Indonesia is simply surprising! It’s a total different world, and yet so familiar. People are people and in the end we share the same fears and desires, but we do manifest differently. Just one week of Indonesia was enough for me to feel their collective view about life: there is no privacy, it is important to stay together, a daily dairy is a way of communicating issues within a family. There is no confrontation, but compromise. There is no conflict but only misunderstanding. One says sorry after a presentation or a lecture: management of shame and humility. Overall I meet very nice and kind people, very humble and tender, looking after their family which has an vital part in their lives.

Also, on a more concrete level, a 2 hour traffic jam instead of a 15 minute ride in Jakarta makes you understand a lot about people’s understanding of time: jam karet = rubber time.