A PIECE OF ME
I had never thought and I had no idea that I would have had this chance of coming here to learn English and enjoy life here as a Redemptorist. So when I have this kind of experience I think this is one of the best experiences I have ever had in my life where I could experience overseas life as Redemptorist and have the opportunity to improve my English.
Here are some of my memories during my time in Auckland. I try to remember all my experiences and write it down. But I realise I can not remember all of those memories. Actually, there are many great memories I have walked through and enriched me as an individual and most of all as a Redemptorist. And I do realise that this is just “a piece of me” and I want to share this with my confreres and those who support and pray for me, especially my relatives and friends. Hopefully, it is going to be meaningful lessons not only for my journey as a Redemptorist but also for others confreres.
Time flies so fast. I don’t realise that I’ve been in New Zealand for almost eight months and this month is going to be my last month in this most beautiful and friendly country that I’ve ever lived in. I will always remember the 24th of September 2016 was the first time I arrived in New Zealand. At that time I was welcomed by heavy rain and cold-breeze wind. I thought that I would be able to see the beautiful sunshine and I had never thought that I would be welcomed in that kind of weather. But I was lucky enough because people said that I arrived just a few weeks after the winter season had just ended, which means I missed the cold. Once it passed I still felt cold, maybe because I am Indonesian and in Indonesia, we have just two seasons, summer and the rainy season which are not all that extreme.
The weather was just one of the problems. Another was language ability. As a beginner in English, I was so afraid. I was worried about making mistakes. When I arrived at the airport I found there was no one to pick me up to go to Glendowie where I would be staying. For a while, I just waited without asking for help from someone. I had been waiting for one and a half hours when an old man came closer and started talking to me. He probably had seen me confused when I arrived and that was why he tried to offer some help. But because I was so nervous I couldn’t understand what he said. Later I tried to force myself to talk with an old lady nearby. She suggested phoning my family using the telephone near the waiting room. But first I needed to find some coins so I could use the telephone. I had just finished changing my money when Fr Redempt arrived to pick up Yolus and myself.
We drove to Glendowie in heavy rain. Though the rain was so heavy, I could still enjoy the stunning views along the way to the house. I was impressed by how clean this city was, even though there was still some rubbish like plastics and papers but it was nothing compared to what I was used to in Indonesia. During the trip, I was wondering and asking myself why there were no motorcycles on the road. For more than an hour, I saw just a few motorcycles compared with my country. Later, I found the reason why there were just a few motorcycles. It was because motorcycles are less safer than cars. Also, it was because the weather changes very quickly.
We had a week of free time before we started our class. It was a very short time to make the necessary adjustments with New Zealand’s weather and also to learn about its culture. During the first week, I just spent my time having fun. I went sightseeing and had a look at some beautiful places like One Tree Hill and Mount Eden where I could enjoy the stunning views of the city. I was surprised to learn that those mountains which seem like hills for us in Indonesia, used to be volcanoes a long time ago. I saw a big cauldron in Mount Eden, but I had no idea that it used to be a volcano. Later I found a surprising and amazing fact from my teacher that New Zealand is surrounded by a lot of volcanoes and is placed in the ring of fire which is the same for Indonesia.
I tried to manage not only with the unpredictable weather which always changes but I had to manage with the food as well. I had been raised with rice by my family and I used to have rice for my breakfast, lunch and dinner. But since I arrived in New Zealand I had to try something different. It was weird and strange to have potato and bread for my meals, but as the saying says, ‘when in Rome’, I tried and forced myself to be like a Kiwi. I tried to adjust with that kind of food and drink. I found that my time in New Zealand was kind of food adventure for me. Here I had a big opportunity to try different kinds of food which had a unique taste. I used to go to some restaurants for farewell parties of some of the students who had just finished their course and I used to take this opportunity to try something new like Thai, Vietnamese, Indian and of course Western food.
After a week, I had to start my course. I remembered we were welcomed by Rachael and Paul. On the first day, with some other new students, we took a placement test. Because I got enough scores I was placed in the 400 class (intermediate). It was a good class with 8-10 students. Some were Japanese, some Koreans, some Colombians, some Brazilians and Arabs. It was interesting to be in that kind of class with a small number of students and such nice and smart teachers. It was difficult at first, but my teachers and my friends made it easy for me. They helped me to feel comfortable in the classroom. Then at break time one of the students was assigned by our teacher to accompany and to introduce to me some rooms of the school such as the library, kitchen and computer room.
And also, I was lucky living in this kind of city where I learned not only English but its culture as well. The last was one of the things that make Auckland known as a multicultural city. It was true because here we could find people from different countries and cultures and they lived together easily in harmony. Everybody had respect for one another and had the same opportunities and rights. Here we lived in diversity as one family, Chinese, Indian, Japanese, Korean and others. As long as you had a good education and English, you would have the same opportunities to get a job. Another thing, even as a new person in this city, no one would recognise it because every person looked like they had been living here for a long time. It was hard to distinguish who was new and who were the old timers.
Last year, before we started our E-Learning we had one hour break time for lunch and during that time I used to spend 45 minutes of my time walking around this city to do exercise and to help me to get to know this lovely city as well. I used to walk to Albert Park, Victoria Park and Waitemata Harbour to see many big ships. And as I mentioned before, no one realised I was a new person in the city. And because this city is filled with people from different countries and different cultures, it made everyone, including me, feel they had been living here for a long time, even though I had lived here for just a few days.
I loved learning English at CCEL, not only because this school was in the centre of the city but also I felt like I was living in a small family where everyone tried to support and encourage you to be good at English. Teachers were always there to support us when we had a problem. It was amazing because every teacher was helpful and most students realised that no one was perfect at English and it made us able to learn English without thinking about making mistakes. I loved spending time with students from other countries because it helped me to improve my English and I could learn about different cultures as well. This became true for me through joining some activities which were provided by the school, like conversation class and visiting some landmark buildings like the museum and the art gallery.
As I mentioned before, time flies very fast and this week is going to be my last week. After eight months, sometimes I feel like I didn’t make much progress, but for sure, now I am more confident in speaking with English speaking people and it is easy to understand when I listen to some English news. Those things had been difficult for me before I came here. I used to be nervous speaking with English speakers but now I find it is easy even though I still make mistakes but it is OK as long as they can understand what I say and what I mean.
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