Ikra and Garrett Jan

I am an amateur storyteller in a small village outside of Padang, on Western Java, Indonesia. I read and tell many folktales from Indonesia. However, for a long time now, I have wanted to understand and tell Dutch stories because the Dutch are a part of Indonesia's colonial history. However, I speak very little Dutch and do not know anyone in my village who speaks Dutch well. Someone recommended that I go on the internet to find a Dutch conversation partner. With some help from the local storytellers' guild, I managed to find Garrett Jan. I was interested in Garett Jan because he was also a storyteller in Itteren, a small village near Maastricht. Garrret Jan wanted to learn Bahasa Indonesia because his mother was from my country and also wanted to learn Indonesian legends and stories to tell. Since we began, Garrett Jan and I have been exchanging stories over the internet - very short ones. I send my stories in Bahasa Indonesia and Garret Jan sends me stories in Dutch. I use my Dutch dictionary a lot to translate the stories but I am having so much fun learning Dutch and learning stories at the same time. It has been two years since Garrett Jan and I have been exchanging stories. I have performed several of Garrett Jan's stories in small events around Padang. Garett Jan has put together a shadow puppet show for children based on the Ramayana epic that I told him last year. We are also both learning each other's languages. It will probably take a long time for me to be good in Dutch but we both have a life time of learning and stories to tell.  Selamat Tinggal.