The Tale of Different Timezones

Some people were curious on how I met my husband. After reading Hijrah’s post on how we met (follow his Instagram @hijrah25) I suddenly remember the episode in our relationship when we were constantly living in different time zones and different continents for couple months. 

Before Hijrah went to United States, I had a chance to go to New Zealand for the prestigious YBLI program, alhamdulillah. Unfortunate for me, Hijrah had his birthday three days after I left Indonesia. However, being in the very south of the world, I got to celebrate his birthday quite early. Easily, I was the first birthday wisher, six hours earlier than anyone else, all the way from the land of the long white cloud. As you can tell, I am pretty proud of that ;)

Then I went around Wellington and Christchurch, while Hijrah was in Banda Aceh preparing for his exciting adventure. 

Hijrah then went off to Washington D.C for the prestigious YSEALI program. Through my mum and brother who sent him off at the airport, he gave me a board, doodled with all the things that shouted “Dissa”. 

One week later, I left New Zealand, went to Singapore then off to Madrid, Spain for Laureate Global Fellow. As for Hijrah, Boston was his placement area. From D.C, he flew to Boston and claimed himself a Bostonian for the next 1.5 months. While he was enjoying the beauty of architecture in Boston and working hard on his YSEALI tasks, I finished my program in Madrid. 

Then for the first time ever, I went on a backpacking trip across Andalusia. I was exploring Spain on my own. Excited? Yes, very much. Missing him? Absolutely. But the beauty of La Mezquita in Cordoba and Alhambra in Granada stole my heart. Among those glorious old walls, I uttered prayers, hoping that I can bring him here one day.

Our communication was mainly done on WhatsApp and social media. He told me stories on his volunteering and work activities in Boston, while I updated him on how amazing New Zealand and Spain were. 

 

I was able to make calls few times during these times. Some days, talking to him was the highlight that motivated me to stay positive. However, during my backpacking trip in Andalusia, my internet connection was limited. Surprisingly, it did not stop me to climb up an old fort in Alhambra and snapped him a calligraphy of his name, painted by a Moroccan in the market on Calle Elvira, the famous street in Granada.

Little did I know, he stepped up the game. 

One day he went to Harvard campus, my dream uni, and snapped a message card for me in ALL of the rooms, including the library!

I went back home after more than one month traveling across continents, but no time for resting. 

I went to Poso, Central Sulawesi and Padang, West Sumatra for inclusive projects and presentations. Hijrah was exploring more and more creative side of his through site visits and meet ups with inspiring people in the states.

During our calls and chats, he told me that YSEALI was not without challenges. Being a previous fellow, I totally understand that. There were days that work felt too stagnant, the weather felt too cold and home felt so far. 

Nonetheless, I was and am still very proud of his continuous effort. Being the first professional fellow from Aceh, he set examples. He generated quite a lot of publications on his experience to local media in his hometown, an achievement applauded by YSEALI implementing partner. 

Finally, two weeks before Hijrah’s arrival back home in Indonesia, I went to Botswana. The local youths and Deaf community there wanted to implement the Fingertalk concept to empower people with disability in Gaborone area. With full excitement, I hopped on the plane, across the oceans, to another continent, Africa.

As it was my first time to visit Botswana, I constantly updated Hijrah, not only on how beautiful the country was but on how kind and warm the people were. Limited internet and different timezones again hindered us from having long calls, but Hijrah never stopped motivating me. His enthusiasm transmitted through chats and all of the Instagram messages. 

Then, mid November, after almost three months of intercontinental relationship, he finally arrived in Jakarta on midnight. 

The catch? in the next 12 hours he needed to be back in the airport to fly back to Aceh. I know. It sucked.

As much as I wanted him to stay longer to catch up, I knew he needed to go back home. 

So, with the help of my brother, I went to his hotel and we had a catch up brunch before sending him to the airport. 

Obviously, we could not share all stories of Banda Aceh, New Zealand, Spain, Boston, Poso, Padang and Botswana during that 3 hours of catching up. But we knew that being away actually did something to this relationship. It enabled me to see Hijrah from new perspective, away from his comfort zone - yet somehow he transformed into a stronger and more open-minded self.

I don’t know how the distance changed his idea of me or how it affected him personally, as I could not speak on his behalf ;) but it seemed to influence him right, as one month since that brunch, he asked me to marry him.