Name: Przemek
Profession: lecturer
What do you do in Indonesia?
At the moment I work at one of the universities in Surabaya, the second largest city in Indonesia. I teach Indonesian students, mainly of Chinese origin, and together we discuss processes, theories and practical aspects of running a business, people management, leadership, marketing and corporate communication. My students spend first two years in Indonesia and for the final year they move to the main campus in Singapore. Before I started working at the university I had been teaching English in a Muslim primary school. My students included kids and teenagers but also their teachers. My adventure with Indonesia started from a student internship. Teaching is not everything though. The main objective of my living in Indonesia is to discover its amazing culture, meeting local people and be a part of this incredible corner of the world.
What surprised you most about Indonesia?
Indonesia is a very diverse country. I can still remember being excited almost every day for the first three months of my stay here. I was captivated and I must say it was a wonderful feeling, quite difficult to describe. The best way to experience this is to move and live in a completely different place, far away from your everyday reality. People, their various faces, colourful Muslim clothes, female kebayas, tints of Indonesian sarongs and koko shirts worn by Muslim men, deep green shade of banana trees growing in almost every road, rice fields, coconut palms that give the place a typical exotic and tropical character, imams calling for prayer, catholic masses and Javanese religious songs, kind people and their smiles, Bule! Mister! that you can hear everywhere. A Hindu burial in Bali, which I saw by pure chance, a Javanese wedding for several thousands of people, which I attended dressed in traditional Javanese clothes. All this and many other special moments that I keep in my memory. I have to honestly say that Indonesia still surprises me, although I have already been here for almost two years.
How does it differ from Poland?
Indonesia is a huge country and it differs from Poland in many aspects. Picturesque landscapes, different cultures and traditions are one thing. Indonesia’s great potential is mainly its booming economy and large numbers of young people who are more and more willing to learn foreign languages, want to be active abroad, conquer the world and promote their own country. Another thing is religion. Muslims, Protestants, Catholics and Buddhists – most of them treat their religion very seriously, following the rules, norms and customs. Even my students, mainly Protestants and Catholics, often stress how important religion is in their life. And the last thing, although these differences are plenty: Indonesia is much sunnier. You could say that the sunny weather lasts for most of the year, even during the rainy season, when the sun shines for at least a few hours a day. The main disadvantages include poor roads and bus transport in Surabaya, lots of traffic and almost no pavements.
What, in your opinion, do local communities think about Polish people?
Like all the white people in Indonesia, Poles attract Indonesians’ attention as in their opinion they represent “the better western world”. Indonesians know Robert Lewandowski and the Polish flag, which, having reversed colours, makes them laugh. Some of them also know John Paul II and Lech Wałesa but that’s it. Some confuse Poland with Holland. One Indonesian woman, when she heard where I was from, took a real effort to think where the strange country called “Folandija” was located on a map. When she couldn’t find it, I explained that Poland (Polandia in Indonesian) is an European country situated next to Germany. That made things much easier. Besides, Indonesians like foreigners. They enjoy talking to them, accost them in the street, take photos and invite them to their homes. I think these are very positive reactions. They are always very interested in foreigners.
Do you like Indonesian food? What are your favourite dishes?
This is definitely my favourite question because I love Indonesian food. I think I’m addicted to it. I eat Indonesian dishes all the time. The main ingredient of Indonesian dishes is rice and my favourite rice dish is nasi campur, which is rice with many different ingredients, such as specially fried or boiled tofu, hard-boiled egg or an egg boiled with some delicious sauce (e.g.: telor Bali), tempe or some other type of deep-fried tofu, pieces of chicken and sambal – Indonesian chilli sauce. My other favourite dish is soto ayam – a soup that reminds me of Polish broth but it’s so much different at the same time. It is served with rice, spices, eggs and chicken. Delicious! It is difficult to describe the taste of Indonesian food. You should simply try all of them: sate, bubur ayam, nasi rawon, tempe penyet, nasi gudeg, batagor, gado-gado, nasi kunning and nasi pecel with excellent peanut sauce. Indonesians often eat street food, which is a safe, cheap and quick way to satisfy your appetite and spend time with your friends. Another thing is Indonesian fruit, which are hard to find in Poland. My favourite ones include salak, sirsak, durian as well as those more popular ones: mango and guava.
What are the top three attractions in Indonesia that everyone should see?
The answer to this question is very difficult: Indonesia is one of the largest countries in the world and it’s almost impossible to choose only three places from among thousands of islands, including Bali, Borneo, Sumatra, Papua, Flores or Maluku Islands, so called Spice Islands. If I had to choose three places, I would say Ubud in Bali, surrounded by picturesque rice fields, Bromo Tengger Semeru National Park in Eastern Java, where you can see the sun rising above three volcanoes, and the Karimun Java archipelago in the Java Sea. It’s heaven on earth. But when I look at the list I realise it’s much too short. Indonesia offers much more than this and it’s really worthwhile staying here for a longer time.
What made you move here?
It was mainly curiosity and desire to follow my dreams. I always wanted to see Indonesia but I never dreamed about living and working here or about becoming a part of this amazing country. My Indonesian adventure started from an AIESEC internship for students during which I was teaching English in a Muslim school. At first I came to Jakarta and at the end of September 2012 I went to Surabaya almost directly from China, where I also taught English. I was planning to stay in Indonesia only for three months but the plan failed – I’m still here.
Photo © from private archive of Przemysław Zaręba.