Jenesys 2009 to Japan !! :D (for the Jenesys yearbook)

At the first place when I knew that I was going to go to Japan for this JENESYS program, I was extremely happy and excited. I still remember clearly that It was one day in October when I got the notification mail by AFS and I –and so does my sister- screamed as we were so happy and grateful! That time, what came to my mind that it was going to be a wonderful –something like- holiday to Japan, honestly at the first time I did not expect that much from this very short two weeks trip. But I realized later that I was totally wrong.
There are so many memorable, motivating and beneficial things and also experience I got from this journey.
And this teaches me to become a better person as well now.
And this journey started with the ‘hard’ orientation held by AFS Indonesia. But that was the time when I first met with other Indonesian participants. There, I met with great and –extraordinary- 59 friends from all over Indonesia. I felt that during this program we already built a strong bond and deep friendship, and I am grateful for it. We went to Japan as one, and we have big responsibility in our shoulder to represents Indonesia (which is not as easy as we thought). And we felt everything memorable in Japan together. That was one of the sweetest thing for me, for sure. There is one important thing I got from this journey, which significantly changes my mind after I back home: The multicultural respect and understanding. During the program I met approximately six hundred participants from other countries: India, Australia, New Zealand, Philippines, Thailand and Malaysia. We came from different background, race, religion and we have different color of skin. but we could prove to the world that we could mix and did lots of activities together, happily and peacefully, without discriminate one to the other from his background.
And that was the essential thing, I think.
When you can value and respect someone, not from what background he had, but from what he did.
And it motivated me to keep becoming a better, open minded and friendly person since I was there to represent my country. And it indirectly makes me more respect, and love my own country.

On the other hand, we also had much fun in Japan. we go to Kyoto, Hiroshima .. .. Tokyo .. and shopping places as well! LOL .. but what I loved the most is the home-staying moments (I stayed in Fukui chapter). At the time, I stayed at the Japanese house, with a warm and lovely Japanese family, I went to Japanese high school .. those kind of thing were really impressed me and showed me well how Japanese run their life: The effectiveness, the punctuality, the politeness, and the high-tech way of life without leaving their cultural value. And in conclusion: they are very awesome! Moreover, I had a very kind, warm, accepting, serving and lovely host family. Even though they do not speak English, we did no have problems to communicate at all. We had great time together and I was very touched for all they did to me. They taught me that, we, the society of the world, all of us is speaking in just one language: the love language.

Thank you AFS Japan for making my dream came true, and for making me learned a a lot and deeper about myself. JENESYS ended my journey in 2009 perfectly. :)