Einar Aastveit - Malang, Indonesia

Unity in diversity 

Indonesians asking me where I was going were always surprised when I told them I was heading for Malang. As a bule, a western looking person, they assumed I was going to Bali or maybe Lombok if I was the research type. Malang, on the other hand, is not the typical place to find foreigners.

On our way in an angkot

As a part of AIESEC’s environment project at the University of Brawijaya I spent seven weeks this summer in Malang, the second biggest city in East Java. Little did I know about the place. When you as a Norwegian are asked for your immediate opinion about the differences between Indonesia and Norway, it is impossible not to mention the traffic. You’d better like motorcycles, as you most likely will find them coloring any street in Malang. Survival of the fittest really applies in the traffic. Each driver is for himself, trying to find the best position in the big bunch. The motorcycles are like a school of fish and as long as you go with the flow, you’re pretty safe from bigger creatures such as trucks and cars. Besides motorcycles, other means of transportation are the delightful angkots. This public transportation system consists of cars with different routes, each route identified by a letter code. They can be found everywhere. Apparently, an angkot has no limit in the number of passengers it can take. Counting 17 people in my angkot once, I resigned to this fact. A frontseat capable of three passengers and a driver, benches rather than seats and most important the open door and a mobile doorbench make this possible. If you want to treat all your relatives a holiday, just rent them an angkot.

Smiling after pottery with the locals

Environment is obviously a central issue in a country with 250 million inhabitants. Malang is no exception. As a part of the project, we tried to make the locals realize the great importance of this issue. The easiest aids are sometimes the hardest to find. Trash-bins are literally non-existing. The streets are an accepted place for waste. Witnessing people casually throwing their garbage in the street, it was a bit frustrating displaying our signs with “wanna-save-the-world” statements. This mutual agreement exceeds the city-border and applies even in the most beautiful and remote nature. Sempu Island is well known for its turquoise lagoon, naturally created by seawater flowing through a hole in the cliffs. The unique place is a popular destination for camping. Even a natural wonder does not prevent people from leaving trash behind. Happy monkeys do not make up of for the fact that a layer of trash covers the lagoon beach.

Car-free-day in Malang wearing national items

In spite of some bad habits, the people of Indonesia have the biggest hearts. Wherever you go, you are met with nothing but smiles and great hospitality. Everyone wants to be your friend, and you can always find someone to join you for a great time. The unique thing about the experiences from these weeks, which separate them from those of a tourist, is the way we lived. As a tourist, you witness the culture. We lived it. Living in a host family leaves you no choice, but to adapt their way of living. Relying on someone from another culture to take care of you for seven weeks, can be a bit frightening. In Indonesia however, in most cases, there is no need to worry. As for myself, I had one of my most memorable and intense periods in my life here. I love football so I was not sure going to Indonesia during the World Cup was the best decision. I read that football was popular here so I hoped to watch a few matches at least. Luckily, the footballfever here is overshadowing. I got the best host possible. Wahyu, my Indonesian brother, loves football and we watched as many matches as we could. I will always remember waking up at three in the morning in order to go to a café to watch the best football matches in the world. The atmosphere outside was perfect and everyone cheered passionately for their team, just as if Indonesia played. The loss of Portugal, my favorite team, made the taste of world cup bittersweet though.

Amazing race in Malang, the first day of Ramadan

After applying for the project, I had an interview with Irfan, one of the OCs in AIESEC Brawijaya. He finished by saying: By the way, in the end of June we begin Ramadan. One month of fasting was one of the things that made me a bit anxious. I was not sure if I would like to join this tradition. Especially, since I was going home before the big celebration in the end, Eid al-Fitr. One of the project’s main events was scheduled for the first day of Ramadan. Amazing race can be as exhausting as the TV-show suggests. This hybrid of a race and an environment day was somewhat of a challenge. The obviously diverging interests between saving your limited energy in the fasting month and winning the race added another dimension to it. I believe it was a hard, but hopefully a memorable take-off of Ramadan, for the fasting participants. I tried fasting one day myself. To go under the same conditions as my Indonesian friends I decided to do fasting on our way to Sempu Island. I think it was a bad idea. Not because I couldn’t do it, but because various events resulted in me being the only fasting person who reached the island. After that, I maintained my fasting between breakfast and lunch instead.

Coming from a quiet place as Norway I have to mention the sound of Malang. This city never sleeps. My first night I had no idea what the singing that penetrated my pillow at four in the morning was. I was soon familiar with asan, the Muslim call for prayer, and the recitation of Al-Quran. Sometimes, however, I couldn’t help dreaming back to the silence of Norway. Ramadan is no exception of course. To make sure everyone wakes up for Sahur at three in the morning the streets are crowded with kids playing drums. What a great idea. The traffic is not a quiet place either. The countdown makes every traffic light a big race. From four seconds the horns starts howling. Do not dear to wait for the green, that’s way too late in this competition.

Locals and interns at the beach the first week

You may also be allowed to do some things you never thought you’d do. The most random thing I did was being a Batik model. Batik is the traditional clothing of Indonesia. The request for our service as models was place a bit surprising, but a five-session photoshoot for three hours with approximately 20 excited photographers in each group was overwhelming. Being applauded to the stage, welcomed on the speakers, let alone the romantic scene by the pool I felt the setting made a good story. Enough gentleman poses and “look here mister” were delivered that day. As a foreigner in Malang you will get many looks and people find you interesting. Every day on my way to the angkot a bunch of children from elementary school followed me saying “Hello mister” and then laughed. Another day, buying a book in a bookstore suddenly turned out to be a captured interview with psychology students taking turns for every question, nodding happily to whatever I said. Wahyu asked me one evening if I wanted to go to a wedding party. Throwing on some pants and a shirt, we headed for the place, our main goal being the food buffet. I felt a bit lost when I 15 minutes later suddenly was saying selamat to the parents and taking pictures with the groom and the bride. Perhaps I didn’t feel I had anything to do in such a picture, but at least the food was enak, delicious.

