Melati Mas is somewhat out in the sticks and the poor public transportation was not overall helpful to meet couchsurfers. I decided to use the internet and found Nur Widodo who also helped hosting my CS friend Aishah Rachman. His mail was very friendly and I wasn't surprised at all as he called me on the phone and suggested a meeting place.
He was busy because he was preparing for his business assignment on an oil rig where he worked as a geologist. Nur Widodo looked much younger than his chronological age and as nice as his profile picture. He smiled warmly and said:" Ibu Sue(my mother who also has a profile on CS)". We instantly had a lot of stories to share and he was very keen to speak his excellent English with us but I rather preferred to speak my poor Indonesian with him.
Widodo invited us to join him to Jakarta in his car. It felt like we had known each other for ages and the conversations proceeded to the more sensitive cultural issues. Cultural encounters can be interesting but we should be prepared for a shock sometimes .It is easy to get to know and even roughly understand a culture......but it can be a challenge to actually live a culture as though it was your own.
I couldn't stand the temptation to buy a dress at the posh Pasar Raya in Kebayoran Baru and again Nur showed his talent and taste for good fashion. I chose a good quality smart casual dress for about Rp 400,000, quite expensive for Indonesian standards.
We spent roughly the whole day together, it started to rain cats and dogs and he dropped by at our place for a coffee. I wanted to buy some Indonesian cakes(kueh basah) but the rain was so horrible that even he preferred to just have some cookies. Nur, your advice on Indonesian culture especially the attitude of Indonesian parents was very sound although I had difficulties to understand it. Hope to see you again when I return to Jakarta
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