Before this storystarted, I’ll introduc..
Before this story started, I’ll introduce myself
briefly. My name is Annisa Trimirasti, you can call me Rasti, im from
Environmental Engineering, i study at ITS (Sepuluh Nopember Institute of
Technology), now im at seventh semester. The first question is why i am
interested in exchange program, nothing special, i like travelling and i just want to see the world more. There
is a quote that said “To travel is to discover that everyone is wrong about
other countries”.
Truthfully, i want go to
China, but because my holiday semester not match with AIESEC exchange program
in China, so i choose Thailand as my alternative. What i do before i go to thailand , prepare everything i need to bring, i bring clothes, money, passport, visa (because i’ll live more than 30 days) , and indonesian food because maybe first
time you live somewhere, you dont like their menu , oh ya, i bring indonesian traditional costume too because AIESEC Chulalongkorn ask me to bring that, and i also bring some souvenir from here as sign of gratitude and memento for people there.
Okay,
sorry i forget to explain my exhange program. My program name is Sawadee
Program, that program organize by all AIESEC in Thailand. I accepted in AIESEC
Chulongkorn. In this program , you become a volunteer as school teacher of
English in rural are in Thailand, my school is
Ban Pho Samakke (a kindergarten and elementary school) at district Prang
Ku, Sisaket Province, Thailand. I’ll teach for 6 weeks. I’ll live with local
there. Before and after i go to Prang Ku, i go to preparation camp in Bangkok
that oganize by AIESEC Chula (from here i’ll call Chulalongkorn as Chula).
AIESEC in Thailand is so good, they prepare everything for you, food, accomodation,
transport, and everything. You will not be confused. O ya, you have a buddy
too, like your friend, you can sharing your story and you also can ask anything
to them if you cannot ask directly to AIESEC Chula, they even help you
communicate and build your relationship with your house family.
What am i
do at my project at Ban Pho Samakke, i teach kindergarten and all of grade in
elementary school (the first until the sixth), can you imagine it? Yap, im so
busy and feeling under pressure because teaching children is not easy as it
seems and they cannot speak english at all and i cannot speak thai, the biggest
problem happened in kindergarten, you know they even cannot speak thai properly
and i come to teach english, i hope you really know how i feel. Okay, i stop
cursing mysef and as time passes, i start to learn how to survive and in the end
i feel accustomed to live there. And about my house family, a stolid old man
and his talkactive wife, their kids not live with them anymore. Friendly enough
and treat me too good, i be treated like their own child. A middle go upper
class family, every teacher in Thailand is kind of rich i think. O ya, They are
teachers at Ban Pho Samakke, i go to school with them everyday. I dont have
problem except communication while i living there. Everyone cannot speak
english except the english teacher, she is my best friend there.
I think
everything in there is memorable for me and some emotional. I cry, I laugh, I
live. I do not like everything at first, but i dont know why i dont want go
back home when 6 weeks end. Haha, maybe i start to love them. There is one day,
in my second week i think, in kindergarten, im so angry because they do not
listen to me, my patience is over i yelled at them and in the end i cry. So
embarassing. But after that day, i feel they start respect me even just a
little, huff,, On my last day, the kindergarten, all of them, they draw my
face, hahha,, for souvenir and one of that little boy make a book for me and
some of say they love me. Im so touched that time. So good memories. I come to
thailand with smile and i back with a bigger smile.
If you
ask me is there any changes in myself after i back to Indonesia, yap there is.
I feel i respect people more. I respect differences more. And i want travelling
more, i dont regret i took that chance.
Thai people is different with us or maybe just with me, their culture, their vision and so on, i think we may look same but we dont. Ya i know we all different, but their budhism, transgender, and their goverment. That all differences impress me, really. Dont judge a book by its cover maybe the right quote for this paragraph. Hehe..
Thai people is different with us or maybe just with me, their culture, their vision and so on, i think we may look same but we dont. Ya i know we all different, but their budhism, transgender, and their goverment. That all differences impress me, really. Dont judge a book by its cover maybe the right quote for this paragraph. Hehe..
Activities during an exhange, hmm, international night, i forget that
activities name, but that like you perform something about your country,
anything, dance, food, yap anything that special about your country. You do
that too at your school, in front of your student and teacher there. And
another event is english day, a day that everyone in your school must be
speaking in english, usually you did some event here, maybe a competition or
something, to make sure that everyone in your school really participate
speaking in english. In my program english day is like an evaluation for you,
for what you have done to them, did you succeed or failed. So do it seriously.
There is some local event too, just mingle with that.
Here I attach some photos.. :)
#AMBASSADORINDONESIA
#AIESECExchangeExperience
#TheWorldIsCallingYou
#AIESECExchangeExperience
#TheWorldIsCallingYou
