Belajar Bahasa Indonesia (2)

Today was the last day of the bahasa Indonesia course. I am now able to speak a few words Indonesian, but I have to practice, practice, practice before I’m really comfortable to speak the language.

Tonight I will relax. There is an additional gamelan session, lucky me!…

I am thankful for the family for having me here, they have been very hospitable. Helping me to practice my Indonesian, let me taste their delicious Indonesian kitchen and taking care of me when I was ill. If you are curious about their beautiful traditional Javanese house you should take a look at their pictures from google maps .

To show you that I have actually learned something I hereby want to share my first Indonesian essay with you, it is about fruit in Indonesia compared to fruit in the Netherlands:

Indonesia punya banyak buah berbeda, lebih banyk buah komparasi Belanda. Saya makan banyak buah baru, contoh rambutan, durian, kelengkeng, semangka kuning, belimbing dan salak. Saya makan buah rambutan, kelengken dan salak di kantor, buah-buah itu dari perkebunan diYogyakarta. Rasanya manis dan enak! Buah banyak tumbuh di Indonesia, contoh pisang, mangga, manggis dan melon. Belanda punya sedikit buah, hanya apel dan pir. Satu lagi impor dan tumbuh di rumah kaca. Belanda punya anggur tanpa biji. Di Belanda saya suka makan anggur tanpa biji, mangga dan jeruk. Di Indonesia suka makan mangga, pisang kecil manis dan rambutan. Saya tidak suka jeruk di Indonesia, rasanya tawar dan kering.

Holiday in Indonesia

Yesterday was a national holiday in Indonesia due to the governor elections in Jakarta. That’s funny isn’t it? It’s like having an election for a new major in Amsterdam and the entire country has a day off!
To introduce you shortly to the current political situation in Jakarta without throwing my opinion into the open I kindly advise you to read this news article.

Summarized, only the candidate with more than 51% of the votes wins. But form the interim counts it seems that none of them have won, so it looks like there will be another election between the two most popular candidates next April. Maybe another public holiday for Indonesia? Great, we should introduce this system in the Netherlands as well!

So because of this my lesson for today has been moved towards Saturday and I can take a ‘day off’ today. Great, I have just recovered from my fever and because of this I have not met the people from the other classes yet. So where do I go by myself? I don’t want to go to the city or Borobudur, because I’ve been there already, therefore I’ve decided to go to the Merapi museum.

When I told this during breakfast I was immediately offered a lift to the museum by a family member, who had a meeting nearby. That was a success, it turned out that even more people liked to join and two hours later I was heading to the museum with three family members and a Japanese homestay guest.

The museum was great, there was a lot to see and learn about the Merapi volcano and it’s geology, too bad I couldn’t find any books about Indonesian geology (only T-Shirts).

Afterwards we went to a beautiful restaurant. From the outside you wouldn’t expect much at all, it is located in a crowded street, looking exactly like all crowded streets in Indonesia. When you first enter you think you ‘ve entered a candy shop like you would find in the ‘Zuiderzee museum’ selling kerupuk. Walking further you think you’ve entered a brown café by the looks of it, but when you look at the back there is a large garden with a fountain and two large bamboo buildings in which you can sit nice and quietly. The food was again delicious!

Belajar bahasa Indonesia

This week I’m out for my Indonesian course in Yogyakarta. Finally I’m going to learn some decent words and sentences! I really looked forward to this.

Unfortunately have been ill for the past two days. It started during my train trip towards Yogya on Sunday, which was very nice by the way. The trip took almost 8 hours and the view on the rice fields along the way was amazing!

There was also a nice old lady sitting next to me trying to communicate in Indonesian, while I replied in English and Dutch (she did know a few Dutch words!).
She probably couldn’t bear to travel alone, because she was continuously calling her friends and relatives an tried talking to me. Also she friendly offered me snack and cakes, and by the time we finished her delights she burped loudly… Probably this is common in Indonesia, because I have heard more disgusting sounds in this county.

