My “Story behind a picture” series contains posts, where I present one photo only, and a commentary to explain the context and what is happening there. All of these mini stories are either interesting, shocking, nice, extraordinary, or perhaps typical for a given community or place, but strange for visitors from elsewhere. Or they are simply interesting from some other point of view. Anyway, I will try to keep them short. (And sweet? – we will see.)
This is an Indonesian man showing thumbs up to me from the window of his apartment on the second floor. This happened in Bukittinggi in Sumatra, Indonesia, when I was walking in a very narrow street. While I was walking, I suddenly heard someone say “hello, hello” – which in this language community, can only mean that someone is talking to a foreigner. When I found the source of the hellos, I was surprised to see a young man and a small child, both of them waving to me from this window, with big cheerful smiles. By the time I got my camera ready, the little child had withdrawn (or perhaps daddy didn’t want him to be photographed), but daddy stayed there and this is what I saw.
There are many places in the world, where a foreigner is an exceptional sight for locals, and they actually regard the visitor an interesting sight. They will gaze at you, or maybe take a selfie with you – a very common thing in countries like India or Southeast Asian countries. You will experience this in Indonesia too, but it will also be a little different here. People will be happy to see you, and they will be glad to be able to say hello and receive a hello back. You can try to communicate with them in English, but most of the time, it will be unsuccessful: maybe the only “English” word they know is hello.
Even if there is no exchange of hellos, many people will smile at you in the street, and that simply means they are happy to see a visitor. I am always telling myself when I feel lonely or tired, I should simply go out to the street in this part of the world, and people will cheer me up with their smiles and hellos.
Check out some more of my Story Behind the Picture posts:
The grass is greener on the other side of the fence
How to avoid electoral fraud – with ink
Always remember the face of those you depend on
Waiter in Laos shares his food with me
The Kindness of Indonesian people
