departure in Malaysia.
The next day, I arranged my stuff, went to the market with other international students, and as we got back, I had to go somewhere again and came back late in the afternoon at sunset.
As time passed, we all had to arrange our documents. From mornings until the afternoons, sitting in cars and in what’s so-called ‘angkot’ known as public transportations, we had to go from the dorm to different locations. Shopping for necessary things we needed for our rooms, arranging our legal permit stay at the immigration office and leaving our passports behind and taking them back when it’s done, walking from the dorm to the international office, to the bank, to some of the buildings including our faculty, was really tiring. I have never lived on a mountain before and walking felt like climbing a long stair up and down endlessly. Plus we also got invited to attend some events in the evening or during the day. I almost had no rest and my body felt weak.
Three weeks later, there was a walking march event arranged by the school. Students could walk or run on this day. All the international students could join as well, but unfortunately, I couldn’t. I was terribly ill, weak, because of the arrangements I had to do. I thought I adapted the environment, but no… I didn’t yet. I was bedridden for almost a whole week. Everyone looked at me and hesitated whether I should go to the hospital or not. The international office called us to ask how I was doing, but unfortunately, I couldn’t do much not even move much an inch. The international office wanted to call the ambulance, but one of the foreigners refused and said to her, that he’ll take care of me. Indeed, he and some of the other international students took care of me. They bathe me in hot water, applied muscular balm literally from head to toe which was burning my whole body, prepared me hot soup with young papaya leaf which was terribly bitter and they gave me a massage from time to time. I didn’t stay in my own room, but in someone else’s room during this whole time until I got better.
One week later, I felt much better; I could walk and do things by myself. I got sick because my body was exhausted. This is one of the memories I made which I will not forget. As time continued, I remember getting terribly sick six (6) times within 3 months and two (2) times food poisoned within one week, as everyone asks me: “How come you get sick so often? Not just sick, but really really sick?”.
I might have had bad experiences of getting sick, but now I have slowly adapted the environment and I don’t get that sick anymore.
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