An expatriate or expatriate in English means “someone who lives temporarily or permanently outside the country where he was born and raised”, or in other words, a person who is an Indonesian national living in Indonesia because of a state duty or because he has a job in Indonesia requires that they stay here for a while.
Indonesia is making it easier for foreigners to work here – but they will have to study as well. That is the number of expats in Indonesia keeps raising. Here are the tips how to live in Indonesia as an expat.
- Find the fellows
Get the relation in Indonesia is important. That is why you need to get connected with people who come from the same country in the city. You can make such a community with your fellow. By having them, you can heal the feeling of homesick. Being together with people from the some background sometimes make you feel find the new family in Indonesia. You can also get to know with the same expats in Indonesia.
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- Explore your city where you live
Exploring the city where you work or live is important. Besides avoid get lost, you can also survey to get nearest places for buying delicious foods, place for shopping, and place for refreshing. By doing so, you can get to know some neighbors in your living around. Getting knowledge of the place near will help you how to go to other place. You can get information of some options of transportation you can use to go to work or somewhere.
- Make friends with local people
Besides finding the fellows, it is also important for you to find what the authentic things in the place where you live. Make friends with local doesn’t a bad thing. Maybe in a day, you will need their help to fix your problem. As the examples, you need the recommendation of romantic dinner for dating with someone. Or maybe you want to buy electronics tool with the affordable price but you don’t know the places. Remember that friend in need, friend indeed.
- Rent a comfort house or apartment
The most important thing is getting the comfort place for your living during become an expat in Indonesia. You can choose to live in apartment or houses in Indonesia. However, usually the place where you work will give you facility of living like an apartment or housing. You may choose the apartment with special view in highest floor of the building. However, if you live in area with the high possibility of earthquake like Bali, Lombok, or near active volcano, you couldn’t choose that option.
- Live economically
You might think live in Indonesia is cheap enough. You will not run out your wage or salary in a month for cost of living only. However, don’t spend your money for not so important thing such as going to club every night and having party with your friends. Remember that you have to save money so you can prepare your future. Try to eat some affordable foods. Don’t buy the expensive stuff too often.
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- Facts about Cost of Living in Indonesia
- How to Live Cheap in Indonesia
- Best City in Indonesia to Live
- Develop your carrier
For an expat, developing carrier in Indonesia is a must. Usually, expat who work in Indonesia has already been through the tight selection. It means, when you are recruited to work in Indonesia, the company maybe couldn’t find the same person with the same quality like you in Indonesia. Or maybe it is difficult for the company to get the person with the required skill in Indonesia. So, they need to recruit an expat worker who has the needed skill. That is why the possibility of raising the carrier is always good for an expat in Indonesia.
- Take care of yourself
No matter what, bad things could happen in every condition and everywhere you are. So, you have to take a good care of yourself. Some criminals are possibly happen in Indonesia. When you are in a public transportation, keep your belongings safe from pickpocket. In a big city of Indonesia like Jakarta or Denpasar Bali, pickpocket is everywhere. If you are woman, don’t get out at night alone. Ask your friend or partner to accompany you if you want to go out at more than 9.00 PM.
- Adapt well
You might experience some cultural shock in Indonesia. As the examples of cultural shock in Indonesia, you can be stressed with the uncertain of train or bus schedule. You also be mad of the traffic jam in some cities in Indonesia. However, you have to make a great deal with those problems. You just need to take a deep breath and slow down yourself. If you have already been got used to the uniqueness of Indonesia, you can adapt very well to live in Indonesia.
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- Live Healthy
Health is the most expensive wealth in your life. The composition and ingredients of some foods in Indonesia could be different in your country. When your stomach refuses to these foods, you can get some illness. Make sure to eat the clean food. It would be much better if you can cook the food by yourself. Besides it will be cheaper and more hygienist, but you can also create the taste of foods as your preference. In Indonesia there are many junk foods that are not good for your health. Don’t eat them too much or you will be sick more often.
- Take the good health insurance
It is a must to take the good health insurance in Indonesia. While you are sick or need seriously to be checked by doctor, you can’t lose much your money. Being healthy is an asset. That is why you need to prevent the bad things happen.
- Master Bahasa Indonesia
Living in Indonesia as a worker means you have to master Indonesian language really well. By being able to speak Bahasa Indonesia, it would make you easier to do anything there. It is because most of Indonesians don’t understand English. If it is possible, you can take a course to master Bahasa Indonesia during weekend. It would be nice!
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- Stay connected to embassy
Being connected to embassy of your country will get you some benefits. If you get a serious problem with law or something, you can directly consulate to embassy and solve the problem. Moreover, you can also ask some contacts of the person who comes from the same country. It can also be safe for you if something happen to you, the embassy can directly contact your family in your hometown. Stay connected to embassy means being protected by law of your country.
Those are the tips of how to live in Indonesia as an expat. You need to adapt well here to avoid cultural shock. The most important thing is be calm when you got a problem. Don’t be afraid to ask for help while you don’t understand of something. The most important is you have to master Bahasa Indonesia. So you can speak the language well.
