I could walk for miles
and still feel refreshed because
all the breeze. I could hike
to the top and my mind
was clear because all of the
natural oxygen.
Lastly, the lack of good reception in
Sangihe means that we’re bound to talk
more to the people around us. I had never
talked so much, paid attention so much,
in my life before. I learnt to be present and
to be attentive because I could no longer
depend on my phone for distraction.
It truly was an magical experience to be
able to work here.
Courtesy of
Saiful Azis
"Rote Island"
Rote, The Beast of Summer
I could walk for miles
and still feel refreshed
because all the breeze
>> By : Saiful Azis
I
ndonesia only has two seasons, the
summer and the monsoon season. As
per typical with equator countries, the
summer isn’t that bad and the monsoon
isn’t that bad. That’s not the case with Rote,
though. Far south in Indonesia, just verging
over to Australia, is the place where the
sun shows no mercy. Even at my stay in my
distributor’s building in Tujuh Jaya Rote, I
was constantly sweating.
Rote is famous for its incredible summer. The
weather is sweltering hot, and the sunlight
will pierce everything coming its way. If
you’re planning to get a fast tan, just order a
one week round trip to Rote, and you’ll find
yourself getting roasted in a way you never
thought you could experience before. The
summer was so bad that lots of schools give
a break to their students in the height of
summer.
In contrast to its constant interference of Mr.
Sun, Rote city doesn’t have any interference
from Mr. Streetlights nor Traffic Lights.
You could almost count all the streetlights
in Rote with just one hand. Granted, not
a lot of vehicles skim around here, and
most people just use their legs as means
of transportations. At night, the lack of
lights gave me some kind of a culture shock;
I found myself running into all kinds of
livestock, ranging from sheeps to dogs,
during the wee hours of dawn.
All in all, despite my constant fear of
stepping into animals during my nightly
walks, I came to love Rote and its hot days
and cold nights. It might be tough to get in
here, but once you do, you’ll be surprised
at how friendly everyone is, and how
resourceful they are especially with their own
limitations. People say that you need to stay
out of the box to be creative, but seeing how
the natives of Rote make use of everything
around them efficiently, I’d come to think
that maybe having limitation really forces
mankind to always innovate.•••
the colors of pratesis / I / JULY 2016 #
17