After this I lost my appetite and I got colder and colder. At first I thought it was because of the air conditioning inside the train, because I saw everyone around me tight up in their long sleeves and jackets. But when I went off the train the cold was still there. Ok, I must be ill now. Nice I’m ill once every ten years and it has to be now!

At the train station my pickup was waiting in the rain to drive me to my homestay.
I can now tell you all kinds of nice things about the homestay, but there are only few. When I arrived I was offered a drink only 20 minutes after my arrival, people in the house were not really paying attention to me and I was told to wait one hour for a trip along the house. By that time I had a massive headache, my body boiled and I was so dizzy I could hardly stand upright, so I told the owner of the house that I was ill and I wanted to go to bed. She understood, so I spend the rest of the day in bed.

Right now I feel okayish…better than yesterday (my first day at school). That day I went to school after skipping breakfast, because rice and chicken is just too heavy for breakfast when I’m ill.. However, I went straight home after the fist class, because I was unable to concentrate. Which was good thing because I turned out to have a fever, I reckon it to be food poisoning, most likely something I ate Saturday.

The rest of the day I spend in bed… awake. Spoiled yelling children and screaming parents the entire afternoon and gamelang lessons (Indonesian xylophone) from 8-12 in the evening doesn’t really help to sleep.
Fortunately the family was really kind to me this time, they came to my room to give me medicines and bananas, and forced me to drink enough water.

So like I say, I’m okayish, I went to school today and I ate my (own!) breakfast, lunch and dinner. Tomorrow I will be fit again, probably.

Singapore.. (2)

Four days of Singaporean luxury was quite some experience!

My feet hurt Saturday evening from walking back and forth a couple of times within the city centre and surrounding blocks. But I shouldn’t complain, at least Singapore has pedestrian ways.
Walking wasn’t the biggest problem actually, it was the sun.. Singapore is a lot hotter than Jakarta, or at least it seems to be, mainly because of the large sheets of asphalt within the city.

I’d like to share you some of my experiences within this post, so here they are:

China Town

Chinese New Year is still being celebrated, although the actual year started at 26 Januari. The Chinese have 15 days of celebration, taken very seriously. Throughout the city and at most offices with Chinese employees the dragon ritual is being performed on the seventh day of Chinese New Year (and during weekends). During this ritual one or more Chinese dragons are galloping through the streets, accompanied by a loud drummer and percussionist, which can be heard from a far distance. Often the dragon is also accompanied by a mascot, who wishes a prosperous New Year to everyone and gives a nice small gift. A lottery takes place at offices. The ritual takes quite some time. After the dragon has visited all rooms within the office, an orange peeling ritual for good luck takes place at the entrance.

Little India

This part of Singapore is a good reflection of the rest of the world: Little India is the most dirty area I have visited.
In here you find three main types of shops: clothing fabric stores, with bright and colourful fabrics, gold jewellery stores and grocery stores where you can buy spices and durians.

During lunchtime I was attracted by the smell of delicious curries coming from a local restaurant. The restaurant felt a bit like the canteen we have at the Singapore office, where you can buy food from several food stables and take a seat a one of the plastic tables. Only here there were only two choices: curry or leave.
So I decided to go with a freshly baked chapatti with some chicken masala and a vegetable called lady fingers. This is a small green vegetable with the cross section of a star and a lot of small beans or seeds inside. It had a nice taste and was quite spicy, but I’m not sure whether this was the lady finger or the spices which have been used for cooking.

I like cultural differences, but sometimes they can be a bit funny. For example, across my table a man appeared with a plate filled with rice and curry. He placed it on the table and starts mixing the food with his hand. Then he quickly swayed everything into his mouth by with his hands, within three minutes he finished his plate, whipped of his hands and walked away.

City Centre

Marina Bay, the Merlion (national symbol of Singapore), the Chinese float decorations, The Avatar Trees, Gardens by the bay. Yes, I’ve been to all of them. My opinion? HUGE!

