Selamat. It's been a long time since I updated this website. Uda lama sejak aku meng-update website ini..
I've been living in Korea the last couple years, paying off debts, saving money, and earning a Master's degree in TESOL. Aku tinggal di Korea 2 tahun lalu, membayar hutang, menabung, dan mendapat S2 di majaran bahasa inggris.

I sometimes miss Indonesia, Kadang2 aku rindukan Indonesia. I don't think Korea is as nice a country to live in as Indonesia. Aku tidak piikir Korea sebagai baik negara untuk hidup di Indonesia Why? Kenapa?
Because Indonesians are happier, friendlier, and treat me better, even though they have less money and material things. Karena orang Indonesia lebih bahagia, ramah, dan memperlakukan saya dengan lebih baik, walaupun mereka punya lebih sedikit uang dan barang2.

Anyway, I hope to be back in Indonesia next year (2018), maybe for a long time . . .
Sebenernya, aku mengharap aku kembali lagi ke Indonesia tahun depan, mungkin untuk waktu lama

If so, I hope to meet a good woman, settle down, build my own little empire, and make many more Indonesian language materials. Jika gitu, aku mengharap bisa menemukan wanita yang baik, menetap, membangun kekaisaran kecilku, dan membuat lebih banyak bahan2 berbahasa Indonesia juga ya..

Take care.

Don Hobbs

The last couple weeks, I've managed to finally put the 3 Indonesian language books I've authored/co-authored on Amazon.com, through CreateSpace. I have yet to sell a single e-copy (downloaded .pdf) of any of them via this website, but there's always hope that someone who is searching Amazon books for Indonesian might come across mine and decide it's worth the gamble to go ahead and purchase a paperback copy . . .
It's a lot of work getting books ready to be printed-on-demand, when you don't know what you're doing . . . But, future books should be rather easy. Javanese for Beginners should be on Amazon come Jan.
I suppose by 2018, it's entirely possible that a Javanese for Self-Study, book 2 might be completed and available to the public. I do this only for my own personal interest in and love of these languages, not for any personal gain (obviously, since there is little demand and nobody buying them) . . .
Anyway, I hope that if you do happen to be reading this, and happen to know someone who is interested in the Indonesian language, you'll do me a solid by shooting off a quick msg to them to let them know this joyous news.

Nov 2016, from Korea

            There are several problems with a majority of language products for this area of the world, whether you are aware of it or not.  To begin with, commercial language companies do not produce many materials for this region of the world. Demand is low so there isn't money to be made producing materials for anything besides perhaps Thai, Indonesian, or Malay. Additionally, the people overseeing such products are not experts in the languages of this region. As a result, there are relatively few products available, and they tend to be for beginners and lacking in overall quality.
            The problem is not only with commercial language companies; only a handful of universities concern themselves with these languages. Their texts are expensive and academically oriented. They are physically removed from the region. Within Southeast Asia itself, not a single university teaches all of the major languages of the region.
            This current state of affairs is likely to remain the same for the foreseeable future. The bright side of this is that there is opportunity for anyone who wants to produce and sell quality texts, courses, and other online material for these languages and isn't concerned about making money. Indeed, nearly all high quality Southeast Asian language material on the market today has been produced by individuals, rather than commercial language companies or universities.

Pros: cards include word families (related words involving various uses of prefixes and suffixes).         
Cons: if you plan on using these in Indonesia in a non AC environment, the cards become malleable and warped because they are not thick enough. Also, a Malaysian seems to have created these, as some of the vocabulary is not in fact standard Indonesian, but rather, Malaysian. Finally, for Indonesians and foreigners in Indonesia on a budget, these are expensive and not really worth the money.
In short, Tuttle chose to use thinner paper to save $, had a non-Indonesian create them, and is charging a premium price for a mediocre product.

        A few days ago, I went to see the Thai dentist. Many years ago, I started going for a cleaning and check-up whenever I was in-country because it was so darn cheap compared to paying one of those highway robbers back in the USA. I also liked the fact that the office was never busy. No lobby full of people or delays. Here, if you make an appointment for 1pm, you see the dentist at 1pm. Marvelous concept. Dentist offices in the U.S. should try it. All it requires is not over-booking people.
        My Thai dentist's office is small - about a third of the size one might find in the States. Of course, how much space does one need, if you are not stacking people up in the reception area? That's right.  Enough room for a small counter and a few seats in front, and a single chair with all the dental equipment round back. Must save a lot on overhead...
        Another thing I like about dentists in Thailand is that because of the fact too many people are not being scheduled in, if the dentist finds a small problem like a cavity with a tooth, he goes ahead and takes the short amount of time needed to fix it on the spot, so that I don't have to make another trip in. How thoughtful. Half an hour in and out. Easy schmeazy. And, I've always been happy with this guy's work. Just as good as any dentist I ever had in the USA.
        But the best thing about going to the dentist in Thailand? The cost. A checkup, cleaning, and filling of a small cavity cost me 1600 baht total. That is about 55 dollars U.S. 
        And those are all the reasons I'll never go to a dentist in the U.S. unless a tooth-related issue might cause me death.

      So today I decide to order a chicken salad from our university's canteen at lunch. The Thai dishes didn't look especially appealing. God bless her, the cook tried. But by the time I'd finished eating it, I was struck by how utterly unsatisfying so many Western food choices end up being here in Southeast Asia.

        Of course the tomatoes weren't ripe - damn near impossible to find beautiful, red, ripe tomatoes. Then, there was the chicken. In typical fashion, it was sliced up, but there was no care taken to remove the skin - no care is taken in Southeast Asia to remove skin or bones from meat; you have to do that yourself. I did add my own dressing though, which was a crucial step taken to ensure my salad wasn't drowned in dressing. The final disappointment was the fork. It was one of those cheap ones where the prongs bend, and the fork itself bends at the neck if you exert any pressure whatsoever with it.

         I couldn't help but feel - in far too typical fashion - that the whole experience had been a waste of money. I should have gone with the Thai food.

         This happens a lot to me here; every so often, I get excited about splurging (at 2-4 times the price of local food) for some simple Western dish: a burger, fish n chips, a salad, a pizza, some Mexican food . . . In the end, the result is often what I've just described: disappointment bordering on depression. If the burger is actually decent, there isn't any mustard. The battered fish is soggy. There isn't any vinegar or tartar sauce. The pizza is under-cooked without any toppings to speak of. And don't get me started about trying to find passable Mexican food - it's next to impossible. There are of course exceptions: establishments run by foreigners who have trained their cooks well and are physically present in the restaurant often enough to ensure their cooks remain vigilant and standards do not slip. Whenever I eat in one of those places, I marvel afterward at the amount of money I've just spent on a meal, compared to what it would have cost me to have just eaten a local rice or noodle specialty.