Bahasa Indonesia

When I first heard we were moving to Dubai, I was somewhat excited to learn Arabic. Which shows my ignorance at the time because no one comes to Dubai and learns Arabic. In fact, I think Axel has used his arabic far less here than when he was working with Iraqi refugees in Utah those many years ago. So, how was I going to solve this problem? I had to learn a language somehow! That is one of the fun parts about living overseas.

Axel then decided that whoever we were going to sponsor as our maid, one of the requirements was that she could not speak English. We only learn out of necessity, right? Imagine the agency's surprise when this American couple walks into the office, looks through their profile books (catalogued by nationality, age, height, and weight- seriously), and requests that their maid not speak any English. One of them corrected me by saying 'You mean only speaks English?' Nope, she shouldn't speak a lick of my language, please.

We went through the various pages and found Haleni. As a result, she went to her 'training maid/nanny camp' and during those few weeks while she was enroute to Dubai, I studied Indonesian MTC style. Every room and item in the house practically had a post-it note with its corresponding Indonesian name.

When Haleni arrived, I realized that if I wanted anything done, I had to speak to her in her language. It was painful, but really fun! And wouldn't you know, I learned it just fine. Now, it is all I speak during the day and therefore, Sedona only really hears Indonesian while the other kids are at school. In fact, her first few words were only Indonesian.

There are two fun things about knowing this language: First, the strange looks I get as I am out and about with my maids. No one can believe that a white person would choose to not speak English, let alone speak a 'maid's language' to her child. Second, it is one of the very few languages that Axel doesn't know. Finally he looks at me and asks 'What did they say?'

This is why I enjoy Bahasa Indonesia:

1. 'Orangutan' (an indonesian word) literally means 'jungle people'

2. 'Same-same' means 'like this' (the kids LOVE saying that)

3. 'Mata hari' means the 'day's eye', which is the sun

4. 'Bangun' means 'wake' and 'stand', which is a reminder to me that when I wake, I should stand, instead of rolling over and staring at the wall in a coma-like state a while.

5. 'Thank you' has the word 'give' in it

6. 'Kadung-Kadung' means 'sometimes'...just try saying it...isn't it fun?

7. 'Main' means 'play' and 'have sex', which should go together don't you think?

and finally, my favorite:

8. The root of the word 'istirahat' (to rest) is 'wife'. Now that is a language I want to know!