How are you doing Indonesia? I miss you

Conversing in Indonesian in a country 8,000 kilometers from Indonesia is really fun.

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The city of Amman, the capital of Jordan, as seen from a high vantage point on Sunday (10/3/2024). Jordan shares borders with several countries, including Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon.

"Where do you come from? Indonesia?” asked Ahmad at a shop in Jordan, Friday (8/3/2024). When I nodded, he asked again, “Indonesia, where? Yogya?”

Ahmad's face lit up when I answered that he lives in Jakarta, but my parents live in Yogyakarta.

He then poured warm plain tea into a cup and handed it to me. "How are you, Yogya? How is Indonesia? I miss Yogya, I miss Indonesia," he said, with a blossoming smile.

While finishing hot tea, I listened to Ahmad's story about falling in love with Yogyakarta. The story begins in 2021, when Ahmad departed from Amman, the capital of Jordan, to Jakarta, Indonesia. He traveled about 15 hours by plane, including transit in Doha, Qatar. Then, continue by plane to Yogyakarta, Special Region of Yogyakarta.

I speak Indonesian so I don't forget Indonesian. Apart from that, while remembering Yogyakarta and Indonesia while chatting.

In Yogyakarta, he learned Indonesian language at a language course institution. The course was completed in three weeks. However, Ahmad stayed in Indonesia for up to three months. He even traveled to Bali, Sumatra, Kalimantan, and other cities in Java.

"In Indonesia, everything is cheap and the food is delicious," said Ahmad. His favorite foods are fried rice and satay. Cheapness can be measured by the exchange rate. In March, 1 Jordanian dinar was equivalent to around Rp 22,000.

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Lani (left) and Nina, Indonesian tourists, were found in the tourist area of Petra, Jordan, on Friday (8/3/2024). They had just completed a spiritual tour of Jerusalem.

Ahmad is a young man whose family lives in Amman. However, every day he lives at home and works in his uncle's shop. The shop, which sells souvenirs from Jordan, snacks, soft drinks, coffee and tea, as well as providing prayer rooms and toilet facilities, is on the edge of the main road that connects two popular tourist locations in Jordan , namely Petra and Wadi Rum. In Jordan, this kind of place is called a resthouse.

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Ahmad is learning Indonesian language because he wants to dive into the tourism sector. The friendly and shopping-loving Indonesian tourists who are increasingly visiting Jordan made Ahmad believe that Indonesian language needs to be learned. Now, every time there are Indonesian tourists, Ahmad will greet them and engage in conversation in Indonesian language.

"I speak Indonesian so I don't forget Indonesian. "Apart from that, while remembering Yogyakarta and Indonesia while chatting," he added.

He then greeted us, a group of travel agents and journalists who were invited by the Jordan Tourism Board to visit the country. The Jordan Tourism Board wants to make Jordan one of the top tourist destinations for Indonesian tourists while dispelling the impression that the country is unsafe amidst the conflict in Gaza.

Mid-year, Ahmad and his three colleagues will be vacationing in Yogyakarta. They have planned to visit the foot of Mount Merapi, Parangtritis Beach, and hunt for culinary delights. He then showed photos taken in Yogyakarta on his cell phone. Photos in tourist areas, at dining places, and among his friends. One of them, a photo of him eating nasi gudeg around Malioboro late at night.

Rakan Alhiassat, the General Manager of Jordan Address, a travel and tour company, also learned the Indonesian language in Yogyakarta. When he studied in Yogyakarta in 2013, he was a tour guide.

At that time, Rakan thought that there would be many tourists from Indonesia visiting Jordan. This is because there is a similarity between Indonesia and Jordan, which is that the majority of their population are Muslims. Additionally, tourists who are on a spiritual journey to Jerusalem or performing Umrah in Saudi Arabia can also make a stop in Jordan. Therefore, he was determined to learn Indonesian language until he became proficient.

During our conversation, Rakan also spoke Indonesian. "I estimate there are around 50 tour guides in Jordan who can speak Indonesian," he said.

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A business meeting between travel agents and tourism representatives from Indonesia and Jordan was held in Amman, Jordan on Sunday (10/3/2024). The business meeting, facilitated by the Jordan Tourism Board, aimed to target Indonesian tourists to visit Jordan.

According to the National Tourist Statistics data from the Central Bureau of Statistics (BPS), the number of Indonesian tourists to Jordan is not specifically recorded. This is because the number is still relatively small.

Suhaib Albakheet, Marketing Specialist at the Jordan Tourism Board, acknowledged that they are targeting Indonesian tourists. "Currently, there are Indonesian tourists visiting Jordan, but not many. We want to target even more," he said in Amman during a business meeting between Indonesian travel agents and Jordan.

Indonesian Guest

In the tourist area of the Dead Sea, on Saturday (9/3/2024), we met with young women from Indonesia. There were around 20 people who worked as contract employees at the hotel where we stayed, which was located approximately 50 kilometers from Amman. Only one person was from Bandung, West Java, while the others were from Bali.

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The Jordanian flag flies in the middle of a residential area seen from the Citadel Fort area, Amman, Jordan, Wednesday (6/3/2024).

Mita, a contract employee from Bali, shared that in May, it will be her second year working in Jordan. Her contract will end that month and she will return to Bali before looking for another experience, though she is unsure in which country it will be.

"Maybe I will stay in the tourism sector, according to my education, namely in the tourism sector," he said.

In the same hotel restaurant, we were warmly greeted by Wina, a young woman from Bali who will have been working in Jordan for two years in May. She obtained her work contract through an agency that charged Rp 17 million per person. The salary she receives has covered the costs of paying the agency. In Jordan, she lives in a dormitory provided by the hotel for contracted employees like herself.

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Three young Indonesian women were photographed at a restaurant in a hotel in the tourist area of the Dead Sea, Jordan on Sunday (10/3/2024). They have been working as contract employees at the hotel since May 2022.

"If you ask me whether I miss Indonesia or not, it's clear I miss it. But just hold on. It's also called looking for experience working abroad. "That's why if there are guests from Indonesia, it's very nice because they can chat in Indonesian," explained Wina.

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Based on Bank Indonesia data, in 2023 there will be 43,000 Indonesians working in Jordan. Overall in the Middle East, there are 942,000 Indonesian migrant workers, the majority of whom, namely 842,000 people, work in Saudi Arabia.

If you ask me whether I miss Indonesia or not, it's clear I miss it. But just hold on.

Eka and Juli, who are assigned to work at the hotel restaurant during breakfast or dinner, also get very excited when they meet hotel guests from Indonesia. Their English greetings instantly change to Indonesian language when they realize that the person they are dealing with is from Indonesia.

"Generally, the Indonesians we meet here are friendly. We feel happy, as if curing our longing for family in Bali," explained Eka.

The conflict in Gaza is causing some people to refrain from traveling to Jordan, which borders Israel. However, this does not make these young women worry because so far, Jordan has proven to be safe. Their desire to gain work experience abroad, especially in five-star hotels, keeps them motivated.

If they miss their hometown, they will gather to cook and eat together in a traditional stove. Then they will tell stories about their hometown as much as they want.