A Journey in Makassar Indonesia filled me with Love from 6 aspects of life here.

PHOTO_Irene Hung / TEXT_Irene Hung

I started on a special 2-month trip to Indonesia in the summer of 2017, which was my first time staying abroad for such a long time. Besides, it was not for the purpose of tourism, but to participate in the overseas voluntary program organized by the university association AIESEC. AIESEC is a non-profit organization in 114 countries worldwide, focusing on experiential leadership training for young people aged 18–30. Every year, it organizes many overseas voluntary programs and overseas internships. So I made up my mind to have a different university experience, and chose the “Big Smile for Makassar Program”, which aims to teach English to Indonesian high school students.😊

The two-month experience in Makassar City, Indonesia, I not only penetrated into the local culture, but also had many new insights and emotions. Therefore, I hope to share the various aspects of life in Makassar City on Sulawesi Island through this article. I’m telling you: Before you personally experience a thing, the information you received in the past was only one-sided! Only by experiencing it in person can you discover more wonderful little things 💕

【Food】

There are a lot of sweets and fried foods in Indonesia. Many local must-eat dishes are “snacks”, which can be eaten little by little between meals. In addition, the taste of desserts is a bit sweeter, and the quantity of sugar or ice cubes cannot be adjusted, but this is the case in many countries in Southeast Asia. I’d also observed in Indonesia that local women are very good at cooking, and they cook many dishes at home.

The daily breakfast prepared by my host family, such as brewed milk tea + sweets (jelly, crispy chips, etc.)

After buying a birthday cake at a local cake shop, the clerk will ask you the name and age of your birthday star and draw it with cream right away.

The normal cake in Makassar

Jalang Kote, a common local specialty, tastes a bit like savory pie.

Sate, actually means kebab, many roadside stalls sell it

Pisang Epe-the method of making it is to first roast the bananas, then make them into a flat shape, and then mix with brown sugar water, topped with flavorings such as chocolate sauce, strawberry jam, grated cheese, etc.

Es Buah, a bit like smashed ice after the ice cubes have melted, contains konjac jelly, glutinous rice balls, condensed milk and other fillings.

My favorite drink when I was in Indonesia was none other than avocado milk! Sellers here will add chocolate sauce to the rim of the cup.

Coto, a bit like beef soup, but with other spices added, it tastes very fragrant! There will also be a rice wrapped in bamboo leaves, which the locals are used to eating together, one bite of the rice and one bite of the soup.

Bakso, which is noodles with meatballs

Nasi Goreng, which is fried rice

Mie Goreng, which is fried noodles

【Clothing】

Indonesia is an Islamic country and 90% of people believe in religion. Therefore, women wear long sleeves, long trouser skirts and headscarves. I think the local girls are pretty, with big eyes and deep contours, just like the sisters of my host family are beautiful and good at dressing up.😍

On the left is the younger sister of my host family, who is the same age as me.

A photo with my host family. Mama on the left, older sister on the second right, and cousin on the right.

A photo with students and club performers in Makassar High School.

A photo with the members of dancing club in Makassar High School. In the middle is me in a local Indonesian costume “Batik”.

A photo with teachers of Makassar High School.

On the right, I wore the second Batik costume I bought locally.

On the right is the Indonesian president of this AIESEC Project. He wore Batik as well~ (you can probably understand what Batik looks like)

A photo with local friends from Makassar who participated in the Project.

On the left is one of the heads of AIESEC in Indonesia. I also found that Indonesian men often wear plaid shirts.

【Housing】

This is the home of my Makassar host family, and I was surprised when I came in! This is too much like a European-style manor, and besides the large house with two floors, there are also two outdoor gardens at the front and the back of the house. I feel that I lived in the palace at all, how lucky!

The homestay’s living room part1

The homestay’s living room part2

Cats are often seen in Indonesia no matter on streets or at home, and the cats here are very tame. In particular, I have never seen any dogs ​​when I was in Indonesia. After asking friends from Makassar, I learned that Indonesians love cats so much~ (but they don’t know why there are so few dogs either XDD)

This picture is of the house where we went to teach children English in the “Orphanage”.

【Transportation】

The transportation is mainly based on “motorcycles”, and there is basically no public transportation system. The locals either ride a motorcycle or drive a car. However, no needs to worry if you don’t have a motorcycle, because the taxi here is very convenient and the fare is really cheap. What you need is to download the taxi-hailing app called “Grab” or “GoJek”, which are the 2 unicorns of taxi system here. In addition to hailing cars, you can also hail motorcycles. For motorcycles are relatively cheap, most of us call motorcyclists to pick us up.