Old colonial district

Hmm.. I’m not sure what to think of this district, the buildings don’t quite fit Singapore, which is funny in a way. It so neat…

All buildings in Singapore, including private properties such as houses and companies are to be painted every few years by law. This is why you don’t see any decayed buildings within Singapore. Also the colonial buildings are freshly painted, maybe that’s the reason the houses do not fit…

Business district(s)

There are a lot of business districts in Singapore, with tall, tall buildings. Nothing special here.
However, there is a food square in the heart of one of the business centres. The food square is located in an old and spatial colonial building, which is beautiful. It’s like an ancient market square with a lot of food stables to choose from. The area is very lively, and the food is great! Meat is being roasted on the streets outside the market square, and people are dining at tables around it. It looks like a large barbecue, amazing!

If I was only allowed to advise one location to visit within Singapore, it will definitely be this square!

Singapore..

Off course, you are dying for pictures from Singapore, so here they are. Chinatown, my hotel, the Hindi Temple.

Singapore.. What a cultural shock. Everything is so clean, so organized. People in this country/city/whatever-it-is-you-may-call-this are so forced to be clean, organized, stipt, non-violent etc. etc.

Everywhere you go signs are shouting not to spoil any water, to take care of the environment, to wait for the green sign to pass the street and to not use any violence against your neighbouring citizens.
People here are living in such a protecting environment, for example it is impossible to accidently fall onto the metro tracks, because the stations are equipped with barriers and doors that only open if a metro stops at the station. Within the metro you repeatedly hear a message in which you are being asked to inform the train staff if you notice any suspicious behaviour.

Singapore is supposed to be a democratic country, but it is ruled by just one political party, the press is nationalized, the president has veto for certain decisions and the fines for throwing garbage on the streets or eating bubble gum are extremely high so no one dares to do anything against the law. Everybody starts working at nine, have lunch at twelve and finish at six, and the country doesn’t have poverty, everyone is equal in that sence. So, you may tell me what you think about this err.. democratic country.

All of the sudden I realize what I like about Jakarta. The relaxed mind-set of the Javanese people, the chaotic randomness of obstacles on the streets and pathways to walk on (or rather the absence of them). It is nice to see how things come together in Jakarta, if they cannot be solved in way A, they might be solved in way B or C, or not at all… You get used to it. It’s charming in a way.

My buzzy dizzy life

Sometimes people ask me why I don’t write a blog post every day. I get special request about my house, the job I do at the office, the area I live in… So, am I suffering from a writer’s block? No I’m not! Is my life boring? No, it is not! Am I too busy? No, I mean, yes!

At the moment I am writing this post in the airplane on my way to Singapore. I will be working at the Singapore office for two days and I will fly back to Jakarta next Sunday evening. This means that I have one and a half day to visit the city during the weekend.

This brief description of the coming four days is more or less a good description of how my life in Jakarta looks like. Busy at work and too many things to do in my private time.

Yesterday is a good example of this.
I have been assigned to a new project, with new challenges not only for me, but also for the entire company. I have been assigned as one of the specialists and I will take care of the largest component within the project. It has a tight schedule, so things have to be sorted out immediately. It is a very interesting project, and I am keen to work on it! It keeps me focussed and gives me positive energy, however it’s not an easy task.

During the evening I had a meeting with the civil engineering society within Jakarta in the Eastern Promise, or shortened as EP by visitors. At first I was shocked by the amount of grey-haired people at the bar, but soon I found out that they all liked a beer and were extremely enthusiastic to tell about their field of expertise. There was an interesting presentation about drilling methods in soft soil and hard rock, my cup of thee! Good for expanding my network as well.
After the presentation there was a nice curry buffet, which was about time, because my stomach was protesting.

The ironic part was that my colleagues where at the restaurant part of EP, having dinner and preparing themselves for a pub quiz later that evening. Our Asian region manager from Singapore joined the team, which was quite fun. In Indonesia it is normal  to socialize with colleagues after work and during the weekend. So after the meeting, the presentation and the dinner buffet I joined my colleagues for the pub quiz. We obviously lost, but we had lots of fun!

