Marthen Rorintulus

My guest today and I met at Club Med Ria Bintan in Indonesia in 2001/2002, but his first season was in Club Med Bali as an au pair Mini Club G.O. in Summer of 1998. Everyone, please help me welcome the first Indonesian EXGO to MFS, Marthen! Uncovered during this interview is the fact that Marthen, who was born in Indonesia but now lives in Malaysia, studied French literature at a private university in East Jakarta and I do not think he even mentioned that to me when we worked together the entire year! Marthen worked for Club Med from 1998 to 2011 and worked in many villages in the Asian sector such as Bali, Bintan, Cherating, Phuket, Kabira and Kani. Marthen has stories and recollections from each village, so I hope you enjoy this interview with a very kind and charming man. I asked him to do his “Takashi” impersonation (this will be explained during the interview and check out the video below) and he kindly indulged me. We fondly reminisced over Ria Bintan a little and have a laugh about why the “Swimming Contest” pool game used to freak and stress me out, how impossible it was to win at Janken (rock paper scissors) with Japanese GM’s, trying to outrun the ever-present and noxious, mosquito-spraying truck and the wonder of Korean honeymooners arriving to Bintan dressed exactly the same.  **My First Season podcast has always been free to listen to and is available on: Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Podbean App, Spotify, Amazon Music/Audible, TuneIn + Alexa, iHeartRadio, PlayerFM, Pandora, Podchaser and Listen Notes. And if you like what you hear, please leave a review on Apple podcasts.

Please check out his Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/marthen_rorintulus/?hl=en

And his YouTube channel:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJFh2sntOrhLLwI4Q0IJ0eQ

You can see Marthen at the .47-second mark doing his Takashi impersonation (Takashi was my amazing Chief of Circus in Ria Bintan).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PIzEK2xP-n0