Interesting Indonesian Language

After 3 years in Palembang, I could speak and write Indonesian "dikit dikit" (a little bit). Here are some of the alphabet pronunciations that are different from English:

A - ah
B - beh
C - chey
D - day
E - er
F - eff
G - gay (no kidding!)

H - ha
I - aye
J - jay
K - ka
L - el
M - am
N - an
O - oh
P - pay

Q - kee
R - ar
S - ass
T - tay
U - ooo
V - fey

W - way
X - axe
Y - yay
Z - zet

Try to sing the ABCD song in Bahasa Indonesia....LOL!

When I first arrived, I was pretty "bingung" (confused) when somebody mentioned to me that he drives a "Fey-Way" car (VW = Volkswagon)!

Despite the fact that Indonesia was never colonized by the British (30 years under Dutch's rule), the Indonesian language has a lot of terms similar to English (just to name a few):

1. Halte (hall-ter): bus stop, from the word halt.
2. Helm (hell-lem): helmet.
3. Amplop (aam-plope): envelope.
4. Baut (ba-oot): bolt.
   

Some slight difference between Indonesian and Malay terms (just to name a few also):

1. Karna, Karena - Kerana (Malay) - Because (English)
2. Bisa - Boleh (Malay) - Can (English)
3. Butuh - Perlu (Malay) - Need (English)
4. Becak - Beca (Malay) - Trishaw (English)
5. Wewenang - Tanggung-jawab (Malay) - Responsibility (English)
6. Sendok - Sudu (Malay) - Spoon (English)
7. Cangkir - Cawan (Malay) - Cup (English)
   

I guess that's all for my limited Indonesian translations. Tomorrow will be my last day in Palembang.... # leaving on a jet plane, don't know when I'll be back again #. Palembang will always have its place in my heart despite all the power problems. I am sure that sometime in my life, "I'LL BE BACK"! Adios Palembang!

Geisha - Indonesian, Not Japanese

For the past month that I was in Palembang, my cable TV was disconnected and I was forced to watch local Indonesian TV. I discovered this band called GEISHA that has very nice songs. The female vocalist's voice reminds me of the group HEART. My friends kept saying that I am intoxicated by Indonesian music after 3 years here but I still love it.

Here are some of my favourite songs from Geisha with their MVs:

Jika Cinta Dia - If you love her


Takkan Pernah Ada - Never Have Been


Selalu Salah - Always Wrong
(this song does not have the original music video)

Indonesian Independence Day

The Indonesian Independence Day falls on Aug 17 every year. 2009 is the 64th anniversary of Indonesia's independence from the Dutch. Every year, sporting events and games will be held in schools and also in housing complexes. The common activities include:

1. tarik tambang (tug of war)
2. bakia (multiple persons wearing one set of big slippers)
3. walkathons - normally around the housing complexes
4. lomba makan kerupuk (cracker eating competition/race - as shown below)
5. lomba kelarang (spoon race. "Lomba" means race or competition)
6. Panjat pinang (palm tree climbing)
   

Same as last year, I took my son to participate in the "lomba makan kerupuk". Every is supposed to just chew and nibble off as much crackers from the string without touching their food. The fastest will win. However my boy still wants to hold it and eat it.....

The rest of the kids competing are older, so I had to line up for mine to register for the competition.

What a big bite!

Don't know why my son likes to put his hand on one of his friend's shoulder? He kept his hand there the whole time when we were watching the "panjat pinang" event.

A group of men tried to climb up this palm tree which has presents dangling at the top. The palm tree trunk is covered with grease. I think they all tried like 20x but still not able to get to the presents. In the end of the day, they had to bring down the tree to get the presents.

The Best Way To Break Your Daughter's Heart

We were shell-shocked last weekend when our maid told us that her father had arranged for her to marry someone that she barely knew.

It seems like our maid's father has lots of debts and he was believed to "sell off" his daughter through an arranged marriage with one of the persons who borrowed him money.

Our maid Aini was very depressed when the news was conveyed to her last week. She is dating some guy now but her father does not like her current boyfriend.

After several time-off sessions to go home to discuss with her dad, Aini's boyfriend finally managed to convince her dad to let Aini marry him instead.

Due to too much pride, Aini's dad wanted the wedding to go on at the same date as what was arranged earlier with the other party. Aini said all of her neighbors have known that she will be getting married, therefore her dad would "lose face" and feel embarrassed if the wedding was cancelled. So her dad agreed to swap the groom instead!

As a result, my maid will be getting married in another 2 week's time to her boyfriend. Aini told us that she was not quite ready and would not know what to do as a wife. She is only 18.

I know that I should not interfere with other people's lives but some parents are really so thick-skulled and old fashioned!

