The Bule Diaries

By Rowan Vincent

The Bule Diaries.

This is a brutally honest account of expectations of living in Jakarta—an over-populated, buzzing hub of brilliantness, and it’s just sitting there waiting for you to explore it!

In case you wondered, ‘bule’ is a term to describe a white person in Indonesia. At first, I thought it meant foreigner, but it doesn’t, because I called an Indian guy ‘bule’ once and he laughed at me and promptly corrected me, “Noooo, it’s just white people, like you!”

This book has two main purposes: to tell you about my experiences and exploration throughout Indonesia thus far and to inform you of how I do what I do, what to do and what items you should bring whether you’re travelling or working here. Enjoy!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Austin Macauley
• Release date: May 13, 2018
• ISBN: 9780463463062

Rowan Vincent

Rowan Vincent graduated from the University of Portsmouth in 2012 and completed a TEFL qualification, which allowed her to teach English as a foreign language. She then travelled to such places as Brazil, Indonesia and Korea to teach English.

Book preview

Rowan Vincent graduated from the University of Portsmouth in 2012 and completed a TEFL qualification which allowed her to teach English as a foreign language. She then travelled to such places as Brazil, Indonesia and Korea to teach English.

Dedication

Rowan Vincent

The Blue Diaries

Copyright © Rowan Vincent (2018)

The right of Rowan Vincent to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with section 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publishers.

Any person who commits any unauthoriszed act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library.

ISBN 9781788489584 (Paperback)

ISBN 9781788489591 (Hardback)

ISBN 9781788489607 (E-Book)

www.austinmacauley.com

First Published (2018)

Austin Macauley Publishers Ltd™

25 Canada Square

Canary Wharf

London

E14 5LQ

Acknowledgements

The Bule Diaries

Chapter 1

In case you’re wondering, ‘bule’ is a term used to describe a white person in Indonesia. At first, I thought it meant ‘foreigner’, but it doesn’t – I called it to an Indian guy it once, and he laughed and promptly corrected me, Noooo, it’s just white people like you! So, I can proudly say I’m one of the only bules that I’ve encountered, barring the guys at work. It’s always good to be unusual, right?! One in a million. At least that’s what my mum used to say to me. I’m originally from England and a ‘typical English Rose’ – it’s been said too many times; I think it’s the devastatingly rosy cheeks and big blue eyes. Makes me stand out like a sore thumb, and I am secretly thrilled with that. I also have naturally blonde hair, but since I’ve been here, it’s been black, brown, red and blonde. I usually wear it long, but recently I cut it shoulder length.

I first travelled East when I was eighteen, venturing to Phucket, Thailand with an ex-partner. I’d done the whole ‘Europe’ thing previously and would have described myself as quite a seasoned traveller already for my age.. However, nothing prepared me for the astonishingly different culture in Asia and pretty much everything else that I experienced along the way. Needless to say, I loved it, and I think from then on, I’ve had the travel bug; an itch I haven’t been able to scratch just yet! Exploring mangrove caves together and long stretches of beach during the day, trying exotic foods and watching the sun go down entwined. That was enough to get me hooked and made me decide on Indonesia when the chance to teach came up!

Me at Ancol, 2012

My degree was in Childhood and Youth studies, but if you do have a degree, in most cases, it won’t need to be related to teaching! After University, when I was 23, I decided to do a TEFL (Teaching English as a foreign Language) evening course. You don’t need a degree to do what I do, you may be shocked to learn, but some schools abroad do prefer it, or countries as a whole, for visa purposes; and some insist. The key ingredient to teaching abroad, of course, is a qualification from TEFL, TESL or CELTA. There are some subtle differences in these, for example, the TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) course prepares teachers to teach English in a country where English is not the first language, while the TESL (Teaching English as a Second Language) course prepares a teacher to teach in an English-speaking country to students whose first language is not English. Lastly, the CELTA (Certificate in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) course is a brand of TESL course which is the name of the TESL course promoted by Cambridge University and tends to be the most popular. I’m not entirely sure why, I feel my TEFL equipped me sufficiently. They are generally really easy to obtain, and I did mine in the evening after work for a couple of hours a week. It’s best to choose the one that suits your needs; I think they are all relatively cheap, considering the pleasing experiences you can gain from having them. When mine was finally over and I discovered I’d passed, I was given access to a website with listings of jobs abroad which seemed to have three main jobs from one worldwide company, one in China, one in Russia and one in Indonesia. I promptly messaged them all as fast as I could, as I couldn’t decide where I’d like to go first. All three countries appeal to me for different reasons, and I know I’ll get to the others later; I’m confident about that. I decided that I’d take the the first position I was offered. I know, high standards, right? Indonesia won, they gave me a Skype interview that very day and invited me out within a week! I was over the moon, but then I had to decide what to pack, and find out what injections I needed. I remember confusion struck, and there was so much to consider in not too much time! The best thing to do, and I can’t stress this enough, is to write a list of what is needed, for example, injections, foreign money, appropriate clothing etc. I am going to share mine at the end of the book to help those of you wanting to follow in my footsteps or on a similar path.

A direct flight from England to Soekarno-Hatta International Airport (Jakarta’s main airport) takes just over 15fifteen hours, but because I was due to transit in Singapore first, this meant it took about twenty hours. The time difference is six or seven hours depending on daylight savings time in the UK. I find I always feel significantly worse going to Asia, as the time is forward but when you’re going backwards it’s not as bad. Also, my advice on flying is to try to get a night flight and sleep the whole time if you can. Once I got a flight from Japan at 7pm and slept the whole time and woke up at 7am in the morning back in England ready for landing and felt fresh as a daisy, but I have not always been as lucky.

The main thing I remember about arriving in Jakarta was the insufferable heat and the blank stares from everyone, seemingly the little babies in their prams to the old women on the street looked at me in puzzlement. It was a complete attack of the senses, smells, sounds, sights; everything! Most people would shout ‘BULLLLLEEEEEEE!’ at me, right to my face, and at the time I didn’t know what this meant, so I thought it might be a horrific insult. The traffic was very intense, the air quality was fetid and there was a lingering smell – not exactly horrible but not particularly nice either. I got picked up by a little Indonesian man with rimless glasses who, where people were holding up names of friends or relatives at the airport, held an A4 picture of my face which admittedly, I found hilarious. He spoke little to no English, and I had only a phrase book to hand. The journey was long and awkward because of the uncomfortable silence, and he didn’t take the Toll road from the airport (which is the main route from the airport). I saw some of the strangest, most inexplicable things that I couldn’t even ask my driver about because of the language barrier. I saw whole families squeezed