Are you looking for a Bahasa Indonesia tutor in Jakarta?

Are you newly living in Jakarta?
Feeling like a crap because you don't understand the language ?
Unable to read local newspaper or understand the infotainment ?


Well, You definitely need a tutor.

I am not a teacher, in fact I am a lawyer and a native Indonesian
there are some reasons why I want to be a part-time Bahasa Indonesia Tutor:

1. I love Bahasa Indonesia and never took it for granted. I seriously learned Bahasa Indonesia when I was at schools and got the highest result of national exams in the school, three times; and in the region, once!

2. I know how it feels living in a place where you don't speak the language, I have lived in France and China for study and work. I feel you, so I want to help you.

3. I am a pro bono refugee lawyer and I do really love my job. I don't wanna leave my job. But unfortunately, I have bills to pay. Thus, I need other jobs to pay my bills. I do translations, but sometimes I am too overwhelmed by the cases paperworks, especially my clients usually ask me to translate 300 pages in a week. My other colleagues do interpreting, it pays well and doesn't require too much paperworks, but I cannot do that. I cannot "let the words come into your head--just translate them into other language-without thinking or worse analyzing the meaning of the words- and then finally saying them" and keep listening all at once. After trying twice, I sadly realized I am not that multitasking. So I need other paid job that doesn't require a lot of paperworks. And I think providing tutorial on Bahasa Indonesia might be the one.

4. I have taught Bahasa Indonesia to some foreigners, and they were very happy with the methods I used and the books I recommended. The thing is they are: my Brits sister in law, my American brother in law, and my 6 years old London-born nephew who ever asked me "How could I don't understand what you and Nan were talking about? Is that Indonesian?" on his first day in town. So yes, I have experienced tutoring Bahasa Indonesia even though those weren't paid with money. (My nephew always brought me a chocolate bar every lesson, let's appreciate it)

5. When I was in lawschool, I have taught basic english to children in slum area in Northern Jakarta. I am familiar with teaching languages (did I say that already?). It was just unpaid.

5. I have taken languages lessons (english, french, mandarin, and arabic). In fact, I once went to French Literature school, but I left it for law school. Therefore I am familiar about the methods of teaching languages. (Did I say that again?)

You might think I am not serious nor professional, but I am. I just don't want to lie about my previous professional experiences in teaching or tutoring by overselling myself.

I am negotiable in price, depends on how far I should drive to your place (I live in South Jakarta), what time are our lessons (you've heard about Jakarta's traffic jam during certain hours, haven't you?), and your bargaining skill versus mine ! :)

Our lessons will be interactive, one to two hours per session (beyond two hours either you burn out or I burn out). I will recommend you some books to buy, which you can buy them at Gramedia bookstore. I will give you exercises in every lesson, apart from lessons you'll find in your books. We will listen to music, watch movies, read articles or part of a book, and I will ask you to write or tell me what was that about.

The lesson will cover comprehension (both written and oral), paraphrasing, listening and speaking, grammar and tips to nail it, slang words used in Jakarta, and others as requested for example Indonesian legal term (I am a lawyer, remember?)

I would prefer if we can have lesson after office hours, but then again everything can be communicated and arranged in prior.

My added values:
I am very friendly and very aware of universal human rights norms so I won't be discriminative nor politically incorrect towards any distinctions, such as race, country of origin, legal status, sexual orientation, sex/gender, etc. Further, again, I am negotiable in price! :)

I am doing it because I need to pay my bills, while my main job is to help refugees for free. I am not planing to be rich by teaching you Bahasa. So, I won't be doing anything harm for you like overcharge you or to cheat on you.

In fact, i will give you free trial session on our first session. But I am gonna need you to reimburse my transport. If you don't think I am qualified or you don't like the way I teach, you can discontinue the lesson and tell me the reason, so I can improve whatever thing I lack of.

