Hi.
As any of my previous posts, every time I felt inspired I always try to write it down and post it here. Recently I watched a Korean TV show about the lives of foreigners as they try to integrate to the Korean society. And it has brought me a lot of memories of my own experience living abroad in The Netherlands.
Watching the hardships they had to go through in order to adapt to a new environment, reminded me of my own. Till this day I still remember my 8 year old self trying to learn new Dutch vocabularies every night, where I made sure to write at least 10 new words in my yellow note book and try to memorize it by heart. Everyday I would open up the children books, write down all the words and find the Indonesian word in the dictionary.
And no, I didn't do it because my parents told me so. My drive comes from my desperation to make new friends. I wanted badly to blend in and start playing with my new classmates, that somehow I know in order to do that I have to be able to speak Dutch. Eventually, my hard work pays off. I became the quickest in the family who speaks Dutch.
Often those foreigners in the TV show, have a hard time adjusting due to their homesickness. And I know exactly how that feels. I even wrote it in my old diary. Things like missing my house in Jakarta, missing my old big elementary school, my friends, my cousins, my nannies. I know. The last one makes me look like a spoiled kid. And maybe I was a bit spoiled. Before moving, I didn't have to do any household chores because that was taken care of. Suddenly when we moved to Delft, I had to help with the household chores such as sweeping, vacuum cleaning, washing the dishes, to throwing out the trash. It was the transition process from a young kid to a more helpful dependent one that was hard. But once I got pass that, I actually felt good about it. I felt more mature and I like that rewarding feeling of knowing you've helped your parents. Nonetheless, I'll admit it was hard in the first few months.
There is something else that I learned from this TV show. Out of all the things I've mentioned before, there is this one thing that makes me realize (again) how much of an amazing parents I have. And that is their relentless hard work to give my siblings and I a better life.
So honestly it was very risky for them to leave our life behind in Jakarta. We had (alhamdulillah) a pretty comfortable life in Jakarta. Yet they know that in order to give my siblings and I a global unforgettable experience, they had to get out of their comfort zone. And so they did.
If it weren't for them I wouldn't be the person that I am today. I mean living abroad is way harder and more challenging than just going for a holiday abroad. There are a lot of things to be done. From making a residential permit, insurance, making sure my sister and I go to school, and many other things. Even things that might seem simple like filling out an insurance form can be really hard, since you don't know the language. So you have to look for every word up in the dictionary and fill it correctly. I can't imagine how hard it must be for them. And yet again, they did it. They must be tired and had their own homesickness but they put that aside to make sure my siblings and I can live comfortably.
As I grow older and live back in my native country, I realized what an incredible thing that my parents had done. Not many parents are willing to risk everything they have behind and bring their kids for an adventure of living abroad. I mean if you think about it, it is a bold thing to do.
I want to say thank you for my mom and dad. For being the best parents in this whole wide world. For giving me such an unforgettable life experience, that I wouldn't be able to have if it weren't for you. It must have been hard for you, but you never showed me that to my face. You made me feel like I have no worry in this world. And as a young kid I took that for granted. But now I see that having a happy childhood that is stress free is a privilege.
Both of you succeed in making Delft a home for me. It's hard to deny that I didn't feel at home in the first few weeks or month. But I guess it's something that we as a family have to go though, because it led us to a point where we call the place our home away from home.
I hope I can live my life as boldly as you.
Love,
Sesia.
