By the weekend, on the third week of October 2024, I attended a meeting in a luxurious 5-star hotel in Jakarta. Oh no. I did not attend the meeting. I accompanied and facilitated someone who attended the meeting. So, the participants were in the meeting for hours, and we, the followers stayed outside. Waiting.
Killing the time, I went to café. With some friends, certainly. Not long after that, a man, I guessed from somewhere in Europe, looked confused. He tried hard to speak to everyone around him but nobody seemed to respond him seriously. I tried to act wisely to help him by calling a hotel staff, but the staff did not come immediately. Some guests stood in queue, waiting to be served.
Back to the man from Europe. Now he looked upset. Slowly he stepped to the table where we were. With confusing face. He looked almost furstrated when I tried to give him a little smile.
“Have a seat, Sir,” I offered a vacant seat in front of me. He sat right away. “Thank you,” he responded. “Do you speak English?” he asked.
“I do. Anything I can help?” my eyes stared at him for a while, before giving a big smile. We shook hands and mentioned names.
The next moment he tried to tell me story of his experience few minutes ago. He is from Italy. He lives in Bari, works in a big company. He stayed in Jakarta for one week. His company gave him many works. He could not do many things for one week but finishing the company job. During free time, which is only few minutes in a day, he talked to his family on the smart phone. He has a cute daughter, 13 years old.
Apparently, he just needed a person to talk to. At least that is my conclusion. He closed his story by asking me a funny question: Why not everyone speaks English here.
With a bitter smile I tried to tell him the position of English in Indonesia. “For us, it is a foreign language, Sir. Not the second language. We communitace daily by using Indonesian language. English is spoken by some certain people only,” I explained.
I also reminded him, if he needed something, just find hotel staffs. “All of them can speak English fluently, because that is the requirement to work here,” I saw he smiled.
“Thank you. I will get going,” the next moment, he stood up, shooked hands with me anf friends, and finally went away. We still stayed there until afternoon. Then I saw him a few times in different occasions, and he looked happier.
Ritz Carlton Mega Kuningan, 18 October 2024