When Aini told her dad that she did not want to marry the guy that his dad arranged to marry, her dad threatened to disown her. In western countries I think the daughter would have run away. But in Indonesia, the kids are still very filial towards their parents (even though the parents make silly decisions like this!).

Mating Leave

Yesterday I was a bit shell-shocked when my driver, who just got married last weekend, asked for my permission to take a day off stating that he needs to "do it" with his newly wedded wife!

My driver lives in a very small house with his mother. I have not been to his house but my wife had and she told me that it is just 10m x 4m! His room is separated from his mom's room by a thin plywood partition. He claims that this was the first time for his wife...his exact words were "making love" (he can speak only very little broken English), and he was afraid that it might be too noisy. I almost could not contain my laughter after I heard what he said! He was suggesting to take a day off and rent a hotel room in order to "spread his seeds and legacy". He claims that his wife wanted to have a kid very soon.

What can I say except to agree for him to take a "mating leave". If you have other suggestions on the terminology kindly leave a comment.....LOL!

English Mass

Today I attended English mass in the evening. In Palembang all the Catholic masses are in Indonesian except for this once a month session in English at the St Joseph Church (largest Catholic church in Palembang).

Not many people attend English mass in Palembang. Normally there are 10-15 persons attending but today there's only me, another lady and 3 sisters. So the males vocalists for the hymns are only the priest and me...LOL!

In today's sermon, the priest touched about Jesus being the shepherd having to separate goats from sheeps before nightfall. Sheeps represented "the good" while goats represented "evil"...therefore, bad and unlucky ones are called scape-goats. Goat-like beings are often depicted in mythical evil characters. I never really realized this until today's sermon. Maybe I have not been reading the bible enough!

After mass I had a quick chat with the priest, Fr. Edi, who happened to be one of the first persons that I met when I first came to Palembang 2 years ago. He went to Malaysia last month for some lung infection treatment but the doctor did not give him enough medication. It is difficult to get certain prescriptions in Palembang so I volunteered to help him get some when I go back end of the month.

When I was walking back towards my car to go home, I saw the 3 sisters that were in church just now. One of them was Sister Marta from Brazil. They normally come by bus. But out of courtesy I gave them a ride back to a house bought by the arch-bishop of Palembang.

Poverty & Pain

Today I took my driver, Iwan, out for a meal in one of the shopping malls. He told me that he did not feel comfortable eating in a restaurant inside a mall. He claims that his "status" is not the same as others. Iwan believed that he is poor and would not walk into places that he might think others might look down on him.

Another example is at Novotel hotel. I often asked him to wait around the back lobby area while I go for my gym sessions. That location has very few people but he still refused. He claims that staff at Novotel had given him "condescending looks". Perhaps it was coincidental, Iwan also said that every time he wanted to use the hotel toilet the door is locked.

His lack of self-belief and self-confidence is so bad until he had to ask his friend to accompany him when I asked him to check out second hand car prices in the car studio one day! His friend was forced to close-up the shop just to accompany him to the car studio.

My maid, Aeni, also comes from a not-so-well-off family. Her father was ill one day and I asked her why she did not bring her dad to the doctor. She suspected that his dad had some gastric problems until he was bed-ridden. She has 2 elder brothers and 1 elder sister but they refused to come back to attend to their father. Aeni said sometimes she would avoid going home whenever she knows that her father was sick - claiming that "people worry less if they know less"! She also said that if she brings her dad to the doctor, they might discover that her dad might have some other illnesses that might require additional medical expenses.

After I threatened her that her father would die if his gastric was not treated, she finally agreed to take her dad to the doctor's. I really can't believe how people can behave like this??!! Maybe this is how people who live below the poverty line live? That's why we always remind ourselves to do more charitable things for these people and treat them well. God brought us to Indonesia for a reason and we have to make the situation better for 2 Indonesians if we can't help them all.

Faith Of Fasting

I realized that Indonesians are more liberal compared to Malaysians when it comes to Ramadan (fasting month for Muslims).

People actually told me that it was OK not to fast on certain days that they "could not cope" and they will "repay" the fasting days after Hari Raya Aidulfitri (Muslim New Year) or defer until the next year!

Ramadan is supposed to last for 1 month but the shops that sells food along the roadside are resuming their businesses. I was told that normally people only fast for 1-2 weeks, then the 3rd and final week of the month they do not necessarily need to fast??

Here's a photo that I took in Palembang Indah Mall of the restaurant that I was eating in. They cover the windows with cloth (green) to prevent other eating folks from tempting the fasting folks......

Here's a bowl of Es Nangka (shaved ice) that contains "slabs of ice"! How do you eat desserts like this??