Diniyyah Puteri, Padang Panjang (PART 1) !

Holaaaaaaaaaa. Awww long time no see everyone! Am so busy previously that I forgot to update here (More like I actually don't anything significant enough to be shared here hehehe, well not until lately I feel like I have to update it asap before I lost my memory about my Indonesia trip hoho)

So let's start!

Just for your information, last year, I went for a one-month teaching program at Padang Panjang, West Sumatra, Indonesia! Went there from 2nd of  August till 28th of August like lama gila kannnnnnnn hahaha :)

So many great things happened there, and I am soooooo happy to share my experiences with you guys my dear beloved readers.

Two Weeks Before Departure : Preparation

That night, I was completing my ROS report when I received a phone call from Ash informing about the program since she knew how obsessed I am with Indonesia haha. I remembered my first reaction was that "ermm maybe not Ash, coz I joined the Banten program already. Pitih tak lepas lah Ash". And... when Ash said everything is sponsored, including the flight tickets, accommodations, meals and transportation, I was like OMG I need to go arghhhhhhhh. like bila lagi nak dapat peluang ni? Sekali seumur hidup je ni omg omg! Then I told Ash that I need to ask my parents' permission first coz I know that going there means that I have to celebrate Raya Haji there, I cannot attend nikah Abang Udin, tunang Abang Alif, kenduri Kak Sarah and I will eventually have to sacrifice my precious 1 month break before entering the new semester. But yeah, I decided to go for it, sebab ye lah kan peluang sekali je kan? And plus I have a passport already, which I made for Banten trip, so my initial thought was yeah I should not waste my RM500 by not going anywhere ahahaha. Little did I know this teaching trip will be something very very very meaningful for me.

So then I tried to initiate a conversation with Mama, informing her about my intention to join the program. Mama, as usual "Hmm, cuba tanya Abah" sobsobsob. And to discuss with Abah is the most challenging, not because Abah ni strict orgnya, cumanya to be frank ada high possiblity tak dapat pergi sebab kena Raya kat sana hehehe. So what I did was the night after that night, Abah asked me to accompany him refueling the car, so I decided to use that opportunity to tell him. I was the one who drove the car, and like usual the phrase "Abah, orang nak cuba nasib ni, nak mintak izin ........." came out hahaaha. Totally different from my imagination, Abah said like "Okay, pergi lah. Bagus tu program macam tu, boleh cari pengalaman banyak-banyak sikit'" Rasa nak nangis je drive balik rumah hahahahahah so yeayyyy APPROVED!!!!

So yeayy I'm going to Indonesia for one month peeps! Tak tidur lena ye saya sebab excited sangat nak pergi tempat idaman dari kecik tu. So like the next few days  tu Ash submit nama to Madam, and Madam approved (Alhamdulillah!) few names including mine and tadaa now we have our beloved #teamPadang! Bila first time tgk the list I was like omaigad, ada Afiq hahahaha matilah aku ex president TESS pun join (kena behave ke ni, kena cakap sopan-sopan ke?)

Well although I was very very excited to go there, I still have 1 week to go to complete my ROS and the report as well. So I put it aside for a while, settled my report and then baru start packing. Told my SMKAB students I am leaving for Indonesia just few days after my last day at SMKAB and they were really shocked hahaha. So bermulalah fasa Ain membeli dan mengemas barang-barang dan baju-baju nak bawak pi sana. To those who didn't know, this is my first time travelling overseas, so there's a lot of things that I did not know. Good thing that Ash was always there in the group, becoming our reference. I also took some time to go and visit my relatives, saying goodbye and Selamat Hari Raya in advance since I will not be there with them later. Said sorry to Kak Sarah as well for not being able to make it to her kenduri (actually dah beli baju sama dah dgn geng cousin yang lain sbb nak jadi bridesmaid hahaha sekali tak jadi kikikiki)

So settled with packing my things, then yeay here I come Indonesia giteww hahahaha. A day before we departed, we conducted an induction first at IIUM. I was a bit cuak when we got the schedule coz like "gosh banyaknya kelas. Nak kena ajar semua ni ke? Matilah den" and I was then appsointed as Level 11's coordinator. That evening, we have our short and sweet flag off ceremony with the Deputy Rector of Students Affairs, Dr Zulkifli. That was my first time meeting him that close haha. He said soething that I still remember up till now. "I hope you guys will gain a lot of experience staying there for one month. Try your best to gain as much knowledge as you can there" It struck me deep down in my deepest part of heart. I just think his words were actually the one that makes me betulkan niat balik about going there. 

Depart to Indonesia!

So on 2nd of August, we departed from IIUM around 7.40a.m like that. Our flight is scheduled to be at 11.20a.m. 16 people crammed into IIUM's van with their 20kg luggage, funny right hahaha sempit ya ampun. We also met Ruqayyah and Mariet for the first time here inside the van. We actually don't know that there will be few international students joining us to Padang but everything's good tho. Some trafiic jam and yada yada and we arrived at KLIA2 at around 10a.m (that's late tho). I was soo excited passing through all the checkpoints, immigration things and stuffs and finally we board the plane!