It was about 11:30 PM when we left EP and on my way home I got hugged by a backpacker who was looking for a nice bar to meet locals. I didn’t had a good suggestion for him, being here for only 2,5 weeks. Now that I think about it I could have sent him to the karaoke bar. Locals really love this!

While I am writing the final part of this blog I am sitting in the lobby of a hotel in the heart of China town, Singapore. The flight is way too short to write a good story. Ascending, have 15 minutes of playtime, eat the meal that is being served, have another 15 minutes of playtime and descending again. In the meantime I took a taxi from the airport to the hotel, visited a Hindu temple, walked through amazing China town and drank a cup of cappuccino.

Now it’s time for bed. See what tomorrow will bring me!

Settlers of good fun

As most of you know I enjoy plying board games, therefore one of my first goals in Indonesia was to find a board game store within the area.

So there I went, luckily I have been told on where and how to find it. The store is located above a bakery and the entrance is most peculiar. First one has to enter the bakery and name the secret password, which was obviously ‘halo’. Then you enter the back of the bakery, and move trough a hallway, passing the ovens and bakers kneading dough and forming little breads. Oh, the delicious smell! Then, passing the hard workers the cozy feeling of board games starts to pop up, since the walls have been nicely painted to lead the way. Upstairs you enter a very small and cozy place with tables, couches a bar and a few large shelves with board games.

On my first time here the place was stacked with people and I had a small talk with one of the employees who informed me about the board gaming day. How nice, a board game day, jut like we have at home! Pay an amount of money to play board games the entire day and to have a meal in the evening. I love it! Meet new friends and have a fun day.

So there I went, 11 PM, start of the game day. In the Netherlands it would have been be busy by then, however this is Indonesia, and (again) things do not work the same. Stupid me, I should have learned from the last time.. When I arrived there was one guy, preparing ice tea, who could only speak Indonesian and couldn’t help me at all. So I decided to have a sit and look trough the board game shelf. After reading trough the manual of Five Tribes I still was the only visitor. But soon one of the organizers, a friendly women named Jola entered the store, who later introduced me to one of the owners and a few other board gamers. Finally my game day could start!

Next month the game store will be moving to a different location, more to the south, far, far away. Snif, sob, snivel… The magic store will also move within a few months. Why do all these nice places move to a different location? At least they are on the grid now, and I have made some new friends. Also ibu Jola told me that she was planning some game days in Kemang Village, not so far away after all!!

Commuters in Jakarta

Jakarta is a large metropolis. Large companies, small companies, local companies, foreign companies, you name it and it’s here. It makes it an attractive city for Javanese people to work. Many people have migrated from other parts of the island to find a job in Jakarta. If you would ask them ‘do you like it in Jakarta?’ they will answer with an explicit ‘no’. Off course not, they are rather in their hometown Bandung, or Yogya, or on the rice fields, or along the beaches.

During weekends these people eagerly flee the city, like ants abandoning their nest during an earthquake. Far less cars and motor cycles appear on the streets during weekends, which is a positive thing.

On Fridays the trains are stuck with people that are happy to get out of the city, while Sundays the traffic stream (and mood) is reversed. There is always a reason for a celebration and family visits. Which is something I learned the hard way. This Tuesday I planned to book train tickets to Yogyakarta to celebrate a wedding of a colleague of mine, however the trains for next weekend have been already fully booked! Why? Because apparently this is a good weekend to celebrate. A wedding for example. Or Chinese new year, which is coming Saturday as well. Oops! Another reason for people to flee the city and visit friends and family!

Sexy shoulders

Different countries, different cultures. As a foreigner I feel obliged to adapt myself to my new environment. Ninety-or-so percent of the Javanese people are Muslim, this means that they have different values and perspectives of live than we do. One of the most prominent values which is clearly visible on the streets is off course the way people dress, especially Islamic women.

