my AIESEC experience

Well, I’ve promised some people that I would tell them about my AIESEC experience. Since literally, it’s pretty hard for me to explain why I did what I did.

For example, when my relatives (family members outside my little family of 4) asked why I went to China, I usually said, “Well, it’s like volunteering. I taught English to Chinese students and all.” And as curious as they usually are, they would ask about the financial stuff. Bleh. It’s kind of hard to talk about this so usually I said, “No, I wasn’t paid. I told you it’s like volunteering,” and just shrugged it off.­

Now I’m going to tell you about all possible questions people asked me about this AIESEC thing in the simplest possible way.

Q: What is AIESEC?

AIESEC is a world youth-led organization. And now, AIESEC is (how to say this?) available (?) in 126 countries and it keeps growing. Check out aiesec.org for more information.

Q: What did you do?

What I did can be considered as volunteering. I have to tell you that there are 2 projects offered by AIESEC for those who want to go abroad. There are GIP (Global Internship Program) and GCDP (Global Community Development Program). What I took was GCDP.

Q: Where did you go and why?

I went to China. That’s not my choice, though. But I ended up feeling thankful for it. As a stay-at-home student, I didn’t really want to go too far. I’ve been to Thailand and I really wanted to come back. So I thought about going somewhere around me, Southeast Asia, more likely Thailand or Philippines. But my parents wanted me to go to China because it’s like killing two birds with one stone. “You can go there to do what you have to do while learning Chinese,” they said. And I finally surrendered. Well, it’s their money after all.

Q: How much did you pay?

At first, I had to register as an AIESECer since I was not one before (free!). Then there came the interview (IDR 30K). And then there was the raising fee (I forgot how much but it’s around IDR 1250K – 1750K). Raising fee was the part where you made an account in myaiesec.net. Later, you can use that to look for available projects in your preferred country. After that I applied for the project in China provided by AIESEC in Zhejiang University (ZJU) (free!). We scheduled an interview (free!) via Skype and bam! I was accepted. Then I paid a matching fee. Matching fee is to ensure that you would go there to do the project (around IDR 1250K).

Fortunately, AIESEC ZJU provided the accommodation during the project which was around 5 weeks. The project officially started on July 11 and ended on August 15. But as excited as I was, I arrived in China on July 3 and went home on August 23 (7 weeks). Although the accommodation was provided, remember that it was provided during the project. So when you’re not on it, you have to pay for your own expenses, including the hotel (or hostel), food, and transportation. I brought CNY 5000 more or less. But seriously, CNY 5000 for 7 weeks in China? Hell yeah.

Q: Did they pay you?

No.

Q: Why did you do that?

I really like traveling abroad though my financial condition rarely allows it. So, when I heard about that, well that was like my kind of chance. And I wanted to meet new people. Not just new but people with different cultures and traditions and see if somehow we clicked (we did!).

Q: What is your project?

The title was Summer Camp Embrace the World. It’s basically a summer camp for middle and high school Chinese students. We taught them about our countries and other topics (love, dream, etc) in English.

Q: Did you have problems?

Problems always come, don’t they? The main problem was the visa. China government is really strict about this. Man, I’m always nervous facing problems with foreign laws and on. I always don’t like the feeling of being checked and stared at the international airports. Wherever it is. The visa problem was way too long. I would explain it in another single post.

Another one was that I’m not that different from Chinese, yet I couldn’t speak Chinese. Well, kids are always interested in different people, you know, different hair colors, different skin colors, different face structures, different eye colors and all. But I got almost everything Chinese have. Slanted eyes, Eastern kind of nose, dark brown eye color, and dark brown hair. Not so special, eh? The only thing I didn’t (and still don’t) have is the Chinese language. That was one fun challenging problem, though.

Q: What did you feel?

I was excited. Totally. Scared, interested, happy, terrified, you name it. It was all mixed, but I was glad that I could share it with two other friends who also went to China on the same date. One was luckily one of my team members. The feeling was just… indescribable.

Especially when I was nearing the flight date. I had no time to think or pack since I was still having exams till July 1. I left everything I thought I should bring, like sunglasses, hats, and adaptors and brought things I didn’t need, like two jackets (please, it’s summer), lots of clothes I didn’t wear, and the list went on and on.

Q: Did you experience the culture shock?

Nyeh. I was actually expecting that. I mean, I rarely went without my parents so I thought maybe I would be dead there. But, please, nuh-uh.

I had to say that my parents were what you call people with old sense. They were not really into smartphones. The only way to talk to them was via Skype. Luckily, I have a brother who is a gadget-freak. I got a chance to talk with my parents once during the first week of my arrival. It’s not that special. I didn’t really know what to say. They usually asked and I answered. It was kind of cool, though. Chinese people looked at me because I looked like them but I talked a language they don’t know.

After that one Skype call, there was no more calls. My lovely brother said that he had an internet quota to keep. Please note my sarcasm. So, my mom used BlackBerry Messenger to keep up.

There was a moment when I was kind of jealous of others. We were all in our meeting room (where we gathered to discuss what to do tomorrow or just chatted), people usually did Skype calls with their parents and we said hi to them. Everyone was busy doing calls while I was just browsing materials for tomorrow. It’s really kind of sad.

But, no, I didn’t have a culture shock at all. I ate, I slept, I drank, and I had fun.

What else should I say about this? Questions above are those usually asked by people around me.

Till I post again.

Cheers!