Food

Let me talk about one of my favorite thing, f o o d :)

As you know, Indonesian foods are good :) Some people sometimes generalize that Indonesian food are spicy, which is generally true, but it's not always the case.

We always eat full meal, three times a day - I know I know, you find it weird, but sometimes I am missing having full meal for my breakfast. What I meant by full meal is we always have rice - or its substitute, along with some vegetables and protein side dish which could be meat, fish, or vegan dish. We call those protein side dish as lauk.Meat are luxury dishes for some of us, therefore we don't always have it in our menu. We substitute it with cheaper protein such as tofu, tempe (Americans call it tempeh - fermented soy beans), or eggs.

We usually have sayur - vegetables in every meal. It can be soup, curry-like-dish, or sauted vegetables. Like what you might have read in the book, Indonesian normally eat cooked vegetables, sometimes it's overcooked :) We don't have a lot of salad, but we sometimes eat raw vegetables as side dish when we eat grilled chicken or fish. We call it lalapan. Lalapan is normally eaten with sambal and steamed rice. Can you remember the Indonesian word for rice? Yes dear, correct, nasi :).

After we finish with our main dish, we sometimes have fruits as our dessert. We don't have much sweet dessert like ice cream or cakes. Well, let me correct it, we do have those, but I don't think they are necessarily served as desserts.

Oh, before I forget, did I tell you that sometimes we eat with our bare hands? Of course we don't do it all the time, but when we eat dry meals like fried or grilled chicken or fish with sambal and lalapan, we normally do it. Do you find it gross :)? Well, you can always use spoon and fork if you don't want to do that. Yes, remember how I always use spoon and fork. Spoon in the right hand, fork in the left hand. If you still find it hard, I'll find knife for you so you can eat with fork and knife, hahaha.

I'll continue talking about food in some other time. Now I am tired, need some rest before the crazy work tomorrow.

Mas Dave

When you meet my family, relatives, and friends, of course you will need to introduce yourself. You can say "Nama saya Dave", which literally means "My name is Dave".

Unlike in United States, people don't call only by name - except among friends. If you call older people by name, it is considered impolite. For example, if you call an older person or a co-worker, or any adult in general, you can always start with Pak (Mr.) or Ibu (Miss), followed by first name. Yes, first name, we rarely call somebody by their last name, except for those who only have single name.

When you meet my parents, you can always call them Om and Tante, which is the equivalent of Uncle and Auntie.

Since I am from Yogyakarta, a lot of people use Javanese words. A lot of people will call me "Mbak" which means older sister. We can also use this as the substitute of "Ibu" for less formal occasions. The male version of "Mbak" is "Mas". Don't be surprised if somebody call you "Mas Dave" :p

Selamat Datang and Terima Kasih

When you come to Indonesia, a lot of people will say "Selamat Datang di Indonesia", which means "Welcome to Indonesia".

Like I've told you several times ... a lot of greetings are using the word "Selamat", such as: Selamat Pagi - Good Morning, Selamat Siang - Good Afternoon, Selamat Sore - you might say it if it's not dark yet but it's past afternoon :p, Selamat Malam - Good Night. In addition, there will be Selamat Natal - Merry Christmas, Selamat Ulang Tahun - Happy Birthday, etc, etc.

But for now, let's stick with those "Selamats" above. How do you suppose to response to a "Selamat Datang"? Of course you the simplest response is to say "Thank you" or "Terima kasih".

You might hear several version of how people saying "Terima kasih", such as "Makasih" or "Trims" -- see how lazy we are, so we shorten and shorten each word :) But if you can't remember all the versions, just remember the formal version "Terima kasih" and you will see Indonesian will smile back to you because you reply in their mother languange :)

Indonesia 101

After months - if not years of absence of blogging - I want to start writing again for personal reason. I am going to visit home this November with my boyfriend, Dave, and I have difficulties to start introducing little stuff about Indonesia.

I hope by writing in blog it will be easier for me ... so Dave: welcome to Indonesia 101, or I should say ... selamat datang di Indonesia 101