Surprisingly enough, there are many foreigners which do not give a thing about the local culture, which is a shame. Women wearing the type of clothes that are only suited to wear along the boulevard at Ibiza, such as short pants, spaghetti-shirts and high heels, or sexy skirts with a clear peak on what’s inside. I suppose these women never leave the save over exaggerated western city parts, hopping from shopping mall to shopping mall, safely in their private cars with their own drivers. Otherwise they will be in trouble.

While packing the clothes for my new life in Indonesia, I carefully considered what to take with me and what to abandon. Step one in my cloth-packing process was to sort all winter- and summer clothes and throw away all winter coats, sweaters and heavy jeans, hooray! Second step was to sort all ‘shocking’ clothes from the ‘decent- and doable’ clothes. Shocking in Indonesia are bare shoulders, low cleavage, short pants and skirts, bare bellies (ok, that is shocking in the Netherlands too…) clothes that are accentuating certain body parts (shocking as well), etcetera etcetera. Luckily my ‘decent and doable’ pile was much larger than my ‘shocking’ pile, so there was enough to take with me to my new home land.

I have been a little concerned about the dress I wore to the office today, because it might be a bit too short for Indonesian understandings. Don’t get me wrong, it is a very decent dress, the neck even reveals less skin than a tight T-shirt does, and even my elbows are covered. However, the dress just sideswipes my knees, leaving them fully naked. At the office this is not a problem, or secretary does wear the same skirt length as I do and my colleagues are used to our western clothing style.

But it was today that I realized that bare shoulders are far more attractive to men that are bare knees. On my short way home, I came to walk behind a bare shouldered girl with a tiny shirt, attracting all men’s eyes. The men’s heads almost became detached from their bodies as their necks twisted like a corkscrew when looking looking at the shouldered-girl, instead of the western girl at two meters behind, with bare knees and semi-blond hair (admitted, her thick layer of make-up might be part of the seduction). There goes all hope of being attractive as a foreigner in Indonesia! 😉

Still it is wise to dress carefully when visiting unknown places. When traveling from Kemang to Kota Tua for example (which is the old touristic city center of Jakarta) you can either take a taxi, or travel ‘local style’ by taking an ojec and bus, as I did during my visit last October. The bus starts in Block M, famously known for it’s large concentration of Islamic Jakartans. For this trip I choose to wear clothes that covered most of my feminine body parts and -contours.

The bus has a women-only section, to prevent unpleasant situations caused by dirty men who cannot control themselves when observing a bit of feminine naked skin, even if it’s just an arm or ankle. Another reason to pay attention of what to wear in Indonesia. Looking very prudish is a good way to travel by bus. Be prepared to become respected and beloved in the women-only section as a western girl, dressed properly. Many people are eager to start conversation and are willing to give advise on where to go, even those who only speake Bahasa Indonesia!

 

Sunny circumstances

As I walked to the office in the early morning a couple of days ago, the hot sun touched my skin for the very first time this year. As I looked up, the sky was blue all over the city, or at least the part of the sky which could be seen from in between the tall buildings.

It felt like a hot summer day, which would be a day off at Dutch elementary schools due to tropical circumstances. But in Indonesia these temperatures are pretty normal. Last week it was a bit more ‘chilly’ than usual, or so it felt at least, due to the presence of clouds. Coming from the Netherlands in early January this was a good transition to the temperatures in Jakarta.

Snow covered the Dutch landscape on the day before I stepped into the airplane! I was so happy about it, probably my last snowy experience for the coming two years!

While I am galloping through the hot sunny streets in Jakarta, an icy cold weather is entering the Netherlands. Perhaps there will be another day off in Dutch elementary schools, this time due to temperatures below freezing point, to have time for ice skating. (yes, we love to use the weather as an excuse for a day off)

But wait a minute… haven’t I told people to collect my stories about Jakarta, so then, why am I telling about the ever changing weather in the Netherlands? Oops… back to the weather in Jakarta, always 30°C, one half of the year sunny, the other half of the year rainy.