What make they (or us?) different?

Based on my observations within the last 3 months, I can list some of comparisons between us (Indonesian) and them (British) as follows:

1.       They’re punctual. If it’s said 10.00 am, then it’s 10.00 am sharp! No excuses, even for another minute. 

2.       They appreciate every little thing that exist. 

3.       They like to throw away old and broken things. If they use it once, then they will get rid of it. They never knew things like “using your old pyjamas or underwear as ‘kain lap’” hahaha..

4.       They like queuing. 

5.       They must hold the door opened for you till you come in if they go before you.

6.       They don’t have maid, they do all the things themselves. They are shopping, cooking, cleaning and so on, by their own self.

7.       They always have their voice. They criticise everything. They don’t like to be told to do something if they don’t want to.  They don’t receive things the way things are, they keep questioning things.

8.       They don’t mind of languages you use as long as you can communicate each other. They’re none like “grammar Nazi” hihihi..

9.       They never stare at someone as they’re weirdo or something. They don’t care how you look. They care what’s inside you.

10.      They use "please" too often and "thank you" in every single sentence. 

11.      They dont litter. (Exc. cigarettes)

Well, thats all i can think of right now. I'll add some more on the way. Its not that i made any judgement or i underestimate my beloved country, but at least we may have another perspective and learn from the well-developed country, right? ;)

Cheers!

SMP

"Are you okay?"

"Are you okay?"

Local people, esp. scouser (Liverpool local people) often said those things as greetings. It's not like they're worried or something, it's just their way of asking "how are you".

It feels like a blink of an eye (well okay, its not that fast :p), I have been here for, like, 3 months already. I get used to the environment, but missing home so much as well. Nevertheless, there were so many lesson that I have learned till today.

Campus life might be so tired and it was quite a hard time for me. There were so many assignments and things to do at the same time. The standard here is so much different from Indonesia. But what I found more interesting here was, they (the University of Liverpool) not only gave you millions assignments, knowledge, or whatever may come in the learning process, but also shaped your behaviour. I learnt a lot from my reflective learning and class/tutorial session, I know more about my own self, and I learnt a lot from my team as well, I know more about people. However, both university and life in the UK so far gives me lesson learned in so many ways.

Start from yourself. We want change. We want to do something for Indonesia. Whilst we still got nothing to do in global scope, we can just start from ourselves. Be bright, be an inspiration in everywhere you go. Responsible for your own self.
When it came to the classroom, when tutor gave me feedback, "excellent", and she asked me whether I'm Malaysian, I proudly answered "Nope! I'm Indonesian!".
When it came to the relationship with others, be kind, be open. Indonesian will eventually be known as  "kind" and "friendly" people. People be attracted to you, by being you! Being a real positive Indonesian. You might get an idea of how precious moment it could be, when one of your friend started to say "thanks, Sevi, I feel a lot more better now".
It is important to have a branding. Be a good branding for Indonesia in everywhere you go. So people around the world won't have a single story or negative stereotype about Indonesia.

Explore yourself. Try new things. Be flexible. We will end up in extinction if we keep doing the same routine on and on. Get your ass off of your comfort zone. Improved something good and learn something new. Embrace the challenges. I would never know what Western food tasted like if i keep on my routine to have my Indonesian meals. I would never know that i did pretty well if didnt fight my fear to just raise my hand in class. And i would never know before that British people are so polite (even more than us, Indonesian) if i didnt challenge myself to talk with locals. Small things like that. But it will somehow make you learn to know yourself and your surroundings more. 

 
Another thing is, kindness investment. Be nice to everyone, everywhere you go. I always try to build a good relationship with everyone I met. We will never know, somehow, we need each other.Who knows that I somehow lost my room key and be charged 40 pounds for losing it. Fortunately, since I had a good relationship with my landlord (while everyone else in this flat not really had it), he was sort of like, "i don't want to charge you, I know 40 pounds is such a big amount of money, i will help you tomorrow, I have the backup key and I will help you to duplicate your key, but don't tell this to my manager" and he helped me to duplicate my key room, so I'm free from the charge fee. I gave him a box of chocolate, since people here don't get used to receive "uang rokok" ;D 

Finally, i repeat, never stop learning. We can always learn something from anything even from a piece of rubber for its flexibility and ability to keep the constraints stable. What makes British different from us Indonesian, they were like, trained to appreciate every little thing, appreciate every little curiousity, knowledge and even mistake. They were like, contributing in each other's growth. Stay fool, stay hungry. When you have a capacity to learn, don't imprison yourself. Learn to discover who you are, to be free. Sure we will have some time of being down in order to learn, sure there will be times of failing, but there will always something that we can learn from our experience. It is okay for being vulnerable sometimes; vulnerable is a new way of being safe. This will result in the growth of our strength. Always try to pick up something from every little thing that happen. From our ups and downs, there must be something useful for us to learn. "To know knowledge is not the answer. To know how to use knowledge to deal with the unknown is."

Having experienced lots of things here, I come to the conclusion that God is good all the time, and I need to learn more and more in days to come (well, I have 9 more months haha), so I can be someone who grow more (psychologically, of course haha) and be useful for my surrounding.
So, when they ask me "are you okay", I will definitely answer "I'm good! Thanks. And how about you? You alright?" ;)

'Ta, mate!

Liverpool, 09 Dec 2015.