Magazine Review

So, I'm reviewed in Es Heftche, a free local magazine in Neunkirchen. It's not about my blog actually it's just about me. The kind journalist of Es Heftche just asked everything about me mostly about my country, Indonesia and my opinion about Germany. So here's the link to the article. It is in German by the way.

Am I from Russia? Or Ethiopia?

Hello.

A very interesting thing happened to me today. And I just want to share this incredible moment. I know it sounds a bit exaggerating but I still think it is incredible. I'm going to tell you later. And, today I'm going to teach some non-Asians about something.

First, some quick facts about me: I am originally from Jakarta, Indonesia and I live currently in Saarbruecken, Germany. I have slanted eyes, my skin is not white but not yellow but not brown too. I don't know. it's a combination of these 3 colors. I have black hair and it's not fake. My eyes' colors are also black. I'm not too tall, actually short for a man.

And then comes the problem. Almost all Europeans or Africans or whatsoever who had a conversation with me asked "Hey, are you from China?". Even sometimes in the zoo where I do my internship program or in the supermarket or in the bus, some persons pass me and say "Ni Hao!".

First let me get it straight, I don't like it. It might sound weird but it's a kind of my South East Asian pride. One man asked me if he pronounced his 'ni hao' correctly, and I just answered to him in German "Well, I guess you said that correctly. I don't know I'm not Chinese. I'm sorry but you just insulted me by saying that too". Okay that sounded rude and I just smiled at him and walked away. It's a pretty sensitive thing for me.

Few months ago, a little girl stood in front of me and then faced me. She put her hands on her eyes and tried to pull it so that her eyes looked slanted. And she sang "Meine mutter ist Chineser... Mein Vater ist Japaner..." (my mother is a chinese... my father is a japanese...) and I responded by saying "Halt die Klappe." (Shut up.) Unfortunately she's just 10 or something so I cannot say bad words.

The thing is Asia contains many countries with different cultures and different languages. Asian country is not only China. Did you know by the way that Israel and Turkey are also Asian countries? Okay forget that, let's talk about Asia Pasific.

I know it might be hard for people not coming from Asia Pasific to know the difference between Indonesian and Chinese and Thai and Vietnamese etc etc. But please do not generalize things! That is also the same like Canada and US. Canadians don't like it of course if people think they're from US vice versa. And of course a German won't like it if I suddenly pass him/her and say "Goedendag!". So stop calling me Chinese or Japanese because I'm not and I don't like it.

I also think some Indochinese look similar. But I don't come to an Indochinese and greet him "Sawadeekap!" (Thai). I won't do that because he/she's probably Lao or Cambodian. And I also believe South Asian look similar but I never greet a South Asian "Namaste!" (Hindi). He/she doesn't have to be Indian, he can be Pakistani or Sri Lankan and he might speak Urdu or Tamil not Hindi.

The point is: Stop generalizing things. That's it.


So the interesting part. I don't know but I've heard this question directed to me 2 or 3 times. The question is: "Are you from Russia?". This question always makes my day because finally I meet someone who can think out of the box.

I was asked if I came from Russia today. I met a staff of Neunkircher Zoo. We see each other quite a lot but we never really get to know each other because we were always too busy. We just always said 'hi' or stuffs like that. And today this conversation happened

he: Hey. What's up?
me: I'm great. Thanks. You?
he: I'm great too. Hey how long do you still have to come here?
me: Well my internship ends on September 30th. So I still have 5 weeks left here.
he: What kind of internship do you do actually?
me: Well, I'm in the marketing and PR division here. So I do stuffs like making a survey, organizing events, etc.
he: Why do you have to do an internship by the way?
me: Well it's for my college.
he: Ah you're a college student! What do you study?
me: I study tourism.
he: Wow tourism. I guess you should be able to speak many foreign languages right?
me: Exactly.
he: And what do you speak? German. English? French?
me: Yeah exactly. I have to use those 3 languages in the college
he: And you speak Russian as mother tongue, don't you? You're from Russia right?
me: (confused) Well no. I don't speak Russian at all. (laugh)
he: Ah I thought you're from Russia. Because your accent sounds like Russian accent and you look like those Asian Russian who live in Siberia. Seriously.


That was not the first time. An old lady also asked me once if I was from Russia. I was in the bus to my house and I phoned my friend, Gerry and of course we spoke Indonesian to each other. And after our conversation ended, the old lady who sat next to me asked me "Kommen Sie aus Russland?" (Do you come from Russia?)

I kinda like it actually because it is a unique experience. And yes probably Indonesian accent sounds a bit like Russian accent because of our 'R'. Indonesian and Russian have the same pronunciation of 'R' I guess.

But something funnier happened to me. This is actually very hilarious. So there was a drunk man in the bus. He is about 30. And he was drunk and he suddenly asked me "Hallo. Kommst du aus Aethiopien?" (Hello. Are you from Ethiopia?). I just cannot forget this moment. Well, he probably didn't realize it because he was drunk. And that made my day! It was a unique experience because almost all people think I'm Chinese or Japanese and finally there's a guy (well a tipsy guy) thought I was an Ethiopian! Well, I always want darker skin, and probably this means my skin is dark enough to look like African.

So I just answered to him "No, Sir, I'm not from Ethiopia. I'm from Zimbabwe." And he just nodded and said "Ach so...".

Picture of the Day: Pony of Neunkircher Zoo

Well, this picture wasn't actually taken today.

I noticed this pony behaved strangely. And, I figured out the reason immediately. This pony was turned on. And he wanted to make love but he didn't have a mate.




Visit Neunkircher Zoo to see more interesting animals.

Neunkircher Zoo
Zoostrasse 25
Neunkirchen
Saarland
Germany

Or check out the website! www.neunkircherzoo.de

Picture of the Day: Ostrich of Neunkircher Zoo

Well, you know I'm an intern in Neunkircher Zoo. And I'm glad about it because I have the chance to see unique animals everyday.



This is the zoo's elegant and chic ostrich. I always believe it is very elegant. The way it walks through the savannah is very classy. And, the coolest part is, it knows I work for the zoo. And when I'm there, it begs to be freed. It knows just the staffs of the zoo can do that.

Visit Neunkircher Zoo to witness more exotic animals!

Neunkircher Zoo
Zoostrasse 25
Neunkirchen
Saarland
Germany

or visit its website! www.neunkircherzoo.de

Hello August

So, this is again a quick-update post from me.

1. I'm officially a student in the faculty of international tourism at Hochschule für Technik und Wirtschaft des Saarlandes.

2. I went to an all-you-can-eat sushi restaurant in Zweibrücken named Kinto. It was good. Just good, not superbe.

3. I can't wait for Wednesday because I'll have dinner with my friends in Kaiserslautern at Cantina Mexicana or something like that. All-you-can-eat pork ribs every Wednesday!

4. I was at Nauwieser Fest yesterday and it was very awesome.

5. I can't believe it's August already, which means I'm about to be one year in Germany, my internship at Neunnkircher Zoo ends in 2 months, and summer is about to end. I'm unhappy that the summer's about to end.