TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Indonesia from the eyes of German authors
Andreas Stichmann (left), Leif Randt (Right)Two German authors have been exploring several cities across Indonesia in the hope of getting to know the country and its people â in a direct and personal way
Change Size
Andreas Stichmann (left), Leif Randt (Right) (left), Leif Randt (Right)
Andreas Stichmann (left), Leif Randt (Right)
Two German authors have been exploring several cities across Indonesia in the hope of getting to know the country and its people ' in a direct and personal way.
The two ' Leif Randt and Andreas Stichmann ' were taking part in a program called Author Residency, which forms a part of the German Season, a series of events jointly organized by Goethe-Institut Indonesien, the German Embassy and Ekonid.
Under the program, they visited several cities, including Bandung in West Java, Yogyakarta and Makassar in South Sulawesi, mingling with a range of people.
Following their time here, both Randt and Stichmann are set to share their experiences of travel and of getting to know Indonesia's culture and people at the 2015 Frankfurt Book Fair in October where Indonesia will be the guest of honor.
The two, who will also publish accounts of the trip in local German newspapers, visited Makassar to attend the Makassar International Writers Festival in early June.
'It's been an exhausting trip. In Sulawesi, particularly, there were so many people,' Stichmann told media recently in Jakarta.
But the 32-year-old author of novels Das groÃe Leuchten (The Glowing, 2012) and Jackie in Silber (2008), said he would definitely come back for a holiday.
Randt, also 32, said that he was feeling happy and enthusiastic about the project even though he felt home sick at times. 'It was nice to meet new people and talk with them. ['¦] I was happy, of course, to be on the trip as this is our first time here,' said Randt, who has just released his third novel, Planet Magnon.
Besides the three cities, Randt also had the chance to stopover at some tourist spots in Lombok in West Nusa Tenggara.
'I went to the Gili Islands, which I think it is a bit too touristic for me. I also went to the South, to Kuta, which was very beautiful. I'd like to go back one day I think, and hire a scooter, which I didn't do this time,' he said.
Stichmann enjoyed Yogyakarta using couchsurfing.com, a hospitality exchange and social networking website. The website provides a platform for members to 'surf' on couches by staying as a guest at a host's home or joining in events. When not traveling, members can host travelers on their own couches.
In Yogyakarta, Stichmann, who was born in Bonn, stayed for two nights in the house of a lady and her two children.
'It was interesting to get to know them. I also met other people [through couchsurfing] for coffee and they showed me around Yogya,' said Stichmann, adding that he experienced a shadow puppet show in Yogyakarta.
While Stichmann was happy with his decision to couch surf, Randt ' author of Leuchtspielhaus (Light playhour, 2010) and Schimmernder Dunst über Coby County (Shimmering haze over Coby County, 2011) ' experienced at least two unforgettable moments during his stay.
First, Randt had a rather shocking experience in Sulawesi. The Frankfurt born writer said that he was nearly hit by a falling coconut while talking with someone.
'I was standing there, talking with a local organizer. We talked about my sunglasses, and all of a sudden, there was an explosion overhead, and the coconut was pretty much in between us. It was very close,' he said, admitting that it left him a bit shocked although no one was harmed.
Another interesting one was when he got lost while walking up hill covered in forest in Bandung.
'I had to be picked up, and it was dark already,' said Randt, who really liked Bandung with its mixture of modern and traditional elements.
On their attendance at the writers' festival in Makassar, Randt said they were surprised that a lot of young people came to the event. He said old people had usually dominated literary festivals that he had attended.
'Maybe it's because there were also lives performances ' dances and all,' said Randt, who studied creative writing and cultural journalism at the University of Hildesheim.
After staying for a while in Indonesia, the two had learned that, in general, Indonesians are more collective rather than individual, unlike most Europeans. Getting too attached to social media ' sharing photos as soon as the pictures are taken ' is among the signs.
Stichmann, who studied literature at the German Institute of Literature in Leipzig, also pointed out the friendliness and politeness of Indonesians. A politeness seen in Indonesians' tendency not to immediately interject to let the visitors know that they could not in fact speak English or understand what they were saying.
'It took us about two minutes to realize that one person we were talking to didn't speak English,' said Stichmann.
'In Germany, people tend to be rude when they're spoken to in English if they don't speak the language. Here, people smile and seem to understand us, but they actually didn't. So, it's kind of confusing for us,' Randt added.
At the Makassar festival, Stichmann was introduced to some works by the late Indonesian prominent author Pramoedya Ananta Toer. He said he enjoyed reading one of his works, although not familiar with its historical context.
Randt said that he was given some Indonesian novels and he plans to spend time read them as soon as he's back home.
' Photos courtesy of Goethe-Institut
