My first encounter with international "things" came from a very strange foreign language spoken by my uncle, Amato Del Capo, and his friends. I remember the day clearly because I was like 7 or 8 years old, just entering elementary school. I don't exactly remember the words said by my uncle and his friends, but it sounded like "cappucino", "mamma mia", and other words pronounced similar to them.
Even though I don't understand a single word of these alien language, somehow I was attracted and fell in love (a little bit dramatized? it's ok to make this story more interesting :)) with this unique sound and language. I was trying to memorize, imitate and pronounce all the new words I could remember like a witch doing his spell. I also annoyed my uncle by aggressively asking him to teach me about that eccentric language.
A few years later I knew that it was Italian language and I taught my self an Italian by reading and learning from my uncle's book, "How to Learn Italian in 2 Weeks". Exactly after 2 weeks, I was able to speak Italian, had a self-conversation in Italian, memorize all the numbers from zero to fifteen in Italian and understand some basic words and grammar of Italian language. Not much of course, but for a little boy who born, live and grow up in a small town in Indonesia, being able to speak a little bit of foreign language like Italian (with my odd Javanese accent of course) is one hell of achievement. It's like you won an Oscar in your first ever appearance in movies :).
And ever since that, I never had any dreams or goals besides traveling around the world (especially to Italy), learning all the different and strange languages, feeling snow on your skin (because I live in Indonesia and it's tropical country) and knowing all foreign news and information.
That's why I like reading only international news in newspaper, being so excited in learning English language (the only foreign language in my school till high school), looking hours at world map and playing globe and so impressed about it, ask my Mom too often to cook Pizza, Spaghetti, Macaroni and other Italian food (by the way, she's the best Mom and chef in the world ever, she could cook her family from a traditional Javanese cakes, Italian spaghetti or Arabic Sami Bread with a quality of 5 star hotel restaurant!! I tell about her later in my next posting :)) and being a computer and internet freak since junior high because I realized this unique machine can be my media to learn unique languages and cultures simply because their all just the same for me, unique, different and interesting. Yes, those three adjectives are always in my imaginations and becoming spirit to achieve my dream, unique, different and interesting :)
~ to be continued...
