It has been a while between posts, as I have been BUSY! This is just a quick one that stems from something I learnt from my Indonesian lessons I have been taking.

One of the things that I have come to love about being in Indonesia, is the kindness, gentless, and open-minded natures of the local people I have encountered. Something that stands out on a daily basis, is the way that most Indonesians seem more than willing to give, share, help and assist, in any way that they can. They are qualities that make living in a foreign country so much easier, and the smiles that go with each act of kindness and helpfulness are an extra bonus!

It therefore comes as no suprise to me that this importatance given to other people, also transverses into the local language. Unlike English, which puts the stress and emphasis on the "I', with this one, small word always needing a capital letter to have relevance, in bahasa Indonesia, it is the word "Anda", meaning "you" which receives the capital. I found this completely remarkable, and it really consolidated my existing views on the people here. When "'you" is given more importance than the "I', linguistically, then of course that transposes into the culture too. No other word in Indonesian is given a big letter (unless it starts a sentence), and the importance is always on the other, the person being  spoken to. Amazing, huh?