Meet my super friend Carlos Collard.
First time I met him was on my birthday, 6 September 2013. We were in his hometown LA, when he hosted and greeted me and 5 IVLP delegates with: “Apa kabar?”
Our group was surprised. We’ve been to 5 states in US within 3 weeks and no one greeted in our language. He was the first -and probably the only one. When my friend told the room that it’s my birthday, he said, “Selamat ulang tahun”. He then treated all of us in Indonesian restaurant for my birthday!
A month after that he visited my hometown Jakarta, and I took turn to host him in my home with my family.
I took him to experience public transportations, tried local salon, visited Taman Mini, went to local market where he made his own kerak telor, went to my mom’s house where he tasted traditional herb drink (jamu) and learnt about pocong from wall’s grafitti and found the “real” version later on in Monas, lol.
When I told him earlier this year that there might be a chance I’m coming to SF with hubby this summer, he was so excited that he told me he’s going to book flight tomorrow. I said nooo, wait until my tickets are issued, coz it was still tentative, lol. But yeah, we did come and he did flew from LA to SF, had 2 days off only to host us in SF :)
He plans to visit Indonesia again soon and wants to visit my dad’s hometown in Bantul - Yogyakarta and my mom’s hometown in Bangka Island - Sumatera. We’ll see you soon in Indonesia, Carlos!
PS: Google his name and you’ll find his extraordinary childhood story in LA Times :))
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