 Hoping to become a teacher, Soeman tried out for a course for potential teachers in Medan, North Sumatra, soon after graduation. After he was accepted, he spent two years studying in that city. Among his teachers was Mohammad Kasim, whose later short story collection Teman Doedoek (1937) became the first such work in the Indonesian literary canon. Outside of class, Soeman would listen to Kasim's stories about authors and the creative writing process; this sparked his interest in becoming a writer. After two years in Medan, Soeman continued to a normal school in Langsa, Aceh, where he stayed until 1923. There he met his future wife, Siti Hasnah.
