The Differences of Living in Medan and Riyadh (Part 1)

Hi..

I hope everyone is doing well..

I wanna talk about the differences between living in Medan, my hometown and living in Riyadh. I know these cities are not really compatible to be compared to since Riyadh is the capital of Saudi Arabia, and Medan is not the capital of Indonesia. I also have lived in Medan my whole life and I lived in Riyadh for only 8 months. However, I could still explain a little about the comparisons.

Okay, let’s start..

1.     The Weather

Why do I put this matter at the first? Because, it’s amazingly different. In Medan, we just have two seasons, rainy and dry season. Rainy season starts in the middle of August then lasts until December. It can rain for almost a full week. The water could be so cold or even you can still feel hot or get sweat eventhough it’s raining or in a cloudy day. Does that sound weird? The weather is even like a girl’s mood. It can change rapidly. You just checked the weather and it was hot, in a second it could change to rain suddenly. So, we as Indonesians that ride a motorbike. We bring a rain coat everywhere we go. Otherwise, we will get soaked and get cold.

All right, I will tell my experience in Riyadh now about the weather. In Riyadh, you will see grown ups are so happy taking shower under the rain. In Indonesia, I think, it’s kinda embarrassing. But, you can’t say that when you are living in Riyadh. You definitely will miss rain so much. It’s because how rare the rain is. Even, I was thrilled just to hear the thunder there. And how great the feeling was when I saw drops of the rain on the windows. Even if it was just drizzle that came down. I ever saw my story’s classmate that it was raining ice in Riyadh. Unfortunately, that time I was in another city. But, I have seen heavy rain for some times in Riyadh.

Riyadh also has winter while Medan does not. The temperature could go 1 degree Celcius. I ever went out in 12 degree and I was freezing outside hahaha. But I loved winter in Riyadh. It was soooooo nice walking during the day outside. And for the summer, I guess most people know how hot Arab country is hehe.

But here the differences of hot weather in Riyadh with my city. Honestly, the heat of both cities is the same, funnily unbearable. You can cook an egg or boil water outside. But, in Riyadh, I walked for 30 minutes outside in summer during the day (I know this sounds crazy. But yeah I did walk in summer outside with my friends in Riyadh. We were only students you know hehe) but nothing happened wit my skin. And, it doesn’t happen the same in my city. I just stand for one second under the sun, I will get tanned right away.

Yet, in Riyadh, I felt something in my nose, it was quite hard to breathe when I was walking outside in the summer. But, one thing you have to know about summer in Saudi. It’s just hot outside. Because, every place turns on ACs. We even sometimes felt so cold in the class or in the dorm. You will feel cool also in a small bus stop. In Saudi, they take the heat in summer very seriously.

2.     The Skin and Other Parts of Body

This second part is actually a warning. If you live in Riyadh. Do not ever be lazy to always put lip balm on your lips and apply body lotion very often. As the weather is very dry. The humidity is so low. I experienced blood nose, chapped lips and hands, as well as wrinkled skin. I ever got sick for 4 days. So, I isolated my self in the room. It made me lazy to apply body lotion. Then boom, both of my hands got chapped and injured. My friend thought I scratched my hands until got injured. When actually, I did nothing and it got like that its self. When I wanted to smile or greet my friends, sometimes, I had to pause for a while, and said to them, “Wait..wait.. my lips are hurt to smile.” That was really something. 

So, I guess it’s already a long writing with only 2 things. I will continue again later. I hope this information is useful for everyone.

I reckon that you could guess easily which one is in Medan and which one is in Riyadh from the pictures above. 

I Spent The Hot Afternoon with My Students

Good evening, 

I feel so tired today and my right hand is sore because I played basket ball and other sports with my girl students. Yep, I became a PE teacher this afternoon, -fulfilling duty of my absent colleague-. 

