Host receptivity

All the respondents reported that they felt very welcome to Indonesia due to the friendliness and friendly approach of Indonesian people. Adjectives such as friendly, hospitable, kind, helpful, polite and courteous, humble, respectful, laid-back, happy, kind-hearted and fun repeatedly appeared in their answers when they were discussing Indonesian people. Furthermore, they described Indonesians as people who are always smiling, enthusiastic, “amazing people” and who are interested in other cultures and curious to learn about them. The respondents reported that they found it nice that Indonesian people approached them and came to talk to them. Though the locals’

English skills were usually limited to only a few words, they nevertheless approached the respondents; showed interest in them and their cultures, which the respondents felt was very welcoming gesture. Furthermore, the respondents reported that the local people were always willing to help them whenever they needed assistance of any sort.

Mostly, the help was related to giving directions, i.e. informational support.

RP11 feels that one of the most important reasons why his Indonesian experience was positive was the general friendliness of Indonesians. This is how RP11 describes his experience on the relationship between host country receptivity and his adaptation:

(21) In general, when you were in a different country, a new environment, if people were friendly to you, behaving nice with smiles, you would feel comfortable and easier to get involved in the new environment. Otherwise, you might feel depressed and homesick. (RP11)

In the extract below RP7 describes her overall impression on Indonesian people and the positive feelings the local people aroused in her in.

(22) I was especially intrigued by the openness and kindness of the Indonesian people. They all seemed so happy to have me accompany them. They were constantly smiling at me, and always asked me questions - very genuinely interested in who I am, where I came from, what I was thinking, and so on. It made me feel very special, and it made me feel relaxed. (RP7)

RP3 discusses his previous experiences in another Asian country where he had spent a couple of months before his Indonesian sojourn. He presents that in that country he many times got the impression that the local people were acting friendly towards him because they were interested in his money, or, when they saw an opportunity to benefit from him in some way. In Indonesia, his experience was different. RP3 perceives that the genuine friendliness and helpfulness of the local people played a role in making his adaptation easy:

(23) […] the natural friendliness and helpfulness of Indonesian people helped me much in feeling more accepted in the reality. (RP3)

By “natural friendliness” in the extract, RP3 refers to Indonesians’ genuine friendliness which was not driven by money or some other motive as such.

All the respondents had an extremely positive perception of Indonesian people and appreciated greatly their perceived friendliness, helpfulness and interest they showed towards the respondents. Though each respondent described Indonesian people in extremely nice words, four of the respondents, however, reported that the fact that the local people are not used to seeing foreigners had its downsides. For one of the respondents, it was truly a problem and was clearly inhibiting her adaptation. The respondent explains that the most significant negative aspect why she was having such a hard time during her sojourn was the fact that the local people were not used to seeing foreigners. Due to that, she received a lot of attention everywhere she went, which made her feel anxious and overwhelmed. She explains that though she had spent already quite a while in the city, local people simply did not get used to her. In the following two extracts she further describes her experience.

(24) To be honest, [local people] affected my stay in a negative way. Due to them I never felt comfortable outdoors. […] If I had the choice I preferred to stay at home or to hang out with [my international friends]. The neighbors were very friendly, but even if I was walking through my street, I didn’t feel at ease.

(RP4)

(25) The biggest challenge for me was to stay positive and keep smiling when people pointed at me and called after me. I did my best to get used to their culture, but […] the people on the street did never get used to me… Trying to keep smiling and don’t put too much weight on it helped me to overcome these moments, but I never left the house feeling at ease. (RP4)

Furthermore, RP4 presents that being a center of attention continuously “was very exhausting” and it made her feel “very lonely at times.”

In the following extract RP1 discusses her experiences with the local people. She says that she bonded with some of the local people she met on the street. On the other hand, with some of the people she had met randomly she did not like the attention she received. It was too much for her and made her feel uncomfortable.

(26) There was a very kind family in the neighborhood shop with two sweet kids whom I would visit to cheer myself up. The people on the street staring at me all

the time made me feel uncomfortable. The friendly families who invited me in their house, invited me for food, made me feel very welcome. (RP1)

In addition to the four respondents’ comments on the negative aspects, two other respondents commented that sometimes they felt that the local people reacted to him even “over positively” (RP11). Though these comments were slightly negative, these respondents did not report that they had experienced the attention as a problem.