Reservation:
With all due respect, without being discriminative, I can only be available for those who can speak and understand English or French. This is because of the pragmatical reason that I still need other language that we can communicate with in class.

Any inquiries or communications can be addressed to:
Claire: lackofhumanity@gmail.com

Random Facts about Indonesian People

Dear Fellows, there are some random facts about Indonesian people that you should know before getting yourself into their social life. However, this facts speak about Indonesian people in general, which means common Indonesian. Thus, there are small portion of Indonesians who don't fit to this context.

1. Indonesians are obsessed with NOSE. The straighter the better! That's why some people favored western people to have babies with.

2. Indonesians eat RICE two to three times a day. The rule of 40% carbs doesn't fit them. The rice should be like 60%. It's getting worse when it comes to Men, in particular those who has a job with physical  exercise 

3. Indonesians think atheist is communist. It is because of Soeharto's regime propaganda which has never been properly encountered up to the present moment.

4. Sometimes some Indonesians are confusing bribery and charity, that explains why Indonesian corruption index are horribly high. 

5. Most Indonesians have issues with linguistic, they rarely finish their sentences and simply think their counterparts understand what they are about to say even though they don't say it. 

6. Most Indonesian women think their husband HAS TO provide her everything, because it's his job. Even if the women are financially Independent. 

7. Indonesians cannot eat without mashed chilies (sambal) or chilies sauces

8. Indonesians love the idea of going to the beach and sunbathing, just because the westerns do so, but during sunbathing they are busy to think how to lighten their skin back

9. Indonesians think traveling overseas is cool, overseas duty trip is kinda rewards. The upper middle class go to Sin or HK to go shopping, buying stuffs that are available in any stores in Indonesia. One more thing, Indonesians think what is the point of traveling overseas if you don't have picture of you in front of every landmark in the destinations. Even worse, they bring DSLR ask others to take pictures of them, instead of to take pictures. Why don't they bring pocket? because the bigger camera makes them look more professional. 

Such a tricky way of living for Indonesian Single Women

If you are an Indonesian single woman who have spent some times overseas, either for work or for study, and/or are deeply influenced by western-ways of thinking, and currently living in Jakarta, you are not alone!

While in some cases we are adored, or even in some extreme cases, being envied by other women, as because we are fortunate enough to be well-travelled, have earned an overseas degree, or to be able to speak in other languages, or for having this so-called more modern thought, we are left with dilemma of finding the right kind of man. It’s getting worse if you graduated from a university where many french feminists went to, not because those men are aware of, but because somehow it influenced the way you see the world. But the worst scenario is when you are claimed (either self-, or by public) as a feminist. 

I myself is not (thank God!) a lonely woman who desperately need a man to hanging around. I am blessed with some best friends from childhood, not to mention some other best friends I found when I grew up. I have two male best friends who are almost-always available to be around if I am in need, or just to be traveling with, or to go to a bar with. But living in Jakarta, people think it’s a sin to be single when you are 25 years old. 

It is not that we are picky, but we do enjoy spending quality time with my partner, including having a quality chat. For me, as I said I have a bunch of best friends whom I have known for decades, none of them is working in development sectors nor interested in politic or current global issues. We talk about travel destination, personal problems, others' problems even if we weren't asked to, or many other fluffy stuffs. Frankly speaking, I don’t need shallow chat from my partner, as I can easily get that kind of chat by calling my friends. 

However, what choices do I have?


1. Typical Indonesian men.

Here the thing about these men, Indonesian culture are extremely patriarchy. A man has to be ‘more’ than his woman. The thought does not only belong to women's mind, but also the men. They try to look richer, smarter, even to the most shallow thing, taller. That's why some men asked their women not to wear high heels. What a bollock. 


They see women are only good for cooking, managing household, bearing children, calm, acting feminine, and being submissive. Not to mention their twisted attitude and obsession over control. Generally speaking, they require their women to tell (and sometimes to ask for a permit) whatever she’s doing or she's about to do. I won’t tell my man if I am about to go peeing or not going to a bar with my friends just because he is not around. 

