...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).