Murah Senyum

Let’s say you go out with a group of new people for the first time, but despite being a little nervous, and maybe a bit more self-conscious than you would generally be with close friends or family, the entire afternoon goes extremely well. Everyone is joking around, getting along, sharing stories, and truly getting to know one another. You find yourself laughing at just about every sentence that comes out of your new friends’ mouths, and they’re laughing too, even at your worst jokes. But then, suddenly, someone says to you in a semi-serious tone, “Ya know, your smile’s really cheap.”

This past Saturday was not the first time I’ve been told by a group of Indonesian friends that I have a “cheap smile,” or murah senyum. And admittedly, the first time I was accused of such a thing, I was quite shocked. I was thinking to myself, hey now, I really do think you guys are funny! I’m sorry if my smile looks “cheap,” but I’m actually having a really good time! Why would you say that?

But see, there’s a big difference between how money and merchandise are viewed in America and in Indonesia, and in turn, the vocabulary that describes them. The connotation of saying that something is “cheap” in English immediately leads one to make judgments about its quality. Saying something like, “If you hadn’t bought such a cheap phone, maybe it wouldn’t have broken so quickly,” or “What a cheap toy,” both indicate dissatisfaction. In Indonesia, it’s very different. The word, murah, simply refers to getting something for a, nonetheless, relatively small amount of money. And the same goes for the word 'expensive,' or mahal. If someone told you in the U.S. that he or she had just bought an expensive car or an expensive TV, in all likelihood, you would begin making judgments about its quality; maybe you’d picture a Jaguar or 1080p flat screen. But in Basaha Indonesia, the word mahal, has nothing to do with quality – only with the amount of money (or effort) put into something, in order to get a return. In fact, mahal never has a positive connotation in Indonesian. It sometimes can be translated to “difficult,” or at best, “not cost effective.” If something is mahal, Indonesian people don’t get images in their heads of luxurious amenities. They simply acknowledge that a better deal could have, and should have, taken place.

Accordingly, expressions in Bahasa Indonesia follow suit. Telling me that I have a “cheap smile” in Bahasa Indonesia is, in fact, quite a complement. It simply means that people don’t have to work very hard to get me to smile and enjoy myself. Likewise, the word mahal is also used differently than its English counterpart in common language. If you wanted to say something like, “These days it’s hard to find someone who smiles as much as you do,” when translating to Indonesian, you could absolutely us mahal in place of the word ‘hard’: “These days it’s mahal to find someone who smiles as much as you do.”

I’ll let you make your own judgments concerning what that says about our consumer culture.

But that discussion is actually beside the point. The real question is, why is it that I find myself being so constantly entertained in this country? Granted, I’m not a sourpuss in The States, but with all the hardship in this country, I still feel so jovial all the time, and seemingly, so does just about everyone I’ve ever met. Right now, I’m actually just recovering from my first bout of distinctly-Indonesian, low-hygienic-food-standard stomach flu, which I came to know so well during my two previous years here. Last night I was alternating between being freezing cold and blazing hot, throwing up, and having a pounding headache – but this morning, although I’m still not fully recovered, I nevertheless feel compelled to write about what a good time I’m having

So again, why is this? Why do I have a murah senyum? I think it’s because of the way people tend to make jokes with one another in this country. Jokes here are often about physical attributes, peculiar mannerisms, and other noticeable character traits– essentially, the things that define you, the inherent things that make us different from one another. These are the things that are targeted. So to put this into perspective, a night out with a group of Indonesian friends is like a constant mutual roast. Age, weight, good/bad looks, sexual orientation, race, religion, and death are all fair game! And if current events were a bigger topic of discussion, politics would also be included on this list. Everything that most Americans find to be offensive, politically incorrect, and tend to steer away from, are the main topics of discussion and ridicule.

Now, I’m not saying that all Americans are uptight about these things. I can’t even imagine the countless offensive, politically incorrect, wildly entertaining conversations I’ve had back home. But suffice it to say that these aren’t the types of things that I’d make blatantly pointed jokes about on, say, the first date. That’s where the difference between our two cultures becomes painfully obvious, and it just kills me. I love it. After only one week of knowing the friends I've made here (and it would have been less time if only I’d gotten sick earlier), they feel totally comfortable coming into my room at my darkest hour, just after I’d been in the bathroom for 30 minutes, and then making fun of me for how shitty I look. Sometimes I wonder, “do you guys have any remorse?!” But, then I have to consider that these are the same people who, without being asked, also brought with them chicken soup, a light porridge, and drinks – never expecting to be compensated – just so I didn’t have to go outside to find food.

Why do I enjoy myself so much here? Because people are so incredibly kind-hearted, but at the same time, even if murah senyum were in fact a blatant insult, they still wouldn’t hesitate to keep saying it!