My Intern In Indonesia Has Started

by Yusuke Koizumi – Japan

Before I came here in Indonesia, I was so excited and a little bit worried about living  in other country. I have ever travelled in Malaysia and Singapore but never in Indonesia. Also I have never stayed in other countries for more 3 weeks. But after arrived in Malang, Indonesia, I met one of the staff of  Tunas Hijau, who made my first day in Malang the best one. Though I arrived at early morning, he welcomed me to his house. Then I experienced the culture, some Indonesian foods and meeting with people here. Now I feel like totally happy about that I chose Indonesia as the country of internship.

About my experience and what I’m studying about in my university in Japan, I had done a volunteering in an NGO for almost one year, which is focusing on environmental issues, and got some knowlede aboute environment there. And at that moment, I was majoring Asian-Studies in my university in Tokyo, Japan. I studied about general things of Asia like culture, society or history. And of course the environmental problems. So these (voluteering in an NGO and Asian-Studies in my uni) are connected and decided to come to Indonesia.

Then why Indonesia? It is easy to explain. I had an Indonesian language class in my university when I was in 2nd grade. Although I just took one class in a week and it was kind of a hobby at that time, the Indonesian teacher was so friendly to me and then I was gradually getting interested in Indonesia. And yes, the first goal for me is to be able to make a communication with people in Bahasa Indonesia.

In my classes or the NGO, I studied about environment in the world and especially in southeast Asia. But the things I studied from books or teachers might be different at some point, I think. So my second goal here in Indonesia is to get to know the real and the truth of Indonesia that I do not know yet. Hopefully, I would like to take advantage of the skills and experience that I will win in this intern when I look for a job in Japan. So I should open my eyes widely to see the environment, culture and everything in Indonesia!