I had no idea what to do with the girls and I was frankly afraid of the sun since it was hot today. Do not judge me, in Indonesia, the most scary thing for the girls is the sun 🌞 We are not willing to get tanned. Although, the sun is something that we can't avoid from on a daily basis 😌

Here, look how hot the weather was! However, it was cloudy and windy as well! 😁

So, I can say, it was a crazy day today. Whyyyyy? I'll explain it 😊

At first, I decided to just sit and watch them to play any sport they wanted to. As it turned out, I couldn't help my self. I played. Yes. I played. 🫠 All of a sudden, that basket ball was very tempting. I no longer cared with the hot weather. 🤷

I guess, because it reminded me of my junior high time. When I was at the age of my girl students. I played basket ball for 3 years. My junior high school time was full of playing it, crazy with it. Maybe, because of that much jumping I grew up not too short (?) 😅  And at that beautiful times, who cares with the hot sun 😎

Then, yeah it was nice. Doing sport is always nice,....and fun. Moreover, we did something else too 🤣 Taking photos and videos? oh yes. Of course we did. Not only was being a PE teacher. I became my students' photographer as well 🌝 

So here the pictures are.. 

And that actually was not the "something" else I meant..

....

....

....

They climbed 😭 They climbed mango and water apples trees 😭 Oh my..!

Look, how they made an effort to get the water apples 🤏, with a broom 🌚

I think it's better for me to stay being a language teacher. Otherwise, I will follow them to climb the trees as well 🫠

Okay. Have a good night! 🏃

Heavy Rain after A Hot Day

It's pouring outside at the time when we finish work already. My colleagues and I are being trapped in the office. It causes us not able to go home. 

And the problem was that I was starving 😂 But Alhamdulillah, my colleagues made this porridge. It was warm and sweet. We call it, "Bubur Sumsum".

 

Last week, it was full of rain. But Alhamdulillah, since Saturday, Sunday, and today, the weather was hot during the day. Because we need the sun to dry our clothes 😁 

I am Just Shy to Place a Title on This

I am tempted to chant your smile in my stanza. I would put a charming cadence in each line, to actually make your smile more radiant.

It's perhaps not enough to just it. As you're magnificently living in my mind. So many you, cause me blue. I bear too much yearning and cost me tears.

I guess, it would be a bittersweet tune or a melancholy poem. I beam or weep, it never matters as long as I could vent and be relieved. Cause, that's how just love indeed. 

When You are Being Unlike You

Have you ever lost yourself? It's like you are being unlike you. You feel that you've changed a lot. You used to like standing up in front of many people. You didn't feel shy even so brave. You loved when people's attention on you. You strongly had wonderful confidence. 

But then, you were getting older. You experienced hard things in your life. Even the things that you never have been through before. Since that, you started feeling uncomfortable to talk in front of many people. You started wondering, why have you changed. Where's all the confidence that were with you before. You were even trained to be on the stage since kindergarten. And you were so shining in your university time. But then, it was all gone. 

You've become a person that is comfortable behind the stage. You feel not safe if people see your face. Maybe it's good because now you are a trainer. But, still. You feel you lost your self.

Yet, as it turns out, you gradually have been healed. The hard things that have become a lesson in your life, with time you are able to get over it. 

Maybe, you should have experienced it in the past yeah. So that you didn't grow older arrogantly and too much confidence and become more humble. Exactly yeah, anything happens in our life. It actually is dedicated to destroy our bad characters. Allah loves us that much.

All right, the rain is still dancing outside. My mind was just itchy since I didn't write anything last night 😄 I will sleep back with the best song in the world; the sound of the rain...

It Asks, Which Direction Does It Have to Go?

I asked the cloudy sky that was weeping swiftly..

..about you.

It was just silent-with the water kept pouring on the earth-.

I asked the falling leaf that was drifting through the air..

..about you.

It was just silent-with the tree kept shedding its leafage-.

I asked my heart..

..about you.

It was not merely silent. It was lost.

The Narrative of My Writing

Hi, my name is Aisyah. I'm from Indonesia.

