SEAMEO – SEA TEACHER BATCH 6
After know about me....
Let's start the begin of my experiences....
This is the first time I have gone very far from home and also the first time I have traveled abroad. So, I was very happy to hear that I was one of the students to exchange students who would teach in Surigao - Manila on St. Paul University Surigao.
So for the first time, I will say how I can be chosen to be one of the exchange students.
Okay, at the Faculty I have a lot of departments for education, one of which is Mathematics, it's my major. Our choice goes through several stages. The first phase, before our names were handed over to the faculty as representatives of the department, we had to take a selection from our teacher after that they would choose 4 participants (one of them was me) and give our name to the faculty. Then, on our faculty must be selected from our Sea-Teacher Program coordinator. We must teach in front of the coordinator and our friends use English. And for me (from the mathematics department) it's challenging. Like I have to teach math using English, wow that's great. But who knows, from my 4 participants and one of my friends from the same department, we passed for the final selection stage and that was an interview. I have one month (I think) to prepare myself. And that day arrived (interview time), it was the Dean of the University Recipients who interviewed us. At that time all four of us were interview participants, a friend in my relationship, one from the physics department named Kiky and one from the chemistry department named Vivi. After the interview, we waited for two days to listen to the results of the interview. And who knows, four of us were accepted to participate in student exchanges to teach at St. Paul University Surigao. That's amazing, and we are very happy.
Okay, let’s we back to the my journey on abroad….
Ambon to Jakarta
In Pattimura Airport, July 31 2018
My new world was opened by Lion Air to see a country that I had not yet visited, which would make me far from home. Our parents (me and friends) drove us to the airport. We (me and friends) have a three-hour flight from Ambon to Jakarta. Our flight in the morning, we were all exhausted from getting up early when going to the airport. So me and my friends just slept on our flight.
Jakarta to Manila
In Seokarno-Hatta International Airport - Jakarta, July 31 2018
On the same date, my friends and I arrived at Seokarno-Hatta International Airport. For beginners like me and my friends to go abroad, this is really an adventure, because we have to go quickly to another terminal because from one terminal to another we have to use transportation. So we used the car for our transportation, and finally we arrived at terminal two. We had to enter our baggage, and then we had to report to immigration. After passing immigration, it means we are legal to go abroad. In Seokarna-Hatta International Airport, this is a real trip out of the country by using Philippines Airlines. They gave us a letter of offer, but I think it's VISA. Even though I'm confused to fill it. But I did it by asking many flight attendants hehe. Our flight was about six hours from Jakarta to Manila, and we had lunch because of our flight in the afternoon. So I got lunch like the picture above.
Manila to Butuan
In Manila Ninoy Aquino International Airport – Manila,
July 31 2018-August 01 2018
On the same date, my friends and I arrived at Manila's Ninoy Aquino International Airport. And it was late at night. And our next flight is tomorrow morning. From terminal two we have to go to terminal three using the airport bus. Then when we arrived at terminal three, we checked our baggage, and went to the waiting room. The waiting room was very large with many gates. This is the first time I have slept at an airport, well, even though it was not a soft seat and there were no warm blankets, but because it was late at night and I was very sleepy, I couldn't help but sleep, and the funny thing is when I wake up I freeze cold LOL. And the time when one hour before the flight we had to move to another gate, then after we moved shortly afterwards the call for the passengers to board the plane rang. I am really happy because that means I am getting closer to my destination (not that I am coming to travel). Our flight is about half an hour from Manila to Butuan.
Butuan to Surigao
In Butuan Airport – Butuan, August 01 2018
Yey, and on August 1, my friend and I arrived at Butuan Airport. To go to Surigao takes about three hours using a small bus. Arriving at the airport, our wait has been awaited by Sister Nicole, Dean of the University of the recipient who interviewed and also as the SEA-Teacher Coordinator, with exchange of students from Jogja, she was named Nurdina, Ma'am Maricar Saavedra, and Mr. Jake Ganto. Before leaving to go to Surigao, we had breakfast at Jollibee. This is the first time I have eaten at Jollibee because there is no Jollibee in Indonesia. Then after that, we continued our trip to Surigao by a small bus. Because I was very tired and the time to get to Surigao was very long, so I only slept until I arrived at Surigao.
New Home for a Month
In SPUS New Site – Surigao, August 01 2018
Then we arrived in Surigao, where we would stay for a month. They tried to make us feel at home, and our dorm was on the third floor. When we arrived at the hostel we felt very good and nice, then we chose our respective rooms. I chose room number twelve, and my room would be my room for one month. In the room there is one bed, one study table and a sink. Then when I saw the bed I felt like, ahh I finally found a bed. When I arrived at school, it had started the new school year so we saw very many students, but because I was so tired I wasn't strong enough to walk around to look at the school, so I just lay in bed and sleep until they called to eat. After that my friends and I returned to the dormitory on the third floor haha. And because I didn't do anything and was tired and still jet leg then I just went back to bed and slept. At night our friends from other universities arrived. There were six people who arrived that night, one from Padang namely Indri, then two from Ponorogo were Alfida and Riana, and three people from Semarang they were Nadia, Fitri, and Beny. So, in our dormitory were eleven exchange students from five different universities.