muisjes or hagelslag

When I was young, I always put 'hagelslag' on my bread. By that time, mom told me that its name is 'muisjes' -- that's the Dutch word (Don't mixed up with meisjes; muis = mouse, notice the similarity between hagelslag and excrement of mice). I noticed that in the package there was the word 'hagelslag' as well, but I thought it was the English word.

Once I was curious about the Indonesian word for 'muisjes' and found 'coklat roti' -- but nobody seems to use this term.

When I was in NL, I learnt that the thing that I know as 'muisjes' is called 'hagelslag' by the Dutch and 'muisjes' is a different thing! Once I met a Dutch girl who insisted that Dutch is the only creature on earth to use hagelslag on their bread -- well, me as well!

Now back in my home country, I looked around and see several packages of hagelslag. Here are some that I saw: muisjes, hagelslag, mesis, meises.

The question is: where is the missing link? If we learnt 'muisjes' from the Dutch, why did we call 'hagelslag' as 'muisjes'? Isn't it easier to pronounce 'hagelslag' than 'muisjes'?

Merry Christmas

We wish you a merry Christmas
We wish you a merry Christmas
We wish you a merry Christmas
And a happy new year!

Addressing Others

Suppose A and B come from different culture. How should one address the other?

I think several things matter:
1. What language do they use?
For example, when the term mevrouw is used, it's fine with me, but I would object to be called Mrs.
2. The best, of course, is to get to an agreement which satisfies both parties (polder model, mufakat).
3. But if agreement is not reached, what next?

Personally, I think if A should respect who B is and call him/her by how B wants to be address, not by how A wants to address him/her; and vice versa. Just as we do not change our friends' names according to what we want them to be, we should respect how others want to be called.

Do not change me into someone I'm not! There is no use of enforcing a certain culture.

cheap mangos

Today I bought veeeery cheap mangos: mangga harum manis for Rp1.750,00/kg.

Exchange rate: 1 EUR is approximately Rp12.000,-

reading

Just finished reading Pram's Bumi Manusia (This Earth of Mankind) -- the first book of his Buru Quartet.

 

Well, actually it has taken me more than a month to go beyond first page. For several weeks I was so bored with books (work with books a lot) that I didn't touch any single book in my free time. Last weekend I read Jomblo out of curiousity (back to the time when I couldn't access Indonesian books). And then reading too light novel -- and felt that I needed something heavier. So there I was with Pram's.

 

Looking forward to read his other books. Thanks to the one who introduced me to his books for the first time.

Introduction: a cultural aspect

I just realise that the term introduction might mean different in different culture.

In one culture, introduction means:
- handshake
- articulate one's name clearly so the other can catch it
- trying to pronounce the other's name

While in other culture, introduction means:
- handshake
- mumble (if you catch his/her name and he/she didn't, you win!)
- whisper behind the person: what is his/her name?

So, what does introduction mean for you?

Bandung Hotspot

I'm online from Bandung Hotspot. Wow ... finally I tried it. Wished it exists in Jakarta.