KL to Padang only took around 1 hour, such a short journey sobsob. We touched down at Minangkabau International Airport at around 11.30 am local time (the different time zone; Indonesia is later than Malaysia by 1 hour). The roof design of the airport (Bandara) was soo unique, just like what we see in our history book hehe, bentuk tanduk kerbau gitu. Kak Resti waited for us in front of the Bandara and we're off to Padang Panjang! One big van for us, one van for our luggage and one car for the dosens (lecturers). 

Our first pit stop is the Romah Makan  near the Bandara, where we have our first lunch there. Dia hidang banyak gila lauk terkezut sis like banyak gila bersusun susun. Ada udang, daging, ayam, ikan bakar wow. Oh and there is tembusu hahahahaha that was our first time trying tembusu. Tembusu tu macam tauhu disumbat ke dalam usus sapi ya, waduh waduh kembang tekak gue membayangnya. Time ni, we still don't know the concept of that makan berhidang tu. So actually if you touch that dish, you have to pay for it. If you don't want to eat that, then don't touch it. That time we thought everything has been paid and we shall not waste any food hahaha dasar goblok kamu.

And we continued our journey after that for another 2 hours. My comment: Indonesia's traffic is no joke. People honking everywhere hahaha we were like damn why are you honking us???? So here's some fact for you. The Bandara is located in Padang, and our destinantion is not Padang, it is Padang Panjang. So jalan ke Padang Panjang tu kiranya mendaki bukit lah coz Padang Panjang letaknya kat area Bukittinggi (kwsn atas bukit). Cantik gila Subhanallah. Bayangkan tepi-tepi jalan ni ada air terjun mengalir ya rabbi lawa gila. I opened the van's window for a while and I can feel the difference in terms of temperature. Sejuk sangat. I likee it.

We went to Minang Village first before continuing our journey to the school. Wore the classic Minangkabau outfit, took some pictures, visited the Minang house and continued our journey. And yeayyy we safely arrived at Diniyyah Puteri Padang Panjang.

Chapter 1: When we Arrived.

My first impression: "IT IS SO COLD HERE ARGHHH I LIKE THIS KIND OF TEMPERATURE ARGHHH CAN I STAY HERE LONGERR" yes guys, it was really cold there, in Padang Panjang. I still missed the coldness of Padang Panjang even up till now. 

We were welcomed by Mam Tin and the instructors. We sat together in the VIP room and Mam Tin briefly welcomed us to the school. Aku perati je shawl Mam Tin hahaha comel sangat Mam Tin. So the boys are placed in the VIP room while us the girls we stayed in the shared homestay near the boys' room. My one-month roommate is of course Anis Nisreena haha sebab kitorang banyak share barang mcm extension, adapter, sabun, ubat gigilah. So I walked around the house and.....

Surprise! NO FLUSH! NO PIPE HOSE! NO FAN! NO AIRCOND! kikikikiki the toilet surprised me the most and when we went inside the room, I cannot digest why there is no fan at least, I mean like yes I know it's cold outside, but sleeping without fan? Tak panas keee haaa. Will tell you later what happened that night. I was kinda (unlucky?) coz I got my period that evening, fortunately I brought some pads from home the other day. I was just a bit worried about my period pain, which usually will worsened by Day 2 of my period. If I got period cramp tomorrow, it would be hard lah sebab esoknya hari first sekolah.   

We have some short rest and we prepared ourselves for the opening ceremony that night. We had our welcoming dinner first beforehand, with the director of Diniyyah Puteri, Buk Zizi together with Mam Tin and the other teachers. After that, we went to the Aula (hall) and that was our first time meeting all of the students of Diniyyah Puteri. It was an indescribable feeling when you see all those unfamiliar faces. Buk Zizi's speech surprised me a lot because this school is absolutely a very very amazing school, looking at all the achievements, collaborations as well as all of the alumni. You know, even at this point, to be honest we don't have any plan just yet what to teach tomorrow but I feel relieved that Ash told us to calm down, and stay cool as the first day shall be the try and error day, the adjusting phase for everyone, even for the school.

We went back to the dorm, and let's sleep! With no aircond and fan, the room was very quiet. Like back home, in my whole life, I have never slept without the sounds of the fan or the aircond. That was my first time haha. But it was damn so cold that night arghhhhhhhhh. That was my first time ever sleeping with tees, pants, socks and sweater without the presence of any fan or aircond hahaha.
We enjoyed a very deep and sound sleep that night, probably because we were very tired of the long journey. Good night all!




hehe guys, I think that's all for now for Part 1. To be continued to Part 2 later if I rajin hahaa but the dratf is there cuma am too busy to properly make a post yet. Stay tune and love you!