...Lost in translation... couple words of Bahasa Indonesia

Indonesian language is not actually that hard to learn.  For example, Indonesian people don’t use the be-verb at all and they don’t have any past or future sentences. If you want to say that you have done something yesterday or you will do something tomorrow, you will simply add yesterday or tomorrow in the normal sentence. Also the way they make plural words is quite funny because when they want to say a word in plural, they only say that word twice in a row, such as, boys = laki-laki.  The only difficult thing to remember is that they have possession sentences other way round, such as my book = buku saya, book mine.

For Finnish people the pronunciation of the Indonesian words is quite easy because also in Indonesian words all the letters are said. There are also some funny words in Indonesian which are similar to Finnish but have a different meaning, such as rumah = a house, sekolah = a school, satu = number 1, lima = number 5. 

One funny thing about Indonesians is that they don’t want to distinguish people’s sex but rather they pay attention to the number order of the children in the family. This means that there is only one word for she and he but then they have different words for big brother and sister and little brother and sister. Also the names of the Indonesian people are given depended on what number you are in the family, such as Wayan 1^st, Made 2^nd, Nyoman 3^rd and Ketut 4^th child. 5^th child starts the list again so there might be many children called Wayan in the family. The names are same for girls and boys but for boys they ad I and for girls Ni in the front of the name. So that's why Balinese people’s names are easy to remember because they only have 4 names they use. :)

The crazy traffic

One of the most interesting things here in Bali is the traffic. The roads are narrow so the traffic jam is inevitable in certain parts of Bali. Therefore the best way to get from one place to another is driving with a scooter.  The scooter is small enough to past the traffic jams also from the smallest spaces. There are more motorbikes than people in Bali so everyone from a child to an old man uses them. Every day you see an entire family driving on a scooter and people carrying what most interesting stuff on their scooters.  

The traffic is also one of the most dangerous things in Bali. Even thought you drive here on the left side of the road, it is not the biggest difference when compared to driving in Finland. When you look at the traffic first, it looks chaotic and you are not that tempted to drive there yourself. However, there are actually certain unwritten rules for driving here and the traffic goes with a flow quite smoothly.  The best way to drive here is to follow the locals and be rather selfish than give too much space for the other drivers. If you suddenly stop to give away for another driver, the drivers behind you are not expecting that and they might crash you. Also, how strange it might sound, sometimes it is better to drive towards the red lights than stop in the last minute because the locals behind you most likely won’t stop there and then they will crash you if you stop too early. :)

One annoying issue about the traffic here is the traffic police. When you look like a tourist, the local police will stop you for any reason to get your money.  I was once stopped by a police when I didn’t stop on the right line for the red lights. Because I also didn’t have my international driving license with me, I was supposed to pay fines for two mistakes. In those kind of situations it is really useful to know couple of phrases in Indonesian and especially to say that you are a student in a local uni. If you just keep smiling and stay friendly with the police, in the best scenario you will survive from the situation with only a warning.  :)

Everyday-life in Bali

Getting used to the every day-life here has been quite interesting because the way of living differs so much from the routines in Finland. For example the eating habits are different from back home, because Balinese eat rice for every occasion, which means rice for breakfast, lunch and dinner.  Any Western food is really expensive here and therefore I also eat rice and noodles every day. Luckily eating in a local restaurant here is so cheap that there is no point of cooking your own dinner. 

Balinese people are really friendly people and they are always smiling to you. Even the people you don’t know comes to ask from you how are you or where are you staying at. Not all the locals speak good English so they get really happy if you can say couple of words in Bahasa Indonesia. It is also useful to know a couple of phrases of the language when you buy something from the markets and you can bargain like the locals. 

