My late grandmother from my father's side raised me when both my parents were working. She never completed elementary school. She couldn't read or write, so I always helped her with writing tasks, e.g. shopping list. But, she taught me how to be polite and respect elderly in Javanese. She familiarized me with the use of Krama Inggil, a polite & formal level of Javanese when addressing elders and people in authority.

For instance, I use the word "inggih" instead of "iyo" [yes] when speaking to elders.

My late mother only completed middle school and sacrificed her dream to be a nurse because of family financial struggles. She was a devout Muslim. She enrolled me in evening Arabic sessions starting elementary schools so that I could learn to read the Quran.

Knowing her limitations, my mother encouraged me to dream high. She knew that I spent time listening to English podcast, watching movies with English subtitles, or going to an internet cafe. She supported my dream to study abroad even when our extended families and neighbors didn't see girl's education as valuable. Deep down I knew that she didn't want me to sacrifice my dream, like her past.

Indonesia is home to about 700 spoken languages, so the government uses Indonesia as a unifying language. The government also uses it for instilling nationalism values.

But based on my personal experience, this language policy affects the negative perceptions towards native/indigenous languages as "less prestigious" "less educated"

• Japanese : Doraemon, One Piece, Naruto (shows and comic books)

• English : Armageddon, Die Hard (movies)

• Korean : Full House, Autumn in My Heart (tv shows)

• Spanish: Amigos x Siempre, Carita de ángel (tv shows)

• Mandarin: Sun Wokong - Journey to the West (tv shows)

• Hindi: Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, Dil To Pagal Hai (movies)

Back then, I listened to a lot of English songs, such as sk8ter boi by Avril Lavigne, and I watched tv shows, such as Biography and Oprah Winfrey Show. I still remember vividly an episode from Oprah where she gave cars for free and people were screaming. It left quite an impression on my younger self. Now I realize it was all scripted.

Additionally, American products have gained increasing popularity in Indonesian in early 2000s. McDonald and Pizza Hut are considered 'nice restaurants' for middle income families. So, I knew more English words from there.

I used to come to an internet kiosk, paying hourly rate to access internet. I created different social media accounts, from Friendster, MySpace, Facebook, Instagram.

I was able to chat with random people using the messenger chats. I added virtual friends, Indonesians who studied abroad and talked to them.