Friday – July 25
It
has been 2 months since I arrived here in Indonesia and one month here
in Sumba. And within this span of time in the island I have able to make
friends with the people. I found that the fastest way of making friends and
knowing the people is of course by communicating with them through their own
language. And there are funny moments when I would try to communicate with them
using their language. These include my confusions regarding the words in
Bahasa.
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One
time I was invited by a family to dine with them. And we had young coconuts for
our drinks. After sipping the water of the young coconut and eating its meat I
said, “Kepala mudah ini, enak sekali ya.”
And the family had a good laugh of what I said. Then, I immediately realized
that I made a mistake in my Bahasa. I said kepala
which actually means “head.” And the word for coconut is actually kelapa. The letters P and L are just
confusing. Hence, what I said is actually, “this young head is very delicious.”
There
was a time when I was in Kota Kupang to renew my visa. Moreover, during those
days I stayed in the Seminari Tinggih Keuskupan Agung Kupang (Major Seminary of
the Archdiocese of Kupang). One morning during breakfast, I was with a Sister
and she asked me about my visa then asked me how much I paid for my visa. Then,
I answered in Bahasa. “Saya membayar satu
jatuh dan empat ribu ratus Suster, sangat mahal itu.” And the Sister looked
at me and laughed then I realized the meaning of what I said which actually
means “I paid one fall (as in falling down) and four thousand hundred.” It was
totally an upside-down sentence in Bahasa. I should have said, “Saya membayar
satu juta empat ratus ribu,Suster, sangat mahal itu” – (I paid one million four
hundred thousand Sister, that was very expensive.”
Many
times also people would immediately notice that I am not a Sumbanese because of
my Chinese looking eyes and a fairer skin compared to them. One time, there was
a wedding feast and I was invited for a meal in the house of the family. As I
sat down and began my meal there was a group of women at my back curious of who
I was since I was with Pater Umbu. So, one woman said to her friends, “Mungkin dia orang Cina (Maybe he is
Chinese).” However, another responded and said, “Bukan, mungkin orang Korea (No, maybe a Korean).” Yet, another
woman also of this group of women said something farther, “Bukan, dia seperti orang Jepang (No, he looks like Japanese).” And
so I heard and understood what they were saying at my back. And slowly I looked
them, smiled and said, “Bukan ibu-ibu,
saya orang Filipina, bukan orang Cina, Korea atau Jepang (No mothers, I am
a Filipino. I am not Chinese, Korean or Japanese.) And they were all surprised
that I spoke Bahasa Indonesia.
I am proud as well that I could manage now to
enter into conversation with the people and even to share some stories aside
from introducing myself and where I come from. It is indeed overwhelming
because I got to know the people by speaking the language with them despite the
many mistakes. So, there was a time that a curious group of youth asked me how
long has I been in Indonesia. This girl asked, “Frater, berapa lama di sini? (Brother, how long have you been
here)” and I answered, “Sudah dua bulan
di Indonesia (Already 2 months in Indonesia).” And he continued, “Tetapi, frater, sudah lancar Bahasa
Indonesia ya (But, brother, you are already fluent in Bahasa Indonesia).”
And I told them, “Karena, kakek dan nenek
saya, mereka dari Jawa (Because my Grandpa and Grandma, they came from Jawa
Island).” Surprisingly, they all believed of what I said and all nodded their
heads in agreement without any protest.
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