Balikpapan, A Year Later

Hi!

You know I waste so much time just to think about how to open this post properly. Forget it I will just say hi (lol).

Guysssss this is mind blowing, be prepared. Do you know that November 2017 marks one year of me returning to my sweet little hometown of Balikpapan??!! Wow it feels like time flies very fast doesn't it? Hehe, sorry if you think that I am exaggerating, but I do feel like that is a big thing. I left my hometown in 2009 to continue my study, graduated and then gained some work experiences in several cities and workplaces before finally returned home 7 years later.

I thought that I won't enjoy Balikpapan as much as before I left. I made many friends (mainly in university) and I felt sad realizing that I won't be able to meet them easily anymore. I live in a separate island now and not a Saudi prince, can't afford to fly to Jakarta every once in a while. Moreover, I won't find skyscrapers, big malls stuffed with stores and people, amusement parks, music events, various tasty foods, KRL(!!!) in Balikpapan. I could spend every weekend differently since there are many things are present, particularly in Jakarta. Finally, I had to leave too many memories during my wandering years behind.

However, if you followed me on my instagram and check my stories (lol why I promote it), I believe that you have the same opinion as mine. Turn out that going back home gives me many positive returns. I made more friends, most from joining Muda Mengajar (thankyou MM I love you). I am also actively volunteering to teach English language to children, a new activity I never done before (this one thanks to MM too). I have more time to do things that I want to do, even it is just hanging out with friends at a local cafe. And the most important is, I have enough money to support my social life lol. I live with parents with foods always available, therefore I don't have to appropriate money to monthly room rent or daily food need, yaaay.

Hmm, let me be a bit more serious. After a year living here, what has changed? Well, actually, there is a major change. A total upgrade, maybe? I created some targets to be achieved in this year, and still working to achieve them. I joined volunteering activity (as explained above), just because I wanted to try something I never do before. Well interacting with kids is still a problem for me, but I am glad that so far some kids notice me and (I think) like me. It shows that I am not that frightening to kids lol. There were several months in which I routinely run twice a week. I stopped since Ramadhan but still run occasionally. I stopped running routinely because I had to focus on another big thing that happened to me this year, which I still want to keep it for myself for now.

What do you think? Am I changing? hopefully I am changing to a more positive person. Now, will it happen if I didn't move back to Balikpapan? I'm not sure, but if I think about the time spent to commute to work, I probably only have time to have fun during weekend. Unless I am willing to sacrifice my leisure time, there will be less time for me to work on my targets.

OMG the electricity in my house suddenly shut down! And it is midnight already, I should go to sleep. See you on my next post ok!