JULY 2002

It was July 2002 and for the first time, the FIFA World Cup was held in Asia. South Korea and Japan had the honor to be the host of the biggest sport festival in the world. I was ten at that time and as a new soccer fan I knew little about this sport. Brazil beat the German 2-0 in the final and become the world champion for the fifth time. I still remember how Ronaldo with his bizarre hairstyle humiliate Oliver Khan who was one of the best goalkeeper at that time.



We watched the match together with my uncle in the living room. The room was not at all tidy with three suitcase laid opened just in front of the television. We’d been preparing for our move to Australia. My father got a scholarship and he decided to take us there to accompany his PhD studies. He wants us to experience life in Sydney. I couldn’t remember the flight but I was a bit sure that it was in the end of July.

We held a farewell ceremony with all the neighbours just two days before our flight. We went to Jakarta and stayed in our Aunt’s house for a night before we depart to Sydney from Soekarno Hatta Airport. I was feeling really nervous and excited, I really had no idea of how am I going to communicate with the people there and yet I have to go to school. How am I going to be able to study there? I did took a short private English course with my sister but it didn’t help much. The only thing I could say was “yes, no, excuse me, i don’t understand and some introducing sentence”.

So destiny has to be fulfilled, nobody can canceled the flight and I have no power to refuse my dads offer. All my relatives came to the airport to say goodbye. We depart from Jakarta at eleven and arrived in Sydney at eight on the next day. It was my first flight and it was long one, I sat by the window to see the night sky. I’d already negotiate with my sister that I will sit next to the window from Jakarta to Sydney and she will have her turn in our return flight. As the plane took off, I could see the lights of Jakarta. I could feel that the plane was lifting itself to the sky. I stayed still on my seat with the tight seatbelt on. The stewardess told us to put it on until she announce that it is safe enough to loosen it.

I really enjoyed my first flight, the meal was delicious and the stewardess was really really polite. I slept for a couple of hours and when I woke up, I was surprised with the sunrise view just outside the window. I immediately run to the toilet knowing that it was already late for my morning prayers. After the prayers I lead myself again to the window to see the extraordinary view of the morning sky. The plane was surrounded by white clouds and beneath it was the blue mountains. I wish I could touch the cloud, I looked pretty soft just like cuttons.

Just twenty minutes later the stewardess told us to put on the seatbelt again as we enter Sydney. The plane was slowly diving down, I looked at the moving flap of the wing which was a few meters behind my seat. For a second the plane tilted itself in a really sharp angle toward the landing strip. The plane tumbled as it touched the ground, slowing down itself with a really rapid speed shift from around 300 km/h to our stopping point in just forty seconds. I was really greatful that we were safe and sound in our new home for the next two years.

We finished all the immigration process and went out of the airport. It was winter and really cold for us who use to live in the tropics. The temperature was around 12 degrees celcius, our jacket didn’t help much as we walked along the pedestrian way. Then a taxi stop in front of us, the driver went out and greet us “Assalamualaikum”. I was stunned that this unfamiliar face had just greet us assalamualaikum. We enter the taxi and the driver told us that he was also muslim. I forgot about his name but he told us that he was Somalian, a country just south of Saudi Arabia.

The city was tidy and I didn’t see many rubbish on the roads. There weren’t any motorcycles and the people seemed to really obey the traffic rules. Nobody overlaps each other because the road were wide there, wide enough for two cars to pass by at the same time. I didn’t hear any sound of horn that day and riding a car was never this peaceful in my life. The car passed by Wilkins Public School. My dad told me that I will go to school tomorrow the next day. My Dads words really alarmed me since we’d just arrive and I had to go to school the next day.

We got to the flat and met our neighbors. The flat had four houses and it was all Indonesian. Number one was Mr.Muchlis from Nusa tenggara, number two was Mr.Nahar from Semarang, three was Mr.Sumbang from Makassar and four was Mr Niko from Kendari. My family stayed in the third house with Mr.Sumbangs family. We had to share because Mr.Sumbang will leave soon. We shook hands and introduce ourselves to the new neighbors. Mr.Niko was surprised when we kissed his hand because his children never done that. We couldn’t help it, it was our tradition to kiss hand as a respect to the elders.

The first day was great and the neighbours was really kind in helping us feeling home in Australia. My adventure here had just start and I had no idea of what will happen at school tomorrow.