Another thing about this group, they still live with their parents. This is funny. They somehow want to be a leader in a relationship, but they themselves are unable to live by their own. Please be aware that Indonesian people have serious issues in sequencing priorities in their life. For instance, people bought a new car while still living with their parents, or a girl from slum area dropped out from school while using smart phone and paying 10 bucks a month to be able to open facebook on their handheld.

Apart from that facts above, I simply cannot deal with their sexist jokes. Even when they are well-educated, typical Indonesian men love sexist jokes. I assume it is because sex itself is taboo and not well-educated in Indonesia. So talking dirty, throwing sexist jokes is kind a rebellious doing for them. In the other hand, I have found so many men from this group who are homophobic. Like they have never heard that WHO has officially excluded homosexual from mental illness decades ago. I believe they haven’t. 

I am not saying they are conservative nor religious, because some of them are engaged extra-marital or pre-marital sex, watching porn, some of them don’t pray on a regular basis, some of them have bribed cops, some drink alcohol, using drugs or at least weeds, or using prostitution services. I believe the reason Indonesia has had the biggest number of muslims because the government doesn't allow its citizen not to put religion on their ID card. While there are only six religion recognized, Islam is the most majority. Due to the massive trauma from brutal massacre against communist party members back in 1965-1969, and the propaganda said communists don't believe in God ergo they're immoral, people grabs whatever religion offered. Islam, as the majority and most of the communist hunters came from islamic groups, sounded the safest religion to pick. 
Therefore, they will be shocked and call you crazy (or communist) once you tell them you don’t believe in any religion, let alone being an atheist. They’re twisted with their own values that they take for granted.  


2. Western-educated Indonesian men

I used to have a glance of hope towards this group of men. I thought that having a western education might have enlighten their ways of thinking about how to run an equal relationship, which is obviously doesn’t exist in a relationship where a typical indonesian men involved. But I have seen a lot of men belong to this group still have struggled with the concept of equality in a relationship. They think somebody needs to take the lead in a relationship, even though it’s not always him. Some of them are playing tricky, they let their women to take the lead in small peanut stuffs, like choosing curtain color, type of tiles, but the big stuffs like the location of the house/apartment itself is his decision.

There are few different reasons why these men acting like this. Some of them, went overseas but still mingling with fellow Indonesians or other Asians people, who-unfortunately-shared the thoughts and attitude. The only norms they grabbed during their time are limited to traffic-related mater, making a line in front of the lockets, or not to call people ‘Negro’ or ‘black’, or a wisdom that ‘it is not a sin to have premarital sex or drink alcohol or eat porks’. But still, some of this group are still homophobic or think that you are communist if you don’t believe in God. The second common reason is some of them come from upper middle class who drive their parents’ Hummer or luxurious SUV, doing nothing but destructive things in their life called managing their parent’s company. Most of them are selfish ignorant Ken who think that they are a seigneur of their little kingdom. So even though they have lived in western countries or earned overseas degree, they are still pretty much Asian, sadly in a negative way. These men won’t be interested to me anyway. They go after other brats, air-head women who are only able to talk about Louis Vuitton without ability to tell about the history of Louis Vuitton and the relation between Vuitton family with Nazi, assuming they really know about what Nazi had done in Europe. Some of them, even worse, mispronounced “Louis Vuitton”. So me, a not-skinny woman who talks about Rohigya Refugees or criticized them for being a chauvinist patriarchies snob, is not their option. 


