Hallo everyone,
Since this is my first post, I will start by introducing myself and what I do. My name is Dimas and I am an Indonesian who lives in Germany (at the moment). In this platform I will talk about various issues that interests me but mainly I will divide it into several categories:
- Life
- Culture
- Food
- Travel
- Martial Arts
So I am also looking forward to interact with other people who have the same interest as I am because I believe getting to know one another from different backgrounds and culture will enrich our experience and gain more friends. :)
A little background of myself, I was born and raised in Sumatra Indonesia. I left home for my college study in West Java Indonesia. It was an amazing experience to study in West Java since it has a different culture than my hometown. If you have not visited or know Indonesia yet, then I should told you that even though all Indonesian speaks Bahasa Indonesia as their language, Indonesia itself consists of more than 300 different language, customs and traditions. In my hometown, the culture there taught me to speak more frankly of my feeling and more straight forward to each other while in West Java, we ought to be more subtle in our conversation. It took me quite a while to adapt to this new culture and also learn the language but I enjoyed the process.
It was here in West Java, I learnt how to live by myself and how to be independent. I also got the opportunity to be part of the 50 years Commemoration of the Asia-Africa Conference https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bandung_Conference I did a small part in preparing and helping the logistics of the venue and it was my first time to see Bandung from different perspective. It was an amazing experience and there are lots of funny stories too.
After graduating from college, I continue my master study in Germany. I chose Germany by coincidence, because during my study in Bandung my father insist me to learn another foreign language. At that time, I can speak Bahasa Indonesia and English (beside local languages like Minang, Javanese, and Malay). The option at that time for a language course were Japanese, English, Mandarin, French, and German. For me, I find it difficult to learn new alphabet like Japanese, Mandarin, and for French I find it hard to pronounce the language :D . So that leaves me with German, it turns out learning German is like learning Bahasa Indonesia. You read what is written and some words are common in English. I learnt German in Goethe Institute Bandung https://www.goethe.de/ins/id/en/sta/ban.html
Long story short, I arrived in Germany and started my master. I was abroad for the first time in my life and It was a valuable experience for me not only because I was able to learn latest technology and methods, I was also immersed into different cultures from various nations that I would never see in my homeland. I learnt a lot from them and that experience have shaped my perspective of the world.
During my time in Germany, I had the privilege to help initiating and realised a big organisation named International Indonesian Scholars Association (I-4) http://i-4.or.id/id The task was tremendously difficult since we were only students without connections nor funding but we want to gather Indonesian scholars that are scattered all around the world into the organisation because we want to have a network of Indonesian scientists that is beneficial for improving the education system in Indonesia. I spent many hours in planning and organising, travelling all across Germany to convince people, and sending proposals to scientists that we thought can help our benefit. At first we were ignored and ridiculed but in the end there are more than 100 Indonesian scientists from at least 10 different countries that joined our cause and now this organisation have given scholarships, workshops, and lectures to many students in Indonesia and abroad.
After finishing my master, I was working at different companies and institutes in various parts of Europe and one day I decided I want to start my own business in a completely different direction. I founded a martial arts institute and teach people about Indonesian martial art called Silat. My love of Silat started since I was a child, I grew up seeing my father and his siblings trained in Silat and when I was old enough I learnt it from my father. I will cover a topic about my Silat in another post.
if you like my story so far, please support me by upvote it. it will encourage me to write more.
thank you!!