“I really love Indonesia. There’s part of me that really miss Indonesia, even I never been there. I love Indonesian food, the people, they are so humble and gorgeous! Ohya of course I like spicy food. Hahaha! You know, I have many kind of sambals in my kitchen. Sambel oelek, sambal badjak, sambal brandal, and what is it the stinky but really delicious one? Terasi! So great! And you know, my husband is infatuated with nasi goreng (fried rice). I hope I can go to Indonesia one day..” (Mrs. X, Dutch, lives in France)

“Wow, nice t-shirt, Isyana. May I see your back? Bali! I love Bali! I stayed there almost 2 weeks for holiday and it’s soooo beautiful. The beaches are great! Ah ya I also went to Manado, my husband dove there and he said he found many kind of beautiful under water creatures. Yes, and no doubt of it because Manado is famous for the world class muck diving. Oh gosh, instead of having summer in France, I really want to Bali..” (Mrs. X, Dutch, lives in Geneva)

“Excuse me, Ladies. Are you Indonesian? I heard you were talking in Bahasa. I know couple words of Bahasa. Terima kasih, selamat siang, selamat malam, makan. Hahaha.. Is it right? I live in London, but I’ve been to Indonesia many times and I love it. Satay, Rendang, ummm.. Cendol.. How I miss those foods. Okay, Ladies, sorry for interrupting you. Sampai Jumpa.” (Mr.X, lives in London, met in Frankfurt)

“Halo, selamat siang. Malaysian? Oh no, you’re Indonesian! Ah, so glad finally I can see Indonesian again here. I worked in Jakarta couple years before. Yes the traffic jam was horrible. Still like that? But it’s really a good city, with enormous buildings and shopping malls.” (Mr. X, met in Paris)

“Yes, I’ve been to Asia, but never been to Indonesia, just to Bali.”
WHAAAAT???
Bali is Indonesia.
Well, one of the biggest problem facing by Indonesia I think is its fame in the eye of the world. Many of people still think Bali is a country, not one of province under Indonesia.

I can’t suggest many options to solve this case. But as a student who study abroad, I have mission to introduce Indonesia to my friends through any media, including myself, my attitude as Indonesian.

In my campus, Indonesian students known as ‘polite party goers’ because what we mean with ‘making a party’ is having dinner together and then we play some games with music or sometimes one of us will sing. Just that. And luckily, even we surrounded by people who some of them think that cool party is being drunk, still there are many friends who would send these messages after attending our ‘party’: ‘Guys, it was a great party! I love your food!” “Invite me again when you make other party, I really would love to come.” “Hey my good friends from Indonesia, let’s hanging out together again!”

Last year, we celebrated Id Adha together with Tunisian, Turkish, Pakistan, Albanian, Italian, Sudanese, and many other countries. It was really nice. We prayed together then we ate together with foods from us (satay, perkedel, soup, and fruit ice), Tunisia, and Turkey.
And they loved perkedel and satay sooo much! We even made queue for food distribution. Hahaha..

My university, Universita della Calabria, regularly organize dinner from other countries so we will know better the differences of foods and cultures from any countries. Indonesia also participated on that dinner. We decorated mensa (canteen) with Wayang, Batik, map of Indonesia, and our nationality flag. Some of us who has good voices, not me off course, sang songs from in English, Italian, and Indonesian include Dangdut and songs from Benjamin. We also presented Nandak dance from DKI Jakarta, and amazingly they like it! For the closing we invited all of our friends there to do Poco-poco dance. So funny because it was the first time they did it and Poco-poco isn’t so easy to do, so most of them improvised the movement. So chaos and funny!

What I wanna say is, as students in abroad, we really enjoy our role as the representation of Indonesia. We’re happy explaining what is Indonesia, where is Indonesia, and making papers about Indonesia (because it’s also easier to be understood haha). We also try to make good impression to our friends from other country so they will appreciate and respect our values as Indonesian.
Because the good of one country is reflected by its own people. Do good thing, then your country will be respected.
Other people from other country love Indonesia, why can’t us?

Happy birthday Indonesia!

17 August 2012 (in Indonesia time)