3. Expat.

It was not once or twice my fellow Indonesian friends suggested me to go after western men, as I am considered ‘too liberal’ for any Indonesian men. What the heck that supposes to mean? Anyway, after quite a while of contemplate, I finally realized that by “too liberal”, they mean I have western values to uphold, including equal relationship and “non-abusive” relationship. Theoretically, it is not hard for me, considering my occupation, to find an expat. Nyeh, forget it, most expats I have met are either old and married, or young-but Asian Fetish. Most of these men are so into uhm, how I address it politely, more authentic Indonesian looks and attitudes. Most of those Indonesian women play girly-submissive, acting feminine, don’t logically-intellectually debate, especially those whom they met in a bar. I have known so many expats hooked up with an Indonesian woman in a bar, then hooked up again, and since there is no dating phase in Indonesian dating rules (seriously, it’s either you’re one night stand or in relationship. There is nothing in between), the woman called him her boyfriend (as if they’re in a relationship). 

However, indeed there are groups of indonesian women who seriously go for expats, hoping to be married, have beautiful half-race children, and live better. And those women communicate and sharing tips to each other. Once I accidentally sit in a same table with an old expat with his typical indonesian woman girlfriend. This woman could not even finish a sentence in a grammatically correct english, not to mention understand and follow current political issues, while the guy is working as a political secretary in a developed country embassy for Indonesia. Well my english is not perfect either, I was just wondering what conversation do they make on a daily basis? 

Don’t get me wrong, I also have known plenty of Expat-Asian women couples who makes perfect couple, perfect family. It is because I see equality in their relationship. They are on the same level, they came from the same class. It is not an equality when a man does the dishes just because he loves or feeling pity to his wife. It has to be driven by a perspective and consciously well-perceived knowledge that washing dishes is both’s obligation. 

I am not saying either, that hooking up with bimbos is wrong, or ladies in the bar are necessarily bimbos. I am not. In fact, I love hanging out with friends in a bar, or with my partner once in a while. But having a quality time, in-depth dialogue or exercise our hobbies together does really really matter to me. And it doesn’t have to be a lawyer or development worker to have a quality conversation. But honestly, listening to a guy talking about his car or engine, or something scary like “when we get married, I want to blah blah...”. To me, the most important thing to pick up someone into a relationship is not how good is he/she on the dance floor, even though that counts. I need to know that she/he is not affiliated to a political party like PKS or Republican or UMP. I cannot figure it out by observing the way s/he dances nor how many bottles s/he can handle. 

I always questioning why did this phenomenon happen massively. An expat friend gave me the hurtful answer, “if those people want to have a girl like you, independent, outspoken, and demands for equality, they would not have traveled all the way to Asia for a woman. And some guys are tired enough talking about stressful stuffs at their office, they want to be a king, serviced and get spoiled by his woman”. Apparently this Asian fetish, Yellow Fever, or whatever you call it, is not only about the looks, but also the attitude, the Asian family value where woman is plain submissive to her man and dedicated to their family. The fever is definitely shunned me from this group.

Then how on earth are we going to find a man ? I remember when I was a kid, my mom required me to be smart, academically excellent, and always be thirsty of knowledge. To make me read papers when I was on 5th grades, my father brought me to a British Embassy’s cocktail party and pointed me a woman who was sitting alone in the corner. He said nobody is talking to her because she knows nothing to talk about, because she doesn’t read paper! 

Then two years ago, my mother refused to send me to an ivy league law school in USA, not only because the tuition alone costs 44 grands a year (a number that we barely have), but also because I am about to climb my pyramid. Her theory is woman’s social life is like a pyramid, the higher her social class (which is determined by educational tittle, income, position at work), the narrower her people are, which mean the fewer eligible men who would marry her. Because smart women scare men. Independent women are intimidating men. Well, sarcastically said, A "L.O.M.B.A.R.D" deserves a bimbo. But if a decent-widely open minded man is keen on a bimbo as well, whom do so-called western-educated women belong? 

What a tricky way of living for Indonesian women, once you are asked to be like a comet, then when you’re 25, you are asked to be a turtle, walking down slowly. 

If it is just the way it is, to hell with the billions dollars aid spent for women empowerment programmes in developing countries.