Living Far, Far, Far Away From Home

Foto diambil dari hasil Googling, tapi kebun sawitnya benar-benar terlihat seperti ini.

Well, this blog post comes up after I got an inspiration from one of my friends' simple question, "How's life going?" I asked him first, but never thought that the counter-attack would be really hard to answer, hehehe.

You know I always want to try to live in other cities, right? Away from Cirebon, I mean. And this company I got into, gives me the chance to do it whole-heartedly. Remember, be careful of what you wish for. Make sure you are ready to face the consequences.

I had never felt of missing home more than now, so far. Kangen banget sama rumah.

For the background of the story, jadi sekarang saya lagi dalam masa pendidikan untuk jadi staf salah satu perusahaan BUMN yang ada di Indonesia. Dalam pendidikannya, I need to go away from home untuk OJT (On the Job Training). OJT mengharuskan saya untuk belajar secara langsung bisnis yang dijalankan oleh perusahaan tempat saya bernaung.

Ketika diumumkan tempat OJTnya, well I was quite shocked. I am placed in Bandarjaya, Provinsi Lampung. Silakan cari di peta kalo ingin tahu Bandarjaya itu dimana. It is located around two-hour-car-drive from Bandarlampung. Go north. That was my first experience to go to Sumatera, and I am currently in a love-hate relationship with it.

For me, it's still hard to understand Sumatran people. Beda sih ya karakternya sama orang Jawa. I've been here for about a month, and I am still adapting. Meskipun udah cukup paham dan ngerti sih. Ada beberapa hal yang harus dimaklumi, misalnya kayak kondisi jalan yang nggak sebagus di Pulau Jawa, atau pengendara motor yang seenaknya aja ngambil tempat. Parah sih termasuknya. Suka seenaknya sendiri hhhhhhh.

The good of being away from home are that I can learn so so many things. I have plenty of time to go to its tourism places, I got the time to try the culinary, I have many new friends, and most importantly, I get to be independent. Since what I get from the company is enough to support my own life, I can do whatever I want.

Yang nggak enaknya yaaaaa saya jadi harus jauh sama rumah, orang tua, pacar, dan teman-teman. Pulang ke rumah jadi mahal banget. Saya yang biasanya pulang ke Cirebon dari Jakarta, cuma butuh paling mahal 400rb untuk pulang, now need to double it. Alhamdulillah masih deket pulangnya, cuma dari Lampung. Beberapa teman saya yang ditempatkan di Medan, ketika ingin pulang ke Bandung, pasti pengen menjerit liat harga tiket pesawat. Anak Padang yang ditempatin OJT di Bali, pulangnya juga mahal. Still, I need to see the bright side of my story, right? Belum lagi berita-berita tentang begal yang banyak banget di sini. Almost everyday malah, kayaknya. It's really dangerous for women to go out at night, especially alone. Nggak kayak Jakarta yang nggak pernah mati.

Tapi pengalaman yang berharga itu emang nggak bisa dibeli dengan uang sih. Banyak banget hal-hal yang pertama saya alami di sini. Pertama kali ngeliat kebun sawit, bahkan berkunjung ke PTPN (PT. Perkebunan Nusantara) yang terletak di Lampung. Memang sih, nggak sampai masuk ke dalam pabriknya, but it was quite an experience. Kemudian, ngerasain sendiri gap antara orang kota dan orang kampung (saya nggak bermaksud menghina di sini, soalnya saya sendiri orang kampung kok). The different level of education really does matter. And some of them just don't care. Talking to strangers about personal things pun kayaknya jadi hal yang biasa. One person even talked to me about her family issue. Waw.

So sorry for the messed up post. Gonna fix it soon. More stories are coming! Hope you still wait for me and read!