I've loved writing since I was eleven. I fisrt met poetry and was introduced to it since I was eight. My wonderful teacher, Umi Hartati commanded me to participate in a poetry reading competition. I still remember very well the poems to this day. I can even recite them without seeing the text. The poems were "Aku" by Chairil Anwar and "Menyesal" by Ali Hasyim. I had to rehearse for two months. Umi was the one who trained me, of course. She made me practice in a quiet place as well as in a crowded one.

 

A little story about Umi Hartati. She is my best teacher ever. She was my primary school teacher. We lived in the same neighborhood at that time. I used to come to her house, just for a visit or for rehearsing a dance with my classmates. We were so close. I felt she loved me and I loved her too. And finally, I won the competition alhamdulillah. My male cousin was actually with me in the rehearsels.  So, she trained us both and we both got the first winner. My cousin was the first winner for the boy student, while I was for the girl's category. It was such a quite big competition in our city. Masha Allah, that shows how amazing my Umi was. After that, as a gift from the school, we went out together, to eat "Bakso with orange juice" hehe..

 At that time, I was in the 3rd grade, 22 years ago. That was already a fancy thing, at least for me hahaha

So, get back to the laptop.

Since I've been desiring to master English, I prefer to write poems in this language. 

I am still a learner (a forever learner more exactly), so I might make many mistakes. Whether in grammar or other things. For eleven years, I've written many kinds of writing in my native language. I never stopped writing until I got busy at work. or maybe because I changed my hobby every decade. It's been 5 years since I changed it to learning English.

Maybe, in the next 5 years I am going to change it again to cooking cakes for your children #uhuk..

Ignore it haha

 

So yeah to sum up,

I wanna make alive the English words I have known in my mind and heart. I wanna this to be a way for me also to forgive my self, to let go of things, to heal the pain. I believe it since I've been doing this for most of my life.

Okay then, for tonight, that's all. 

I need to sleep back for facing the other busy day. 

I hope you enjoy reading anything in this humble blog.

I am Talking about Green (Again) 🌿

We were in the green garden, picking up the leaves that had fallen. Some of them were lime green, the others were brown gleam. 

We giggled when we found a caterpillar on a leaf. You tried to annoy me with it. Yet, you got upset as I was not scared. 

We collected the leaves in our clothes, to see who gathered the most. And..

....it was me.

And the leaves that were with me were all almost still light green.

When actually I wanted you who had the most leaves. 

....so, I felt grief. 

'Cause, you picked them not as many as I did and they were just brown and fragile leaves. 

I am Saying to You, "a good morning" (Later)

Hi, You.. 

Good morning..

Did you sleep well last night?

Did you have a bad dream or a good one?

I've started believing in your existence..

Sounds funny?

You are allowed to laugh.. 

But don't laugh without me. 

That's all. Let me wander a little and will return with many flowers in both hands. Then, ask you to breath their scent..

🙂💐

You Get Sick You Grateful to Be Healthy

Whyyyyy these flu and cough of mine only show up a lot at night.. like Cinderella with her gown. This girl's stunning until midnight tho. Mine lasts before fajr 🫠 Sleep well at night's been not getting along with me lately. He thinks I have an affair with my own diseases. 

Is my analogy too far describing I've started suffering with the cough? 😭😂 

Mom keeps reminding me of don't eat this, don't drink this. Do not buy any snack! You can't eat fried food. You have to eat this. Don't shower too long! Don't wash your clothes in the morning. Don't forget to put the balm in your chest, around your neck. I'll massage you again later.

Mom become the busiest people in the world when their kids get sick.
What we can do without our mom 🥹 Don't forget to always keep her in our prayers 🤍

Miracle of Dua

There is nothing more beautiful. Then you know, your God heard what you wanted.. 

This morning 🥹 

I was sick but insisted to go to work. I prayed on the way to work, please, ya Allah grant the earth "rain" so that I don't need to stand up for 30 minutes welcoming the students cause this body doesn't support that. 

Right at 7 am, when I almost went out of the office. The rain came! 🥹

I didn't expect it. But, Allah gave me it. 

Alhamdulillah ya Rab.. 🤍