Hunting A Foreigner

Yesterday was 5 January 2012. It was still new year, right? I went to Malioboro Mall with Oka, Ghais, Fajar, Adib, Evita, and April to look for foreigner to be interviewed. After having ms. Indah’s class, we went to Malioboro Mall together. Unfortunately, there wasn’t a foreigner because it was still morning. So, we went to Prawirotaman to look for a foreigner.

Arrived in Prawirotaman, we parked our motorcycles and walked to cafe. Luckily, I got the handsome one in a little cafe. Directly, Ghais, Oka, Fajar, and I came into the cafe and asked permission to the owner to interview his guest. Luckily, the owner gave us permission. We walked to the foreigner’s desk and asked permission and I said, “Good morning sir, may I have your time? We are student of Muhammadiyah University of Yogyakarta. We have an assignment from our lecturer to interview a foreigner and take the video for the documentation. Would you please allow us?” and he answered, “Sure, please sit down.”

We sat down around and then we introduced ourselves first. Well, his name is David. He is from Australia. He is a scientist in Australia and he works for the government. He has a bright skin, white hair, blue eyes, and tall body. He has a wife and a son. His wife is from Serawak. She is a teacher of Bahasa Indonesia in Australia. So cool, right? His son is a student and he is 13 years old now.

He has been staying in Yogyakarta for a week with his friends, but he was alone because his friends had already gone home. Because it was still 5 January 2013, of course he celebrated this new year in Yogyakarta. However, he celebrated this new year in Bromo, East Java. He climbed Bromo Mountain. Wow, so cool. He likes to go traveling in the world. He said that today was not the first time for him to visit Yogyakarta. He had visited Yogyakarta before he got married. Therefore, he can speak Bahasa Indonesia fluently. He liked the food in Yogyakarta, moreover the people in Yogyakarta. He said that the people in Yogyakarta were very polite. So, the most politeness people that he knew in Indonesia is in Yogyakarta. They always say “Monggo, hello, and hay” everytime. I asked about the price for living between Yogyakarta and Australia. Of course, Yogyakarta is cheaper than Australia. If he wanted to buy a plate of fried rice, he might have paid 5 times of the price of fried rice in Yogyakarta. So expensive, right? I have a cousin who studies in Australia. He spends his money for his breakfast, lunch, and dinner only because it is very expensive.

I asked about the celebration of Crhistmas Day. Because he has been staying in Yogyakarta for a week, of course he celebrated the Crhistmas Day in Yogyakarta. He has already visited many places in Indonesia, such as Bandung, Jakarta, Surabaya, Bali, Lombok, Sulawesi, Kalimantan, etc. The following day, he was going to Singapore. Of course it was for his vacation again.

I asked about his family. He said that his wife was from Serawak, so I asked him again, “Can you speak your wife’s language?” and he answered, “Sure, of course.” He is a smart man, isn’t he? Unfortunately, he went to Yogya with his frend only and not with his family. Actually I’d like to talk about the culture over there. I said many thanks to him because he said that my English was very clear. He adviced us not to be afraid of practicing English although we are wrong. If we are afraid of it, so we can not speak English better and better. The main point is understandable. The foreigner understood and so did I.

Well, so cool, right? Actually, if I still had much time, I’d like to talk much with him. Alhamdulillah, I hope everything that I have already learnt and shared are very useful for us. Thank you very much.