A Journey Through Looking Glass : Write to China 2018

”Enjoy the journey and try to get better every day. 

And don't lose the passion and the love for what you do.” 

-- Nadia Comaneci

               The past two weeks had been overwhelming. From walking home and talking loads to my family about one of the greatest moments that I have never imagined before. I realized that it was a journey through looking glass. The first footstep has always been the most amazing thing about this journey. A journey is not just a matter of finding a goal, but it’s about finding millions of valuable things to starting another dream. The best witness of this journey is not basically the remains of many scattered photos. The best witness of this is that the eye of my heart which can capture everything that happens. The feet never known where will go; however, fate will always bring the foot to go further.

               The journey towards China, the motherland of Panda, is not a fantasy inside my dream. Even tough the eyes seem to close in the darkness, but the reality never fall asleep. However, there is hearts who empower myself to do something good. There is a big desire to bring a smile for some people that I called parents and sisters. It was such a quite long trip in five hours. It was finally created on April 13, 2018. There were footprints of mine in some places and were footprints of people which was I called blessings.

               Some of people said that writing is not an easy and a worth thing to do. However, when you were writing with all of your heart, you’ll make a piece of masterpiece which could represent your feelings and your good intentions. I used to release my feeling by writing; I figure it out that the journey throughout China was coming from my intention to write about friendship. I know that my field isn’t international relation, but it doesn’t mean, the value of diplomacy is just for that idea. The value of humanism related to Chinese philosophy stems essentially became my real idea about China. I learned from my best friend who was falling in love with Chinese philosophy that we have to spread love and the value of humanity. Through her, which is the descendent of Chinese people, I realized that the value of humanity was one of thing to develop some of nations in the world.

              

“There are times when I feel like life has given me 

too much blessing”

               All praise to the One who is The Greatest, He gave me an opportunity and blessing to be one of Indonesian delegation for Write to China 2018 team. Thanks to the FPCI Indonesia team and the Chinese Embassy, ​​who had given me this dreamy opportunity to learn about the development and the national character of the Chinese people; being an Indonesian representative in the eyes of other nations is not an easy thing, but it doesn’t mean to make it like a big fear.

               Being a representative of Indonesia means, you have to show the real identity of your nation through the simple thing, and being open also friendly to make friends.  Over time, I accompanied them to visit some of Indonesian cultural heritage, shopping mall and protected them from the eyes of some of bad guys in Indonesia; it was a big challenge for me. Our differences culture while we were shopping made me a little outdated. Some of them were always and still comparing prices and sometimes treated the sellers with unfavorable attitudes. On the other hand, telling them not to wear too short clothes was not easy.

               When everyone asked me about my feelings in compare with them, the first thing that I would love to say is that I was very grateful to get to know them. They are remarkable; smart young people that I have never met before. They have many great passion and dreams; we shared a lot about our accomplishments and our future plan. Some people were inspiring me. One of them is Kiki from Pontianak. Kiki was the first person who I contacted after knowing that I belonged to the WTC team. She is a very talented 4th semester student. China is the first land that she visited during his journey. I'm so very proud to know her.

               Thank you for the committee of Foreign Policy of Indonesia who had decided me to be part of the family of students of Jimei University. From them, I learned a lot about the Chinese character because they represented it very well. Together with them for two weeks was something that made my spirits are getting alive. The warmth of the family idea and the sense of friendship fulfilled me. However, our completeness as a family is something that I will never forget.

               About the last visit to China, I will tell to people that mostly, I do love when we were having some of workshop, like making ceramics and paper cut. From that occasion, I learned something new, what did I realized was, Chinese people are always keeping forward due to their work, their passion. They did something with passion totally. Making ceramics is not easy, but with their passion and courage, it will be something more precious than what we can see. When I was making paper cut, I was very grateful to meet Ms. Zhang, as a third generation who reflected a great talent. She continued to create many achievements by presenting the art of paper cut to every nations. It is the art of China which is something that must be maintained.

               Another thing that made me fall in love with China, in particular, Fujian Province is the city, the coastal city is always alive in my dream. The hospitality of the people in Fujian made me feels like home. My best friends, from Jimei University, were always answering my question about how Chinese society can maintain their culture. In addition, I was always asking about the typical food in Fujian, how are their characteristics etc. They always explained it patiently. Honestly, I really wished that we could be placed in the same room with Chinese delegation since the first day.

               However, it turns out that the committee had set it only at the end of the day before our farewell party. But rather start to be with them since the first day, being with one of them in the same room – even it was just one day-- was really inexplicable. We were showing out our experience, our craziness and were doing the stupidest things. One day wasn’t enough; it was unbelievable that we just lived together for one day. In the end of our program, I couldn’t resist my tears because I had received some of lovely letters. After all of this moment, even while I was writing this report- I let these tears flow out. Diplomacy didn’t stand out only in the belt and road initiative, but rather in diplomacy towards people, heart to heart, like the bonds of two nations.

               As a student of Faculty of humanities, I was so proud that they would love to know about Indonesian culture. Their spirit to know many things about Indonesia couldn’t be explained more here. They loved angklung, the performance by Rama and Sinta, and some Indonesian food, such as, Gudeg, Nasi Padang, and Sambal and kerupuk. The simplicity and sincerity of the Indonesian people for them is the best representation of a nation, because through it, every nation in the world will certainly be opened to establish a good relationship. In addition to Indonesian culture, some of them have also questioned the human perspective of Indonesia on the Chinese nation. I explained carefully. Being a great nation like China is not easy, it was needed a long process and time. Ultimately, as a human being who admires the value of humanism in the world, Write in China 2018, for me, was a great platform to learn about how Indonesian young people could increase their diplomacy spirit to spread love and friendship between two different nations. In the end, Write in China 2018 will be my family till the end of time.