Starting a new start

Hi! A bit update will do no harm, I suppose…

So, I am doing my second month of internship here in Ambon. It was shocking how time flied yet I have not done anything worth mentioning (read : I am all the time having fun by myself a.k.a napping). How’s Ambon? I will start with : Hot, literally.

I am most certain that the word I used the most while being here is “PANAS” but I can’t help it. Ambon, located in the eastern and surrounded by the sea is the good reason for its stabbing sunlight and its extremely moist temperature that resulting in me being basically drenched in sweat every single day.

So I basically need an anti-dotum (and a bathroom scale as its consequence)

The story of how I ended up with the hospital I am now in was a bit drama. I have decided that I don’t want Jogja for internship although of course the opportunity for side-job or seminar and other stuffs are better there. But no, Maluku it is. So, I skipped my chance at the first day where local hospitals were being placed to be chosen. At the second day, I chose one of the hospital that is known to be pretty good (according to my standard : number of patient and cases are vary, there is Cardiologist and other specialists are also available) but as fate will have it, I ended up with the opposite because of this geser-click thingy. I did not choose the hospital but suddenly having the Pakta Integritas of that hospital appeared before my screen. So drama. Surprisingly when I told my mum while laughing about just how stupid it was, she said she was grateful because the hospital location is rather safe and since Ambon was a conflict area and lots of its people are traumatized so yeah. Was it because of my mom prayer that I actually getting where I am now? Very likely, you know how mom’s prayers work hahaha.

Introduction : My team for the next eleven months

The hospital itself is pretty close from my boarding house like from GSP to Sardjito? Well, really that close. It is kind of “squished” in between two mosques, Al-Jami mosque the oldest in Ambon and Al-Fatah the biggest one. When I told my friends even among my co-workers back at Cardiology Research Office about where my hospital is, it quickly became a joke about how religious I would be after internship or how I will eventually meet my significant half at the mosque (HAHA) to which I am just laughing it off yet having mosque so near I have to admit that I can casually praying at the mosque with an ease at heart. Am I actually getting better at my prayer? I cannot answer for now but I am grateful for the chance that it is now easier for me to perform my shalat. Alhamdulillah.

The green one is Al-Jami next to it is my hidden hospital and the gold Al-Fatah
(note : that woman is not me, thanks)

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My boarding house is somewhere along the road not at that hill, please.

Being a human that I am certainly the top to do lists coming into my mind during the first month here is to find places to eat so I would not die starving myself. The food here is a bit more pricey but delicious and the fish, ah, now I finally can see why people here will favor fish over chicken. Not only that it is the main commodity of side dishes in the market, it also always so fresh and cheap relative to chicken. I am still at this very point, a faithful chicken-lover and I miss Ayam Geprek Bu Rum like all the time yet the fish has never failed to satisfy me of its delicacy. Ambon is also overflowed with some of my favorite fruits banana, mangos and still in its season : Durian! It is basically everywhere both cheap and delicious. Can you believe that my friend got 8 durians for just 50k??? *sneaking up my simvastatin*

So really, why Ambon? I want to see things closer. How things are working out in some of the most peripheral areas in Indonesia from the eyes of a health professional. Are we doing good to end the gap of inequality in health access, an issue we have faced for long? Other is… it is just me, wanting to be adventurous and independent. I want to test my limit of how capable I am as an adult to take care of myself, to build network and relationship with new people and the last but not least is to taste Indonesia, to taste Maluku (so it is actually more than Ambon. Have I told you that I plan to visit Banda??).

Me being proud of my Indonesian identity, I want to taste every big islands (since we actually have some 13 to 17 thousands islands?!) that the country has. My beautiful, complicated Indonesia. By far I have visit Sumatera, Java, Borneo, Sulawesi, Maluku, North Maluku and even Papua and have witnessed just how unique we are as a nation. Ambon, I decided will be the best place to spend one year of my life learning about everything while trying to contribute and help those I could, so wish me luck!

All in all, things are pretty good here although I am not fully adapting myself to my current super selow schedule but will do anything I can, not to slack around. Starting with posting a new post here, for example. Hahaha. I need a better joke.

Wishing you a wonderful weekend people!