Eight Months in Jakarta and What I’ve Learned

Within a few hours, I’m going to leave this capital city of Indonesia, Jakarta, and heading back to Surabaya, my hometown.. Although I didn’t really enjoy staying in Jakarta, suddenly I felt sad when I realize this is my last day in Jakarta.. I felt a lot of bitter sweet things in Jakarta and within 8 months in here has taught me and grown me up to become more like a man, so somehow there is a bit of me who didn’t want to lose that process of growing up in Jakarta.. Of course I know that growing up is a process that never stop, its just I felt that in Surabaya my growing up process wont be as quickly as I would be in Jakarta, specially when I will be living with my parents again..

I share some of my feelings with my friends from CCF when we’re having the farewell party since this is our last day in CCF.. She said she wants to be independence after she finished her study in university, by that time she expect she leave her home and start her new own life without any dependence from her parents again.. I said to her when I was her age, I had the same things in my mind, I want to leave my hometown and heading to Jakarta, where working opportunity is so much bigger and I can learn how to live independence, but after really experiencing it on my own its not really that ‘great’ living alone, don’t really know why but maybe because its just not the culture in our country, that’s not the way we’ve been raised.. I mean in Asia, specially in Indonesia it’s almost normal for people to live with their family until the they got married..

Today I had a great day hanging out with them maybe that’s the reason why I suddenly got the feeling blue about leaving Jakarta.. Before I came to Jakarta, a lot of person had warn me about making friends in Jakarta and told me to be really picky because they’re much more materialist and more individualist, but even from the very first day in CCF they greeted me so warmly and we continue to be friends until now.. Each of them has unique character that makes them special for me and I’ll never forget our friendship.. All of my teacher in CCF that kindly help with my French, some of them even become friends with me especially for Madame Louisette whom I learned a lot, not just about French but about life as well.. But the best thing I learned from CCF aside from French language itself is the group of the people I saw every Friday morning.. There is a group of student in conversation class, I didn’t know them personally, but what really astonish me is their age.. All of them are what we consider elderly, maybe around 60-70 years old yet they have the determination or the spirit to continue to learn French.. There is this one lady who can’t walk well, she had to walk using a rod and had her maid carrying her books to the class.. Every time I saw them I amaze on how big their willingness to always learning even though they had the right not to.. Most of them speak more than two foreign language however they never stop to learn.. I imagine if I’m in their age would I do the same and continue to develop myself? I guess I rather stayed home and playing with my grandchildren.. I didn’t know who said this, I think its Gandhi, he said ‘Live like there is no tomorrow and learn like you’re going to live forever.’ Seeing them makes me ashamed on myself whenever I felt lazy to study..

On the way back to my boarding house, I’m thinking about why i came to Jakarta at the first place.. I try to remember the eagerness that day when I decided to come to Jakarta, the possibility on what I might get in Jakarta, and what had happened all this time in Jakarta that makes me didn’t like living here.. I hate living here so much that I even try to stop some of my friends who willing to work in Jakarta.. When I think about all of that, I wonder do I regretting ever come to Jakarta? The answer come as quickly as that question pop up in my head and the answer will be no.. I don’t regret I came to Jakarta, no matter hard it was because it allows me to become the person I am today and in the process helps me to find who I am and what I want to do for the next phase in my life.. I make many new friends in Jakarta and met many people who for 8 months I stayed here has helped, nurtured me and stood in the gap for me.. I change a lot and Jakarta taught me well.. The man who is going back to Surabaya tomorrow is no longer the same boy who leave from Surabaya 8 months ago.. But the question didn’t stop in there, had I know all of the things I’m going to learn before coming to Jakarta, would I go to Jakarta anyway? I didn’t know the answer for that but I know there is no way I would know unless I came to Jakarta myself.. I mean I know I wouldn’t meet my friends if I didn’t come to Jakarta but sometimes the hardness is just too hard to endure.. But maybe its right what didn’t killed you only makes you stronger and I can’t change the past, so I make the decision to come to Jakarta and I learned a lot..