Touchdown Indonesia

January 21, 2018 | Sunday

Arrived in Jakarta on a Sunday ( January 21, 2018 ) and upon landing, I can already feel the different pulse of the city. The weather is somewhat the same as the Philippines. I was taking as much of the sights of the airport: people wearing hijab and batik, signages with bahasa language, prices (rupiah), and many more. With that, you can already seen how they prioritize their own language and for me, that is an advantage because it shows the love of the country.

Soekarno–Hatta International Airport

We are so much welcomed by these Indonesian people - Pak Urai, Agus, Awista, Mita and Risky.

From Left to Right: Carl, Awista, Me, Gelo, Risky, Mita, Pak Urai, and Agus

I never thought that the way they talk is so much the same as Filipinos. We are in the same language family. Some words are quite the same with bicol, our local language. An example is the numbers. In bahasa: 1 (satu), 2 (dua), 3 (tiga), 4 (empat), 5 (lima), 6 (enam), 7 (tujuh), 8 (delapan), 9 (sembilan), and 10 (sepuluh). In Bicol: 1(saro), 2 (duwa), 3 (tolo), 4 (apat), 5 (lima), 6 (anom), 7 (pito), 8 (walo), 9 (siyam), 10 (sampulo). It's quite the same right?

Before we go to the dormitory, we went first to Rumah Makan. We tasted their famous cuisines such as Nasi Goreng, Bubur Ayam and there are many choices. And there, you are the one who will pick whatever food you want.They will just look at your food and they will say how much it is. But the challenging part is - the food is PEDAS (Spicy)!! and there is no pork, almost are AYAM (chicken). We noticed that the word Makan in indonesia and Makain in Philippines are the same and even the Minum and Mainom.

The place where we stay is in the dormitory inside the University. The school is bigger than my school. The faculties are separated by a kilometer.

My first day was spent with my co-sea teachers and buddies exploring areas, languages and lifestyle . We bought some stuff needed in our dormitory and sim card for the internet. We keep on comparing everything to our country. We learned already how to use the Rupiah and we used to compare the prices of an item by converting it to Philippine Peso.

More importantly, we learned some of their language such as:

Selamat Pagi ( Good morning )

Selamat Siang ( Good afternoon - Part 1)

Selamat Sore ( Good afternoon - Part 2)

Selamat Malam ( Good night )

Terima Kasih ( Thank you )

Sama Sama ( Welcome)