Balinese people are also quite religious. Their main religion is Balinese Hinduism which is also influenced by naturalism and animism. Balinese people try to obtain a balance and a harmony in their life by keeping both the people and the gods happy. They also believe in the law of karma and therefore all the little gestures have an impact. There are temples everywhere in Bali including in every home and almost in every habit or event has a spiritual meaning. There are ceremonies almost every other day and during the ceremonies people have a day off from work because they are busy of making all the offerings ready for the gods. There are also many customs which are important to know so you won’t insult the local people. For example you are never allowed to point someone with your finger or give something with your left hand (the toilet hand). 

Studying in Bali - what is that?

My University started two weeks ago. The Udayana University is located in the capital city, Denpasar, and driving to there takes about 20-30 min depending on the traffic.  During the first week we took a taxi to the Uni because we didn’t know the way and driving with a taxi is really cheap here. Now we are driving to the Uni with the scooters but we still get lost almost every day, because the way is not that easy to remember. :)

 

Studying here is not that difficult but the quality of the teaching still surprised me in a good way. We have quite many hours of the Indonesian language and the rest of the studies are mostly about tourism, business and culture in South East Asia and mostly in Indonesia and in Bali. Indonesian language is not actually that hard and because we use it all the time, we learn every day something new. We have lessons only from Monday till Wednesday and Thursdays we have a cultural workshop where we get to know about the Bali culture. The lessons are in the mornings so in the afternoons we also have time to go to the beach. The nearest beach from our villa is about 10 min with the scooter so not that far at all!

The way of life here is really laid-back and the Balinese are not that strict with the time. This is also seen at the Uni because often we might go to a lesson and find out that it has been cancelled. The facilities at the Uni building are not that great and for example the Uni library is really old-fashioned. There is one computer available in the whole faculty and if you want to print out something, you have to ask from the student office.

Our exchange program, Asia Exchange, organized us a big ice-breaking party in a cool beach lounge last Saturday. The club was huge and there was a big pool downstairs. There are many clubs and bars in Kuta so you can have a good night out any day of the week.

Last week we also made a visit to a local orphanage which the Asia Exchange also supports. There were about 70 children living in the orphanage and they were all so happy and excited to meet us. The children were really talented and were singing to us and playing different instruments. Some of them could also speak good English. The visit there was an eye-opening experience and I wish to visit there again while I’m in Bali.

Settling down to Bali

So here I am! After 5 months I'm back in Bali again! And I'm loving it!

My first weeks in Bali have been really busy organizing the living situation and the studies in the local university but of course there has been time to have fun too! After spending only 2 nights in a hotel in the beginning of my trip, I already found a place to stay for a longer period. I moved in to a really nice villa to a place called Canggu with 4 Germans and 1 Finnish girl.

In the villa I have my own bungalow with a bathroom, a huge bed and a balcony. I’m sharing a kitchen, a living room and a pool area with the others. The villa is quite big and view from the villa over the rice fields is really beautiful, especially during the sunset. And the rent of the villa is really cheap!

Living in a villa like this is so luxury compared to the life in Finland. We have our own maid, who comes here every day. I get so lazy here because I don’t need to make my own bed, do my dishes or clean my room. Even the laundry is taken by the maid! We also have our own gardener and a security man during the nights. It is important to have the security man here, because the living room area is an open space and there are no walls so anyone could come in from the field side of the villa. However, all the bungalows have their own locks. 

The only down side of this place is that it is quite far away from everything and therefore you have to have a scooter.  Traffic here is terrible and the roads are in a really bad condition. However, driving rules don’t differ much from the rules in Thailand, so I've gotten used to driving here already. The most difficult thing about driving here is that there are no good maps of the roads, not many signs to guide your way or no house or street numbers. So finding a way to a new place is impossible without asking many times from the locals where is that place! Therefore also the taxi drivers never find the way if you don’t know the name of the “banjar”, which is the local community or village where the place is located to.

Luckily Balinese are lovely people and they will happily help you if  you get lost or need some help. Like our teachers in the Uni always say, as long as you are patient and keep smiling, you will be fine in Bali.