In the first place, it took me years to figure out what "hub" means in Indonesian usage. Not that I expended exhaustive effort in the task; but it's just that one would see the word everywhere, generally associated with some sort of property or rental or an advertisement for services of some sort. "Hub", followed then by a series of numbers (a phone number, I presumed). What hub? What is a hub, in Indonesian usage? It has always been perfectly clear that in English the 'hub' is the center of some thing or some activity. Typically, one pictures the hub of a wheel. But in Indonesian? What is the hub and how is it associated with these numbers?
It happened then that when I sent a WhatsApp message to my neurologist at Kasih Ibu Hospital informing him of my need for renewal of my prescription for pregabalin, his answer was "Hub ER".
Hmmm. Did this mean that I was to go to the ER? Why? I was experiencing no emergency.
"I should go to the ER to get the prescription?", I queried.
"Ya. Hub dulu."
Hub dulu. In other words, Hub first.
What hub? Hub what?
Well, it finally occurred to me that 'hub' is an abbreviation for the word hubungi, which means 'contact' or 'call'.
Jeeze.
Nonetheless, this new knowledge did me little good upon attempting to apply it this morning. I drove out to the ER to hubungi them in person, at which point it was necessary for them to hubungi the neurologist. The neurologist, as it turned out, was busy with a patient and could not be hubungi-ed.
But hold on … why did the doctor, whom I had already hubungi-ed, tell me to hubungi the ER only so that they themselves could hubungi him again? It doesn't make sense, does it? I mean, why didn't he just send the prescription to the ER when I hubungi-ed him yesterday?
I suppose, to be fair, that I may have forgotten about the typical hassles associated with the healthcare industry in the US (even after working therein for twenty years). Still, it just seems like Indonesia has accomplished an institutionalized degree of hassle not to be matched throughout the world. From banking to buying, from healthcare to immigration, everything requires multiple, mostly redundant or illogical steps, reams of paperwork resulting, surely, in the deforestation of whole continents.
Well, the long and short of the thing is that I did not get my prescription. I did not care to wait hours for the simple result of something that should have taken one phone call (or one WhatsApp, rather).
"I come back tomorrow," I said. "Okay? You have by tomorrow, yes."
"Oh, ya, pasti, Pak.
We shall see, when I hubungi them tomorrow, whether all this hubungi-ing finally bears good fruit.
It happened then that when I sent a WhatsApp message to my neurologist at Kasih Ibu Hospital informing him of my need for renewal of my prescription for pregabalin, his answer was "Hub ER".
Hmmm. Did this mean that I was to go to the ER? Why? I was experiencing no emergency.
"I should go to the ER to get the prescription?", I queried.
"Ya. Hub dulu."
Hub dulu. In other words, Hub first.
What hub? Hub what?
Well, it finally occurred to me that 'hub' is an abbreviation for the word hubungi, which means 'contact' or 'call'.
Jeeze.
Nonetheless, this new knowledge did me little good upon attempting to apply it this morning. I drove out to the ER to hubungi them in person, at which point it was necessary for them to hubungi the neurologist. The neurologist, as it turned out, was busy with a patient and could not be hubungi-ed.
But hold on … why did the doctor, whom I had already hubungi-ed, tell me to hubungi the ER only so that they themselves could hubungi him again? It doesn't make sense, does it? I mean, why didn't he just send the prescription to the ER when I hubungi-ed him yesterday?
I suppose, to be fair, that I may have forgotten about the typical hassles associated with the healthcare industry in the US (even after working therein for twenty years). Still, it just seems like Indonesia has accomplished an institutionalized degree of hassle not to be matched throughout the world. From banking to buying, from healthcare to immigration, everything requires multiple, mostly redundant or illogical steps, reams of paperwork resulting, surely, in the deforestation of whole continents.
Well, the long and short of the thing is that I did not get my prescription. I did not care to wait hours for the simple result of something that should have taken one phone call (or one WhatsApp, rather).
"I come back tomorrow," I said. "Okay? You have by tomorrow, yes."
"Oh, ya, pasti, Pak.
We shall see, when I hubungi them tomorrow, whether all this hubungi-ing finally bears good fruit.
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