A photo of daily commuting with local friends in Makassar

Indonesia Taxi Service System “Grab” & “Gojek”

【Education】

The main reason for coming to Makassar is to participate in the AIESEC Overseas Voluntary Education Project, so in addition to understanding the local culture, I had a deeper understanding of Indonesian education. From the first day when I stepped into the campus of Makassar High School, I deeply realized the influence of Islam on believers. The principal of Makassar High School personally met with my fellow English lecturers and told us how he hoped us to help students improve their English proficiency. More importantly, he reminded us of the rules for wearing, in addition to not wearing short sleeves, pants and clothing must also be loose, not too tight! Hence, as soon as I finished teaching on the first day, I went to buy a long-sleeved shirt. Furthermore, when teaching in Indonesia, because Muslims regularly worship 5 times a day, if there is a overlap between the class time and the worship time, it is necessary to pause the class and wait for the students to return to the classroom after finishing their worship.

Indonesian students are generally very repulsive of English, and even obviously lag behind, for basic sentence patterns and grammatical skills have a large room for improvement. However, Makassar’s compulsory language course has “German”, which makes me very surprised, and students are more interested and familiar with German than English, so many students like to take German courses.

Because educational resources are relatively inadequate, not many students are admitted to the university every year, but there are still many outstanding students who are actively preparing for the entrance examination, and they would also take the initiative to discuss or share their ideas with us after class👍👍👍

With foreign lecturers who had also participated in the AIESEC project. We were having a meeting before class to discuss the situation encountered by Makassar high school students that each of us taught and compiling English course materials.

The second and third from the right are teachers of Makassar High School, and the location is the principal’s office.

When I was teaching students in Makassar High School…

A photo with the high school class. These kids are so cute and enthusiastic! In the last lesson, many students cried for we were leaving. I also received gifts from students, saying that she liked my teaching way very much and would continue to study hard by using the methods I taught.

Participated in the high school flag-raising ceremony in morning

A photo with foreign lecturers partners who taught in the same high school with me. The students beside us were buying lunch in a welfare agency.

A few days, us lecturers were arranged to teach children English in the orphanage. Even if the children felt strange and repulsive at first, we still encouraged them with the most ardent hearts. In the end, they started to embrace us and had fun together.

A photo of teaching English in the orphanage

In the last few days of AIESEC program, cultural seminars were held.

【Entertainment】

For tourist attractions, you can see 👉the traveling guide on my last article, which I recommend 10 must-visit attractions!

Life in Makassar, as far as foreigners are concerned, we all feel that the locals are very friendly and kind. It may be that locals don’t often see foreigners. As long as we appear, it seems to cause some small commotions; for example, while walking in the park, suddenly a group of police rushed over to take a photo with us; when taking Grab, the motorcyclist asked if he could take a selfie with me after the ride; when visiting the elementary school campus, we were surrounded by pupils and they asked us to sign on paper or even sign on their hands; walking on streets, we sometimes could be secretly photographed… These all unforgettable and rare experience made us feel that we are a super star 😂😂! (Of course, after returning to the country, each of us became ordinary people, and at the beginning we were a little not used to it lolll)

Invited to participate in a local wedding, the bride and groom wore traditional Indonesian wedding costumes. The wedding banquet here is to have the buffet meal in the square outside the ceremony, and after the meal, people then enter in the ceremony to shake hands with the bride and groom.

I often sang KTV in Makassar, because the playlist here is bountiful, and all new English songs can be found here! In addition, Indonesians sing very well.

The relatives of my host family held a birthday party!

In order to take photos with the giant snake, I was totally scared to death!

Outing trip with my host family.

Visited the department store with a friend from Makassar

A photo of foreign lecturers participating in the AIESEC project.

The last day before I left Makassar, I received gifts and blessings from various local friends. I will never forget that I cried for almost three days at that time! I shed tears on the airplane too. This friendship and experience are too precious, Makassar is just like my second home. Everyone took great care of me every day and moment.

My Makassar host family gave me a gift. This eyeshadow brand is a well-known one locally. My host family remembered that I said my favorite cosmetic is eyeshadow, so bought it to me. I was so touched!

The two-month education program in Makassar, Indonesia, has not only greatly changed what I’ve heard in the past, but also deeply realized how precious the connection between people is! No matter how beautiful the scenery is, it can’t be more beautiful than emotionally moving. Thanks for this amazing journey, making me come back with full of love and contentment!

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