Bakso president serves the best bakso in the world

Indonesia is a food destination for sure. In contrast to Norway every dish has its particular name that everyone can distinguish. Nasi, rice, in all versions, is the main source of energy here. I also ate a lot of ayam, chicken. Food is often prepared as goreng, fried. In every street, you can smell the steam of nasi goreng, ayam goreng or just goreng itself. There are small restaurants on every street corner, so you don’t have to stay hungry here. Mobile restaurants are also a common sight. It is amazing how much you can get on a motorcycle, even a restaurant. Malang is known as the home of bakso, meatballs. My friends claimed bakso bakar, grilled meatballs, to be the best, something they definitely were. I also enjoyed the Pandang food, originally from Sumatra. The pandang rendang is said to be the best food in the world. As often as I could I tried to eat this dried meat with the special sauce, accompanied with rice of course. Every Restaurant has its own taste and recipes, so you should ask the locals for their favorites. Indonesia is in Asia so mie, noodles are also common and of course you can get it fried as well. This food covers just a bit of all the things I tried these weeks.

Eco, Irfan and me preparing a game at an orphanage

Language is important for efficient communication. Trying to speak to angkot-drivers and waiters will most likely take some time. Occasionally we taught or had different arrangements in orphanages. Using the OCs as translators, we tried to explain about our own countries. What fascinates me about Bahasa is how much you can say about so little. We made a two-sentenced statement and I’m sure the translation could have been the side of a novel. Often the smallest things can be a lot to talk about in Bahasa. I always assumed there was a problem when the Indonesians asked for something. Eventually, after talking for a while, I would ask if there was a problem. My friends would just smile back at me and say they ordered a coke or something like that. I guess I must learn the language to get some insight here. An easy thing as paying can be complicated too. We always got a shared bill in the restaurants. Supposed to add on ten percent tax in addition to the menu prices and no opportunity to pay with your credit card, it is an exhausting process. Operating with a currency where you pay thousands of rupiahs for any meal as well, it fits quite well with the Indonesian style I think. In other words the time-consuming style. At the orphanages however, practical games and activities were great solutions. This is a common language spoken by everyone. Relays, paper planes, origami, drawing and painting filled the rooms. I can confirm the football fever is present here as well. In all our activities, we tried to focus on the environment. Recycling was for instance a key part of our project.

Lisa, me and my buddy Firaz at Sempu Island

After the project we also had time to visit some other places in Indonesia. Indonesia is a gigantic archipelago so it’s not possible to cover much in such a short amount of time. In Java there are a lot of spectacular places. I’ve already mentioned the amazing lagoon on Sempu Island. After a walk through the jungle, the cool water of the lagoon is really tempting. It looks just like paradise. Many persons told me I had to go to Bromo mountain, a volcano a couple of hours east of Malang. Eventually we did, and witnessed the morning sun painting Bromo orange, framed with the peak of Semuru, the highest mountain of Java, in the background. The scenery was amazing. We also walked on the edge of the crater and made our wishes as we threw a bunch of flowers in the volcano. Yogayakarta or Jogja in Central Java is great if you want to see some historical temples. Borobudur and Prambanan from respectively Buddhism and Hinduism are both present on the UNESCO world heritage list. The gigantic temples of Prambanan houses several of the Hinduistic Gods. We preferred to sleep in a hotel room though. Walking the circular ascent of Borobudur, we felt the aura of numberless statues of Buddah. At Borobudur, we also tried to see the sunrise. We waked up at three am in order to be there on time. After a tough walk on a slippery road, the view was amazing. Too bad the sun was absent because of the rain. It never rains in Jogja we had heard. Cannot confirm to that fact.

Sunrise over Mount Bromo and Semuru

Scuba diving in Bali

Having Indonesia as a destination, we had to visit some beaches too. Goa Cina beach on the coast south of Malang had a great composition. The big waves, tall cliffs and white sand made it perfect to share some grilled fish. Indrayanti beach was a remote beach 70 km from Jogja and offered a great view, made even better by the sweet taste of coconut water. To be able to call ourselves true bules we had to go to Bali. Surfing, diving and sunbathing here were great. The last thing we did in the project was visiting the Coban Rondo, a waterfall close to Batu a bit north of Malang. Batu itself is higher than Malang and at night in Paralayang it offers a majestic view down on millions of people of Malang. At the waterfall, some of us walked into it and felt the true power of thousands of liters in our head. The water washed away any regrets we had or mistakes we had made. Touching the stonewall felt like a victory.

Never time for resting, the weeks flew past pretty fast. When people asked me why I traveled to Indonesia, I said I wanted to experience something different. I truly did. Not everything turned out as expected, but reviewing these weeks, the overall of my journey has been an amazing adventure. Terima Kasih. It has been a life lesson to experience the world from a different point of view. It feels like the one place for everyone, where you can go whenever and with whom you want. I will always be a bule, but in certain moments, I truly felt Indonesian in my heart. In a place so diverse, that anyone can call it home, the term country and its associations is insufficient. Welcoming us all, Indonesia really fulfills their nation’s motto.

Bhinneka Tunggal Ika - Unity in diversity.
Einar Aastveit, Exchange participant, AIESEC Brawijaya Summer 2014.