Karmin

 Month in Indonesia
By Kim

==== In the summer of 2010, I joined a Global internship program, Kuliah Kerja Profesi, held by Sanata Dharma University with nine other students of Sogang Business School. This program’s purpose is to understand and acquire information of the global market and learn how to perform well in foreign cultures. Moreover, it is for improving the status of Korea by providing community service. It was done in Yogyakarta, Indonesia which is known as a center of traditional Javanese art and culture such as batik. I worked at a small-sized company in Giriloyo. Usually, I worked on weekdays and traveled on weekends and I also volunteered at community events. ====

==== Before I got to Yogyakarta, I stopped by Jakarta first. The weather there was too humid, unlike the humidity levels in Korea. However, I had a comfortable time there since two of our members were actually from Jakarta. They knew everything and their parents also helped us with transportation and accommodations. We went to the shopping malls and ate Indonesian foods such as Nasi Goreng (fried rice) and Mie Goreng (fried noodle) with The-botol (tea-bottle). All of those Indonesian foods and drinks were really refreshing and new as it was the first time that I had been in Indonesia. It was so delicious that I still miss those foods. ====

==== Two days passed and I left for Yogyakarta. Some of the professors of Sanata Dharma University welcomed us and after we had an opening ceremony, we dispersed to our individual homes. Unlike Jakarta, manufacturing is done within each home rather than in companies. I stayed at a normal Indonesian house in the countryside for about three weeks with my friends Jeong-min, who was one of the Korean members and Aji, Anjar, Candra, who were local students of Sanata Dharma. They were all kind and very helpful to me in communicating with the local people. I learned some simple Indonesia and Javanese phrases with their help. In addition to expanding my cultural knowledge, we also became aware of the cultural differences between us. The biggest cultural difference was religion of the Indonesian people. Most Indonesians are Muslim and they pray five times a day. It was because of this that at first, I used to wake up at dawn due to the whole town praying together. It was quite strange as it was the first time that I had been with that many Muslims but I adjusted little by little. ====

==== The company that I was assigned to, produced batik, which is a traditional cloth that uses a manual wax-resist dying technique. All of the batik is produced by hand in the home. Their batik was so beautiful but unfortunately, they had difficulties in selling since the promotion methods, strategies and managing inventories that they used were lacking. Therefore, we helped them with bookkeeping, making posters, web brochures, banners and name cards. The president of the company was so grateful, he told us, “You guys helped me a lot. Thank you.” ====

==== Sometimes, I visited the kindergarten or elementary school there. I, along with the other students, taught them math and simple English. We also had some events for the children such as games and quiz shows. Though I cannot speak the Indonesian language, I had a great time with those children. ====

==== On the weekends, I traveled to some historical sites in Yogyakarta. One of them was an ancient Javanese temple, Borobudur. Borobudur is a large and mysterious monument decorated with 2,672 relief panels and 504 Buddha statues. The highest point of the monument is 115 feet. I was curious at how those statues can stand on such high points. Despite the historical and beautiful characteristics of the statues, the sad thing was that some of Buddha statues were damaged in that they did not have a face. ====

==== Throughout this experience, even though I had sometimes missed Korea, I will not forget my life in Indonesia. It brought me a lot of good friends, beautiful scenery of the land and culture, and valuable memories that I will always cherish. ====

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