An unlikely to have happened question
Inspired by other Indonesian bloggers about the silly questions that they got by their fellow countrymen/women, I thought I share mine. One of the questions or maybe just verbal wondering that people say to me all the time when I go home to Indonesia is “You are growing taller aren’t you?” or in Indonesian “Lo tambah tinggi aja” I mean I am a normal 30 something person, who scientifically stopped growing when I am 20. I have not been growing the last 10 or more years.
Just to confirm, I am 1.79 m or 1.80 m depending on the measuring tape that day. Okay I am tall as Indonesian, but here I am medium sized and in Holland I am short. hahahah I am sure like everything is relative.
I have never really had a problem being taller than most people as a child, I hardly noticed it, until of course you see the old pictures where I have to bend down to fit in the camera frame. And then when I was in my late teens, last years of highschool and in University, it was tough to find a boyfriend taller than me, which I am not sure why, it seems to be a criteria people had then, being a teenager in the 90s. But I had no general problem like being bullied or anything like that. 🙂
Of course trousers and long sleeves shirt was a lot shorter for me, that I had to have it made, which was not a problem in Indonesia. Now when I go back to Indonesia I try to buy things that doesn’t look odd if it is slightly short on me, like skirts, or if it is long sleeves I would wear them rolled up.
Oh, and the height comes with a larger than average shoes size which is 40/41 indonesian or 7 in UK size. It used to be painful and a nightmare to find shoes my size, the shoe seller would always comment “Your feet is just too large” or in Indonesian “kakinya kegedean mba”. Eurgh, My usual response to this would be “if my feet are as small as yours I would not be stable enough to stand” or in Indonesian “you can just get lost!” hahaha, no just kiddin, in Indonesian it would be “kalau kaki saya kekecilan nanti saya gak bisa berdiri mba”
The brilliance of being this height growing is at Monday mornings patriotistic ceremony (upacara bendera), I get to stand at the back. Also sitting in classes, I get to sit at the back, so I can easily manage my mischiefs.
Another more current brilliance is I don’t really need to wear high heels. Yay!
Do you get ask most likely to be impossible to have happened questions like “have you grown?” What was the silliest thing that people asked you? What was your response.
Kalo gue malah kebalikannya secara gue kuntet *hik* Komentar yang biasa gue terima tuh adalah ‘Tampang elu mirip tetangga/sepupu/pembantu/temen sekelas/office girl/insert any acquaintance of the speaker here’
It’s so strange. And it can be unflattering, karena teman2 gue entah kenapa selalu bilang gue mirip Rinko Kikuchi di film Babel, di mana dia memerankan cewe yang angsty, mentally unstable and deaf. I am confused, how’s that supposed to make me feel?
Btw, being tall is nice, you know. I bet you have killer legs. Rock those high heels.
Gosh that is harsh! Why are people are so horrible plus klo mereka diledekin pasti gak bisa terima. Tapi Rink tetep terlihat keren dan sedikit Emo di film itu.
Jadi pengen liat foto nih, kira2 mirip orang yang kukenal gak? Hehehe just kidding.
Sedia Comeback template gak? Untuk jawabin orang2 menyebalkan itu?
Toss dulu aah, sesama body tinggi (still shorter than you) dan kaki panjang (same size 40/41 juga, yeaaay).
Kalau di kantor pake high heels pasti temen2 pada sewot deh, tapi aku cuek aja. It’s true high heels bikin makin pede, lucunya mereka kalau ngomong sama aku kepalanya makin mendongak, hahaha, lucu banget 😀 *mean rude*
hhihihiihi! tos! berapa tingginya mba? sekarang di indo dah lumayan sih yah sepatu size itu, aku dah bisa beli beberapa. 🙂
Between 169 – 170 cm tergantung penggarisnya 😀 Tapi bulan lalu ngukur di kantor kok shrink jadi 167,5 cm, makin umur makin pendek keknya orang yaa hahahaha.
Iya sekarang brand lokal juga uda bikin size besar ya, bagus2 juga kok dan dipakainya enak.
Apa aja tuh brand lokalnya mba? bikin update dong… 🙂
Wimo masih OK, eh Wimo tuh lokal kan ya? 😛
I Wear UP shoes Diana Rikasari juga enak, Ni Luh Jelantik OK banget tapi blum sempet beli soalnya heelsnya gak kuku deh tinggi banget, kalau flatnya too pricey masih gak tega nginjeknya hahaha.
Kalau mau custom made sih di Solo ada tuh toko spatu Bakti, bisa pilih model nanti dibikin sesuai ukuran kaki.
Kalau merk tetangga Charles and Keith aq suka juga, kalau Vnc makin kesini modelnya makin nggak cocok padahal dulu sempet suka juga.
Eh kok jadi ngomongin sepatu sih hahahaha…
Wimo, iya kayaknya. Kemarin liat I wear gak ada yang besar, hiks. Berapa bikin di Bakti? dan berapaan? ah gak papa seru..ngomong sepatu. Maklum masa kecil kurang sepatu…hahahah
Dulu banget masih Rp. 200 ribuan ya tapi nggak tau deh sekarang naik jadi berapa, mungkin tergantung model sama bahan juga sih.
Mine always be “tambah gendut aja, gak ada niat diet? berapa beratnya sekarang?” ah, those people are really insensitive. But, I’m getting use to it. 🙂 🙂
Serius ada yang ngomong “niat diet?” Bwah that is just plain rude.
Iyah, tambah sering akhir2 ini. Sudah terbiasa.
Upload foto mu kek, blur nih ngebayangin kamu kek gimana 🙂
🙂 aku pokoknya lebih gendut, lebih gelap kulitnya dan apparently lebih tinggi dari waktu pergi dari indo. Aku gak pede pajang fotoku. Kita ketemu aja yuk? Hahaha kapan ke inggris?
waaaa, you ARE tall! 😀 my hubby’s 186cm tall and my height ends like right under his chin. i guess i’m pretty short for Nordic countries’ residents, but there are actually also quite a few women here my size, so i don’t feel like an alien. 😀
i agree with kutubuku, Indonesians are fixated to physical features. i don’t get asked silly questions, to me they’re just plain annoying and rude. things like “you’ve gained weight!” and “look at your face, so many zits. what happened?” DOH. my response is always: “your comment/question is so typical Indonesian.” just so they know that it was rude to say things like that.
🙂 yup in Indonesia I am I guess. I think I am used to the you are fatter now etc, but I can’t seem to phantom you are taller, just simply impossible to have happened. Hahahah
Why did your skin become lighter now? My answer: I live in the country where sun only shines brightly 3 – 4 months/year. You used to be so skinny, what happened? Errr, our last meeting was 18 years ago and I bared a child.
Hahahah! You look great mba! They are jealous. 🙂
And you, you were towering others back home 🙂 See it as privileges being that tall. Yeah, gengges banget my original skin tone is dark Javanese tan, ever since I have lived here in autumn/winter my skin becomes lighter.
Indonesians are fixated to physical things, I don’t know why.
Me neither.
Interesting! I’m not as tall as you, but taller than average Indonesians as well and the average height here, but I have still problem finding a pair of jeans that I don’t need to cut. Mystery indeed when most of the women here is at my height.
As for high heels – I like to wear flats too, but you know what Nicole Kidman said after she divorced Tom Cruise: Now I can wear heels again. Ha.
In England there are a lot of people who are shorter than me but being my height is not a too awkward looking. No problem with jeans or shoes now! I only wear heels on special occasions, job interviews or formal parties.